[burger]

I'm sure there are people who genuinely need those animals, but I bet a large portion just like being having their pets around in the restaurant, grocery store, and dorm. I do think the abuse of the "support animal" moniker is really disrespectful to actual service animals.

Yep.  My wife is a therapist and frequently gets requests from clients to let them have service dogs.  Many of the people asking for this do not need the dogs.  Supposedly, there are shady practitioners who will approve anyone's request for a service animal for a fee.  And I've heard (but not checked myself) that you can go on line and buy the stupid "service dog" vest for your dog--that alone is good enough to get your dog in a lot of places it would not be allowed otherwise.

Stanford does not need this hassle.

[burger]

I'm sure there are people who genuinely need those animals, but I bet a large portion just like being having their pets around in the restaurant, grocery store, and dorm. I do think the abuse of the "support animal" moniker is really disrespectful to actual service animals.

Yep.  My wife is a therapist and frequently gets requests from clients to let them have service dogs.  Many of the people asking for this do not need the dogs.  Supposedly, there are shady practitioners who will approve anyone's request for a service animal for a fee.  And I've heard (but not checked myself) that you can go on line and buy the stupid "service dog" vest for your dog--that alone is good enough to get your dog in a lot of places it would not be allowed otherwise.

Stanford does not need this hassle.