*    No quizzes were handed out from Tuesday.
 
*    About the Readings:  "Toward a Women-Centered University"
    *    Male-centered universities
        *    Hierarchy structure- administrators, professors, teacher's assistants, clean-up crew
        *    University as a firm- seen as in terms of a corporation, more so today:  profitable, the professors with the most grants are the stars of the university.
        *    Teacher is meant to profitable with 300-400 students in classrooms.
            *    Learning suffers as a result.
            *    Discussion section leaders are the most exploited people in the university; getting paid $12,000 with full-time load.
            *    The "hard" sciences- grant money comes from corporations and government
                *    Government is interested in Defense, not funding poetry.
        *    Eller College Business- has full art work on the walls, seems like a mystical university with running water, quiet environment because there is so much
                money in the building
            *    This tells you what categories are valued in university system
    *    Male/Female relationships in universities:
        *    Professor/student relationship is like father/daughter
        *    Mother/daughter relationship needs to be established as positive role model.
    *    Women Studies Departments- tough to understand if you are not a women
        *    standpoint feminism- when you are at the center, privileged perspective
        *    deconstruct the system
        *    disproportionate distribution of privilege
 
 *    At this time we focused on a full class discussion straying from purely talking about the class readings
 
*    Ideas of the class:
    *    Masculine vs. feminine- Men as nurturers are not valued in our society
    *    White masculinity- can't play the other roles of gender, this has a lot to do with power, loss of power
    *    Queer Theory- stereotypes have to do with NOT being something
        *    ex. little boy wanting to wear dress to Mc Donald's, gender roles are established at four yrs old. (Is the mother excepting it?)
        *    Gender identity vs. sexual orientation
            *    Just a stereotype...does not determine who the little boy falls in love with.
        *    Masculine & feminine traits
            *    At the age of three, children are clear about gender identity, they are rigid because they have figured it out.
    *    Masculine studies programs are being developed in London.
        *    A growing body of literature for this invisible group
    *    Content of literature classes
    *    Women are objects, not subjects, in science
    *    Under represented
    *    Often, there are only male authors in curriculum
    *    Women's struggle with getting an education and having children at the same time
        *    No child care at the university
        *    System of vouchers does not work, funds for daycare
    *    The world is impacting children:
        *    Girls' body image
        *    Media
        *    Needing to having a boyfriend
        *    Girls are getting pregnant at age 11, not just in ghetto schools
            *    Rich schools focus pregnant girls to go to separate school or get abortions
 
*    Next class: Quiz on weekend readings and readings for Thur. Apr. 5
 
 

*    We were assigned to read two articles:
    *    “Toward a Woman-Centered University” by Adrienne Rich
     *    “Making it for Men” by Dale Spender

*    We began by discussing Rich’s article and the characteristics she ascribes to a “man-centered university.”
    *    Within a man-centered university, there are several types of hierarchies:
        *    Within the administration: there is a small group at the top whose members make the decisions, while the larger group below this select few are the people
                who do the work and carry out the decisions.
        *    Between men and women:   It was pointed out that as one examines further and further up the hierarchy, there are less and less women.
            *    This also relates to comment made about the number of female teachers at the elementary level compared to the number at the university level.  In a
                    man-centered university, the highest positions are most frequently occupied by white males.
        *    A hierarchy that resembles a corporation:
            *    A man-centered university needs to bring in money to be profitable, so disciplines that have the potential to make money for the university are given
                    better status and higher regard, in addition to better resources.
            *    For instance, it can be seen that the “hard” sciences receive better funding and materials because they receive funding from the government, whose
                    interest is in defense and creating better methods of defense.  On the other hand, disciplines that do receive as many grants suffer because the
                    university will try to skim money off the top by installing TAs and graduate students to teach enormous classes.

*    Discussion:
    *    During the discussion, many people shared different views and stories about universities and some stories that did not relate to universities.
    *    It was pointed out that the relationship between male faculty and female students perpetuates a certain dynamic that allows patriarchy to thrive (man-centered
            university).
    *    There were also comments made about gender identity and how we are taught from very early ages what is expected of our gender.
        *    For example, there was the story told about a four-year-old boy asking to wear a dress in public and the different feelings this evoked in the babysitter.
            *    It is important to remember that wearing a dress or playing with dolls does not mean one is gay.
        *    Another observation was made that it is easier to be female and be “masculine,” than male and “feminine.”
            *    A reason for this is that to be feminine is to give up power, and why would any male in this white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy (bell hooks) want to
                    do this?
    *    Some people had criticisms and comments about the discussion.
        *    It was pointed out how hard it is to deconstruct ideals of masculine and feminine because these notions are so firmly ingrained in our heads.
        *    Also, by recognizing that women have a feminine power, it does not give women power, it merely defines them as different from men because they can
                bear children.
    *    We also discussed briefly the future of women’s studies.
        *    Most people agreed whole-heartedly that women’s studies should enter the curriculum at a lower level.
            *    We talked about high school and how the literary canon was already shaped for us with the example of an honors English reading list with one woman
                    author.
            *    Also, the issue of daycare on campus was raised.
                *    People brain-stormed about how to make administrators realize the need to provide more childcare for students and faculty.
            *    The opportunities to obtain vouchers for this service are few and far between and are primarily offered to faculty, beginning at the top of the hierarchy.