WILL Student Organization

Cultivating Student Leadership: Overview

The Women’s Resource Center staff will work with the students in WILL to create and sustain a viable student organization based on feminist principles that will provide students opportunities to develop leadership skills and will reinforce the academic foundation provided through the WILL curriculum. The student organization is one of the key distinguishing features of the WILL program. It creates a sense of community and offers shared experiences for students in an otherwise interdisciplinary program. At the same time, the student organization often serves as a self-contained social movement organization. Scholars have noted that social movements have the potential to develop when members share a sense of collective identity that grows from membership in an established organization such as a church, union, or, in this case, the WILL student group.

Such organizations provide an essential structure for activism because they hold regular meetings and allow participants to share ideas and strategize with other members of the group. Not every WILL meeting engenders activism, nor does every student equally participate in social change work. Nonetheless, all students have a strong base that supports them as they stand up for their beliefs and put their women’s studies knowledge into practice.

Of course, leaders of any organization work to accommodate members with varied levels of commitment to organizational goals, members who may have different visions for the way goals are met, or members who may want things from the organization that go beyond the scope of its primary goals. WILL students and staff will face challenges by seeking to create a student organization that engages and inspires its members.

An important factor in the success of any student organization is student involvement. WILL students will develop the skills needed to be the key decision-makers, planners, and leaders within the student organization. As a result, students will feel invested in the organization and in the program. They will also have the opportunity to mold the organization in response to changing student interests. Although WILL staff serve as mentors and attend meetings of the student organization, they try to avoid directing or interfering with students’ work. Students and staff try and work together as roles and expectations are shaped and reshaped to meet the changing needs and interests of the students and the demands of the WILL program.

How the Student Organization Works

Administering a Feminist Organization

WILL’s mission, coupled with its academic grounding in women’s studies, naturally leads to a student organization founded on feminist principles. The organization’s student-oriented, flexible structure allows members to shape a more egalitarian system based on the interests of the general membership and without following more traditional hierarchal leadership models (such as President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer). While some aspects of the structure may be familiar, other components will seem more non-traditional. This model also provides opportunities for each student to define their contribution to the organization and to be a ‘leader’ without taking on a traditional role of an officer or committee chairperson.

The Leadership Structure:

Each member will contribute to the group drawing on their particular areas of interest and knowledge.

The Entire Membership

The entire WILL student organization will meet once a month, for a weekday business meeting. Monthly training meetings will also be scheduled for each semester. Each of these meetings will last one and a half hours. Business meetings allow members to make announcements to publicize upcoming events, discuss progress on the special projects, have opportunities to develop a sense of connection, and provide an opportunity to focus on the ongoing coordination of the group. Training meetings might focus on gender and athletics, issues of campus diversity, personal finance for women, international women’s issues, media literacy, and building healthy relationships. The discussion-based meetings provide a forum for members to engage with one another and to share ideas outside of a traditional classroom setting.

In addition to the discussion-based meetings whose topics change based on student need and interest, several special events may occur throughout the course of a year, such as a welcome reception for new members and a dinner in honor of the senior class.

A membership directory published by the program facilitates contact among members during non-meeting times. A My Bama groups will allow members to communicate, check the WILL calendar, and lead discussions related to women’s issues. In addition, WILL participants residing on campus may choose to live in a designated living space for WILL students, allowing for further opportunity to strengthen social connections among the members.

Individual Leadership Roles

Each member will be responsible for selecting and facilitating a topic relevant to women. The My Bama Groups will be the mechanism used for group discussion. Individual special projects will be used to develop leadership skills. Occasions throughout each semester will be provided for the student participants to take on additional leadership responsibilities, including serving on the Women’s Empowerment Conference committee, introducing speakers for the Brown Bag lunch series, and other such opportunities as they arise.

WILL Student Organization Requirements

• Meeting attendance. Monthly business and training meetings are required, although WILL members are allowed two unexcused absences each semester.
• Attendance at three gender related awareness events a semester. These can be on or off campus programs or events, but must be relevant to women.
• Selection and coordination of an online discussion of a gender related topic through the My Bama group. All members will be expected to participate in the topic dialogue.
• Participation in a special event programming for Honors Week. The WILL program will recognize the participation and achievements of the members during Honors Week held each year in the spring.
• Completion one special project each semester. Participants will be given a variety of special projects to choose from which complement their interests and areas of study.