UC May Adopt Family Friendly Leave Policy

In an effort to ease the balancing act between a career and a family, UC officials are proposing family friendly changes to the university's policies on child-bearing and -rearing leave.

The proposed policy revisions to the Academic Personnel Manual, the first since 1996, would clarify existing policies and allow faculty to work with a reduced workload for one extra semester or quarter after giving birth to give them a smoother track to tenure.

The changes would also extend the time allowed for assistant professors to reach tenure.

"(The university hopes) to be more responsive to faculty who have family responsibilities and who must juggle family and career," said Patti Owen, UC Berkeley's director of academic personnel.

The changes are intended to send the message to faculty that pausing the tenure clock and taking advantage of services that provide extra support will not be used against faculty seeking tenure, Owen said.

Under the proposed revisions, faculty who have just given birth could take an additional quarter or semester of active service modified duties-a negotiable term with a lighter workload-to recover from the effects of pregnancy and childbirth.

With birth mothers receiving the same window of time to take advantage of a modified workload as fathers or domestic partners who did not give birth, mothers often "get the short end of the stick," said Ellen Switkes, UC assistant vice president of academic advancement.

The proposed revisions to the manual come just months after the release of a series of findings by the UC Faculty Family Friendly Edge, a UC-wide initiative to address the impact of family life on faculty members.

According to its February report, female assistant professors on the tenure track were less likely to reach tenure than their male counterparts, and women with doctoral degrees were less likely to enter the tenure track due to family obligations.

Unfamiliarity with UC's policies and fear that taking advantage of such accommodations would have a negative effect on the road to tenure were a driving force behind these disparities, according to the study.

"We're trying to bring the policies that deal with family issues into a single place so they can be more easily found," she said.

Switkes pointed to strengthening family accommodation policies as a crucial step in keeping the university competitive in attracting and retaining top faculty.

"The double whammy of tenure and juggling a new family is tough," she said. "This would give the University of California a reputation of being a good place for women faculty and young fathers."

Faculty members said the changes would help faculty balance family life with their careers and assuage fears that UC frowns upon time off the tenure track to raise a family.

"As a working mother who somehow survived these difficulties, I think (these changes are) a great step forward," said physics professor Mary Gaillard, who had trouble advancing her career when she first began teaching in Europe.

If the proposed modifications are approved by the end of the semester, they will take effect as early as July 2005.

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