When Is a Center Not a Center?

"We take care of a lot of Harvard women-students and staff-who've been abused, battered and need counseling. Harvard should take on responsibility for its own." -Cambridge Women's Center Trustee Betsy Warrior

THERE is a room in Agassiz House called the Lyman Common Room. It is a room primarily for women, yet it is not a women's center. Criticized by some for its shortcomings and praised by others for the achievement it symbolizes, Lyman is a room not of commonality but of contradictions. It is ironically both the result of, and the impetus for, a movement urging Harvard to provide women with a place of their own.

The Lyman Common Room opened its doors in early October. Formerly a seldom-used ballroom, meager funds transformed the space into a cafe-like area complete with couches, television sets, bulletin boards and books. Staffed from noon until midnight, the Common Room is a place where women can relax, hold meetings and obtain information.

Radcliffe's administration is enthusiastic about the response the Common Room has received and has tentative plans to expand the services offered. "Lyman is changing quite a bit everyday," says Radcliffe Dean Philippa Bovet. "We're getting good feedback from alumni and staff and we hope to add more furniture and art work."

Radcliffe Assistant Dean Rosa Shinagel, who runs the Lyman Common Room, says that there are plans underway for a computer service which will enable staffers to type in a key word and receive a printout of references and counseling services. "If a woman comes in asking about pregnancy, for example," Shinagel says, "We'd like to be able to provide her with a list of quick references and phone numbers."

Shinagel cites students, alumni, staff and women scholars as the beneficiaries of the Lyman Common Room. "The room is multigenerational-for all types of women and for men too." Ironically, the group that Shinagel lists as Lyman's top priority-students-are proving more and more unhappy with the results of the Lyman Room.

Questions Left Unanswered

Both the Radcliffe Union of Student's (RUS) Women's Center subcommittee and the newly formed Women's Center Resource Group are spear-heading the fight for a genuine women's center. These groups claim that the Lyman Common Room is not an adequate response to their past proposal for a women's center and should not be considered as such despite ambiguous statements made by Radcliffe President Linda Wilson.

In September, President Wilson issued a press release that referred to Lyman as a "center for women." The statement is seen by many students as a dangerous definition fueling the popular misconception that Lyman is an actual women's center which satisfies the conditions of students' demands.

"The Lyman Common Room is a Radcliffe Center, not a women's center," RUS Co-President Annie Blais says. "It is not a women's center because it is not a force for feminist social change, is not run by a representative body of its constituents and has no budget."

Blais says that although Lyman is needed by Radcliffe to foster a sense of community among its students, alumni and fellows, those involved in the Common Room are "confusing student support for Lyman and abandon the fight for a women's center apart from Lyman."

Blais says that although Lyman is needed by Radcliffe to foster a sense of community among its students, alumni and fellows, those involved in the Common Room are "confusing student support for Lyman with a desire on our part to merge with Lyman and abandon the fight for a women's center apart from Lyman."

Graduate student Sophie Volpp says that as a member of the Lyman Common Room Task Force, she and other students had hoped to contribute to the room's organization. But the student group, Volpp felt, was only a token voice. She highlights Lyman's hiring procedures as evidence that Lyman planners did not have women's issues foremost in mind.

"An integral part of any women's center is the feeling that it is a safe and a viable option for help and referral. There were 20 people hired to staff the room, two of which were men," Volpp says. "This could create problems for women who want to discuss issues of sexual harassment. We want a professionally staffed center, multiple meeting and office spaces, and programming money. Although Lyman serves an important function, we haven't really gotten what we want yet."

Women's center advocates stress Harvard's failed responsibility to female faculty, staff and students as a primary reason why Lyman does not address the need for a women's center. "Harvard is not contributing any money to the Lyman Common Room," Blais says. "Aside from the issue of finances and space, we would be effectively releasing Harvard of its responsibility toward women if we accepted the Lyman Common Room as the answer to our demands for a women's center."

Building a Women's Center Brick By Brick

Plans for a full-fledged women's center at Harvard remain sketchy at best. Dean Bovet says that such an endeavor would involve "enormous funding and planning" but that she can "envision it happening in the future."

Shinagel interprets widespread support for the Lyman Common Room as an indication of the need for a women's center. "Lyman is not in competition with a future women's center," Shinagel explains. "Even if a sugar mommy gave us a building to use for the center, both places could function."

