Think long-term

 In the Women's Studies Program, the times, they are a-changin'. A number of faculty has proposed broadening the focus of the major to include four concentrations instead of one.

Women's studies, gender and health, global gender studies and sexuality studies would become concentrations within the new Gender, Culture and Society major.

This move would relegate what is now an entire major and minor to a single concentration within a larger major program.

This may not be such a bad thing -- the new program should be heading toward the creation of its own department.

By appealing to more students with a Gender, Culture and Society Program, former Women's Studies faculty should find enough demand from students to justify the formation of a new department.

Far from diminishing the presence of Women's Studies at this University, the program could actually greatly benefit from this change.

Currently, Women's Studies professors are based out of other departments such as history, sociology and economics. If a Gender, Culture and Society department were eventually created, all concentrations -- including Women's Studies -- would be able to hire their own faculty.

This is a major step in the advancement of any discipline.

Yet, if a department were to be created, faculty and administrators would need to work hard to make sure that the focus on Women's Studies remains strong. With the addition of new areas of study, this important discipline should not get lost in the shuffle.

The quality of women's studies at Penn should not be sacrificed as a result of the proposed change.

The new areas of concentration in Women's Studies are topics that also deserve a spot in Penn's curriculum, and what may become an entirely new department could help these concentrations gain respect as well as elevate the status of Women's Studies at the University.

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