Woman who spurred 70s sit-in suggests new one

Women all over campus just might take over the empty Theta Xi fraternity house and hold the building hostage until the administration meets their demands. At least, Robin Morgan suggested the idea during her speech Friday night in Meyerson Hall. Morgan, editor of MS magazine, spoke in honor of the 20th anniversary of the University's anti-rape sit-in, which many say she inspired two decades ago with a similar speech. As Morgan walked to the stage Friday night, about 300 women and a few men in attendance, gave her a standing ovation. After several minutes of loud applause, Morgan began her speech by praising the accomplishments of women at the University, but added that the fight for women's rights is not over. "We have made amazing progress," she said. "Words like 'battered woman' and 'acquaintance rape' did not exist 20 years ago. The boys in power actually have lip-service for them now. "[But] we need to help the patriarchs on this campus put substance behind their rhetoric," she added. Morgan discussed many inequities for women on campus including the limited number of women faculty and administrators, underfunded women's groups and what she called the University's vague sexual harassment policy. "The good news is that Penn does have a sexual harassment policy," she said. "The bad news is lawyers can't even figure it out." Morgan added that the policy's vague nature allows the University to defend itself against disgruntled employees by saying the policy exists, while at the same time preventing the University from implementing meaningful policies to combat sexual harassment. Morgan went on to discuss problems with the Women's Center. "The Women's Center lacks funding and staff," she said. "After 20 years, it's time University officals stop bragging about organizations when they're not properly funded." Morgan added that she has also heard of "certain problems with frats" on Locust Walk in which fraternity brothers "with the intelligence level of gnats" have been known to yell loudly from their porches at passing women. "At the very minimum this is an insult," she said. "But after the sucking sounds stop, there is really the threat. It is a type of terrorism that takes an enormous toll on us. The woman doesn't know how much that [fraternity] brother has been drinking or what he's going to do next." Morgan added that behavior like this from fraternity brothers also sends a message of "entitlement" to all men on campus. She suggested to audience members that to solve this problem and to give more room to the Women's Center at the same time, they might consider taking over the vacant Theta Xi house. "Do keep in mind that's it's a building, sisters," she said. "It's an empty building and you don't have to march over anyone to get in it." Morgan added that with many of the adminstration's positions, some of these problems could be changed -- if the candidate of the correct gender were picked for the job. "There are a number of posts open at the University," she said. "It's time to help the boys out." After Morgan's speech, many students said they felt "inspired" and willing to take action. "My feeling was that [Morgan] gave a lot of hope and shared a lot of her passion with [us]," said Mary Delaney, a graduate student in the School of Social Work. "I hope it will affect the school I'm involved in, where [the students] are predominately women, but most of the teachers and the dean are male." "We're extremely inspired," College junior Kiera Horgahn said. "We've been standing here trying to figure out what to do [about it]." But College senior Alec Schwartz, one of the few men in the audience, seemed to best sum up the evening. "Events like this make you want to be a woman," he said.