Women herald center's opening

Women from all facets of the University community gathered at the Penn Women's Center last Thursday to celebrate their permanent presence on the Walk -- an event they called a "milestone." Adorned with balloons, the new home of the Penn Women's Center, known as Locust House, held a grand opening to commemorate the first step of an ongoing University effort to diversify Locust Walk. Current Women's Center Director Elena DiLapi called the move into the former fraternity house "poetic justice." The center had previously been located in a much smaller office in Houston Hall. DiLapi said she thinks the center is important to the University because female students and faculty have not yet achieved equality on campus. She noted that the center specifically attempts to address issues that affect women differently than men, including relationships, sexual and racial harassment and rape. The center's new location includes classrooms and lounges, along with space for the 11 women's groups found on campus. "I am thrilled to have a university that gives us this space," DiLapi said. "[As a fraternity house], this used to be a danger zone for women.? Women will no longer get hurt here, but heal." University President Judith Rodin emphasized that the center's Locust Walk location will make women feel safer. "I look forward to watching [the center] thrive and flourish," Rodin said. "It is your place, our place, Penn's place." Women's Law Project Executive Director Carol Tracy reminded the audience, which included more than 50 students, faculty and staff, that the University created the Women's Center in response to a four-day sit-in in Houston Hall in 1973. At that time, students protested the way the University "inappropriately" handled the gang rape of two Nursing students. Students included the establishment of a women's center in their demands. Tracy, who was involved in the sit-in, said the same issues "are still as relevant as 20 years ago." The University community seemed receptive to the center's opening on Locust Walk. "With the increasing presence of women's issues, I'm really glad it's here on the main walk," College sophomore Sarah Culp said. Melvis Williams, an employee in the Office of Affirmative Action, said she thought the move was "fabulous." "It's been a long time in coming," she said. And Engineering senior Greg Booker said he liked the additional "diversity of the Walk" that the Women's Center brings. But although DiLapi said the University is a leader in addressing women's issues, some said the administration should go beyond placing the Women's Center on Locust Walk. "This is just another beginning," Women's Center Executive Board member Winnie Smart-Mapp.