The Graduate School's newly enacted childbirth accommodation and family leave policies are giving support to those eager to maintain their status as dedicated students as well as full-time parents.
Since Sept. 1, the Childbirth Accommodation Policy and the Family Leave of Absence Policy have been available to both female and male graduate students. So far, two students are taking advantage of the childbirth accommodations and three are taking family leave.
The move to provide extra support to students with families was made to help encourage students, especially women, to stay involved with school even when other aspects of their lives might hinder their academic endeavors, said Dean of the Grad School Sheila Bonde.
"We are trying to encourage women to participate in the academy and as future leaders," Bonde said. "We want them to take account of things that can enhance their lives but get in the way of the progress to their degree."
The Childbirth Accommodation Policy allows students receiving stipends who anticipate having a child or adopting an infant to continue to receive financial support for up to eight weeks of time off from the Grad School. The accommodations are available to both males and females but are limited to one parent per family.
Before the policy was enacted, students had to use medical leave to care for a child, during which time they did not receive stipends.
The policy requires students to discuss the accommodations with advisers about four months before they take leave so that the Grad School can adjust for the student's absence by, for example, finding other teaching assistants to fill in for the student.
The Family Leave of Absence Policy - described on the Grad School Web site as a way of "stopping the clock" - provides for students who want to take time off to adopt a child or take care of a child or immediate family member.
The policy specifies that students can take leave for up to two semesters, during which they will not have to fulfill their academic requirements. Students may request to renew their leave beyond the two semesters, but approval is at the discretion of the Grad School, according to its Web site. Unlike the childbirth accommodation plan, the family leave policy does not provide students with financial support.
The new policies provide "minimum standards" of accommodation for students attending to a child or a family emergency, and further specify that advisers, academic staff and departmental leaders are expected to be sensitive to the needs of the students, according to the policy.
"Taking care of an infant is time-consuming and sleep-depriving, so advisors need to have realistic expectations about rates of progress on research," the policy states.
Bonde said she was eager to enact the policies as soon as she began her duties as dean in the summer of 2005. She looked into the issues of childbirth accommodation and family leave for graduate students and found there was little opposition to establishing new family policies.
Though students often requested more attention to the issue of childbirth accommodation and family leave, Bonde said the decision to develop the new policies was driven largely by Grad School administrators.
"It wasn't so much student pressure as (it was) our feeling that we should do something proactively," Bonde said.
Bonde also thinks that implementing such policies will increase the Grad School's sense of community - a priority for Bonde.
"We want (graduate) students to know Brown cares about them and counts them as a valuable member of the community," Bonde said.
A number of students, both male and female, have e-mailed Bonde to applaud the Grad School's efforts to help students who are starting families.
Students with children are excited to see that the Grad School is starting to give more support to those having trouble maintaining their status as full-time students and full-time parents.
One such student is Benedetta Gennaro GS, a grad student in Italian studies, who gave birth to a daughter a year ago. Gennaro was not able to take advantage of the new system but appreciates the support that the Grad School now gives. However, Gennaro said she is eager to see more progress made on family care issues.
"It's great that they're starting to implement policies for childbirth, but what happens when the students get back to work?" Gennaro said.
Gennaro also wants to see the Grad School address issues such as housing and daycare. Currently, Gennaro lives off campus and uses home daycare for her daughter. She said she would like to see family-friendly on-campus housing and a reliable daycare program.
Grad School officials are currently considering issues such as daycare, Bonde said.
