WGS Response to University of Wyoming
We hear that a senator couldn’t sleep after reading some of the goals of the University of Wyoming’s Gender and Women Studies Department.[i] Same. We in the Women and Gender Studies Department at San Francisco State University (one of the first in the nation) have also been losing sleep as we attempt to deliver our program’s learning objectives to smart, but often distracted, students caught between their own ambitions, financial pressures, and care responsibilities. We attempt to tie together these considerations as we put forward curricular offerings that help our earnest and hard-working students make sense of cultural representations, health crises, changes in the law, and rising militarization while still promoting their post-graduation goals, whether it be to enter the workforce, further studies, or return to their families. We do this in a climate that is reinforcing austerity measures while stumbling at moral leadership, particularly around its handling of Title IX concerns[ii]; and in the face of our nationally-known faculty being routinely recruited by other, better-funded programs.
We do this for our majors, minors, graduate students, and any other student who wanders into one of our courses and confronts challenging ideas from course materials, the instructor, or other students. These challenges have ranged from questions like “Why do all black people look the same?” to “When is violence necessary to dismantle white supremacy?” Yes, our classrooms are filled with different perspectives, and provide a platform for hashing out students’ most fundamental assumptions so that we can together interrogate different forms of authority, ideology, and social relations. Indeed, one of the primary goals of feminist analysis is to consider the connections among knowledge, power, and identity. Perhaps because of this focus, feminist study has historically and across regions been demonized by people who are invested in retaining a monopoly on knowledge. [iii] Because we are deeply aware of this danger, our department, like many others, includes in every student evaluation (a key factor in faculty retention and promotion decisions) the question: “Did this course expose you to a range of different perspectives and opinions?” Over and over again, our students depart our classrooms reporting: “When we were learning about all the different topics, we weren't just hearing each other’s opinions and thoughts, we heard a wide range of other people’s thoughts and perspectives on the topics;” “This course exposed me to social issues I was not aware of and broadened my perspective and opinion on how I view others;” “It was honestly an amazing experience to be exposed to such different opinions and points of view. The professor gave us the floor, the space and the safe environment to share our thoughts and to show our emotions.” These are the student voices that hold us accountable, and set the bar for all our teaching, research, and service efforts.
Senators are not the only ones losing sleep. Dedicated and conscientious academics across the nation aren’t sleeping either. In this regard, we share a luxury that others do not: please remember Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was killed over 20 years ago. Mr. Shepard has now been dead longer than he was allowed to live. The foundation his parents set up in his name asks that “we embody his vigor for civil rights” and “foster a more caring and just world.” [iv] We, the Department of Women and Gender Studies, look forward to the legislative stewards of Wyoming joining their gender studies faculty, staff, and students in just this mission.
[i] https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/596131-wyoming-senate-votes-to-end-funding-for
[ii] https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/Dr-Joseph-I-Castro-Resigns-As-CSU-Chancellor.aspx
[iii] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/12/05/gender-studies-scholars-say-field-coming-under-attack-many-countries-around-globe
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