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Good morning!
The month that Princeton celebrated 50 years of coeducation, legal scholar Dr. Saskia Stucki announced her withdrawal from the University’s Fung Global Fellowship last month, citing sex discrimination as the cause of her departure. Shortly after her acceptance into the postdoctoral program, Stucki discovered she was pregnant, and after more than a month of negotiation with the University, Stucki felt that the six weeks leave after delivery at less than half pay would not work. She has filed complaints with the University Title IX office and through the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.
Princeton has been criticized multiple times over the past few years regarding their handling of Title IX policies, especially those related to sexual misconduct. In 2019, Princeton Students for Title IX Reform (PIXR) led a 200 hour long protest that called upon the University for change. In April and May of this year, three different students have written articles demanding change after multiple students have been “failed by the University.”
Despite Title IX policies that protect against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or other pregnancy-related issues, Stucki discovered that these policies are denied to her as she is not an employee, but rather an “independent contractor” as a postdoc. And despite University faculty being eligible for ten to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, or up to a full year of unpaid leave, this is not applicable to Stucki, as the fellowship has no teaching responsibilities.
Head Opinion Editor Abigail Rabieh wrote a column last month on how the University does not offer resources to help women balance family life and a professional career. "The stories of working women and current research all show that professions and motherhood are not easy to combine. Princeton, however, turns a blind eye to this alarming issue, and fails its women in the process of preparing students for successful and happy lives post-grad," she wrote.
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