As colleges and universities reopen either in person or virtually, faculty members who are parents are worrying about how to balance teaching, research, and other duties with childcare, Inside Higher Ed reports. It notes faculty members with young children whose schools or daycares may not be fully open are particularly concerned with how the semester may go.
According to IHE, some universities have programs aimed at helping faculty members who are parents. For instance, the University of Chicago has a virtual babysitting and tutoring program, while the University of California, Los Angeles, is instituting a program through which faculty with elder or child care responsibility can apply for service or teaching relief.
However, it notes that many schools and departments instead rely on the goodwill of deans or chairs, a situation it says has been on the "verge of boiling over since March."
"It's insane that we're not having collective conversations about all the families that are facing this," Temple University's Maia Cucchiara tells IHE. "Universities are in crisis and even the universities that will make it through this are struggling mightily. So I'm certainly not saying this is a task universities should be taking on. But it is a task someone should be taking on."