Two WGSP undergraduate fellowships open

Via the desk of Empowerment’s co-chair:

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES SUMMER 2010 UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

For the summer of 2010 WGST is offering two undergraduate fellowships of $750 each (plus additional travel funds of up to $400 each) for research projects in any field having to do with women’s or gender studies.  Successful applicants, who will be expected to be enrolled at Marquette in the fall of 2010, will work this summer with a faculty sponsor on a new or already extant project, which they will be expected to present to the campus community in the fall of 2010.  Applicants need not be WGST majors or minors, and applications from all over the university are welcomed.  Applications are due electronically to WGST Director Amelia Zurcher (amelia.zurcher@mu.edu) by Monday, April 26, 2010.

The Tribune’s (somewhat misleadingly packaged) MU WGSP piece

So, today the Tribune ran a story on the Women and Gender Studies Program. In the print edition,* the story is headed with a collage-type  graphic featuring the pictures of 20 students, 10 men and 10 women of all stripes: Contemplative Looking Woman! White Dude with Dreadlocks! ROTC Guy! Cheerleader! Hipster! Totally Nondescript Males No. 1-3! Girl in Hijab! Basketball Player! Man on Cell Phone! I hadn’t realized the WGSP hosted such a diverse array of persons. Heck, I didn’t even realized there were twenty people in the program.

That’s because there aren’t. The program, as the piece itself notes, has five (5) people enrolled for WGS major, and eight (8) for the minor. Whereas most readers would be predisposed to assume a collage of portraits posted in conjunction with a story about a major/minor pictured people actually enrolled in it, this does not seem to be the case unless seven people are there for filler. It seems the people photographed were selected simply because they were people with genders.

Of course, the reporter cannot necessarily be faulted for the graphics to go with the story. However, they are responsible for a somewhat narrow focus which might leave interested parties with questions. Only reporting how many people are majors and minors misrepresents the real scope of the program. There are dozens, more likely hundreds of students enrolled in courses that count towards the completion of a WGS program. Obviously, dozens of people enrolled in classes like Women in Literature, Intro to Feminist Philosophy, Psychology of Sexuality, Sociology of Gender or suchlike could probably guess their courses count. But I enrolled in a WGSP class without even realizing it. It wasn’t my first choice, but my schedule was wonky and I needed an elective, so for spring I signed up for Comm. 4100, Mass Media and the American Family. Only in the second step of registering did I see the WGSP notation.

The Tribune piece points readers to a few people they could talk to about breaking into the program, but doesn’t list or describe any of the actual coursework that it would entail. Instead, most of the piece concerns itself with what “gender” is, the history of the department and what it calls itself (for this section, there are big pink-purple graphics), and paraphrasing of quotes about the reception of the program.

Dunno. I can’t presume to speak for the administrators of WGSP, who for all I know might appreciate the publicity. Anyone enrolled have an opinion on the piece? Are my criticisms fair, or I am merely the Spirit that negates/convinced all that comes to be/deserves to perish wretchedly?

*The online edition’s illustration is a kind of A Chorus Line silhouette lineup.

Update: I realized “dishonestly” wasn’t an entirely fair descriptor, and have changed the headline accordingly.

WGSP kickoff event TODAY

…in Raynor’s conference center from 1 p.m.- 4p.m. Come, come! T-shirts and light refreshments (the ultimate college incentives)! And critical conversations on gender politics!

Reminder: WGSP Spring Kick-Off this Friday!

Facebook page here. Student designed t-shirts for sale!  Sentence fragment! Hope to see you there!

Update: T-shirts are actually free.

T-shirts!

In conjunction with our spectacular Tentatively Unnamed April Event, the Marquette Women and Gender Studies Program will be selling t-shirts to be bought, and worn! They’ll be decorated with propaganda for the program, student art, and a Quote. Exactly what Quote will appear, has yet to be decided. In fact, we’re entirely open to suggestions at this point.

So: What would do you wish your t-shirt said (about gender, or academia, or some convergence thereof)?

I humbly float an out-of-context pull from J.S. Mill:

I deny that anyone knows, or can know, the nature of the two sexes, as long as they have only been seen in their present relation to one another.

2009 to see see relaunch of MU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program

You might not have known, but Marquette has a Women and Gender Studies Program. It’s forgivable if you weren’t aware; a single student is currently majoring in gender studies.

However, students and faculty are working [at projects I’m not sure at what length I’m allowed to discuss] to render the program visible, and raise a dialogue audible campuswide. Stay tuned for announcement about our exciting Tentatively Untitled WGSP Event this April!

A brief mission statement of indeterminite origin can be found in the Facebook group:

Marquette University’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program promotes a critical, feminist, and cross-cultural understanding of gender and power in a global context and across disciplinary boundaries. The WGST Program at Marquette provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary for just and equitable leadership in professional, civic, and religious roles. WGST majors and minors will learn how gender has shaped the world around us and our ways of making sense of that world, and how sexism has operated in a dynamic with other systems of oppression both historically and in contemporary contexts. Students will also learn to recognize the huge diversity of gendered experiences and perspectives among men and women, and to cultivate a disposition to embrace gender diversity and to work for justice.

Please consider joining, even if you don’t think you would consider a major or minor in the field. Even if you don’t agree with with the conclusions of the genders studies set (or what you believe to be the conclusions of the gender studies set), a strong program is necessary for Marquette to remain a competitive vendor in the marketplace of ideas.

The “advancement of knowledge,” always with the aim of service to community and religious devotion as an end, is a mission the university states itself to. We cannot allow this field of inquiry fall into neglect.