By Hoa Quach, SDNN
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Ashley Boyd, 21, didn't think a course in women's studies would be
for her. But she had a requirement to fulfill as a student at San
Diego State University, so she signed up for Course No. 310, "Women
in Cross-Cultural Perspective."
She was fascinated, became entrenched by what she learned and decided
to major in women's studies. Now a senior, Boyd, is confident with
her major preparing for a graduate degree in the same field.
Little did she know at the time she signed up for her first course,
though, that SDSU faculty faced major criticism when they created the
nation's first Women's Studies Department 40 years ago.
But the faculty members knew and understood the impact the department
would have on students like Boyd. From professors facing scrutiny
for creating the curriculum in 1970, to it becoming an
internationally-recognized department, to say the department has come
a long way is an understatement.
"The discipline itself was so new at SDSU and in the whole nation,"
said Carol Perkins who taught in the department from 1975 to 1989.
"Many people who taught traditional courses didn't consider this new
discipline necessary and so there were years of both developing the
theory and methodology explaining why women's studies was important.
"It was very much like being pioneers."
Though the department wasn't officially established until 1970, the
creation of it stemmed from the Women's Liberation Movement of the
1960s. In 1969, SDSU students and faculty members formed an ad hoc
committee for women's studies and collected more than 600 student
signatures in support of establishing the program. In 1970, SDSU's
Senate approved the formation of the department and established a
curriculum of 11 courses. Today, SDSU's Women's Studies offers nearly
40 courses to Aztecs, including minor, major and graduate programs.
The department garnered strong support from the administration during
its early stages, but chair Bonnie Kime Scott said members had their
work cut out for them. They had to design the curriculum with no
model to follow, because it was the first of its kind.
"When women's studies started here, it was of its own design," she
said. "Some dreams were really quite fluid and there wouldn't be much
of a decision of the way it was founded. "
Aside from building an unknown curriculum, Perkins recalled the
struggle her and her colleagues faced from others.
"Outside the department, we were kind of scorned," she said. "People
said we operated without a strong academic foundation and found our
courses threatening."
Two moments from Perkins' teaching years come to mind when she thinks
of what she and her colleagues had to endure from students.
"One course I taught the 'Liberation of Women' I had a student
ask me to pray with him because he believed we were so disrespectful
of his religious teaching," she said. "Another time in the late '70s,
a student followed me out to my car and spit on me."
Perkins said they were constantly told they were "frivolous," because
they questioned traditional images or stereotypes of women.
The criticism the faculty faced is why Scott considers women's
studies to be political.
"There's a slogan, 'The personal is political,'" Scott said. "We
focus on women's lives and wanting to make a change in women's lives
and that's political."
Boyd is grateful for the department that has made her confident in
herself and her beliefs.
Boyd, who is black, said her initial thought was that women's studies
was for white women, but after her first course, she wanted to be a
part of the "movement" to inspire women and promote equality.
An intern for the recently deceased and well-known justice advocate
Margaret "Midge" Costanza, she believes in promoting feminist values.
"I think women as a society are afraid of feminism," Boyd said. "I
want to be a part of the movement to create a more just and equal
society. I want to challenge women and men and have society
understand that we come from a common place."
The empowerment she wishes to create among mainstream society is what
she experienced during her first women's studies courses and what she
is currently living out.
"I became more self-assured about my opinions and the professors help
me realize that all the problems I feel are certifiable problems
instead of individual problems," she said. "There's a lot more work
to be done among students but the more work we do together, the
greater the movement and the larger the change will be."
Boyd's feelings and growth as a woman is exactly what Perkins said
she wanted for those who have taken women's studies courses at SDSU,
and what she hopes for future students.
"I want the students to understand the appreciation of how women's
lives have been affected over the years because of women's studies
and what a difference it has made in their options, expectations and
beliefs," she said. "They wouldn't have thought about having these
beliefs in the days before women's studies."
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