News & Updates

WGS Response to AB-1460

Health Promotion and Wellness & Basic Needs *update 3-17-20*

Hello SF State Family,

I hope you are well. Food+Shelter+Success is committed to supporting student basic needs during this time and keeping the campus up to date. Please share the most recent basic needs resources and program modifications as of 3/17/2020.

Gator Groceries- Pre-made meal boxes will be available for pick up from AS Gator Groceries on Wednesday and Thursday from 11am- 3pm at the Cesar Chavez Student Center, info desk level. While supplies last. Closed during spring break.

Community Food Banks-

Students and their families can access free food at their local County Food Bank .

Showering/personal hygiene needs- The locker rooms will remain open for showers during modified hours to ensure students who rely on the facility to attend to personal hygiene have access to showers.

MWC locker room open hours (all other areas of the facilities will remain closed):

Monday- 9:30am-11:30am

Wednesday- 2:30pm-4:30pm

Friday- 9:30am-11:30am

Directions:

·        Bring your student ID, check-in at the front desk, towels and locks available, return towels and locks upon exiting and bring all personal belongings

·        Locker room access only. All other parts of the Mashouf Wellness Center remain closed

Food+Shelter+Success Care kits

Basic needs hygiene kits & laundry kits are available for pick up at the Dean of Students office Monday-Friday 9am-5pm in Student Services Building room 403.

Emergency Meal Cards- Can be requested at the Dean of Students office Monday-Friday 9am-5pm in Student Services Building room 403. Unavailable during spring break.

CalFresh Assistance- The CalFresh Help Clinic will be assisting students virtually. Students can email calfresh@sfsu.edu for assistance.

Storage- U-Haul is offering students 30-day free storage due to the COVID-19 precautions. For more information call 1-800-468-4285.

Laptop/computer access & Wi-Fi- The Library has 24 hour access to study space and Wi-Fi in the Research Commons 1st Floor. Students can also access desktops and laptop check-outs daily.

Many internet providers are offering free Wi-Fi and opening up hotspots for low-income students.

Community Basic Needs Resources-

One degree is an interactive website that can connect folks to basic needs resources in their area including food, housing and financial resources.

If students need additional support, please email basicneeds@sfsu.edu

Updated Basic Needs information

Updated Basic Needs information

WGS Response to Black Lives Matter

Women and Gender Studies will no longer have a presence on Facebook.

Black Lives Matter.

In the face of so many instances of state-sanctioned death, Black activists are again leading mass movements to topple institutions of brutality. We don’t know if these racist institutions will finally fall, or become reconstituted yet again. This uncertainty can be stressful and even silencing.

But it’s in this not knowing – that space of indeterminacy, of possibility – that your WGS faculty reach out to you now. In our classes together, we have embraced this space: in Gloria Anzaldúa’s vibrant borderlands; Audre Lorde’s appreciation of difference as a crucial strength; and José Esteban Muñoz’s reminder that it is queerness that tells us that this world is not enough.

Our communities are strong. We know that bail reform could lead to prison abolition. We see intersectionality come alive, as Black womxn arrive from the margins of different social movements, sweep past the cobwebs of authenticity politics, and forge their own complicated, contradictory, collective power. We witness praxis, as theory turns into the actions of writing, screaming, marching, refusing, comprehending, protecting, sharing.

As we meet each other at this historical crossroads, let’s remember to:

· Promote Black life.

Black Lives Matter. That’s it. That’s the whole message.

· Get real about violence. Watch Angela Davis explain it: https://youtu.be/-V-49fyHa2E One more time? Here’s Kimberly Latrice Jones: https://youtu.be/sb9_qGOa9Go

· Consider dismantling the police. Defunding may not be enough. Read how police profit even from corrective action: https://acrecampaigns.org/research_post/police-brutality-bonds/

· Sustain Transformative Justice. See Adrienne Maree Brown enact radical pleasure and love: https://youtu.be/h-sCy8SzvHY

F-1 Visas and SFSU

Dear International Students in WGS,

Please know the CSU is meeting urgently to formulate a response to the government’s shocking new policy regarding international students that was announced July 7, 2020.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/sevp-modifies-temporary-exemptions-non...

