There are so many different things to be involved in or be a part of at St. Lawrence, but one of the more unique opportunities that SLU provides is the ability to live in a theme house. Theme houses are homes where groups of students with shared interest and passions live together and do different things depending on the theme of their house. Some theme houses on campus include: the Outing Club, the Arts Anex, the Green House, Commons College, and many more.
Haley DeParde is a senior from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has lived in one of the theme houses on St. Lawrence’s campus, the Women’s Resource Center, commonly referred to as the Dub, since her sophomore year. The Dub raises awareness of gender issues and each member is trained as sexual assault advocates.
I got the chance to interview Haley about her time living in the Dub, as well as her experience at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C, last month.
Why is the Women’s Resource Center called the Dub? Dub as in W, for women.
Are men allowed to live in the house? Yes they actually are, but only one has applied in the time I’ve lived here.
What are some of the things the Dub does? We have the Dub club, which was brought back a few years ago. It’s a space to talk about women’s issues in a non-academic setting. It’s in the house and we talk about different topics, like ‘how to be an ally’, and ‘hookup culture.’ Guys and girls can come and ask questions and talk together for about an hour. It’s nice because it’s not a commitment, some people come every time, some come just once. Monday nights at eight.
Take Back The Night is something we put on each semester, which is part of a national event. It raises awareness for survivors of sexual assault. One really cool part of living in the house for three years is seeing how much it’s grown. Every semester it’s gotten bigger and bigger, we’ve had to move venues to accommodate more people, and we get more and more requests for speakers. Working with the speakers and having people come up to me thanking me for an event has been really meaningful.
In the spring we do the Body Pride Project, where people take pictures of themselves with the themes “I love my body because…”, or “I’m reclaiming my…” behind them. It’s a fun way to get a lot of people involved.
We also do things like poetry workshops and help bring speakers to campus. What’s the best thing about living in the Dub? The bathtubs! No, actually the women who live here are really inspiring. It’s cool to see people who have an idea of how they want to make change and actually follow through with it. It feels good to be on campus and feel like I’m making an impact, even if it’s small. What was your experience at the Women’s March in DC like? Really cool. I couldn’t even get a sense for the scale of people there until afterwards, looking at pictures and stuff. I’m really interested in intersexual feminism, which is looking at feminism through race, class, religion, etc, and the mission statement of the march was really progressive. It wasn’t just a march for reproductive rights, or one specific issue, everyone came with a different issue, and we all supported each other.
Did you go through St. Lawrence? Yes, SLU took a bus of a little over 50 people, and they gave us a lot of funding. We stayed in a church that a St. Lawrence student attends and is involved with, and a member of the board of trustees bought us dinner the night before the march. That morning, I started crying in the metro, because everyone had their pink hats on, and we were all so excited and nervous. As the trains would go by you’d see tons of people cheering. It felt good to get out there and be in solidarity rather than sit behind my computer and read articles and feel sad. It was the biggest but best crowd I’ve ever been in.
How is the Dub different from other theme houses? We do all the fun, social things that other theme houses do, like mixers and hosting events, but what makes us unique is that we can also make a difference on our campus. I like that we balance being activists and having fun. We have the cutest living room and kitchen. Every year they offer us a bigger house, but we say no because we love the house so much.
Check out The Women’s Resource Facebook Page for more information! https://www.facebook.com/pg/SLUDUB/about/