Women's Center Archives - ��Ƶ

Nurturing Minds

Susan Landers — Wed, 14 May 2025 14:24:07 +0000

In college, when many young people are first learning how to make their way in the broader world, accessible mental health services can mean the difference between resilience and crisis, between healing and isolation. These services are not just about managing stress or overcoming obstacles—they are essential to students’ success.

At ��Ƶ, the Personal Counseling Program provides free and confidential services, offering a range of support, including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, and workshops on stress and time management.

These services are not simply a convenience. Many students face very significant obstacles in accessing community services, including co-pays that are unaffordable for the student, insurance disclosures to families who oppose seeking help, and long waiting times for appointments. If they don’t have access to campus services, many become discouraged and drop out.

With demand for mental health services on the rise, the staff—four full-time licensed mental health professionals, along with several part-time staff comprised of master of social work and doctoral trainees—plays a vital role in supporting student well-being. The program provides more than 4,000 sessions annually to over 700 students, a number that has grown significantly in recent years.

Increasing Demand

“Before the pandemic, we were already seeing an increase in the severity of mental health issues among college students,” says Gregory Kuhlman, the director of the program and a professor in the M.A. program in mental health counseling. “Now, the impact is even greater.”

Kuhlman says that the demand for services has been “elastic,” meaning the more accessible and welcoming the services, the more students seek support.

In previous pandemics, studies showed that up to 7% of people experienced post-traumatic stress. The college’s diverse student population has felt this impact acutely. Many students come from communities heavily affected by the crisis, including health care and other frontline workers, and families who suffered significant losses.

The impact of social isolation is another post-pandemic concern.

“College is a time when students are supposed to build relationships, but the pandemic disrupted that,” says Andy Hale, one of the program’s licensed clinicians. “Now, many students struggle to connect and aren’t sure where to start.”

Kuhlman also notes a shift in the types of cases the program handles. Previously, only about a quarter of students seeking help exhibited significant risk factors such as suicidality or self-harm. Now, more than half present with serious concerns requiring close monitoring and intervention.

“[While] we don’t have the resources to provide long-term individual therapy to every student,” he says, “we screen everyone who comes in for risk and prioritize care accordingly. Our goal is to ensure that students get the help they need, whether through in-house counseling or referrals to external providers.”

The Power of the Peer

One of the program’s most effective tools is group therapy, which the staff say is incredibly powerful but underutilized.

“People assume individual therapy is better, but research shows that group therapy can sometimes be more effective,” says Hale, pointing out that group sessions provide peer support and community.

“There is often someone in the group who is a step ahead in their healing journey. Watching peers navigate similar challenges can be incredibly powerful,” he adds.

Prarthana Patelia, a second-year student in the mental health counseling M.A. program, says that the college years are an ideal time to engage in these services. “Most students are juggling so many things—personal issues, career aspirations, choosing a major. These things can induce so much anxiety. When you have this type of service on campus, you don’t even have to go out of your way. It can be life-changing to have someone in the field who can listen to you and give you the right guidance.”

The program provides various group therapy options, including interpersonal process groups, cognitive behavioral therapy groups, coping skills workshops, and mindfulness-based sessions. Some groups have formed organically around shared experiences, such as grief support or navigating masculinity.

As mental health challenges continue to evolve, the staff will remain committed to adapting its services, Hale says.

“Students are figuring out who they are, what they want, and how to navigate life’s challenges. If we can support them in that journey, it benefits not just the individual but the broader community as well.”

Broad Impact

To ensure that students know about available services, the program collaborates with various campus organizations, including the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, the Immigrant Student Success Office, and the Women’s Center. While they offer general workshops on things like time management and stress management, they sometimes create tailored supports for special populations.

“This might look like designing a specialized workshop, visiting a resource space in the wake of a painful or traumatic event for that community, or support at a campus event that the organizer anticipates may be emotionally charged,” explains Hale.

Beyond individual well-being, mental health professionals at the college agree that mental health services are integral to student retention and success.

“Academic success is often accompanied by good attention, organizational, and study skills, and these skills can be impacted when facing mental health concerns,” says Professor Paul McCabe, chair of the Department of School Psychology, Counseling, and Leadership.

“Students who are struggling with mental health issues, stress, and trauma may not be able to fully attend to their studies and cope with life demands. Counseling can help students develop coping strategies and self-care so they are better able to focus on their studies, thus leading to increased academic success.”

