Parenting Students at UIC

September was National Student Parent Month, a moment to recognize that many university students are also parents, responsible for nurturing others while they invest in themselves and their futures. In this issue of the newsletter, we feature the stories of four UIC students— Jennifer, Ashley, Akila, and Wendan.

More than one in five undergraduate students are parents; most parenting students are women who are doing the work of raising children by themselves. At UIC, the matriculation survey estimates the size of the undergraduate parenting student population at roughly 2 percent or 400-plus students, which is probably an undercount.

In 2023, WLRC authored a report that addresses a range of issues that parenting students at UIC face. As a women’s center on a campus that has always had non-traditional students (i.e., students older than 25 years old, returning to college after taking some time off, or transferring from a community college), we have long been attuned to the needs and concerns of parenting students. Parenting students still face an uphill battle at the institution, but there are various efforts underway to change the climate and the ways that they experience the campus.

Faculty and staff who took the lead in applying for the recent CCAMPIS grant (federal funding allocated to college campuses to address gaps in services and support for undergraduate students) helped the institution take a significant step forward in addressing the kinds of support that parenting students need if they are to successfully graduate and launch their careers. The grant has led to the establishment of the Little Sparks program which is led by Melinda Young. Through Little Sparks, undergraduate students can access assistance towards childcare. In the short time that it has existed, Little Sparks has done intentional outreach to and engagement of parenting students, using creative ways of connecting students to resources and pushing to improve the campus’s environment for all parenting students.

Parenting students are also demonstrating leadership in building community, sharing experiences, and advocating for themselves and their children. For example, I note the efforts of Michelle Campos, an undergraduate student majoring in Liberal Studies who runs a group chat that connects parenting students from across the university. Michelle is also co-chair of the Parenting Students subcommittee of the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women. Veronica Castillo, a graduate student in the School of Public Health, recently co-organized the “Super Student Parent Squad”, a get-together of parenting students. I expect that there will be more of such organizing by students to get the institution to see them and to address their concerns.

Kim Kull of UIC Children’s Center continues to advocate for UIC parenting students to have access to affordable childcare, and makes room for them in the Children’s Center, including expanding the age range of children who can be cared for. There is only one site on the west side of campus. Because of its history and its work, the UIC Children’s Center has a unique perspective on what the institution needs to do differently to serve its parenting students.

Recent changes to Title IX policy require that faculty inform pregnant and parenting students about their right to access accommodations through the Title IX coordinator’s office. Parenting students have said that faculty support is invaluable to their success. Some UIC faculty were themselves parenting students—whether as undergraduate or graduate students—so they have important insight into the struggles of our current students. There are faculty who are quietly but persistently making their classrooms accessible and welcoming to pregnant and parenting students. Some faculty want to know more about how to be supportive. WLRC is certainly interested in supporting faculty efforts to help parenting students thrive, and in hearing about what obstacles they encounter in working with this group of students.

All violence is interconnected

October is national Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As we do each year, CAN invites the campus into conversation about how we can work together to prevent domestic violence, and to raise awareness about how structural oppressions in the form of racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, economic inequities, xenophobia, Islamophobia, etc. subject people to violence and make it less likely that the harm committed against some groups will be seen or taken seriously. Our understanding of domestic violence is informed by decades of scholarship and activism of U.S. feminists of color who have shown us that domestic violence is interconnected with other expressions or forms of violence including structural violence, military/police/state violence, land dispossession, incarceration, and genocide. Normalizing violence in any sphere—or making it seem exceptional—makes it that much harder to name and speak out against the violence that happens in private. It is important that we understand and make visible these connections, and that we educate our community about the many ways that we can work together to disrupt cultures of violence that make life unlivable for too many people.

Kara Welsh of Wisconsin (U.S.) and Rebecca Cheptegei of Uganda were both accomplished athletes—different sports, different contexts, different levels of competition but shared drive to excel. Both were killed by current or former partners at a moment when they should have been celebrated. Kara was at the beginning of a new academic year at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Rebecca had just participated in the Olympics games in Paris. There are more stories like these; we just haven’t heard about them. What strikes me is that these women were quite present in their athletic lives—they trained, they competed, they were respected by their peers, they pushed their bodies and minds to excel in the sport. But the terror that haunted them in the form of abusive (ex-)partners outpaced any of their efforts to stay alive. How could others have intervened to prevent these tragedies? What are the conversations and actions that did not happen, and still need to if we are to prevent more of these injustices? I am also curious about the conversation that these tragedies have provoked among athletes and how we can open up such spaces here at UIC. For our students, staff, and faculty who are living with similar fears and experiences of violence, we believe the campus needs to commit more resources to holding space for survivors, prioritizing healing, and centering those whose pain often goes unrecognized.

Support for our MENA students

War is traumatizing for all who are touched, directly and indirectly, by its horror, its injustice and by the way that it infuses every part of one’s being. For many, the explosions feel far away and just out of our reach. The recent bombings and destruction of Lebanon is having a direct impact on our students and staff here at UIC. Our sister center, the Arab American Cultural Center, has been an extremely important space of support for MENA (Middle East and North African) students at UIC to be able to process what is happening, share news, become more educated about the issues that are involved, find moments of joy in an otherwise difficult time, and also be in a community space to counter the isolation and hopelessness that can surface. Like all the cultural centers, ArabAmCC’s space is open to the entire campus and reflects the campus’s efforts to be more inclusive. ArabAmCC is possible because of the tireless efforts of faculty, staff, and students to create space for MENA students on this campus. Next week, Dr. Evelyn Alsultany will visit UIC on Thursday, October 10 to talk about how political crises—from Trump’s “Muslim ban” to the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza—can open or foreclose opportunities for inclusion of MENA students on campus. This is an important conversation for us to be having at UIC.

Of Note

I grew up hearing the saying “What is a joke to you is death to me.” Here are a couple of cogent responses to the anti-Blackness that undergirds the rabid xenophobia that has been on display over the past few weeks. In this Ms. article, Stephanie Toliver at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, links the hostility towards Haitian immigrants to the antipathies towards Kamala Harris and African Americans. In this Washington Post article, Edwidge Danticat, Haitian writer and thinker, notes the history of antipathies towards Haiti and why this moment feels different and even more dangerous.

Take good care of yourself and each other.

In solidarity,
Natalie Bennett