On April 22, Kent State University launched a website detailing how the implementation of Senate Bill 1 will affect the university and centers, like the Women’s Center, found on campus.
According to a Kent Stater article, centers like the LGBTQ+ Center and the E. Timothy Moore Student Multicultural Center will have to undergo change, which leaves the question of what will happen to the Women’s Center?
Cassandra Pegg-Kirby, director of the Women’s Center, said the center was initially founded by Molly Merryman in the fall of 1996, after a group of faculty and staff members came together, realizing the university was in need of a center.
“A group of faculty and staff that came together and said, ‘We really need this, it’s time. There’s other schools that have had Women’s Centers around for a while,’” Pegg-Kirby said.
When the center first opened, its main priority was supplying female-identifying faculty with resources, so it was named the Women’s Resource Center and was a part of the Human Resources, she said.
“Clearly, students came into our purview in the work that we’re doing, but we haven’t let go of faculty and staff either,” Pegg-Kirby said. “I feel like if we’re advocating for, you know, removing barriers for students and we’re utilizing our faculty and staff, we also need to make sure we’re removing those barriers for faculty and staff.”
With the addition of students into the center’s focus, the center eventually changed its name to the Women’s Center, because Pegg-Kirby said the center began to feel less like a resource and more like a community.
“The value of a center is having a place where people have sort of a hub that they can collaborate and connect,” she said. “It’s not just about connecting to the Women’s Center, it’s about connecting to each other.”
The center became a community meant to empower those a part of it, with members of the community encouraging others to “go for that promotion” or to say “no, that’s not okay, but let me think of how I can help or support that.”
“It creates a space where people can come together and share resources, information and support, advocacy, but it also helps because with a small staff here, so much of our work is collaborative that you start to find things in common with people,” Pegg-Kirby said.
For the 2024 fall semester, Kent State University enrolled 16,545 female students and 9,829 male students, meaning female students account for a little less than 80% of Kent’s students.
She said women did not account for the dominant culture, making places like the Women’s Center necessary for creating a culture that is equal for all.
“Where women are represented in terms of are they represented as a [full-time] professor or as an adjunct? Are they represented … well represented in clerical, in some of the lower paying positions and not as much in the higher paid positions,” Pegg-Kirby said.
Representation is a good first step, but examining the areas where women are not represented and represented in abundance is also key to achieving that equality, she said.
From its community focus, the center has created lasting impacts on campus, allowing for increased representation within the dominant culture on campus.
Through the community at the Women’s Center, where people feel comfortable expressing their concerns, initiatives like free menstruation products were born, which became possible through efforts from the Undergraduate Student Government.
“I think sometimes because there’s a center, there’s an opportunity to have this longevity of conversation,” Pegg-Kirby said.
The community within the center has motivated students like senior communications major Riley Hudson to take on leadership roles based on their passions.
From having a few conversations with Hudson, Pegg-Kirby learned that Hudson had an interest in reproductive rights and encouraged her to restart the dormant Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity organization, which has become an active organization on campus.
“It’s saying, ‘You can do it, and I’ll walk with you as we figure this out,’ not ‘You have to do this [because] I need someone to do this,’’ she said. “But ‘You’re interested in this, would you want to try it this,’ and now [Hudson] is all about advocacy and has gone to different places.”
Pegg-Kirby conducted an alumni survey, asking simple questions like “What did you do because of the Women’s Center?”
“What I heard back was, ‘I advocate for myself with pay, and actually got a job that I really wanted because I didn’t accept that I should take less than. I was able to show up in this place, and was able to come out of a tough circumstance because of the resilience that I helped build,’” she said.
Although the future of the center appears uncertain with the passage of SB1 and implementation of its measure on campus, the future of the Women’s Center is its alumni and their efforts to advocate for themselves in places beyond the university, Pegg-Kirby said.
“I really think that the impact is exponential based on the people who have interacted with us, the different experiences they’ve had, and so I think the future continues,” she said.