About 60 students will have some added stress come the last two weeks of this semester: a new professor.

Associate history professor Rose Feurer is currently taking time off from work to care for her disabled son. However, Feurer’s medical leave does not cover the entire 15-week semester and NIU is having her return for the last three weeks of class.

“My main concern is, is it the right thing to do for students?” Feurer said. “If you take off for a section of the semester, you have concerns about disrupting the students. And that’s the feeling I have.”

Feurer’s leave is enabled by the Family and Medical Leave Act. The grant guarantees employees temporary medical leave under certain situations.

“The FMLA guarantees 12 weeks. That’s a problem for the university because our semester is longer,” Feurer said. “The FMLA doesn’t guarantee any pay at all. It just guarantees the right to take off time.”

Feurer’s classes this semester would have included History 261 and 468. Many of the students in the History 468 class are outraged the university would do this to them.

“I am in the process of writing a letter to the administration,” said senior history major Mike Buban, one of the students in History 468. “We, as students, think it’s silly to change teachers with three weeks left. Out of 60 kids in the class, about 50 will be signing this letter.”

Sara Hammes, a senior political science major and history 468 student said she thinks this is unfair for the students in the class.

“I think it’s one of the most disruptive things the university could do to us,” Hammes said. “As students, you have a professor who is going to grade everything. Then to have someone else come in with a different style is unfair.”

Paul Street, the visiting assistant history professor, is teaching History 468. Street is an expert on history after the 20th century, with various books on the subject. He will be forced to leave his class with three weeks left in the semester.

“I’ve been in and around academia for a long time. It is probably the most unusual circumstance I have ever encountered in a college or university,” Street said. “It feels very odd to be caught in the middle of that circumstance. There’s a disconnect between the educational mission of this (or any other) university and the particular policy in question: changing the instructional horse with a mere five classes to go until the end of the semester.”

Buban said he is concerned about his grade being affected by the transition.

“Paul Street is an expert in modern history, but then he is forced to leave right as we start the part in the curriculum which is his area of expertise,” Buban said. “But besides disrupting the curriculum, it’s a grading issue. There’s a certain give and take between the teacher and student, that’s part of the grade – participation. To bring in a whole different instructor will ruin this entire part of the class.”

Feurer agrees with the students.

“I have a lot of problems, pedagogically, with what students will get out of class when somebody new has to take it over in the last three weeks … there are a lot of problems professionally with that,” Feurer said. “It happens in an emergency situation, but to do it in a planned fashion, that’s a queer way of doing things from my perspective.”

Feurer also feels the administration is doing this because it is an issue of money. Feurer had taken a similar leave five years ago, when her son was first diagnosed.

“When I took a leave five years ago and I was distraught dealing with the diagnosis, the assistant chair of my department was positively gleeful because I was going to take it mostly unpaid and they were going to pocket the money for their budget,” Feurer said. “Now this person is gone, so I wouldn’t want to say that is the view of the current administration, but it does reflect the fact they know that if you take unpaid leave, they save money. And it’s much easier to work things out with the administration if you take an unpaid leave. They will be sympathetic if it’s unpaid.”

The administration declined to comment on the issue. Acting Dean Joseph Grush and History Department Chair Kenton Clymer both said that FMLA is a confidential issue between the employee and their company, not to be openly discussed.

Feurer believes this issue relates to larger issues than just her case.

“It’s useful for people to see that this is wrapped up in a grave societal prejudice,” Feurer said. “I know that I’ve heard it numerous times, from professors who think that somehow, people who get leaves have advantages. But, from the perspective of someone who’s caring for a sick or disabled child, or disabled parent, nobody who’s in that situation can see it as a special advantage.”

Beatrix Hoffman, chair of the history department’s Family and Medical Leave Act Committee, had a similar problem with an FMLA leave in the past. The history department has become active around the issues concerning the FMLA. Hoffman and Feurer have since worked on setting up rules for FMLA within the department via the Family and Medical Leave Committee.

“Northern Illinois University is behind many comparable institutions when it comes to family and medical leave benefits for faculty,” Hoffman said. “The administration should look at what other universities are doing, and it should start a dialogue with the NIU community about how best to create and implement policies that are fair, equitable and in the best interests of students as well as faculty.”

Despite the various objections to her situation, Feurer will return this semester to teach the last three weeks, including finals.

“I honestly don’t feel like I have a choice,” she said.