BGSU Feminist History Tour

Consider putting in text here about the point of the tour and how this was put together for CWGE's 25th Anniversary by Alannah Graves and Loni Stouffer. If you want to embed the Google Map, this might be the place to do it or at the bottom: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1sDcKtASZbHUMgrU9CM_19AIJZd2DAmQ&usp=sharing.

The Little Red Schoolhouse

Bowling Green State University was established in 1910 as a teacher-training institution, or a normal college. The University held its first classes in 1914, enrolling 304 students, and employing 21 faculty members. The first students to receive their bachelor’s degrees graduated in 1917. From the very beginning, women students who were studying to become future educators made their mark on the institution. Though the Bowling Green Normal College was open to all students, regardless of their gender, women made up the vast majority of its earliest classes and helped shape the institution. 

Though it is important to note that the Little Red Schoolhouse was not present on our campus upon its founding, the schoolhouse is included in our feminist tour as a reminder of BGSU’s roots as a normal college that predominantly served women. Students had the opportunity to do their student-teaching in what was known as the Training School on campus, which consisted of six grades of local school children and included a garden in which each individual child had their own plot. As such, the Training School was not unlike the Little Red Schoolhouse, which has its own history. 

The Little Red Schoolhouse was originally built in 1875 and arrived on campus in 1975. Formerly located in Norwalk Township, Ohio, this one-room schoolhouse was originally held eight grades until it closed its doors in 1938. In 1975, the building was donated to BGSU by the family of Becky Linder, a second-year education major at BGSU. It was then dismantled, moved, and reconstructed on BGSU’s main campus. It serves as a living history museum and houses the University’s educational artifacts, teaching memorabilia, and items that represent America’s educational system from the late 19th to early 20th century. Since its dedication, the Little Red Schoolhouse has remained open to the public.

University Hall

Construction on both University Hall and Williams Hall began in 1911. University Hall opened in 1915 as one of the first academic buildings on campus. In the early 1920s, the promenade to the building was updated with cement and a traffic circle, replacing the muddy path, dirt streets, and boardwalks of the original grounds. In 1929, the College of Liberal Arts and Education was established in University Hall, and in 1932, the moniker on the front of the building was replaced from “Bowling Green State Normal College” to “Bowling Green State College.” These changes paved the way for the institution to transition and grow from a college to a university by 1935.  

As one of the first academic buildings on campus, changes to University Hall throughout the 1920s provide context for women’s experiences as students during this time. The 1920s were dominated by social movements exploiting domestic insecurities brought on by Progressive Era suffrage movements. Conservative families worried that as young women moved away from their parents’ homes seeking an education that they would gluttonously seek out notoriety, an individual voice, and authority equivalent to their male peers.

Women students each received women’s handbooks that shared the rules and regulations for being a student at the college. Notably, men and women received different student handbooks with gendered differences regarding curfews, chores, and dress. For parents who were concerned about how higher education might change their daughters, these women’s handbooks offered some comfort. Nationally, female-focused booklets detailed the roles of cleaning, dress code, tight regulations of when curfews should be respected, and proper upkeep of women’s looks, including set times for when hair curlers should be removed. Regardless of these regulations, women of the 1920s found themselves challenging domestic roles and gender roles within the classroom. They were active in pursuing equal course quality; however, many universities turned to offering women-only classes.

Shatzel Hall

Shatzel Hall is currently the home of the School of Cultural and Critical Studies, among other academic departments. Notably, this building is home of the Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies (WGSS) department, which was founded at BGSU in 1978. Women’s Studies began as an academic discipline in the 1970s, and many of these programs were founded through partnerships between students and faculty who worked together to demand change to higher education, built grassroots programming, and planned conferences that generated discourse around gender, race, sexuality, and LGBTQ+ identities. Developing alongside Black studies and Ethnic Studies departments, Women’s Studies faculty centered their work around gender, race, class, ethnicity, activism, and advocacy despite warnings in programs’ early foundations that their work was “only political” and did not fit within the academy. The WGSS program at BGSU is both an undergraduate major and minor, as well as a graduate certificate program.  

