Strategic Planning and Development: The centerpiece of the Committee's work was planning for, holding, and moving forward from a two-day retreat, facilitated by Francie Kendall. The retreat was held in late January; representatives from related campus groups were invited to attend portions of the retreat as well. The major results of the retreat were the identification of core issues on which to focus, action plans for starting to move forward in these core issues, and community building. The three core issues were identified as barriers to women on campus are: issues of race and racism, isolation, and safety (including both physical safety and economic security). Three task forces were formed following the retreat to work on these issues. The Task Force on Race has been particularly active as the controversy surrounding Carrie Chapman Catt grew. A video on racism used in the retreat (Skin Deep) was purchased by funds from the YWCA and WISE for Media. Two students from the Student Counseling Service led the committee in a workshop titled, "Black, White & Beyond: Enhancing Inter-Racial Communication" at our March meeting. An episode of 48 Hours dealing with athletics and violence against women was also viewed and discussed by a large number of committee members. Three Women in Touch programs were given. Jane Vallier spoke on gender and language at a breakfast in November; Bill Boon addresses creativity in the workplace over lunch in February; and Mary Swander read from her book, Out of This World, at a lunch in April. A total of 632 staff members attended these events. The Women in Touch programs continue to be attended predominantly by merit staff. The Gender Equity Forum was held in February, focusing on information and resources available to women in campus. Ninety-one people attended, mainly faculty and administrators. The Dept. of Public Safety, the Diversity Steering Committee, and Legal Services all sent speaker: Mary Huba spoke on the need for full professor faculty women to exert leaderhsip on gender equity, and Faye Whitaker concluded the session for the Provost's office. The committee was kept up to date with Faculty Senate activities throughout the year by our Senate representative, Luannn Gaskill. The interim Women's Studies Director, Linda Galyon, kept the committee informed of activities in the program as it completed its first year as a major. The Women's Center celebrated its 15th anniversary. We added a representative from the Catt Center to our ex-officio membership. Letters of introduction and welcome were sent to new administrators (Dean Melsa, Kathy MacKay, Terri Houston) and to new coaches (Bill Fennelly, Cathy Klein). Kathy MacKay and Terri Houston attended part of the November meeting for introductions and discussion. Letters of appreciate were sent to the supervisors of all UCW members by the Provost's Office. Members of the University Committee on Women actively participated in a number of searches throughout the year. Included were the positions of Affirmative Action Officer, Director of the Catt Center for Women in Politics, Vice President for External Affairds, and Director of Housing. A subgroup of the committee met with Coach Dan McCarney in October to discuss concerns about the involvement of football players in sexual assaults on campus. A subgroup of the committee met with Vice President Murray Blackwelder and staff from ISU Alumni/Visions. As a result, a one-page op/ed piece was run in the following issue, as were a number of letters expressing similar concerns. Comments on the NCAA self-study draft were sent from the committee to the Athletics
Council. Concern was expressed about the distribution of non-salary perkes between the
men's and women's coaching staffs.< Kris Gerhard and Faye Whitaker collected information and began to develop a strategy to ease faculty women's concerns about maternity leave and marternity-related issues. Playboy was in town again this year, and the committee dealt with press requests for comments. The controvery surrounding Catt Hall has caused deep concern in the committee, and continues to be an issue that must be appropriately addressed by the administration. As a committee, we published an open letter supporting Uhce Nnadi's proposal for a plaque to be placed in Catt Hall, should the name remain unchanged. We are very clear that a plaque can be only a starting point, however, as there are serious issues of race and racism on the campus that are not being dealt with. UCW sponsored a lunchtime dialogue on the Catt Hall issues, and cosponsored facilitated discussions with Francie Kendall in mid-April. Submitted by, |
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