Parents' pleas can't stop child care closing
by Sarah
R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff
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Interim Chancellor Marcellette G. Williams
(left) listens as assistant professor Margaret Gebhard makes
a case for preserving child care services on campus at a Feb.
1 meeting. (Stan Sherer photo)
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larmed
by the administration's plans to shut down child care services,
about 55 parents and union leaders raised their concerns with interim
Chancellor Marcellette G. Williams during a Feb. 1 meeting in the
Lincoln Campus Center.
UCC funding for its full-time day
care program runs out at the end of the academic year. A flex-care
program that largely serves graduate students and is part of the
contract negotiated with the graduate student union, will keep two
classrooms open until the contract expires in 2004. Faculty, staff,
and both graduate and undergraduate students were among the parents
at the meeting.
"Child care is an emotionally
charged topic," Williams told the group. Although her son is
in his late 20s, she said, she still recalls vividly the decisions
she made about his child care. Had such a closing happened to a
program her son was in "it would have been some time...before
anything would have made me feel better."
Facilitated by ombudsperson Catharine
Porter, the hour and a half meeting included a statement by Williams
explaining the campus's need to save what will eventually amount
to $627,000 annually by closing the program. Savings for the coming
fiscal year will amount to more than $300,000.
"Most of the budget of this
campus is in people," Williams said. "People are in programs."
Because the changes in the University's
budget from the state came mid-year, she said, "decisions had
to be made more quickly than we anticipated that they would need
to be. That process will continue for the rest of the year."
Williams said some programs are "still
under review" because they require longer study.
Many of the assembled appeared to
hope that the decision to close UCC was still negotiable. Several
faculty, who said they represented approximately 100 of their campus
peers, jointly presented data indicating that six faculty parents
of children at UCC whose accomplishments include - in addition to
five teaching award nominations and 85 refereed journal articles
- bringing in nearly $3 million in grant monies last year.
The faculty argued that UCC is central
to the mission of the University because it allows parenting faculty
to be productive, acts as a recruiting tool for faculty, and provides
educational opportunities for students researching children or seeking
experience working with them. The group also argued that the cut
unfairly "targets junior faculty and women."
Assistant professor of Exercise Science
Barry Braun cited a study that said child care can be important
to the career development of pre-tenure faculty. Stephanie Tryce,
a lecturer in Sport Studies, read e-mail testimonials for UCC that
the group of young faculty received when they began surveying the
faculty at large. And assistant professor of Art Max Page cited
a recent campus study that praised UCC and called for its enhancement.
"We're here in a spirit of collaborative
problem-solving," said Meg Gebhard, assistant professor of
Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies.
When the faculty asked for a meeting
with Williams this week, she told them she could not agree to that,
saying that every cut has a constituency and that ongoing budget
work is underway. She thanked the faculty for their research on
the impact of the closing and encouraged them to pass it to Maryanne
Gallagher, director of UCC.
Although the decision to cut the
budget of UCC remains firm, Gallagher and Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs and Campus Life Javier Cevallos later said that if the program
can find ways to pay for itself, the administration would be willing
to consider retaining the service in some form.
"The dollar amount is the dollar
amount," said Gallagher of the remaining budget for flex care
through FY04. "We're looking at ways to stretch dollars to
keep more classrooms open." Outside funding, acquired through
grants and fund-raising, might be a way to avoid the closure, she
said.
"We're willing to consider [an
alternative], as long as we come up with a model that makes sense,"
Cevallos said.
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