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3 Things You Didn’t Know About The Women’s Center

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Jessica Kline Student Contributor, Bryant University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bryant chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

When I first began to write up this article, I found it was kind of hard to really put into words what exactly the Bryant Women’s Center (also known as The Gertrude Meth Hochberg Women’s Center) is.  The Women’s Center is found right here on campus in the student center, hands out condoms like candy, is involved in more things on campus then most other organizations, and is run by a Toby Simon, who I can proudly say is one of the most interesting, motivating, generous, and intelligent woman on this campus.  But, if you ask me, that doesn’t say quite enough.  So what did I do?  I just went onto Bryant’s website and did the ol’ copy and paste….

“The Gertrude Meth Hochberg Women’s Center is committed to enhancing the quality of life for the community of women at Bryant University and provides a forum for discussing issues facing women in business and society. The Women’s Center serves as a resource for students, faculty, and staff to celebrate diversity, engage in intellectual discussion, and work toward the full participation of women in the life of the University.

The Women’s Center supports the mission of Bryant University by providing resources and support to the increasing number of women students on campus. By organizing programs geared toward increasing women’s awareness, such as Women’s HERstory Month, participating in International Education Week, and collaborating with faculty and student organizations to strengthen co-curricular education and foster Bryant’s student-centered learning environment.” 

I think the Women’s Center is one of those places on campus that you think you know everything about but really know nothing.  I wanted to inform you, and the rest of campus, 3 things you probably did not know about the Women’s Center…thanks to Toby for letting me sit down with her, we came up with a list…ready?

  1. The Women’s Center is open to the public…including men!
  • Being open to the public involves this center to do much more than any other typical women’s center may do.  They have a  resource library which allows people to look for materials for a course they may be taking.  If you’re in a class where everyone is writing the same paper, you want to stand out to your professor.  Grab some resources from the women’s center, if the paper goes along with a women’s study, and stick out in class!
  • Most of the people who come into the center speak 1 on 1 with Toby.  These 1 on 1 meetings are usually about a girlfriend, sister, mother, or boyfriend issue that the women’s center can give some guidance in.

        2.  Free condoms!

  • Most people think the Women’s Center is just for women…WRONG!  Like I said above, it’s open to the public!  So how does Toby attract men to use resources in her center?  Condoms, duh…and we mean lots of them.  Right outside the door to the Women’s Center is a bowl of condoms-free for all.

       3.   The Women’s Center is EXTREMELY involved 

  • I’m just going to throw out a list of events, programs, and projects that the Women’s Center takes on almost every single year….
    • Service learning in Hati or Domincan Republic
    • Athletics outreach through sexual assault seminars and how to act on and off the field
    • March in marches or put on demonstrations during political issues
    • Women’s HERStory Month
    • Provide freshmen with great orientation programs
    • Attend hall/floor meetings in the Residence Halls
    • Advise the organization AWA (Alliance for Women’s Awareness) and promote sex week (P.S It’s coming up so be on the look out for it!)
    • Teach a course called From Womb to Tomb-sexuality across the life cycle

Did you know any of that?  While wrapping up my meeting with Toby she started laughing and asked if I could include just a few more things that she finds interesting.  She wanted me to put in the three questions that she gets asked most frequently when talking about The Women’s Center so here they are:

  1. Where’s the men’s center?
  2. What happened to all the condoms?
  3. Do you do pelvic exams here?

For more information visit The Women’s Center website or stop by the center today!  It’s located on the third floor of the Bryant Center.

References:
http://www.bryant.edu/life-at-bryant/live/womens-center.htm

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Jessica Kline

Bryant

Jessica is a senior at Bryant University where she is majoring in management and double minoring in marketing and communication.  She holds the position as Editor-In-Chief of Her Campus Bryant and was actually one of the first founding members!  Beyond Her Campus Bryant, she is the Vice President of the Bryant Marketing Association and a MyPath Mentor.  She loves working at the Amica Center for Career Education where she manages their marketing and social media efforts but also enjoys her time at the Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership and the school's bookstore. When at home in Connecticut, she loves to watch movies with her family, play with her dog, have bonfires with friends, sleepovers with her sister, and scrapbook! Jessica aspires to one day manage her own department of a fortune 500 company, or even run her own company with a little bit of writing on the side!  Upon graduating this coming May, she will jump-start her career at EMC as a Marketing Development Associate in the Marketing Development Program.