The Program is Approved: Now to Find Funding and Establish A Structure

March, 1974 was a big month for women at UMass. During the week of March 11- 16, campus women organized a National Women’s Poetry festival. The lineup was impressive. Adrienne Rich, Susan Griffin, and Robin Morgan, as well as a number of other prominent feminist poets, read from their work as hundreds of people gathered to hear these important and powerful voices. During the festival, on March 14, the Faculty Senate approved the experimental two-year pilot Women’s Studies program, one of the first of its kind in the country. This was a huge victory for campus women and their allies who had been working tirelessly to push the proposal through. It was also a victory for the burgeoning field of Women’s Studies and the feminist movement more broadly. One more institution of higher education had granted that the study of women’s lives and the structures that govern them was a worthy endeavor. It would be seen over the next several years though, that the fight for recognition and the infrastructural support that comes with it was far from over.

Approval by the Faculty Senate was an important first step; then came the vital task of securing funding. Since no funds were allocated to the new program, the Policy Board met to strategize about how to get the money they needed to accomplish their goals. They decided to write a letter to the Provost stating that if they were not granted funding, they would “loudly” close the program. Suddenly, 4 Teaching Assistantships were granted to the program. Two of the TAs were combined for the Academic Coordinator position, for which the Policy Board hired Cathy Portuges, who worked half-time in a non-faculty position. The other two TAs were converted to staff positions and were filled by Arlene Avakian and Dale Melcher (then Weinstein). Dale had been hired as the community/internship coordinator, an important position that exists to this day and exemplifies Women’s Studies’ commitment to praxis.

The program was initially administered under Jean Leppaluoto, Associate Provost for Affirmative Action, whose newly-established office did not come with a budget beyond what was needed for their operation. Before the semester was over, it became apparent that this placement within the office of a new Associate Provost would not lead to growth and in the fall of 1974 the decision was made to move Women’s Studies to Special Programs. This collection of 16 programs included a variety of academic and non-academic units, including Continuing Education, International Programs, Orchard Hill Residential College, Southwest Residential College, BDIC, University Without Walls, Legal Studies, Everywoman's Center, Project 10, the Inquiry Program, CCEBS¹³, Upward Bound, Outward Bound, the Honors College, the Bilingual Collegiate Program, and now Women's Studies. Just as the planning committee had hoped, the program was to be housed near the Everywoman’s Center: in the hallway right outside their door! Eventually the WOST program would move into the 17x22 foot room next door, 508 Goodell. Carrying on the long political tradition of accomplishing great things from cramped quarters, the program would operate from there until 1978.

¹³ The Collegiate Committee for the Education of Black Students later became the Collegiate Committee for the Education of Black and Minority Students.