Graduate women's support group forms

Women's Choice, a new support group for graduate women, met for the first time last week to give graduate women a special forum to air their personal concerns. University Counseling Service Psychologist Ruth Hall, citing the "special needs that graduate women have," co-founded the group with Psychologist Jacqueline Falkenheim. The group will discuss how to work in a predominantly male environment, gender role concerns, and dual-income family issues. Hall said that many issues which take women's concentration away from their school work do not necessarily affect men. Another issue which primarily affects graduate women is sexual harassment. According to last April's Ombudsman report, 12 out of 16 reported cases of sexual harassment were filed by graduate students. The report said "graduate students represented members of our community most vulnerable to sexual harassment." Hall said the weekly support group is for graduate women of all ages. "There's a difference between graduate students who entered grad school straight from an undergraduate college, and those women who go to school after years in the workplace," she said. Hall said she felt that women enjoy support groups and they enjoy receiving support from other women. Hall said that doctoral students working on their dissertations often feel particulary isolated. "This group lets students know that there are other people out there just like you," she said. Many graduate women last week had positive reactions to the support group, which met last Monday. "I think it's a great idea," GAPSA Vice Chair for Policy Susan Garfinkel said. "I knew [the Counseling Center] had other support groups and were interested in doing something like this." GSAC President Anne Cubilie called the group "fantastic." "They should do more of it," she said. "Hopefully, they'll do a lot of outreach to grad women." Cubilie added that many graduate women are not aware of the counseling services available to them on campus. Hall said that UCS attempted to reach the students through school channels. They sent information to graduate departments in order to reach as many students as possible. The group's first meeting had four people. Hall described the format of the meeting as "open" and "spontaneous." "Whatever people want to talk about, we'll discuss," she said. Hall said most of the discussion revolved around how to balance a personal relationship with school work. She added that the new group is still forming so members are hesitant to be completely open. She said she hopes the group will eventually grow to about six or eight attendees. Hall said she wants to keep the group small, but will start another group if more people want to join. The support group meets every Monday for one hour and one-half.

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