Spring Break
Trying to make a difference
Position of Women's Studies coordinator allows Enck-Wanzer chance to practice activism
Ashley Mefford/Senior Campus Reporter
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
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"There is a misunderstanding about feminism and oppression of women," said Enck-Wanzer, coordinator of Women's Studies at Eastern.
Enck-Wanzer, along with the Women's Studies program, will have a chance to clear up those misperceptions with a presentation of the Vagina Monologues at 7 p.m. Monday in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Grand Ballroom.
Two areas the Woman's Studies program covers are the academic minor and the program outreach with the community. One of the outreach programs is the Vagina Monologues.
As the coordinator of the program, Enck-Wazner has had substantial experience studying feminism and other women's topics. She said she has been interested in women's studies since she was young.
"I think I've always been involved with women's issues, proclaiming myself a feminist in junior high school," Enck-Wazner said.
When Enck-Wanzer was in college, her interest in women's studies heightened.
"I began to realize that I could research and write papers on women's issues and be taken seriously," Enck-Wanzer said.
The aspect of activism is what Enck-Wanzer enjoys about women's studies.
"It all comes down to social justice," she said. "There's no shortage of social injustices in the world, as they relate to issues of personal and collective identity. Working in the area of women's studies offers me all kinds of natural outlets to activism in my community in a way that reinforces my own research and always helps my teaching."
Enck-Wanzer has been involved with one of the most well known forms of activism at Eastern: Take Back the Night.
Take Back the Night is a march dedicated to helping prevent violence sexual violence and making sure communities are safe. The march has been held at Eastern the past 18 years, and Enck-Wanzer said this past year's march had the biggest turnout anyone in Charleston can remember.
"We had over 500 people there fighting injustice and taking a stand against violence against women," she said.
Enck-Wanzer is involved with these events because she said she believes they will make a difference
"My role as an educator is to help students find a way to make the world a better, more tolerant, a more just world," she said. "To me, women's studies is the place where the most progressive work is being done."
Ashley Mefford can be reached at 581-7942 or at almefford@eiu.edu.
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