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St. Cloud State University
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Center has new home
By Nyssa Dahlberg
Published:
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Where, oh where has the Women's Center gone?
The answer is simple. The Women's center has moved across campus and is currently located on the corner of fifth avenue and sixth street, directly across from the library and behind Public Safety.
"Being across from the library is a prime location," said Women's Center director Jane Olsen. "Hundreds if not thousands of students walk by here every day. This new location is so much more ideal and so much more student-friendly. We are delighted to be here."
For the past 13 years the Women's Center was located in North Colbert House in the far corner of campus.
"There were benefits to the old building in terms of confidentiality and people feeling comfortable going there; the other is that we (had) a beautiful view of the river which a few of us miss," Olsen said.
One big problem with the old building is that it was not wheelchair friendly. "It was totally inappropriate and problematic for us not to be wheelchair accessible," she said. "We had a meeting space in the old center but we had a lot of groups who chose to meet elsewhere because the building was not wheelchair accessible," Olsen said. Colbert Hall was also too small for the Women's Center to function at their best level. "At the old place sometimes we'd have three or four people crowded into a pretty small room," she said.
The Women's Center has been looking forward to the move across campus for about five years. "We've been a part of the master facility plan and have been patiently waiting for international studies to move to the renovated Lawrence Hall. We've needed to move for a number of years for a number of different reasons." she said. Third-year student Erin Veglahn said, "I think the new location for the Women's Center will encourage students to use the facility a little more. Tucked far off campus makes it harder to come across and get to if I need to."
Students at SCSU seem to think that the Women's Center has moved because of the lease termination on Colbert hall due to budget cuts. Second-year student Rochelle Blair said, "With all these changes in the budget I was sure that the Women's Center was forced to move into a new building." That is not the case here. The Women's Center was affected by the budget cuts, but currently they benefit greatly from their new office she said "We now have space and the space allows us good productivity. Visibility for sure is a benefit and wheelchair accessibility is a benefit."
The Women's Center hopes that with their new location and easy accessibility that students will check out their library. Olsen said "Our Library is a supplement to the academic library, it does not meet everybody's research needs but we have some specialized books that I'm sure you're not going to find in the academic library." The library includes books on domestic violence, healthy relationships, lesbian relationships, stalking, women's rights and many other great books on women's issues. The Library also has fictional books that include White Oleander by Janet Fitch and Beloved by Toni Morrison. If you're interested in a good read or have a personal issue to address, stop by the Women's Center at their new location on the corner of fifth avenue and sixth street.
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