Shatzel Hall originally opened in 1924 as a residence hall to students of all genders. It became a women’s only residence hall in 1953 and was then converted to a men’s only hall in 1956. In 1966, it was renovated and converted to an academic building.  

Williams Hall

Williams Hall is one of the two original buildings on campus, and was the first to be completed in 1915. It originally served as the “North Dormitory,” and housed the majority of women students who attended BGSU when it was a normal college. Williams Hall served as a women’s residence hall from its opening until 1943 through 1945, when women were forced to move into the Women’s Physical Education Building to make space for men from the Navy V-5 and V-12 units, who were temporarily housed in Williams during World War II. After the war in 1945, women student residents were able to return, and Williams once again became a women’s residence hall. In 1964, the building was converted to administrative and faculty offices, and it currently houses the Sociology, History, and Political Science departments, as well as the Center for Family and Demographic Research, and the National Center for Family and Marriage Research.   

As a former women’s residence hall, Williams Hall provides a backdrop to discuss how women students lived on campus, as well as the gendered standards they were expected to uphold, as detailed in the Women’s Handbooks by the Association for Women Students (AWS). The AWS was founded in 1918, when the governing board for Williams Hall was formed. This board then developed into the Women’s League, which was renamed the Women’s Self Governing Association (WGSA) in 1923. WGSA became associated with the national Association for Women Students in 1945 and changed its name to AWS.

Every woman student at BGSU was automatically a member of AWS, and the organization sought to unite women across campus, “offering them the voice of self-government” and “contributing to the development of a mature, responsible citizen.” The governing body of AWS included a judicial, executive, and legislative board. According to the 1962 handbook, each woman student was represented in AWS by their corridor representative. Each women’s corridor in every residence hall elected a representative to their House Board, which included corridor representatives, residence hall officers, and the Head Resident. Each residence hall’s House Board served as the intermediary between women in the residence halls and the governing body of AWS. Furthermore, each class was represented in AWS by an elected class member who sat on the AWS Legislative Board. While the first-year class had two elected representatives, each other class had one elected representative. Students could communicate with AWS or share their concerns with their elected class representative, their residence hall’s House Board, or other AWS executive officers.  

The AWS Handbooks detailed the gendered standards that women were held to on campus. These standards, expectations, and procedures were different than their male counterparts’, who received their own student handbooks. Notably, the AWS Handbooks included the procedures for women’s supervision in the residence halls, including signing in and out upon entering and leaving, overnight permissions, women’s curfews, rules about who could visit them, and other restrictions. 

According to a survey booklet from the Wilma Minton papers, a collection of documents and records dating from 1962 to 1994 by Wilma Minton, Dean of Women at BGSU, who was in charge of women’s residence halls, organizations, student discipline, student handbooks, and study skills programs, many women students called for reformation and equality regarding the different standards to which women and men were held. One student’s survey response called for eliminating women’s curfew and signing out in the residence halls, noting “I would trust [a student] to take care of herself. I think that being restricted here is harder to handle than being free as one is at home.” Throughout this collection, other women students called for changes to gender roles on campus, specifically noting the lack of supervision that men on campus had compared to their own.   

Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Grand Ballroom

Equal Rights Amendment Debate Between Karen DeCrow and Phyllis Schlafly  

Swiftly following the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote but largely excluded women of color, two leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman, wrote the first draft of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1923. The goal was simple: to enshrine the principle of gender equality into the Constitution so that women would no longer be treated as second-class citizens. From 1923 forward, the ERA was proposed in every session of Congress; however, it did not make any headway until the 1970s.  

In 1970, women lawmakers, including Representatives Marth Griffiths (MO) and Shirley Chisholm (NY) fought hard to make the ERA a top priority for Congress, and in March 1972, the ERA passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate with bipartisan support that surpassed the two-thirds majority vote required by the Constitution. From there, the proposed amendment was sent to the states to ratify the amendment with a 7-year deadline.   

