Manifesta Authors Lecture at EOU after WRRC Struggle for Funding
On March 29, 2004, the WRRC submitted a proposal (click) and budget to the Senate Allocations Committee (SAC) for review for funding. The Committee was not scheduled to meet until April 15, 2004, but the WRRC asked for special consideration to be given to their proposal prior to that time. The reason for the rush is that Feminist Authors Amy Richards (click) and Jennifer Baumgardner (click) were scheduled to give lectures at other campuses throughout Oregon. EOU is a rural university with limited resources, therefore, it was necessary to "piggy back" on the resources of the larger university that had already paid for airfare, etc.
Scott Pugrud, the ASEOU President, did not feel comfortable allowing the WRRC special consideration due to the very clear committee by-laws: the committee must advertise for two weeks prior to holding the SAC meeting in order to allow everyone equal access to the limited resources. In response, the WRRC organized a letter writing campaign directed at ASEOU and the student body President urgining him to convene the Committee for special consideration of the proposal. On April 5, 2004, Scott Pugrud emailed the committee to vote on whether or not to give the WRRC special consideration prior to the Senate Allocations meeting. The WRRC is unaware of any response from SAC members to the email that Mr. Pugrud sent.
On April 12, 2004, the WRRC manager, Amber Ulrich, personally advocated to each member of the SAC that the women of the community deserve to have a voice. Our proposal to have the feminist authors speak at EOU served a larger purpose than just the WRRC goals for diversity. The many letters to the ASEOU office proved that there was a constituancy out there that wanted to be heard and served. The SAC decided that they would hold a special meeting that evening at 7 p.m. to hear from the interested party. That evening no less than 12 EOU women faculty, students, and staff attended that meeting in support of the WRRC proposal. Each one of those women delivered their comments and speeches of support and desire to have the feminist lecturers speak on our campus. Each one of those women saw a need for this lecture on our campus.
That night on April 12, 2004, the SAC voted and decided to allocate ALL of the funding the WRRC requested!! Feminism in action works. The results of are hard work were reaped by all and on April 13, 2004, at 7 p.m. Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner lectured at EOU. Despite the negative comments ("oh, I hope more than just the 12 WRRC women show up.") from some EOU administrative staff, the lecture was standing room only. Amy and Jennifer touched on many subjects; their specific focus was the history of the first and second waves of feminism, and defining the third wave of feminism.
Home | Top written by Cierra Olivia Thomas, WRRC Web Designer
Click here to see the La Grande local newspaper's--The Observer--article.
Gender Studies Students PROTEST Program Cuts
See the newspaper coverage of the Gender Students ......here
Gender Studies Students Rally to Save Program
Colleagues,
In an effort to help our community understand how President Lund's budget
cuts for the Gender Studies program impacts our students and community,
I am sharing a letter from one of our students (with her permission) explaining
how Gender Studies has contributed to her intellectual and personal development.
It is my belief that we as faculty (and our administration) are often
too far removed from the experience of our students and do not listen
well enough to their concerns. It is easy to objectify people into FTE
in order to "cut" them. It is easy to transform our students
into customers in order to "manipulate" them. I left a world
of corporate law and state politics to join a community of scholars who
were interested in teaching young people to beware of the "easy"
answers, to think for themselves, and not follow the pack blindly. In
these difficult times, we are all being tested and our students (as children
do with parents) learn best by our example.
I am very proud of our Gender Studies students who have learned these
lessons so well and who are prepared to engage our administrators in the
debate. They have learned how to stand up for themselves and their convictions,
to take their place as full citizens in our community and engage with
those so much more powerful than they to exercise their rights.
Gender Studies teaches students to move with facility from theory to action
and that the connection between what they say and what they do must be
close and powerful. They say that there is no greater joy (or sorrow)
for a teacher than when her lessons come back through her students. Today,
I am a joyful and proud teacher.
Thank you for listening and learning from our students,
Tonia St. Germain, J.D., Gender Studies Coordinator and Program Director
CONTINUE
BELOW TO READ THE STUDENTS' LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT OF EOU
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April 28, 2004
Dear President Lund,
My name is Monica Kainz and I am a senior student in the DDE program at
Eastern Oregon University. My minors are in gender studies/anthropology,
and I have been extremely happy with the education I have received. It
was recently brought to my attention that EOU plans to drastically cut
the gender studies program, and I would like to express my dismay.
In a society that is still extremely gender biased, EOU provides a unique
opportunity for students (both male and female) to think outside the box
and to learn to see the world from a different perspective. The gender
studies professors challenge their students not only to consider the issues
of sexism, but demand a consciousness of all forms of oppression. Students
graduating from this program are armed with the tools to create the changes
necessary to bring peace and justice to a world that is currently in turmoil.
