As the semester comes to a close, the Women’s Resource Center looks back at its accomplishments so far and forward to celebrating its 10-year anniversary on campus this spring.
“I think we had a really great and productive semester. (Program coordinator) Malkia (Hutchinson) did the Gender Talk; she tackled some really interesting topics, and we got a lot of great feedback from students. We did the Smart Start program again. We also had a great Take Back the Night march,” said WRC director Beverly McPhail.
Throughout the semester, volunteers and members of the WRC set goals to increase its visibility and make campus a safer place for all students. They partnered with various University and national organizations to help educate students about health issues such as breast cancer, depression and STDs.
“We had a really good collaboration with the Houston Department of Health and the housing office — we did an HPV awareness event,” Hutchinson said. “We had a guest speaker come in and talk about safe sex and the importance of (health) screenings like pap smears.”
The WRC also sought to increase awareness about sexual consent and violence among campus fraternities. McPhail spoke to the Interfraternity Council, offering her services, but did not get the feedback she expected.
“I didn’t have a single fraternity call me and ask me to do this programming that I am offering free of charge. I don’t know if guys feel that they don’t need to learn about it, or maybe it is not important to them,” McPhail said.
Looking ahead, the center will host a rendition of “The Vagina Monologues,” as it does every semester.
“We had a really good turnout during auditions, and we are really excited about it,” Hutchinson said.
In the spring, a new logo will be launched. It will be put on T-shirts that students will be able to purchase. The WRC will also move to its new home at the UC North. To celebrate this, the center will host an open house in January. In addition, there will be an array of events throughout the spring to celebrate the center’s 10th birthday.
“We are really excited because we will be moving into the (University Center), and I think it’s going to be very exciting. Hopefully, it will make us more visible and accessible to students,” McPhail said.
For more information about the center, visit uh.edu/wrc.