Stronger together
Stronger together
Welcome (back) to UIC!
For students who are new to UIC, whether you are first-year or transfer students: if you are reading this note, we want you to consider WLRC a second home on campus.
Come by to visit, stay for programs, snacks, and quiet study space. We want you to succeed at whatever you choose to do at UIC, and we are here to help you do that.
We welcome the involvement of faculty and staff in the work of the center, whether through cosponsoring events with us, bringing your classes to visit, collaborating on research projects, giving talks, meeting in our space, or creating opportunities for students to be involved in engaged learning. This fall, we will be hosting the always-fun faculty tea for women and nonbinary faculty of color who are new to UIC. Stay tuned!
The fall 2025 semester is well underway and the staff of WLRC and CAN have been quite busy getting the word out about our upcoming programs. This semester hits a little different for us though. For one thing, we (and the other cultural centers) are dealing with a significant cut to our program budget which may affect both the breadth and frequency of programming. If you recall, most of the campus was asked to take a five percent cut in units’ respective budgets, with more cuts possibly coming soon. For a small unit like ours which is persistently underresourced, any cut is felt deeply. Until now, WLRC has prided itself on our generosity in cosponsoring and collaborating with units around the campus who have fewer resources but want to offer programming that address issues related to gender, social and environmental justice. This is the first year that we will not be able to bring much to the table beyond our expertise and enthusiasm, and we are very sad about that. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invite us to cosponsor a program or offer a workshop. It just means we are working with lots of heart and very little cash.
Bigger things happening around us include inter alia threats by the current U.S. president to send military troops to Chicago, and raids/kidnappings by the masked workers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All of these events make us feel less safe, less able to talk to and connect with each other, and more isolated as we try to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But withdrawing and existing in silence and isolation is exactly what we should not do at this moment. When we show up for others, and they show up for us, we are so much stronger together.
Over the semester and the year, WLRC will host a series of community-building spaces that will help us build and deepen our connections to each other, and learn about how we can act in solidarity with each other. Look out for the announcement, show up, tell a friend.
This month is Student Parents’ Month a time to raise awareness about and bring visibility to parenting students on campus – in our classrooms, units, on transportation. WLRC, in collaboration with the Little Sparks program, has been working over the past two years to center parenting students in the campus discourse about student success. We are working to create spaces to educate the campus, and to offer opportunities for parenting students to build community and advocate for their own needs. We will continue that work in 2025 – stay tuned!
The fall 2025 meeting of the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women will be held on Monday, September 8, 2025. Please respond to let us know if you would like to attend.
Students, watch this newsletter for announcement about applications for the WLRC Tuition Award, which supports women students in their educational pursuits who have a great deal of financial need that is not being met by financial aid or loans.
Until we see each other again, take care yourselves and each other.
Natalie Bennett