I know that personally, I have benefitted greatly from both the coursework
and the professors who have helped me along the way. Rather than cutting
this wonderful program, it should be expanded! As an institution of higher
learning, EOU should feel obligated to train its students to go out and
make the world a better place. The gender studies program helps to accomplish
this mission. When I considered undergraduate programs, I was particularily
attracted to the courses at EOU because they had a strong gender component.
By severely cutting these programs, I think EOU will lose a lot of perspective
students.
I urge you to reconsider these decisions, and see if cuts can be made
elsewhere. I can speak for myself and many other students in saying that
the program has played a valuable part in shaping values and perspectives,
and I hope that it continues to be available to other students in the
future.
Sincerely,
Monica Kainz
Senior DDE Student
gender studies/anthropology
Cc: President Fatemi
April 28, 2004
RE: Budgetary Cuts to EOU Gender Studies Program
Dear President Lund:
Cierra Thomas and I have made the decision to write this letter as a team in order to convey a powerful point about the gender-minor community as well as the power of friendship based on a common goal. Ms. Thomas and I are unique individuals who have shared different life experiences, made different choices, who have very different personalities. In fact, by all measures Cierra and I probably never would have formed a friendship if it were not for our impassioned and driven views regarding gender related issues.
To the Gender Studies Students at EOU, the faculty and classes that address the crucial diversifying topics are really the heart of who we are as individuals. We are a strong community brought together by an energy and enthusiasm for exploring issues crucial for women today—identity, self-esteem and health, mind and body—however, the gender program is not exclusively geared toward women. An increasing amount of men on this campus are finding gender studies a beneficial source of information and support; they start to see the implications for their mothers, sisters, future wives and children.
Gender affects all aspects of social life from the making of communities to the shaping of sexualities to the reproduction of forging resistances against economic, ethnic and racial inequalities. In addition, this field of study promotes critical thinking because it uncovers deeply entrenched assumptions about the supposed "nature" of individual and group identities. Many scholars in fields such as the Natural Sciences, The Arts and Humanities, and Political Science—to name but a few—all endorse that an understanding of gender is crucial for recent developments in their disciplines.
On a personal note, this program has been one of the greatest influences in my life. It has led me to a community, strong bonds of friendship, knowledge, and understanding that could never be replicated. This program is the reason that my best friend and I have pulled together to express our impassioned concerns that Gender Studies remain a plentiful academic option on our campus. Future students deserve the opportunity to share in EOU’s remarkable and inspiring Gender Studies Program.
I, Cierra Olivia Thomas, certainly would not be the same person without the Gender Studies Program, nor would I have developed the close bond that I have with Christina; both Christina and the Gender Studies Program—its students, faculty, classes and staff—have enriched my life immeasurably. Further, by touching my life so deeply, EOU has helped shape the lives of my young daughters.
It is my understanding that the program is facing a 33% cut this coming academic year, which will inevitably lead to the complete elimination of the program. This is entirely unacceptable to me on a personal level; however, your decision to eliminate the Gender Studies Program affects EOU on a much broader scale than the current students who are now actively pursuing their Gender Minor.
As you know, EOU is one of seven universities in the Oregon University System (OUS) that is being closely monitored to be sure its institutional performance reflects the state’s four broad goals for higher education: access, quality, employability of graduates, and institutional cost effectiveness (OUS Campus Measures, April 29, 2004). The elimination of the Gender Minor will be a direct affront to the goals of the state public higher education system. In fact, EOU is the only non-specialized university in the OUS system without a fully funded and long standing Gender/Women Studies Program. Southern Oregon University (SOU), University of Oregon (UO), Oregon State University (OSU), and Portland State University (PSU) have full-scale diversity programs that were just beginning over thirty years ago in the 1970s.
In thirty years, the above institutions have gone from offering their students a few interdisciplinary courses in Women Studies to fully funded programs offering Undergraduate BA/BS degrees, Minors, Certificates, and Master’s Degree Programs. These programs, though, would not exist without the full support of their institutional Administrators. Perhaps, President Lund, you are unaware of the amount of diversity in academics the four other non-specialized Oregon universities can offer students like me and the other EOU Gender Studies Minors.
PSU now offers its students an Undergraduate Degree, a Master’s, and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Women Studies. Further, the Women's Resource Center was established as a student organization sometime before 1976 and is now funded with student fees.
