<p>[American</a> University professor breast-feeds sick baby in class, sparking debate - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/american-university-professor-breast-feeds-sick-baby-in-class-sparking-debate/2012/09/11/54a06856-fc12-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html]American”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/american-university-professor-breast-feeds-sick-baby-in-class-sparking-debate/2012/09/11/54a06856-fc12-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html)</p>
<p>An interesting message about this story from the Editor of the Eagle:
[A</a> note from the desk of the editor | The Eagle Online](<a href=“http://www.theeagleonline.com/opinion/story/a-note-from-the-desk-of-the-editor/]A”>http://www.theeagleonline.com/opinion/story/a-note-from-the-desk-of-the-editor/)</p>
<p>I LOVE how the OP re-headlined the article! Though I’d add a subtitle: “Requires that Students Assure Baby Doesn’t Swallow Metal Objects.”</p>
<p>This woman is a pip. Her published tirade was an embarrassment to the school. Favorite part: “The flow of my lecture was interrupted once by ‘Professor, your son has a paper-clip in his mouth’ (I promptly extracted it without correcting my students’ gendered assumptions)…” “Gendered assumptions!” A baby, probably bald, dressed in a blue onesie, and some poor kid who tried to make sure the child didn’t get hurt is accused of making “gendered assumptions”. But the best thing to read is the description of her book on the AU website: “Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras (University of California Press, 2008) examines the formation of Honduran subjectivities through an analysis of three intertwined topics: violence, alcohol, and maquiladoras. In the book she argues that the symbolic violence resulting from Hondurans’ embodied obsession with certain forms of “real” violence is a necessary condition for the acceptance of violent forms of modernity and capitalism.” Try to parse that sentence, folks. Sooo glad my D has never been in her class.</p>
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<p>Get a life. I did not “re-headlined the article.” If you knew anything about modern newspapers and the online world you’d know that (a) print headlines are different than online headlines and (b) the displayed URL link can be different than what the headline is when the article is displayed.</p>
<p>What I was really doing was writing a descriptive thread Subject field.
I had no idea what the URL display would be until posted.</p>
<p>And, in actuality, my Subject text does pull what the original print version of the headline was:</p>
<p>A BREAST-FEEDING QUIZ:
IS IT OK IN CLASS</p>
<p>AFTER AU PROFESSOR BRINGS SICK BABY TO WORK,
CAMPUS DEBATES PROFESSIONALISM AND PROPRITY</p>
<p>I don’t know how I missed this in the media. I just googled “American University professor and breastfeeding” and saw this was picked up by the news media.</p>
<p>@GolfFather: Why be rude?–You’ve only been posting on CC for a few months, so I guess you need to be told that “Get a life” doesn’t pass as polite discourse around here, nor does denigrating a poster for supposedly knowing “nothing about modern newspapers and the online world”. I was actually trying to give you a compliment, sorry it went right past you. All the news organizations focused their stories on the propriety of breastfeeding in the classroom, whereas the vast majority of people who published comments in various media saw it as a story about the propriety of bringing a sick kid to work. I inferred that you were providing what the real headline should have been. But not to worry, I won’t try to compliment you again. In any case, welcome to CC, where we try to play nice.</p>
<p>Well said, MommaJ. Golffather, settle down and enjoy the company. </p>
<p>I do think it is worth noting that this was a feminist anthropology class entitled “Sex, Gender and Culture.” I wonder if she didn’t make this choice partly to trigger discussion about gender roles, cultural norms and the challenges of women in the workplace. She has a wonderful opportunity to do so, in my opinion. I too have been disappointed by her decision to be snarky and mean-spirited about the incident when she could have used this to bring about some important conversations.</p>
<p>Talking to my daughter, she says the kids on campus are amused that this has gotten national media attention and most of them think it is no big deal.</p>
<p>My D was excited to see news vans on campus, but beyond that thought little of the whole kerfluffle. I note that AU’s official statement made it clear that the prof’s legit options did not include bringing a baby to class. I wonder if her actions will have a negative impact on her quest for tenure.</p>
<p>One lesson I hope women take from this is that choosing to be a single mother (I think that’s a fair assumption in this case, though we don’t know for sure) is choosing a difficult path. Kids get sick, kids have problems, kids need attention and assistance at unpredictable times. Having a second adult in a family means a lot.</p>