Although the University prides itself on being a family friendly workplace, on-campus lactation rooms--uninviting, unkempt and few and far between--suggest ample room for improvement.
The Coordinating Council on Work and Family Issues is currently reviewing the University's lactation rooms, following a report from a subcommittee dedicated to the problem. Ideally, lactation rooms provide a comfortable, private setting where nursing mothers can pump breast milk while away from their babies. The subcommittee toured the six lactation rooms on campus and presented their findings at the council's most recent meeting this month.
To ensure that the subcommittee's recommendations reflect nursing mothers' true needs, the council has asked Parents @ Duke--a relatively new group of faculty and staff whose aim is to improve family related policies at the University--to suggest locations and amenities for the rooms.
"The fact that the coordinating council has identified lactation rooms as an important issue--and that they sought the help of Parents @ Duke--shows that they think this is an important issue," said Pegeen Reichert Powell, co-founder of Parents @ Duke. "More generally, what it suggests is a willingness on the part of the University to improve the climate for people trying to integrate family with work life."
At the Oct. 23 meeting of Parents @ Duke, the group created a tentative list of locations and amenities for the new or revamped lactation rooms. Once prioritized, the lists will be presented to the coordinating council, which will eventually make recommendations to President Nan Keohane.
Currently, there are six on-campus lactation rooms--two in the Duke Clinical Research Institute, one each in the Sands Building, the Carl Building, Perkins Library and Duke South. Most notably absent are rooms on East and North Campuses, said members of Parents @ Duke.
Ideally, they said, there would be rooms scattered throughout campus so that faculty and staff could access and use them without taking too much time out of their workdays. The group also created a list of necessities and amenities for the rooms. "Even in the best rooms, there are inadequacies," said Shannon Johnson, a member of Parents @ Duke and one of the appointed members of the coordinating council. The lactation room subcommittee's evaluation noted some of the deficiencies of the existing rooms--unclean pumps, poor lighting and no door locks, to name a few.
"I visited the lactation room in Perkins. It did not look sanitary and there was no lock on the door," said Michelle Danis, who is expecting her first child in November.
She also indicated a scarcity of information for new mothers. "It was hard to find information on where lactation rooms were on campus, and even once I found a room I wasn't happy with its condition," said Danis, a visiting instructor in economics.
Deirdre Gordon, program director of the Divinity School, noted similar dissatisfaction with the existing rooms. "I had difficulty finding a room, and I couldn't find anyone to tell me what kind of attachments I would have to get to use the pump that's provided," she said.
"A lack of information was a real impediment to me using those rooms."
As a result, Gordon said, she opted to buy her own electric pump--a luxury that many employees can not afford. In addition, she has a private office with a locking door, which she said was necessary in providing a comfortable environment in which to pump milk.
"I am lucky, but some folks on campus don't have those means," she said.
"For those who choose to breast feed, it's a very important thing to them. It would be great for Duke as an employer to make that easier on nursing moms because it shouldn't be between coming back to work and nursing your child."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.