Today, SOU offers its students a Women Studies Undergraduate Minor (est. 1981), a Master’s Degree (est. 1990), and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate (est. 2001), while, OU offers a Women's and Gender Studies Undergraduate Minor, a Major (BA or BS), and a Graduate Certificate. OU also supports its students with a once yearly $1000 scholarship, as well as an essay prize in LGBT studies. The OU program is very supported with many full-time FTE faculty and 4 graduate teaching fellows. In fact, OU is now building a Minor in Sexualities. This is a very progressive diversity program with an equally thriving Women’s Center and should be mirrored throughout other OU partners.
OSU’s Women Studies Program came about as a result of a potential lawsuit for discrimination. Today this program, borne of inequity, is a fully funded Undergraduate Minor and is also an option as one of three areas of studies that candidates for a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) can choose from. Further, OSU is currently developing a proposal for a Women Studies Master’s Degree. OSU has three full-time faculty for Women Studies alone, and according to Dr. Watkins—one of the three faculty—the Women Studies Program and the Women's Center are highly visible entities on campus as well as in the Corvallis Community. Their curriculum, Dr. Watkins argues, “affects students in ways that classes in other disciplines do not.” Further, this forward moving program is often written about in the local paper The Gazette Times .
Finally, WOU offers an interdisciplinary Gender Minor that was established in 1993 and now offers its students more than 30 courses.
President Lund, the EOU Gender Studies Program offers students a better understanding of themselves and the larger world through critical theory by examining and questioning gender difference, inequality, and exclusion. If this Gender Studies program is not funded or is “cut,” “phased out,” or “out-sourced” it will be a great loss to all of EOU’s students and the world beyond us students. As EOU students graduate and are faced with inequality and exclusion due to gender they will not be armed with the knowledge EOU now imparts, and they will not have the necessary skills of defense or the tools to institute social change.
The four broad goals of the Oregon University System—access, quality, employability of graduates, and institutional cost effectiveness—are not being realized by EOU in its scramble to increase money by cutting its Gender Studies Program. By eliminating the Gender Studies Minor: you are removing our access to equality in education (see above comparison to other OUS partners); you are reducing the quality of our education by removing a large part of the diversity programming that is offered to students; you are diminishing the employability of graduates through undermining the OUS desire to produce diversified graduates who have had exposure to increasingly multi-cultural environments; and you are curtailing institutional cost effectiveness by producing graduates who may be unable to excel in the workforce and give back to the EOU community.
EOU will be held accountable for its gross negligence of the goals of the Oregon University System, and locally it will produce a less diverse group of graduates who cannot compete in the world outside. We urge you to take into consideration the example that has been set over thirty years ago by EOU’s partners in the OUS. Please reconsider your decision to cut the Gender Studies Program and help raise the bar to the standard set by our OUS partners long ago.
Very truly yours,
Cierra Olivia Thomas Christina Marie Martin
EOU Student, WRRC WebMaster EOU Student, WRRC Project Coordinator
cc: President Designate Dr. Khosrow Fatemi
Associate Professor Rosemary Powers
Dear President Lund:
I am writing to request that you reconsider your plans to reduce the Gender Studies Program's budget. Currently I am attending my final year of my undergraduate career as a national student exchange student at California State University in San Bernardino; however, I have attended Eastern Oregon University from 2000 to 2003. My major is English and I have a Gender Studies minor.
The last few years I have dedicated my studies to the Gender program and I am planning to pursue a Masters of Arts in Women's Studies this fall at Texas Woman's University. I am disappointed to learn of the possible threat of the Gender Studies program if the budget cuts are made. The Gender Studies program is arguably the most needed program offered at Eastern Oregon University. Gender Studies promotes diversity, acceptance and tolerance of subordinate groups, and gives women the opportunity to take part in learning of their own history and how to create change within the community. This program has also challenged me the most, focusing on how to analyze social systems and issues, and use critical thinking to make a powerful argument. I am confident to say that without having the opportunity to take these crucial courses I would not have been as driven as a student or possess the skills to succeed in the world. As a woman I know that I have something to contribute to society and have the power to make change that until obtaining my Gender Studies minor at Eastern I believed to be impossible. I have been comfortable speaking highly of my education because of the superb instruction and challenging curriculum the Gender Studies' courses has offered. Even though I am finished with my Gender career at Eastern Oregon University I advocate the continuance of the program because I only hope that other students will be able to receive the training I have been fortunate enough to receive.
Your budget cuts to the Gender Studies Program's hurts women students the most because it is they who have benefitted most. It is hard for me to understand why you, Eastern's first woman President, would not want to be remembered as the president who helped promote Gender Studies at Eastern. Gender Studies gives women students the skills to use their voice in a society that teaches them to be silent. Surely you, a woman who has succeeded to the top of a male dominated field (university president) understand how important it is to empower young women in this way. Please help our students recognize how women in positions of power like yourself can work with them to achieve equality and stand up to the forces of institutional sexism by reversing your decision to cut the Gender Studies budget.
