Emerging Recommendations
The UMCDC Parents Organizing Leadership Team is working to save the UMCDC, but also looking ahead.
The history of early childhood education and care on campus paints the picture of a series of major, momentary pushes for change (such as the 1992 expansion) coupled with crises such as the one we face now. This is not responsible stewardship of a critical resource that should have had a plan for growth and evolution long ago.
We have only had a few weeks to consider what should happen next. Our thoughts about these topics are evolving, and this page will be refined over time.
Currently, our main emerging recommendation is singular in focus.
No one college or administrator should have the ability to do away with decades of progress on early childhood education and care at the University. We propose that a governance group be formed and charged with stewardship of this important function. This group would examine, among other things, financial models for income-based tuition, and the question of when/if/how to expand care.
Examples of this exist at other institutions.
Early childhood education and care is specifically addressed by committees and other bodies at Penn State, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
At the University, an example is the Benefits Advisory Committee.
Penn State
As recommended by the 2014 Presidential Task Force on Child Care at Penn State, the Child Care Advisory Committee was re-constituted in the summer of 2014 (2016 follow up report). The initial 2014 committee is listed in this press release.
Wisconsin
University Child Care Committee is advisory to Office of Child Care and Family Resources, which runs a network of 5 centers on campus and provides other services.
The University Child Care Committee (UCCC), founded in 1970, continues today to address the ever-pressing needs of early education and child care on campus.The committee is advisory in nature and is charged with providing recommendations to the Provost and Director of the UW Office of Child Care & Family Resources.
Indiana
The office of Campus Child Care Support was established in 1996 through the recommendation of the IUB Campus Child Care Coalition with the support of student, faculty and staff organizations on the Bloomington campus. Funded through the Office of the Provost, Campus Child Care Support has a three-part mission:
- To oversee and coordinate all child care services on the Bloomington campus.
- To provide a single point of entry for IUB students and employees seeking child care information and services on the Bloomington campus.
- To advocate for expansion and increased support for child care services on the Bloomington campus.
The IUB Campus Child Care Coalition is listed under Campus Committee under the Bloomington Faculty Council.