LETTER TO THE EDITOR: We've waited long enough for a Gender & Sexuality Center at CMU
TO THE EDITOR:
In a recent letter to the editor to Central Michigan Life, a Central Michigan University student argued that now is not the right time for CMU to create a Gender and Sexuality Center.
The student said budget cuts and existing resources were reasons for delaying the center. However, creating the GSC is a necessity. It will provide resources that do not currently exist and the demand for it has been around for decades.
In the letter, the student points to the Office of LGBTQ Services as an existing resource for marginalized students. To clarify, the proposed GSC will absorb LGBTQ Services. It would continue to provide resources for LGBTQ students, but also provide resources for women.
Women particularly face challenges in college, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, imposter syndrome, stereotype threat, microaggressions and many other issues.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Now is not the right time for a new Gender and Sexuality Center at CMU
In a recent edition of Central Michigan Life, there was a story about how a group of students would like to see funding for a Gender and Sexuality Center included in into the new budget for the 2017-18 school year.
On March 30, students marched to Warriner Hall, collected signatures and gained support for the new center.
A GSC, unlike LGBTQ Services, would provide resources to help women overcome these issues.
Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates and the Counseling Center are for short-term, crisis situations. Spectrum and Transcend are student-run groups, lacking adequate resources. On-campus awareness events are excellent, but do not provide long-term support for marginalized students. Students need a permanent place to get advice on reporting incidents to Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity, support if they choose not to report, and a place to be around other survivors.
Most importantly, it would show that CMU is committed to helping all students succeed — including women — by providing tangible resources to overcome institutional sexism. Yes, there are excellent programs that exist on campus, but they exist because of the work of faculty and students who receive no institutional support.
CMU is out of step with peer institutions in this area. The first women’s centers began appearing in 1960. Today, CMU is one of few publicly funded universities without such resources. To remain competitive in the eyes of prospective students, we need to follow best practices among our peer institutions. For example, the University of Michigan’s Center for the Education of Women celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014. A GSC will make us more appealing to prospective students, thus helping to ameliorate the deficit.
Furthermore, once the center has been established, there are many sources of funding that CMU can apply for to sustain and grow it. We understand the university is grappling with a $20 million budget deficit. However, CMU had many years to develop a financial plan to create the center — but they haven’t.
People often try to guilt us into silence, saying creating a GSC would cause more layoffs. But that money could come from things like the Residence Life Carnival or Up All Night. It could have come from what was spent on new signs around campus. Ultimately, the university is showing that signs, parties and carnivals are more important than creating a resource to help marginalized students.
It’s unacceptable.
The budget needs to be allocated according to the university’s top priorities. Faculty, staff, and resources that aid student education (like the GSC) should be top priorities.
This center needs to be a priority. The “right time” for it to be created was 50 years ago. So no, the Gender and Sexuality Center should not be “put in the to be continued folder.”
We’ve been waiting long enough.
CALI WINSLOW
CMU junior, Midland
Co-President of Students Advocating Gender Equality
