No End in Sight:
Caregivers in Crisis under Covid

We, the undersigned, are faculty, researchers, instructors, as well as administrative and professional faculty, who are either primary caregivers of infants, toddlers, school-age children, aging parents, ill loved ones, and/or disabled loved ones, or individuals who recognize the value of support of such members in our community. We are writing to express our collective concern over inequities associated with our struggle to balance caregiving under Covid-19 with teaching, research, professional, and administrative roles at SUNY New Paltz that make our current situation unsustainable and to offer concrete suggestions for improving the situation in our workplace and community.

In the spirit of “We, not Me” we are compelled to highlight the ways in which this pandemic has laid bare the often-invisible care work that many of us do, but which had been somewhat eased by a rather frail public infrastructure of services such as public schooling, day care, elder care, and so forth. With these infrastructural supports withdrawn or occurring on a remote basis, caregivers are straining to keep up the levels of care work and multiple hats now demanded of them. Taking care of the healthy intellectual, emotional, and physical development of our children, as well as the health and well-being of our aging parents or immune-compromized family and friends is not an individual task. It can’t be. Our societal health and well-being now, and in the future, depends on how we collectively answer this call to create solutions for easing the very intense and uneven challenges that the COVID pandemic has brought upon us.

Several reports have emerged that detail the disparate impact of COVID on caregivers and women in particular. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities across the nation and around the globe. Women of all races have been disproportionately affected. According to a United Nations report issued in April, “Across every sphere, from health to the economy, security to social protection, the impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbated for women and girls simply by virtue of their sex.” This is not because women are dying at higher rates than men, but because women’s disproportionate, unpaid, and invisible care work has multiplied as daycare centers and schools have shuttered, and as elderly family members have become ill. New studies show that caregivers with young children are disproportionately experiencing mental health crises - with no end in sight. Care work has increased among both single and partnered women faculty and staff, with single parents and women who care for both parents-and-children (the “sandwich generation”) carrying the most significant burden. As just one example of the many adverse impacts that manifest from this trend, there has been a documented precipitous decline in submissions of peer review articles by women scholars. This has the potential for many undesirable outcomes including an increase in women leaving the academy, and for those who stay it can lead to greater gendered income disparities as discretionary increases stay pegged to research output and publications over teaching and service, as well as greater disparities in promotion, tenure and continuing appointment between men and people of all other genders.

We Need Help

This past spring semester, we patched together personal and professional plans to make things work; however this pandemic has not eased, but grown more pervasive without adequate federally coordinated intervention. Recently, school districts in and around New Paltz have begun the school year in all-remote settings, requiring that caregivers, especially of younger children or for children with special needs, be present to serve as instructional aids (or lead instructors), time managers, cheerleaders, mental health counselors, and much more--in addition to their professional work loads. This pattern of caring for our loved ones and maintaining professional commitment is untenable for many of us to continue this new status quo. We are urgently concerned about the immediate and long-term impacts on our faculty and staff of the pressures related to managing caregiving, health, and mental-health issues in conjunction with the overwhelming and increasing expectations of our workplace. We need real, substantial help or we will fail. We ask everyone in our community to recognize that while continuing to innovate and provide a high-quality education for our current college students under the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us are simultaneously raising and now bearing a new load of educating our children at home - the children that will become our next generation of college students, neighbors, and community members. Additionally, many are also caring for our elder generation--parents, mentors, and community members who have nurtured us and have enabled us to become educators. This is a multi-generational crisis. We need our community to step in and collectively assist in this challenge.

Moreover, those of us who belong to historically marginalized and underrepresented groups have experienced exponentially greater duress, in concert with the global uprisings following the graphic police violence and killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and far too many before them. Because of the myriad ways that institutional racism and ableism inform their lived experiences, Black and brown communities, including children of color-particularly Black and Latinx children, have disproportionately high rates of infection and mortality from the novel coronavirus. Furthermore, anti-Asian sentiments, aggression and violence has significantly increased during the pandemic, marking the greater vulnerability and marginalization of Asian and Asian-American families as well. Citizens of Indigenous nations have likewise experienced marked virus-related stressors and negative outcomes.

