Every other Tuesday, join us in our living room as we “toast” members of our community who are doing amazing things. Help us give them the recognition they deserve, honor their story, and leave feeling inspired! Raise a glass (or a piece of toast) with us!
Our well-loved lecture series provides students, faculty, staff, and community members with a pause in the middle of the day to listen to an empowered (panel of) speaker(s) followed by intentional reflection and discussion. Pinnacle luncheons take place over a catered lunch to fit busy schedules.
"Sewanee Monologues," is a compilation of narratives from real Sewanee students. Students are invited to submit stories anonymously, and the chosen pieces are performed by fellow students in Guerry Auditorium.
Radical Self Love seeks to provide a nonjudgmental atmosphere for students to celebrate and discover the amazing qualities that they have. In a society that encourages people, particularly women, to be apologetic about their accomplishments, the Wick hopes to empower young people to take pride in themselves and their beauty as human beings, both inside and out. Radical Self Love provides a forum that facilitates conversation about the great things that people are doing every day in our community, and strives to spread attitudes of positivity and self-worth that extend past this event to permeate people's outlook on life.
Though the Wick’s mission evolves to be more inclusive of a multiplicity of gender identities, we find nonetheless crucial the existence of spaces that are safe for women to discuss those issues that are most prominent in their lives. By inviting upperclass women to share their unique stories and offer individualized viewpoints on those issues relevant to Sewanee women, the Wick hopes to help those women who are newer to the Sewanee community identify with older women who have experience with particular, gendered issues in- and outside Sewanee. We hope that the gap between upperclass- and freshwomen will be bridged by the power of identification with issues that are specific to women and to Sewanee, promoting a greater sense of general female solidarity in our community.
The senior women of Sewanee contribute to campus life in a multitude of ways many of which go unnoticed; the Senior Debut is a way to celebrate each individual on their contributions, accomplishments, and poise that they bestow upon this University. The creation of the Women's Center was for women to join together, support one another, and know there's a group of like minded women with the goal of uplifting and empowering each other. Now that the Wick is intentionally expanding its "safe space" to a wider range of other identities, the original mindset of the Women's Center was kept in mind limiting the Senior Debut to senior women. Along with the theme of uplifting and empowering each other together, the Debut is inspired by Rosie the Riveter's "We Can Do It."
Inspired by former Dean Hagi Bradley's scholarly observations of social life at other colleges and universities, the Women's Center presents "Date Night." We are reclaiming one weekend night each month as a time for some quality human interaction--friendly, intellectual, romantic, or otherwise. That guy you've been spying on in the ATC? The girl you've only ever talked to at a frat party? Ask him/her/hir out on a date! It's much easier to talk without being surrounded by deafening silence or blaring music. We promise. Live acoustic music, intense Cards Against Humanity games, goofy conversation, and snacks...lots of snacks. Bring someone, anyone, who you want to get to know better. It's one date, not a life commitment. We hope to see you there!
We are the collective. We are a consciousness-raising group. We encourage deep, meaningful conversation. We ask how you are and mean it. We address the tough issues of disordered eating, negative body image, and gender segregation on campus. We want you to admit your “friend crushes,” strike up a discussion with a stranger, break social barriers, and know your self worth. We are a Radical Self Love movement. Let’s Build Each Other Up. It Starts With Us. We Are Community Leaders. We Are The Collective.
Alumnus Hope Faulk ('14) was instrumental in implementing a Sewanee specific version of the nationally recognized program "The Body Project" to decrease body dissatisfaction among Sewanee women. As part of a joint effort by Greek Life and the Women’s Center to address issues particularly pertaining to Sewanee women (i.e., disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, positive sexuality and relationships, etc.), a new prevention and intervention program was implemented for freshwomen in the Spring of 2014. This new program (FEED) will replace the Body Project, which has been implemented since Spring 2012. Sophomore, junior and senior women co-lead small interactive discussion groups of freshwomen with the goal of developing increased acceptance of their bodies, a more positive attitude around sexuality and relationships and heightened sense of ownership of their bodies and voice.
Past speakers have included Andrea Gibson, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Reverend Becca Stevens, Mary Kingsley, Cornelia A. Clark, Janice M. Holder, Sharon G. Lee, Filmmaker/Producer Robbie Risher of A Mississippi Love Story, and so many more!
Book clubs at the Wick serve as informal, informational groups in which Wick residents facilitate discussion about modern feminist scholarship and literature. During a period in which individual feminists and the feminist movement struggle for accurate, appropriate self-definition, maintaining a base of knowledge concerning recent theoretical and activist developments is crucial. Furthermore, book club discussions invite members of the entire campus community, catalyzing emotional and intellectual relationships among students and Wick residents around specific subject matter. Sally Armstrong's "Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter" will be our first book club for the 2014-2015 academic year, and we believe that its thorough analysis of the climate for international women's rights will inform and expand both residents' and participants' knowledge of modern feminist movements.
Modeled after similar weeks at UT Knoxville, Harvard, and Yale, the Bairnwick Women’s Center, with the support of Spectrum, the GSD House, Sewanee Wellness Action Group, and the UWC, will be hosting Sex Week. Sex Week is focused on raising awareness for sexual wellness and empowering students of all sexualities to engage in healthy relationships. We see these topics as pertinent to the Sewanee community. Sex, sexuality, and sexual wellness are all a part of life and the college experience, yet intentional spaces for discussing these topics are often rarities. Similar to UT Knoxville, Sewanee’s Sex Week will host events addressing: virginity, consent, sexual violence, sexuality, sex within the LGBT+ community, healthy relationships, STIs and testing, as well as contraception.
The Wick introduces Feminist Film Fridays, a program to share films and documentaries with feminist undertones to the Sewanee community. The program's foundation is to inform the community on the ways that hetero-normative ideologies are infiltrated into our daily lives through popular media. Showing films with "feminist ideologies," Feminist Film Fridays intend to inform the community on the discriminations that exists in mainstream media and how those discriminations are used as a tool. We flip this tool on its head by using films as a medium to break down these hetero-normative ideologies.
