Gender Issues Education Services
a. General Description
Gender Issues Education Services works to improve the campus climate by
providing support services for and raising awareness of issues affecting women, survivors
of sexual violence, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students. Staff pursue these
goals through support and advocacy services, educational programming, referral services,
and information and resource services. Gender Issues Education Services is comprised of
the following service areas:
- Women’s Development Resources
- Sexual Violence Education and Support
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual (LGB) Education and Support
b. Target Audience
The target audiences for Gender Issues Education Services are broken
down by service area.
Women’s Development Resources:
Primary Target Audience:
- female students, both undergraduate and graduate
Secondary Target Audience:
- male students
- faculty and staff members whose understanding of gender issues is critical to the
creation of a positive campus climate for female students.
Sexual Violence Support and Advocacy Services:
Primary Target Audience:
- victims/survivors of sexual violence
Secondary Target Audience:
- Secondary survivors (parents, significant others, roommates, etc.) and faculty, staff,
and employers
- Student Counseling Service
- Brazos County Rape Crisis Center
- University Police Department .
Sexual Violence Education
Primary Target Audience:
- Entire student body, with emphasis placed upon in-coming students.
Secondary Target Audience:
- Staff members, faculty members, parents, and other service organizations
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Education and Support:
Primary Target Audience:
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) students
Secondary Target Audience:
- Allies organization and members
- Campus and community organizations, such as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Aggies
(GLBTA) and Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays (PFLAG)
- staff, faculty, students, and their various organizations, who interact with LGBT
individuals
- individuals involved in harassment and discrimination of others based on sexual
orientation.
c. Delivery of Services and
Programs
Programs
- Domestic Violence Awareness Month
- Coming Out Week
- Take Back the Night Rally and March
- Sexual Violence Awareness Month
- Gay Awareness Week
- Women’s Brown Bag Lunches
- Women’s Coffeehouse
- Women’s Film Series
- Women’s Week
Outreach
- New Student Conferences – Aggieland, A Community of Respect program
- Residence Life staff training
- Staff / faculty training
- Letters outlining services and programs sent each semester to student organizations,
advisors, and relevant faculty members
d. Marketing of
Program or Service
Written materials
- Gender Issues Education Services brochure
- Sexual Violence brochure
- "Did You Know" fact sheets on relevant Gender Issues topics
- Sexual Assault Response Protocol
- Women Write – semesterly newsletter targeting women’s issues
- OUTtakes – semesterly newsletter targeting the LGBT community
- Gender Issues Education Services cups – distributed on campus
- Parent Handbook
Electronic media
- World Wide Web page
- Aggie Hotline
- E-mail messages to various relevant listservs (TAMU GLB; Women’s Studies)
Advertising
- Battalion ads – campus newspaper
- Outburst ads – community newsletter targeting the LGBT community
- All-University Calendar
- Sandwich boards placed in strategic campus locations
- Radio public service announcements – only for specific programs
e. Collaborative Efforts
Intradepartmental Collaboration:
- Alcohol and Drug Education Programs
Collaborate on a variety of programs, the primary one being the
co-teaching, co-advising, and co-coordination of Peer 1 Educators. Given the overlap of
alcohol use and sexual violence on college campuses, this collaboration allows GIES to
more effectively educate students on both topics. Weekly meetings, shared
responsibilities, e-mail/phone conversations, and end-of-semester evaluation meetings are
utilized to maintain a smooth working relationship.
- Student Life Orientation
Collaborate with Student Life Orientation to share information with new
students and their parents about sexual violence issues at Texas A&M. This
collaboration allows GIES (as well as several other offices) to reach the majority of
in-coming students, thus maximizing our efficiency. Given the time constraints, the
quality of the program is limited. Periodic meetings and e-mail/phone conversations are
used to maintain a close working relationship.
- Student Conflict Resolution Services
Collaboration with the various offices in the SCRS assists in meeting
the needs of students who are victims of sexual violence, harassment, and/or
discrimination. This collaborative effort helps to better prepare student victims for
working with these offices and helps GIES staff to advocate to these offices on behalf of
the student. Periodic meetings, e-mail/phone conversations, and evaluative meetings are
used to maintain a good working relationship.
University Collaboration:
- Women’s Studies
Co-create a women’s calendar and co-sponsor a brown bag lunch
series with the Women’s Studies office. This effort allows creation of the feeling of
a "women’s space" (a space devoted to women’s issues) in the absence
of a Women’s Center. It also offers individuals better access to the various
women’s resources on campus. Semesterly planning meetings are used to prepare for the
upcoming semester and evaluate the past semester. These meetings aid in maintaining a good
working relationship.
- Student Counseling Services (SCS)
Collaborate with the SCS staff to make referrals. GIES staff refers
students in need of counseling and works directly with the counseling staff to get
students in quickly. They refer students in need of advocacy and support services with the
University or in the community. This working relationship allows the two offices to meet
both the counseling and advocacy needs of student victims and begins to create a support
network for victims. This collaborative effort is the result of numerous informal
conversations. When problems occur, they are addressed with the individuals involved.
- Multicultural Student Services
Collaborate with Multicultural Student Services on a variety of items,
including the Texas A&M Diversity Education Institute, co-sponsoring of programs, and
the selection of an African-American woman to attend an annual mentoring conference. These
efforts assist us in raising awareness of and addressing the needs of students from all
ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and both genders. These collaborative efforts
generally involve e-mail/phone conversations and occasional meetings.
