Purpose and Charge

The purpose of the Commission for Women is to ensure and to publicize Dickinson’s commitment to gender equity in the classroom, on campus, in the broader community, and among students, faculty, administrators and staff. The Commission will report to the President, who will share the Commission’s findings and recommendations with the faculty and the College as a whole.

The Commission will establish practices to regularly identify and articulate the diverse issues relating to women on campus.  It will identify the administrators and departments on campus most appropriate to address specific issues, and communicate with them.  It will monitor the progress on addressing issues, putting into place opportunities for initial issue discussion and later follow up with appropriate administrators and/or departments.   The Commission will encourage administrators charged with oversight of various areas of campus operations to systematically identify and include consideration of women’s concerns in course of doing business. It will raise campus awareness of women’s issues and Commission activities by consulting with campus communities, creating and maintaining a visible web presence, and providing regular reports.  The Commission will organize and make accessible materials relating to the work of the Commission.

Equally important will be the College’s explicit and visible commitment to gender equity. To this end the Commission will ensure the continued prominence of the Dickinson College Women’s Center as a resource for education, leadership, events and activism on women's and gender issues on campus.  The Commission will also encourage programming related to gender issues, including the continuation of the Research on Women by Students (ROWS) Symposium cosponsored with the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. The Commission will also work to strengthen the prominence and centrality of women’s issues on campus.