http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/14/california_davis_investigates_e_mail_about_student_who_gave_birth

How Not to Deal With a Student Mother

January 14, 2011

The chancellor of the University of California at Davis is pledging an investigation and "swift and appropriate action" over an e-mail in which a class was polled on the grade that should be given to a student who had to miss some quizzes because she had given birth.

"I take very seriously any allegations that a student’s welfare, dignity or academic rights have in any way been compromised. And as a woman, who has experienced firsthand the challenges of melding academic and family life and has experienced discrimination, I am especially sensitive to this issue," said an e-mail message that Linda P.B. Katehi, chancellor at Davis, provided to Inside Higher Ed last night and that she planned to send to all the students who complained to her on Thursday.

 

"This alleged action, if found to be true, would present a serious deviation from the values and principles that guide our campus and our School of Veterinary Medicine, and I would be profoundly disappointed if the reported events did in fact transpire on this campus."

Katehi stressed that UC Davis and its veterinary school (at which 85 percent of students are female) in fact has ways of helping students who become mothers. "During a student’s pregnancy, the school customarily works with her to help catch up after being away for childbirth or to arrange for an extended leave after which she can resume her academic program. And for mothers of infants, the school provides a lactation room so that students can continue breastfeeding their babies," Katehi said.
The professor who is alleged to have handled the class in this way is Edward C. Feldman, chair of the veterinary college's medicine and epidemiology department. Reached by phone on Thursday and told that his handling of the situation had been of concern to many students, Feldman said, "I don't care what people say. It is between me, my students and my school."
Asked if he wanted to explain why he would use a student poll to grade a student who had just given birth, he said, "No comment."

Davis officials confirmed the authenticity of an e-mail that was first quoted on the blog "On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess," by a female scientist at a major research university who blogs, as "Isis," about issues in academic science, particularly for women.
The e-mail was sent by the presidents of the third-year class to its members and reads as follows (in italics):
Dear Colleagues,
One of our classmates recently gave birth and will be out of class for an unknown period of time. This means she will undoubtedly miss one, or more, or all quizzes in VMD 444. Dr. Feldman is not sure how to handle this and has requested the class give input and vote. He has provided us with 6 options on which to vote and is open to any other ideas you may have. Most likely a CERE poll will be up next week and a voting will close no later than Wednesday. If you have other suggestions please email them to Dan or I ASAP. We will alert you to the opening of voting. Below are listed the options that Dr. Feldman has suggested. Please reserve comment on these options and provide us your opinion on them by voting when the time comes. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
a) automatic A final grade
b) automatic B final grade
c) automatic C final grade
d) graded the same as everyone else: best 6 quiz scores out of a possible 7 quiz scores (each quiz only given only once in class with no repeats)
e) just take a % of quiz scores (for example: your classmate takes 4 quizzes, averages 9/10 points = 90% = A)
f) give that student a single final exam at the end of the quarter (however this option is only available to this one student, all others are graded on the best 6 quiz scores and the % that results)
Please let us know if you have other thoughts on how to handle this situation and please keep your eye out for the upcoming vote.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Your Presidents

The presidents of the class did not respond to e-mail messages from Inside Higher Ed seeking their comment. Isis blogged that after the e-mail was forwarded to her, she contacted Feldman, who she said responded with an e-mail saying: "I have no comment on the e-mail you received which was to be sent only to members of the UC Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, current 3rd year class."
The readers of Isis's blog have raised a variety of criticisms of the e-mail sent to students, ranging from fairness issues, to the rights of new mothers to have reasonable methods offered for them to complete coursework, to potential privacy violations.

Isis wrote: "My heart breaks for this woman to have been shamed in front of her peers this way. To have been presented as a problem that must be voted on and dealt with. I can't imagine what she must have felt like to know that her peers were given the option to assign her an 'A' or a 'C,' depending on what they thought she deserved. How are her peers in any position to determine her performance in a course in which they have no expertise?"

— Scott Jaschik

Women & Science - Nobel Prize Winner

http://jezebel.com/5380471/record-year-for-women-says-more-about-sexism-than-advances

"Record" Year For Women Says More About Sexism Than Advances

By Intern Katy, 6:40 PM on Tue Oct 13 2009, 2,304 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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When Nobel prize winner Dr. Carol W. Greider first made her breakthrough discovery in 1984, she put on Springsteen and "danced and danced and danced." But she's serious right now, especially about the issue of sexism in science.

In an interview with the New York Times, Greider claims that more women gravitate toward her field not because there's anything particularly feminine about it, but because in a field where men tend to help other men, women must try to support other women:

The derogatory term is the "old boys network." It's not that they are biased against women or want to hurt them. They just don't think of them. And they often feel more comfortable promoting their male colleagues.

She goes on to mention the former president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, who most definitely is biased against women. Despite the gains women have made in science, there is still a clear tendency to think of science - and, it should be noted, economics - as something for boys only. Many have celebrated the recent Nobel record - 5 women won this year, out of 13 - but the so-called "record" isn't actually very impressive. And what's worse is the previous record: In 2004, only 3 women were awarded the prize. Greider is quick to point out that one year does not a trend make:

I certainly hope it's a sign that things are going to be different in the future. But I'm a scientist, right? This is one event. I'm not going to see one event and say it's a trend. I hope it is. One of the things I did with the press conference that Johns Hopkins gave was to have my two kids there. In the newspapers, there's a picture of me and my kids right there. How many men have won the Nobel in the last few years, and they have kids the same age as mine, and their kids aren't in the picture? That's a big difference, right? And that makes a statement.

But another important statement is being made on Twitter, where Elinor Ostrom is a top trend. We're pretty sure this honor is nothing compared to winning the Nobel prize, but when Twitter trending topics usually include stuff like "#liesgirlstell" and "#3wordsaftersex," the inclusion of a female researcher is most definitely a step up.

