Tina Oakland  Oakland is the
director of The Center for Women & Men. Send comments to
[email protected].
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For nearly 30 years, The Center for Women & Men (formerly
known as the Women’s Resource Center) has worked to create a
trusted place for all students to discuss their experiences and
concerns, especially those linked to gender.
Sometimes being a UCLA student can be complicated and
occasionally feel overwhelming, especially for students who are new
to the university experience or to our campus. Trying to balance
classes with work and family responsibilities while at the same
time developing new relationships with roommates, friends, dates,
or partners can create concerns and raise questions about
everything from self esteem, relationships, and body image, to
personal safety, sexual violence or harassment, and academic
success.
As part of the Division of Student Development & Health, The
Center for Women & Men provides a unique student service which
offers a broad range of programs, workshops and support services to
help our students to get the most out of their university
experience and overcome any gender-based obstacles which might
prevent them from succeeding here at UCLA.
Students are often surprised when they see our office. We like
it when we hear that our office looks more like a living room in
someone’s house than a university department. That is exactly
what we set out to do. UCLA is a big place. The Center tries to
create an informal and confidential setting ““ to bring things
down to a more personal scale.
It’s our job to know the campus and community services
well so that students who come in with problems, questions, or
interests can get help or be referred to the right place the first
time. We are a good place to start when you don’t know where
to begin.
 RODERICK ROXAS/Daily Bruin Sometimes students have
questions about things like how to meet and connect with others on
such a big campus, knowing how to communicate about relationships,
whether or not you are ready for intimate sexual activity,or when
and how to tell someone if you have a sexually transmitted disease
such as herpes or HPV (human papillomavirus). No matter where you
live, questions can arise about setting boundaries and how to
communicate effectively with roommates, finding privacy, study
space and time.
The Center works with a host of other student services to offer
workshops in areas such as assertion training, communication skills
and how men and women sometimes communicate differently, building
healthy relationships, staying healthy and fit, stress reduction,
time-management, and active participation in the classroom.
In addition we provide drop-in counseling and referrals on
everything from relationship problems, health and sexuality,
self-esteem, and childcare, to car repair and free self defense
workshops for students, staff and faculty.
We also offer mentoring programs such as the Catalyst Mentorship
Program which provides faculty and graduate student mentors to
undergraduate students in the life and physical sciences. In
addition, the Center has been providing services to re-entry and
non-traditional (or older) students for the past 20 years at a
nominal level.
Thanks to the wisdom and generosity of the Student Fee Advisory
Committee, the Center is now entering into a three-year pilot
program to provide an enhanced level of support, programs, and
services to re-entry and non-traditional students (first-year
students over 25 and graduate students over 29).
Coming back to school can create special issues for returning
students. It’s easy to feel isolated from others if you are
10, 20, or more years older than the students around you. The
Center has a variety of services geared to the special interests
and time constraints of re-entry and non-traditional students.
For students who don’t have the time or who are more
comfortable with Web-based information, the Center’s Web page
at www.thecenter.ucla.edu provides
information and referrals on a variety of topics, and www.saonet.ucla.edu/eguy is a
great way for men to ask even the most private questions in a
completely confidential way. There are also opportunities to get
information about other issues of interest for men.
The Center, formerly called the Women’s Resource Center,
changed its name after several years of consideration. The name
“Women’s Resource Center” no longer seems
appropriate to reflect the range of services which are provided by
the Center or the fact that men have for many years been an active
part of the process of creating change on our campus, especially
around issues of sexual violence.
We are now entering our fourth year with a Men’s
Programming and Outreach Coordinator whose primary responsibilities
involve initiating programming for and about the interests and
concerns of men.
The Center has, since its inception, been open to and inclusive
of men in its programming, but this has been enhanced substantially
over the years, as has the participation of men.
As we approach the 21st century, much of the national and even
global debate has centered on how critical it is that problems once
referred to as “women’s issues” be viewed as part
of the national agenda for both women and men. This includes such
issues as childcare, parenting, relationship violence, and academic
and workplace equity, to name a few.
It seemed the time was right for a new name as we move into a
new millennium. The first line of our mission states: “The
Center offers services to all UCLA students, with special focus on
gender-related issues.” The Center is a place for students to
share their experiences and concerns. Our new name recognizes the
strides the Center has made over the past years toward providing a
friendly and confidential place for both women and men, and the
desire of men to be part of the process of creating a campus
environment that supports equality for all students.
Whether you are new to the campus or soon to graduate, we hope
you will stop by the Center in 2 Dodd Hall, visit our web site at
www.thecenter.ucla.edu
and check out eguy at www.saonet.ucla.edu/eguy.