Throughout the 1970s across the country, people debated whether or not the ERA should be ratified. While feminist activists fiercely advocated for the ratification of the ERA, there also were many women who advocated against it just as adamantly. The most notable and vocal of its opposers was Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative activist and lawyer from Illinois who founded the STOP ERA campaign. Schlafly frequently publicly debated the ERA with feminists, arguing that the passage of the ERA would eventually lead to women in the military, same-sex marriage, and gender inclusive restrooms. 

On January 19, 1978 in front of a crowd of 2,200 people in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Grand Ballroom, BGSU hosted one such debate between Karen DeCrow, the former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), who argued for the ERA, and Phyllis Schlafly, who argued against it. At the time, the ERA had been ratified by 35 states, including Ohio, and only needed three more states to ratify the amendment by March 1979 for the ERA to become law. As DeCrow argued, "There is no question that the Equal Rights Amendment is needed, is demanded and indeed will be part of the Constitution in 1979."   

Over the course of the evening, DeCrow and Schlafly debated the ERA as well as other feminist issues, including women serving in the military, gender roles in relationships and families, and abortion. While Schlafly argued that the women’s movement brought on “a kind of new narcissism,” in which “women seek their own goals over every other value,” DeCrow rebutted, "We are showing men that you, too, can be human beings. If we live in a democracy it seems to be absolutely ridiculous to pretend that there should be a king in the house."  

Referring to the International Women’s Year conference in November, 1977, DeCrow explained that the conference “showed that women of America, not organized feminists, demand equal rights.” She continued by saying that anti-ERA people “should acknowledge that they are a minority,” and that they are using “false tactics” by reporting that they represent the will of the majority as they travel the country.   

Gloria Steinem speaks to Celebrate WEAL and Elizabeth Boyer ‘37

On September 24 and 25, 2012, BGSU hosted Gloria Steinem, legendary feminist scholar, social activist, author, and champion of women’s rights since the 1960s. Steinem came to campus as the keynote speaker at BGSU’s gala event celebrating the Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) and Elizabeth “Betty” Boyer ’37, hosted by the Women’s Center at BGSU, now the Center for Women and Gender Equity. Proceeds for the gala supported the Elizabeth M. Boyer Fund for Student Mothers. Steinem spoke to an enormous crowd at BGSU, discussing the state of 21st century feminism. 

This was Steinem’s first appearance on campus and first time back in Northwestern Ohio in over a decade. Steinem was born and raised in Toledo. She helped found New York magazine in 1968, co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972, and has written numerous books. Steinem founded NOW (the National Organization for Women), the National Women’s Caucus, Ms. Foundation for Women, and “Take Our Daughters to Work Day.” In 1993, Steinem was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1995, she won a Lifetime Achievement Award from Parenting Magazine for her work in promoting girls’ self-esteem and was listed as one of the 25 most influential women in America by Biography magazine.

Elizabeth Boyer, a 1937 BGSU alumna, had a far-reaching influence, playing a key role in WEAL and Title IX and opening up opportunities for young women. Boyer helped organize WEAL in Cleveland in 1968 and worked hand in hand with NOW, making Boyer and Steinem contemporaries during a pivotal point in U.S. history. For over 40 years, WEAL worked for equal educational and cocurricular opportunities for women in education, equal job opportunities, training for women in the workforce, and child support laws. Boyer was active in supporting legal actions challenging sexual discrimination in colleges and universities around the country. Significantly, Boyer and WEAL were among the driving forces behind the passage of Title IX in 1972. As Dr. Mary Krueger, former director of the Women’s Center at BGSU, explained, in decreeing that educational institutions receiving federal funding cannot discriminate on the basis of gender, Title IX “has changed everything for women and girls. It’s a permanent change to the culture. And Elizabeth Boyer did that.” Boyer’s affiliation with BGSU closely connected the University to the passage of Title IX.

