Pursuing a graduate or professional degree can be a great stage of life. This is an opportunity to develop as a leader in a chosen field and to develop as a person. Students can attend informative lectures, learn about different cultures through new friendships and diverse student groups and meet lifelong friends. For better or for worse, this is also the time of life when many students start families.
Balancing career and family is a challenge for many, especially women.
Duke has set a number of policies that help graduate and professional students who have children while in school. As a result of the Duke Women's Initiative, the Children's Campus was expanded, and 30 spots were set aside for the children of graduate and professional students. Providing on-campus childcare opportunities for students helps them continue their education while having easy access to their children, which can be critical for those with infants and busy schedules.
Childcare, however, comes at a high price-generally more than $1000 per month for infants and $700-$800 per month for toddlers. For students who are paying tuition or living on a graduate stipend, the cost is often prohibitive. Fortunately, Duke also provides some funding for childcare, including the childcare subsidy recently established by the Graduate School for Ph.D. students.
The Graduate School has also established a listserv for graduate and professional student parents, which allows them to exchange information about childcare or other parenting-related topics, such as finding changing stations in restrooms on campus or establishing lactation rooms. Children-friendly events are held on campus so that parents can meet, chat and possibly exchange childcare services in the future.
Despite all of this recent progress, other universities are going further than Duke in some areas. Some universities have established childcare co-ops, which can provide lower cost childcare for students. Three years ago, GPSC conducted a survey on student support for a childcare co-op. The results showed overwhelming support, even among single, childless students, some of whom even volunteered to help staff such a center. It might be worthwhile to again explore this possibility, though the need for lower-cost childcare may now be met for graduate students by the childcare subsidy.
More importantly, many universities have recognized the need to provide time off for students who start families. For example, Stanford recently announced in the Chronicle of Higher Education that it has now extended its maternity policy to graduate students. Thus, graduate students who give birth are entitled to six weeks of leave while continuing to receive stipend support. Other top universities have set similar policies within certain departments, including some at Harvard that offer up to eight weeks of paid leave.
Fortunately, many professors at Duke already allow their students to take time off after the birth of a child. But establishing a policy relieves students from the stress of negotiating with their advisors for this time off. Some students delay informing advisors about a pregnancy because of concerns about this negotiation.
As President Brodhead recently brought up at a meeting with GPSC and DSG, a maternity policy for graduate students isn't fully effective unless it also includes a delay in the "thesis clock," as many universities now extend the tenure clock for faculty members who have children. Students must meet certain milestones in graduate school, generally a candidacy exam and later a thesis defense. These milestones can sometimes have specific deadlines, such as a requirement to pass a candidacy exam by the third year in neurobiology.
The Graduate School guarantees funding for Ph.D. students for five years, after which some departments cut off all funding for students who have not yet defended. A maternity- or parental-leave policy should allow for a delay of the preliminary exam or thesis defense for students who have children. This could help Duke retain female students, who are differentially affected by family obligations.
Whether parental leave policies should apply only to students who give birth or also to those who adopt should be discussed as well, as students must adjust to family life after an adoption.
Fortunately, the incoming Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Wright, has indicated an interest in looking into extending a parental-leave policy for graduate students. As vice dean of basic sciences for the Duke University School of Medicine, she has already ensured that many students are granted the same maternity leave rights as Duke staff members. I hope that all graduate students will be ensured the same rights in the near future.
Heather Dean is a graduate student in neurobiology. Her column runs every other Wednesday.
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