From: Tess Benser
Date: January 29, 2021
Subject: Center For Women & Gender Equity January Newsletter


Center for Women & Gender Equity in purple and gold text.

Welcome back, Golden Rams!

The new semester is upon us, so we at the Center for Women & Gender Equity wanted to pop into your inbox and say hello. This newsletter is a little different than our usual monthly messages, intended to provide you with a few updates of our activities and upcoming events and programs for the Spring.

But fear not – we will return to our regular format in the coming weeks. In future newsletters, you can continue to expect to find content that celebrates the accomplishments of WCU students, practical skill building tips for preventing and mitigating harm through bystander intervention, inclusive and evidence-based sex education materials, tools to aid in advocacy work, and, of course, all of the upcoming programs and events that the Center for Women & Gender Equity and our campus and community partners will be offering.

Our space is dedicated to facilitating the exploration of gender identities and their relationship to other categories and experiences of social difference. We hope this newsletter will continue to provide meaningful strategies for developing healthy and fulfilling friendships, relationships, and connections to others, in ways that maintain a campus environment that is safe and respectful for every member of our community.

We encourage active engagement from all of our readers and partners across campus. Is there content you would like to see in future newsletters?

Please feel free to contact Tess Benser (tbenser@wcupa.edu) with your suggestions.

If at any time you find that this monthly communication is not meeting your needs, or is simply not something you wish to see in your inbox, please feel free to click the unsubscribe option at the bottom of this email.

In our work, establishing and honoring boundaries is paramount, and we hope you will feel encouraged to assert your own boundaries about the emails you receive.

We look forward to a great Spring semester!

Best,

Tess Benser
Assistant Director of Outreach & Engagement
Gender Justice Conference Graphic in purple and teal

WCU students, faculty, staff, and members of the community are invited to participate in a conference experience dedicated to exploring knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to engage in social change work with a specific focus on disrupting gender oppression. Topics will include dismantling leadership barriers commonly linked to gender identities, coalition building across difference, developing strategies for engaging in social change work and cultivating a community of collaborators, mentors, and allies. Participants will critically examine social justice issues through an intersectional lens and be encouraged to apply what they learn into their day to day lives and in their communities.

The conference will be held virtually on March 24 & 25th 2021. 
We hope you can join us!
Register on RamConnect

Purple graphic sexual citizens keynote

Keynote:

Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus compiles years of research conducted at Columbia University. It offers many insights on how individuals’ identities are tied to power, privilege, oppression, and marginalization, and the critical role these identities play both in sexual projects and in sexual assaults. 

Drawing on the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) at Columbia University, the most comprehensive study to date of sexual assault on a campus, Jennifer S. Hirsch and Shamus Khan present a new framework for sexual assault prevention that emphasizes sexual assault’s social roots, based on the powerful concepts of “sexual projects,” “sexual citizenship,” and “sexual geographies.” 

Please join us on March 24th for a conversation with the authors. 
Register on RamConnect

 
Purple graphic upcoming events


black history month trivia graphic
Thursday, February 4th | 6:30 PM
Black History Month Trivia
Sponsored by the Dowdy Multicultural Center
Register Here: http://cglink.me/r942364

graphic for Dr. Tatum speaking event

February 8th | 4 PM
Gender, Race and University Administration: A Conversation with Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum
Sponsored by Greater Philadelphia Women's Studies Consortium 
Register Here: https://bit.ly/353GyLi


Wednesdays, February 10th, 17th, 24th | 2 PM
Honoring the Beauty of Blackness Conversation Series
Sponsored by the Dowdy Multicultural Center
Register Here: https://tinyurl.com/wcudmc-bhm 


Graphic beyond covidFebruary 10th | 12:15 PM
Beyond Covid & Protests: Black Communities' Agency featuring Nyles Fort
Sponsored by the Dowdy Multicultural Center
Register Here: http://cglink.me/r942484


black voters & black women graphic
February 10th | 6:45 PM
Making History: Black Voters & Black Women - Black History Month Speaker: Nyles Fort
Sponsored by the Dowdy Multicultural Center
Register Here: http://cglink.me/r942562



