Assistant professor Karen Strassler was "excited," yet still with "hesitation," to teach anthropology at Queens College. In her first semester in 2005 she was five months pregnant with only four days of sick leave in a university that has no paid family leave plan.
"I essentially was forced with a set of very unfair choices," Strassler said. She taught for that first semester and though it was an "easy, uncomplicated pregnancy," it was "tiring" and she was afraid of going into labor on the last day of classes. Her child, Leo, was born at the end of December 2005. He is now 21 months old.
Department chairs typically try to find ways to provide relief for pregnant professors, and the anthropology department was helpful toward her; but after the first semester she took unpaid leave - an option she considered to be "appalling" and "outrageous."
Professor Strassler is one of several people who gave a statement during a session in which the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the labor union for the faculty and staff working under CUNY, presented its demands to CUNY. The PSC's contract with CUNY expired on Sept. 19.
'Basic Human Right'
In an interview, Barbara Bowen, a QC English professor and president of the PSC, said that most major universities do offer paid maternity leave. When asked why CUNY has gone so long without a paid plan, Bowen gave several reasons. One is that CUNY hasn't had the political will to change this policy. During the 1990s there was very little hiring of young full-time faculty. This issue is now becoming more critical due to higher demand for young faculty, Bowen said.
Another reason for the lack of paid maternity leave plan is that CUNY is "chronically under-funded," Bowen said. CUNY, which is funded both by the city and state, has not accepted a paid family leave plan due to a lack of money to fund such a program. Research shows that women are still disproportionately affected by the lack of parental leave, Bowen said.
"Not having parental leave is putting obstacles in the path of young women in effect" and a paid plan is a "basic human right," Bowen said.
Recruitment and Retention
Not having a paid maternity leave plan presents a short- and long-term problem for CUNY in hiring and holding new faculty and staff. The issue diminishes CUNY's stature, Bowen said, and because demand for new young faculty has grown, likewise the demands for paid maternity leave. A petition gathered by the PSC collected 5,534 signatures supporting a set of bargaining demands including paid parental leave.
"I can't pretend that this is something I am happy about," Strassler said of the issue. CUNY "can't afford" to be out of step with other universities, she added. Strassler said she heard of several cases of people leaving CUNY over this issue. "I do think it has a big effect on retention," she said.
Bowen said this problem is hampering recruitment, and she, too, knows of several faculty leaving over the issue.
Other universities, some of which are included in the 2008 NEWSWEEK-Kaplan College Guide along with Queens College, offer different family-leave plans. Fordham University, for example, offers family leave for tenured and untenured faculty. "Such a leave may be full time without pay but including benefits, or part time with pay proportional to teaching and faculty responsibilities," according to Appendix 4, Section A-15 of Fordham University Statutes.
One Queens resident said he was "shocked" to hear CUNY faculty and staff do not have paid leave plans. 56-year-old Allen Kateman, a former junior high school social studies teacher said, "It should be a federal law."
Upper Sophomore Lady Reyes also expressed amazement over the issue. "I feel sympathetic," she said. "They should have a paid plan."
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