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THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
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Alumni honor late child with scholarship Molly Sperlich
Molly.Sperlich@coyotes.usd.edu
Leah Dusterhoft I The Volante
Working around childbirth: How university family leave policy affects new parents Cecilia Gillen Cecilia.Gillen@coyotes.usd.edu
Currently, the United States is one of the only countries that does not offer paid leave for mothers or fathers after the birth of a child. The present family leave policy at USD falls under the Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which, “applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year.” Julia Hellwege, an assistant political science professor, had a child last year while working at USD. Hellwege also recently wrote an article for The Washington Post on moms in Congress and their impact on making legislation regarding family leave. She said she started researching family leave after her 10-week pregnancy appointment. “My first step was talking to other women on campus who have children to figure out what they did because there just aren’t any leave policies available on campus,” Hellwege said. “The next step was calling HR (Human Resources) and trying to learn as much as I could about the process.” Hellwege said most people can’t afford to take the full 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Their next option is to use their accrued sick
leave. “Faculty accrues sick leave at a number of hours per pay period, so the longer you’ve been here the more sick leave you have,” Hellwege said. “When I gave birth to my daughter, I had been here for a year and a half, so I had about 120 hours.” That meant in a 40 hour work week, she could have taken three weeks off, but Hellwege said she worked with her department head to find creative solutions. “I moved one of my classes to be a second half of the semester course, so I came back after spring break for that course and for my other class we hired an agent for the first six weeks,” she said. “My daughter was born mid-January and I came back to work on Presidents Day.” Hellwege said she learned she could use her sick leave in increments, so she only took off for times she would be teaching. “Professor’s jobs are divided up, not in thirds, but in three things: teaching, research and service,” Hellwege said. “Each professor has a different percentage of how much time we spend on each of those. For most of us teaching is around 50 percent of what we do which means I could take 20 hours off for FMLA instead of 40 (per week).” However, Hellwege said in most cases doctors won’t let moms go back to work until eight or 12 weeks after
birth depending on the severity of the birth. “I had to go back to work almost immediately because of taking off for only teaching,” Hellwege said. “My doctor actually had to write a note to HR to say that I was clear to go back to work less than a week after giving birth so I could actually take my sick leave.” In the end, Hellwege said she had an easy recovery, but the best case scenario shouldn’t be looked at when creating solutions for family leave. “The more that we can make flexible options and how we schedule classes, the better,” Hellwege said. “It is challenging to be a parent and be in a relatively high demand job of a professor.” Nathan Bates, a German professor at USD, previously taught as a graduate assistant at the University of Washington and had two children during that time. Bates said the graduate students were never informed on what their rights were or what they could expect for paternity leave. “I was told only later that I had a right to one week,” Bates said. “The problem is when you’re a teacher, somebody has to fill in for your class. It’s not like a lot of other jobs, if you have an office job, for example, somebody else can fill in or do your work.” He was granted the one week for his first child in 2012, but it wasn’t in a
supportive environment, Bates said. “So that was unfortunate that I was told by one of the staff that us having a child was considered inconvenient, and of course it’s inconvenient but everybody ought to have that right to have children,” Bates said. The next time Bates and his wife had a child was in 2016. The communication was better, Bates said, but his one week off happened to fall on the week of spring break. “I wasn’t necessarily entitled to another week off...they were nicer the second time because the first time I had been told that it was putting undue pressure on the other teachers because they had to rearrange their schedules to try and cover my class,” Bates said. Luckily, Bates’ wife wasn’t working at the time, and both their parents were able to help take care of the new baby, Bates said. Even with the help, Bates said it would have been nice to have had at least two or three weeks to spend with the baby.“Those first weeks are just, first of all, they’re so important for a child’s development,” Bates said. “Anybody who’s had children can say that it’s also just a demanding time. You’re all of a sudden not getting the sleep you originally got.” This transition poses an issue affecting student learning, Bates said. See FAMILY, Page A3
