Spring Break
Women's center benefits from move
After being relocated from Blocker to the MSC, the Women's Resource Center has seen more visitors, better serving organizations
By: Matt Woolbright
Issue date: 3/4/09 Section: News
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Although the MSC will be closing for renovations, the center's director, Merna Jacobsen, said she is not certain of the effect it will have on the center.
Before moving to the MSC, the center was located in Blocker, had no permanent director and received few visitors.
"The most important thing is that we have really focused on greater student engagement with the center," Jacobsen said.
The center accomplished this focus with two main things. They began offering office space to student organizations, and increased the number of opportunities for students to get involved with the center.
"[Blocker] is way out of the way and not really contusive to having students in the center," Jacobsen said. "Now that we are here in the Memorial Student Center, which is really in the heart of the Student Services corridor, we've increased the number of visits to our center from next to nothing to about 100 per month."
One of the organizations that has utilized the office space and other forms of assistance from the center is W (power in women).
"They have always been a constant resource for us and have a very welcoming, open arms policy that has allowed us to feel very comfortable in going to them with whatever we need," said W president Amanda Snyder, a senior anthropology major.
To support W, the center paid the security costs for their poverty demonstration earlier in the year.
Aside from sponsoring other organizations, the center is open to visitors and puts on events throughout the year.
A typical visit to the resource center is for a woman to find a way to get plugged in on campus and get involved with organizations she will enjoy.
"I think it's a great idea, our campus has so many organizations that it's easy to get overwhelmed," said Jennifer Stevenson, a sophomore general studies major. "I love that they help you find a group that fits your interests as well as your time availability. I would definitely advise other girls who are interested in getting involved to check it out."
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