_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, North Carolina
Vol. 24, No.9
March 2012
WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY’S CHANCE
TO EDUCATE AND EMPOWER WOMEN:
TAKE THE CHALLENGE
By Marilyn S. Chamberlin
Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Women’s Studies
March is Women’s History Month! The month is dedicated to celebrating women’s achievements. For
years the accomplishments of men have been celebrated throughout the year, and in 1980 President Carter
declared a National Women’s History Week by stating: “Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their
contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who
built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.” In 1987, after 14 states had
already recognized March as Women’s History Month, Congress declared March as National Women's History
Month in perpetuity (MacGregor 2012).
Each year a theme is selected by the California-based National Women’s History Project. This year’s
theme: Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment is a logical topic for a Faculty Forum issue. As
President Obama stated in this year’s proclamation for Women’s History Month “In America, we must lead by
example in protecting women's rights and supporting their empowerment. Despite our progress, too many
women continue to be paid less than male workers, and women are significantly underrepresented in the
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. By tapping into the potential and talents of
all our citizens, we can utilize an enormous source of economic growth and prosperity.” (Obama 2012)
Women in higher education have had a longer history than most are aware. Upper class women were
privately trained throughout history in the United States. In 1833 the first women’s college, Oberlin, was
opened, and in 1836 Georgia Female College in Macon, Georgia (later it became Wesleyan), was the first
school to admit women with the word “college” in its title (Women’s History Museum 2007).
In response to the teacher shortages starting in1833 women were enrolled in greater numbers in
Secondary and Post-secondary educational institutions (Women’s History Museum 2007). Western Carolina
University, known as Cullowhee High School in 1891was one of those schools.
Fast forward to the passage of Title IX designed to provide “No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under
any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” And the number of women
attending higher education institutions has been higher than men since 1988. The number of women receiving
doctorate degrees is greater than the number of men and has been since 2009 (Women’s History Museum
2007). With these increases in women’s participation in higher education and entering the professorate, this
year’s theme for Women’s History Month becomes a challenge for all of us to introduce women’s issues into
our classrooms and across our campus in terms of safety, co-curricular programming and recruitment strategies.
I have been at Western Carolina University for 15 years now and have noticed some recurring discussions
that seem to continue to be addressed because resolution seems to have eluded us.
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We have, over the past 15 years, continued to discuss the inequities between salaries for women and
men. At a point in history when we can anticipate a higher number of women entering our profession I
applaud the renewed interest in studying the differences in salary and hope that the conclusion of the
two year study will result in greater equity of salaries than have been given in the past.
Discussions for increasing enrollment of women in the STEM majors continue to be heard across
campus and again it is a topic that needs study and direct response. We have made progress in the areas
of mathematics, forensic anthropology, forensic sciences and some of the other sciences, but still fall
short in the technology programs and engineering (as do many universities). Reaching out to women in
positive ways is needed in these areas as more and more women attend Western Carolina University
with an interest in the sciences and technology programs.
Safety on campus continues to be a goal of the institution. And we have again resurrected the Sexual
Assault and Sexual Harassment Task Force with the goal of improving the institutional response to
sexual assault and harassment against our students on campus. Each member of the campus community
needs to reflect on their own interaction with students, especially women students and be aware of the
areas which can be harassing. Reducing harassment is a way to promote Western Carolina University’s
dedication to women students.
Safety also comes in the form of making sure students feel safe on campus. If you hear of a situation or
location where students feel unsafe, take the time to report that information to the campus police or
Henry Wong, Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
But these are institutional responses to women students. As educators each of us can address women’s
issues in our classrooms and with our students. So I would like to challenge my colleagues, not only to
participate in the initiatives above, but also to provide information and/or opportunities for students to learn
about women’s contributions and challenges in their own disciplines, on campus and in society. Several
activities can be included in classrooms or offered to students as opportunities to learn about women and their
contributions:
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Find women in your field that have contributed to your discipline or are currently making headlines in
your area. Present that information either in class or on your doors or other public display locations, so
students can be aware of women’s contributions in their field of study. A 10 minute information session
on women’s contributions would go a long way to making women and men realize the empowerment of
education.
Double-check the statistics you present in class to make sure they are the most recent when comparing
men and women or when talking about women’s achievements. Some great sites to gather information
on women are below.
Provide students with opportunities to learn about women in their field of study as a project.
