March 16, 1979

Jane Gould, Director
Women's Center
Barnard College
Columbia University
New York, N.Y. 10027

Dear Jane,

Thought I'd get down my report before it all faded, s0
here it is, from second series of Workshops, number V:

I. Problems identified
A. Housing

Women’s programs are often “out of place" and undigested
by the larger institution; they are onbukonkay and administratively
in awkward places. Some are marginal and act as entrepreneurs,
piloting courses which, if they succeed, are then absorbed by
another part of the university. Some move from place to place,
e.g. from "Education" to "Services." Some are housed in more
than one unit due to their interdisciphinary nature and become
a stepchild of each branch. The Seaman becomes an obstacle in
self-governance and in the program's relationship to decision-making.
in #xx the institution, Lnelasine on matters which affect it
directly.

B. Contemporary student body

This student generation appears to be more conservative
than previous ones and requires a different approach. There is
far less consciousness about woman as sex object, as revealed
in the return of such phenomena as beauty contests, wet tee-shirt
exhibitions, formal dances, and so on.

More feminist students tend to assume that progress
for women this past decade has been greater than is the case.
Closer scrutiny of the data tends to depress rather than energize
them to action.

Homophobia continues to be a Lehr pgps keeping some women
away from women's programs and especially women's centers,
which often get labeled lesbian as a scare tactic by those
hostile to women's programming.

Cc. Other problems

Much overlap with reports from other workshops: funding,

lack of legitimacy, staffing for lack of tenured faculty, etc.


II. Strategies
A. Conerete propetede
1. Establish alamnae associations, as
a) support group for graduates of women's programs
to help them cope with their new situations,
b) orientation for current women's studies students
¢) support by alumnae of program
2. In-house publiations for
a) ce relations
b) information exchange
ec) forum foyrrelevant issues
3. Catalogue funding resources, to avoid duplicating
some of the effort of grantspersonship.
4%, Broaden research goals to include low-income and
Third World Women and questions of health and sexuality.
5, Develop an evluation instrument that would assess the
effect of women's programming on students, measuring, @s&.
its impact on their self-image and self-esteem.

B. General suggestions
1. Develop strategies for dealing with admingstrators.
E,g. move in teams of at least two, use "cood-guy/tough/guy" approach,
don't be intimidated, Carrot-and-stick tactics work wells
remind administrators of the benefits they reap fromwomen's
programming and of the penalties they might pay if they don't
cooperate (law suits, protests, loss of valuable programming).

2. THING BIG! move off the defensive onto the offensive again.
Move off survival to beyond survival, to demanding MORE.
We are here at this conference because the institutions have
made some space for us; we got it out of struggle, but they support
it out of gains; they have a good thing cheaply. We have become
unduly srateful, following a traditional woman's image, forgetting
our own worth to the constituency we serve and which administrations
claim they wish to serve. We should remind them that they and we
are aligned in this respect and we should proceed km to enlarge
our arena out of that shared work. ‘This means moving beyond
mere maintenance of our hard-won womanspace to participation
in the policy-making bodies that decide the fate of that womanspace.
We should demand entry to university governance and to public
and private educational policy-making bodies.

(see resolution # 5)

Respectfully submitted,
Renate Bridenthal
P.S. And I had a wonderful time at the conference: Thanks again!