*Did You Know Pregnant Students Have Rights? Neither Did I.*
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[image: title9]When I found myself pregnant in August of 2010 – eight months
after we began trying for our third baby – it only took a quick calculation
to realize the baby was due right smack in the middle of my Spring semester
of school. As I'm nearing the end of my combined B.A. and Paralegal
Certificate program, every single class counts, and there's no time to
postpone any courses if I want to begin law school, as planned, in the fall
of 2012. This meant that I'd have to find a way to keep up my full-time
course load and have my baby at the same time. I knew it wouldn't be easy,
but I'm good at juggling the seemingly impossible. That's how I've come this
far with a family, many jobs, and a near-perfect academic record.
I attend a major Chicago university that prides itself on diversity,
community service, and exceptional academic programs. My particular program
is geared for adult, busy students seeking a first or second degree. The
classes are accelerated and concentrated, running for four hours on one
night of each week for eight weeks. There are two sessions per semester,
which allows adult students to take a full 12-hour semester by only taking
two classes at a time. However, since the classes are four hours a week,
missing one class is like missing two weeks in a regular program. Missing
even one class in a session isn't something a student wants to do, yet
still, the professors understand that sometimes absences are unavoidable. In
my three years in this program, I've never seen or heard of any professor
punishing a student for missing a class, especially for an extenuating
circumstance such as illness, family emergency, or even a work emergency.
Our professors know that we're adults who take the program very seriously,
while also trying to balance adult responsibilities with our academics.
Three years ago, I had to pump breastmilk for my younger son in the middle
of every single class for a whole year, and I never had a professor who was
anything less than understanding and accommodating. Many were even openly
proud of my effort to remain a committed student and a committed mother at
the same time.
For this reason, I fully trusted that my pregnancy and impending birth would
be respected by whichever professors I ended up with in the second session
of the Spring 2011 semester. I felt that my outstanding academic record
would illustrate what a committed student I am, and that the professors and
administration would not only be understanding, but also accommodating, when
I needed to take a week or two off to have my baby.
*At 40 weeks pregnant, I discovered I was wrong.*
At 36 weeks pregnant, the second session of the Spring semester began. I was
enrolled in two courses, both required to complete my degree program. On the
very first night of Class X, I approached Professor X, and pointed out that
we needed to have a discussion about the giant belly in the room. I told her
when I was due, and that I planned to only take one week of classes off to
have my baby IF the delivery was uncomplicated, but possibly more if I
needed extra time to heal, or if the baby wasn't well. I also asked her
permission to bring the baby to class with me so that I could nurse on
demand, which she agreed to. The professor seemed completely accepting of
the fact that I'd have to take time out of class to have a baby, which,
given all of my other experiences with my university's faculty, I expected.
She even offered to let me take an Incomplete if I needed, but I explained
to her that I did not want to drag the class out any longer, which is why I
wanted to come straight back with the baby, buckle down, and wrap up the
class with my usual A.
Everything was fine until the fourth week of class. I was 40 weeks pregnant,
and my midwife stripped my membranes to assist the prodromal labor I had
been having for weeks. I left the appointment having contractions and lots
of bloody show, feeling like labor was imminent. I also had a ridiculous
head cold that was making me all sorts of miserable. Still, I knew I had a
midterm exam in Class X that night, so I dragged myself — headcold,
contractions, bleeding and all — to sit in class and take my exam. After I
finished the exam, I decided that I needed to get myself home before I ended
up starting labor in the middle of class.
A few days later, still pregnant, I checked Blackboard to see my grade from
the exam, and I noticed that the professor had given me only *5 out of
25*points for "Attendance & Participation" on the day I left class
early.
I wrote to her immediately and asked why I had been docked 20 points, and
she explained that I couldn't earn those points unless I was sitting in
class. I wrote back and asked her if she planned on docking me the full 25
points for each class I missed for the birth, and she said that *Yes, she
was planning to dock me while I had my baby.* A little quick math told me
that there was no chance of me earning an A, B, or even C in that class if
she planned on withholding points while I was out for the birth. She told me
that the university handbook allowed her to make any attendance policy she
wanted, and there were NO exceptions to it.
I quickly called my advisor and asked him what I could do, and he said *"Well,
she can set any attendance policy she wants, and it's not fair to everyone
else if you get points when you're not there."* I explained to him that I
could end up failing the course if I missed a few classes for the birth, so
he offered to let me "back withdraw" from the course, meaning that I could
drop out without it appearing anywhere on my transcript. I thought that was
a horrible option – I had already completed half of the coursework, and all
my work would be going to waste. Plus, I desperately needed that course to
stay on track for graduation. Taking it all over meant not graduating on
time. However, it seemed like my only option. Either risk failing the course
while I'm giving birth, or withdraw. I emailed the professor, copied in
administration, and regrettably withdrew from the course.
