ASUI made recommendations on paid parental leave and student diversity at the University of Idaho.
The discussion of paid parental leave comes after regional institutions have added to their parental leave policies. UI adheres to the federal standard which only guarantees unpaid parental leave for established faculty and staff.
Katie Schiffelbein, co-president for staff of Athena, a professional women’s organization on campus, provided perspective on the long-term effort to implement paid parental leave at UI.
“Athena has been working on this for years, I’ve been told decades, to move so that our university supports our Vandal family with paid parental leave,” Schiffelbein said.
The current federal standard is mandated by the Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for faculty and staff who have worked at the university for at least 12 months. While individuals who aren’t yet eligible for leave through FMLA are able to apply for job-protected parenting leave, ASUI’s resolution was meant to account for the recently hired staff and faculty that remains uncovered by the federal standard.
Under the now-passed resolution, ASUI will be recommending a change to the university policy to allow for 12 weeks of paid parental leave that will be available “immediately upon hire, and offered within 12 months following the birth, adoption or foster of a child.”
Schiffelbein highlighted that the needs associated with parental leave accommodations extend beyond payment.
“We’re also asking for consistent and equitable redistribution of work when someone’s gone, (such as) ways to pay for temporary hires or equitable ways to hand-off some assignment to colleagues,” Schiffelbein said. “Right now, there’s really no (standardized) process or method of doing that.”
While eligible faculty and staff can use leave to replace a portion of lost wages, it takes away sick days that may be needed.
“If you’re new to the institution or you haven’t already used up your sick leave because of other health issues or family deaths and things like that, you may or may not have an opportunity to get paid while you’re taking care of a new child,” Schiffelbein said.
The implementation of paid parental leave, beyond allowing for faculty and staff to be provided with greater financial resources to provide for their child, would also bring UI more in line with academic institutions throughout the region.
“We are the last institution in Washington, Oregon and Idaho to even consider this,” Schiffelbein said. “In Idaho, Boise State, Idaho State and Lewis-Clark State College all offer paid eight-week parental leave. We’re asking for 12 so it’s more equitable between staff and faculty because faculty, they’re usually run semester by semester … and 12 weeks is just a better amount of time to be able to take care of our children and the next generation to come.”
Wednesday’s meeting also saw the passage of two additional bills aimed at campus inclusivity; the month of October will be used to recognize LGBTQA+ history and Oct. 11 will be recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
According to the resolution, the October would allow for students to be made aware
of the challenges that LGBTQA+ individuals have faced and continue to face today in order for students to be better advocates for inclusivity within the communities they represent.
ASUI Sen. Herman Roberts sponsored the resolution and highlighted how, despite some progress, LGBTQA+ individuals continue to be marginalized throughout society.
“Youth who identify as queer are about five times more likely to have attempted suicide than their counterparts,” Roberts said. “And about 40% of LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals aged 13-24 seriously considered suicide this past year.”
Roberts added that the transgender community sees consistent discrimination, citing a study by the National Center for Transgender Equality which found that 63% of transgender study participants faced serious discrimination.
Despite these realities, Idaho continues to lack statewide nondiscrimination protection based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In addition, the recognition of Oct. 11 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day was aimed at the diverse student body.
According to the resolution, Idaho is one of the few states that recognized the holiday established in protest of Columbus Day and serves as a day of cultural celebration and widespread recognition of the devastation that the communities have faced due to action taken by the U.S. government. A history that senators found “many American students go without learning.”
Royce McCandless can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @roycemccandless