the guide FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015
An Animal’s Hilltop Home
Students and staff balance the responsibilities of animal ownership with its many health benefits GIANNA PISANO Hoya Staff Writer
The walk to and from class is often fraught with furry creatures. Jack the Bulldog will make a photoopportunity appearance, while neighbors frolic with their dogs on the front lawns. But what about the college students walking dogs, forbidden from campus residential spaces? And the myriad, rumored pets kept in dorm rooms? While some students are able to obtain animals for health reasons, others clandestinely keep pets without informing the administration. Both groups of students, however, have encountered and overcome obstacles in obtaining these animals. Regardless, these students agree that the animals have enriched their Georgetown experiences.
Obtaining approval for an animal is a complex process involving numerous departments as well as countless medical forms and documents. Although pets are strictly forbidden for students, service or emotional support animals are allowed on a case-by-case basis. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a “service animal” as “any animal that is trained to do, work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.” Pets are not allowed on campus, but, by definition, service animals are not pets.
“Service animals are dogs or miniature horses that are trained to perform a specific task,” Associate Director of the Academic Resource Center Annie Tulkin said. “Some examples of tasks these animals may provide are guiding a blind or visually impaired person, sensing when a person may have a seizure and getting them out of harm’s way, and bringing the person items and assisting them with tasks.” Since service animals are rigorously trained to perform specific physical tasks that their owners rely on to complete their day-to-day routines, they are permitted in most places on campus. The “emotional support animal,” which provides mentally therapeutic relief for students, is also often requested. This application process is focused less on the physical capabilities of students and more on mental and emotional aid. Tulkin must distinguish between the two types of animals when she receives requests from students. “Emotional support animals, or therapy animals, are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are covered under the Fair Housing Act. These animals are not allowed in public spaces, but rather they are allowed under this federal legislation to reside on campus,” Tulkin said. The decision is usually based on less tangible medical factors than those required for traditional service animals, so properly See PETS, B2 ISABEL BINAMIRA/THE HOYA
THIS WEEK ARTS FEATURE
LIFESTYLE
The Art of War Work of Japanese-American reveals his experiences in WWII NICK BIGGS-CHIROPOLOS Hoya Staff Writer
A Hoya Takes on Hollywood
Georgetown graduate Steve Wolsh gave up a stable career to pursue his lifelong dream of directing film. B3
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Tale of Monkey Royalty
Disney’s nature documentary “Monkey Kingdom” shows the complex hierarchy of the animal world. B5
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Indie Duo Back on Stage Matt & Kim’s latest album “New Glow” starts off slow but gradually proves itself. B6
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In a dark era of national history, the U.S. government placed West Coast residents of Japanese descent into internment camps during World War II, simply because of their heritage. This chapter of World War II history may be closed, but one of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s newest exhibits, “The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi,” features artwork from a man who lived through that experience. Kuniyoshi was an artist born in Japan who experienced similar profiling in his home state of New York and subsequently faced controversy when American museums featured his work, as many people deemed him non-American. The exhibit chronicles the progression of Kuniyoshi’s art, from the 1920s to his death in 1953. His pieces contain American subject matters with strong, dark influences from his own personal hardships as a Japanese man in the United States during World War II. The exhibit showcases the broadness and complexity of the art that Kuniyoshi produced, which ranges from black and white pen or pencil sketches to elaborate large paintings. The subject matter ranges from Maine landscapes
COURTESY SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
Yasuo Kuniyoshi faced discrimination in the United States because of his Japanese heritage. His work reveals the hardships that he and other Japanese-Americans underwent on United States soil. to Parisian prostitutes to World War II themes, with much in between. His style is not traditionally Japanese but is instead bold and modern, which provides a unique spin on the contemporary art movement. The pieces themselves are not the most aesthetically pleasing. However, examination of the
content matter in almost all of his drawings and paintings can be thought-provoking and reflects the complicated life of Kuniyoshi. It is divided into early years of bright and bold cartoonlike paintings, the World War II phase, which feature paintings and sketches of dimmer colors, and the postwar phase, which
includes downright haunting paintings and extremely dark, black-and-white paintings and drawings. Pictures from his early life include detailed and colorful paintings of fairly traditional American subject matter, such See KUNIYOSHI, B4