U. Council discusses Women's Center move

After debating the Penn Women's Center and its proposed move to the former Theta Xi House on Locust Walk, the University Council yesterday made no motion to either support or condemn the move. Women's Center Director Elena Dilapi spoke at the monthly meeting on behalf of the activities and the proposed location of the Center. But the 20 minute time limit for her report became nearly an hour as Council members and an unusually large turnout of students voiced their disagreements about the recent VPUL decision to move the Center. "We've been having a fairly large number of students for lots of things we've been doing [since the commission]," said Council moderator William Harris, a Political Science professor. In her report, Dilapi, along with advisory board director Phoebe Leboy, emphasized that the Center has received bad publicity since the decision. "[The move] is not an evil plot...it arose not as a bright idea of the VPUL, it arose out of community needs," Leboy said. Dilapi also said that the Center serves all members of the University community and doesn't cater to a left wing political agenda or exclude men. "Men are certainly welcome and have used our services," she said. And Dilapi refuted claims that very few students use the Center. "There are at least a dozen groups on campus that call the Women's Center home," Leboy said. And while various Council members split on the issue, many students in attendance also had dissenting ideas. A few students said the move would diversify Locust Walk and help women feel more comfortable there, but many thought there were better uses for the building. Some students from the Graduate School of Social Work attended the meeting to voice their support for the center. However, another student said a 24-hour coffee house at Theta Xi would better serve the safety interests of women on the walk. College Sophomore Mike Nadel, who served on the Commission for Strengthening the Community, said that he and his working group were disappointed that the coffee house idea would not be implemented at Theta Xi. "It was intended to be a large scale operation," he told the council. Interim President Claire Fagin said she thinks the prime location could actually be a disadvantage for the Center. "After the news came out, I was approached by several students who thought that it was a very sensitive location...[students] who did not necessarily want to be exposed," But no one disagreed with DiLapi that her current office is too small and should be moved somewhere, even though many said not to 3643 Locust Walk. "We usually sit on the floor, because there's no place else," said Leboy. The current office has less than 800 square feet in Houston Hall, DiLapi said. Harris said it is not a goal of Council to pass motions on every issue that is addressed. "There's a strong sense of communicating together and trying to come out of some?things that we could at least thoughtfully disagree on," he said. After the meeting, which ended on schedule, Fagin said Council will probably not adopt a position on the proposed move in the future.