I hope my letter and those of other students will pursued you to reevaluate the importance of the Gender Studies program to students at Eastern Oregon University before a final decision is made in regard to budget cuts.
Sincerely, Erin Rider
cc: President Fatime, Rosemary Powers
April 28, 2004
Dear President Lund:
My name is Daisy Minthorn and I am a current student at Eastern Oregon University . My major is Anthropology/Sociology, and I will minor in Interdisciplinary Writing/Rhetoric and Gender Studies. I have attended EOU since fall of 1999, and have been active in many of the EOU’s programs and student clubs, including the Native American Program, Speel-Ya (Native American Student Council), NAAMP (Native American Adolescent Mentorship Project) and Gender Studies.
I am writing in support of the Gender Studies program. The news of budget decreases and possible phasing out of the program was very devastating to me. Like Sociology, Gender Studies has provided me with new ideas and ways of thinking about the world in which we live. Gender Studies has ignited a passion for learning for me.
I come from a diverse background. I am Native American, grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Pendleton , Oregon amidst an array of social problems. Until I came in contact with Gender Studies, I thought that no one understood or cared about my perspective and experience in life as a woman and as a racial minority. With Gender Studies, I have been introduced to a world of thought that I never dreamed of, and I greatly appreciate it. With Gender Studies, I have realized that I have the freedom to make the choices that I want to, the courage to carry out my dreams and ambitions, and the knowledge about the reality and constructions that we each face. Without this program, I probably would not have realized my potential for making social change.
I am deeply saddened and hurt that Gender Studies may no longer be here. I understand that budget cuts must be made statewide, but ask that the cuts to Gender Studies be reconsidered. There is a group of very concerned faculty and students alike who are driven by the same passion as I, and that is to see that diverse ways of knowing are supported by our campus. Please join us in our efforts to maintain and encourage diversity.
Respectfully,
Daisy Minthorn
Cc: President Khosrow Fatime, Rosemary Powers
May 4, 2004
RE: Cuts to the Gender Studies Program
Dear President Lund,
I am writing to express my concerns about the funding cuts to Eastern’s Gender Studies Program. I am aware that budget cuts needed to be made but my question is why are the courses and programs that deal directly with diversity being hit so hard? I have read the responses you have sent to other students regarding their concerns about the Gender Studies program cuts and to be honest I am confused by your response:
1. You wrote, "I want to also let you know that in addition to the required GEND 301 course scheduled for distance education delivery Fall Term and the required Gend 401 Research and Gender 409 Practicum (both of which are arranged separately with Ms. St. Germain), we will also be offering via DDE..." I understand you to mean that because of the cuts the gender program has received funding for only three on campus courses. As the former Dean of DDE you must know that DDE courses are not for all students. DDE courses cost more and do not offer interaction with the instructor. Your response leaves me with more questions than answers. For example, what about the students who are already here on campus that do not wish to take DDE classes? Why do we have to pay more for courses Gender Studies courses? Are students in other disciplines being punished in similar ways? For example, are students studying history required to pay more for courses and forced to forgo a classroom experience with Professor Monahan in order to pursue their dreams?
2. You wrote, "In addition, either the President's Office or the University in general, continues to support the President's Commission on the Status of Women, the Diversity Committee, and the Women's Resource and Research Center." I am currently the office manager at the Women's Research and Resource Center and I am concerned that with budget cuts our center will soon be eliminated. I became interested in the WRRC, as did many of the student volunteers who work here, as a direct result of my course work in the Gender Studies program. If you are sincere about your commitment to the WRRC, what is your vision for its survival without the students to make it happen? For those of us involved in the work, it is hard to see how the WRRC can survive without the Gender Studies program. Your decision to cut Gender Studies seems to contradict your words. Will our administrators work to make the Gender Studies Program slowly disappear? You have stated that it will be possible to attain a Gender Studies minor next year, but what about the year after that? Is the Gender Studies program slowly but surely being eliminated? Is that what your meaning is here?
3. As I am sure you are aware, our campus is comprised of about 60% female and 40% male students. Gender is apparently one of our greatest diversities yet we are cutting the program. Gender Studies does not just deal with women's issues but also racial, ethnic and class issues. How can we portray our campus as a diverse one if we cut these programs?
