好色先生

Our Mission

The Women⁺s Resource Center advances gender equity, social justice, and an inclusive campus climate through co-curricular programming, support services, and opportunities designed to empower women of all backgrounds to thrive.

We serve the entire campus community, and we welcome people of all gender identities and expressions.

Our Vision

The Women⁺s Resource Center fosters an environment of inclusion and equity with programs aimed at ending all forms of oppression.

A Partial History of the CSUDH Women⁺s Resource Center

Since 1972, a center for women students on the campus of CSUDH has had a history of starts and stops. In addition, records about any women鈥檚 center on campus are few and far between. Information can be found in the Department of Special Collections at the campus library.

The first time a center for women was established on campus was the Women鈥檚 Educational Center in the 1972-73 academic year, though there is very limited information on this center.

After the Women鈥檚 Educational Center folded, a new Women鈥檚 Center was established on campus in late April of 1974. It was housed in NSM B224 and hosted a variety of programs, ranging from consciousness-raising groups, talks on women in politics, and an anti-rape group. As of October 1974, the center was still operating, hosting two groups, one for single mothers and one on women鈥檚 problems in society. The Womens鈥� Center鈥檚 first newsletter was also published on April 1, 1974, called The Centerfold. The newsletter provided a calendar of activities such as a writer鈥檚 workshop, an anti-rape squad, resources for volunteering at a rape crisis center, and a series of interviews called 鈥淗as the Women鈥檚 Movement Affected Your Life?鈥� According to the campus newspaper, the center was funded by EPIC, a program that allowed students to work in the center and earn university credit.

But after 1973-74 academic year, the Women鈥檚 Center seems to have gone out of operation, and no records have been located to explain what happened. A perusal of the campus newspaper and presidential records yielded no information.

In 1978, the reestablishment of the Women鈥檚 Center caused controversy due to space issues. According to Dominguez News, the proposed Women鈥檚 Center would 鈥渦se the only available office space in the Student Union.鈥� It appears that the controversy was over the utilization of space for a specific segment of the campus population, namely women. Suzanne Gemmel, Dean of University College at the time, attempted to quell the controversy by asserting that the center would also be 鈥渙pen to men.鈥�

Between late 1978 and mid-1979, the Women鈥檚 Center remained a contentious topic. The center faced the same issues regarding space, coupled with criticism that calling the center 鈥淭he Women鈥檚 Center鈥� was sexist. The Temporary Interim Women鈥檚 Center Steering Committee, made up of faculty and staff, responded to the concerns by stating that that they would not agree to changing the name because, 鈥淎 change in name would dilute the central purpose of the Center, which is to deal with concerns related to women鈥檚 issues. Obviously, the Center would be open to men, and we would encourage the participation of men and women faculty, staff, and students in the activities.鈥�

In July 1979, the Women鈥檚 Center opened with Carmen B. Towler as coordinator. It was staffed by volunteers and students who earned work-study experience. Touted as a 鈥渕ulti-cultural鈥� center, the Women鈥檚 Center鈥檚 specific aim was to serve women who were returning to school. Towler was herself a re-entry student who had earned a B.A. in Music and a Master鈥檚 degree in humanities and Afro-American Studies at CSUDH. At the same time she was serving as director of the Women鈥檚 Center, she was completing her doctoral studies in higher education at UCLA. Towler also served as chair of the Women鈥檚 Caucus of California Personnel and Guidance Association.

In the Fall of 1979, Yvonne Burke inaugurated the first lecture series hosted by the Women鈥檚 Center, thus beginning a tradition of wide-ranging events both for the campus and the surrounding communities. For example, the Women鈥檚 Center established a male consciousness raising group in January 1980, a symposium on the 鈥淧light of the Battered Woman鈥� in February, and a host of events in March for Women鈥檚 Week. These included Third World Women, Latin Women at the Threshold of Power, Women鈥檚 Credit Rights, and Sex Discrimination in Employment and Sexual Harassment on the Job.鈥� That same year, the Women鈥檚 Center鈥檚 first newsletter was published.

The Women鈥檚 Center continued to host numerous events in the 1980-81 academic year. In October 1980, in collaboration with the Women鈥檚 Center, CSUDH hosted 鈥淭he Women鈥檚 Congress: A California Translation of the United Nations Decade for Women Copenhagen Conference,鈥� and in collaboration with the Asian/Pacific Women鈥檚 Network L.A., 鈥淧ower: How to Get It, How to Use It, and How to Keep It.鈥�

January 1981 saw a brief change in leadership of the Women鈥檚 Center with Madge Weinstein, a graduate student at CSUDH, becoming director. During Weinstein鈥檚 tenure, the Women鈥檚 Center published a new volume of its newsletter and a Handbook that included resources for women students.

In 1983, the Women鈥檚 Center was relocated to Dominguez Room A in the University Commons. Between 1981 and 1984, there seems to have been a lull in the activities of the center.

In 1984 and 1985, the Women鈥檚 Center sponsored a number of events, beginning with a conference in March 1984, 鈥淔ocus on Black Women,鈥� coordinated by Joan Crear, a Women鈥檚 Center student intern.

Sometime in 1984 and 1985, Carmen Buford resumed leadership of the Women鈥檚 Center and in 1985, the Women鈥檚 Center hosted a large 鈥淲omen鈥檚 Week鈥� in March. The theme was 鈥淭he Educated Woman: Her Present, Her Past, Her Future鈥�, which ended with a Women鈥檚 Leadership Conference on Saturday, March 9, 1985.

The Women's Resource Center continued to have its ups and downs over the next few decades, largely due to fluctuations in funding. The Center was actually closed down in 2009 after a particularly rough round of statewide education budget cuts. The Center reopened on March 3, 2014, in new offices in the Small College Complex. The CSUDH Campus News Center features听.