We acknowledge the administration’s listening and Q&A sessions for faculty prior to the start of the semester. The listening sessions have undoubtedly brought to light some of the individual challenges that caregivers have faced. During those sessions, administrators emphasized an approach focused on faculty discussing their particular situations with chairs and deans and negotiating an individualized solution with the office of HRDI. While in some cases this approach may be helpful, it also can lead to intensifying disparities and greatly depends on there being no unconscious biases on the part of chairs and deans. Every employee has a different relationship with his or her direct supervisor, which makes it difficult for everyone to access fair and just recourse. We think that it is important for SUNY New Paltz to have a transparent and uniform policy rather than directing individual employees to ask for specific accommodations on a case-by-case basis from their own chairs and deans. While our specific cases may take various forms, the underlying causes and impacts predictably overlap, highlighting a pattern of systemic neglect for and consideration of caregivers and care work in America, including at SUNY New Paltz.

Proposed Solutions

We would like to use this letter to augment that process with some concrete ideas towards a comprehensive SUNY New Paltz COVID-caregiver support program, focused on three core areas detailed below. These are ideas brainstormed by those of us responsible for primary caregiving responsibilities, and also inspired by similar petitions at peer institutions. We are planning for a faculty/staff/student survey to identify additional needs. We hope they may ensure that there is swift, significant, and inclusive action following the listening sessions.

Communication and expectations:

• Extend a formal letter of acknowledgement to those faculty, staff, and students who faced challenges by the additional caregiving responsibilities created by the novel coronavirus pandemic since March, and recognition of the ongoing crisis and implications for our community.

• Articulate at all levels of leadership the need for flexibility, reduced service loads, reduced teaching loads, and greater sensitivity about asking for “extra,” non-essential service or programming from faculty and staff during this academic year. Encourage an evaluation in every department and division of existing programming and loads in order to develop reasonable and sustainable expectations for caregivers and anyone facing health challenges during this crisis.

• Be familiar with the regional K12 public school schedules for remote and hybrid learning arrangements. Both academic and professional faculty with school aged kids will be heavily influenced by their child’s K12 remote and hybrid schooling schedules.

• Examine and establish reasonable caps for online and hybrid courses for Spring 2021.

• Reconsider the use of student evaluations in tenure and promotion reviews or job performance evaluations for the duration of the pandemic.

• Institute an additional year option of the tenure clock for tenure-track COVID caregivers, beyond the one already announced for AY20-21.

• Develop a formal process that details how disparate impacts during the pandemic year(s) will be addressed in annual reviews and promotion, tenure and DSI decisions.

• Offer caregiving graduate students an extension of an additional one year on any time-to-degree criteria in eligibility for housing, awards, grants, TA/RA assignments.

Rebalancing workload to account for increased caregiving:

• Develop a transparent and uniform teaching load relief request process for faculty who may require teaching relief to allow them to meet their research obligations while also being a COVID-caregiver.

• Articulate support for faculty in requesting reduced service load in order to focus on courses and course redesign. This should include an explicit policy that such requests will not negatively impact reappointment, promotion or future DSI.

• Further support the teaching faculty with augmented resources, such as graders or teaching assistants, who would provide instructional help to maintain teaching excellence during the pandemic.

• For graduate student caregivers, add an extra year on the guarantees of funding and tuition waivers indicated in their acceptance letters.

• Count service in the form of care work (in all its iterations, on campus and off) on par with or as a substitute for research publications when it comes time for annual evaluations, DSIs, and so forth.

• Assess and mitigate the increased workloads for professional faculty with the switch to remote arrangements, and which are expected to increase with vacancies, hiring freezes and expected cuts.

Caregiving support:

• Create infrastructure at SUNY New Paltz to secure additional childcare or elder-care and assistance and support, and/or for those who would be interested in established small family-care pods to help ease caregiving responsibilities.

  • 1. In addition to passive message boards or caregiving website memberships, we suggest buying out 50% time for a staff member during AY 2020-21 to support COVID-caregiver coordination, e.g. help set up privately sited childcare pods; field questions about unanticipated and unique child- and adult/elder-care needs due to the pandemic; mediate communications among impacted caregiving parties on campus, faculty senate, and upper administration.