4. I am also aware that next year the Athletic Department will be offering scholarships to athletes. I understand that both athletics and academics are funded from the same source. Does that mean that we are loosing Gender Studies courses so that we can pay for athletic scholarships? Why is it that we can fund athletic scholarships at a time when we are losing vital academic programs? Do you feel that having successful athletic teams is more important than educating students about ending racial and gender inequality? Is this really the message that our administration wants to send to students, that athletes are more important than non-athletes? This is the message I am getting.
Our Gender Studies professor teaches us to read critically and that means to read what has been omitted as well as what has been stated. She explains to us that we need these skills to thrive in a complex political world. I am shocked that I would need to use these skills while still a student at Eastern, I am not ready for Washington D.C. or Wall Street yet. I thought Eastern was a place where our administrators put the best interest of students above all else.
I am not alone in my confusion and anger about the decision you have made about our program’s funding and our dreams. I encourage you to reconsider taking funds away from the Gender Studies Program and to join with your students to promote gender and racial equality at Eastern.
Sincerely, Amber Ulrich WRRC Office Manager
Dear President Lund:
I am writing in response to the recent budget cuts that have been implemented in many of Eastern’s most popular programs. Specifically, I would like to express my regret in learning that the Gender Studies program is slated to suffer drastic cutbacks next year in terms of course offerings and instruction.
Currently, I am a senior English/Writing major, and I will be graduating in June. During my junior year, I began taking Gender Studies courses to fulfill credit requirements for courses outside of my major. I was interested in the subject and several peers had recommended the classes to me. Since that time, I have taken four upper division 4-5 credit classes in Gender Studies, and I feel that I have benefited from them tremendously. Though time consuming and demanding, the courses taught me to be a more critical thinker. I realized that the nature of gender relations is something that every student should study because it penetrates every profession and aspect of life. The skills that I learned in my gender classes were additionally valuable to me as an English major; that is, the required writing strengthened my skills as both an argumentative writer and a concise, academic writer. I learned to critically examine scholarly arguments, summarize controversies, and express my own opinions regarding gender issues of discrimination and social conditioning.
Another important aspect of Gender Studies, which few other on-campus programs offer, is its focus on community projects. Last term, I was able to participate in and help organize a project with my class that educated students on campus about male violence towards women. This term, I am working independently on a class project with the Gender 220 class. We have conducted a diversity survey on campus in order to assess the current climate towards diversity, and possibly to determine what we can do in the future to promote a more diverse climate. Participation in such projects is unique and necessary, as students are given an opportunity to make a larger impact in their community and to develop important social research skills.
For these reasons, I hope that you realize the importance of the Gender Studies program not only for its academic merits, but also for its greater influence in making important changes in society and on campus. It is a necessary and influential program that should be preserved and encouraged.
Sincerely,
Emily Powell
May 26, 2004
Dear President Lund & President Fatemi:
I am writing in response to the recent cuts made to the Gender Studies Program at Eastern Oregon University. As a student who has benefited significantly from the education this department has given me, I ask that you reconsider your decision.
I am a senior and was a late
comer to the Gender Studies program. I started taking courses Fall 2003.
However, what I have learned in recent months from Professor Tonia St.
Germain has far exceeded my expectations. Not only was I given a new way
of looking at the world, but also I was given confidence from my professor
and peers to openly voice my feminist opinions on campus. This led me
to coordinate the Athletic Department's involvement in the Shelter From
the Storm's annual soup supper. As an athlete and an activist for the
Gender Studies program, I felt committed to showing the Athletic Departments
willingness to stop sexual violence in our ommunity.
The education I received from these actions will carry on with me forever,
as I prepare to graduate this June and leave Eastern.
Aside from giving me a voice in my community, this program has also helped me to make life-changing decisions in recent weeks. Most importantly, the education I received is the sole reason I realized I needed to value myself as an individual and celebrate my independence as an intelligent young woman. I recently decided to move to Maryland and volunteer throughout the summer while working. A year ago, I would not have been able to have the confidence in myself to move across country and leave all of my loved ones behind to start a life of my own.
It pains me to think about other students missing out on the opportunities I was given as a result of Tonia St. Germain. In a Perspectives on Gender class I took this fall, I collaborated with another student to conduct a campus wide survey on gender awareness. The results showed that this university needs a diversity-training requirement as part of the graduation requirements. I encourage all members of the budget committee to contact myself or Professor Tonia St. Germain to look over our findings.
Thank you for your time and for your concern in ensuring that all students have the opportunity to expand their knowledge of gender related issues. Please contact me by email, toppinc@eou.edu, with any questions you may have. I am willing to meet with anyone on the committee and make a presentation with our survey findings. I will leave Eastern in two weeks as a strong, independent, feminist woman. This would not have been possible without the education I received from Tonia St. Germain.