*Then – I went on Facebook.*
I posted an update<http://www.facebook.com/thefeministbreeder/posts/10150158376872727>angrily
complaining about being forced to back withdraw from this class
simply because I was having a baby while suffering the untimely misfortune
of being enrolled in a course taught by uncompromising professor. Several
people had stories of similar things happening to them, and then, one
commentor completely changed the game for me.
This particular commentor, named Melanie Ross
Levin,<http://www.nwlc.org/profile/melanie-ross-levin>works for the
National
Women's Law Center <http://www.nwlc.org/> in Washington. Melanie told me
that, according to Title IX of the Education Amendments
Act<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_IX>,
my professor was required by law to give me time off to have my baby, and
was required to give me the same chance to earn my A as any other student in
the class. This law, enacted way back in 1973, specifically prevents the
same type of forced withdrawal that I was experiencing. At first, I really
didn't believe Melanie, so she told me to call the NWLC and talk directly to
one of their lawyers, which I did. The amazing lawyer on the other end of
the line completely had my back, and explained all my rights to me. She
offered to help me in any way she could, and displayed true compassion when
helping me navigate this stressful situation I found myself in ON MY DUE
DATE.
But why hadn't I heard of this? Why hadn't my professor? Why hadn't my
advisor? Why hadn't the school administration? You'd think if this was a law
that I could use, somebody on my campus would know something about it.
Well, at least one person on my campus had definitely heard of Title
IX<http://www.nwlc.org/our-blog/if-title-ix-could-talk>.
In fact, every single school receiving federal funding (read: basically ALL
of them) are required by this law to have a Title IX advisor somewhere on
campus – that's a whole person whose job it is to know this law, and what it
does for their students.
I called around and found that the Title IX advisor at my school was the VP
of Human Resources (makes sense) and this person was able to mediate with
the administrators in my program to help resolve my situation. When I first
mentioned the possibility of Title IX discrimination to my professor and
administrators, my professor responded saying that she'd only give me the
opportunity to complete 25 points of "extra credit," to try to make up for
my absence, and it had to be complete within 14 days of the last class in
the course. However, her "compromise" wasn't nearly enough to make up for
what I could miss out on, and she treated me like she was just doing me a
favor. But when the Title IX advisor got in touch with my school's Provost,
together, they must have realized that the professor was treading dangerous,
discriminatory ground, and they announced to me that they were coming up
with an appropriate solution. They explained that, by law, I was entitled to
the same consideration as any student experiencing a medical condition or
emergency. This meant that I must be given the opportunity to earn all the
points available in the class, even the Attendance & Participation points,
even if I couldn't physically be sitting in class with the other students.
When the dust settled, the administration outlined a plan that allowed me to
do written work to make up for any absences, and gave me a full six weeks
after the last class to submit all of my work. And after all of that? *I
returned to that class just SIX days postpartum*, with my newborn baby
strapped to my chest, and finished out the semester alongside my classmates.
I decided I'd rather just go to class than do the extra written work that
was piling up from missing class. It was honestly just easier to sit there
nursing my baby and participating in class discussion than it was to try to
write pages upon pages of papers with her at home. And for the record, my
fellow students (mostly mothers) were outraged at what I had been put
through, and felt I should have been allowed to simply miss the class during
the birth without being forced to do makeup work. Contrary to my advisor's
statement, my fellow students weren't worried about what was "fair" to them
– they just wanted me to have my baby without being stressed out.
Either way, six weeks after the class was over, all of my coursework was
turned in, and I received my grade.* An A-. *
*Inside just a few short weeks, I had an A- and a baby. I'll take that.
*
Not for nothing, I also earned a perfect *A* in my other class – the class
with the professor who never once batted an eye at me missing class to have
my baby, and who didn't make me do even once ounce of extra work to make up
for it.
The moral of this story is this: Pregnant students have rights. It is your
right to stay in school. It is your right to be treated fairly and equitably
by the faculty and administration. It is your right to earn the same points
available to any other non-pregnant student. It is your right to have a
baby, and a career. Forty years ago, women worked very hard to get these
protections written into federal law, so *know they are there, and spread
the word.*
*Have you experienced any pregnancy-related discrimination while in school?
If you ever do, simply contact your school's Title IX advisor, or the National
Women's Law Center <http://www.nwlc.org/contact>, and they will be there to
help you.*
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Milis Wanita Muslimah
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