History of the WCC
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History :: Mission :: Directions/Map
History
The history of the Women's Community Center can be traced to the 1970s when a group of Stanford women started holding regular meetings to discuss common challenges of being women students in a male-dominated academic setting. As this group grew, they named themselves the Women's Collective and advocated for meeting space at the Toyon eating clubs. As was happening on many college campuses across the nation, these women worked together to advocate for a more equitable educational experience for women students. Issues they addressed include sexual harassment, pay equity, and discrimination in the classroom. In the 1980s, they appealed to the university for a half-time graduate student coordinator position to assist the group with providing programs and services to the greater campus community. They were successful in this appeal and, in 1991, the group was allocated space in the Old Fire Truck House, where it was re-named, the Women’s Center. Through effective lobbying efforts, the center attained additional funding which allowed for the creation of a full-time director position as well as the addition of seven student staff members.
As the result of more recent efforts to develop quality programs and services for women students at Stanford, the center now employs two full-time professional staff members in addition to two graduate student coordinators and eight undergraduate student program coordinators. The Women's Community Center is now a university department under the Dean of Student Affairs area. The Women’s Collective is currently known as the Women’s Coalition and serves as an umbrella organization for other Women’s Voluntary Student Organizations (WVSOs).
For more information about the history of women in general at Stanford University, please see the A Woman's Guide to Stanford, which is published by the WCC.
Mission
The Women’s Community Center exists to facilitate the success of women students at Stanford by providing innovative opportunities for scholarship, leadership, and activism.
Directions/Map
The Stanford Women's Community Center is located on the first floor of the Old Fire Truck House (behind Tresidder Memorial Union on Santa Teresa Street, across from the Stanford Humanities Center).
E-mail address: womenscenter@stanford.edu
Phone number: (650) 723-0545
Fax number: (650) 724-3240
Location:
First Floor, Old Fire Truck House
433 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford, CA 94305-3010
Mailing Address:
459 Lagunita Drive, Suite 9
Stanford, CA 94305-3010
Mail Code (on campus): 3010
History :: Mission :: Directions/Map