Description
This thesis discusses the roles colleges and university women’s centers play in serving and providing resources and education on trans* students. It also seeks to uncover how and why centers’ roles may differ on different campuses. My research focuses specifically on the fourteen California State University system’s women’s centers as a sample. Through a web survey of women’s center directors and supplemental information gathered through a website analysis of the six responding centers, I was able to examine five of these campuses women’s centers and compare their practices of programming, naming and use of language, policy advocacy, and their campus contexts. This information combined with my personal experiences in women’s center work and insights led me to uncover two potential roles of women’s centers—as hubs of trans* students and as supports of trans* students. I propose that what determines a women’s center’s role on campus is the presence of a well-supported and established queer center. To conclude, I construct two lists of recommendations for trans* inclusive practices, one for centers acting as hubs for trans* students and one for centers acting as supports to an alternative hub for trans* students.
