We’re currently in the process of replacing our old yellow hotline stickers (you’ll find them on bathroom doors around campus) with new neon stickers that display updated information.

While the Student Assistant Hotline for Rape and Sexual Assault will continue to serve the same function in Haverford’s Circle of Resources, we wanted to update the stickers to advertise a new policy that evolved as a result of Title IX laws. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s an excerpt from the College’s website outlining the role of Title IX on campus with respect to sexual assault:

“The Office of Civil Rights of the US Department of Education is responsible for overseeing compliance with Title IX, and has issued guidelines for institutions to help them comply with its principles. In the case of sexual harassment, the OCR guidelines require that once an institution has received notice of the possible sexual harassment of a student, it should take immediate and appropriate steps to investigate what occurred, take prompt and effective action to end the harassment if such is found to be the case, take steps to remedy the effects and to prevent it from occurring again. These steps are the school’s responsibility whether or not the student who was harassed makes a complaint or otherwise asks the school to take action; all reasonable steps to investigate and respond are still required.”

In order to both comply with Title IX and promote the agency of survivors, we now suggest that if a student would like to utilize the hotline as a resource but would like the conversation to remain confidential, she or he should refrain from citing specific information about the incident in question, including names, locations, or dates. We, like the College, have an obligation to be concerned both about the wishes of the person who experienced an assault and the safety of the community as a whole, and the new hotline policy attempts to fulfill both of these obligations. As a reminder, the only completely confidential resource on campus is CAPS (with a few exceptions; please consult their website for more information).

The new stickers are also meant as a reminder that the hotline phone can be used for more than emergency situations. We as student assistants can provide support at any time though any stage of the recovery process, and we can direct you to available resources both on and off campus. The phone is on day and night, and we are ready to talk whenever you are.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the content of the new stickers, the Center is open six days a week, and we would be happy to speak with you. For more information on Title IX policies, please visit www.haverford.edu/deans/title_ix.php or speak with Dean Watter, our Title IX representative.

WC love,

Sara (On behalf of the WC Staff)

Work against gender discrimination has been embraced by most International Humanitarian agencies as a transversal topic, but its implementation relays heavily in the specifics of the context, and the gender practices culturally rooted in those targeted populations. What are the most successful gender programs? How are we measuring the results of those programs? When and how can we approach the paradoxes and ethical dilemmas involved in these changing realities?

The combination of International success programs, with local knowledge inputs, and local management might be a winning practice, but there is still much to be rethink when dealing with realities such as FGM, Female Gender Mutilation, or the extended use of rape in conflicts. By approaching gender work in an interdisciplinary manner that comprises social, legal, medical and ethnographic work, many International agencies and local groups are changing gender discrimination and reducing its negative impacts in the life of communities.

In this seminar we will review the basic recommendations of UN agencies when approaching these gender realities to promote positive changes in the lives of women, men and the entire communities, and we will describe the strengths and weaknesses of some gender programs (both international and locally designed), to ultimately propose and design potential modifications, along the room for improvement.

Registration is limited. To apply, simply include the following information in an e-mail to hc-cpgc@haverford.edu with the subject line reading ‘Against Gender Discrimination’.

Name
Class Year
Major/Minor/Concentration
Why are you interested in this workshop?

Applications are due by Monday, September 17 at 9:00am.

Sponsored by The Center for Peace and Global Citizenship and The Women’s Center.

For more info, contact Stephanie Zukerman
610-795-6492
szukerma@haverford.edu

Ms. LaDuke is an internationally acclaimed author, orator and activist. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, with advanced degrees in rural economic development, she has devoted her life to protecting the lands and life ways of Native communities.

Ms. LaDuke is the founder and co-Director of Honor the Earth, a national advocacy group encouraging public support and funding for Native environmental groups. She is also the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based non-profit organizations in the country. Ms. LaDuke served as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. In 2007, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Before Ms. LaDuke’s public talk, we are offering two opportunities to get to meet her in person! Any Haverford student, faculty, or staff member can apply to engage in a workshop or to enjoy a catered meal with Ms. LaDuke. There are twenty spots open for each activity.

The workshop will take place from 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Multicultural Center in Stokes and will center on the topic of women and leadership, and the potential for women leaders to enact meaningful social change.

The dinner will be held from 6:15-7:15 in the Swarthmore room of the Dining Center, and will provide the opportunity to get to know Ms. LaDuke personally!