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New Grant Will Help ��Ƶ Better Serve AAPI Students

Susan Landers — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 13:44:56 +0000

Two of the co-founders of ��Ƶ’s Asian American Faculty and Staff Association, Associate Professor Yung-Yi Diana Pan ��Ի�� Women’s Center Director Sau-fong Au, will serve as principals for a $1.97 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Program. The grant will allow ��Ƶ to invest in mentoring, mental health, curriculum development, and other initiatives that support students of Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander ancestry.

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Places to Be

Audrey Peterson — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:26:03 +0000

Sami Binder ’18 has worked at ��Ƶ’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center for almost as long as the center has been in existence. Since starting there in 2015, Binder has been essential to its operations, helping to organize events like the Lavender Graduation and other activities that ensure a safe and welcoming space on campus.

Binder graduated in 2018 with a double major in theater and women’s and gender studies and a minor in LGBTQ studies. A student at the time of the center’s founding, Binder recalls how, before it opened in 2014, “queer students didn’t really have a space on campus where they could go and get the help they might need.”

Today, the center not only provides a welcoming space, but sponsors academic talks, film screenings, social events, identity-based workshops, as well as connections to personal counseling and mentoring opportunities, all “aimed at fostering a sense of belonging on campus,” says Director Kelly Spivey. Binder and Spivey, the center’s first full-time head, are its core staff.

The center also engages in joint initiatives with the Women’s Center and other identity-based groups on campus, and partners with off-campus organizations to provide access to resources that, says Binder, “our campus does not provide at the moment, like gender affirming care or hormone replacement therapy.”

In addition to this kind of structured support, a crucial function of the center is to maintain a safe place to convene, in 219 Student Center, “where students come to meet each other, play video games, use computers, drink coffee, and study,” says Spivey.

Students enjoy spending time there, says Binder, because for some, “this might be the only place where they’re able to be out and be their true self.” Many students live at home, says Binder, and some of those students “might not be out to their families—or they might not even be out elsewhere on campus—but when they come here, they are able to be in a safe and inclusive environment.”

Binder has long worked to make the ��Ƶ campus “a safer, more inclusive space.” As an undergraduate, Binder served as president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Alliance (LGBTA) student club and was involved in the project to institute all-gender restrooms on campus. Today, there’s at least one all-gender restroom in each building on campus.

The need for safe, inclusive spaces feels particularly urgent to Binder in the current political climate, in which LGBTQ+ book bans have increased and anti-trans legislation is being introduced across the nation. Responding to this rise in intolerance, Binder has been assembling a list of laws and policies in New York City and New York State, so that the center can make sure ��Ƶ students stay informed about what protections they have.

Even in light of these concerns, Binder leaves room for optimism. “I think overall, there is progress being made on campus and [off],” Binder says, and sees knowledge as a crucial tool for combating homophobia and transphobia, which is why the center hosts a wide variety of guest speakers and panels.

“Events are really important because they put a face to an identity,” says Binder, “You get to see, oh, this person is bi or this person is trans or this person is intersex, and so on. And you see them as a real person and not just a label. You see that they have their whole lived experience, and being queer is just part of that.”

Recently, ��Ƶ’s first in-person Lavender graduation ceremony featured guest speakers, performers, and messages of congratulation from President Anderson and others. Afterward, Binder received a message from a graduating student who shared, “It was such an honor, and very gracious of [the center] to ensure that those in our community know how loved, valuable, and special they are! That’s truly how I was made to feel!”

This message and the success of the ceremony buoyed Binder. “It feels great to be able to provide a space like this for our students,” says Binder.

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Author and Activist Barbara Smith to Lecture at ��Ƶ on March 16

Communications — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 14:32:57 +0000

In one of her first public appearances since 2020 that will serve as an extraordinary complement to ��Ƶ’s Women’s History Month celebration, author and activist will discuss the values that have shaped her remarkable life with the extended campus community on March 16 from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Smith’s lecture, “What I Believe,” will be an intimate exploration into her life as a trailblazer who broke new ground as a Black feminist, lesbian, activist, author, publisher, and independent scholar who inspired generations. She was among the first to define an African American women’s literary tradition and to build Black women’s studies and Black feminism in the United States. She has been politically active in many movements for social justice since the 1960s.