On Winning A Nobel Prize In Science [New York Times]
Nobel Prizes 2009: A Record Year For Women [AP]
Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize Winner, Top Trend On Twitter [Examiner]

Teaching Kids About Sexism

http://jezebel.com/5371299/ways-to-teach-kids-about-sexism--including-by-example?skyline=true&s=x

Ways To Teach Kids About Sexism — Including By Example

By Kate Harding, 3:40 PM on Wed Sep 30 2009, 9,639 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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Yesterday at Alpha Mummy, Carol Midgley posted a list of 10 ways to teach kids [specifically, daughters] about sexism. Sounds great, until you realize that about half the list involves sexism. With bonus heterosexism.

To be fair, let's start with the stuff I can completely agree with. #2: Teach them about the difference between fixed-up, professionally photographed and Photoshopped models and what people actually look like without a team of professionals enhancing them. #3: Have them compare ladymags to ladmags, and note that "while female magazines focus heavily on man-pleasing, lads' mags do not focus on woman-pleasing. At all. They focus on man-pleasing. A lot." #6: Teach them to watch Disney princess films with a critical eye. "Cinderella hoping the Prince will fancy her - what if she finds him a boring arse? And why are all middle aged women cast as bitter, expendable trouts? Explain that television works in a similar way." And finally, #9: Never EVER say 'I think you'd should wear the blue one because your backside looks smaller.'"

Excellent advice, all of it. Now for the rest.

#1: "Make a small bonfire of Bratz dolls. As their creepy baby doll- faces, colleague lips, wisp-thin waists and fishnet tights begin to melt into a toxic blob, encourage your daughters and her friends to clap and chant "Burn the freaks!""

Ho ho! Violence against girls in effigy! What an awesome way to teach respect for women. (Also, what are "colleague lips"?)

#5: "Explain to them that though many young women idolise Victoria Beckham and want to be as thin as her no man in the known world finds her attractive. Given the option, they'd rather spend an evening with her husband."

Because men's opinion of your appearance is the whole point, right? (Also, Victoria Beckham is ugly! Neener!) It's not that men's opinions shouldn't define your self-worth, it's that you're misreading those opinions. Every girl wants to have boys like her, duh. See also #8: "When your teenage daughter is getting ready for a date... give her a quick summary of what her teenage 'paramour's' preparations are likely to be for the evening: the same clothes he's had on all day and, if she's really special to him, a wash of his hands after he's been for a wee."

If your teenage daughter dates girls, Carol Midgley's got nuthin'. All girls like boys. All girls want boys to like them. These are universal truths, so what would be the point in challenging them, just because you're trying to teach her about sexism?

#10: "If she ever talks about wanting cosmetic surgery, simply leave a large photo of Jocelyn Wildenstein on the table and withdraw backwards from the room."

Oh, ha! It's funny because she's disfigured! Once again, the best way to teach girls about body image and sexism is to tell them that succumbing to the pressure might just make them ugly. And if they're ugly, boys won't like them.

Carol Midgley is funny, yes. But it would be nice if her advice about teaching girls how to recognize sexism didn't involve criticizing other women's appearances, ignoring the existence of lesbians, and reinforcing the idea that male approval is what we're all after. (Not to mention chanting "Burn the freak!") Call me a humorless feminist, but some jokes are just not worth it.

Carol Midgley: 10 Ways To Teach Kids About Sexism [Alpha Mummy]

Are Female Students 'a Perk of the Job'?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/sep/23/kealey-female-students-perk

Are female students 'a perk of the job'?

A vice-chancellor is encouraging lecturers to enjoy gazing at, even fantasising about, attractive female students

Terence Kealey: 'Look but don't touch'. Photograph: Martin Argles

We've had a week of sex scandals in schools. Now Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, seems intent on stirring things up on the academic front.

Female students, he declares, are a perk of the job for male university lecturers – though they should look, not touch.

In an article for the Times Higher Education magazine on lust, part of a feature on the seven deadly sins of universities, Kealey wrote: "Normal girls – more interested in abs than in labs, more interested in pecs than specs, more interested in triceps than tripos – will abjure their lecturers for the company of their peers, but nonetheless, most male lecturers know that, most years, there will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration and who asks for advice on her essays. What to do?

"Enjoy her! She's a perk."

Flashing a few literary allusions, he continued: "She doesn't yet know that you are only Casaubon to her Dorothea, Howard Kirk to her Felicity Phee, and she will flaunt you her curves. Which you should admire daily to spice up your sex, nightly, with the wife."

Displaying a more surprising familiarity with the etiquette at lapdancing clubs, Kealey added: "As in Stringfellows, you should look but not touch."

The magazine's academic readers were outraged, including otototototoi who wrote: "I'm amazed that Terence K has a position in any university, and I'll be damn sure never to apply for a job at Buckingham. Why did the THE print this awful, ugly nonsense?"

Kealey, who has been vice-chancellor at Buckingham, the country's only independent university, for eight years, said it was a myth that an affair between student and lecturer was an abuse of power, saying accountability has meant that "the days are gone when a scholar could trade sex for upgrades".

But he added that some female students still fantasised about their lecturers.

Kealey's comments were attacked by Olivia Bailey, women's officer at the National Union of Students.

She told the Telegraph: "I am appalled that a university vice-chancellor should display such an astounding lack of respect for women.

"Regardless of whether this was an attempt at humour, it is completely unacceptable for someone in Terence Kealey's position to compare a lecture theatre to a lapdancing club, and I expect that many women studying at Buckingham University will be feeling extremely angry and insulted at these comments."

Should Kealey be allowed to have his fun? Or has he badly misjudged how students and staff feel about this issue?