USD Magazine, Spring 1995

ASOURCE FOR UNDERSTANDING W hen Lisa Blockus began her graduate studies at USD she immediately went in search of the campus women's cen– ter. To her surprise, she didn't find one. "On my undergraduate campus the center was grow– ing in popularity," Blockus says. "I thought all campuses had a women's resource center just like they have career services." Blockus met Bridget Burke soon after and the two students learned they had similar interests in women's issues. As gradu– ate assistants they had the resources and time to develop a cen– ter, so they began talking to student affairs officials. By their third semester in graduate school, Blockus and Burke had secured a space in the Ernest and Jean Hahn University Center and opened the Women's Resource Center for business last September. The steady flow of women and faculty coming through the doors of the center during the first semester confirmed Blockus' sense of the need on campus for a place devoted to gender issues. With the inception of a gender studies minor program in 1992 and various courses on women's issues taught in resi– dence halls, awareness about inequalities and gender abuses is growing among the campus community. But until last fall, female students with questions or a need to talk to someone often felt they had nowhere to go. They are reluctant to go to the counseling center, Blockus explains, because they feel it is a rather serious step. After surveying students, the Women's Resource Center responded to the community's specific needs by focusing on eat– ing disorders and acquaintance rape. Women came to the center concerned about their friends' eating habits and the pressures to look good, Blockus says. "The women on campus always have to dress up and look cute and the guys can get away with wearing baseball caps and casual clothes," she adds . Then reports of an alleged sexual assault near Copley Library put students on edge and they became concerned about their safety on campus, particularly at night. Blockus and Burke responded by holding discussion groups about assault and rape and working with the public safety department to improve con– ditions on campus. During tours of the campus, the women's center staff indicated sites in n eed of better lighting and places for security phones. "We wish to create a safe place that serves as a nucleus of women's programming for the campus community and to increase awareness and dialogue regarding sexism, sexual harassment, stereotypes and basic assumptions each gender holds," Blockus and Burke write in their mission statement. They acknowledge that issues of gender inequality are real in the 1990s and recognize that students are not spared from those issues. " In the gender studies program we deal with issues of child abuse, rape and alcoholism," explains Linda Perry, co-founder of the interdisciplinary minor program. "Those are real prob– lems for USD students whether we like to acknowledge it or not."

addition to the perspectives represented in class, students say. After their initial gender studies course, however, most stu– dents understand why the discussions are skewed toward women. "Men have been the focus for so long. Women are now working toward a better balance," Crowle says. "People think they are big male-bashing courses. They're not even close to that." Just over two years old, the gender studies minor has plenty of time to grow and mature into a healthy, balanced program that attracts students of all genders, races and ages. "The program provides the beginning of a more enriched and informed understanding of the world," Caywood says. "The challenge is to be inclusive and have great respect for tradition– al points of view and traditional curriculum and at the same time be inquisitive about new perspectives."

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