By Grace Murphy
Correspondent
Women in Learning and Leadership celebrated its 25th year as a program this past weekend. Current students in the program, staff members and alumni came together to recognize the impact WILL has had on them.
WILL is a co-curricular program that students apply to and work toward a Women in Learning and Leadership minor. This was the College’s first certificate-bearing program, where the certificate would appear on a student’s final transcript. Students can also just be a part of the student organization and attend general body meetings and events, without being involved in the academic aspect.
No matter how involved students are in the program, they are there for the same reason. In every conversation with current and former WILL members, the word “empowerment” was a common theme.
“The purpose of WILL is to empower women, but also give them opportunities to explore their leadership capability, who they are as activists, and what they believe in, in regards to where they stand on social issues,” said Cecilia Colbeth, the director of WILL and a women’s, gender and sexuality studies professor.
Members are asked to attend weekly meetings and at least three “gender events” per semester. These can be presentations on social justice issues, events held by WILL or similar organizations, or professional development events to encourage the learning and leadership aspects. They also must complete five elective courses to earn the minor, typically related to WGSS, race and ethnicity, and social justice.
For the rest of the campus community, WILL also holds multiple legacy events, like its annual “Slut Walk,” a protest march around campus to end rape culture, Redefining Sex Week, events held to change stigma around gender and sex, and its newly-revised WILL Monologues. The WILL Monologues are performances by students that they or other members wrote about their lived experiences, as well as pieces of a play from the 1990s, “The Vagina Monologues.”
“We want to make a safe space for anybody who wants to come to WILL, to come. But in order to do that, you need to be ready to learn,” said Jackie Anderson, a junior psychology and WGSS major and the president of WILL. “We have the resources, we have the time, we do the research. For you, all you have to do is come, listen and learn and contribute.”
WILL is an organization found at multiple college campuses across the country and around the world. It was brought to the College after a history professor, Cynthia Paces, was hired, and was a member during her undergrad at the University of Richmond. She helped to start the conversation, and WILL was then formed in 2000 to complement the WGSS department. Two years later, Mary Lynn Hopps became the director for 20 years before retiring in 2022.
“My goals were to really support young women and provide opportunities for them to develop leadership skills,” Hopps said.
Hopps returned for the anniversary celebration to speak about her experience and presented to WILL a program of the original proceedings from Now Conference, the first women’s conference in Houston from the 1970s. Hopps was at the conference and had the program signed by Gloria Steinem, a journalist and feminist activist.
Multiple alumni spoke and connected with current students at the celebration. Colbeth, Hopps and all who have advised the program are proud of the strong alumni network that has been built, and the close-knit community between their members. Colbeth explained how they still go to weddings or baby showers along with other former members to celebrate them, and how alumni can often help find jobs or internships for current students.
“We've had professors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, one dentist, a librarian, just lots of very cool people doing great research,” Hopps said. “It's very exciting for me to catch up with them and see what they're doing and how they have evolved.”
WILL ensures that their members are hardworking, dedicated and passionate. They start recruiting and gauging interest for freshmen during admissions season and will typically take 80 to 100 students per class. Through asking for resumes and about students’ leadership, activism and aspirations, they can see who will be truly invested in the program.
Students join for many different reasons, but all have very similar goals and values. Anderson went to an Accepted Students Day panel as an incoming freshman and was positive that WILL was a place for her. She was looking to get involved on campus and ended up joining what she called “the most transformative experience I’ve had at TCNJ.” After being involved for two years, she eventually became the program’s president.
“Truly I am not the same person that I was when I first joined,” Anderson said. “There's things that the curriculum in WILL teaches you about that otherwise a lot of people wouldn't know unless they bothered to look.”
All are welcome to apply, join the RSO, or just come to events; it is not exclusively for those who identify as women. WILL encourages members of different backgrounds and hopes to engage in meaningful conversations with different members of the campus community. These conversations help with their goal of creating socially responsible individuals working towards positive change.
“If you want to find a group of like-minded individuals who are working for the betterment not only of your local community, but also the national and global community, and are interested in activism and social justice, we are the group for you, regardless of how you identify,” Colbeth said.
