ANNNIVERSARY
CELEBRATION FOR THE CENTER FOR REASERCH ON WOMEN
COMMEMORATES THE CENTER'S PLACE IN HISTORY
By
Laura Whitlock ‘03
New York, NY, November 15, 2001— Mary Travers’
(of Peter, Paul, and Mary) speech and performance
in McIntosh. Helen Rogers Reid’s fiery
personality. Countless speeches, conferences,
and Conflicts.
On Friday, 9 Nov ember, 450 students, faculty,
and alumni celebrated the 30th anniversary of
Barnard’s Center for Research on Women
with a dinner and reception in LeFrak Gymnasium.
The evening began with remarks from President
Judith Shapiro, who noted the importance of
the Women's Center in fostering invaluable connections
between activist and academic communities. Founding
member and Trustee Emerita Eleanor T. Elliott,
BC '48, joined past directors Jane Gould, Temma
Kaplan, and Leslie Calman in providing a lively
oral history of the Center's three decades.
[Click here for the
full remarks by Eleanor T. Elliott].
Mrs. Elliott related the story of Helen Rogers
Reid, BC '03, a devoted and fiery feminist whose
bequest to Barnard was used to provide initial
funding for the Center. [Click here for the
full remarks by Eleanor T. Elliott]. Remarks
by Jane Gould, Temma Kaplan, and Leslie Calman
traced the Center from those fledgling days
to its present state as one of the most well
regarded and historically important feminist
research centers in the country.
Political activist and poet June Jordan, who,
in 1975, delivered the Center's first Reid Lecture,
concluded the evening with a series of poignant
poems that reflected on her life as an activist
and on the traumatic events of September 11th.
In 1971, in response to the burgeoning women's
movement, the college recognized the need to
bridge women's academic work and social activism,
to make feminist theory a vital part of public
practice. Thus, the Center for Research on Women
was born. Since then, the Center has developed
a series of programs, including the nationally
recognized Scholar and the Feminist Conference,
that honors the diversity of women's movements
by linking feminist struggles to those for racial,
economic, social and global justice.
Director Janet Jakobsen noted that "the
aim of the Center, as articulated by its founding
charter, is ‘to assure that women can live
and work in dignity, autonomy, and equality.
Thirty years later, we continue to pursue that
goal in many ways: by promoting inquiry and
advancing knowledge about women, by helping
to keep women’s issues on the forefront
of college life, and by seeking to increase
ties among diverse groups of women."
For More Information
Please Contact the Public Affairs Department
at 212 845 2037
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