Announce the Gender Research Conference to be held March 15, 2012. Or bring your class over to
one of the sessions. A full schedule and educational links can be found at http://www.wcu.edu/6386.asp
Announce and encourage students to attend the Women’s History Month events sponsored by the
Intercultural Affairs Center. A full schedule can be found at http://www.wcu.edu/28085.asp
Invite speakers to your class to discuss women’s issues. Speakers can be from within your own
departments, from Women’s Studies Faculty or from Intercultural Affairs. You don’t have to give up a
whole class period, 15 -20 minutes would educate students about women’s contributions.
Be aware of how your language is gendered. Studies have shown that the way in which information is
presented can create gender stereotypes and inequalities for men and women.
Reflect on the topics you cover and identify ways in which the material is gendered and how that
information has historically provided barriers for women in those fields. And if you identify some areas
explore ways to present the material in gender neutral manners.
The focus of March as a month to recognize women, not only in history but making history, remains
important because, while women have made great strides in education, employment, and family, there is a long
way to go to reduce barriers that still exist. All of us believe education is empowering or we would not be here
teaching the next generation. Let’s focus on making that education and empowerment positive for both men
AND women.
References
MacGregor, Molly. 2012. History of National Women's History Month. Retrieved from
http://www.nwhp.org/whm/history.php
National Women's History Museum, 2007 The History of Women and Education. Retrieved from
http://www.nwhm.org/online‐exhibits/education/1700s_1.htm
Obama, Barak 2012. Presidential Proclamation Women's History Month, 2011 Women's History Month, 2011
By The President Of The United States Of America A Proclamation. Retrieved from
http://www.nwhp.org/whm/presidential.php
Resources
United Nations Statistics Division: Statistics and indicators on Women and Men.
Council on Women and Girls: Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being
Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Sciences and Engineering
Women in Higher Education ____________ News and Notes from the Faculty Senate
From Erin McNelis, Chair
The Faculty Senate started its February meeting on Wednesday, February 22 and will complete its business in an overflow
meeting on Wednesday, March 7 starting at 3 p.m. in the UC Multipurpose Room.
In his report to the Faculty Senate, Chancellor Belcher responded to a Senate Planning Team request to give his
perspective of the state of the faculty and his impressions of what faculty is looking for and need most at WCU.
Chancellor Belcher indicated he’s been particularly impressed with the quality of our faculty, our commitment to students,
our strong commitment to our regional mission and focus on engagement, and how faculty has stepped up to the plate in
times of budget cuts, and taken on extra duties and classes. Dr. Belcher recognized faculty desire for improved salaries,
our hunger for a voice, a desire for transparency as well as for a focus, and the need for consistent academic leadership
and support for critical faculty efforts. Questions from the Faculty Senate touched on changing approaches to assure a
successful Provost Search (a search firm will be hired to help), how to assure that all faculty voices are heard (not just
those who tend to be more outspoken or elected to leadership positions), finding ways (in addition to salary increases) to
make faculty and staff feel valued, and having more opportunities for the Chancellor to interact with faculty at the college
or department level. It was a productive and valuable discussion.
The Academic Policy and Review Council presented two policy updates from the Graduate Council: one limiting the
number of credit hours a non-degree seeking student can apply towards a graduate degree to 9 credit hours, and another
defines how long a graduate student may go without enrolling in classes before being dropped and required to reapply for
admission. Both of these policy updates were passed by the Faculty Senate. The APRC also presented a resolution
requesting the Office of the Provost oversee a review of student attendance and student progress reports to see if the
additional hours required to complete these reports is warranted. Associate Provost Mark Lord agreed that the request
was friendly to the Office of the Provost and the progress reporting could use a fresh look and a reassessment. The
resolution passed with requests to have efficiency issues resolved prior to the start of the Fall semester. APRC Chair,
Christopher Hoyt, also indicated that the SGA Senate brought forward a resolution on the A+ and the council voted to
table the resolution for the moment and do a thorough review of the consequences of raising the value of an A+ to higher
than a 4.0. This is likely to come to the Faculty Senate in its March 22 meeting.
In her report from the Collegial Review Council, Vicki Szabo indicated the council is still discussing the collegiality
resolution returned to council last fall, and this will probably be brought to Senate in its March meeting. The Council is
also looking at issues regarding abstention voting, but for expediency, they may not bring this to the Senate in the form of
a resolution this year, but instead ask the Provost’s Office to discuss best practices. One of the issues raised at the faculty
caucus dealt with “double voting”, when a faculty member is on more than one level of collegial review committees and
has more than one opportunity to vote on a candidate. After discussion, the Collegial Review Council has declined to act
on this as they found it to be standard practice and forbidding double voting would create difficulty in small colleges. The
council is also looking into policies regarding promotion for non-tenure-track faculty, and will be presenting Guidelines
for the TPR Application at the March Faculty Senate meeting.
