Eliza Lopez

Students and faculty women of color build bridges at the Swarthmore Womyn of Color Collective’s first luncheon.

BY ASHIA TROIANO

In print | Published December 4, 2008

More than 50 students, faculty and staff turned out for the Swarthmore Womyn of Color Collective’s first luncheon at Bond Hall on Friday, Nov. 21. The luncheon was themed around women of color who serve as role models. The guests picked such women as Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou, Kimiko Hahn, Gloria Anzaldua, Yuri Kochiyama and the mothers of SWOCC members, whose photos served as table centerpieces. Across the walls were pictures of other famous women of color, and playing on a laptop at the front of the room was a slideshow of the members of SWOCC with women of color in their families.

The luncheon kicked off with self-introductions and a small presentation by the executive board of SWOCC about the organization’s presence on campus. The presentation included the reading of a poem written by a SWOCC member and an explanation of why the group spells “womyn” with a “y.”
“[The luncheon’s] purpose was to get womyn of color students and faculty to become familiar with each other and to provide a comfortable setting to build networks,” Stephanie Rodriguez ’12 said.

In addition, Sable Mensah ’11 noted the opportunity it gave those attending to foster their relationships with women of different class years. “Planning this luncheon with these other womyn proved to be a great way to scaffold the freshwomyn’s learning of what it takes to plan successful events at Swat. I also think it was a great way to get to know the incoming class. The planning style of this luncheon really speaks to the purpose of this group on campus — to support womyn of color within the campus community in ways that help them flourish and succeed on campus and beyond,” she said.

The luncheon also gave faculty on campus an opportunity to express their views about being women of color, both on campus and in the world.

“As a scholar of social inequality and identity, I’m always thinking about the multiple statuses that we have, some dominant group, some subaltern all dependent on the context. Being self-reflective about my own statuses, therefore, is not a big leap. Although women of color are the majority of the world’s population, most struggle to have their voices heard, their productivity acknowledged, their physical selves cared for, and their desires taken seriously," Professor Sarah Willie, Associate Professor of Sociology, said.

“As a woman of color with many privileges and as a scholar, I feel a particular onus to investigate and reveal these inequities and to work for more genuine democratic inclusion at every level of social organization — from the intimate couple to the college campus, and from nation-state to the multinational corporation," she said. The group has been well received by the College and has gotten much encouragement from faculty, both for the luncheon and the development of the group. “We got fantastic institutional support from Dean Henry and the Gender Education Office. She was incredibly helpful throughout the planning of this luncheon and throughout [our] formation,” Cecilia Marquez ’11 said.

SWOCC formed this year with the initiative of providing a space conducive to communication and education for women of color on campus. It holds weekly meetings in which the group talks about everything from prejudice and bias to sex and relationships to hair and beauty.

While all of the women come to the group with different experiences and backgrounds, the common link between them is that they have a goal of empowering women of color. "Being a woman of color means that I have a very unique and amazing perspective on the world. SWOCC lets me explore this perspective in a critical way with other WOC,” Sylvia Boateng ’11 said.

For Rodriguez, being a woman of color “means defying many obstacles and barriers developed because of my gender and race. Most importantly, it is relearning and reinventing social structures to help others see my perception of the world,” she said.

Next semester, SWOCC is sponsoring the Grassroots Organizing Weekend, a conference and training program in January for college students active on their campuses. “It is not women of color specific, but is incredibly relevant to [us],” Marquez said. “Women of color really act as the backbone of a lot of this campus. We help organize much of the groups and activities … It is important that we are given the leadership training and skills to run the groups and projects we are involved in.”

Earlier this year, SWOCC sponsored the Reproductive Justice Panel, which more than 80 people attended.

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