Sincerely,
Chelsea Topping
Dear President Dixie Lund:
My name is Donald Cody and I am a Anthro/Soc major with a Gender Studies minor here at Eastern. I am a non-traditional returning student attending Eastern under the Disabled Veteran’s Act. My dream is to obtain my college degree so that I can become a social worker and I want to work with delinquent girls and boys who have suffered child sexual abuse or domestic violence. I was attracted to Eastern because I understood that I could take a Gender Studies minor, which is considered an asset for people working in this area of social work. You can imagine my dismay when I learned that you intend to cut the program down to .42 FTE next academic year. I am writing to ask you to reconsider this terrible decision. I share my reasons below:
1. The Anthro/Soc department is one of the largest (if not the largest) on campus. Many students, like me, intend to work in the field of social work. Without a firm understanding of how gender works in social institutions like family, education, religion, etc., it becomes impossible for students be prepared in the field and competitive in the job market. Gender Studies is a necessary program for such preparation.
2. You have said, “The administration has no plans to eliminate the Gender Studies minor.” My Gender Studies professor has taught me that there is no way I can see into a person’s heart or mind to know her intent. So while my common sense tells me that cutting the program down to such a minimal level is most certainly not preparing it for “success,” I will respect your statement as being truthful of your personal experience of this terrible situation you have created. If your intent is to see Gender Studies thrive here at Eastern, which seems to be what you want me and the other students to conclude by your ambiguity, I have a question. Will the administration be promoting including Gender Studies courses in a Diversity requirement for General Educational as students and faculty have been calling for for some years now? This would be a much clearer way for you to show students that your intent is to prevent institutional sexism and racism at Eastern and provide students the opportunity to become better people by learning about equality. This seems a more positive and productive way for this institution to use its energy than cutting programs and dashing students dreams.
3. Your suggestion to two gender students that students should write our own grants to fund our program feels offensive to me. I thought that it was your responsibility to find ways to fund popular programs that students want to take? That is why I thought you and your administration made so much money. Why are you trying to pass your work onto 19 and 20 year old students? I am very confused by your statement.
4. In the interest of fairness, did you ask students in other departments (like Athletics) to write their own grants for scholarship money? If not, why are you punishing Gender Studies students in this way? Why don’t you like Gender Studies students? Why don’t you want to educate us here at Eastern? I am very confused by the messages you are sending the students in our community.
In conclusion, the way you have handled student’s objections to these cuts has made me feel worthless and stupid. Was this your intent? What kind of teaching practice do you use that seeks to disrespect and humiliate students? What lessons do you want students to learn about themselves if you treat us this way? I fear that I am not the kind of student that you want here at Eastern as I reject your lesson. I hope you understand that your teaching style has only strengthened my desire to fight for my program. Please give me an “F” in the disrespecting students lesson you have provided. I elect to show dignity to all people no matter the color of their skin, gender, social or educational status.
Sincerely,
Donald Cody
cc. President Fatemi, and Dr.
Rosemary Powers
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Dear President Lund:
I am a third year student at Eastern and a Sociology/Anthropology major with a Gender Studies minor. I am a returning student, a mother of seven with three teens still at home, a 55 year-old woman, and a feminist who suffered deindustrialization, which caused me to return to college. I am very distressed to learn that the very program (Gender Studies) that has helped me to establish a professional identity is being cut. I am writing to ask you to reverse your decision regarding budget cuts to the Gender Studies program.
I understand that many people (perhaps yourself included) believe that racism and sexism in the higher education are things of the past, but sexism and racism contribute to ongoing discrimination in college, especially in rural institutions that are located in socially, politically, and religiously conservative regions like Eastern Oregon. In fact, some of the things I have observed happening with respect to cuts to diversity programs remind me of things I have read about schools in the south during the civil rights movement in my Gender courses. Southern universities at the time believed the answer to the conflicts created by racist oppression was less integration, more segregation, and less diversity. It took the Supreme Court, the National Guard, and the death of too many people to convince them that the solution was more integration, more diversity, and more tolerance. Forty years later at Eastern--I wonder how far we have come?
As a non-traditional student, who has lived through some of the history I study, I think I can safely say that the experience of race and gender discrimination in the curriculum and in the classroom is different for traditional and non-traditional college students. Traditional college students fresh from high school may not yet be experienced enough to recognize sexism and racism in schools. Traditional students learn about racism often in history classes, and may think that the Civil Rights Acts of 1964/65 are in practice and have solved the problem. I think the university should disabuse them of this misconception and programs like Gender Studies do just that.
