The newly formed Task Force on the Status of Women started meeting this term to discuss what life is like for women on campus and how it can be improved.
During their weekly meetings, members of the task force formed four subcommittees: academic, social, health/safety and extracurricular. The task force will submit a report of their findings to Dean of the College Lee Pelton by June 1994.
The 20-member task force is composed of seven male and 13 female students who represent all four classes, but does not include many of the women actively involved with feminist issues on campus.
The members "are not cut of the same cloth, which is what we sought to achieve," said Dan Garodnick '94, who formed the group last term. He said he used creativity, open-mindedness and diversity as criteria for selecting the members.
In an earlier interview, Garodnick said he wanted a group without pre-conceived notions about women at Dartmouth. He said he did not want the task force to turn into a "forum for man-bashing."
Garodnick chose the members from a pool of 85 applicants with the help of the other class presidents - Tim Rodenberger '95, Brendan Doherty '96, and Pam Saunders '97. Applications for the task force were mailed to selected students last term.
Karen Staib '94 and David Gonzalez '95 were chosen to co-chair the group.
Danielle Moore '95, a task force member who works at the Women's Resource Center and belongs to various women's coalition groups on campus, said members of the task force each have specific goals they hope to accomplish.
Moore said her goal is to make women more comfortable at Dartmouth. "I believe that some women tend to be uncomfortable here and I want to see that changed," she said.
Dan Lukas '94, another committee member, said he hopes the task force will help create a more relaxed campus atmosphere between men and women.
"The ultimate aim of the task force is to create a situation on campus where there isn't so much tension between the genders," he said.
Lukas said he was also excited about the make-up of the group. "The apolitical nature of it appealed to me," he said. "It seemed like a group that would look at things objectively and rationally."
But some proponents of women's issues had mixed feelings about the task force. Although they were delighted with the formation of the task force, they also wished more women activists were included.
Kristine Hong '95, a member of the Women of Color Support Group and an active participant in activities at the Women's Resource Center, said she is unhappy and disturbed she was not informed about the task force and that she cannot participate directly in the group.
But Hong said she is pleased that the task force was formed. "I'm glad that people are realizing issues regarding women are as important as other issues on campus," she said.
Moore said she had reservations about the task force after seeing the list of members and recognizing only one or two other names of women activists on campus.
She said she was surprised she was chosen for the group because she thought Garodnick was not looking for students with much background in women's issues.
Moore said the formation of the task force was long overdue and said she will "make sure the committee takes into account the diversity of women at Dartmouth."
Garodnick said the group is pressured to move quickly. "The task is enormous and time is limited," he said.
Garodnick said he expects the task force will make a difference on campus by involving more students than those that were chosen as members of the group.
"Regardless of the composition of the committee, this group will reach out to women of all backgrounds to make its final conclusion," he said.
Lukas said he thinks the group's diversity will make it productive. "There is a certain amount of emotion, tension about women's issues that is dividing the campus," he said. He said he hopes the group will see through the hype and get hard statistical data.
The members of the task force are Shakari Cameron '96, Jason Casell '97, Iris Chiu '94, Yun Chung '97, Amy Decker '96, Lauren Demski '96, Garodnick, Gonzalez, John Ha '94, Leslie Hubbard '97, Jack Kolodny '96, Stephen Larson '94, Lauren Lieberman '95, Lukas, Emily Michaels '97, Moore, Lakellia Moore '94, Colleen Phelan '95, Staib and Wendy Steadman '95.
Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia will act as advisor to the task force.