The Rowyn Ann Ney scholarship was created by USD alumni Emily Ney and her husband Scott Ney in honor of their daughter Rowyn. The couple lost their baby girl at 34 weeks and one day in late 2018. They said were incredibly touched by the nurses at the Sanford USD medical center in Sioux Falls. “The week before we lost her, we were at Sanford in Sioux Falls at the labor and delivery floor, and the nurses were so incredible when we had our first stay,” Emily said. “When we were in the emergency room in Orange City and discovered our baby had passed away, they suggested we go back to Sanford because the nurses there were really trained for situations like ours.” The couple returned to the Sanford Medical center on Thanksgiving Day. “We just had the most incredible nurses; they were truly like angels,” Emily said. “They were so compassionate and loving and understanding, just filled with a passion we thought was truly incredible.” The nurses, the couple said, made their difficult situation bearable. “We were expecting this child to come out crying and the nurses took care of her like she was alive,” Scott said. “They cleaned her up, they gave her a bath like you would normally treat a baby.” The couple was extremely moved by the care they received. “It’s not their baby, but they were showing compassion to her like we did,” Scott said. “I think that we want the nurses to have the compassion when they graduate to be able to tend to peoples needs like these nurses did for us.” The couple decided that they wanted something good to come out of their challenging situation. “Me being a teacher, I really value education, and I have always been inspired by nurses because it’s something I could never do,” she said. “So, we just thought we should put money towards a scholarship to help better the education of someone in hopes that they can help someone like us.” The couple was able to set the parameters for what they wanted their scholarship to be. “The student has to successfully complete one semester in the nursing program and has to maintain a 3.0 GPA and have a preference in labor and delivery upon graduation,” she said. The couple hopes they can be in contact with the student who receives their scholarship. “When I was in college, I received an education scholarship, and I met with the donor and her and I are still in contact today six years later,” she said. “I’ve been on the receiving end of a scholarship and so I would really like to foster a relationship with the recipient and every recipient for years to come.” Emily said living in a sorority house during her time at USD, she saw how hard nursing students work. The couple hopes students will apply and that whoever receives their scholarship will put it to good use and will know the couple are thinking of them. “I know how competitive USD’s nursing program is and how skilled they are when they graduate and how prepared they are to enter the workforce,” she said. “Any touch of money goes a long way in college.”
Submitted Photo I The Volante
Scott and Emily Ney hold their baby Rowyn. They now have a scholarship endowed in her name.
University housing searches for new director Cecilia Gillen
Cecilia.Gillen@coyotes.usd.edu
Peyton Beyers I The Volante Ashley Hartnett, the previous housing director, left her position when her husband was relocated to Iowa. The position has not yet been filled.
The position of housing director is currently vacant at USD. Ashley Hartnett, previous housing director, left her position on Feb. 13. Since then, the housing department has divided Hartnett’s responsibilities while the job search for the new director begins. John Howe, associate dean of student services and head of the job search, said the job application will have been posted for three and half weeks by Monday, which will be the first day of consideration. “That’s the first time that we’ll come together as a committee and look at the files,” Howe said. “We want to honor what we’ve put out there that we’re not kind of poking around and looking around. We’re waiting truly for that first day of review.” The committee has not been selected yet, but will be comprised of four to five people including department heads that housing typically works with and a resident assistant, Howe said. Until then, Howe said the goal is to make sure everything runs seamlessly
until a new director is found. As a result, Cody Burggraff, assistant director of housing, has taken on some of Hartnett’s roles. “Cody’s team now is working so that from a student’s perspective you wouldn’t be aware that we’re missing this key leadership role right now,” Howe said. Burggraff said in addition to him and Howe splitting some of Hartnett’s responsibilities, the housing staff has been able to pick up a few extra tasks to make the transition go smoothly. “You always look at it with a positive spin; yeah, some days are quick and you don’t know what’s up or down,” Burggraff said. “Ultimately I think it’s super important you look at it through a lens of ‘hey this might be my job someday anyway, so what can I do now to get a little bit of insight and learn a little bit more?’” The job posting requires “a master’s degree in Adult and Higher Education, College Student Personnel or closely related field and a minimum of 5-7 years of experience in housing.” Burggraff meets both requirements. See HOUSING, Page A3