Events and Programming

Controversial from the moment it was released, Roe vs. Wade has been one of the most politically divisive Supreme Court decisions in the nation’s history. This revolutionary decision changed the course of women’s lives forever. It reinforced women’s autonomy over their own bodies and held the restrictive state regulations at the time to be unconstitutional. Come celebrate the 40th anniversary of this landmark decision for women by learning about where we’ve been and where we have yet to go.

Presenters: Charlotte Fisher & Linnea House

• Charlotte Fisher is a retired nurse practitioner from the St. Cloud community. She graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital in Minneapolis with a nursing degree in 1951. Fisher went to work at General Hospital, now Hennepin County Medical Center, on a gynecology floor where she cared for women who had self-induced or illegal abortions. After moving back to St. Cloud, she worked at numerous sites including the then Family Planning Center, a program of Tri-CAP.
  Linnea House is the Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota. Prior to joining the staff, House served as President of the NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation Board of Directors from 2005-2007. She has worked in the reproductive health field for over 14 years, most recently with Midwest Health Center for Women and Pro-Choice Resources. House has a degree in English and Women’s Studies from St. Olaf College, and a Master’s in Non- Profit Management from Hamline University

For decades, women of color students at SCSU have been speaking out, rallying and serving as leaders of change against racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination and oppression. Representatives from our current generation of students will discuss their experiences, perspectives and recommendations for positive change at SCSU and beyond.

A panel of SCSU women of color students will voice their perspectives at this session.

Moderator: Amee Vang

• Amee Vang is a junior majoring in Math Education and minoring in Women’s Studies. She is a member of the St. Cloud chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), a student employee at the SCSU Advising Center and former Women’s Center employee. Vang was the 2012 recipient of the Newman Civic Fellows Award for her activism and civic engagement.

Film: Until the Violence Stops features playwright and activist Eve Ensler in a powerful film that documents how The Vagina Monologues grew into an international grassroots movement called V-Day to stop violence against women and girls. In 2002, eight hundred cities around the world participated in V-Day by staging benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues. Until the Violence Stops shows women from Harlem to Ukiah, California; from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to the Philippines and Kenya, uniting and courageously revealing their intimate and deeply painful experiences with abuse ranging from rape to female circumcision.

More than just testimonies and performances, Until the Violence Stops is a film about empowerment and the importance of dialogue in the healing process. A celebration of women reclaiming their bodies and lives, this moving documentary leaves us with hope that change can happen.

In 1954, Thurgood Marshall put together a team of attorneys to argue the Brown vs. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Research performed by the educational psychologists, Drs. Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth B. Clark, also influenced the Court’s decision. The Clarks’ “doll test” studies presented substantial arguments to the Supreme Court about how segregation had a negative impact on black schoolchildren’s psychological well-being and, consequently, their access to an equal education with white children. Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark’s work was substantial, not only for the Brown case, but for progress on mental health services for African American children overall. She was a trailblazer in her research and her efforts to address race and sex discrimination as a black woman. We are honored to feature the work of Dr. Phipps Clark in her behind-the-scenes work on behalf of the Brown case.

Presenters: Debra Leigh

• Debra Leigh is a founder, organizer and lead educator for the C.A.R.E. (Community Anti-Racism Education Initiative) Leadership Team at St. Cloud State University. Professor Debra Leigh graduated from the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (BA) and the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana (MFA.). She has been the director of the Dance program at SCSU since 1989. Before coming to St. Cloud State University, Professor Leigh served on the faculty of the Conservatory of Music and Dance at UMKC and was the founding artistic director of Ailey Camp under the direction of Alvin Ailey in Kansas City, Missouri. She has been highly involved in the St. Cloud community in organizations such as the Multicultural Children’s Art Connection, Full House Children’s Dance Company and Create CommUNITY.

In September 2011, the Minnesota Lynx won the WNBA national championship under the leadership of head coach Cheryl Reeve, which pushed Reeve into the national spotlight along with key Minnesota Lynx players. As a tribute to the power and progress of Title IX, Reeve will share the story of her life and career path as an athlete and coach, including her experience working with young women who grew up in the midst of Title IX.