Boyer was a native of Fremont, Ohio who received her education degree from BGSU. She became an attorney with a private law and probate practice for many years in Cleveland, taught business at Cuyahoga Community College, and wrote several books about historical women. She was one of the first women inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

Jerome Library

The Jerome Library opened in 1967 to accommodate the University’s rapid expansion during the early 1960s. The number of students and faculty members increased during this time, our academic departments were growing in number and in reputation, and the number of buildings on campus multiplied. Today, the Jerome Library is the home of the University Libraries Systems and is a vital resource on our campus. However, our interest in our feminist history lies not in the Jerome Library, but in its predecessor.  

The original library building was built when our campus itself was much smaller. Its space was designed to serve only 800 people at a time. As such, students’ access to the library during certain hours were limited. Women students’ access to the library was cut short in the evenings, while men were able to remain in the library until it closed. Women’s access was limited due to their curfew regulations, which many women disputed for decades.

The 1940s ushered in a new era of change for women students. Throughout World War II, as young men were drafted into the military, universities across the country began catering to  women students to maintain their enrollment rates. As women became the majority population on college campuses, they became more involved in university life and their opportunities expanded as they began participating in work-study programs, enrolling in classes discussing diplomacy and political theory, and pursuing careers in nursing. This period brought on a rapid shift in gender expectations for women, which influenced women’s social identities, autonomy, and educational goals. Though many women students still maintained interest in pursing domestic roles, such as housekeeping, the possibilities for women’s careers after college expanded during this time. Women students were able to redirect the campus culture toward their own needs and interests across numerous institutions, including at BGSU.

One such progressive change during this period was women students’ vote on their curfews and access to the campus library at night. Women students living on campus had strict regulations to follow regarding their nightly curfews, which included how late they could stay in the library. At the start of the fall semester in 1940, the executive board of the Women’s Self-Government Association, with the approval of Dean of Girls A. Wrey Warner and Dean of Students A. B. Conklin, proposed new rules to extend first-year and second-year women’s curfews. On September 30, 1940, women students voted in a landslide election for later curfew regulations by a vote of 214 to 28. Women continued to vie for more freedom on campus over the next few years, leading to the adoption of the first constitution of the Association of Women Students (AWS) on April 16, 1942 in the AWS Handbook.

Overman Hall

Overman Hall is currently home of BGSU’s School of Earth, Environment and Society, Geology, Physics and Astronomy, and the Center for Photochemical Sciences and Departments of Chemistry. The site of Overman Hall was known as Falcon Heights in the 1940s, a group of 80 trailers that were built as temporary housing for veterans and families following World War II.  

After the war, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, known as the G.I. Bill of Rights, supported veterans continuing their education in college by paying for housing and tuition. At the same time, there were thousands of post-war marriages which created the “Baby Boom.” Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, BGSU saw an influx of students from the armed services whose education was funded by the Federal Government and an increase in married students and families who wanted to receive their education alongside their partners. 

This increase in enrollment happened so quickly that the University did not have enough residence halls to house these new students, nor the facilities needed to accommodate the growing number of married students and families. Residence halls on campus were segregated by gender, and the University wanted to create housing options that would allow married couples and their children to live together as a family. Furthermore, the University could not fund, acquire the materials, or build new housing structures until the labor and post-war materials shortages ended. The University’s solution in 1945 was to purchase 40 trailers to house married families and veterans. BGSU continued to construct temporary housing units over the next several years to accommodate this growth of students and families. At the site of Overman Hall stood the colony of 80 trailers named Falcon Heights. Alongside North College Drive, the University constructed 28 metal buildings known as the Barracks that could accommodate four families in each to house married students and their children. The University continued to expand housing options for families, including privately owned trailers at Ridge Terrace, located just south of Falcon Heights, and government apartments behind the North Dorm. These small efficiency apartments were adapted from Quonset huts.  

