Correction Appended
A part-time coordinator has been hired to staff the new Women’s Resource Center, meaning the center is on track to open with the start of fall classes on Aug. 23, according to Assistant Vice President of Campus Life Fanta Aw.
Aw hired third-year law student Vanessa Molina as a part-time staff member to run the center Wednesday.
Molina worked at the Washington College of Law’s Women and the Law, Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice clinics and with D.C. organization Women Empowered Against Violence before coming to the center, according to Aw.
The center is the first of its kind at AU. The university approved funding for it in May 2009, The Eagle previously reported.
Women’s Initiative Director Quinn Pregliasco hopes that within four years the center will hire a full-time staff member and publish a newsletter, among other functions not yet in place.
During the summer break, university staff paired with clubs to arrange a space for the center on the second floor of Mary Graydon Center, said Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson.
To accommodate the center, three offices relocated to new spots in MGC, and the Graduate Leadership Council is in the process of moving into the lower level of Bender Library.
“Their moving out meant that we had some space to work with,” Hanson said.
The new office will be in 202A, beside a community lounge that any of the organizations that Hanson called “identity services,” such as the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Center, can use.
Aw said efforts to write the center’s mission statement came from a body called the Coordinating Council, which included Aw, Women’s Initiative Co-Directors Victoria Bosselman and Pregliasco, Assistant Director of Kay Spiritual Life Center Christine Gettings, Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs Tiffany Speaks and Director of the GLBTA Resource Center Sara Bendoraitis.
Women’s Initiative was part of the decision-making process every step of the way this summer, Pregliasco said in an e-mail.
Aw called the process of bringing the center to AU a “community effort” and said she would welcome insight from students.
“We definitely want to hear from students because this is first and foremost for students and about students, and I think that really does matter,” Aw said.
Hanson worked with the University Library and solicited donations from the AU community to start up a resource library for the center. The center will continue to accept donations of literature related to its mission this fall, Hanson said.
SG President Nate Bronstein had named the establishment of the Women’s Resource Center as a goal for the year, The Eagle previously reported.
Bronstein said in an e-mail that in addition to opening the center, his administration was working with Dean of Student Robert Hradsky to put together a Men’s Sexual Assault Awareness program.
“These are great steps in our on-going initiative to bring more and better resources for women on campus,” Bronstein said in an e-mail Aug. 10.
But Bronstein asserted that these are not the only steps the university should take.
“The Woman's Resource Center is still in its infancy with virtually no programming budget and only one part-time person on staff. The center is also only open 20 hours a week,” Bronstein wrote. “We still have a very long way to go on this.”
sparnass@theeagleonline.com
Correction: Quinn Pregliasco was originally identified as the Co-Director of Women's Initiative. Pregliasco is actually the Director of Women's Initiative. The Eagle regrets this mistake.
