UC Santa Cruz closes Women’s Studies Department for their 50th Anniversary
By Anna-Katharina Priesterath, News Editor
On 25 November 2024, UC Santa Cruz posted their announcement about the closure of their Feminist Studies Department to ‘open new ways for feminist scholarship’ (source: UC Santa Cruz). The closing date for the department is July 1st, 2025. The Feminist Studies Department of the University of California Santa Cruz has been the meeting point for some of the most prominently discussed feminist scholars and researchers since 1974. Whether they have studied at the department themselves, taught classes, or conducted research, academics such as Bettina Aptheker, Angela Davis, Donna J. Haraway, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, and more brought international attention to the oldest feminist studies department in the U.S. UCSC has had a remarkable history of feminist activism and scholarship. Frankly, a majority of the written work that is currently discussed in the Women’s Studies program here at UCC has been written by scholars associated with UC Santa Cruz.
The Women’s Studies program here at UCC has recently been going through a reorganisation structure-wise. The new program director Dr. Evelien Geerts studied herself at UCSC under the supervision of Dr. Bettina Aptheker and shared some of her thoughts with UCC Express.
Dr. Evelien Geerts did her PhD in Feminist Studies with a DE (designated emphasis) in the History of Consciousness as part of the Women’s Studies Department. She is currently the Women's Studies MA and PhD program director and Lecturer in Gender, Women's Studies & Philosophy. When looking at where Universities start with closing departments it is undeniable that social sciences, languages, and humanities departments are usually hit the first and hardest.
Dr. Evelien Geerts
Geerts writes in a personal statement given to UCC Express that ‘the disestablishment of the oldest Feminist Studies (formerly Women's Studies) program in the US (it dates from 1974) is absolutely disastrous and a clear sign of the politically troubled times we are currently living in - and not just in the US. I do see this as an indirect consequence of the world-wide neoliberalization of higher education, a Trumpian post-truth politics-driven society in which critical counterthinking is labeled as problematic and even dangerous, and an ongoing attempt of the global anti-gender movement to destroy an academic discipline fueled by a critical feminist and antiracist pedagogical praxis that has, in fact, been devalued as a body of lived experiences-fueled critical theoretical knowledge since it came into being.’
The rise of right-wing voices after the recent election has left a profound impact and spread fear across the States. Misogynistic and sexist speeches trending on and offline have further supported the already existing gender divide. Americans fear a further book ban following Trump’s re-election (source: LA Times). Conservative parental groups have been advocating against education in schools that follow inclusion and the discussion of gender, race, and sexuality. While it is still unclear as to what consequences Trump's re-election will have on the educational sector in the States, there has been a rise of Conservative propaganda on campuses and in classrooms already.
While the future of feminist academia at UCSC is not clear, it leaves us to hope that feminist scholarship will continue to be supported and shared. As a Women’s Studies major myself, I have witnessed discouraging and problematic hierarchies at university. I think it is incredibly important to not only give students and scholars the space, time, and medium to discuss ongoing gender-based inequalities, racism, oppression, and sexism, but to also encourage more people to pursue degrees related to gender, women, and feminist studies. We are witnessing a rise of hatred and oppression worldwide. Through gaining and sharing knowledge, oppressive patriarchal power structures can be dismantled. For this, we need feminist studies.
