Listen to What SGA Has to Say: Virginia is for lovers, but some mothers go uncovered

Maternity leave is something that is given to women that allows them to take time away from their job to take care of a child that has just become a part of her family while still getting paid. The other day I discovered the Virginia Department of Health’s policy regarding their criteria on who they believe deserves a maternity leave and who does not. Who would have thought that maternity leave was a privilege that the Department of Health does not deem necessary for parents who choose to adopt children?

Classified staff employees, including maintenance personnel, administrative assistants and part-time professors, who make less money than full-time faculty members and do not have the “peer coverage” allotted to faculty, are required to take unpaid leave in these cases. The state finds the short-term disability leave that covers biological mothers inapplicable, as the adopted child does not come from them biologically.

How can a state like Virginia that gives such significant regard to family ideals and values limit the chance to grant an individual the right to experience the joys that come with starting a new family, biological or not? It sets such a dichotomy for the principles that Virginia prides itself on. It is discrimination to staff members who have chosen to adopt their children for whatever the reason it is that they are not qualified for paid maternity leave.

I find it reprehensible that the state of Virginia treats its own in this manner. The professors and the staff who support them are what I believe make up this public, state university that bring recognition to this state. Why would you not grant them what they deserve?  So Virginia, where is the love?

Macon Hollister is junior sociology and English major.