• Extend the telecommuting agreement for professional faculty through the end of the calendar year, at minimum.

• Support in all divisions for asynchronous teaching modes or work-from-home policies relating to childcare and caregiving responsibilities. This should include a broad policy that would allow these choices to be made without fear of repercussion in terms of promotion and eligibility. Examples include:

  • 1. Directing human resources to develop more expansive plans and work options under Flexible Work arrangements among staff who are caregivers in light of the K-12 remote learning this year. Related to this, work with supervisors to effectively manage these crises with empathy and understanding.

    2. Continue allowing asynchronous teaching with no pressure or repercussions for those with COVID-caregiving responsibilities.

• Explore creating a childcare subsidy for covid-caregivers to help offset the unexpected costs of childcare (for those unable to be in school, as expected).

• Commit to working on establishing a child-care center &/or programs for faculty/staff that extends to include after-school care for grade school age children. This would help alleviate the need for emergency management in future crisis events.

• Establish support for affinity groups for caregivers from historically underrepresented groups as well as other marginalized groups who faced an exponential burden in the current climate of intolerance and bigotry.

Let’s come together to generate substantive solutions:

Just imagine if these requests were met: SUNY New Paltz could become a model in the SUNY System by creating a family-friendly environment during this crisis. This would result in both positive press for the University, and a boost to faculty and staff morale that is sorely needed. Moreover, campus actions now are an investment in its academic standards and research/scholarship strength in the future. Current researchers will be able to maintain the minimum research productivity necessary to be competitive for future grants, teaching faculty will feel supported in creating dynamic pedagogical responses for online and hybrid teaching, and potential applicants to job opportunities on our campus will feel confident in the University’s commitment to the total person, not just their utility as a teacher, staff, scholar, or student.

We hope that this letter helps to catalyze discussions at listening sessions and beyond, and also underscores the absolute necessity for our administration to respond urgently with concrete actions. The UUP is committed to facilitating a healthy, safe, and supportive workplace for teaching and research excellence at SUNY New Paltz. As such, the UUP New Paltz Chapter Executive Committee has officially, unanimously, and unequivocally endorsed this letter. Furthermore, we have created a Union-based Mutual Aid structure to support those in crisis and with urgent need for course coverage, food assistance, and other forms of support for any members of our campus community: SUNY New Paltz Mutual Aid. While this Mutual Aid network was conceived and executed by UUP membership, it is open to all our SUNY New Paltz community members--including our sister unions, as well as folks not represented by a union. As such, we acknowledge and are sensitive to the fact that many of our administrators and leadership are also caregivers - or have been - and are also managing the complexities of balancing the current crisis at work and home. This moment is an opportunity for us to come together demonstrating compassion with creative solutions that will benefit our whole community. We must seek ways to critically look at those things that are not working at our institution and be open to new ideas and approaches for how we do things on our campus. We ask the leadership of our campus to join us and work together to create a caring and responsive plan to continue to manage our responsibilities as educators and caregivers during this time of crisis and beyond.

Respectfully,
(signatures listed in alphabetical order)