Community Collaboration:
- Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Co-sponsor various programs, speakers, and events. Collaborate to
communicate resource information and to raise awareness of PFLAG and GIES library
resources. This collaborative effort creates a visible sense of community for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgendered students. The effort is maintained primarily through
e-mail/phone conversations.
- Brazos County Rape Crisis Center
Collaborate with the Brazos County Rape Crisis Center to make
referrals. GIES refers students to BCRCC for emergency contact, individual and group
counseling services, anonymous internet counseling, and legal/medical assistance. BCRCC
refers students to GIES for assistance with University procedures and advocacy services in
relation to Student Judicial Services.
- Phoebe's Home
Collaborate with Phoebe's Home to provide educational information and
programming on relationship violence. Assist in promoting one another's programs and
services. GIES staff serve on the Domestic Violence Task Force led by Phoebe's Home.
Collaboration efforts are maintained through informal communication.
f. Evaluation and
Assessment
- Program evaluations
Utilize program evaluations at the end of most of the programs.
Participants receive a brief evaluation form and have the opportunity to provide both
quantitative and qualitative information.
- Individual and organizational conversations
Regularly ask individual students and student organizations for
feedback and / or suggestions in terms of the programs and services.
- Electronic feedback
Often receive evaluative comments and suggestions from individuals via
e-mail. In addition, also solicit such input from the web pages.
- At this time, there is not a method for evaluating the individual services received by
students experiencing sexual violence or harassment / discrimination.
- There has been no significant program or services changes predicated by evaluative
results.
g. Resources
Personnel
- Coordinator of Gender Issues Education Services - Coordinate daily operation of Gender
Issues Education Services, including strategic planning and budget development and
oversight. Responsible for development and implementation of programs and services,
including student advocacy, to meet the needs of women, survivors of sexual violence, and
lesbian, gay, bisexual students. Supervise Administrative Secretary and two graduate
assistants.
- Administrative Secretary - Responsible for daily administrative tasks and functioning of
Gender Issues Education Services. Responsible for visitor reception, publication
development and distribution, and maintenance of the Resource Library. Provide support to
the coordinator and graduate assistants. Supervises one student worker and all student
volunteers.
- Graduate Assistant - Responsible for program development and implementation for campus
community on sexual assault, sexual harassment, relationship violence, and gender issues.
Assist with campus-wide programming efforts, daily operation of peer education
organization, and advising student organization.
- Graduate Assistant - Address needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered students
through programming and individual contact. Liaison with other GLBT organizations.
Responsible for campus-wide programming related to LGBT issues, development of office
newsletters, and office publicity. Assist with campus-wide programming related to women's
issues and sexual violence.
Other Resources
- The primary outside resource that contributes to Gender Issues Education Services comes
from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. A portion of the GIES annual
budget ($2,500.00) comes directly from the Vice President’s Office. This portion of
the budget is used to assist in funding Women’s Week activities, the resource
library, and Women’s Resource Development Educational Enhancement Grants. In
addition, we often receive book donations or reduced rates from the local bookstores,
particularly Half-Price Books.
h. Primary Obstacles
- Personnel
The office is staffed by one full-time professional staff member, one
full-time associate staff member, and two graduate assistants. The graduate assistants are
able to take on much of the campus-wide programming efforts but are not able to assist
with the provision of victim’s advocacy services. As it stands currently, we have one
staff member to provide support and advocacy services to all victims who seek our
services. The case load often becomes unmanageable, particularly in light of other
day-to-day responsibilities. Services to victims and / or to the campus community suffer.
- Campus climate
The overall campus climate towards women, survivors of sexual violence,
and gay, lesbian, bisexual individuals often makes the delivery of services difficult. In
general, the University is resistant to any concept or program that could potentially be
termed "feminist" or "pro-gay." The climate towards survivors of
sexual violence tends to be one of disbelief or stereotypical misperceptions. Such climate
perceptions (they are perceptions in that they are not statistically or qualitatively
documented) impact our ability to communicate our services, present programs, conduct
outreach efforts, collaborate with other programs, and our ability to minimize the
re-victimization of survivors
- Lack of administrative acknowledgment of LGB students
The University resists openly acknowledging the needs of LGB students
and expects that communication of our services for LGB students be targeted specifically
at those students whom we know are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. This expectation
tremendously impacts our ability to reach out to students who may be struggling with their
sexual orientation and are in need of resources and support.
- Lack of accountability
Staff members are not held accountable for their actions involving
women, LGB students, or sexual violence survivors. In turn, these staff members, ranging
from entry level staff to departmental directors, do not hold their students and student
organizations accountable for illegal and inappropriate behavior such as harassment and
discrimination. When these incidents are brought to the attention of individuals capable
of taking action, staff and students continue to avoid being held accountable. Those
students who are negatively impacted by these actions have little faith, then, that the
University will take seriously or act upon their grievances.
- Increased awareness typically means increased needs for advocacy / support
The more we work to raise awareness of issues of sexual violence,
sexual orientation, and harassment and discrimination, the more students seek out advocacy
and support services. Although this phenomenon represents a positive obstacle, it
nevertheless has an impact on our ability to provide quality services due to personnel
restrictions.
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