Alumni Feature: Enkhmaa Enkhbold

After finishing the BA in WGS 2016, Enkhmaa Enkhbold moved to Ulaan Bator, Mongolia to become the Executive Director of the LGBT Center (www.lgbtcentre.mn), Mongolia's main organization that provides services, support and policy recommendations on gender, sexuality and sexual identity. The LGBT Center hosts and organizes Mongolia Pride in the month of August. Check out their events online!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/equality-amp-pride-days-in-mongolia?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet+expWdC

[Work-Study Opportunity] America Counts & America Reads

America Counts and America Reads, two federally funded work-study programs, managed by ICCE are hiring for the upcoming academic year. Below are brief summaries of each program. Please spread this announcement widely to your students and other potentially interested networks. They can contact us directly if they have any questions about the opportunities. Thank you!

MURAL: The Women of The Black Panther Party, In West Oakland, California

Jilchristina Vest, an SFSU 1994 alumna, has created a public art installation that will directly honor the rarely credited names and accomplishments of female Black Panther Party members, the unsung heroes who created and supported more than 60 community programs, clinics, and schools.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4753978#ixzz6TPhTXz97

WGS Response to AB-1460-- Update

Recently the WGS Department sent a lettter to Governor Newsom

Willie L Brown, Jr Fellow Opportunity

The Willie L. Brown Jr. Fellowship Program is a prestigious internship placement and professional development course for SF State juniors and seniors.

Flyer with more info

VOTE 2020

Internship Opening: Research Assistant

Join a research project that seeks to ensure that homecare workers and other

Long-term Care workers are treated fairly.

More information here

Constitution & Citizenship Day 2020 “The Unfinished Work of Suffrage”: a virtual conference

More information here

Assistant Professor Christoph Hanssmann contributed to the recent study, “Stop the Revolving Door”.

SFSU Online Tutoring Update

Please click the link below for the Tutoring and Academic Support Center update:

https://youtu.be/ukKCcDgSwJc

Library access update 3-17-20

Book Checkout and the entire Main Library are to be closed effective immediately. 

The only Library spaces that will remain open are the 1st floor Research Commons and cafe lobby area, Mon.-Fri. 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. through this week, closed through spring recess, and the same schedule starting Mon. 3/30, staffed by Community Service Officers from UPD.

Laptop loans will be available to students from the Research Commons service point Tues. 3/17 and Wed 3/18 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. only; not after that.

*UPDATED 3-14-20* Health Promotion and Wellness & Basic Needs

Updated Community Resource List

Hello SF State Family,

Thank you to our students, Faculty and Staff for working diligently to navigate the University’s COVID-19 precautions. Food+Shelter+Success is committed to supporting student basic needs during this time and keeping the campus up to date. Please share the most recent basic needs resources and program modifications.

Gator Groceries- The AS Food Pantry Monday distribution has been suspended. Emergency meals and snacks can be access at Gator Groceries on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11am- 3pm at the Cesar Chavez Student Center, Recreation & Dining Level (bottom level). Please see the attached resource list for community food banks.

Showering/personal hygiene needs- The Mashouf Wellness Center will be closed starting March 14^th. The locker rooms will be open during modified hours to ensure students who rely on the facility to attend to personal hygiene have access to showers.

MWC locker room open hours (all other areas of the facilities will remain closed):

Monday- 9:30am-11:30am

Wednesday- 2:30pm-4:30pm

Friday- 9:30am-11:30am

Directions:

·       Bring your student ID

·       Check-in at the front desk

·       Towels and locks available

·       Return towels and locks upon exiting and bring all personal belongings

·       Locker room access only. All other parts of the Mashouf Wellness Center remain closed

Basic needs hygiene supplies are available at the Health Promotion & Wellness office Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm. 750 Font. Blvd.

