An ever-changing semester is starting, and the Flora Stone Mather Center For Women in the Tinkham Veale University Center has prepared plenty of new resources for students. 

The Mather Center violence prevention and education initiative is currently accepting custom workshop requests, which can be sent through the violence-prevention entity, It’s On CWRU. The center has historically been known for conducting workshops such as financial workshops for women. Additionally, the center also offers leadership workshops, with mentors being paired with students, having discussions about women in leadership positions and in workplaces. One example is their financial literacy workshop: how to plan for the future, how taxes work, with the workshop made mainly for freshmen, but other years are also welcome to join.

Recently, the center has also hired staff who are advocates from the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. There are many workshops with topics revolving around training bystanders. In addition, the workshops will also include information and resources for people who have experienced sexual assault. The workshops are not only for students and staff outside of Mather, but there will also be ones which focus on creating a safer and more welcoming environment for traumatized individuals within the center itself. The center plans to focus a lot more on Title IX issues, which they did not have resources for in the past. However, with a new direct link to the Rape Crisis Center, the topics can expand exponentially with incredible specificity.

The Mather Center has hosted many in-person events in the past, with great numbers of students attending. However, with events being online, Mather Center staff are afraid that the community bonding atmosphere will not be as prevalent as in previous years. The workshops are still available in the end, with topics ranging from sex and health to sexuality. Recently, the Mather Center hosted a collaborative event with University Hospitals, with experts coming in to talk about HIV and how to practice safe sex. There was also a table with petitions protesting Ohio’s newly-approved abortion bills. 

Despite school policies requiring events to be remote, there are still many other resources for students to utilize at the Mather Center. A lactation room is available for use at the Mather Center, and condoms and dental dams are available for free to pick up. The center typically hosts events (when permissible) for student groups (with the most prominent student group collaboration in the past being Period@CWRU). 

While events cannot be held in person, the Mather Center remains open for emergencies and will continue to provide resources and events to CWRU’s campus.