Celebrating WLRC and CAN’s 30th Anniversary
Intro Heading link
2021 marked the 30th anniversary of UIC’s Women’s Leadership and Resource Center and Campus Advocacy Network. Throughout the year, we hosted events that expand on the anniversary theme, “Centering Care and Community: 30 Years of Resistance at UIC.”
Fall Events Heading link
In the fall, our 30th anniversary programming focused on the Campus Advocacy Network‘s efforts to end gender-based violence and support survivors at UIC. We explored institutional betrayal and institutional courage through a series of powerful events:
Fall 2021 Events Heading link
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Unlikely Alliances: Partnering to Prevent Gender-based Violence and Support Survivors at UIC
Unlikely Alliances: Partnering to Prevent Gender-based Violence and Support Survivors at UIC
Monday, September 27, 2021
3-4:30pm CTOver the past 30 years, the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center and Campus Advocacy Network have built strong partnerships to prevent violence and support survivors in our community.
In this virtual panel discussion, we celebrated our current partnerships with UIC staff and faculty and generated new ways of working together as we began the new academic year.
Featuring
- Amanda Grant, College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts
- Diana Soriano, College of Business
- Elsa Soto, College of Engineering
- Kevin Cane, Fraternity and Sorority Life
- Shonta Durham-Wiersema, College of Business
- Dr. Ada Cheng, moderator
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Feminist Page-turners: Blind to Betrayal
Feminist Page-turners: Blind to Betrayal
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
12-2pm CTHow do institutions cause harm, and how can we do better?
In this virtual discussion of Blind to Betrayal by Dr. Jennifer Freyd and Dr. Pamela Birrell, we reimagined ways to support survivors of violence and trauma in our communities.
Written by one of the world’s top experts on betrayal, child abuse, and trauma, Blind to Betrayal explains many different forms of betrayal, revealing why its victims can endure mistreatment, sometimes for years, without seeming to know that it is happening, even when it may be obvious to others around them. In particular, our conversation centered on institutional betrayal, ways that institutions cause harm to those that depend on them, and institutional courage, our commitment to instead protect and care for members of our communities.
Special Session for UIC Medical Students: Friday, October 15, 2021
UIC College of Medicine M1 and M2 students were also invited to a virtual discussion of Blind to Betrayal on Friday, October 15, 2-3:50pm, as part of the Medical Colloquium series. Students learned to recognize how the medical field produces harm among medical students, residents, physicians, and their patients; understand how to name harm and describe how violence is built structurally into medical spaces; and develop strategies for addressing harm and supporting survivors within our institutions.
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Keynote Lecture and Graduate Seminar with Dr. Jennifer Freyd
30th Anniversary Keynote Lecture
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
12:30-2pm CTIn this virtual lecture, Dr. Jennifer Freyd discussed how institutions cause harm to the people that depend on them and ways that they can instead support survivors and promote change, accountability, and equity.
Graduate Seminar
Thursday, October 28, 2021
12:30-2pm CTUIC graduate students were invited to a virtual discussion with Dr. Freyd to discuss her work and how to be advocates for institutional change. We encouraged participants to attend Dr. Freyd’s lecture and read “Still Second Class: Sexual Harassment of Graduate Students” (Rosenthal, Smidt, and Freyd 2016) to prepare for the seminar.
Jennifer J. Freyd, PhD, is the Founder and President of the Center for Institutional Courage, Professor Emerit of Psychology at the University of Oregon, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine, Faculty Fellow at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and Affiliated Faculty, Women’s Leadership Lab, Stanford University. She is also a Member of the Advisory Committee for the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Freyd currently serves as the Editor of The Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.
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Athlete A Screening and Discussion
Film Screening
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
4-6pm CTWe hosted a virtual screening of Athlete A, the Emmy-winning documentary about the brave athletes who survived and exposed the toxic culture and decades of abuse inside USA Gymnastics.
Discussion
Friday, November 12, 2021
12-1pm CTLater that week, we hosted a virtual discussion about Athlete A and how we can work toward ending gender-based violence in athletics.
Athlete A spotlights the horrific sexual abuse of hundreds of young athletes by USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, and shines an even brighter light on the team of individuals working to hold USAG and Nassar accountable. The Indianapolis Star reporters who broke the story and revealed the cover-up that occurred at the highest levels of the Olympic sport. The courageous group of survivors—Maggie Nichols, Rachael Denhollander, Jamie Dantzscher and Jessica Howard–who bravely fought the system. Together with a team of other determined women,including—police detective Lt. Andrea Munford and prosecuting attorney Angela Povilaitis— truth prevailed. Justice was served. Nichols was able to find joy in the sport again—at the college level.
Spring Events Heading link
Our Spring 2021 events focused on the multiple vital roles women’s and gender equity centers play on U.S. college campuses, through the lenses of the dedicated leaders of centers throughout Illinois and graduate students who have worked with the WLRC to advocate for gender equity and support survivors of gender-based violence.
Spring 2021 Events Heading link
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Sustaining Centers of Care, Community, and Resistance
Sustaining Centers of Care, Community, and Resistance
March 30, 2021
Women’s and Gender Equity Centers serve as critical sites for feminist/social justice education, safety, and community building on U.S. college campuses and beyond.
During our virtual roundtable, center leaders across Illinois reflected on their centers’ histories, what emboldens/challenges/inspires them, and their visions for the future.
Speakers:
- Rocio Ayard Ochoa, Western Illinois University
- Dr. Shenay Bridges-Carter, Chicago State University
- Dr. Sarah Brown, Northwestern University
- Sarah Colomé, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Dr. Ann Russo, DePaul University
- Dr. Jennifer Ash, Associate Director, National Women’s Studies Association (moderator)
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Centering Students in WLRC’s History of Care, Community, and Resistance
Centering Students in WLRC’s History of Care, Community, and Resistance
Friday, April 9, 2021
Since its founding, UIC students have played critical roles in making the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center a home for students and survivors, and in advocating for gender equity at UIC and beyond.
In this virtual panel, graduate students who have worked at the center shared their experiences of working, learning, and building community at UIC while advancing the center’s mission.
Speakers:
- Juliana Bernier Carrasquillo, LMSW (Social Work, 2019)
- Meghan Daniel (Sociology, current PhD candidate)
- Dr. Keisha Farmer-Smith (Urban Planning and Policy, 2010)
- Dr. Stephanie Hicks (Policy Studies in Urban Education, 2017)
- Dr. Meghna Bhat (Criminology, Law, and Justice, 2017) (moderator)