Emergency Meal Cards- Can be requested through the Dean-on-Callprogram M-F 8am-5pm in Student Services Building room 403.

CalFresh Assistance- The CalFresh Help Clinic will be assisting students virtually. Students can email calfresh@sfsu.edu for assistance.

Storage- U-Haul is offering students 30-day free storage due to the COVID-19 precautions. For more information call 1-800-468-4285.

Laptop/computer access & Wi-Fi- The Library has 24 hour access to study space and Wi-Fi in the Research Commons 1st Floor. Students can also access desktops and laptop check-outs daily. Please see attached resource for off campus technology resources.

If students need additional support, please email basicneeds@sfsu.edu or drop-in to the Dean-on-Call Monday-Friday 8am-5pm in SSB 403.

In response to COVID-19 precautions and the suspension of face to face instruction, the following modifications to basic needs programming are effective starting March 10^th:

• CalFresh- In-person CalFresh assistance services will be suspended until April 5^th.  We will be assisting students virtually until in-person classes resume. Students can email calfresh@sfsu.edu for CalFresh assistance (screening, application assistance, questions and troubleshooting).
• Zen Den- will be suspended until April 5^th or until in-person classes resume.
• Gator Crisis Housing- check-ins have been temporarily paused for the rest of March. We will provide further updates in April.  
• Gator Groceries- is scheduled to be open (in CCSC) Wednesday- Thursday with modified hours. Please email Horace Montgomery horacem@asi.sfsu.edu if you have any questions.
• AS Farmers Market- is cancelled in March
• Emergency Meal Cards- will continued to be distributed through the Dean-on-Call program.
• Cooking Classes- is cancelled for March
• Basic Needs Care Kits/Laundry Kits- will continued to be distributed at the Health Promotion & Wellness office.

*UPDATED 3-14-20* WGS Office hours

The WGS office is closed per University guidelines. 

Please send queries to: wgsdept@sfsu.edu -- this email will be checked throughout the day, 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.

Congratulations to WGS Major, Toni Eby!

Toni Eby just had a short piece published in Open Democracy! Toni is transfer student who joined the Women and Gender Studies Department in Spring 2017. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge their hard work. If you would like to read the article, please take a look at the following link: https://www.opendemocracy.net/beyondslavery/using-intersectional-approach-to-raid-and-rescue

Congratulations!!

The Women and Gender Studies Department wants to give a huge congratulations to Sharron Watts and Sofia Cardenas (http://icce.sfsu.edu/awards) for receiving the SF State Student Award for Excellence in Community Engagment, and to Swetha Pottam for being published in the Sutro Review! 

Congratulations to Alumna, Monica James!

Congratulations to WGS alumna, Monica James, whose book _Invisible Libraries_ was published in India and is a finalist for the Jan Michalski award! Monica graduated from the Department of Women and Gender Studies in Spring 2016. 

The College of Liberal and Creative Arts Hood Recipient for 2017-2018

2017-2018 Women and Gender Studies Graduates

The Department of Women and Gender Studies graduated 26 undergraduate majors, 17 undergraduate minors, and 10 graduate students. We are so proud yet sad to say goodbye to these wonderful people and wish them all the best in their future endeavors. 