According to the 1949 Key Yearbook, one of every 10 students at Bowling Green was a married veteran, and married couples who were both in attendance at the University was increasingly common throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The University was supportive of student parents and provided the infrastructure they could for families to live comfortably on campus even during housing shortages. Between Falcon Heights, Ridge Terrace, and the apartments, the married student population became three closely knit units and operated like their own community with their own breadmen, icemen, postal workers, and “city officials.” Other student families acted as house parents for student Greek life or bought their own homes in Bowling Green. Student families on campus frequently worked together and acted as babysitters for each other while other parents were in class, studying, or at work.

Throughout this time, student mothers attended classes, worked at the University or in town, or taught at local schools. According to the 1949 yearbook, student families had the support they needed from the institution, the growing parent community on campus, and each other. Overall, student parents’ grades were well above the University averages and parents maintained involvement in co-curricular activities, including athletics, social groups, and Greek life.

BGSU continued to be supportive of student parents and families even after the Baby Boom. In October 1969, the Counseling Center began offering weekly marriage counseling sessions for students. Recognizing that being a student brought its own set of unique challenges to marriage, the Counseling Center offered both non-structured sessions and structured exercises, including constructive fighting to help married student couples better realize each other’s feelings.

Today, BGSU continues to support parenting and pregnant students of all kinds, recognizing how challenging it can be to balance family commitments with coursework. There are a number of resources on campus that support student parents, including the Center for Women and Gender Equity, the Office of Title IX, and Non-Traditional and Military Student Services. Throughout nine buildings on campus are Wellness and Lactation Rooms for parents, which are open to students, faculty, and staff. The university also connects student parents with scholarship opportunities, including the Elizabeth M. Boyer Award for Student Parents. The Boyer Award was initially established to support the academic achievement of student mothers at BGSU and has since been expanded to support any full- or part-time student parent regardless of their gender. 

Union Oval

Protesting the Vietnam War 

Over the years, BGSU students have been involved in activism, politics, and fighting for equity and equality. The Union Oval has been the site of student protests, walk-outs, and teach-ins for decades. Throughout the 1960s, BGSU students became more interested in activism and politics against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and Cold War. The ideal of the nuclear family was considered something to strive for, and this not only influenced American society’s gender roles, but also the ways women were seen on BGSU’s campus. There was an emphasis on women aspiring to be the “girl next door,” as demonstrated by BGSU’s yearly Key Queens, “Back Home for Keeps Girls,” May Queens, and Campus Beauties. On college campuses across the country white women were expected to adhere to feminine and domestic roles even as second-wave feminism grew as a movement. It is important to recognize that these gender roles and beauty standards hardly included women of color. At colleges across the country, Asian women experienced racism, harassment, and scrutinization for looking “un-American.” Throughout the war, Asian women—and especially Vietnamese women—were seen as damsels in need of being saved, yet not worth the cost of American men’s lives. Amid uncertainty surrounding the Vietnam War and Cold War ideology and political disagreements about Asian and Black civil rights, Black students, Asian Americans, and members of the LGBTQ+ community entered into broader conversations about where they belong in American society and campus life.

The political unrest and antiwar sentiments came to a head nationally during the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam on October 15, 1969, a day when Americans across the country protested the war by boycotting school and work. There were massive walk-outs and protests at universities and in public spaces across the nation. BGSU remained open that day, and students and faculty were encouraged to boycott going to class. The University scheduled a full day of programming including a silent vigil and reading of the names of the deceased from Ohio, a teach-in with Vietnam veterans and faculty members who opposed the war, a discussion of science and the military, a sing-in and reading of antiwar poetry, and telegram sent to President Nixon to urge his administration to end the war. The campus Moratorium was considered a success. At the teach-in, over 1,000 students sat to hear BGSU President William T. Jerome and war veterans advocate for withdrawing from Vietnam. Over 500 people mourned in a symbolic funeral procession while wearing black arm bands that began in the Union Oval, went downtown, and ended at Memorial Hall following the silent vigil. 

