Report from the Campus Child Care Committee

Child care affects every constituent group at the University--students, faculty, and staff.  By not providing adequate child care services, the University is failing to meet its service mission to facilitate the educational needs of students, an academic mission to train students, and an administration mission to provide a sane environment for faculty and staff to work without feeling that they are torn between their jobs and their children.  Unless we take steps now to address current and future child care needs, the University risks continued problems with staff efficiency, difficulty in recruiting and retaining top job candidates, loss of accreditation in the Child Development program, and faces the certainty of projecting a callous, uncaring image to the community at large.

We believe that in order for a university to operate efficiently, staff must be on time, working complete days, and concentrating on the job at hand.  However, results from a campuswide survey conducted by a child care committee in 1995 and 1996 show that child care problems siphon off much of the energy and efficiency of our staff.  Of the faculty and staff who have children:

• Half of the women polled and 29 percent of the men report missing four days or more of work during a year because of child care problems;
• In all, we calculate that staff missed a total of 191 work days because of breakdowns in child care arrangements and 542 work days because of sick children in 1995-96;
• One-third of respondents left a child at home alone in order to come to work;
• More than half have brought a child to work because of lack of child care;
• Half report chronic problems with arriving late and leaving early because of child care;
• 60 percent of deans, directors, and department heads who responded reported that absenteeism due to child care is a problem in their departments;
• 74 percent of people polled said the overall work environment at the University would greatly improve if the child care issues of their co-workers were addressed.

Neither is the University meeting student needs, failing both in providing adequate academic training and service facilities.  Currently the University does not have adequate facilities to train students in Child Development.  In the spring semester of 1998, more than 200 students enrolled in Child Development courses requiring two hours of observation or participation each week at the University's small Child Development Center.  In addition, at least five students each semester need to do student teaching at the Center because no other facilities exist with degreed people available to supervise.  The Center, however, is so small that there simply is no space to accommodate all these students nor are there enough children for them to observe or with whom to practice their supervision skills.  The Center is no longer able to participate with other departments on campus (such as psychology and nursing) on research projects because of its limited space.   Worse still, students who are supposed to be working in a model facility find themselves in a program falling apart; staff are underpaid, facilities are woefully small; equipment is out of date and breaking down; and there's no money for routine maintenance.

Our students increasingly have more and more child care issues of their own.  The University does not keep specific statistics on how many students have children, but a representative poll of more than 700 students found that 21 percent are parents.

• 75 percent of students with children can't find adequate time to study or go to the library;
• More than half have brought a child to class;
• 16 percent have left a child at home alone in order to attend class;
• One third of the students report missing five classes or more during the year because of child care problems.  In total, students reported missing a total of 433 classes during the two semesters because of child care problems.

As one of the largest employers of the region and as the premier institution of the region, the University needs to follow the example set by large businesses and provide a more supportive environment for families, whether students, faculty, or staff.  Therefore, we recommend that the University appoint a taskforce to investigate long-term solutions to the child care issues at the University.  In order to be effective, this taskforce must be headed by a University vice president and the issues must be framed in terms of the academic needs of the students, the service mission of the University, and the commitment the University has to making this campus as efficient and productive as possible.  In the meantime, we recommend that the University begin collecting statistics on the numbers of  stuudents with children and on faculty and staff child care issues, and should hire a staff member to work with faculty, staff, and students in finding appropriate child care placement outside the University and in helping develop child care cooperatives.

Respectfully submitted,  Child Care Subcommittee, Committee on Services and Resources for Women

• Susan Young, Co-chair
• Shana Walton, Co-chair
• Brenda A. Coates
• Kacey Redd
• Cheryl Mueller
• Kimberly Faust
• Ellen Weinauer

Last Modified: November 12, 2007 8:25 AM
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