Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies (/)

GSWS Care Work Recommendations for University of
Pennsylvania
August 11, 2020
The following message was sent to President Gutmann and Provost Pritchett on August 11, 2020

Dear President Gutmann and Provost Pritchett,
We, faculty, staff, and students of the University of Pennsylvania, are writing today to call attention to the extreme
circumstances of our work lives since the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Many of us have been engaged
in synchronous work as parents, teachers of our own children, child care providers, and full-time employees
and/or students of Penn, without pause, since March. In most cases our workloads have actually increased from
our home “offices”, as faculty struggle to meet the demands of transferring courses and advising to online
formats, and staff learn new technological skills to move programming online, while also dealing with new
reporting requests to document the numbers of attendees and students supported each week. We have been
laboring at home, using our own computers and other office supplies, with our children, elderly parents, and other
dependents present, in the ultimate entanglement of work and home life. Many of us do not feel that our material
conditions have been sufficiently acknowledged, nor has our plight been addressed in any meaningful way, by the
University. To date, those of us who have reached out for support have been informed that there is nothing that
the University can do to address our situation as caregivers, suggesting instead that we find individual solutions
to what is a well-documented structural issue (https://gsws.sas.upenn.edu/news/2020/05/13/apc/gsws-statementcovid-19-closure-care-work-and-health-disparities); one that pre-dates the pandemic, and one that, if no
immediate action is taken, will surely deepen. Below, we have outlined ten recommendations that, if taken
seriously by the University, will help to alleviate some of the pressure many Penn employees and students have
felt keenly over the past several months during the “work from home” period, while also supporting local
educational facilities. As we prepare for the fall, it is critical that Penn take a leadership role amongst its peers by
addressing these issues in a structural, comprehensive, and timely way.
We recognize that Penn employees and students are not alone in their plight. The caregiving crisis exposed by
the global pandemic has been the topic of discussion in national forums for months. But we also recognize that
the University of Pennsylvania enjoys resources and a privileged location in the community that could enable us
not only to meet the demands of this current moment, but to be forward-looking about how we address the care
work needs of our employees, students, and the surrounding Philadelphia community in the future.
We recommend the following:
. The University should create a fund available to graduate students/faculty/staff who are facing increases in
child care as a result of COVID procedures/increases in fees, or who need additional dependent care support
because of school/day program/other closures. This should be a blanket fund given to all care takers with the
possibility for well-remunerated caregivers to opt out.
. The University should restructure the arrangement with the Care.com program “BackUpCare” to be by the
hour not by the day. Currently, it is specified at 10 days for the year for faculty and staff (7 days for postdocs
and students) and up to 10 hours in one day, but it is based on daily not hourly use. The arrangement needs to
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 be restructured by the hour in order to maximize on the needed time throughout the year and it should be
substantially increased in response to the austere work conditions of the pandemic.
. The University should make targeted and substantial donations to quality child care centers
(https://www.education.pa.gov/Early%20Learning/Keystone%20Stars/Pages/default.aspx) (starting with those
in zip code 19104), offsetting the costs of implementing COVID prevention recommendations and contributing
to the local community.
. The University should pay PILOTS in support of the Philadelphia Public School system, a chronically
underfunded school system. This will help the district to provide instruction safely to students during the
COVID period and beyond.
. The University should immediately pause all performance appraisals for staff, allowing staff members to opt in
if they choose.
. For Academic Departments: all tenure clocks should be extended by at least one year. This should not be an
opt-in extension, but a blanket extension that people can choose to decline. (Our current understanding is
that this has varied by School. It should be universal and blanket.)
. For Academic Departments: service obligations that do not have teaching releases should be re-allocated or
more evenly distributed.
. For Academic Departments: when deciding which classes to cancel because of low student enrollment or the
instructor’s inability to teach in person, instructors with care burdens should be prioritized.
. For Academic Departments: prioritize co-teaching so that faculty members can share the burden of course
development and teaching, and enjoy the security of backup instruction should one faculty member fall ill
and/or experience a loss of caretaking support.
. For Academic Departments: departments should adopt a 'sliding scale' of what is required to secure any given
grade in any given class proportionate to how much work time was lost as a result of covid-19/unexpected
care work and other acute challenges (such as those posed to Black and international students dealing with
the effects of racism and a hostile political situation on top of COVID-19). This would help equalize outcomes
and support students through this unprecedented time.
We urge you to give these recommendations your fullest consideration. Thank you for your attention.
Signed,
. Alexander Adames, PhD Student, Sociology
. Shoshana Adler, Graduate Instructor, English/SAS
. Julia Alekseyeva, Assistant Professor of English/Cinema and Media Studies
. Nikhil Anand, Associate Professor, Anthropology
. Rachel Appel, Penn Libraries, Digital Preservation Librarian
. David S Azzolina, Penn LIbrarians, GSWS
. Shana Bahemat, Program Coordinator, APC & GSWS
. Regina Baker, Assistant Professor, Sociology
. Apurva Bamezai, PhD Student, Political Science
. Catherine Bartch, Associate Director, Latin American and Latino Studies
. Tayeba Batool, PhD Student, Anthropology
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