Michael Simms returns to the Sigma Chi’ house after class to greet Parks, his prickly roommate. Parks, a hedgehog, is a new occupant of the fraternity house’s third floor.
While residential housing prohibits animals of any kind, some fraternities, sororities and off-campus housing allow students to own pets. In Sigma Chi, residents are merely limited on the type of pets they can have.
‘He’s kind of cuddly,’ the McCormick sophomore said. ‘If you’re stressed out, he plays around, and he puts you in a better mood.’
Simms said he wanted a pet because they are fun and add character to his living situation. So far, Simms said he hasn’t encountered problems taking care of Parks.
‘My roommate loves him too and takes care of him almost as much as I do,’ Simms said. Parks recently had his picture taken for Sigma Chi’s composite photo and is named after James Parks Caldwell, one of the fraternity’s founders.
Simms said he got the idea to have a pet hedgehog when he visited Thee Fish Bowl, 600 Dempster St., a pet store in Evanston.
Elena Moss, sales manager at Thee Fish Bowl, said Betta fish, hamsters, gerbils and goldfish are among the most popular pets for college students. She said people living off-campus sometimes branch out by getting reptiles such as geckos and corn snakes.
‘When they live in their own apartment, people get all sorts of stuff,’ Moss said.
Regardless of where they live, Moss said most college students don’t buy dogs or cats.
‘Dogs require more attention than most college students can give,’ Moss said. ‘And many apartments don’t allow cats.’
Dr. Wei-Jen Huang, a clinical psychologist for Counseling and Psychological Services, said having pets can be a good thing, but students have to consider the extra work they entail.
‘Responsibilities are not bad, and (pets) enhance meaning and happiness if you know how to manage them,’ Huang said.
Whether or not it’s a good idea to have a pet depends on an individual’s lifestyle, he said. People have weaker bonds with pets looked at from a distance like fish than with companion pets such as dogs.
Students who pass through the sorority quad said the Delta Delta Delta puppy is known to capture their attention.
Maggie, a 7-month-old West Highland White Terrier, belongs to Judy Burns, the housemother of Tri Delt.
‘The dog is for me, but the girls are also getting the benefits,’ Burns said.
Burns said she decided to get a dog when a few Tri Delt girls discovered she was allowed to have a pet. After a process of securing approval from both the Northwestern housing board and the national office of Tri Delt, Burns was given permission to get a dog.
Taylor Heisley-Cook, a Communication junior who lives in the sorority house, said she stops by Burns’ room to visit Maggie whenever she comes home.
‘There’s something so refreshing and calming about playing with a puppy,’ Heisley-Cook said. ‘She gets so excited when she sees you, and it makes you feel so great.’ [email protected]
