04/21/2025
Dear WGST students and alumni:
It is with a mix of sadness, anger, and fierce determination that I write to let you know that due to the restrictions in the recently-passed Ohio Senate Bill 1, the university will be suspending the bachelor's degree in Women's & Gender Studies, along with a number of other small programs, at the end of the semester.
PLEASE know that all students currently enrolled in the major will be allowed to complete their WGST degree and take all of the courses required for the major; the change impacts only students who have not yet declared the major. In the short term, those new folks who want expertise in Women's & Gender Studies will be able to sign up for the WGST minors and a WGST concentration in at least one other degree program while we take next fall to prepare a new strategy for moving forward. So we are not at all done asking you to show up, shine out, and recruit new students for us; nor are we done fighting for our program, rest assured! Please reach out to me at [email protected] or 419-530-2233 if you have questions or concerns, and please feel free to let your Ohio Senators and Representatives and any other responsible parties know how you feel about it.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement in this frustrating and challenging time. Lucky for us, we remain passionately dedicated to our mission of providing feminist education of the highest caliber, and we are determined to continue to do so. Even luckier for us, we have this fabulous feminist community to support us and each other.
Keep heart, my friends; we were made for times like these.
In gratitude, hope, and resistance,
sb
Dr. Sharon L. Barnes, Associate Professor & Chair
Department of Women’s & Gender Studies
The University of Toledo
MS 965
Toledo, OH 43606
419-530-2233