AU will expand its resources for students by opening a women’s center in fall 2010 and an online veterans’ network launching this January.
The Women’s Resource Center will have a variety of components, such as a library of books relating to women’s issues and a counseling center, according to Student Government President Andy MacCracken.
The veterans’ network will provide veterans who are new to AU with resources and support from other veterans.
The SG has been working on getting a women’s resource center since early 2006, according to MacCracken. He said the resource center is guaranteed at least one staff member and will most likely have office space on the second floor of the Mary Graydon Center in the same hallway as the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Center and the Disabilities Support Center.
Sarah Brown, the director of Women’s Initiative, said that she is overjoyed at the prospect of a women’s resource center.
“I am incredibly excited for the opening of the Women’s Resource Center,” Brown said. “I was a freshman when this idea really gained momentum and it will be great to see all of the hard work of my peers and myself materialize into something tangible that will benefit the entire AU community.”
Brown said that while the members of Women’s Initiative provide a great deal of support to women at AU, it is imperative that there be a staff office addressing women’s issues so the AU community can have a “full-time advocate for issues affecting women on campus.”
Brown also stressed that a women’s resource center would provide more extensive women’s counseling services than the student-run Women’s Initiative.
“Just having a space for students to go and feel welcomed and comfortable is extremely important,” Brown said. “While the Women’s Initiative office provides this as best as we can with the space the Student Government provides for us, we do share an office and some important issues are more easily discussed in a safe space where you can close the door if need be.”
Gail Hanson, AU’s vice president of Campus Life, worked with the AU administration on planning and acquiring finances for the Women’s Resource Center. Hanson said the Women’s Resource Center would focus more on bringing together women’s resources already available to students than on creating new resources and services.
Hanson is also helping to establish an online veterans’ network at AU. The Veterans’ Network will be a “group of people to be a principal resource to the over 100 veterans on campus.” The network will have information for current and prospective veteran students, as well as important links and online resources.
MacCracken said a veterans’ network could help student veterans learn about AU and adjust to college life.
“A student veteran’s experience is much different than the life experiences of the average AU student,” MacCracken said. “Many veterans are older than the average freshman, and the veterans are coming from a very different environment.”
MacCracken said a physical Veterans’ Resource Center could be a possibility in the future but for now, the SG is focusing on short-term ways that they can build support for AU veterans.
MacCracken is working with the administration to have a veterans’ reception on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. The Kennedy Political Union may collaborate with the SG for the event to bring in a speaker, according to MacCracken.
He said he would make it a priority to address the needs of the growing AU veterans community.
“We’ll be working on identifying what resources can be offered and when we can make these resources available,” MacCracken said. “I’ll be working with AU veterans throughout the rest of my term and promoting awareness of veterans’ issues.”
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11 Comments
Danielle Geong
Nov 2 at 10:27 AM
Hooray! These resources are critical for supporting AU students and creating a healthy learning, working, teaching, and living environment for the AU community.
JJ
Nov 2 at 10:37 AM
Why did the Vet’s get the online resource center but the Womens Center gets an actual office? It should be reversed. I highly doubt women at AU are so handicapped and in need that they need another resource center, what with being a majority in campus, having the SHC and Wellness center that services Male and Female health needs, the Womens Initiative, etc. Plus what kind of “special” resources is really required?
Veterans are the ones who really need special resources. They are the ones who have serious and actual unique issues that may require support. Whether these issues arise from funding from the GI Bill, PTSD, special career counseling, etc. They have a real need that AU should be trying to fill.
John Marzabadi
Nov 2 at 11:04 AM
JJ, the Women’s Resource Center has been a online one for nearly 2 years now, the Veterans Resource Center is a new thing, so they’re going to put it online first.
JJ
Nov 2 at 3:44 PM
Great, let’s keep the Womens Resource Center online and focus on putting the Vets resource center into a physical office space. One is clearly more important and serves a far more real function than the other.
Alexander
Nov 2 at 7:18 PM
I agree; they are not equal. Considering there are far more women than veterans on this campus, and that women (and women veterans) are far more subjugated due to individual and structural sexism which occur regardless of women’s statistical majority, it is clear that the Women’s Resource Center is more immediately deserving of a physical space.
By the way, JJ, how do you lump the SHC and Wellness center with Women’s Initiative just because they serve women along with men? Do you expect that the mere presence of women tilts gender-neutral treatment in their favor? People like you who troll the Eagle and classroom with an androcentric and deliberately uninformed viewpoint are reason enough for women to need a safe space for discussion and support.
JJ
Nov 2 at 10:40 PM
I lump them in because they already deal with many if not all of the issues that this new center claims to address. And the Veterans may be a smaller sub-group but they have greater needs, far greater and very unique needs. Women the majority on campus and who have access to numerous resources do not need another one. It’s rather absurd. As a very tiny minority on campus, that is the male minority, I find it absurd that my tuition money will be going to this center.
And lol you used the word androcentric. Your such an edgy college intellectual.
Thats right dun dun I HAVE A PENIS
Alex
Nov 2 at 11:21 PM
Alexander, seeing as you think women are more entitled to some support center than veterans because they have a tougher time in life, answer this for me. Would you rather be a woman at American University for four years or a soldier in Iraq for one year?
Carmen
Nov 3 at 12:34 AM
This entire argument is irrelevant. The idea that any group of people can be compared to another in terms of need for success is offensive in theory and even more difficult in practice.
The WRC has been an ongoing effort for over ten years, and reached limited success with the online RC that was established a lil while back. I see no reason why it offends men on this campus and within these comments (and by the way, congrats on that penis!) that women will have a safe space to discuss private and often complicated issues, as well as the resources to succeed in a world that is (surprise!) NOT as feminized as you think this campus is. Women need to be equipped with the opportunity to share their experiences, as well as receive resources for their well-being and professional development, and there is nothing offensive about that, point blank.
Insulting someone for intellectualism, by the way, is better done when you use the right form of “you’re.”
JJ
Nov 3 at 3:02 AM
As far as I’m concerned this just reinforces the stereotype that Women are delicate/frail and need unique special medical, professional, and psychological support.
Hand Sanitizer
Nov 4 at 11:13 AM
Women needing a safe space to discuss private and often complicated issues is the Counseling Center. There is NO need for this Women’s Resource Center. Notice that there has been no arguments against the Veterans’ Resource Center. Noting that there are a significant amount of disagreement with the WRC means a lot. While the WRC seems like it has good intention and sounds good by ear, we already HAVE the Women’s Initiative, which doesn’t need to be changed. Moreover it would just illuminate more gender differences and special treatment for a specific gender which is in itself bias no matter how you see it. This is especially important in a predominantly female student campus.
Use the office space for something else; NOT for another gender-specific resource center.
JJ
Nov 4 at 1:50 PM
But, but, but hand sanitizer, this resource center is going to help men too! It isn’t gender specific!
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