“Do it in your free time” – College professor tells student no breastfeeding during online lessons

Focus on your priorities. Breastfeeding can be done in your freetime. This is what a college professor in the United States told a young mother following an online course.

This story takes us to the United States, the bastion of democracy, freedom and liberties. Yet, Fresno City College student Marcella Mares learnt the hard way that even as a simple right, that of breastfeeding her child, was something she had to fight for.

A few weeks earlier, Prof Hung Hua, a lecturer at the College, asked all students to keep the microphones and webcams on during her lessons, to ensure maximum attention by his students. The latter were threatened that should this rule not be observed, they would forfeit the credits associated with that particular course.

Mares happens to be a young mother who is still breastfeeding her baby. Taking note of this request, and not being the type of student to ignore rules for the sake of doing so, she respectfully emailed Prof. Hua, informing him that while she would have kept the webcam on at most times, she might have had to switch it off for a while should during her child’s feeding time.

Most incredibly, the Professor retaliated with a very strong reply, suggesting that such things shouldnt be done during lesson time: “Do it in your free time”, his cold reply read.

The young girl might have actually let this incident go by, but Prof Hua was not happy to stop at this reply. Come next lesson, he launched a tirade against students for “not having priorities”, making a direct reference to Marcella’s email: “You have to priorities your studies and leave aside anything that takes away your attention: It was when Hua referred to giving attention to a child as “distractions” that made her feel humiliated and discrminated. “Our kids are not smartphones or TV sets!” she cried on Instagram.

It was at that moment that she decided to turn the tables on him, telling her story on social media, and even sharing her email exchange with him, while contacting an official from University, Lorraine Smith.

Thankfully the educational institution fully took her side, issuing a strong apology, informing her that it was perfectly in her right to switch off the webcam and breastfeed her child. Mares, whose incredible story made it even on CNN, welcomed the College’s stance, saying that “I love my child and her health will come before everything and anyone, on any day”.

She called for institutions to ensure that mothers who are trying to handle a job, studies and children should be helped not isolated”.