Presenter: Cheryl Reeve

• Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the Minnesota Lynx, just completed her third season with the team. Under Reeve’s tutelage, the Lynx won a WNBA-best 67 games dating back to the start of the 2010 season, including reaching the WNBA Finals in each of the last two seasons. Minnesota’s 54 regular season wins over the past two seasons are the second highest two-season win total in WNBA history (56 - Los Angeles, 2000-01). Her .657 winning percentage ranks second in WNBA history and she is one of just four coaches to win at least 60% of their games in league history.
  
  Reeve’s coaching resume includes 21 years as both an assistant and a head coach at the collegiate and WNBA levels. Reeve spent 12 years coaching collegiately; she launched her coaching career as an assistant coach at her alma matter, La Salle, for two seasons, then at George Washington University, followed by Indiana State from 1995-2000. Reeve got her start with the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting in 2001, joined the coaching staff in Cleveland for the 2003 season, and rejoined the Sting in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, Reeve served as an assistant coach with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, won WNBA titles in 2006 and 2008, and advanced to the WNBA Finals four times.
  
  Reeve excelled athletically and academically at La Salle, graduating with a degree in computer science/management information systems. A Rhodes Scholar nominee, Reeve received both a MAAC Scholar-Athlete Post Graduate Award and a NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship in 1988. She went on to earn her master’s degree in business administration from her alma mater while also serving two years as an assistant coach for the Explorers.
  
  Co-sponsors include: Athletics, the Office of Equity and Affirmative Action and the Center for Continuing Studies

In commemoration of the 27th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day

Occupy Wall Street began on September 17, 2011 in New York City and marked the beginning of revolutionary waves of demonstrations and protests across the world. Widely believed to have been inspired by Arab Spring and initiated by dissatisfaction with the rule of local governments, this peoplepowered movement led the way for community organizing against social injustice in the 21st Century. Occupy Homes MN was born out of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Occupy Homes organizes to defend our neighbors and community members from foreclosures and unjust evictions. Women have played an integral role in both of these movements, whether in organizing or marching, but are often rendered invisible. Occupy Homes works to make women visible by making their narratives public and central to the movement. Due to their differentiated experiences, women in activism are commonly met with obstacles; however, time and time again they have proven to be powerful and effective leaders and their experiences undoubtedly add value to these efforts.

Presenter: Cat Salonek

• Cat Salonek is a Community Organizer with Occupy Homes MN in Minneapolis. She began organizing for social justice while a student at St. Cloud State University, leading anti-war actions and sexual assault prevention programs. In the fall of 2011, Salonek helped shape the Occupy movement in Minnesota through the formation of Occupy Homes MN. Salonek coordinates massive demonstrations and direct actions against some of the greediest, most powerful institutions in the world, the big banks.

Violence, including the murders of abortion providers and the firebombing and other damage done to clinics in the name of the “pro-life” movement demonstrates an irony that’s obvious to most people no matter what their opinion is about abortion. The fact that eight clinic workers – including four doctors, two clinic employees, a clinic escort, and a security guard – have been murdered in the United States since 1993 is shocking. Add to this 17 attempted murders, 6,300 reported acts of violence against abortion providers since 1977, including bombings, arsons, death threats, kidnappings, and assaults, and it’s apparent that the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), passed in 1994, is critical to women exercising their constitutional right to abortion. Hear stories from practitioners who are responsible for the safety and security of clinic clients and staff.

Presenters: Sonia Brummer & Terry Sallas Merritt

• Sonia Brummer is the Clinic Escort Program Coordinator for NARAL Pro- Choice Minnesota, serving since June 2008. Prior to this internship, she was a Fundraising Canvasser in 2005 with NARAL. Brummer recruits, trains and schedules volunteers for the Dr. Hanson Clinic located in Minneapolis. These volunteers act as a physical buffer to ensure women can safely access their healthcare because regular protestors intimidate and harass patients as they walk into this small clinic.
  
  Terry Sallas Merritt is the Executive Director of Whole Women’s Health of the Twin Cities. She has been working in abortion care for 33 years, since 1980, and has been a staunch supporter of the FACE Act. Sallas Merritt has presented information to legislators and various groups about the need for legal protections for clinic patients and staff, and the realities of clinic violence, including bomb threats and blockades.