Fall 2017 Graduates-BA

Ines Diot

Marilyn Fernando

Kyle Liddle

Fall 2017 Graduates-Minors

Helen Hunt

Alyson Amstadt

Katherine Shannon

Kaylee Fagan

Carolyn McBride

Spring 2018 Graduates-BA

Alina Ahmed

Michelle Caesar

Sofia Cardenas

Julia Grace

Toni Eby

Lynn Fischer

Helen Ghebreyesus

Emma Herms

Jennifer Interiano

Jessie Lynn

Casey Lam

Takiyah Larkin

Brenna Lundy

Cynthia Maldonado-Rodas

Kat Penagos

Katie Ralls

Elaina Revilla

Sheevena Singh

Spring 2018 Graduates-Minors

Megan Bograd

Paige Denholm

Kiana Fillius

Vee Flanagan

Lauren Mason

Sabrina Mora

Amanda Ramos

Eliza Taylor

Oliva Torres

Spring 2018 Graduates-MA

Schmian Evans

Julie Frey

Connie Guzman

Melinda Lopez

Amanda Mannshahia

Miho Naruse

Amey Neumuth

Marissa Saraswati

Teter

Stephaie Vasquez

Summer 2018 Graduates- BA

Diana Gonzalez

Shonnon Gutierrez

Chalyna Lazo

Summer 2018 Graduates- Minors

Ellie Christenson

Joanna Sanchez

Announcing New Faculty Member: Fall 2017

We are excited to announce that our department will have a new full-time faculty member beginning 2017-2018. Please be sure to welcome Chris Hanssmann in August and look for his classes next year. In the meantime, you can learn more about his research at:  http://sociology.ucsf.edu/current-sociology-students

Queer, Feminist, and Trans Studies Research Cluster Conference Queering Care and Cure May 3 – 4th, 2018 Agenda

WGS Dept. Response to President Wong's Feb 23, 2018 Email

On February 23rd, President Wong of San Francisco State University sent an email to the entire campus community. In his statement, Wong apologizes for the hurt feelings of Jewish students—represented in his email by a about a dozen student members of Hillel—and emphasizes that “Zionists are welcome” on the campus of SF State. The Women and Gender Studies Department is deeply concerned about the motivation, tenor, and potential effects of this statement, which comes as the latest missive in a longstanding debate about Zionism, the impact of Israeli state policy, and the struggle for Palestinian freedom as they affect the social justice mission of San Francisco State University.

Zionism is not equivalent to Jewishness; anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism. Zionism is a political ideology that supports the state of Israel. It does not represent all Jewish people--nor does Hillel represent all Jewish students. Wong’s statement fails to express concern or support for Palestinian, Arab, and Middle Eastern students and their allies that are harmed by Zionism. At the least, the philosophy of Zionism must be a subject of political debate at San Francisco State University, and cannot hold protected status as a discourse of “safety” set apart from other historical, political and ideological movements that impact members of the SFSU community. We are concerned that such material support for Zionist discourse, evidenced in this statement and previous actions by the university president, outweighs concern for the whole of our campus community.

Zionism mobilizes race, gender, and sexuality in specific ways, which continue to be a topic of investigation and contestation in fields such as Women and Gender Studies. The history and contemporary discourse of racialized gender and sexuality for Jewish people in Zionism is a site of debate and political protest today--especially as the Israeli state’s project of “pinkwashing” is decried by queer activists internationally. In addition, there is strong contestation among feminists regarding Zionist ideologies. As the case of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi illustrates, feminists are identifying and protesting contemporary conditions of emergency in Palestine, and pointing out how Zionism targets women and families in broader projects of racialized population control. This, among other histories of feminist debate, show that Zionism as a political ideology needs to be up for debate at minimum.

In sum, the Department of Women and Gender Studies unequivocally rejects the equation of Zionism with Judaism, and stands by all of our SFSU students and their right to a university committed to intellectual inquiry and social justice.

Some further reading on gender, sexuality, Zionism, and Palestinian liberation:

Abdulhadi, Rabab, Evelyn Alsultany, and Nadine C. Naber. Arab & Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, & Belonging. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2011.

Barghouti, Miriam. "No, You Can't Be a Feminist and a Zionist," The Forward. November 27, 2017.

Boyarin, Daniel. Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Daoud, Nihaya. "Internal Displacement and Health among the Palestinian Minority in Israel," Social Science and Medicine, 74 (2012) 1163-1171.

