In fall 2022, Wofford’s Human Resource Department changed the Family Leave Plan for faculty. 

Prior to this reform, faculty members who were experiencing pregnancy were required to teach a course during the semester of their due date in order to receive full pay. 

If the professor failed to teach any courses during her final stages of pregnancy, she would only receive half-pay. 

This has recently been ratified to now allow those professors who do not teach to still receive full compensation for the semester. 

This version is a more equitable policy and eliminates the unnecessary burdens of instruction from pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. 

Victoria Gilbert, assistant professor of international affairs, unfortunately, was not covered by the new change in policy during her pregnancy and childbirth in Spring 2022. 

During that semester, she taught the Senior Seminar course while pregnant and immediately after giving birth. 

“I was lucky to have such supportive coworkers in the department that were willing to be guest lecturers. I also brought in a lot of outside speakers to help out with the class,” Gilbert said. “I’m honestly really lucky that I had a normal pregnancy and birth because, if not, would Dr. DeMars have had another class on his plate to teach?” 

Gilbert also expressed her joy at the plan finally changing, saying it is what needed to happen. 

“I’m super sad that I missed it, but I am glad that it did get fixed,” Gilbert said. 

For the two weeks surrounding when she had her daughter, she made it an independent work time so the students could have time to work on their end-of-year papers. 

Birth is unpredictable, though, so she had her daughter a week late, leaving her to continue the class on Zoom just over a week after her birth. 

Gilbert went back to teaching in person just over four weeks after giving birth. 

One professor, who wished to re- main anonymous, gave birth un- der the old policy and questioned whether Wofford was the right place for her. 

“I didn’t feel valued as a person; I was just a body that needed to be in a classroom,” the anonymous professor said. 

Other professors brought up how the old plan assumed that the female was not the sole income provider for a family. 

Based on the nature of the former plan, if a woman wanted to take time off after birth, the family would need to be able to make ends meet with half the salary from the mother.
This insinuated the mother was not the sole financial provider for the family, which is not the case in many situations. The college’s new policy not only allows for professors to not teach a course in order to receive full pay, but it also expands the opportunities for professors interested in adoption and fostering.