Non-traditional students at Eastern range from 24 to 83 years old. Most have had work experience; some have families, and most have experienced gender and racial discrimination in workplaces and in schools. For many non-traditional students the readings in Gender Studies give affirmation to their work and life experiences. Older students are quick to make the connections with course materials because they relate through personal lived experiences. It is very liberating for us to learn that the patriarchal and racist systems which we have been oppressed by are not the only way to organize our communities and that we can be part of change.
With sexism, both traditional and nontraditional students may also have experienced what Peggy Orenstein calls “hidden curriculum,” an underlying insidious form of gender discrimination by which teachers communicate behavioral norms and individual status in the school culture, the process of socialization that cues children into their place in the hierarchy of larger society. Hidden curriculum has recently been applied to the ways in which schools help reinforce gender roles, whether they intend to or not (Orenstein/AAUW, p.40). This concept can be applied to higher education where men or things gendered masculine like college sports, are valued, promoted, and nurtured; while women, or things gendered feminine like gender studies or day care centers, are devalued, starved, and cut, perhaps in preparation to be eliminated.
College students of every age have experienced the effects of a pervasive underlying system of control and domination by whites. Harlon Dalton argues that since whites, the dominant group, fail to see themselves as a race, the privileges they receive from having white skin are normal to them because they are oblivious to them (Dalton, 2002, p.16). White’s failure to see themselves as a race blinds them to the fact that their lives are shaped by race just as much as people of color (Dalton, p17). bell hooks argues that blacks can see whites all too clearly, as they have had to see the white power to survive within it (hooks, 2002, p.23). Within the racist patriarchy, the safety of women and people of color can at times depend on their invisibility (hooks, p. 21). This makes it hard for women and students of color to stand up, speak out, and take their space in the community and Gender Studies helps students to see this and overcome it. Women of color have the hardest time, Bell and Nkomo argue that black women who choose not to be held back in the world of work today can be armored as young girls to withstand racial oppression and to possess the strength and courage to move forward into the world. Armoring is a political strategy for self-protection, whereby a girl develops a psychological resistance to defy both racism and sexism (Bell & Nkomo, 2001, p. 96). Gender Studies provide women and students of color with the armor they need to thrive in a racists patriarchal systems like higher education and on into the workforce.
I learned these concepts in my Gender Studies classes at Eastern and feel empowered as a result. Through feminism both traditional and nontraditional students become aware of truths, which result in the understanding of equality and diversity. Through education we become aware of the fact that there are fewer differences between the sexes and races than patriarchal systems would let us believe. Education is our power, our armor, and something so precious and life sustaining should never be offered up as a budget cut.
Students at Eastern Oregon University female, male, and non-Anglo want to be heard when we say:
1. That cutting Gender Studies is sending us the message that we are not important or equal in our schools.
2. That programs that teach awareness about racial equality, tolerance, and diversity are just as important as sports.
3. That administrative decisions and behavior of the past few weeks provide powerful examples of how sex and race discrimination is not a thing of the past but is alive and thriving on our campus.
4. Students want their colleges to be responsible for what they claim to support and not to make budget based on institutional racist and sexist practice.
Students’ feelings change after taking Gender Studies courses, as a result we find ourselves reinventing our own lives. Students learn to practice and promote gender and racial equity and to be allies for change in Gender Studies. Students who take these courses are less likely tolerate gender or race discrimination or any kind of inequality on campus or in the workplace—isn’t that the kind of citizen Eastern is seeking to create and graduate into the world? These cuts make me wonder…
Suzanne Roberts
Cc: President Fatemi, Rosemary Powers
Works Cited
Bell, J. E. & Nkomo, M. S. (2001). Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity . Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press
Dalton, Harlon. Failing to See. In Paula S Rothenberg (Ed.) White Privilege: essential readings on the other side of racism . (2002) New York: Worth Publishers
Padavic, Irene & Reskin, Barbara. (2002). Gendered Work in Place and Time. (pp.17-36). In Ed. Women and Men at Work . Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press
Orenstein, Barbara & AAUW. (1991). Shortchanging Girls: Gender Socialization in Schools. (pp. 38-46). In Ed. Dubeck, P. & Dunn, D. (2002). Workplace/Women’s Place : An Anthology. Second Edition. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company.
Home | TopDear President Lund,
I am writing to express my concerns about the funding cuts to Easterns Gender Studies Program. I am aware that budget cuts needed to be made but my question is why are the courses and programs that deal directly with diversity being hit so hard? I have read the responses you have sent to other students regarding their concerns about the Gender Studies program cuts and to be honest I am confused by your response:
1. You wrote, "I want to
also let you know that in addition to the required GEND 301 course scheduled
for distance education delivery Fall Term and the required Gend 401 Research
and Gender 409 Practicum (both of which are arranged separately with Ms.
