Profiling a resource center: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

We mentioned earlier that we would be doing a series of posts on various colleges’ women and gender resource centers.  This is a way for us to showcase what is out there in terms of resource centers–how they differ, what’s good and bad about each, and how Marquette can take some pointers from other pioneering schools on this issue.  Today we’ll kick off the series with a guest post by Empowerment Chair, Caitlin Madden, profiling University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:

 

On Friday, February 1, three Empowerment e-board members visited the Women’s Resource Center at UWM.  We were lucky to meet with their director, Cathy Seasholes, who has been with the WRC for all 14 years of its existence.  It’s exciting to meet other members of this community, willing to give their time and energy to support the cause wherever they can.

The WRC has been in existence for 14 years.  It is located on the first floor of their student union, in a room probably about the size of your average Cudahy classroom.  It’s little but comfortable, with several bright chairs surrounded by tall shelves housing books on sex, women’s health, the history of feminism, fiction by female authors, over 400 pamphlets, and movies.  All they were missing was “Free to be Me”.

Their center has a three-part mission:  to increase understanding on UWM’s campus of the diversity of women’s experiences, support the health and well-being of female students, and advocate change to improve the campus climate for all members of the UWM community.

The WRC works for this mission in several ways.  First, they gather and disseminate information to students about everything from women’s health to career success to feminist philosophy.  Because a major part of the WRC’s work has to do with forging connections with other departments in the university and women’s resources throughout the city, they focus on referring students to useful resources.  They also provide skills workshops to help women with self-care, learning to navigate the workplace, and more.

And, of course, there are the fabulous events the WRC puts on.  There are weekly support groups for women who are survivors of abuse, for discussing relationships, for those struggling with eating disorders.  Other events this semester range from an information fair on women in sports to a discussion on self-conceptualization for African-American women to a women’s film festival to awesome speakers (like Adrienne Rich and Isabella Rossellini!).

The WRC was created in response to student demand and political pressure after some not-so-nice publicity surrounding women’s experiences at UWM.  Student advocates got their student government to create the center.  So it is supported by the student activity fee, its budget determined each year by the student government.  This seems an advantage and a disadvantage:  because it is student-created, the center can be very responsive to what the students want rather than serving the administration first and students second.  But it also means the center’s resources vary from year to year, as its budget is determined by the student government each year.  And this year, they are in trouble, as the government is considering cutting their funding.

This was a great start to our visits this semester to various women’s resources centers at other campuses to see what they’ve got and what we could possibly bring to our campus.  Please learn more about the UWM center at www.wrc.uwm.edu, and keep checking this space for a heads-up on great events they’re hosting through this semester (I’m definitely getting over there for Adrienne Rich if I can!).  Get ready for the next installment of this series on other centers:  the Yale Women’s Center!