“I am so honored to serve as the Hess Scholar-in-Residence during the 2022–23 academic year,” Smith said. “At a time when some in our nation wish to limit the information and ideas that students can access, I look forward to expansive dialogues with members of ��Ƶ’s wonderfully diverse community.”

“As a writer, publisher, teacher, and organizer, Barbara Smith is a transformative force for justice. Her work has reshaped the American academy and society. We are honored to host her for a week of events culminating in the Hess Memorial Lecture,” said Gaston Alonso, interim director for the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities and associate professor of political science at ��Ƶ.

This lecture event is free and open to the public and serves as the main highlight of the college’s for 2022–23.

The event will also feature President Michelle J. Anderson as well as , distinguished professor of political science, and Professor of English , interim dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

On November 29, Smith was part of a conversation on campus with Theoharis when they discussed selected clips from the documentary , which features Smith and is based on Theoharis’ research ��Ի�� of the same name.

A prolific writer and publisher, Smith has edited three major collections about Black women: Conditions: Five, The Black Women’s Issue (with Lorraine Bethel, 1979); All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies (with Gloria T. Hull and Patricia Bell-Scott, 1982); ��Ի��Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (1983). She is also the co-author, with Elly Bulkin and Minnie Bruce Pratt, of Yours in Struggle: Three Feminist Perspectives on Anti-Semitism and Racism (1984). Smith is the general editor of The Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History (with Wilma Mankiller, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, and Gloria Steinem, 1998). A collection of her essays, The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom, was published by Rutgers University Press in 1998. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith, edited by Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks with Barbara Smith, was published by SUNY Press in 2014.

The evening will also include mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford and the Conservatory Singers, ��Ƶ’s select chamber ensemble, who will perform “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” The group will be conducted by Associate Professor/Director of Choral Studies , director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus.

This signature event will be held on Thursday, March 16, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Claire Tow Theater at ��Ƶ. It will also be livestreamed on the .

Highlights From the Hess Week Calendar, March 13–20

Full calendar and speakers

Barbara Smith—Hess Scholar-in-Residence Library Exhibit: An exhibit located in the main entrance of the ��Ƶ Library that will highlight the works and legacy of Barbara Smith. Archival material from the Robert L. Hess Collection will also be presented. Curated by Professor and Librarian Helen Georgas.

March 13, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: President Anderson Welcomes 2022–23 Hess Scholar-in-Residence Barbara Smith Woody Tanger Auditorium, ��Ƶ Library, and on Zoom

March 13, 2:15–3:30 p.m.: “If Black women were free…”: The State of Black Feminism 2023 Woody Tanger Auditorium, ��Ƶ Library, and on Zoom

March 14, 2:15–3:45 p.m.: “Transforming the U.S. Academy” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ��Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 15, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: “Justice or Just Us?: Defining a Queer Agenda” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ��Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 15, 3:40–4:55 p.m.: “Teaching as a Liberating Practice” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ��Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 16, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: “Working for Liberation and Having a Damn Good Time” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ��Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 20, 6–7:15 p.m.: “Putting Class Back Into Intersectionality” Online via Zoom

About the Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program

The Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program, established by ��Ƶ, is supported by the Robert L. Hess Fund. The program serves as a permanent tribute to the scholarly commitment of Robert L. Hess, exemplified during his tenure as president of ��Ƶ. It represents the ideal of the educated individual—knowledgeable, thoughtful, inquiring, alive to the shared purposes and concerns linking all intellectual pursuits. More particularly, it evokes the scholarly and academic virtues embodied in the curriculum at ��Ƶ.

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Author and Activist Barbara Smith Serving as ��Ƶ’s Hess Scholar-in-Residence for 2022-23

Susan Landers — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 11:43:45 +0000

Barbara Smith—who has been politically active in many movements for social justice since the 1960s as an author, activist, and independent scholar—is ��Ƶ’s Hess Scholar-in-Residence for 2022-23. Smith was among the first to define an African American women’s literary tradition and to build Black women’s studies and Black feminism in the United States.

Jeanne Theoharis

On November 29, from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Smith will be part of a conversation on campus with ��Ƶ’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science Jeanne Theoharis. The pair will discuss selected clips from the documentary, “,” which features Smith and is also based on Theoharis’ research and book of the same name. Smith and Theoharis will explore Rosa Parks’ life of freedom fighting, how the many myths of Parks and the movement cloud our understandings of social change, the roles and experiences of women in the movement, and the lessons this history provides for the work of organizing and social justice today. After their conversation, there will be a Q&A period for students, staff, and faculty.

