The Women's Affairs Commission will be presenting a revised proposal for the new women's center to the rest of the Student Senate general body in hopes of passing a resolution to send to the administration. After years of outcry for a women's center from various student organizations, the commission hopes to help finally establish one.
Ohio University has allocated a space for the center on the fourth floor of the new student center, near the spirit shop, ID services and the post office. Although OU provided space for the center, it has not yet provided funding to develop the bare-walled space.
Because this issue has been on the back-burner so long
other organizations are taking precedence over it said Linsey Pecikonis, women's affairs commissioner. We want to make sure women's issues on campus are at the forefront. This was a big movement in the '70s and here we are in 2004-2005 still fighting for it.
A rough proposed operating budget in the original proposal estimates an annual operating budget of about $145,000. This would include a staff of a coordinator, an administrative assistant, a graduate assistant and student employees.
The new proposal outlines how the women's center will foster diversity, build a partnership with the city of Athens and broaden research; it is no accident that these are the goals outlined by OU's President Roderick McDavis, Pecikonis said.
Pecikonis hopes the center will have an educational focus that serves local women in a non-partisan manner, she said. Some specific programs Pecikonis mentioned include discussion groups, speakers, leadership conferences and a resource base including a library and information on sexual assault. It also would serve as a resource for scholarships and internships for people studying women's issues.
It would be a space where women could hang out and it, hopefully, would be open late, Pecikonis said.
The commission is beginning to ponder the look and feel of the center. It plans to take trips to other women's centers to obtain ideas.
OU used to have a women's center in the 1970s, but it was dispelled, partly because a stigma of lesbianism was attached to it, said Mickey Hart, coordinator for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Program.
There's a lot of sexism still in our society
Hart said. In our world and our society
things are different for women
and it'd be important for them to have a focal point. A women's center would provide a safe space where women, as well as male allies, can come, he said.
When Student Senator Elaine Kaylor talks to people at other universities with women's centers, they are surprised that a progressive school like OU does not have a women's center, she said. Kaylor is one of four women working on the commission.
There is a great deal of significance to having a women's center, said Jan Goettsch, director of Miami University's women's center. In addition to serving as a physical space where women can feel comfortable, the center is a social space where they can connect on projects and networks.
It's important symbolically because it demonstrates that the institution recognizes that women are important
Goettsch said.
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Ellie Behling
