The University Women’s Center provides a voice for women in crises and educational tool for people interested in women’s history.

Since its creation in September 1998, the center has sought “to advocate on behalf of people who are experiencing gender discrimination,” Director Mary Krueger said. This includes students, all levels of faculty, alumni and members of the community.

Krueger regards the Women’s Center as a feminist space, given the following condition, “If by feminist, you mean a space that supports women’s equity and well-being, then yes, this is a feminist space.”

“The Women’s Center is not just for women. It’s mostly about women, but just because it’s pro-women doesn’t make it anti-men,” Krueger said.

The center founded the Northwest Ohio chapter of the Silent Witness Project, a nationwide advocacy group aimed at promoting awareness and means of prevention of domestic violence while commemorating the women whose lives were lost due to domestic violence, Krueger said.

A dropoff place for donations to the Cocoon Shelter, Bowling Green’s first battered women shelter, is also available at the center.

The Women’s Center also works to “document gender-based inequity among students and all levels of employees,” Krueger said. This includes discrimination, sexual harrassment and gender-based preferential treatment.

Not only does the Women’s Center aid in crises, it also offers a number of services to students and staff.

Faculty can have classes meet in the Women’s Center and take advantage of their resources, Krueger said.

“Any faculty member can call and ask for the use of Women’s Center,” she said. “Access is granted on a first-come-first-serve basis.”

The Women’s Center has an extensive lending library of books, journals and videotapes which focus on issues of women and gender. All of the materials are donated, and will soon be available online.

“The library will be archived online sometime in the next year,” said Joetta S. Kynard, office manager.

The Women’s Center is partially funded by the University and operates partially through volunteer work.

“The director’s salary, a half-time secretary and a small operating budget is funded by the University,” Krueger said. In addition, one graduate assistant is funded through the graduate college. The remainder of the work performed at the Women’s Center is done on a volunteer basis, Krueger said.

The Women’s Center also hosts a number of featured events each semester. Each Wednesday, it hosts the Brown Bag Luncheons, a lecture series featuring topics surrounding women’s issues. It also hosts professional development and women’s research events bimonthly on Fridays. The campus orginizationss Organization for Women’s Issues, VISION and Transcendence ultilize the Women’s Center’s space for their meetings and activities.

Upcoming events for next semester include “Fatness, Gender and National Identity,” a paneled discussion scheduled for Jan. 23, and the 11th annual “Bring Your Favorite Female Professor or Mentor to Lunch,” a complementary lunch that commemorates National Women’s History Month in March.