Pregnant and Parenting Students Faculty and Staff Resources

The Title IX Office is your very first line of support when you receive a request or information from a student that indicates they are pregnant, lactating, or parenting.  Title IX will partner with you and the student to make determinations about how best to support the student being successful in your course. 

Professors are an integral part of the process, e.g. input into what constitutes a fundamental alteration or essential requirements for a course. However, it’s also true that professors are not fully trained or qualified to solely determine what the requesting student may be entitled to under applicable university policy and state or federal laws.

No one expects you, as the faculty or staff member, to know all of the obligations and accommodations that are due to a student. We also do not want to leave a student to have to negotiate directly with their professors or staff supervisors as there is a disparity in power and authority between a student and a professor who ultimately assigns the student a grade or a supervisor over the student.  Therefore, we highly encourage faculty reach out to the Title IX office to involve their support and guidance in responding to students who might need adjustments or accommodations due to their pregnancy or parenting status.

Faculty should not ask for doctor’s notes to prove pregnancy. Please refer the student to the Title IX Office for documentation and support.

Yes, the federal law requires that universities accommodate and support pregnant, lactating and parenting students.  If you receive a letter from the Title IX office outlining accommodations needed for the student for your course, you are asked to follow those accommodations, if at all possible. While faculty do have to work with the Title IX Office, you are not required to provide the exact accommodation requested if it does not work within the course and scope of your curriculum.

If you have questions or concerns about how those accommodations will be implemented or affect the students’ progress in the course, you are encouraged to reach out to, and communicate with, Title IX Office personnel.

Once you have clarity on your approach and how you will implement the accommodations, it is encouraged that you talk with the student to make some collaborative plans and share details for how adjustments will be made and to set expectations for both you and the student. 

Yes. Under Title IX these conditions must be allowed to serve as a justification for an absence so long as they are medically necessary and documentation has been verified with Title IX.  This is a requirement of federal law and applies regardless of your attendance policy. 

An absence is “excused” in that the student may not penalized for taking medically-necessary leave for pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination, related conditions, or recovery therefrom; they must be able to return from their absence in the same status they held before taking time off.

If your student has not contacted Title IX to provide documentation and receive an accommodation letter, please be sure to include a referral to the Title IX Office in any response you provide your student.

Recognize that not all students who are pregnant or parenting are working with the Title IX Office; if they are working with the Title IX Office, you will receive a note from their office and can email to ask for it, if you have not received it yet.

If the student is not working with the Title IX Office, you can ask for a doctor’s note in a manner that is the same for all students.  You can ask for a doctor’s note regarding the absence so long as you require notes from other students who must miss class or assignments for medical reasons. Remember, the note does not have to reveal any personal medical information to you, and the student’s privacy should be respected.

Students returning from their absence must be permitted to make up any credits missed, including exams, projects, and in-class participation credits.  Any make-up work assigned should be comparable with the amount of work given to other students, not extra.

After an excused absence due to pregnancy, childbirth, or any related medical conditions, professors must allow a reasonable time for the student to make up missed assignments and tests. This is true regardless of your typical makeup assignment policy. Depending on the nature of the course, making up the exact missed assignment might not be feasible.  The makeup work does not have to be exactly the same as the missed work, but needs to be reasonably equivalent.  You make the decision about what the make-up work will be; you are encouraged to communicate clearly the new requirements and expectations with your student upon their return. 

Yes, students affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions may be eligible for at least the same accommodations given to students living with temporary disabilities. Accommodations may vary by student situation.

For assistance in managing an accommodation request from your student, please contact the Title IX office.  They will refer you and the student to the Accessibility Support Center, if that is the more appropriate venue given the student’s situation, but please start with the Title IX office for all pregnant and parenting student requests.

Yes.  Pregnant students cannot be excluded from University-related off-campus programs, such as internships, off-campus activities, University-sponsored activities, and other extracurricular activities. Faculty and staff cannot require a doctor’s note to show fitness to participate unless it is required for all students participating in the program.  

