Women's Center should open next year

From the outside, the future site of the Penn Women's Center looks the same as it did when the University community gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony last April. But engineers, architects and other specialists are hard at work examining the building and preparing to improve the facility's structure. And the Women's Center will officially open in the former Theta Xi fraternity house next September, Women's Center Director Elena DiLapi said. The move from the center's current location in Houston Hall is being delayed because the new building -- located at 3643 Locust Walk -- needs major renovations, DiLapi added. "It's a very long process," she said. "But what we are planning for right now is that beginning next school year, we will be able to open our doors and welcome in the Penn community." Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said engineers and other contractors have conducted a thorough evaluation of the building's infrastructure, determining that the facility, which is now called Locust House, needs structural work in addition to other basic renovations. Once the renovations are complete, the Women's Center will fill the west half of the first floor and the office space on the second. The space will include a resource lounge, a conference room, offices and other counseling and support group space. "I think it will be a really lovely space for the entire University community," McCoullum said. The east side of the facility will include an all-University meeting room that student, faculty or administrative groups can reserve, McCoullum added. The tenant of the third floor is yet to be determined. McCoullum first announced in February 1994 that the Women's Center would move to Locust Walk. But a year of debate, discussion and delay ensued. At the time, a small group of students expressed concern about the "political agenda" of the Women's Center, saying that many might be uncomfortable or intimidated by its new, more central location. University President Judith Rodin did not make the definitive decision to move the center into Locust House until February 1995. The Women's Center held a groundbreaking ceremony in April to officially commemorate that decision. Daily Pennsylvanian reporter Amy Lipman contributed to this article.