Women’s worries

The Red & Black’s women’s series will assess issues as they stand at the Univ.

It’s been 90 years since the University first admitted undergraduate women.

It’s been 31 years since the Institute for Women’s Studies was founded at the University. It’s been six years since the first students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies.

And it’s been two months since the University appointed three ombudspersons to independently handle complaints of sexual harassment.

One month has passed since the University announced the women’s studies department would move from its location in the almost uninhabitable Benson Building.

Today, women make up 57 percent of the University’s undergraduate population.

At an institution where women are such a large portion of the population, The Red & Black editorial board feels attention must be paid to issues concerning those students.

This week’s series – which will examine issues such as child care, pay equity, safety on campus and health care – is not intended to be a critique of the University.

It’s intended as an assessment. The University has, in the past year alone, responded to issues such as sexual harassment and Benson Building’s problems.

This week’s stories also are meant to serve as an exploration of how far the University has come since 1918, when women were first permitted to enroll.

The newspaper does not have a feminist agenda, but we feel it is impossible to ignore issues that affect such a clear majority.

Once women were admitted, it took 85 years for the University to adopt its Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take another 85 years to address other pressing issues that arise.

- Shannon Otto for the editorial board

Room to improve

Though student satisfaction is high, the administration still aims for progress

We’re pleased the University has created a steering committee to seriously evaluate the results of the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement.

The responses from the roughly 2,000 University freshmen and seniors who participated showed significant differences from faculty responses to similar questions.

One noteworthy discrepancy was that 77 percent of students said their course work required memorization of facts, while only 32 percent of faculty said they emphasized memorization in classes.

We understand many courses, such as foreign languages or science classes, require significant amounts of memorization. Also, the freshmen respondents are more likely to be required to memorize facts because lower-level courses stress rote learning more than upper-level courses within one’s major.

Regardless, we’d like all faculty to place a greater emphasis on hands-on learning and understanding of subject matter rather than repetition of facts and figures.

Survey results indicate student satisfaction is high. We’re glad the University is still taking the time to improve, and hope it continues to gauge student opinion.

- Drew Wheatley for the editorial board