YSU Women's studies program caught on shaky ground

A dean plans a meeting to help determine the program's future.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Though it may be subtle, discrimination against women still happens in the Mahoning Valley, even in an academic setting such as Youngstown State University, said senior student Alisa Balestra.
The Youngstown woman said the realization prompted her to help found a chapter of the National Organization for Women on the YSU campus this fall.
Word that the women's studies program at YSU was on financially unsteady ground came to Balestra just weeks after the group had its first meeting.
"The university funds every other center for African American and Islamic studies, why can't it fund women's studies?" asked the English and religious studies major. "With women making up half the students on campus, they can't fund a program for women?
"A lot of the students are entering college now and more are women. I think it's important for us who are interested in women's issues ... to get involved in something."
Dr. L.J. Tessier, also known as Tess, a professor of philosophy and religious studies, is the director of the women's studies program at YSU. This spring, she finishes the six-year, nonrenewable term.
"My concern is that there won't be a new director because there's so little support," she said. "It is true we have no budget. We are an academic unit at YSU with no budget."
Though YSU has no specific major in women's studies, the university does offer a minor, or students can major in the subject through an individualized curriculum plan (ICP).
The minor requires two specific women's studies courses combined with women-related courses from other academic areas, such as history, English, psychology, management or marketing.
Women's Center
Tessier said there is a budget for the Women's Center -- a separate entity from the academic unit. Tessier also has stepped in to direct the center and uses her position there to help support the academic program.
The center has a $4,000 budget, university officials said; the academic program has a zero budget. Tessier said that means there are no funds to even copy course syllabi. Further, she said the amount of time she's released from teaching duties to serve as director of the academic program have been cut in half.
KSU's program
At Kent State University, the women's studies program is also a minor program. It has a budget of roughly $23,000, including the $20,000 for instructor payments; funding is through the College of Arts and Sciences.
"Among the state universities that offer women's studies, ... YSU ... offers the least amount of support for women's studies," Tessier said. "As long as we have students minoring in women's studies and majoring through the ICP, we have to find the means to support it. We're not providing students the academic support they need."
Tessier said the university does not keep track of student minors, so she cannot determine how many are in the program. Women's studies courses, she said, are usually full.
What has happened, Tessier explained, is that a former dean of the college of Arts & amp; Sciences eliminated the budget for women's studies. Now, the program can only get money if funds are moved from somewhere else.
What's ahead
Dr. Robert Bolla, current dean of arts & amp; sciences, said he plans to meet with a dean's team before the end of the current semester to determine "what we're going to do with the whole idea of women's issues on campus."
A university spokesman said Provost Tony Atwater has asked Bolla to look at the history of women's studies, possible funding streams and the program's future.
Though women's studies academic programs may not be in danger in a political sense, they are facing trouble as universities continue making budget cuts everywhere, said Dr. Barbara J. Howe, who serves as co-chairwoman of the program, administration and development committee of the National Women's Studies Association.
Still, "there are women's studies programs that are growing," said Howe, who serves as director of the Center for Women's Studies at West Virginia University.
For example, at WVU a new major has been created, but Howe had to promise that she could do it with no additional resources. Other schools are adding graduate programs and advertising for tenured track positions in the field.
"The question is, who else at YSU is willing to step up and do this [directing job], how are they going to cobble up the money to do this, and is the administration supportive?" Howe said.
"In some cases, women's studies has to fight because it's the new kid on the block and it's not as well established," as other academic programs.
The importance of keeping a women' studies program at YSU is evident in many introductory courses that fail to mention the stories of women involved, Tessier said.
For example, she said, students in an introduction to philosophy course will study primarily the works of men, but the course is not called "introduction to men's philosophy."
"Women's studies is where those stories get taught," Tessier said. "Women's studies preserves the work and life of women in our culture. Without it, that story will not be preserved."
viviano@vindy.com