Current Campus Context: Responding to Power with Perspective
On April 11, the federal government issued a letter to Harvard University outlining a series of deeply troubling and ideologically charged demands. Framed as a condition for maintaining Harvard’s financial relationship with the government, the letter calls for, among other things, the elimination of DEI efforts, the centralization of authority in “non-activist” tenured faculty, and…
Advocating for Access: TRIO, Higher Education, and the Fight for the Public Good
From March 16 to 20, I participated in the COE Policy Seminar in Washington, D.C., advocating for TRIO programs. Despite challenging political circumstances, the seminar highlighted the power of storytelling and bipartisan support for TRIO. I left with optimism about strengthening partnerships in higher education and reaffirming our commitment to accessible education as a public…
Navigating Transitions in Association Involvement
From Mattering to Meaningful Change It’s been a little over a week from my time at the ACPA 2025 Convention in Long Beach, I find myself reflecting on transitions—those moments of change that reshape our identities and challenge our sense of belonging. Having now completed my term as ACPA Past-President, I am moving into a…
More Than a Space: Why the Closure of the UIWC Matters
Reflecting on the Closure of the University of Idaho Women’s Center and the Importance of Intersectional Identity-Based Spaces It’s with a heavy heart that I reflect on the devastating news that the University of Idaho Women’s Center (UIWC)—one of the longest continuously operating Women’s Centers in the nation at 52 years—will be closing later this…
A Name of One’s Own
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” William Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet” (this blog post was written in October of 2019) Legally changing one’s name after divorce requires persistence, money, patience, and more hours of labor than I would like to count. Today, two years (to the day) after my divorce was…
crisis pregnancy centers (not what you think they are)
(collectively written by the WSS staff and cross posted from WSS Zine) January 22, 2023 would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Instead of celebrating nationwide reproductive freedom, today, we’re using our Zine Thought of the Day space to raise awareness about crisis pregnancy centers, and a specific organization, brought to our…
we can’t separate the art from the artist
(cross posted from WSS Zine) This is the question we are grappling with in W*SS: Can we separate the art from the artist? As the semester comes to a close, on behalf of the office of Women*s Student Services, I want to issue an apology and invite further conversation as we work to continue on…
feminist leadership in action
(cross posted from WSS Zine) Last week, I was interviewed by two students in EAD 315, described on the website as “a three-credit, pass/no pass course for undergraduate students. Curriculum topics include leadership theories, leadership skills, self-awareness and efficacy, communication, diversity, interculturalism, ethics, teamwork, and group dynamics.” The two women who reached out to me,…
afraid of the dark
(Cross posted from WSS Zine) Children of all genders are socialized to be afraid of the dark from a very young age. How many of us slept with a nightlight on? At some point, little boys become teenagers and it’s no longer as socially acceptable to outwardly express this fear; no longer “okay” for them…
endings and beginnings
“What we call the beginning is often the end And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” ~ T.S. Eliott (cross posted from the WSS Zine) I’ve been thinking a lot about the process of closure or the development of meaningful activities that mark the end…
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Heather Shea, Ph.D. 