Princeton Weekly Bulletin April 26, 1999
Women's Center: place and concept
Programs range from Latina Education Roundtable to self-defense workshop
By Caroline Moseley
|
|
|
|
Susan Overton |
"It's a place where we plan and offer programming for women undergraduates and graduate students, and it's a focus for the collective voice of women on this campus."
Gender, she says, "has become a silent issue here. Feminists have a bad name. We still need to acknowledge that gender matters, and we need to give people the opportunity to discuss gender-related issues." She believes, for example, that "Many women are still struggling to feel successful in the science, mathematics and engineering departments here."
Overton works with "many, many students" on specific projects. For example, she points to a recent Latina Education Roundtable, and a performance called "Singular Women," which she describes as "a series of monologues from Sophocles' Antigone to Wendy Wasserstein's Heidi Chronicles" -- all featuring student performers. Such events are student-initiated and carried out by students. "This level of initiative is perhaps unique to Princeton students," she observes. "We help them formulate their ideas for programs and take them from the concept stage to the reality stage -- that includes publicity, choosing appropriate space for the event and funding."
However, the Women's Center currently has no student governance board -- something Overton would like to change, because "I don't want my vision to be the only one that guides the center."
"Corsets to Body Piercing"
The Women's Center offers an array of programs both to its women participants and to the campus at large. This spring programs have included a Women in Science Brunch, with Shirley Tilghman, Howard A. Prior Professor in the Life Sciences; a Women in University Administration lunch with Joy Montero, assistant dean for graduate student affairs, and Mary Baum, director of corporate and foundation relations; a discussion of "Balancing Career and Family" with Elizabeth Bogan, senior lecturer in economics, and Joanne Gowa, professor of politics; a discussion of Gender and Communication, led by Cynthia McLemore, lecturer in the Council of the Humanities; and a women's self-defense workshop. An audience of 350 attended a lecture by Joan Brumberg of Cornell University called "From Corsets to Body Piercing: How History and Culture Shape the Experience of American Girls." These events were cosponsored with other campus organizations.
Plans for the future include workshops on body image and a mentoring program Overton hopes will involve women undergraduate science majors and local high school students. Something else Overton would like to see: "More men involved in our programs."
Overton assumed her present position in July 1998. Previously a coordinator in the Cornell University Dean of Students Office, she had also served as a program director in the Department of Campus Life. She holds a BS in industrial relations from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an MA in education and college student development from Ohio State University.
Web site offers essays, links
The Women's Center Web site at www.princeton.edu/~womenctr/index.html lists all programs sponsored by the center and also offers "Topics from the Director" -- essays on such issues as "Women and Alcohol" and "For Graduate Women Who Aspire to be Faculty." In addition, there are links to numerous other resources on and off campus.
Currently located at 91 Prospect St., the Women's Center shares some space with the International Center but has its own spacious lounge and library. Overton expects to move onto the main campus when the Frist Campus Center is completed. Being centrally located, she thinks, "will be a tradeoff. We'll actually have less space, but I'm sure our dropin population will increase considerably."