Women's center draws crowd
By Morgan Steger
The Collegian
Free grub lured Fresno State senior Paramdeep Singh into the Women’s Resource Center for the first time in his collegiate career this week.
The biology major stopped in to check out what the center had to offer and score a sandwich during Wednesday’s open house.
After learning about the diversity awareness workshops put on in part by the Central Valley Cultural Heritage Institute, which is housed in the Women’s Resource Center Singh said he was thinking of signing up for a workshop or volunteering with the program if his class load allowed enough time.
“I think that’s a good thing, to reduce the prejudice,” he said.
Reaching students like Singh, who are unfamiliar with what the WRC offers, was the goal of the open house said Center Coordinator Francine L. Oputa.
“If we don’t get out there, students don’t know we’re here,” she said. “Sometimes it’s really tough to walk into a place.”
Surveying the center, filled with students, faculty and staff perusing brochures, piling plates with food and chatting, Oputa said events like the open house are a great way to reach out. “They can see the people in here are welcoming,” she said. “It’s a friendly place.”
Domiona Sims, a project assistant at the center, pointed to the two computer stations housed in the corner across from her information table and said that some Fresno State students don’t know that the center offers workstations for student use.
“There are people that are juniors and seniors who are like, ‘The Women’s Resource Center, what’s that?’” she said.
The center, which has four staff members in addition to about 15 student assistants and volunteers, is entering its sixteenth year on campus.
Violence prevention programs, peer counseling, support and discussion groups, and special events such as the Lunafest Film Festival are just a few of the many services the center offers, Oputa said.
The center’s peer counseling program is offered on a walk-in basis and by appointment, and allows students to work out universal problems, like roommate issues and school-induced stress, in a safe place, she said.
Last year the center received $200,000 to develop its Violence Prevention Project, which aims to combat violence through education, advocacy and support services.
It’s vital that students and others who experience violence know that the WRC can provide help, Oputa said.
“If they should find themselves experiencing one of these issues, there is support for them,” she said.
After checking out the center, freshman Janette Lomeli said she would return if she ever found herself needing support.
Lomeli, a liberal studies major, who stopped by the WRC at the suggestion of one of her professors said the center appeared to be a knowledge hub.
“I noticed that there’s a lot of information in there,” she said.
Sims, a sociology major who helps coordinate Lunafest, said providing a welcoming environment were students and women in particular can talk and feel safe is key.
“I think the most important thing is that women can come here just to vent, for assistance and help and for our support groups,” she said.
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