Frustration with Harvard's slow response to demands for a women's center, as well as with the confusion surrounding the Lyman Common Room, has led students to form the Women's Center. Resource Group (WCRG). "A women's center has been a hazy longterm possibility for too long," WCRG member Naomi Hamburg says. "Action has to be taken now. We can't sit around and expect a center to just appear in five years."

WCRG has recently applied for official recognition from the Committee on College Life. Through alumni support, fund raising and grants from the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Councils, WCRG is planning a number of awareness raising events throughout the year. Events include a Violence Against Women Symposium, a spring rally and a seminar addressing racism in the women's movement.

Last September, WCRG members presented a memo to President Wilson asking Radcliffe not to define the Lyman Common Room as a response to the proposal of last spring. The memo also expresses the inappropriateness of Radcliffe taking the full lead in the establishment of a women's center.

"Harvard gets all but five dollars of the tuition from women students," WCRG member Jill Casid says. "Radcliffe is not equipped to shoulder the full burden of creating a women's center. Harvard has got to take at least 75% of the (financial) responsibility."

In addition, the memo outlines four measures to be addressed by Radcliffe this semester which would constitute concrete measures toward the eventual realization of a women's center. These include: a letter to Harvard administrators requesting that women's center programming funds become a permanent part of the University's budget, the placement of the women's center cause on fundraising lists, the establishment of a task force composed of administrators and faculty to draw up actual plans for the center and a letter co-signed by Wilson urging faculty support for a center.

"So far we haven't received any response to out memo," Casid says. "We do not mean to sound ungrateful for the Lyman Common Room by saying that it is an inadequate response to the demand for a Women's Center. The issue is not one of larger or more luxurious facilities."

Women's Center advocates are careful to emphasize that although the Lyman Common room does not fill the need for a Women's Center, Lyman is an integral part of the Radcliffe Community. "Our differences lie in the realm of meaning and mission," Casid says. "We believe that a women's center should have as its basis the empowerment of women and must, therefore, be organized by a collective of those women. We need Harvard to realize that Lyman Common Room is not a women's center and to take the steps necessary to establish one."

Harvard Is the Exception, Not The Rule

Harvard is the only Ivy League university without a women's center. Stellar examples at other colleges include the Sarah Doyle Women's Center at Brown, the Yale Women's Center and The Women's Center at Princeton. Other excellent prototypes can be found even closer to home.

Going on its fifteenth year, the Tufts University Women's Center has earned the respect of the school through its activist stance on feminist issues. The Center, funded by Tufts and the Student Center, is staffed by students and is open all day. It includes a living room area and office space.

"We work on making the center accessible to women of all sexual orientations and races," Women's Programs Coordinator Peggy Barrett says. "As a collective we are seen as quite a powerful group on campus."

Men at Tufts find that the women's center is not always as inclusive as it could be. "The Women's Center is plagued like other groups on campus. What they do in their own community is great stuff but I think there is an inability to interact with most of the student body," says Nick Karno, a Tufts junior.

Karno says that although he knows men are welcome at the center, he does not think they are sought. He adds that in the future he would like the center to offer a symposium which specifically targets men as an audience.

Seeking the help that Harvard can't provide, Radcliffe students can find sanctuary at the Cambridge Women's Center. Located in Central Square, the Center has provided services for women for almost 20 years. Funded through foundations and private donations, the beautifully restored turn-of-the-century house holds multiple meeting areas. Resources in the 14-room center include a children's playroom, library, kitchen and counseling room. Center volunteers operate a referral network, a newsletter and a choral group. No men are allowed in the Center.

Ironically, the conception of the Cambridge Women's Center was the result of a run-in with Harvard University. In 1972, after the International Women's Day March, a sit-in-protesting ungenerous and property-rich Harvard-was held by Cambridge feminists for two days at 888 Memorial Drive, a Harvard storage facility. The demonstration sparked negotiations with Harvard and MIT might act to more clearly articulate andpublicize the University's current policy, whichshe describes as "strong" in its written form.

"The perception of justice is important as wellas the administration of justice," Weitzman said.

The College's official policy holds that "therights of an individual to be secure from unwantedphysical or sexual attention must be protected."

In a case of date rape, the policy states,"there would be a strong likelihood that theaggressor would be asked to leave the University."

Weitzman said she also hoped to see moreextensive rape awareness and education programsinstituted both for first-year and upperclassstudents.

Ann E. Blais '91, RUS co-president, said shewelcomed Jewett's response to the RUS letter as"serious and thoughtful, and very quick.