Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: 

As director of Gender and Women’s Studies, I am gratified to see so much activity and discussion about feminism this year at Oklahoma State University, and I want to take this opportunity to describe briefly our program. 

Gender and Women’s Studies is where students can go to read, discuss, and productively debate critical theory and scholarly research about racial, class, gender, sexual, national, and cultural differences.

We give you the background knowledge to understand why, for example, it’s not contradictory that first-wave feminists opposed abortion and second-wave feminists fought for it; why a critique of the sexual politics of the meat industry emerged the way it did in the 1970s; why it was in the 1990s that the Vagina Monologues were first produced to rave reviews; and why some conservative and liberal pundits, policymakers, and politicians use women’s rights rhetoric to claim the moral high ground in this era of globalization.

Moreover, coursework in Gender and Women’s Studies equips you with the analytical tools it takes to make connections between, say, environmental devastation, birth defects, and racism; international agribusiness, women farmers, and the back-to-the-land movement; Wal-Mart, the “soft” service economy, and Christian universities; country music, camp, and class; the Stonewall rebellion, pageantry, and Oklahoma evangelicals; or masculinities, war, and disability.

These interrelated topics have been the subject of recent and upcoming GWST courses and courses offered in other departments that count toward the Gender and Women’s Studies minor. 

In addition to innovative interdisciplinary teaching, we contribute to the land-grant university mission by fostering research and reaching out to the community. As part of that outreach, we partner with and stand behind our feminist colleagues and students when they want to produce public events.  It is good and right that such events should get attention and stir discussion. 

Consider this an invitation to go beyond only a sample of feminism and the short-lived, Twitterish discussions that ensue.

Enroll in a class where you can consider the complexity and nuanced arguments that comprise feminism as an intellectual tradition inspired by a variety of social justice movements and by academic debates in higher education that actually matter to your life.  

Carol Mason, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, English
Director, Gender and Women’s Studies

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To the Editor:

While OSU offers degrees in many different fields, agriculture is the main focus of this campus.  Yet most of the plants on this ag centered campus are not native to the great state of Oklahoma.  Invasive plant species have the potential to evolve from one lowly seed to millions of nutrient stealing, disease carrying terrors.  One way OSU can help encourage the off campus community to become more involved in protecting native species and limiting the use of invasive species is by showcasing native plants around the campus.  Not just around Ag Hall, FAPC, or the ANSI building but by Morrill Hall, Murray, and Paul Miller.  OSU is a leader in developing new varieties of crop plants that are resistant to some of nature’s harsh conditions. 

These developments can be used not only to help American farmers but to help farmers in third world countries by providing them with seed that can actually survive a drought or a flood.  Even though agriculture is a huge part of OSU’s past, present, and future there are students that do not know that invasive species are a problem.  This university is called Oklahoma State for a reason.  It is time to take pride in the beautiful, native species that only Oklahoma can offer. 

Planting only native species would be a great way to get students who are not involved in agriculture but are interested in horticulture and maybe Stillwater’s off campus community to come together for a positive goal that would improve the campus and perhaps inspire other universities and communities to do the same.

Thank you for your time!

Caroline Nelson

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To the Editor: 

Ashley Reynolds’ representation of NOW in her recent column “The Feminist Mystake” was inaccurate.

Former NOW member Sheila Cronin’s quote certainly requires contextualization. Cronin did claim that marriage was slavery, but this was in 1970 — two years after she left NOW saying it was not radical enough.

The quote is not representative of NOW or modern feminists, but Ms. Reynolds treats it as such.  A feminist theories class would help Ms. Reynolds further contextualize Cronin’s quote. The likening of marriage to slavery has a long history. Her beloved “first wave” feminists made similar comments.

Today’s NOW has an ambitious agenda, including ending sexism, racism and heterosexism. 

Like the national organization, the OSU chapter of NOW addresses a wide range of issues relevant to young women. Last semester’s events included talks on eco-feminism and American Indian activism, educational campaigns on birth control and state anti-abortion laws, and events addressing violence against women. This semester we’ve planned a queer and women’s art show and two events on sexual assault.

If you want to learn more about feminism or if Ms. Reynolds article angered you, I invite you to attend OSU NOW’s next meeting in solidarity with other campus feminists.

The event is at 7pm on Thursday, March 11th in the Murray Hall parlor room. We will discuss the future of the modern feminist movement. It’s time to make the feminist voice on campus heard, and let everyone know we did not make a “mystake.”

Regards,
Mallory Carlberg
President, OSU NOW

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