An Open Letter to Michigan State re: The Women’s Lounge You’re Destroying

Dear Michigan State University,

The first thing you should know about me is that I’ve looked up to you as an institution since I was a child. If there is such a thing as a legacy MSU student, I was one—the third generation in my family to be offered admission at MSU and accept. I graduated from Michigan State’s professional writing program in 2009 with high honors, and I have proudly represented my alma mater since.

The second thing you should know about me is that I am a woman, a fact that has had a profound impact on my life experiences in general and those I had in college in particular.

I come from a small town in northern Michigan, so it was not until college that I learned to fear walking alone at night. It was not until college that I experienced walking to a party and being followed by a rowdy group of young men for three blocks. It was not until college that I experienced honest-to-God street harassment when I went running through the streets of East Lansing.

As the years go by, I have begun to consider myself lucky that I was not assaulted while I attended college. I am certain now that this was not due to any particular goodness or intelligence or deservingness on my part. It just so happened that I was never in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So I have to tell you that I was disgusted when I read about how you handled the criticism of your sexual assault policies in January, and not least because I have brilliant and wonderful friends who have been personally affected by the kind of criminal behavior that you have been so slow to take action against.

Then today on social media, I saw this article, which details a complaint brought by (and you’ll have to forgive the name-calling here) a cheap hack from U of M Flint against MSU for violating the rights of thousands of men by continuing to have a women’s-only lounge on the first floor of the Union.

The fact that a man is angry about a women’s-only space on campus did not surprise me. Men have historically been very angry when spaces are reserved for women, and as far as I can tell, what they do not like is the feeling of being denied access.

That’s puzzling, when you think about it, because in general, in history, men have not been denied access to public spaces. In fact, women and other minorities have, in general, in history, been the ones to be denied access to public spaces. We need only to look to MSU for an example of this. Michigan State University was founded in 1855. The first women students were not admitted until 1870. The first black student was not admitted until 1899.

When the first women students were admitted to Michigan State University, then the State Agricultural College, there were no dormitories for women. The first dormitory for women was Abbot Hall, converted from a men’s dorm in 1896. For sixteen years, women did not, in any real sense, have space on campus. Space had to be added for them, after the fact.

The MSU Union was opened in 1925, 55 years after women were first allowed to attend MSU. It had lounges for women and men. Over time, the women’s lounge has remained.

When I was a student at Michigan State, and afterward, when I worked for the university, and after that, when I worked as a freelancer, I often spent time in that same women’s lounge.

Why?

There’s a plaque outside the door that says it all:

The Women’s Lounge, established in 1925, has long been a quiet secure place for women. It is a safe refuge and serves as a haven for reflection, study and solitude.

This sign makes no apologies for the fact that still, after all this time, there is a need for safe spaces for women. It is impossible to argue against this fact. You need only look at the statistics for sexual assault and rape. You need only ask any woman what it’s like to walk down the street in public.

So I was more than disgusted when I read today that the women’s lounge is being turned into a co-ed space. I was overwhelmingly disappointed in you.

Today, more than ever, these spaces play an essential role for women who attend public universities that are still dominated in many senses by men. It was a unique space on campus in that it felt secure, a sentiment I have seen echoed by many women who have attended MSU.

The one positive that I saw in this article was that the new co-ed lounge will contain “a private lactation area,” which seems like a bizarre cop-out. I gave birth to my first daughter last summer, and I can tell you that if anyone asked me where I would feel secure about breastfeeding her on MSU’s campus, I would have named the Women’s Lounge, private area or no.

The thing that makes me sick is that if my daughter should seek admission at my alma mater, she will now encounter a version of MSU that disregards the need for women’s public spaces. A version of MSU that, in fact, thinks it’s more important to have a co-ed lounge than to maintain the single women’s-only lounge on campus.

It just doesn’t jive with the rest of MSU’s policies. The university continues to recognize the need for separate private spaces for women and men. I lived on a women’s-only floor for four years in Abbot Hall while I attended MSU. There are women’s-only dorms a stone’s throw from the Union. As far as I know, there are no plans in the works to make every floor in every dormitory co-ed in the interests of providing maximum access to men.

Current statistics tell us that 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. One in four. I suspect the actual numbers are even higher. Perhaps if we lived in a society where this wasn’t the case, the notion of a women’s-only lounge would seem quaint, anachronistic even. But we’re not in that society. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

I have written all this, and I still can’t find the words to accurately describe how much you have let me, and countless other women, down by deciding to remove this space after “conversations.” Did those conversations include women? Did you consult the student body? Do you know what it’s like to be a woman in the world today? Have you walked down the street alone at night, knowing that if you are attacked or raped, the news coverage will include a description of what you were wearing?

I know the arguments for equal access. I know that ideally, we would never need separate spaces. But we do.

I keep coming back to that sign on the door. It’s a sign that will probably be ripped off and tossed away, never to return again.

The Women’s Lounge, established in 1925, has long been a quiet secure place for women. It is a safe refuge and serves as a haven for reflection, study and solitude.

This sign said to me: MSU cares about the experience of women. MSU has considered the experience of women. MSU recognizes that women are still in need of a safe refuge. Of a haven for reflection, study, and solitude. A place (as one of my most brilliant friends wrote today) to remove your hijab, to put up your feet. To be among sisters. To not be afraid. MSU reserves this space for you.

Removing this space says to me: MSU no longer recognizes this need. MSU has decided to reject its own history. MSU has refused to consider the climate women live in today. MSU will not reserve public space for you.

Sadly, I am resigned to the fact that my words will have little impact on your decision to destroy this space, which represented more than a holdover from 1925. It was a testament to MSU’s understanding, however flawed, of the experiences of the women who have walked its campus.

I want to tell you one final thing. When I was very pregnant with my daughter, I came to the Women’s Lounge to work. It was a safe haven, a refuge from the noise of campus on the day that I was visiting, somewhere I could rest. As I sat in a chair, left in peace, she kicked and turned in my belly. And I thought, “Won’t it be lovely to bring her here one day, and let her experience the sacred quiet, the feeling of safety that relaxes your shoulders when you enter the room?”

I can hardly begin to express my sadness that that day will never come.

With great disappointment,

Anna Stevenson

Class of 2009

 

 

Update:

This was the University’s reply to my letter:

As MSU continues to evaluate facilities and programs to ensure access for all students, plans are under way to convert the space that has historically been used as a women’s study lounge in the MSU Union. This decision was reached to ensure access for all students, consistent with the University’s federal Title IX obligations, and not as the result of any one individual’s complaint. The redesign and construction of the space is slated for completion in August 2016 and will include lactation space and a quiet study lounge that is open to all students.

Disappointing indeed. Once again, ensuring access for men takes priority over addressing actual inequalities and safety needs that exist today.

I’d also like (for once) to direct your attention to the comments, where many people are expressing thoughtful additions to this piece. Thank you all.

Second update: If you’ve come here to be a threatening jerk in the comments section, your opinions will not be published.