Stressed-Out Yale Law Students Can Check Out Therapy Dog 'Monty' in Pilot Program
Yale’s law library has added a new item to its collection: a certified therapy dog named Monty.
In a memo sent to law students on Thursday, Yale’s law librarian, Blair Kauffman, tells students about a three-day pilot program in which Monty is available for checkout, New York Magazine reports. The law school’s director of public affairs, Jan Conroy, tells the ABA Journal that the memo is authentic.
Monty is a mixed breed and he’s owned by a library staff member, Conroy says.
According to the memo, Monty can be checked out by students for 30-minute sessions in the three-day program beginning March 28. Student feedback will help the library decide whether to make dog therapy a permanent ongoing program during finals or other stressful periods.
“We hope that making a therapy dog available to our students will prove to be a positive addition to current services offered by the library,” the memo says. “It is well documented that visits from therapy dogs have resulted in increased happiness, calmness and overall emotional well-being.”
Monty is hypoallergenic, the memo says, but “visits will be confined to a dedicated nonpublic space in the library to eliminate potential adverse reactions from any library user who might have dog-related concerns.”
