Brittany Lovely is expecting her first child in early December. His final exams at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, were scheduled at the same time.
So he was surprised when he asked the school if he could write the exam at another time and was denied.
“I really wasn’t trying to make anything crazy happen,” said Lovely. “I asked if I could take the test early.”
The official fall test schedule runs from December 6-13, with a window of December 16-18 listed as possible dates for exam waivers. Absence days are used in different cases, such as when a student falls ill, there is a death in the family or a student gives birth on time or before the due date, the university’s website says.
Lovely said her due date is December 2, and her in-person exam is scheduled for December 13.
Children rarely arrive on time. They may be early or late, studies have found, CNN previously reported. Lovely, who is having her first child, falls into that category, meaning that it is possible for her baby to arrive after the due date.
Lovely is Black, and noted the high death rate of black mothers in DC. While black people make up nearly half of all births in DC, they account for 90 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths, according to the District of Columbia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
Faced with an impossible situation, Lovely asked for help.
Trying to cut through the red tape
In September, she spoke with the university’s Title IX director who was, “nice and supportive,” of her requests for assistance, Lovely said. Title IX, is a 1972 federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive federal aid, according to the US Department of Education.
The Title IX senior and Lovely came up with two options: take the test early when finals open or take it at the same time as everyone else in the class but from home, which would be a few days after giving birth.
Both options, presented by the Title IX director to the secretary and the Office of Academic Affairs, were rejected, Lovely said.
Lovely asked the Title IX officer if she could meet with the officials who denied the request. On October 15, Lovely said she met with school officials via Zoom to discuss the reason for the refusal.
In their meeting, officials talked about the university’s honor code and the school-wide policy that prohibits anyone from taking exams early, Lovely said. The school did not sponsor meetings or discussions.
“It’s a bad meeting,” Lovely said. “They said I had to come in person, however, to take the test, and the only times I could take it were between 13 and 18, with the possibility of an emergency to extend it to the morning of the day. 20.”
The officials also said that Lovely could have someone sit outside the examination room with her newborn baby to take a break while taking the test, to breastfeed him, she said.
In early November, Lovely said she tried again to get the shelter to meet, this time by writing an official memo detailing Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act and citing her experiences.
Lovely sent a memo to the law school’s dean on November 10. She said the dean responded, saying she didn’t handle the pregnancy, and referred her back to the Title IX director. The school did not comment on the response.
Finally, success
After the frustration of trying to move forward with one word, Lovely’s friends pressed the issue, generating thousands of comments.
A few of Lovely’s friends put in a petition to support her request for accommodation during her final exams. Lovely said the petition has reached more than 7,000 students, faculty, alumni and community members across the country.
“I was trying to deal with this in a non-adversarial way. It feels so fresh,” said Lovely.
On Friday, the school decided to open another day off in January, which is in line with the reference period of previous years, Lovely said.
The decision was reached, “only after public outcry,” Lovely said.
When contacted by CNN, a university spokesperson did not confirm Lovely’s account of the problems she faced, or whether she would be allowed to take the exam in January, or during the election.
“Georgetown is committed to providing a caring, supportive environment for pregnant students and parents. We have reached a solution that is compatible with the student who raised the problem,” said the spokesperson.
“Georgetown provides academic resources and resources to help complete a student’s degree while pregnant or parenting, including pregnancy-related processing from the Office of Title IX Compliance, and accommodations for the disabled from our Academic Resource Center. Georgetown does not publicly discuss individual student affairs,” the spokesperson added.
Anoda hopes that the school will make policy changes going forward.
“What I would like to see is a school, and I imagine law schools in general, to be interested in seeing their role in supporting their students and being really visible,” he said. “I would hope for a change in the law at this point from the school, just to make sure that no one else has to experience something like this again.”
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