Applicants can apply for one or both of the activities. To apply, simply answer the questions below and email your answers to womenctr@haverford.edu. Please make sure to specify the activity or activities for which you are applying. The application deadline is Friday, March 23rd at 11:59 p.m. (the next minute being Saturday).

1. Why are you interested in meeting Winona LaDuke?
2. If you could discuss any topic with her, what would it be?

We look forward to reading your applications!

When: Saturday, February 11th, 2012 @ 1pm – 4pm
Where: CPGC cafe

Come make chocolate dipped goodies for yourself, your friend, and/or your lover with the Women’s Center. What a nice way to start off your Saturday afternoon, eh?

We’ve Had Enough was created in opposition to several recent Pennsylvanian bills that, if passed, would restrict women’s access to safe and affordable reproductive health benefits. One of the bills, SB 732, was signed into law in December. The bill mandates that free-standing abortion providers comply with regulations required of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities. These regulations will demand that expensive changes–most involving unnecessary physical makeovers of the facilities–be made to the 20 free-standing abortion clinics in Pennsylvania. To read more about that bill, visit the Women’s Law Project’s writeup.

Other pending legislation include SB 3 and HB 1977, both of which would render the health insurance companies participating in state health care reform unable to pay for even medically necessary abortions, except for in narrowly defined circumstances of rape, incest, or explicit danger to a woman’s life. The private insurance companies participating in the state health insurance exchange will serve employees in small businesses and other people who do not receive employee health benefits. None of these bills outlaw abortion in wording; all of these bills would, in effect, force many women to seek abortions illegally and unsafely.

These pieces of legislation provide a sobering backdrop for a celebration of Roe v. Wade’s anniversary. The awareness event was still full of good cheer, though. My friend and I arrived halfway through the event and, after creating our signs (mine said “Honk to Protect Abortion Rights!”; my friend’s said “Respect my Life, Honor my Choice”), crossed over to the crowded meridian on Broad Street, where around twenty five people were holding up signs for the passing cars and people to read.

We were positioned between Walnut and Chestnut streets, right in the middle of mid-day inner city traffic. We stood on this thin strip of protected land, tssking when cars, uninterested or unacknowledging, would speed on by, and cheering when cars, often in a kind of sing-songy attention to the horn, would honk at us. (One taxi driver grinned when he saw us, gave us two thumbs up while beeping, and continued honking well past Chestnut Street.)

Standing for half an hour in the heart of sunny Philadelphia is small work compared to the people crafting alternative legislation or organizing community protests, but I felt connected to this Pennsylvanian battle in a way that I, as a Connecticut Yankee, have never felt when reading of these fights in the paper or on blogs. I finally realized that I could, and should, be a part of a battle that isn’t necessarily being fought in my backyard. In a country as wealthy as the United States, access to safe reproductive health care should be a right. This access is obviously not just a Pennsylvanian right, and not even solely a women’s right. It is a human right, and I, as a human, enjoyed both celebrating our recognition of this right and warning legislators of a human commitment to our lives and our bodies.

The Women’s Center would like to invite you to an exciting event happening this ***Friday, January 20th from 12pm to 1pm in Broad and Walnut St.***

The 39th anniversary of Roe vs Wade is this sunday. To celebrate the women’s right to choose and to protest against all of the recent attempts to restrict abortion services, join us this Friday in Philadelphia.

Here’s the website for the organization and the event:
www.wevehadenoughpa.org/join-us-on-january-20th.html

To register: (it’s FREE)
roevwadephilly.eventbrite.com/

More information:
www.wevehadenoughpa.org/blog.html

Date: Friday, Jan 20th
Location: Broad and Walnut Streets
Time: Noon to 1:00pm (SEPTA train leaves Haverford Station at 10:56am, 11:21am, 11:56am to get you to downtown Philadelphia)

The Women’s Center is officially back into the swing of things!

Last Thursday we screened a documentary at the Center titled “Miss Representation,” which explored the complicated relationship between women, the mainstream media, and people in positions of influence.  We had a great turnout, and everyone seemed to leave interested in knowing more about the subject. If you’re interested in finding out more about the documentary, visit missrepresentation.org/.

THIS Thursday (i.e. tomorrow), we’re holding a pumpkin-decorating event! Join us at the MCC at 8 p.m. to decorate your very own mini pumpkin. We’ll have tons of holiday-themed art supplies and snacks. So take a break, come on down, and decorate a pumpkin for your dorm room or a friend. We’ll see you there!

Love,

Gavi