If recent developments are any indication, in six short months Harvard will open a women’s center. In just the past week, four possible plans for the center, which will be in the basement of Canaday Hall, were unveiled, and the Undergraduate Council released a position paper on the center that included data from a student poll. The search for a director is progressing, and a final choice is expected this spring.

Yet despite being so close to fruition, there remains a high level of debate about whether we need a women’s center and what exactly it should be. We invited activists on all sides of the issue to present their views for or against a women’s center. The results are what you see before you.

—Adam M. Guren ’08, Focus Editor

Women Do Need A Center
By DARA F. GOODMAN and SHAUNA L. SHAMES
Friday, March 17, 2006 2:50 AM
A women’s center isn’t going to fix all of the sexism at Harvard, but change has to start somewhere, and the women’s center is a long-overdue beginning.

What Women Want
By MEGHAN E. GRIZZLE and KATHRYN E. PATRICK
Friday, March 17, 2006 2:53 AM
Though nothing should be considered a substitute for an eventual student center, the newly-renovated Yard basements are as close as we are going to get for now, and so they should contain space that would serve as much of the student body as possible.

Avoiding Bra-Burning Bonfires
By LUCY M. CALDWELL and RAMYA PARTHASARATHY
Friday, March 17, 2006 2:55 AM
Rather than buoying the radical feminism of the free sex era, proponents of the women’s center should strive to create an accessible and innovative hub for student discourse and activity.

Creating a Successful Women’s Center
By AMADI P. ANENE and JIEUN BAEK
Friday, March 17, 2006 3:02 AM
The lack of a women’s center has concerned women on campus since the movement for a women’s center began in 1971. We hope that the structure of the Radcliffe Center supported by the administration will create an institution that will live up to 35 years of expectations.