Committee steps closer to Women and Trans* Centre

Aurora Coltman
Silhouette Intern

Since Nov. 6, 2012, a group of McMaster University students and alumni have consulted studies and surveys from schools across Canada hosting their own Women and Trans* Centres.  The students began this task in the hopes of establishing one.

The committee is led by Elise Milani, SRA Humanities representative.They have been discussing the most beneficial ways of running such a program and where they might locate their services.

The WTC committee is still working towards their goals with the help of its members: SACHA, YWCA, MSU and more.  Problems have arisen – conflict over the title of the WTC being ‘gender-inclusive’ or not among others – but despite the kinks, Milani appears to remain optimistic.  In fact, she’s stated that WTC is “just a working name” and intends to discuss the matter of changing it towards the end of this month.

Ultimately though, she said, “Ideally it would be great to get all that sorted out this year, and we will work towards [our] goals, even though we realize [they aren’t] necessarily within our reach.”

During their meeting on Sept. 13, the committee for the WTC divided itself into Subcommittees.  There are four subcommittees – Operations, Space Allocation, Finance, and Outreach – each responsible for making a small part of the WTC dream a reality.

Operations will be largely focused on figuring out the services that will be provided, who can provide them, and how they can be provided.  Space allocation will be responsible for working with the university to locate a space on campus that best promotes the needs and desires of those using the facility.  Finance will work within the university, and outside it to discover where money to support the project will come from, how it will be budgeted, and where it will be spent.  Lastly, Outreach will engage with the students to ensure that their opinions and ideas are supported and taken into consideration.

Milani said, “Our goal for this year is to complete as much operational work as possible.  If we know what services we’d like to provide it will hopefully be easier to find space to accommodate [the WTC] and [to create a] budget that reflects our needs.”