Mona A. Ali, Economics
Janice W. Anderson, Communications
Madeline Arseneault, Philosophy
Yvonne Aspengren, Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Anne Balant, Communication Disorders
César Barros A., Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Emily Bazinet, Center for Student Engagement
Kara Belinsky, Biology
Kate Bellody, Sojourner Truth Library
Janis Benincasa, The Benjamin Center
Lee Bernstein, History
Wendy Bower, Communication Disorders
Eric Brattain, Mathematics
Peter D.G. Brown, Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Karl Bryant, Sociology and Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Richard Burton, UUP Organizer
Lizabeth Cain, Teaching and Learning
Barbara Caldwell, Development & Alumni Relations
Nancy Campos, AMP/CSTEP
Nataly Chesky, Teaching and Learning
Shafiul Chowdhury, Geology
Mary Christensen, Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Mette Christiansen, Sociology
Maryalice Citera, Psychology
Nathen Clerici, LLC
Megan Coder, Sojourner Truth Library
Carolyn Corrado, Sociology
April Coughlin, Teaching and Learning
Bryan Czibesz, Art
Anthony Dandridge, Black Studies
Aurora De Armendi, Art
Joann K. Deiudicibus, English
Jannett Dinsmore, Biology
Leigh Dodson, Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Crystal Donkor, English
Kathleen Dowley, Political Science
Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, Geography
Kevin Estrada Jr., Communication Disorders
Andrew Evans, History
Ed Felton, Art
Louisa Finn, Communication Disorders
Donna Flayhan, Communication
James Fossett, Art Studio
Andrea Frank, Art
Matthew Friday, Art
Anne Galperin, Art
Gordana Garapic, Geology
Andrea Gatzke, History
Bianca Gavin, Languages, Literatures & Culture
Michael Gayle, Psychology
Jackie George, English
Donna Goodman, Retired - Development
Kiersten Greene, Teaching and Learning
Giordana Grossi, Psychology
Ashley Guerrero, Disability Resource Center
Jack L Harris, Communication
Kristine Harris, History
Colby Harvish, Residence Life
Nancy M. Heiz, DMJ & Communication Studies
Heather Hewett, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Lois Hicks-Wozniak, Music
Mary Holland, English
Caroline Hopenwasser, Teaching and Learning
Maureen Hopkins, Communications Disorders & Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Kathleen Hunt, Communication
Robin Jacobowitz, The Benjamin Center
Benjamin Junge, Anthropology
Beth King, Career Resource Center
Deanna Knapp, Disability Resource Center
Douglas Koop, Physics and Astronomy
Leonora LaCorata, Custodial
Adolfo Béjar Lara, Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Susan Lewis, History
Daniel Lipson, Political Science & International Relations
Cristopher Livecchi, Geography
Colleen Lougen, Sojourner Truth Library
Ethan Madarieta, English
Adam Mastropaolo, Art
Kate McCoy, Educational Foundations
Mary McLaughlin, Communication Disorders
Shannon McManimon, Educational Studies & Leadership
Lauren Meeker, Anthropology
Amanda Merritt, School of Education
Scott Minkoff, Political Science
Kayleen Mogren, Center for International Programs
Allison Moore, Episcopal Campus Ministry
Ken Nystrom, Anthropology
Chrissy O'Grady, Sojourner Truth Library
Joel Oppenheimer, Student Affairs - Counseling Center
Meg Devlin O'Sullivan, History/Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Jessica Pabón, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
Jennifer Palomino, Enrollment Management
Stephen Pampinella, Political Science and International Relations
Amy Papaelias, Art
Gowri Parameswaran, Educational Studies and Leadership
Jill Parisi-Phillips, Art
Aiko Pletch, CIP/ESL
Jeff Pollard, Center for International Programs
Blair Proctor, Black Studies
Christina Cordier Purdy, Athletics, Wellness, and Recreation
Anca Radulescu, Mathematics
Aaron Ricciardi, English
David Richardson, Biology
Carol Riestma, Biology
Rachel Rigolino, English
Melissa Yang Rock, Geography
Lou Roper, History
Anne Roschelle, Sociology
Jennifer Rutner, Sojourner Truth Library
Jeannette Sanchez, Residence Life
Joanna Schroer, Academic Advising
Jason Serrano, Center for International Programs
Robyn Sheridan, School of Education
Akira Shimada, History
Joshua Simons, The Benjamin Center
Samantha Skillman, Center for International Programs
Jenn Slader, Student Affairs - Residence Life
Susan D Smutny, Art History
Kathryn A. Snyder, Purchasing
Rachel Somerstein, Journalism
Gerald Sorin, Jewish Studies
Katya Stanislavskaya, Theatre Arts
Amanda Stevens, Center for International Programs
Danielle Strauchler, Athletics, Wellness, and Recreation
Mary Thompson, UUP Chapter Assistant
kt Tobin, The Benjamin Center, Sociology
Amanda Valentin, Communication Studies/DMJ
Andrea Varga, Theatre Arts
Ramon Vasquez, Teaching and Learning
Madeline Veitch, Sojourner Truth Library
Jennifer Turner Waldo, Biology
Jessica Welsh, Communication Disorders
Miles Wilklow-Marnell, Chemistry
Beth E. Wilson, Art History
Greta Winograd, Psychology
Kim Wozencraft, English
Sarah Wyman, English & Faculty Center