Pregnant Georgetown Law student Brittany Lovely says she had to fight her school to get a final exam rescheduled when it fell close to her baby's due date.
"It's been a long third trimester," Lovely tells TODAY.com.
Lovely and her partner of five years, Tyler Zirker, also a law student at Georgetown, were surprised and delighted when they learned they were expecting. Then they realized the due date (Dec. 2) was a bit too close to Lovely's in-person final exam, which was scheduled for Dec. 13.
It's not unusual for first babies to arrive late (as of Dec. 4, the Lovely baby is still being eagerly awaited), so Lovely may have had to take her exam just a few days after giving birth. And as a Black woman in Washington, D.C., a city with a high rate of pregnancy-related deaths for Black women, Lovely was concerned about complications.
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After months of discussion, including a meeting in which Lovely says she was told by a dean that "motherhood is not for the faint of heart," there's a resolution.
The school has “reached a mutually agreeable solution with the student who raised concerns,” says a Georgetown spokesperson. On Nov. 26, the registrar's office announced that all students will have the opportunity to defer exams to early January.
Lovely says she is determined to help Georgetown adjust its policies to suit all students — permanently.
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"At some point this became so much more than me," she says.
TODAY.com based this story on an interview with Lovely as well as a review of her written correspondence with the school.
A pregnancy-school conflict
Lovely first contacted the university's Title IX official about the issue in September, she says. (Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex.)
She made an official request to take her exam early or from home, and according to Lovely and her correspondence with the school, the request was denied.
Lovely then scheduled a video meeting with university officials, but she says they simply reiterated her options: take the exam during the predetermined dates or officially withdraw from the class.
"It was an absolutely awful meeting," Lovely says. She tells TODAY.com that a university official told her that she could have planned better around her finals. And, she says in an interview with TODAY.com and in her letter to the school, the university official told her, "Motherhood is not for the faint of heart."
TODAY.com reached out to Georgetown for comment about that meeting specifically, and did not get a response. The Title IX coordinator, who was on the call with Lovely and the school administrator, referred TODAY.com's inquiry back to the school.
The school did share that all students, including Lovely, will now have the option to defer exams until January.
Lovely says a school representative suggested she "take time off" for motherhood.
"I'm here on loans and scholarships. I don't have the means or the access to capital to just take time off," she says.
Lovely said she expressed disappointment in the meeting with the university official, raising the school's Jesuit values. "At the end of my spiel she said, 'Well, I already told you all of your options. I hope you find one that works.' And then she hung up on us," Lovely says.
“This doesn’t feel right. And nobody should have to be going through this,” she tells TODAY.com.
Continuing the fight
With help from her friends, Lovely sent a letter outlining her legal argument to the dean on Nov. 10.
The response, which Lovely says was "disheartening," directed her back to the Title IX official she was already working with.
TODAY.com reviewed Lovely's correspondence with the university. The university shared a general statement but has declined to comment on her specific complaints.
The outcome
On Thursday, Nov. 21, Lovely's friends started a petition on her behalf. The petition gained momentum — and media coverage — and by Friday evening, the school agreed to let her take the exam early or defer to January (and later made the January deferral an option for all students).
"I think if I haven't gone into labor, I'd prefer to get the test over with," she says. "I've spent all of this time now trying to fight just to be able to take my exam. Studying hasn't had a lot of space. So it's very frustrating."
Even though the mom-to-be got what she asked for, she says she still wants a better resolution for future students.
She says, "I love my school, and I love my community, and I want to see it do better. I want to see it live the values it says it has."
Following Lovely's complaints, Georgetown officials sent a letter to the community saying they will be reviewing their policies.
"We have heard your concerns about barriers encountered by pregnant and parenting students and students with disabilities," the note to the community says. "In the new year, we will be gathering input from students, faculty, and staff to better understand the challenges experienced and develop proposals for changes to relevant policies and procedures. We will use your input to draft updates to the relevant policies and procedures in accordance with Title IX, the Americans with Disability Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and will invite you to offer further comments before the policies and procedures are finalized We hope that this collaborative process will strengthen our community."
In the meantime, Lovely is trying to balance her schoolwork with preparing to welcome her son.
"Finals and this whole fight are really important," Lovely says, "and the time ticking on meeting my son is consuming. I'm already in love with him and I just can't wait."
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