Minnesota was an early leader in the battered women’s and anti-rape movements in the 1970s, opening one of the first shelters in the nation in St. Paul. In addition, Minnesota was host to the visionary Duluth Model, an innovative model focused on systems change and interventions to help men who batter change, which is recognized nationally and internationally. Locally, there was progressive action as well through the opening of the first shelter, rape crisis center and even a local community women’s center. Join us as two long-time leaders in the movement to end men’s violence against women discuss what it was like in the early years, areas of change and progress, and the impact of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Presenters: Maxine Barnett & Peggy LaDue

• Maxine Barnett recently retired after 33 years as the Executive Director of Anna Maries Alliance, formerly the Central Minnesota Task Force on Battered Women. Serving a nine-county area in central and east central Minnesota, Anna Marie’s offers shelter and transitional housing for battered women and their children, legal advocacy, intervention programs, education and support groups and resources to escape domestic abuse. More than 12,000 women, including 7,000 children have been served under Barnett’s leadership.
  
  Peggy LaDue, LSW, is the Executive Director of the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center, serving in this capacity for the last 21 years. The center provides advocacy, support and referral services to women, children and men whose lives have been impacted by sexual violence. LaDue has worked extensively to improve and enhance the community’s response to survivors and provide widespread awareness and prevention education about sexual violence. She is a member of the governing board of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and a member of the Sexual Abuse Prevention Network.

March Women on Wednesday sessions have been organized to commemorate National Women’s History Month

Did you know that a law referred to as Title IX has had as significant an impact on women’s safety on campus as it has on opportunities for girls and women in sport? Did you know that national and local advocacy efforts have resulted in enormous changes in campus reporting and adjudication processes? Learn more about the Clery Act, Victims’ Bill of Rights, the evolution of campus protocol on sexual assault cases and a blueprint for women’s safety, called the SAFE Act.

Presenter: Roberta Gibbons

• Roberta Gibbons is an Assistant Professor in Human Services at Metro State University. She is the former associate director of The Aurora Center for Advocacy and Education at the University of Minnesota, a 24-hour student sexual assault crisis and education center. Dr. Gibbons has a Ph.D. in organizational policy, leadership and development; an M.A. in political science from Arizona State University and B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She teaches courses on issues related to interpersonal violence including Family Violence Across the Lifespan and Violence: Individual, Community and Global Responses.

A victim-centered law for sexually exploited youth has finally designated minors as crime victims--not criminals--when they have been exploited and sold in prostitution and sex trafficking. On July 20, 2011, Minnesota passed Safe Harbor legislation, a public safety bill that includes protections for children who are commercially sexually exploited, coupled with an increase in penalties for buyers of sex with minors. Our speakers will discuss the evolution of attitudinal change around child sexual exploitation, criminal justice system changes and a future that shifts consequences to sex buyers.

Presenters: Joy Friedman & Noelle Volin

• Joy Friedman is the Education/Training and Outreach Manager at Breaking Free. Friedman knows firsthand the importance of Breaking Free’s Women’s Program as she is one of the first women to successfully complete the graduation process and begin working on staff at Breaking Free. For the past 10 years, Friedman has proved to be an invaluable resource and has worked for Breaking Free as a Case Manager, Outreach Specialist, Program Manager, and Policy Coordinator for the Offender’s Program (John’s School). She has extensive experience in providing services to women who have been victimized in systems of prostitution. Friedman is a sought-after public speaker and has provided numerous trainings and presentations on prostitution/sex-trafficking as violence against women and girls and serves as Breaking Free’s primary liaison with the St. Paul Police/Vice Unit and FBI.
  
  Noelle Volin is the Staff Attorney and Public Policy Manager at Breaking Free and a graduate of Hamline University School of Law. Prior to law school, she served in Japan as a missionary and English teacher in Tokyo. Volin was awarded the Rotary International World Peace Fellowship and obtained her Master’s in Public Administration and Certificate in International Peace and Conflict Studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo. She first became aware of the pervasiveness of sex trafficking during her travels to Japan, Croatia, and Moldova. In her position at Breaking Free, Volin is now working to improve the administration of justice for trafficking victims through effective court advocacy, training and awareness building for legal professionals and law enforcement, developing partnerships with legal service providers, and policy and legislative research.

April Women on Wednesday sessions have been organized in commemoration of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month