Pregnant and Parenting Students

General Information

If you are a pregnant or parenting student, Title IX protects you from discrimination and harassment in a university’s programs and activities. Title IX also requires that pregnant students receive reasonable adjustments to coursework, schedules, or other requirements if necessary based on your pregnancy.

To request assistance, or if you have questions about the protections or accommodations that can be provided to you under Title IX, please feel encouraged to complete this online form and/or contact the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX at 704-687-6130 or civilrights-titleix@charlotte.edu. You can also stop by the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX in Cato Hall, Suite 132 during normal business hours.

Federal Law

Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in a university’s education programs and activities. Sex-based discrimination includes:

• Applying any rule concerning a student’s actual or potential parental, family, or marital status which treats students differently on the basis of sex.
• Discriminating against any student, or excluding any student from an education program or activity, including any class or extracurricular activity, on the basis of such student’s pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or recovery therefrom (unless the student requests voluntarily to participate in a separate portion of the program or activity).
• Requiring a doctor’s note to certify that a pregnant student is physically and emotionally able to continue participation unless such a certification is required of all students for other physical or emotional conditions requiring the attention of a physician.

Under Title IX, a university is required to:

• Operate any separate education program or activity for pregnant students on a completely voluntary basis and ensure that such separate program or activity is comparable.
• Treat pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, and recovery therefrom in the same manner and under the same policies as any other temporary disability with respect to any university medical or hospital benefit, service, plan, or policy.
• Treat pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, and recovery therefrom as a justification for a leave of absence for so long a period of time as is deemed medically necessary by the student’s physician, at the conclusion of which the student shall be reinstated to the status which they held when the leave began.