In addition to perennial complaints about poorly lit campus areas and poor publicizing of the escort service, Christa Davis Acampora of the Student Concerns Committee, which organized the forums, also reported concerns such as a lack of information on the content of food served in campus dining halls, as that information relates to religious reasons and a perceived lack of healthy eating options.
Other concerns expressed by women students in the two forums include: the problem of male construction workers and Facilities Management employees whistling and making catcalls at women students on campus, older male professors intimidating younger women students, the University not doing enough to prepare them for an inequitable workplace, the reluctance of many women students to identify themselves as feminists because of fear of being perceived as a radical by other students, and both men and women faculty members using sexist language in the classroom.
What surprised the faculty and staff commission members the most, however, was a general resignation among women students about their ability to change a climate they perceive as inequitable for women. The faculty and staff members, most of whom came of age during the formative years of the women's movement, expressed dismay over such a powerful sense of resignation and hopelessness among such young people.
The Student Concerns Committee will continue to conduct such forums throughout the year.
In other business, PCSW Chair Sheila Cavanagh said the Commission's ongoing efforts to obtain University-wide data on hiring, promotion, tenure and salaries of women faculty should become easier with Emory's recent induction into the American Association of Universities, which maintains such data on its member institutions. Obtaining such data on a University-wide basis has been problematic in the past due to the lack of a centralized structure for gathering and maintaining the data. Cavanagh also said that President Bill Chace has told her that the Commission's obtaining and analyzing such data is not only a good idea, but also part of his vision of the Commission's charge.
--Dan Treadaway