February 24th | 6 PM
NO! The Rape Documentary: An evening with Aishah Shahidah Simmons
Register Here: Link



Feb. 25 | 9am-12pm
Sexual Violence and Transformative Change A Workshop With Aishah Shahidah Simmons
 Register Here: Link



OURS: Black Folks Discource
February 27th-28th
2nd Annual OURS: Black Folks Discourse on Knowledge, Love & Healing Conference
Register Here: Link

 

Apply for the Charlotte W. Newcombe and related scholarships administered by the Center for Women & Gender Equity.
Applications open from February 1 - April 5 via Scholarship Manager https://wcupa.scholarships.ngwebsolutions.com/
Join a community of mature (25+) scholars with 60+ credit hours navigating life responsibilities with additional support and connection.
Questions? See our FAQ (link:https://www.wcupa.edu/_services/Stu.wce/Documents/21-22 NewcombeFAQ Final.pdf) or email the Center at cwge@wcupa.edu. 




 

The West Chester-Chester County PA Branch of the American Association of University Women offers one $1500 academic scholarship to a deserving student meeting the requirements.

The mission of AAUW is to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research.

Apply at bit.ly/AAUWLawson

Deadline: March 31, 2021.

First Annual Gender Justice Conference Logo

EVENT

First Annual Gender Justice Conference

Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 12:00am
to Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:55pm
TBD
Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

WCU students, faculty, staff, and members of the community are invited to participate in a conference experience dedicated to exploring knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to engage in social change work with a specific focus on disrupting gender oppression. Participants will critically examine social justice issues through an intersectional lens and be encouraged to apply what they learn into their day to day lives and in their communities. ASL/CART provided, for other access needs, please contact: cwge@wcupa.edu

REGISTER
Gender Justice Conference Keynote Speakers: Jennifer S. Hirsch & Shamus Khan Logo

EVENT

Gender Justice Conference Keynote Speakers: Jennifer S. Hirsch & Shamus Khan

Wednesday, March 24, 2021
12:00pm - 2:00pm
TBD
Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

First Annual Gender Justice Conference Keynote Speakers: Jennifer S. Hirsch & Shamus Khan, authors of Sexual Citizens

In SEXUAL CITIZENS: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus, Columbia professor Jennifer S. Hirsch and Princeton Professor Shamus Khan lay out an expansive, empirically-grounded vision for campus sexual assault prevention. The book, which was listed as one of NPR's 'best books of 2020', is rich with the testimonies of over 150 Columbia students who participated in the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT). Startling in their frankness and revelations, these experiences encompass explicit acts of violent rape and more subtle violations of consent that many people may not realize is assault, juxtaposed against consensual sexual experiences that range from sweet and caring to startlingly impersonal and objectifying. Hirsch and Khan's goal, in sharing these stories, is not to make moral judgments or decide what the ideal legal ramifications of assault should be. Rather, with empathy and compassion for the many struggles that young people face, they approach sexual assault as a public health problem and explain it by setting out a broader understanding of how sex is organized and what it means to young people in college.

Sexual Citizens puts forth powerful new concepts to help explain the forces in young people's sexual lives: sexual projects (the various motives college students have for pursuing sex), sexual citizenship (the possession of one's sexual agency, and the respect for another's), and sexual geographies (the landscapes, both physical and social, that shape the power dynamics and contexts of sex). Hirsch and Khan have a remarkable eye for nuance—at every point in their exploration of campus culture they identify the ways race, class, age, and sexuality can intersect with gender to influence who is most at risk and who is most likely to commit offenses. Grounded in the intimate, often painful accounts of the human beings at its center, SEXUAL CITIZENS is a bold and comprehensive analysis of a social ecosystem where sexual assault is a regular feature, concluding with a bracing set of recommendations for what families, teachers, policy makers, and leaders in higher education can do to prevent it.
REGISTER