Kayla Hicks is suing Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII) for denying her the right to live in her sorority with an emotional support animal (ESA) while she was a student at Michigan State University.
According to the complaint taken by the Fair Housing Center in the fall of 2017, though her need for the animal was well documented, AOII refused to allow her to bring her emotional support animal, a two-pound Netherland Dwarf Rabbit named Sebastian (pictured right), to the sorority.
Ms. Hicks was in close communication with the national offices of the sorority during the summer of 2017. She provided the organization with proof that she had a disability and needed the ESA.
On September 1, 2017, after MSU classes began and Ms. Hicks had already moved into the sorority house for her senior year, her request for the animal was denied. Mandy Doyle, Director of Properties at the national headquarters in Tennessee sent an email stating:
“Hi Kayla, The decision is based upon our global policy created by AOII Properties to not allow emotional support animals. It is in AOII Properties good faith belief that the chapter house falls under the private club exemption … Thank you, Mandy”
Discrimination is defined in the Fair Housing Amendments Act to include refusing “to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services” when necessary to afford such person with a disability an “equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”
In March of 2018, the national office of the sorority demanded that Ms. Hicks drop the complaint that she had filed with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (in conjunction with her complaint to the FHC) before they enter into any agreement to allow the ESA. Two days later, before she could even consider the offer, local AOII staff said she would be evicted from the house. After the eviction threat, Ms. Hicks moved out of the sorority. The Fair Housing Center referred her to an attorney for litigation.
Fair Housing Center Cooperating Attorney Kerry L. Morgan of Pentiuk, Couvreur & Kobiljak filed the fair housing complaint in U.S. Federal Court on November 14, 2018. The case has been assigned to the Honorable Robert J. Jonker. The FHC-aided lawsuit Hicks v. AOII was settled in September 2019 for an undisclosed amount. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights was also a part of the case and opposed the respondent’s claim that because they are a private club, they are exempt from all aspects of the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Act.