Designed to welcome students who are looking for a supportive environment, the Women’s and Gender Resource Center will open at noon Oct. 1, located on the first floor of 25 W. Home St.
Adviser Tammy Birk said the center is geared toward helping those who are looking for help or guidance concerning assault or violence, depression, eating disorders and other instances where a student might want a “safe space.”
She said that this “safe space” is a place where students who feel confused, intimidated or vulnerable can find judgment-free support and resources.
The office will be staffed from noon to midnight Sunday through Thursday and noon to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. A 24/7 hotline that will be available for students needing assistance is developing and will be accessible later in the semester.
In addition to providing immediate assistance, the resource center will host programming, screen films related to women’s and gender-related issues, lead support groups and host other activities that keep in line with its mission.
It will be staffed by a combination of alumni and student interns and volunteers, something which Birk said student organizers lobbied for. She said many students would prefer to talk to a peer as opposed to an authority figure about difficulties they are working through, and that all such meetings are confidential.
She also said that this is a “student-led, student-defined and student-staffed” project and that the enthusiasm of these student leaders is what made it possible.
Junior Alex Shaffer, head intern of the center and triple major in literary studies; creative writing; and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said, “We as interns and volunteers are all being trained in learning how to deal with someone who is physically, mentally or sexually abused.”
Birk said the resource center wants to partner with affiliated groups, not compete with theml, and will work closely with organizations, such as FreeZone or Voices for Planned Parenthood (VOX), that are interested in promoting the center’s goals. Affiliated groups will also have space to store materials and archives in the center, which can help assure continuity in record-keeping.
Both the office and meeting room of the resource center are designed to be welcoming and comfortable to students. They have been painted a deep purple and equipped with a resource library, couches, a television, blankets, a microwave and a minifridge.
“It doesn’t look like Otterbein,” Shaffer said. “We wanted to make the atmosphere feel not-on-campus. Not as separation, but as a safe space.”
Birk said, “It’s designed to help you feel like you’re not in an institutional place.”
Faculty and students in the women’s, gender and sexuality studies program helped launch the center, but it will serve the Otterbein community, not solely students involved in the WGSS program or solely women.
Birk said people have been interested in creating it for a while, but it needed the attention and excitement of the WGSS program to get off the ground.
In addition, the center is a collaboration between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, which is “very unusual,” according to Birk, because it can support both curricular and cocurricular activities.
She said that women’s and gender centers are fairly common on college campuses and some have safe spaces for students, but few are collaborative in the way she hopes this center to be.
Junior French and literary studies major Susie Long supports the WGSS program and the WGRC.
“We live on a progressive campus, but words like feminism and marriage equality are kind of taboo,” she said. She is taking WGSS as a minor, and although she is not officially involved in the resource center, she said it will be a good place for people with questions or misconceptions to get information. She also emphasized that men and straight allies are welcome.
Junior creative writing major Mitch Gaver will be volunteering at the center when it opens.
In an email interview, he said, “I think the center cannot only provide a safe, comfortable environment for young women to gather and discuss their varying issues and aid each other in finding solutions, but also in educating the young men of our university.
“Though I expect resistance from the male population at first, I think once the goals and objectives of the resource center are clearly explained to them, they may understand its necessity and, hopefully, utilize its resources,” he said.
The center will hold an open house Tuesday, Oct. 2, from 3 to 4 p.m. Those interested will have the opportunity to see the facilities and meet the interns and volunteers who will be staffing the center.
