Student Center(ed)

Developed by:
Kelsey Foster, Administrative Assistant
Martino Mangano, Student Employee
Karla J. Strand, D.Phil, MLIS, GWS Librarian
UW Office of the Gender & Women’s Studies Librarian
February 2024

This bibliography is number 105e in the series “Bibliographies in Gender and Women’s Studies” published by the University of Wisconsin System Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian. It was developed as part of “Honoring Our Past, Securing Our Future: Resilience and Reclamation in Higher Education – A set of bibliographies supporting the 2024 Conference of the UW System Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium.”

Introduction

The history of gender equity centers, pride centers, multicultural student centers, student organizations, and other offices that make campuses more inclusive dates to the 1960s and 1970s. Student centers have played critical roles in institutionalizing feminist and anti-racist work while dismantling racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, and ableist systems. Student centers provide critical work for equity, diversity, and inclusivity which extends to student caregivers, survivors of sexual assault, first generation students, military and veteran students, and other institutionally marginalized groups. Austerity measures and campus realignments over the past five years have drastically reduced and threatened the viability of these critical centers. Budget cuts have led to the elimination of paid director positions, a reduction in operating budgets, the merging of offices supporting the needs of different students, and the closure of many offices for students on access campuses. This bibliography reflects on the history of student centers as well as the urgent need to support their long-term viability in a precarious, and at times hostile, environment.