A Proposal for the Creation of a Women’s Center at the University of Georgia


Proposal: This proposal recommends that a Women’s Center be created for the University of Georgia campus.


Definitions: A women’s center is a space specifically for the women members of the university community. Women’s centers address the specific needs of women on campus in a broad-based, collaborative, and non-academic setting.


Many people confuse women’s centers with Women’s Studies programs or institutes. Whereas the Institute for Women’s Studies focuses principally on teaching, research and outreach, a women’s center would focus on informal education, advocacy and support in accordance with the University’s commitment to diversity, equity, and a favorable campus climate for all. The center would provide informal educational programming, volunteer opportunities, seminars, and support groups. A women’s center would also provide a central location for resources and information dealing with all aspects of life in order to promote achievement and growth within the campus and Athens communities.


As it currently stands, UGA’s Institute for Women’s Studies, already understaffed, takes on many of the responsibilities that on other campuses are associated with women’s centers. With the addition of a women’s center, the Institute would be able to focus, like other UGA institutes, on its mission of scholarship, teaching, and outreach.


A women’s center in no way would take on the responsibilities of other facilities and programs but would make women students more aware of resources, programs and opportunities, as well as give them quick and easy access to those resources.


By establishing a Women’s Center, the University would demonstrate its commitment to principles of diversity and equity. A Women’s Center would improve the campus climate by fostering the ability of all individuals to flourish and contribute positively to the UGA community and beyond.


Over 400 campus-based women’s centers currently operate throughout the United States, working to meet the specific needs of women in higher education. It has become the norm of prestigious and competitive universities to provide a women’s center to their students in order to ensure the quality life of all students. The likes of Duke, Brown, the University of California-Davis, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of North Carolina, the University of California-Berkley, the University of Michigan, the University of Tennessee, Northwestern, Boston College, Cornell, Texas A&M. North Carolina State, Florida State University, Cal-Tech, the University of Colorado, Amherst College, and New York University all lay claim to campus-based women’s centers. By establishing a Women’s Center, UGA would not only meet the standard set by our peer and aspirational universities, but would provide vital services and programs for its students.


The University of Georgia is the flagship institution of higher education in the state of Georgia. Yet among the six institutes of higher education in the state that boast campus-based women’s centers – the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory, Georgia State University, Spelman College, Clark College, and Georgia College and State University – the University of Georgia cannot be counted. Surely UGA cares as much about its women students’ current environment and future potential as do these other institutions; establishing a Women’s Center would demonstrate this commitment.


Seven out of seven recent job candidates interviewing with the University of Georgia’s Women’s Studies Institute asked, “Is it true you don’t have a women’s center?”


Last year a petition was circulated and over 1,000 signatures were gathered in support of a women’s center.


It is time that current and prospective students, faculty, and staff see University of Georgia programs and resources that reflect the norms of nationally respected centers of education. Establishing a women’s center is an essential component to achieving this goal.


RATIONALE

The rationale for the creation of a women’s center at the University of Georgia is summarized below:


Institutional and Social Context

According to the University of Georgia Fact Book (2006), women are 57% of the UGA student population and 60% of the graduate and professional population, figures that are comparable to national statistics. Despite this predominance, it is easy to document that gender creates special circumstances for women both during college and afterwards. Specifically:



One of the main goals of UGA’s diversity initiative is to provide an equitable and inclusive campus community. Despite the advances of women in the United States in recent decades, a culture of inequality between women and men endures. Whether they are undergraduate students, non-traditional students, graduate students, administrators, faculty, or staff, women face unique issues and have different experiences than do men at the University of Georgia. Establishing a women’s center on campus would not only contribute to the university’s goal of creating a tolerant and non-discriminatory campus but would also provide a widely recognized, visible, student-oriented center that addresses women’s concerns in a broad-based, collaborative manner.


The proposed women’s center would tackle five powerfully identified issues on campus:


  1. Education and Awareness – Programs about women’s issues and access to information about the educational and historical achievements of women from multiple perspectives (including race, class, age, sexuality, and ability) are fundamental to 21st Century university education. Administrators, professors, staff, and students also require consciousness-raising about the complexity of women’s issues. On-going educational and awareness programs would better equip UGA graduates to enter the professional world. Specific examples may include:

  1. Support and Advocacy – Systems of information and referral, counseling, support, and advocacy are vital for women on campus. Women need networks and the support of other women in order to succeed as a group in higher education. The Center would serve as a central location where women could engage in an open forum about local and global women’s issues. Specific examples may include:

  1. Safety – Women need to feel safe in the campus environment; that safety should provide freedom from danger and the freedom to act. Women who have been abused, assaulted, or harassed need a “safe space” where they can talk to other women, get counseling, collect information, and make a plan of action. Specific examples, which would complement but not duplicate the work of the Office on Violence Prevention, may include:

  1. Equity – Equal opportunity, equitable pay and promotion, and equal treatment in the classroom are just a few of the everyday concerns for women in education. Women students, faculty, and staff need representative role models; mentoring; educational, funding, and research opportunities; professional development; and departmental support. Exchange among department heads, students, faculty, and staff is critical so all women’s concerns at the university can be voiced and addressed. Specific examples may include:

  1. Community – Women require connected relationships, a visible cohort of supportive people and groups within the university at large as well as the larger community, to combat alienation. Such support would seek to empower all women, to combat alienation, and to guarantee a more equitable future. Specific examples may include:


As noted above, women are a majority of students at UGA with needs that are largely not being met. The University of Georgia already devotes large amounts of funding to ensuring quality of student life through various programs, facilities, and resources. A women’s center would serve to increase the services offered by the University for its students. Comparable quality-of-life services that the university already sponsors include:


The creation of a campus-based women’s center falls in line with the University of Georgia’s stated commitment to diversity. According to a statement of diversity on the University of Georgia admissions webpage, “The diversity of backgrounds and life experiences constitutes experiential diversity, and it is of benefit to the entire University community. For these reasons, experiential diversity in the student body should be sought after and valued by the University.”


In addition to meeting the needs of women as a group, the unique, often marginalized needs of specific groups of women would be addressed via this center. Groups of UGA women, identified by Lathrop (2002) with unique needs include: women of color, graduate women, women with children, international students, lesbian and queer-identified women, and disabled women. Having a women’s center on campus would be of great value to the University of Georgia and its students. The various programs and workshops that a women’s center would offer would provide UGA students with the communication and leadership skills needed to succeed in the world today and the motivation and tools to seek change and better their own communities.


Creating a women’s center would contribute to the goals of the Division of Student Affairs and the University as a whole by encouraging diversity, increasing opportunities for service learning via internships and volunteer service, broadening the scope of out-of-class educational opportunities for students of all genders, and playing a role in the creation of an inclusive and equitable campus community.




**This document is based in part on a previous proposal prepared by Teresa Raetz. It was developed by the Spring 2007 Women’s Studies Capstone Class, and revised in Fall 2007 by Ashley Fuller, Kylie Jo Hood, and Jennifer Yoo.