The event will be held in the library’s Woody Tanger Auditorium and will also be livestreamed on the Wolfe Institute’s YouTube channel. At the speaker’s request, masks are required for the in-person event. Room 441 in the library will also be open for guests to watch the lecture online.

You can watch the livestream of the event

To stream the documentary for free before the event, ��Ƶ students, faculty, and staff can email: wolfeinstitute@brooklyn.cuny.edu

More Hess Scholar-in-Residence lectures will be held in March 2023, and a complete schedule of events will be made available soon.

About the Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program

Best of ��Ƶ Staff Spotlight: Sau-Fong Au

Susan Landers — Fri, 27 May 2022 20:39:02 +0000

Growing up in Hong Kong, Sau-Fong Au observed how education could be a transformative experience for many women and girls, offering upward mobility and independence. Today, as director of the Women’s Center and co-chair of the Asian American Faculty and Staff Association, she reflects on her 22 years at ��Ƶ and some milestones for the Asian American campus community.

��Ƶ: What was your childhood like growing up in Hong Kong?

SA: My father was a cab driver and my mother worked in her family business, a toy factory that my grandfather owned. It was during the period of the largest economic growth in colonial Hong Kong, so I saw a lot of the issues the working class faced in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s firsthand. We lived in housing projects, just as many in Hong Kong do. I think that childhood experiences impact the way you see the world. My mother and grandmother were illiterate, so I saw from an early age how education is essential for women in particular. That experience really determined how I view many gender equity issues and underlined that access to opportunity is very important for women. And for young women growing up like I did, the only way to have sustainable social mobility is through education. I focused heavily on my studies and went on to graduate from the prestigious Chinese University of Hong Kong.

��Ƶ: What brought you to ��Ƶ initially, and how has your role changed in the years you’ve been here?

SA: I moved to the United States to attend graduate school. After I started working in Chinatown at a multiracial youth center, I began to really understand how race, gender, and sexual orientation intersect with each other. I then went on to work in labor organizing, and during the outbreak of the AIDS crisis, I helped develop culturally competent programming for the community. I saw the women’s center job opening and thought it was an excellent opportunity for someone like me, who had working experience with diverse groups.

In my 22 years, I have seen how nuanced the diversity at ��Ƶ is and how that impacts the education that students here receive. We are not only racially diverse, but we have different religions, cultures, ages, and life experiences represented in our student body along with all their intersections. It really is an educator’s dream. If you think about how to facilitate change in a student’s life, there are so many options and you have so many strategies to try.

��Ƶ: You’ve cultivated a vibrant community at the Women’s Center.

SA: Yes, a sense of community is crucial for students pursuing higher education and can ensure higher graduation rates and success. Students, mainly students from lower socioeconomic, working-class, and first-generation backgrounds can struggle to maneuver, understand, and negotiate the university system. We provide assistance for students who face practical challenges in their college careers. One of the major issues for commuter students is that they don’t have a space of their own. We have tutors and professional help on staff. We provide a space for them to study or go in between classes to sit down, have lunch, or a cup of coffee. Without access to these things we provide, students struggle. We hope we are remedying that. It’s what I call crisis intervention and campus advocacy.

��Ƶ: You were one of several people who helped co-found the Asian American Faculty and Staff Association roughly a year ago. What has the group been up to?

SA: We just had the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month event. It is an event that provides a platform for us to address a host of issues. It is very important that we encourage people to talk more about the complicated role of Asian Americans on campus because we are not small in number, and our experiences vary greatly. We can celebrate these experiences while creating space for voices to be heard. It’s the first time that Asian American faculty and staff have come together and talked about issues of racial violence and underrepresentation in leadership. I hope that we can capitalize on the momentum to have more consistent programming and establish the Asian American Studies program here on campus.

��Ƶ: What are your favorite pastimes?

SA: I really like to cook and have a good time and I enjoy spending time with my family and colleagues. I also love to read and attend Zoom cocktail hours with my friends.

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Leymah Roberta Gbowee Lectures on Peace, War, and Life as a Celebrated Leader

Susan Landers — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 17:48:56 +0000

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate visits campus for enlightening and timely lecture.

