The Faculty Senate reviewed the proposed Arrival of Children policy Wednesday night and made recommendations that the policy be widened to address other issues that faculty members face.

“I think that the policy makes a good start – but it is only a start,” said Christine Pope, president of the Faculty Senate.

The Senate voted to recommend that the policy be broadened to include all of the areas addressed under the Family Medical Leave Act, such as elder care and the arrival of adopted or foster children.

The Family Medical Leave Act requires employers to give three months of unpaid leave to employees.

Greg Palermo, professor of architecture, said there is no uniform child leave policy among the different college departments.

“We need to make changes in our institutions that reflect changes in our society,” Pope said.

Connie Post, Senate secretary and associate professor of English, who served on the committee to review the policy, said they reviewed the policies of 11 other peer institutions and Iowa State was “really behind the curve on this.”

The Senate proposed that each employee be offered six weeks of leave to accommodate the arrival of children.

“Asking for six weeks is a modest proposal,” Post said.

It is also up to each individual employee whether to take the offered leave and how much they take. She stressed that it was a matter of choice, since not everyone will want to take the leave.

They also wanted to change the current name of the policy from the Arrival of Children policy to Family Leave policy.

The Senate recommended the policy be revised so that the tenure clock is stopped when a member of the faculty takes leave.

“The university must address ways to alter the tenure clock, so that meeting certain family needs like childbirth and adoption do not make it impossible to achieve tenure,” Pope said.

Pope said she feels this is important because the university needs a set of uniform practices to deal with these issues.

“I congratulate the administration for its initial efforts and pledge the Senate to continue to develop an equitable and reasonable policy for everyone,” she said.

The Senate also proposed a bill opposing the naming of the honors building after former ISU president Martin C. Jischke. The bill supports naming the building the “Honors Building,” which could be renamed in the future.

The Senate was concerned about the policy that university buildings are not to be named after an ex-university official for at least five years after the official has left the university. There was also significant concern about how Jischke conducted himself as president.

The Senate will vote on this policy at its next meeting March 5 at 7:30 in Room 260 in the Scheman Building.