Even if they’re smart and can read, babies don’t belong in a university classroom. (blessings / Shutterstock)
Every few months a story about a woman breastfeeding in public makes national news. A bus driver orders a nursing mom to get off the bus or a pastor refers to a woman breastfeeding in church as lewd.
I always side with the mom in these situations. Nursing is the most practical and natural way to feed a baby and Americans need to be less prudish and let women do their thing, even if it happens to be in a church pew. The people who find breastfeeding inappropriate, gross, indecent or offensive are just plain wrong, in my opinion.
But the latest breastfeeding-in-public story to take the media by storm has me troubled, and this time I’m finding it difficult to side with the mom.
In this situation, which took place in Washington, D.C., two weeks ago, the mom is an assistant anthropology professor at American University. Adrienne Pine nursed her infant while teaching a class of 40 students. Coincidentally (and humorously), Pine was teaching a feminist class called “Sex, Gender & Culture.” No, a nursing demonstration wasn’t a planned part of the show. The single mom brought her baby to class because the child had a fever and she had exhausted all childcare options. She didn’t want to cancel the first day of class so she showed up with a baby in tow.
The Washington Post reports:
The baby, in a blue onesie, crawled on the floor of the lecture hall during part of the 75-minute class…The mother extracted a paper clip from the girl’s mouth at one point and shooed her away from an electrical outlet. A teaching assistant held the baby and rocked her at times, volunteering to help even though Pine stressed that she didn’t have to. When the baby grew restless, Pine breast-fed her while continuing her lecture in front of 40 students.
Some students were outraged. Jake Carias, 18, told the Post, “I found it unprofessional. I was kind of appalled.”
Although Carias is guilty for inappropriate behavior himself. He told the Post that he sent out a tweet about the incident during class. (Isn’t social media a no-no in class?)
The University issued a statement about the incident, emphasizing “that faculty members should take advantage of options such as sick leave, break times and private areas for nursing mothers to express milk so they can maintain a focus on professional responsibilities in the classroom,” the Post reported.
Pine hasn’t talked with the media but she did publish a response in an essay titled “The Dialectics of Breastfeeding on Campus: Exposéing My Breasts on the Internet” posted on CounterPunch.org. She writes:
So here’s the story, internet: I fed my sick baby during feminist anthropology class without disrupting the lecture so as to not have to cancel the first day of class. I doubt anyone saw my nipple, because I’m pretty good at covering it. But if they did, they now know that I too, a university professor, like them, have nipples. Or at least that I have one.
Now students across the American University campus are asking, Is it appropriate for a professor to breastfeed while teaching a class?
I hate to come down on a breastfeeding mom but I think Pine made a bad decision—and not only because she breastfed in front of her class. I would feel similarly if Pine stood there lecturing while bottle-feeding the baby. The main issue here is the sick baby. Bringing a sick child to class is unfair to the child and the students. Pine should have stayed at home with her sick child or as parenting writer Lisa Belkin suggests in an article for the Huffington Post, the university should provide emergency childcare for these sorts of situations.
Another issue here is the nature of Pine’s job. She’s a university professor and it’s her responsibility to teach, to lecture, to go over lessons. It’s difficult to do that job when you’re caring for a baby. Yes, some jobs can be done with a baby around—not necessarily efficiently or well, but any mom knows that it’s possible to write an email or even conduct a conference call with a baby, even a nursing one, in your lap. If you’re at a desk all day, it’s acceptable to bring a baby to work on that rare occasion, although if the baby were sick, then you should try to get that work done at home.
But Pine’s job is different because she’s the center of attention and all eyes are on her. She’s a performer, in a sense. Normally, I think nursing in public is fine when you can be discreet about it—which is entirely possible when you’re riding a bus or eating at a restaurant or sitting in a church pew. But if you’re the bus driver or the waiter or the pastor, it’s impossible to quietly care for your baby while you’re actively doing your job and taking care of your passengers, customers, or students. Yes, you can take a 20 minute break to nurse or give your baby a bottle, but Pine didn’t do that. She multi-tasked and tried to do it all at once and that’s not fair to any of the parties involved—the baby, the students or herself.
What do you think? Is it acceptable for a university professor to nurse while teaching a class?
[Huffington Post]
