Editor,
I'm glad to read that the UNM Board of Regents has decided to recognize parents by forming a parents' association. After all, parents and families are important to the future of UNM.
But parents of UNM students aren't the only families connected to UNM. We also have parents who work here and parents who attend school here. These parents also have needs that are not being addressed by the regents.
Let's start with the scheduling of our breaks. We just got done with spring break, and Albuquerque Public Schools just began its spring break. What's up with that?
Why can't UNM coordinate school breaks with the local school system so parents who attend UNM can be with their children who attend APS? What's so hard about that?
A little harder is day care. Married graduate students joke that queuing up for UNM's day care at conception is the best way to ever be able to use its services. I remember a letter to the Daily Lobo last year from a mother who was still waiting. She queued up in her first trimester, her child was two at the time the letter was published, and she was still waiting.
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Why does UNM, a so-called nontraditional campus, not have day care for the children of its students? And if not day care per se, perhaps space reserved for parents to take care of each other's children without having to leave campus?
There is nothing family friendly about UNM. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with a mother-to-be who needed the assistance of the GPSA office, where I work. She told me that she hides her pregnancy for fear of being expelled from graduate school.
When I suggested that her story needs to get out, she turned pale and made me promise not to mention any specifics. For this reason, I won't even mention the school. In my short stint as a graduate student, I have spoken with other mothers with similar stories. So, this isn't an isolated incident.
I could go on about lack of maternity leave, accommodations for days children are sick, giving working parents more than seven years to complete their graduate degrees, paying graduate assistants living wages, and so on. The point is there is a lot UNM can do to help students who are parents.
Perhaps, a simple place to start would be to create a parent-student association to start addressing these needs. Another good place to start - a freebie goodwill token - would be to align UNM breaks with APS breaks. How hard can that be?
Danny Hernandez
UNM student
