On May 2, Students Supporting Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (SSWGSS) and fellow supporters marched across campus, calling for more visibility and recognition of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Augustana College. The walkout was hosted during the college’s common hour from 1-2 p.m.
The student-led rally started in the lower quad, traveling down the hill of 38th Street and circling back to the quad past academic buildings.
Students carried signs reading, “SSWGSS, Get on board!” and “Make less stress for WGSS!”, and others yelled chants such as “Justice for gender studies!” and “Without WGSS, Augie would be less!” As the group marched along the campus’ sidewalks, some cars honked their horns in solidarity.
SSWGSS was formed out of Professor of History Jane Simonsen’s class, WGSS-330 Feminist Theory, which has fostered many new advocacy groups on campus, such as Students Supporting Survivors. The group was created by six WGSS students.
Junior Marlee Oros was the student who first presented the idea of SSWGSS to the class, due to her own struggles with enrolling in courses for her minor in WGSS. At this time, Oros said there is not a single faculty member dedicated to the WGSS department, with Augustana pulling professors from other distinguishes to teach classes.
The walkout, Oros said, is to educate people on the struggles WGSS students and faculty face as well as to bring more attention to the area of study as a whole. She said many people have misconceptions of the program, believing it’s a “political” study.
“We are leaning away from the idea that it’s a protest, because that’s not the point of what we’re doing,” Oros said. “[It’s] so that people who were kind of averted from WGSS just get to see what it actually is.”
Junior Ava Jackson is also a founding member of SSWGSS and majors in WGSS and psychology on campus. She said their group has two main demands: establish a joint tenure line for WGSS and secure an endowed chair.
“[The] WGSS program is underfunded [and] currently gets around $1,400 a year in our budget, which is very low,” Jackson said. “And in comparison, other programs receive much more, and they also have fewer majors and minors.”
One of the biggest factors in fighting for their demands comes from an external review of Augustana’s WGSS program that found the leadership should be better supported, Jackson said. She said this document strongly aligns with the group’s mission for tenure faculty and endowment funding.
To gain further support for their efforts, SSWGSS also hosted a table in the Brew and attended Greek groups’ chapter meetings, Oros said. There, she said, the group shared their message and circulated a paper petition for students to sign in favor of their demands.
“We want [the] administration to really understand that it’s not just us that are passionate about this, but a large amount of the campus is also passionate about this as well,” Oros said.
She said the group also shared a questionnaire and Google form to students, where they could share their stories of the impact of WGSS through their words or upload videos talking about their experiences. Senior Emily O’Brien is also part of SSWGSS and majors in Art History with a minor in Art and WGSS.
“Originally, the video idea was to share with the administration [and be] able to voice and see people’s faces and really think in a much more personal interaction with students on campus about what the WGSS really means to them,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said SSWGSS’s mission really “hits home” for her as a senior who struggled to complete her minor due to class scheduling issues. She said it’s important to make student voices heard and empowered through efforts, such as their group.
Junior Catherine Karn marched with SSWGSS and hollered chants with fellow student supporters at the rally. She is an English major at Augustana.
Karn said SSWGSS’ issues affect all students on campus, stating we all have our own gender and sexual identities. She said it made her especially happy to see the student turnout at the event, along with cars that drove by expressing their support.
“I think it’s important to support groups on campus that are fighting to make campus a more inclusive place and fighting for degrees that help to do that fight as well,” Karn said.