The ��Ƶ family was gifted an intimate look into the life journey of one of the greatest human rights activists of our time when 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Roberta Gbowee joined President Michelle J. Anderson for a special lecture in front of students, staff, and faculty in the Woody Tanger Auditorium on Apr. 8.

In a powerful, intimate, and honest discussion led by Anderson, Gbowee—who helped lead the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that worked to end the 14-year civil war in Liberia—shared memories from various stages of her life that propelled her to become a global force who has worked for peace, human rights, and gender equality throughout her life.

Starting with her childhood, she emphasized the loving hometown she grew up in.

She provided an example of the strong community bond and dedication to learning by telling a story about how she walked from house to house with other children, forced to show their report cards to each neighbor. This dedication to learning was also instilled by her grandmother, a teacher, who Gbowee called her earliest feminist role model.

“I consider myself a daughter of the community, a daughter of the generosity of many people, and a daughter of many tribes,” Gbowee said. “But there was also a lot of love.”

As an older student, Gbowee said it was receiving an F on a paper written for a class in which she never spoke up that helped light a fire in her. After confronting the teacher, who had not read her paper due to her non-participation, the teacher took it home, read it, and gave her an A.

That life lesson taught Gbowee that no one would ever judge her on the basis of her silence.

“That was the beginning of finding my voice,” Gbowee explained.

When the discussion turned to the Liberian Civil War, Gbowee said the powerful forces that pulled apart the fabric of her once harmonious homeland, coupled with the violence against her fellow Liberians at the hands of the warlord Charles Taylor, spurred her to become an outspoken advocate for peace and human rights. This dedication to bringing harmony and security to troubled areas of the world has never been better illustrated than by her work in her home country, where she led a movement of Liberian women, both Muslim and Christian. Starting with seven and ending with thousands, and marching mostly dressed in white, they eventually ended a war.

Gbowee said the movement started with a dream for peace and was grounded by many philosophical principles she carries to this day, the most important of which was: “You can’t be a peace activist if you don’t know peace.”

Gbowee is also the founding head of the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative, a forum for the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to bring about healing and produce a more accurate accounting of the country’s devastating civil war. Today, she is the executive director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa, established in Ghana in 2006 as a nongovernmental organization to advance women’s leadership in the governance of the continent’s peace and security.

During a Q&A session, acting student Nathaelle Denis asked Gbowee how she persevered through so many obstacles to find her own voice. Gbowee’s response was simple but strong: “I was down, down, down,” she said about earlier points in her life. “But you need to celebrate small victories. You need to appreciate the process, the journey, and yourself.”

When asked about being a leader, her response was equally thoughtful: “You need to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. You need to serve first and be the last to be served.”

When the questions turned to the current war raging in Ukraine, Gbowee shared one of her most poignant observations. Stating that peace is not solely about ending war, she added: “Peace is the presence of conditions that dignify all of us…You can have no war, but you can also not have peace… Work for peace in your own way.”

This event was co-sponsored by the Women’s Center, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Department of History.

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��Ƶ Welcomes 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Roberta Gbowee

Susan Landers — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 20:57:56 +0000

On April 8, ��Ƶ will welcome 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Roberta Gbowee to campus. This event is free and open to the public.

Gbowee will discuss her life and activism on gender, law, transitional justice, reconstruction, and human rights and talk about her life as an activist whose leadership of a nonviolent women’s peace movement played a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s 14-year civil war.

“We are thrilled to have Leymah Gbowee on campus to allow our community to hear from one of the most important human rights leaders of our time,” said ��Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson.

An unceasing champion of human rights and an advocate for peace, Gbowee is the founder and president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, established in 2012 to provide quality education and leadership opportunities to women and youth as a path to economic security and peace.

Born in central Liberia in 1972, Gbowee was living with her family in the capital of Monrovia when the First Liberian Civil War broke out. The brutality that she witnessed against her fellow Liberians—particularly women and children—spurred her to train as a social worker specializing in trauma counseling. Gbowee’s dedication to bringing peace and security to troubled areas of the world has never been better illustrated than by her work in her home country, where she led a movement of Liberian women, both Muslim and Christian, to call for peace through nonviolent protest. The Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace played a crucial role in ending civil war in Liberia in 2003.

Gbowee was the founding head of the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative, a forum for the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to bring about healing and produce a more accurate accounting of the country’s devastating civil war. Today, she is the executive director of , established in Ghana in 2006 as a nongovernmental organization to advance women’s leadership in the governance of the continent’s peace and security.

