Ball State University kicks off Women's Week today, featuring a series of panels, speakers, films and other informative events. As with all awareness weeks, these events serve a valued purpose: encouraging and inspiring year-round thought on a given topic.
These weeks also provide ample opportunities for organizers to bring in guest speakers, panels and other events that would not normally occur. It's with that in mind that we question the abundance of local speakers and the lack of nationally prominent guests for Women's Week.
Because it is an annual event, Women's Week organizers have the time to recruit qualified and respected individuals to bring to Ball State's campus. It's disappointing when event schedules, though plentiful in local figures, feature only a limited view of the topic -- the local perspective.
However, the emphasis on that perspective might be understandable, as the last 12 months have exciting for women around Ball State.
In Fall 2004, Ball State's Women's Studies Program, the main sponsor of Women's Week, celebrated the beginning of an undergraduate major in women's studies. Shortly before, Ball State President Jo Ann Gora became the first female president of an Indiana public university. More recently, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverley Pitts was named president of the University of Indianapolis, making her the first female president in the school's more than 100 year history. (It should be noted that in a May 27 Daily News article, Gora and Pitts downplayed any role their gender may have in their jobs of leading Ball State.) Even with the local connection, organizers of Women's Week should still recruit guests from outside the immediate area.
This, however, is not to discredit those who put on this week-long series. Committee members, who have other duties and jobs to fulfill, have done a wonderful job planning and executing events throughout the course of the annual event. It would be nice, though, to see Women's Week continue to grow in the future by pulling talent from far beyond Ball State's boundaries.
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