Perfect Union: How the Perfect Tender Infant Care Co-op Found a Home at King Hall

UC Davis School of Law has always been defined by its sense of community, and few stories better exemplify the spirit of that community than the founding of the Perfect Tender Infant Care Co-op. Spearheaded by Lucy Lofrumento (Alberts) '84 and Andrea Rosen '84, the effort touched almost everyone associated with the School of Law during the early '80s and established a vital resource that benefits students and their children to this day.

"It took a village," said Lofrumento. "It was a cause that almost everyone at the Law School could get behind. It was so logical, and it just seemed to fit with the supportive atmosphere that was already in place at the School of Law."

During her first semester the fall of 1980, Lofrumento learned she was pregnant and discovered to her surprise that UC Davis had no on-campus infant care. Going off-campus wasn't an option, she said. "Honestly, I didn't have two nickels to rub together," said Lofrumento. "But I wasn't about to give up my legal education, and I wasn't about to give up my baby. I decided I was just going to figure out some way to make it work."

Lofrumento learned of two other students who were also pregnant, and together they formulated a plan for an infant care co-op. Lofrumento drafted a memo to Dean Florian "Bart" Bartosic outlining the proposal and asserting that the co-op would "demonstrate the school's commitment to diversity and equal educational opportunity." The memo addressed insurance, licensing requirements, and other potential concerns and concluded that the only real barrier was space: the School of Law would need to provide a room. When the memo was shared with faculty and students, support was immediate. The Women's Caucus formed a support group, candidates in the Law Student Association elections campaigned on the need for infant care, students signed petitions, and some faculty lobbied the dean.  Crucially, Professor Floyd Feeney offered the use of the Criminal Justice Center's storage room: Room 103 in the "old" King Hall.

By the summer of 1981, the co-op had everything it needed-except approval from UC Davis administration, which proved reluctant. University officials raised concerns about insurance, licensing, and other issues, but Lofrumento and her supporters persisted, and the co-op was given permission to operate for one year in Room 103. When the first infants arrived during the fall of 1981, "People loved having the babies around," said Lofrumento.

"It was a stress reliever to visit them, and a humanizing element at the School of Law."

The following year brought new challenges-and new supporters. Rosen met Lofrumento through the Big Sib Little Sib student mentor program and quickly realized the need for a permanent home and more organizational structure. Drawing on her background as a community organizer and public health planner, Rosen drove the effort to establish the Friends of the Perfect Tender Infant Co-op as a nonprofit corporation.

"The overall context was that in the '80s there was a rising demand for quality child care, and like many institutions at the time, the university was slow to react," said Rosen, who had a child during her third year at King Hall. "Now, people take it for granted that there will be child care on campus, but that wasn't the case then. We were one of the first female-majority classes at any law school, and it was still considered somewhat unusual for a woman to want to be an attorney. Child care was a major issue."

After long negotiations, university officials agreed to allow the co-op to convert a portion of the student lounge for its use, providing several conditions were met, including demonstrated approval from students and the raising of $16,000 to cover costs. The Friends obtained signatures of 90 percent of the student body in support of the co-op, and through a series of fundraisers involving virtually the entire King Hall community, they secured the necessary funding.

In October 1983, the Friends celebrated the opening of a new home for the co-op adjacent to the student lounge, where it operated until  it was remodeled during the King Hall Expansion and Renovation and designated as the Nancy Coan Torres '86 and Michael Torres Perfect Tender Co-op Room in honor of their naming gift.

"The Perfect Tender Co-op has always held a special place in my heart," said Nancy Coan Torres. "When I came to King Hall, my locker was right next to the co-op. Having just left my position as a social worker working with children with developmental disabilities, I was having withdrawal pains. It made my day to go into the co-op and hold a baby or two between classes."

The co-op remains an important asset for the King Hall community. Bianca Duenas '16, current President of the Friends organization, said the co-op was an important factor in her choice of law schools. In comparing law schools where she had been accepted, "none of them had anything like the nursery at King Hall."

"I think it's really important that King Hall has this facility, especially because so many students today are coming to law school a little bit older and already have families," said Duenas, who entered law school with an infant daughter and gave birth to a son during her third year. "It makes it much more feasible to take on a huge commitment like law school when you know that you can care for your baby at the law school itself, without having to take on more debt so that you can pay for outside care."

"Helping to establish the co-op is probably one of the most rewarding things I've done in my life, because it has helped so many people," said Lofrumento, who in 2006 was able to watch her daughter Jenny, "the original co-op baby," graduate from King Hall.

"I know how hard it is to be a law student. I know how hard it is to be a parent. To try to be a parent in law school is a huge undertaking, and having the infant care co-op on campus is an incredible benefit for students who are struggling to keep it all together."

"I think it has been a great asset for King Hall," said Rosen. "We saw it as part of our vision for the way education should be structured to all kinds of students, including disabled students, and student parents of both genders."