Ohio feminist activism is healthy and growing!

Hello from the Buckeye State! Danielle (that's me), Val, and Alysse have been on the ground and are excited to work with students, staff and faculty throughout the state to build up the feminist presence on campuses.

Val and I toured 6 northern Ohio campuses last week. We did 11 class visits, and were so impressed with the feminist faculty and students we met. A lot of the feminist student groups are rebuilding, and we'll definitely support them as they gain strength and transform their campuses!

We also visited student health centers and gathered info on birth control, emergency contraception, and pregnancy referral services there. BC pricing has definitely shot up here, as it has on hundreds of campuses nationwide.

This week, Alysse and I are continuing to visit campuses throughout southern Ohio. On Monday, we met with students at Ohio State to get a Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance group launched.

The next day, we spoke to Dr. Kelli Zaytoun's class at Wright State about the importance of voting this November. Afterward, we spoke with the Student Health Services director to continue our survey on BC, EC, and pregnancy referrals.

We spent the night with Alysse's sister in Dayton, then met with faculty at the University of Dayton and University of Cincinnati about brewing up student feminist activist groups on campus.

UC is offering a new Feminist Activism course for Spring '09, and they've been in touch with our friend Dr. Pat Willis at Wake Forest University about the activist course she started there. The UC Women's Center is also utilizing new media to reach students - they're a really fantastic resource, and UC is lucky to have them!

We returned to Wright State on Wednesday evening to meet with the strong FMLA there, and to do another class visit with Dr. Zaytoun.

Today, we're at Miami University, in the southwestern part of the state. I spoke in Dr. Ann Fuehrer's Women's Studies capstone class this morning, and we're meeting with the student leadership of Pro-Choice Miami this afternoon. And tonight, we're off to Kenyon College to meet with students about launching an FMLA at that campus.

The feminist academic community in Ohio seems pretty close-knit, which is so exciting to hear. We'll keep you posted on the rest of the trip!