Georgetown University's callous response to pregnant law student who asked to take test early to avoid clash with due date

Georgetown Law School came nether occurrence for its blistering effect to a large pupil to who asked to instrumentality 1 of her exams aboriginal to debar clashing with her scheduled owed date.

Brittany Lovely says schoolhouse administrators told her connected a telephone 'motherhood is not for the faint of bosom ' arsenic she asked for accommodations portion preparing to springiness birth.

Lovely enrolled astatine Georgetown successful Washington D.C. past twelvemonth and is acceptable to postgraduate from the rigorous programme successful 2026.

This year, she and her partner, Tyler Zirker, who is besides a Georgetown Law student, recovered retired she was large with a boy.

'When I recovered out, I was similar "Oh my God." By the clip he's here, I would inactive person a twelvemonth and a fractional successful instrumentality school,' Lovely told The Washington Post.

Little did she know, the problems would commencement earlier her archetypal lad would beryllium born, erstwhile she said schoolhouse officials denied her petition to instrumentality her transgression instrumentality exam aboriginal oregon from location due to the fact that it would beryllium unfair to different students.

The exam was scheduled connected December 13, much than a week aft her December 2 owed date.

The instrumentality school's autumn semester exam docket runs from December 6-13, with a December 16-18 serving arsenic dates that students tin defer their exams to.

Students person the close to defer their exams if they get sick, if there's a decease successful the family, oregon if a pupil gives commencement to a kid during oregon close earlier the exam period, according to the assemblage website.

When quality of the university's denial dispersed crossed campus, students circulated a petition that called connected the medication to assistance Lovely's petition to instrumentality her exam earlier her owed date. It got thousands of signatures.

But agelong earlier schoolwide unit came down connected assemblage leadership, Lovely was shouldering the load of getting her accommodations approved each connected her own.

She had been trying to find a workaround since the autumn semester began successful September.

On September 11, she reached retired to her school's Title IX coordinator, who asked the instrumentality school's registrar and bureau of world affairs if Lovely could instrumentality the trial aboriginal oregon astatine home. 

Lovely was consenting to instrumentality the trial astatine location connected the scheduled day of December 13 oregon connected the deferral dates of December 16-18.

That's erstwhile she got a denial from schoolhouse officials, who stated it would beryllium unfair to her classmates.

Lovely past requested a gathering with them and hoped to alteration their minds.

'The gathering was horrible,' Lovely told CNN.

'They said that I had to travel successful idiosyncratic nary substance what, to instrumentality this exam, and the lone times that I could instrumentality it were betwixt the 13th and the 18th, with the anticipation with exigency condition to widen it to the greeting of the 20th.'

If she couldn't marque this happen, she was allegedly told she would neglect the class.

Lovely besides said 1 of the participants told her she 'should person planned better' and that 'motherhood is not for the faint of heart.' 

The schoolhouse administrators Lovely said she spoke with allegedly suggested that Lovely could person idiosyncratic beryllium extracurricular the exam country with her newborn babe truthful she could instrumentality breaks to breastfeed him.

With nary of her demands met by aboriginal November, Lovely revisited the issue. 

She drafted and sent a ineligible memo to the dean describing what she'd been done and citing applicable lawsuit law, including Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

She said the dean responded by saying helium didn't woody with gestation scheduling adjustments and pointed her backmost to the Title IX authoritative she had already been moving with to nary avail.

The assemblage didn't corroborate Lovely's relationship of events, including the arguable telephone she said she had with schoolhouse officials.

'Georgetown is committed to providing a caring, supportive situation for large and parenting students. We person reached a mutually agreeable solution with the pupil who raised concerns,' a assemblage spokesperson said successful a connection that was circulated to galore media outlets.

This 'mutually agreeable solution' was lone reached, Lovely said, aft the 'public outcry' from her friends and chap students. 

Lovely said Georgetown agreed to widen the play to defer exams, from mid-December into January.

'That's large that they figured retired a mode to bash that,' Lovely said, 'But wherefore person I been warring them for months?'

She besides asked the assemblage to update its policies astir however it handles accommodation requests. She said she was told an authoritative would travel up with her.

'That hardly feels satisfactory oregon meaningful, really,' Zirker said.