Specific accommodations will vary from person to person. Examples of accommodations may include:

• a larger desk, breaks during class/work, as needed
• rescheduling tests or exams
• excusing absences due to pregnancy or related conditions
• submitting work after a deadline missed due to pregnancy or childbirth
• providing alternatives to make up missed work
• allowing excused absences for parenting students (both male and female) who need to take their children to medical appointments or to take care of their sick children

No. Students are not required to inform any member of the UHCL community of their pregnancy or parenting status unless they are seeking accommodations. UHCL is working to create an environment that encourages voluntary sharing of this information so that the university can provide support for the physical and mental health of the student.

Faculty and staff are encouraged not to ask any medical questions or personal information other than what the student discloses to you.  Please consider thanking the student for sharing the information with you, and then referring them to the Title IX Office if they have not already connected with this office for support. You can also share additional resources within UHCL, by sharing some of the links below!

Assistance may be available from your grant agency to pay for a temporary replacement.  Granting agencies also often “stop the clock” for researchers impacted by family/medical leave. You can also reach out to the Office of Sponsored Research and Programming to ask about support, extensions, etc. on an internally funded project.

Although it is always challenging to lose an RA or a grant employee, even temporarily, it is important to avoid any language discouraging them from taking leave. Such comments can intimidate a student or send the message that students with families are not welcome. Excluding these students can constitute sex-based harassment or discrimination. Providing workplace accommodations or flexible scheduling may encourage your employee to return to work sooner—and be more successful when they return.

Yes, Title IX also protects employees from discrimination due to pregnancy or parental status and requires the provision of leave. This includes student workers.

Depending on their position, the employee may be entitled to either paid leave or, at minimum, unpaid job-protected leave under federal or state employment laws and university policy. 

Asserting that an employee must take less leave than they are legally entitled to may be considered discrimination, harassment, or illegal interference. If you have any questions about granting leave to a pregnant or parenting employee, please contact Title IX and they will help you connect with Human Resources or the other appropriate UHCL offices. 

As a faculty or staff member you also have rights under Title IX.  Your institution should not discriminate against you due to your pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage, termination, or other related conditions. You are entitled to leave for a reasonable period of time (at minimum).  You may also qualify for additional protections and leave under state and federal employment laws; you can reach out to Title IX and they will help connect you to Human Resources and other appropriate UHCL offices.

Yes, lactation rooms can be found at the following locations:

• Bayou - 32LR
• Pearland Health Science and Classrooms Bldg. - Room 218R
• Recreation and Wellness Center - Room 253
• STEM - 1100LR
• TMC – 1406

Yes.  See resource list on the Pregnant and Parents Students web page.

Here is some sample language you can choose to use in part or whole to aid in your support and response to students who disclose pregnancy, lactating, or parenting status with you:     

Thank you for sharing this information with me; I’d like to give you some information.  David Brittain and Devon Fan are the staff in the Title IX office on our campus, and I have provided their contact information below.  It is up to you whether you’d like to reach out to them, but I want you to know that it is the responsibility of the Title IX personnel to coordinate specific actions to prevent sex discrimination and ensure your equal access to the university’s education program.

You may have learned about Title IX in your orientation, and many think that they deal with sexual misconduct, which is true. That is part of their job, but Title IX encompasses all discrimination on the basis of sex, including ensuring equal access to the university’s programs for pregnant and parenting students.

While I don't know a lot of the details about how these requests work, I do know that they can absolutely help you with requests for reasonable modifications to make sure you can fully participate in your classes. (It’s okay to not know exactly what reasonable modifications may be available and to let the student know that the Title IX Office is the best person to have this discussion with since this requires an individualized determination based on the student’s needs). 

David D. Brittain, Jr., Title IX Coordinator and Equal Opportunity Officer
Office: Bayou Building, B2323
Phone: 281-283-2305
Email: brittaind@uhcl.edu

Devon Fan, Investigator, Title IX Office
Office: Bayou Building, B2323
Phone: 281-283-2308
Email: fand@uhcl.edu