St. Germain), we will also be offering via DDE..." I understand you
to mean that because of the cuts the gender program has
received funding for only three on campus courses. As the former Dean
of DDE you must know that DDE courses are not for all students. DDE courses
cost more and do not offer interaction with the instructor. Your response
leaves me with more questions than answers. For example, what about the
students who are already here on campus that do not wish to take DDE classes?
Why do we have to pay more for courses Gender Studies courses? Are students
in other disciplines being punished in similar ways? For example, are
students studying history required to pay more for courses and forced
to forgo a classroom experience with Professor
Monahan in order to pursue their dreams?
2. You wrote, "In addition,
either the President's Office or the University in general, continues
to support the President's Commission on the Status of Women, the Diversity
Committee, and the Women's Resource and Research Center." I am currently
the office manager at the Women's Research and Resource Center and I am
concerned that with budget cuts our center will soon be eliminated. I
became
interested in the WRRC, as did many of the student volunteers who work
here, as a direct result of my course work in the Gender Studies program.
If you are sincere about your commitment to the WRRC, what is your vision
for its survival without the students to make it happen? For those of
us involved in the work, it is hard to see how the WRRC can survive without
the Gender Studies
program. Your decision to cut Gender Studies seems to contradict your
words. Will our administrators work to make the Gender Studies Program
slowly disappear? You have stated that it will be possible to attain a
Gender Studies minor next year, but what about the year after that? Is
the Gender Studies program slowly but surely being eliminated? Is that
what your meaning is here?
3. As I am sure you are aware, our campus is comprised of about 60% female and 40% male students. Gender is apparently one of our greatest diversities yet we are cutting the program. Gender Studies does not just deal with women's issues but also racial, ethnic and class issues. How can we portray our campus as a diverse one if we cut these programs?
4. I am also aware that next
year the Athletic Department will be offering scholarships to athletes.
I understand that both athletics and academics are funded from the same
source. Does that mean that we are loosing Gender Studies courses so that
we can pay
for athletic scholarships? Why is it that we can fund athletic scholarships
at a time when we are losing vital academic programs? Do you feel that
having successful athletic teams is more important than educating students
about ending racial and gender inequality? Is this really the message
that our administration wants to send to students, that athletes are more
important than non-athletes? This is
the message I am getting.
Our Gender Studies professor
teaches us to read critically and that means to read what has been omitted
as well as what has been stated. She explains to us that we need these
skills to thrive in a complex political world. I am shocked that I would
need to use
these skills while still a student at Eastern, I am not ready for Washington
D.C. or Wall Street yet. I thought Eastern was a place where our administrators
put the best interest of students above all else.
I am not alone in my confusion and anger about the decision you have made about our program's funding and our dreams. I encourage you to reconsider taking funds away from the Gender Studies Program and to join with your students to promote gender and racial equality at Eastern.
Sincerely,
Amber Ulrich
WRRC Office Manager
Women's Self Defense Class April 28, 2004
I recently attended the Women's Self Defense Class that the WRRC held during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It was a wonderful experience. Having never taken a self-defense class before I did not know what to expect. We did not just "beat up" on men in padded suites, we actually learned a little about ourselves as well. One of the exercises we did was invading each other's space. Women need to learn to recognize what their bodies are telling them, especially in an assault situation. There were quite a few men who assisted during the class and they would walk up to us and get as close as they could without touching us. It was a very uncomfortable feeling to have, a man especially, invading my space like that. After a few exercises like the one I mentioned above we began to learn actual self-defense moves. This was very exciting and a way for me to release some stress. I found myself hitting the mats and cushions as hard as I could. Everyone kept asking me if I had some bottled up feelings I needed to let out, maybe I did. I do admit that having the confidence to be aggressive was a very empowering feeling. My goal throughout this class was to become more aware of my own body and things around me. I definitely feel like I accomplished this goal, but I still need further training. I would encourage every woman to take these classes. We need to learn to protect ourselves when in very dangerous situations.
(From Left) Annya Ritchie, Anne Hutchinson, Amber Ulrich, Amy Richards with her son Webber,
Jennifer Baumgardner, Cierra Olivia Thomas & Christina Martin
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Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner, Feminist Authors of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism & the Future. |
Jennifer is a staunch
pro-choice advocate and promotes both men's and women's reproductive
health. |
Amy claims that we live in a non-participatory democracy, and that we CAN make a difference if we would only participate by voting and lobbying. |
WRRC
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Last updated: 06/03/2004 by Cierra Olivia Thomas
Photos by: Cierra Olivia Thomas