Protesting for Kent State University

On May 4, 1970, there was a fatal shooting of four Kent State University student protestors by the Ohio National Guard. Known as the Kent State Massacre, the shootings took place during a rally opposing the United States military forces expanding into Cambodia during the Vietnam War, as well as the National Guard’s presence on Kent State’s campus. As BGSU had held its own protest of the Vietnam War earlier that fall, the Kent State Massacre deeply resounded in the hearts of student activists. After the shootings, student activists at BGSU met with President Jerome, sharing their demands and rising fear over the National Guard appearing on campus. Over the week that followed, students organized peaceful antiwar marches, multiple sit-ins of hundreds of students to assert that the administration address their demands, speeches, and teach-ins about the Kent State shootings and student activism. On May 6, over 8,000 students participated in a silent candlelit march.

Students then brought their activism into the classroom, communicating with administrators to address their concerns and establishing a legacy of peaceful educational activism rather than other forms of radical protest. Their joint effort with the administration resulted in the formation of the New University, a series of teach-ins that gave students agency in their education, allowing them to analyze issues that were virtually non-existent in the university’s curriculum at that time. The New University included courses on contemporary issues surrounding the Vietnam War, racial inequality, and the implications of university administrations acting in loco parentis. With the administration’s support, many students registered for the New University courses and the series became popular. During a tumultuous time following the Kent State Shootings, BGSU faced no violent protests and was the only residential state university to remain open because students were still attending lectures through the New University’s pass/fail courses. Though the New University ceased to exist after a year, its legacy remains through the continuation of its grading system, now known as satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading, or S/U grading.

Doyt Perry Football Stadium

After decades of women students having to follow specific gendered regulations and guidelines printed in the AWS Handbooks, the women’s handbooks finally came to close in the early 1970s. Following years of students calling for gender equality on campus, all students now shared the same student handbook which used gender inclusive language. While this did not solve gender inequality on campus, this was a huge step forward. 

In 1974, running on a platform calling for gender equality and empowerment, student Rick Morrow began his campaign for Homecoming Queen. His goal in running was to dismantle oppressive traditions that did not support gender equality or neutrality and to encourage the University to reevaluate its outdated practices. Morrow won and became the first man to be crowned as Homecoming Queen in BGSU’s history. He brought Student Government Association (SGA) President Douglas Bugie with him as his escort to the Homecoming Game and was greeted largely by applause from his fellow students. 

However, not all audience members were pleased by his coronation. Cheerleader Kim Olson and a friend threw tomatoes at Morrow, remarking that she understood that he was trying to make a point about gendered traditions but that he was ruining Homecoming for the other women by doing so. Both Morrow and his escort Bugie also received pushback from the chair of the Homecoming committee, who threatened them both with legal implications if the two wore tuxedoes during Morrow’s coronation because they would be dressed differently than the rest of the court. In defiance, both Morrow and Bugie proudly wore their tuxedos to the game. As Bugie remarked, “The reaction of the crowd was good. However, it seems that some of the upper echelon [of University administrators] seem to think a male queen had made a laughing stock of the University. But I find it damn refreshing.”

Hayes Hall, Center for Women and Gender Equity

On September 1, 1998, the Women’s Center was founded by Dr. Mary Krueger in Hanna Hall. Dr. Krueger’s vision for the Center was to provide services for the entire BGSU community. At its founding she said, “What I would like to see the Center become is a resource referral; an informational clearinghouse; an advocate for career and personal issues for women-identified individuals including a physical space where women can go that is open, accepting, physically safe; a haven from stress where people can relax and be themselves and talk about things that matter to them.” Dr. Krueger focused her work on discussions addressing pay equity, childcare, and sexual harassment. As she stated about the role of the Center in the larger campus community, “we’re not just for women, we’re just about women.”

