Women's Resource ExCo defines goals for project

Students, faculty and staff are in the initial phases of creating a woman's resource center to broaden the services available for women on campus.

As part of his agenda for long range planning, Associate Dean of Students Bill Stackman has been working with interested students and faculty on campus to research ideas and create a vision of what is desired from the facility. Those involved hope the center will address the unmet needs of women in the community.

"It is a good idea as long as they don't reproduce the services already available on campus," first-year Sarah Kaiksow said. "There needs to be some research done to learn what women on this campus need."

Students involved in the organization of the center can work on the project for academic credit through the Experimental College (ExCo). "We met at the beginning of the year and decided that giving students academic credit for the practical experience would be a good idea," Stackman said.

According to college sophomore Susan Dennehy, one of five women currently participating in the ExCo, the immediate goal of the course is to establish an interim women's resource center until a permanent location can be created.

Dennehy felt the creation of the ExCo would be the most effective way to ensure that people would remain committed after the initial idea was conceived. "We want to be able to keep people accountable, and to give credit to those who work hard on this project," she said.

While acknowledging they are at the beginning of a long process, the group of ExCo students is working to ensure that the process will move smoothly and efficiently. The plan for the class is to develop a formal proposal for a women's research center which will identify their mission statement.

Other plans include the development of a web page and compiling data from similar centers across the country. More logistical issues address the identification of a location and researching financial resources.

The class, coordinated by Stackman, meets bi-weekly to discuss the progress of the project. On alternating Thursdays the meetings are open to the public. People are encouraged to attend, share their ideas and give input on the role of the center in Oberlin.

While the current number of participants is still small, those involved do not feel that truly represents the interest on campus. "I think there are a lot of people who would use a women's research center, but do not have the time to commit to development. The people who are involved are very dedicated," Dennehey said. "We want to get input from other people," she said.

Some of the preliminary ideas for the center include space for discussion and support groups for women's issues such as women's health and legal advocacy. Education in women's issues will also be addressed through access to the internet and a continually growing selection of books, as well as bulletin boards to update people about related events.

Other ideas include a place for students to relax and talk in a comfortable and safe environment. The area would also contain numerous meeting and lecture spaces that would be open to the entire campus.

According to Dennehy, there is currently a women's study and reading room on the third floor of Mudd Library near the east Asian Studies area. She feels most students do not know it exists, but encourages people to use this resource.

Those students involved in the ExCo class hope to organize and expand on the materials currently available in this reading room.

While not everyone on campus is aware of the work being done to create a new center for women, those who know are enthusiastic. Dennehy said she is using a listserve to update interested students on all related issues of development.

"Right now we have a small core group of women working on it. I think it is important to those women involved that the process remain open," Stackman said.

Kaiksow agrees that others both on campus and in the community should be involved in the project, and should benefit from it once completed.

"It shouldn't be solely for women. They should have resources available for everyone," Kaiksow said.