She removed all the comments from her blog, but there is some controversy surrounding this, even many other pro-breastfeeding moms have criticized her.

Currier has already received special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, including being granted permission to take the test over two days instead of one.

I am very pro-breastfeeding, but this case stinks of exaggeration and entitlement.

Yes, excellent point - thanks for commenting. If in the same situation I probably wouldn't have sued (not being the litigious sort) but I also have endured the ranks of high pressure academia, where it's male dominated and often times you need to scream in order to be heard. When I was nursing and working here in the Boston academic scene, despite being extremely clear about my needs to pump during the day, I still was relegated to the bathroom periodically.

Having also endured lengthy comprehensive exams during my doctoral work, if in the position again, I never would plan to take this sort of exam while in the intensive nursing phase. But the nature of academia and medicine makes it extremely difficult to make the choice to wait (the clock keeps ticking and there are plenty of people who covet your spot). This situation would be a lot cleaner (i.e., less reeking) if Currier had opted to wait on the exam until she was at a baseline where she didn't require additional accommodation above the special needs allocation.

I definitely understand the basis of the complaint and I am definitely one of the "fight for your rights" type. I just believe that there are too many other factors in this particular situation to consider this a real fight for breastfeeding rights.

Should comfortable pumping rooms exist for breastfeeding mothers? YES

Should breastfeeding mothers be allowed to pump when they need to? YES

Should we be able to breastfeed in public? YES

I dont disagree with those things.. I just think this specific situation is the wrong one to champion.

As a breastfeeding mother myself I am always 100% behind women who are fighting for the right to nurse however in this situation I believe she gained an inch and is asking for a mile.

Harvard provided this mom with the opportunity to pump in a private room and even to go off campus during the breaks in the test.

They also are allowing her to take the test over two separate days...now if you add that up, that's 4.5 hours each day of testing with a 45minute break each day...plenty enough time to pump. What 4-month-old eats every hour?

As a PhD and mother of a 5-yr-old who still nurses, I can say that suggestions to wait with either 'career' or 'child' until one is in a position to accommodate the other are absurd!
Not sure if people mean the test was broken into 2 parts before or after the suit. I would think it would be possible to go 4.5 hrs without pumping, but probably not desirable (I started teaching at GMU again 3 weeks post-partum, and recall that my Mondays, on which I was away for 6 hrs, were miserable and generally required 2 pumping breaks). My final exam was only 2 hrs long, but was 1.5 hrs away from where my baby was staying--a snowstorm wiped out our other plans. I didn't have hte pump along, wound up hand-expressing enough to last him through the day.
I have ADD as well. Seems to me that some of the folks commenting here don't. Asking for accommodation is just that--asking for the chance to show you can do it as well as anyone else, as long as you don't have to do it in the same WAY as everyone else.
Don't be so harsh on this woman! We don't want to have to fit into models laid out by men--don't make her fit into models you lay out!