Penn State Center for Women Students renamed Gender Equity Center

Since 1985, a female Penn Stater could find assistance at the Center for Women Students in a time of need.

Now the center is still there, the help is still there, but after more than 30 years, the name has changed.

Today, that space in the Boucke Building has become the Gender Equity Center.

So what’s the difference? And why?

The difference isn’t much. According to program coordinator Jennifer Pencek, if you would have gotten a hand from the center before, it will still be outstretched to you now.

What they hope they have eliminated is any confusion about that.

The center provides advocacy and support for students facing issues like stalking, harassment or sexual violence. While those are issues that are often identified with female victims, the people dealing with them can be of any gender or sexual orientation.

“The decision to change the name was not easy and we took this task incredibly seriously,” said Peggy Lorah, interim assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion for Penn State Student Affairs in a release. “When considering changing the name of the center, we worked to respect the center’s founding mission and devise a way that all our services and programs would continue to support students yet also reflect the inclusiveness and sense of community of the center.”

Pencek said the decision came after a lot of debate and investigation.

“There was a lot of research. There were a lot of focus groups. There was a lot of benchmarking with other organizations,” she said.

The change will be officially celebrated with a kick-off event from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 11. at the HUB-Robeson Center’s ground floor stage.

In addition to that celebration, the center will be hosting feminist activist and columnist Jessica Valenti at 6:30 p.m. that evening in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Heritage Hall.

This story was originally published August 14, 2017 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Penn State Center for Women Students renamed Gender Equity Center."