The CRC also had three resolutions presented to the Faculty Senate for a vote. One resolution from Section 4.07 of the
Faculty Handbook was a carry-over from the January Faculty Senate meeting, and addressed selection of representatives
to the college level collegial review committee for departments with an insufficient number of tenured faculty members.
Changes to this policy were discussed in the January meeting and the resolution passed with minimal discussion. The first
resolution presented by the CRC during the meeting generated much more discussion and debate. In addition to some
clarification and standardization to Section 4.04, the resolution specified that if a review action requires a vote, a majority
vote of the committee is required for a positive recommendation. As such, a tie vote will be considered a negative
recommendation. In introducing the resolution, the Chair of the CRC indicated that the handbook specifies that collegial
review is the responsibility of the faculty, and the CRC believe that it is the responsibility of the faculty to make a
recommendation (positive or negative) rather than to allow administration at the next highest level to make an
interpretation of the committees decision. At the moment, the Faculty Handbook does not clarify how to interpret a tie
vote from a committee in terms of a recommendation. Although all of the Senators agreed that they wanted the decision
on the recommendation to remain in the hands of the faculty, interpretation of a tie vote as a positive or negative
recommendation remained at the heart of debate. Some felt that a tie vote should be in favor of the faculty member,
where others indicated that a tie vote is not strong enough to tenure a faculty member for 30 years. In the end, the Faculty
Senate voted via secret ballot (clicker) in favor of the resolution as presented with 20 in favor and 4 opposed.
The Faculty Senate will conclude its business next Wednesday by considering a resolution clarifying the process in
applying for and being granted Emeritus status (Section 4.11) as well as a resolution on open searches requesting that the
University publicly announce the finalists for all positions and make accommodations for diverse stakeholders to meet the
candidates and express their opinions.
In addition to the Faculty Senate web page and the Faculty Senate folder on the Share (H) drive, the Faculty Senate
materials can also be found on the SharePoint site for the Faculty Senate.
https://wcuhub.wcu.edu/Committee/FacultySenate/SitePages/Home.aspx
Notes from the mid-semester Faculty Senate meeting with the Council of Deans on Monday, February 27 will be posted
in these locations soon. Please check out these documents and consider becoming a part of the Faculty Senate by
nominating yourself for the Chair or Vice Chair of the Faculty or for a senate position in your college elections.
__________ Coulter Faculty Commons for Teaching and Learning
Our mailbox was completely empty this month! NO responses to last month’s excellent
article written by Nory Prochaska entitled eBriefcase: Fact or Fiction. We KNOW you
talked about it; we hear the rumbling about using eBriefcase, so this was a great
opportunity to have your say. Nary a word from you! Come on now; help keep The
Faculty Forum vital in its 24th year with your feedback, good bad or indifferent.
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Editorial Notes
By Vera Holland Guise
Faculty Fellow, Coulter Faculty Commons
Happy Spring everyone! The campus is blooming out all over and it is such a breath of fresh air! In our rush to classes
and to write great articles for The Faculty Forum, it is easy to rush by all the beautiful landscaping that WCU staff work
so hard to achieve and maintain. Let’s remind ourselves to thank them as we pass as they’re hunkered down among the
flowers, shooting up all over. Someone should write an article about them, and about the impact a beautiful campus has
on our students and our teaching success. Also, it is easy to take for granted the cleanliness of this place. Ever compared
our bathrooms to those at discount stores or fast food restaurants? NO comparison! Let’s thank them for all their hard
work. It is the support staff—ALL of them-- who make our world go round.
We premiered the new trial logo with last month’s issue of The Faculty Forum and invited your input, and not a whisper
about it! Come on, comrades in arms, let us know what you think! It sometimes takes a few days for the links at the top
to be functional, but they should make it quick and simple to respond to articles through the wiki, or to send them directly
to me. AND to review all the wonderful, yeasty article by faculty from our past.
Please send us your comments and thoughts about each issue we collectively render. This month’s article, in celebration
of National Women’s History Month, and written by Marilyn Chamberlin, addresses some critical issues about gender—
not a new issue to most of us, but still one our society and our campus grapples with. Our world has changed since I came
into the work force (more years ago than I’d like to admit!) but most women would agree: we’re not there yet. In the
words of Robert Frost: We have many miles to go before we sleep.