COLUMN: Whither Women on the Walk?

From Kenneth Baer's "Wired for Cable," Fall '93 Around the same time, the ghost of activism past haunts inspired listeners with her tales of systems beat and battles won. Excited students formed a coalition, demanded the empty house, and promptly took the next step in Penn student activism – fall off the face of the Earth. It was barely 15 minutes. In six months, WOW went from potential force to potential footnote. What happened? Is there no longer a need for a women's center on Locust Walk? Was there ever one to begin with? In my column on April 14, I asked this latter question out of pure curiosity. Since Houston Hall has not recently expanded, no new buildings have been built on Locust Walk, and I doubt any of the Locust Walk fraternities suddenly meet WOW's standards of "women-friendliness," these needs must still be there. Yet the desire to fight for them isn't. Was WOW just a spasm of feminist activism to be dealt with for a week or two and then forgotten about? If so, what about the 1,500 signatures the group collected? Are they meaningless? The disappearance of WOW has little to do with its platform; it was hardly radical. It had nothing to do with its tactics; petition signing is as daring as a Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip sandwich. Although the death of WOW is a huge blow, and sad commentary on the women's movement at the University, its demise is hardly unusual. WOW's fall is merely a case study of what happens when a good idea and good intentions butts heads with student apathy and administrative immobility. As WOW organizer Allyson Wagner said this week, "We had grand plans that were tempered by finals and logistical problems." She explained that these obstacles included the transition in the University's administration and the graduation of the group's most active participants. Of the 14 original committee members, only four are still at the University. Apparently, WOW members didn't follow the 1960s activist model where you stay at the University and take graduate classes until the administration kicks you out or hires you. Of the remaining WOW members, they seemed to have gone on with their lives. College junior Su Suh said this week that she hasn't "even thought about this for four or five months." She explained that the demands of school work, working her way through school, and other political activity has taken up the bulk of her time. But all the blame can't be placed on Suh and the other remaining members of WOW. It's quite understandable and possible that the personal exigencies of these four women precluded them from continued involvement. Maybe WOW just didn't cast its net wide enough to ensnare leadership that would guarantee its survival. But even if WOW found people to carry its torch, the effort may have been for naught. "The Penn campus is one of the most apathetic places...people are very self-centered," Suh so aptly said. The remaining WOW members may be delinquent in their abandonment of the cause, but the real tragedy is that their absence should not have meant the end. Six months ago, WOW lit a huge spark. The campus spotlight was focused on their issue, and it was hotly discussed up and down College Green. Now, there is nothing. Even the strongest sparks can't start a fire without fuel. Apathy is not in short supply at Penn. Self-interest in grades, activities, and social life take all precedence over any noble notion of a common good. As WOW's rise and fall proves, Penn students would rather walk by 3643 Locust Walk and complain that "something should be done," than actually do it. And what happens if action is ever taken? In the big picture, nothing. As WOW found, students come and go every four years. And if the loss of top leadership isn't enough, the academic schedule's midterms, papers, and finals always tend to put the brakes on things just as they start moving. Meanwhile, the administration acts interested, forms a committee, and taskforces the issue to death until the troublemakers are either co-opted, burnt out, or leave. It's not a very elegant strategy but it works. Judicial reform has been bandied about and has languished in layers of bureaucracy – many of it student created – for years. Calls for kicking fraternities off the Walk are more real in house folklore than in public discourse. And most students see the letter "PSA" and think Penn Student Agencies, not Progressive Student Alliance. This waiting game takes a huge toll on a movement no matter how organized it is. Ask the proponents of removing ROTC from campus how it feels to be put through a dog and pony show every time a breakthrough is within their grasp. Their exhausted sigh tells it all. From tuition hikes to banning bikes, from diversifying the Walk to outlawing kegs, causes come and go at the University. After six months of inactivity, WOW joins this list as yet another cause that sadly crashed and burned before it could even take off. WOW, it seemed like a good idea. Kenneth Baer is a senior History major from Cherry Hill, New Jersey and the Daily Pennsylvanian's Editorial Page Editor. Wired for Cable appears alternate Wednesdays.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.