Faculty Function

Faculty Function

Proposal for a Women’s Studies Program

February 1, 1982

With pressure placed on the administration by students and their faculty advisors, a primarily student-initiated drive for Women’s Studies evolved into a faculty conversation. As the major’s proposal passed through the Academic Policy Committee (APC) and into the faculty meetings, discussions centered around the difficulty of navigating interdepartmental faculty and funding. At these stages, student input was effectively forgone save for those faculty members who attempted to communicate their students’ opinions.

Following grueling administrative procedures, the Women’s Studies major was passed for the 1983-1984 school year and quickly developed into an activism-focused department with courses angled towards community service, internships, and exploring how to make the world a better place for women. Today this department is known as the Gender Studies department, devoted to exploring questions of sexuality, gender, and their intersectionalities with race, class, and nation.