Lloyd, David. "It is our Belief that Palestine is a Feminist Issue..." Feminists @ Law: An Open Access Journal of Feminist Legal Scholarship, Vo. 4 n.1, 2014 http://journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/feministsatlaw/article/view/107/282. Accessed February 18, 2018.

 Meyerson, Colleen. "Can you be a Feminist and a Zionist? Linda Sarsour Says No." The Nation, March 13, 2017. https://www.thenation.com/article/can-you-be-a-zionist-feminist-linda-sarsour-says-no/ Accessed February 18, 2018.

Naber, Nadine C. Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism. New York: New York University Press, 2012.

"Palestinian Women's Call for Worldwide Women's Endorsement of BDS," BDS, March 8, 2016. https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-women’s-call-worldwide-women’s-endorsement-bds

Pappé, Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford: One World Publications, 2006.

Sabbagh, Suha. Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.

Sarsour, Linda."Can you be a Zionist Feminist? Linda Sarsour Says No," The Nation. March 13, 2017.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera. "Palestinian Feminist Critique and the Physics of Power: Feminists Between Thought and Practice," feminists@law, 4:1 (2014).

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera. “The Grammar of Rights in Colonial Contexts: The Case of Palestinian Women in Israel”, Middle East Law and Governance 4 (2012), pp. 106-151.

Sharoni, Simona. Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Politics of Women's Resistance. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995.

Shulman, Sarah. “Israeli and ‘Pinkwashing.’” New York Times, Nov. 22, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/opinion/pinkwashing-and-israels-use-of-gays-as-a-messaging-tool.html. Accessed Feb. 27, 2018

Sri, Meg. “Why Liberal Feminism Must Embrace the Cause to #FreeAhedTamimi” Feministing.com, Jan 8, 2018 http://feministing.com/2018/01/08/why-liberal-feminism-must-embrace-the-... Accessed February 27, 2018.

Ziadeh, Rafael. Hadeel. http://www.rafeefziadah.net/hadeel/ [spoken word album]

Marjorie Stern Scholarship Winners

The Marjorie H. Stern Scholarship is designed to encourage support for women's rights and social justice on the campus and in the wider community. This year our two winners are Esbeidy Gutierrez (undergraduate student) and Sandra Garcia-Fraire (graduate student). The Department congratulates them and wishes them success in all their endeavors.

WGS 2018-2019 Graduation Celebration

The Department of Women and Gender Studies will celebrate with this year's graduating class Friday May 24th, in the J Paul Leonard Library, Room 121, from 1pm-3pm. Regalia is not required; students are encouraged to wear whatever they want.

California Domestic Workers Coalition Job Posting

CLCA & WGS Lecture Series

Women and Gender Studies, with the support of the College of Liberal and Creative Arts, is delighted to offer another semester of our WGS 305/805 Lecture Series. Coordinated and facilitated by Professor Christoph Hanssmann, there will be several guest lecturers throughout the semester. Click here for the complete flyer

Open Letter from WGS Faculty Regarding Recent Tragedy

From the WGS Faculty –

We are horrified and deeply saddened by the recent death of a student member of the SFSU community.  Those closest to her have requested discretion, as we grieve and process our disbelief and her loss.  It is with heartfelt compassion that we respect these wishes.  

During this time of bereavement, many of us are thinking about individual and community-wide trauma, how best to prevent and end violence, mental health and wellness and also about fellowship, solidarity, and radical community.  

We are aware that the circumstances surrounding this community member’s death might be very familiar to many of you and we want you to please take note of resources available to you. There are counselors on campus at (415) 338-2208; as well as resources off campus, such as W.O.M.A.N, Inc. (877-384-3578) and San Francisco Women Against Rape (415-647-7273). 

Let’s take a moment to be kind to ourselves, and to each other. Take a breath and know that while struggles are real and everywhere -- whether it be among students, staff, or faculty – they can be shared.