By Faith Montalvo
TAMPA, Fla. — A folder inserter machine rests on a table, occupying half of the narrow, beige room. A brown chair rests in the furthest corner from the door on the other side, and a floor lamp hides between the table and the wall. Outside, this room is locked, and a mother’s room sign hangs on the wall.
This is one of three nursing mother’s rooms at The University of Tampa, located on the second floor of the Thompson Building. The other two rooms are in the Jenkins Health Building and the Grand Center. The conditions of these rooms are comfortable, modern, and spacious, unlike the one in Thompson.
None of these mother’s rooms are searchable on UTampa’s website, and there is little awareness of them and other available resources for pregnant and parenting students.
Taylor Parker, the Title IX coordinator at UTampa, said in an email that the lactating space in Thompson is not publicly advertised due to its state. The most recent campus map includes the two other lactating room locations and baby changing stations.
Parker said there is a demand for resources that address parenting and pregnancy-related circumstances, and the Title IX office works with community partners to assist parenting or pregnant students. The university’s accessibility office is also essential in providing accommodations for pregnancy-related health conditions.
“Additionally, I would point to the lactation space,” she wrote.
Parker also said that her responsibilities in assisting parenting or pregnant students include implementing supportive measures and investigating complaints of pregnancy-based discrimination.
While UTampa does have wellness, counseling, and medical departments on campus, none of these resources directly address pregnancy or parenting situations.
Brooke Stell, an elementary education student at Stockton University in New Jersey, said that while she did not know what to do about her pregnancy, she was referred to available resources at her school for accommodations.
“I had kind of fallen out of my classes because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” she said. “For one, what am I going to do? And two, now I’m missing classes.’”
Stell said that she talked to her professors about her pregnancy, and they pointed her to the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Center. Their website has information about various supplies and resources for parents.
Information on pregnant and parenting student accommodations and protections at UTampa under Title IX can be found as a PDF on Google, but it is unsearchable on the official website.
Sarah Smith-Frigerio, assistant professor of public relations at UTampa, said she started school at Missouri State University when her first child was 7 months old. Her second child was a toddler when she began her master’s. She said that the combination of available resources and support from classmates and faculty helped her through her higher education.
Smith-Frigerio said she wants to see UTampa create more awareness of available resources and expand them.
“I know we have health and wellbeing resources on campus that are not widely know[n] by students and faculty,” she said in an email. “Let’s work to get the word out about these.”
Under the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections Act, the Department of Labor requires employers to provide a space other than a bathroom “shielded from view and free from intrusion to express breast milk while at work.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also recommends including amenities other than the minimum requirements to make the space more comfortable. Their suggestions include a sink, a footstool, cleaning supplies, and information about lactation support.
The lactation room in the Jenkins Health Building, GHS 527, has many of these recommendations: a sink, counter space, two chairs, a miniature fridge, a clean table, and various lactating supplies for nursing and pumping mothers.
The mother’s room in the Grand Center, room 157, is spacious, though there are currently no lactating supplies. As of the writing of this article, the room has a large chair with an end table, a sink, lighting, and counter space.
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The lactation room in Thompson 207 is not publicly advertised because of the office machine inside. Photo courtesy of Faith Montalvo.
The lactation room inside the Grand Center 157. Inside is a chair, an end table, counter space, a sink, and a mini fridge. Photo courtesy of Faith Montalvo.
The mother’s room in GHS 527 from the door’s perspective. Inside is a miniature fridge, a sink, a clear table, and supplies for nursing students and faculty. Photo courtesy of Faith Montalvo.