During the early years of the Center the focus was on providing services along with educational factors. While the Center had many goals, its top priority was inclusion and its programming, activities, and space were open to everyone. At Bag Lunch Specials each month, attendees discussed emerging topics on gender issues that needed to be brought to light. Chaz Bono visited the Center in 1999 to talk about his experience coming out to his family and to speak about his book. The Center participated in different fundraisers to help organizations and raise awareness regarding topics on feminism. The Behavioral Connections Sexual Assault Awareness for Empowerment program displayed their Clothesline Project at the Center to raise awareness about the violence against women. The first year of the Center was successful, and they were able to reach the community as a whole by providing services and education and working closely with campus organizations. Through the Transformation Project, the Center was able to reach undergraduate students to address gender violence prevention education.

The Transformation Project was an important step for the Center. It was the only project of its kind in Ohio and one out of twenty in the nation to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Justice. The use of this grant was to create a gender violence prevention program on campus in order to prevent future acts of violence. The Transformation Project included Michelle Clossick as the project coordinator, Deidra Bennett as the victim advocate, and Dr. Krueger as the community educator. The overall goal of this project was to create a prevention and advocacy program to “transform” the community through education and awareness. The Transformation Project provided a series of events and programs, including “Take Back the Night,” which started on BGSU’s campus in 2001. “Take Back the Night” events happen on college campuses nationwide to demonstrate the right of women to live without fear of rape, assault, and violence. Projects such as “Hands Are Not for Hurting” also made their debut around the campus to encourage people to think about all the different forms of gender-based violence. 

The Women’s Center also organized community building events to show their support for social justice issues as a whole. While violence against women was a main focus for the Center in its early years, they also placed emphasis on race, ethnicity, and intersectionality into all of its programming, services, and education. Women’s History Month was prime for event planning, including multiple speaking events, mixers, and conferences in order to continue to build a strong community-based Center. Mental health played an important role in creating this community, and the Center held numerous meetings and events relating to mental health. Body image and eating disorders was also a significant topic of interest. The intersections of sexuality, race, ethnicity and cultural differences as they intersect with gender was a strong focus for programs and providing resources to groups on and off campus.

Dr. Krueger’s work raising awareness about feminist issues expanded far beyond her leadership of the Center. Dr. Krueger is known regionally and nationally for her work with the Silent Witness Project. Honoring victims of domestic violence in Northwest Ohio, The Silent Witness Project addresses intimate partner violence. Each year the Silent Witness Project shares the stories of individual women who lost their lives to intimate partner violence. Michelle Rizzi made a serious impact on the project. Rizzi, a 1999 BGSU alumna, was a graduate student at Michigan State University studying to be a speech therapist who was murdered by her estranged husband. Her body was later recovered in a construction landfill on the BGSU campus. After the horrific events, the 2002 Silent Witness exhibit was dedicated to Rizzi’s memory. The Silent Witness Project held four main goals, remembering and honoring victims, awareness of intimate partner violence, advocacy, and legislation. In 2005, this work was expanded by Dr. Krueger and partners, and The Cocoon opened its doors for survivors of domestic violence to seek shelter. Dr. Krueger stated, “If women are in violent situations and don’t have anywhere to go they are trapped.” Dr. Krueger’s work with the Silent Witness Project and The Cocoon were critical in providing important resources to the Bowling Green Community.

In 2018, under the leadership of Dr. Angela Clark-Taylor, the Women’s Center changed its name to the Center for Women and Gender Equity (CWGE), signifying a shift in its focus as a gender-inclusive space of feminist praxis. By doing so, CWGE adapted its mission around gender equity to better serve the BGSU community by challenging gender norms, roles, and notions. Since 2019, the Center has been led by Dr. Kacee Ferrell Snyder. The Center continues to bring visibility to issues affecting women on campus by facilitating discussions around feminist issues, promoting the integration of women's issues into the campus culture and discourse, and advocating for the removal of barriers that inhibit women’s full participation in the University community. CWGE continues to honor the legacy of the Women’s Center as it works towards expanding its contemporary vision to make BGSU more equitable for people of all genders in order to better support members of the campus community. CWGE provides support for students, staff, faculty, and community partners through programing and services that build community and educate. The Center continues organizing programming on power-based violence through the Gender Violence Prevention and Education Services (GVPES) and bystander intervention training.