As an experienced social worker and women’s rights advocate, Gbowee has counseled refugees at the Ministry of Health Displaced Shelter and is the founding member and former Liberia coordinator of the . She served as a member of the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development and on the board of directors of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, the Federation of Liberian Youth, and the PeaceJam Foundation, a youth organization led by Nobel laureates to mentor future leaders in global peace. In addition, Gbowee is a member of the African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning and an Oxfam Global Ambassador.

In 2014, Gbowee received the Women’s Refugee Council’s Voices of Courage Award and in 2016, the Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize for Peace in Africa by the Millennium Excellence Foundation. In 2018, she was appointed to the Gender Equality Advisory Council for Canada’s G7 Presidency.

Gbowee holds a Master of Arts in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia and was a Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice at Barnard College from 2013 to 2015.

This event will be held on April 8 at 11 a.m. in the Woody Tanger Auditorium. It will also be livestreamed on the . It is co-sponsored by the Women’s Center, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Department of History.

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College Group Launches Asian American Faculty and Staff Association

Susan Landers — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:06:42 +0000

About a year ago, a few faculty and staff members of Asian American and Pacific Islander descent started to have some discussions around the fact that they did not have much representation on campus. They were seeking a voice and a platform to be heard on a number of issues, including the rising tide of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They tried to identify faculty and staff and gathered some contact information, but their efforts faded a bit when everyone’s world was turned upside down by quarantine life.

Earlier this year, when anti-Asian violence surged, they knew they needed to take action. So a week after a March shooting spree in Atlanta left eight people dead, including six Asian women, the loose-knit group helped to organize, in conjunction with the Office of Diversity and Equity programs, a speak-out. The well-attended virtual event ended up being a catalyst.

“There were a lot of raw emotions,” says Yung-Yi Diana Pan, an associate professor in the Sociology Department, who is also on the board of CUNY’s “I still get chills thinking about the faces of people who talked about their experiences, about the name-calling and harassment. But they also spoke a lot about feeling marginalized on campus and not having representation. That was very real. It lit a fire under those of us who had visited this.”

Thus, the Asian American Faculty and Staff Association of ��Ƶ was born. By late April, the group voted on their bylaws and in mid-May voted in their inaugural officers, including co-chairs Pan and Sau-fong Au, the director of the ��Ƶ Women’s Center. Rhea Rahman, an assistant professor of anthropology, was voted in as vice chair; Vinit Parmar, an associate professor of film will serve as the treasurer; and Mobina Hashmi, an assistant professor in the Department of Television, Radio and Emerging Media, will be the secretary.

“We have a history at ��Ƶ where faculty of color caucus together and identify common issues and create a space for ourselves,” says Au. “I always say we are entitled to it.”

There was already a working group of professors who had been putting together a proposal for an Asian American Studies program, of which Pan is a part. It had been around for decades but revitalized itself in 2018 with the support of the college administration. While the proposal for a full program would have to go through CUNY, Pan says the college may be able to start offering some classes by the fall of 2022.

“The fact that Asian American and indigenous studies have been obscured speaks to how we understand race in this country,” says Pan, thinking about the Atlanta shootings. “The academy didn’t have a concerted investment, which is why people were surprised when Georgia happened.”

What’s more, Au points out that more than 20 percent of ��Ƶ students are of Asian American or Pacific Islander heritage—a diversity that is in itself diverse when you include the East Asian, South Asian, and indo-Caribbean communities in Brooklyn. “We are really doing them a disservice without providing classes that represent their history,” she says.

“I’ve had Jamaican students come up to me to talk about their Chinese grandparents,” adds Pan. “We are not able to fully study that without an Asian-American curriculum.”

To that end, the association has prioritized support for the academic program but also plans to offer more speak-outs and other programming, in addition to helping to support each other on campus.

“What’s really important is that we can serve as an entity to advocate for and represent each other,” says Au.

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Women’s Center Program Coordinator Nava Renek Receives Grant to Translate Portuguese Writer’s Novel

Communications — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 09:02:26 +0000

Nava Renek, the program coordinator in the Women’s Center, received a translation grant from Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas. She will translate and publish an English edition of Portuguese writer Nuno Júdice’s short novel, .

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Women's Center Archives - ������Ƶ