Minutes
Women’s Issues Committee Meeting
September 12, 2013
Present: Whitney Henley, Ellie Schemenauer, Jill Malin, Akiko Yoshida, Janay Alston, Jennifer
Thibodeaux, Ronna Timmerman, Kristina Navarro, Cindy Konrad
Approval of the Minutes - the minutes were approved as read.
Announcements – Janay and Jennifer will be co-chairing the committee this year.
Ellie announced that the Children’s Center on campus has experienced turnover including the
resignation of Holly McFaul. The committee decided to follow up on discussion at the next
meeting.
Committee Reports
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Athletics – Amy Edmonds has assumed the Interim Athletic Director position, and Keri
Carollo will be reporting in her place.
The Women’s & Gender Studies Department has been collaborating on the Diversity Learning
Certificate, which requires curricular and co-curricular activities. Ellie is working with L&S
Media to create a website. Women’s & Gender Studies now has a formalized partnership with
Race & Ethnic Cultures, and Chandra Waring of Sociology will be an affiliated faculty
member. Lauren Smith has taken on new responsibilities as Director of the Prior Learning
Program.
University Health and Counseling Services and Sexual Assault Prevention Advisory
Committee (Whitney Henley) – Whitney reported on recent legislation that passed which adds
language describing stalking behaviors and dating violence to sexual assault. The Supporting a
Violence-Free Environment Group has met and made plans for the year. The committee
working on the interpersonal violence questionnaire has made a lot of progress. Janae
suggested the freshman seminar class for dissemination of the questionnaire. Because
Whitney wants to include as many respondents as possible, she has been working with health
& physical fitness classes and Amberly Bell, and will be in touch with Adrianna Guram’s
replacement when someone takes this position. The first meeting of SAPA will be next
Monday at 10:00a.m. Whitney is looking for students (perhaps students in service learning
projects) to spearhead April sexual assault events.
LGBTQ Task Force & Pride Resource Center – Cindy Konrad will also be reporting on the
Warhawk Connection Center for Mai Yer Yang. The task force has met and discussed goals,
in particular how to connect with students. They’ve received a lot of information on what
students deal with on campus, in residence halls, and in classes, and plan to look at policy
changes which would deal positively with these issues. Cindy will be contacting Admissions
to suggest inclusion of a question asking for student orientation on the application for
admission form. This would assist her in connecting with students when they arrive on
campus. Safe Zone Training will be scheduled once a month. Cindy distributed handouts on
the Pride Center, Queer Series, and Women’s Lecture Series events. She invited professors to
bring their classes to events. It’s also possible that speakers could attend a class, and students
will be invited to lunch with speakers. The handouts are summarized below:
WOMEN & GENDER CULTURAL SERIES:
Hanne Blank, author of The Unapologetic Fat Girls’ Guide to Exercise and other Incendiary
Acts will be speaking on Tuesday, October 15th @ 11:00am in the Summers Auditorium.
QUEER CULTURAL SERIES
National Coming Out Day Celebration, sponsored by IMPACT Tuesday, October 8th 12:303:00, UC North Mall
G.B.F. film screening – “When the popular girls decide that they want the latest hot accessory,
the gay best friend, newly out Tanner must choose between skyrocketing popularity and the
friends he is leaving behind.” Oct 8th @ 6:30pm Hyland 2101.
It Gets Better! – a six member cast of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles will engage our
community in a week-long residency, culminating in a musical production. November 7th @
7:30 Young Auditorium.
Transgender Identities and Issues – Mara Kiesling, Executive Director of the National Center
for Transgender Equality will speak November 12th @ 11:00am in the Warhawk Connection
Center.
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Inclusive Excellence (/Liz Ogunsola) no report
Old Business
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Work/Life Balance sub-committee report – this item will be moved to the list of standing
committees. Akiko reported on student presentations from Leda Nath’s class, and she will
bring data to the next meeting. The students doing interviews generally had a limited
understanding of jobs on campus such as the difference between classified and unclassifield
staff, which prevented realistic comparisons of groups, etc. It is hoped that the report will
provide a jumping off point for further research by students and/or faculty and possibly a
grant.
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Sexual Assault Education - tabled
New Business
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Film – Academic Motherhood – How faculty manage work and family – tabled
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Lactation rooms on campus – a new faculty member asked Jennifer to look into the issue of
lactation rooms on campus. There is a breast feeding policy at UWW which is says a private
room shall be available for breastfeeding/pumping, however there are no lactation rooms.
Janae reported on the room in Hyland Hall. This item will be added to the agenda for the
next meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Fellows