CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

Six years after the Women's Studies Program began offering a joint BA from Brooklyn College's Schools of Social Sciences & Humanities, the program issued this progress report outlining their accomplishments and concerns to the Commission of Higher Education. This document provides a comprehensive overview of the structure used to steer and co-govern the program, pedagogical considerations such as co-taught courses (including descriptions), and participation in helping develop women's studies as a field in national professional associations, as well as in high schools.

The section on Project CHANCE describes the program and grant that enabled the establishment of the Women's Center at Brooklyn College, providing re-entry courses and support for 100 non-traditional returning women students in its second year. Proposals for new courses focused on women and violence, lesbian experience, women in arts and music, and gendered political economies of power are also included. The course on lesbian experience would prove to be quite controversial, where obtaining approval became a lengthy process. Finally, by providing proof of increasing enrollment in program courses, the report authors make the case for faculty tenure and a new process for departmental approval for faculty releases to teach women's studies courses.