I first caught wind of Greenfield Community College’s (GCC) desire to remove their Gender and Women’s advising pathway program from a long-time friend and former GCC advisor. Outrageous as this move sounds, I can attest as a GCC student from 2010-2012, with a transfer thereafter to Mount Holyoke College, that this move makes zero sense. In the past, GCC has been responsive to the importance of this pathway. The course offerings and pathway titles have been updated throughout the years from Women’s Studies to Gender and Women’s Studies. The courses: Psychology of Women, History of Women, Women in Literature, to name a few are instrumental for today’s youth who seek the history behind the continued fights witnessed on Capitol Hill and in our Supreme Courts (remember abortion? equal pay? “pussy fights back?”). Last but not least, the courses are instrumental for students looking to transfer to two of the best women’s colleges in the nation: Smith College and Mount Holyoke College. It makes no sense that social justice foundational courses taught in a local community college would be decided against by a small group of higher education leaders. The answers as to why are not there. When I attended GCC, I was confused as to what my interests were. I knew from the inequalities I witnessed growing up that there were a lot of issues in limbo for women. All those years ago, I lacked the education, the words and the voice to make sense of it all, and I was not encouraged to do so. One day while in GCC’s East Building, my eyes fell on an advertisement for a Psychology of Women course. It struck me like a bolt of lightning because it connected the possibility to explore the unanswered questions, to connect to the changing world around me, and to gain college credit! So, wake up GCC leadership! Reconsider the cutting of an advising pathway that has been instrumental to so many and one that will help pave a pathway into the future.
Vivian Cronk
Florence