The Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Program has written this statement in response to the anonymous, hostile note placed on our bulletin board in Donnarumma last Tuesday. For over three decades at Fairfield University, our program has never been “ashamed” of any of its courses, nor will it ever be. We stand by our mission to challenge the cultural, intellectual, social and political assumptions about sex, gender and sexuality systems as they intersect with race and ethnicity. WGSS is an essential part of academic life at Fairfield, for we place all women’s lives and experiences, including all members of our LGBTQ+ community, at the center of inquiry. Students in WGSS critically engage issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and other key components of identity and the ways they intersect. We examine systems of dominance, knowledge production and hierarchies of power.
We are proud to offer a Minor and a Major in WGSS at a Jesuit Catholic University, and we will continue to do so undeterred even in the face of such small-minded acts of bigotry, ignorance and cowardice.
The WGSS Coordinating Committee
Dr. Shannon Kelley
Dr. Emily Orlando
Dr. Elizabeth Hohl
Dr. Maggie Labinski
Dr. Anna Lawrence
Dr. Rose Rodrigues
Dr. Johanna Garvey
Dr. Niall Brennan
Dr. Rachelle Brunn-Bevel
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