Women's Center

Resources:

Social Space: Everyone is welcome in the Women’s Center. The Center offers a welcoming environment with couches, a table and chairs for studying or meeting, and a reading chair. Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to spend time in the center, meet with others, browse the library, and make use of our free resources. Anyone creating unnecessary conflict may be asked to leave.

Meeting Space: The Women’s Center provides a private space to hold meetings related to Women’s issues. Schedule a dedicated time by contacting the Women’s Center director. Meeting supplies (such as a projector, notepads, and chairs) are available upon request.

Pregnant and Parenting Resources: Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and Southwest Minnesota State University are committed to ensuring programs, services, and activities are accessible to students who may be pregnant, experiencing a pregnancy-related condition, or parenting a child under the age of 18. SMSU recognizes that students experiencing the aforementioned may need modifications or adjustments to have equitable opportunities to participate in or benefit from programs, services, and activities. For more detailed information, visit the Title IX webpage.

Free Menstruation Products: Welcome to the Menstruation Zone! We’ve got free pads and tampons available to anyone who needs them. Per Minnesota State Statute 121A.212, free menstruation products are also available in restrooms throughout the campus and residential halls. 

Lending Library: The Women’s Center offers a collection of books and journals on topics such as feminism and its history, gender and sexuality, women’s literature, sexual health and pleasure, activism, and more. The books and journals can be utilized by students, faculty, and staff.

Community Resources: The Women’s Center offers a variety of referrals for community agencies relating to women’s and LGBTQ+ issues like sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and domestic abuse, as well as information on birth control and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), hormone therapy, and counseling.

Proactive Campus Education: The Women’s Studies Committee and the Women’s Center offer workshops and presentations that increase the visibility of women’s, men’s, and LGBTQ+ diverse identities, promote safe space and ally training, encourage anti-sexual violence awareness, and educate about other issues that affect these communities.

Women’s Studies Minor: Examine women’s roles in society and culture with an interdisciplinary Women’s Studies minor at SMSU.
For more information:

• https://catalog.smsu.edu/academic-programs-degrees/womens-studies/
• https://www.smsu.edu/academics/programs/womensstudies/womens-studies-links.html

Lactation Rooms: SMSU provides private lactation spaces to nurse or pump throughout the weekdays. These spaces provide a lockable door, a comfortable chair and table, and a small refrigerator to store expressed milk and pumping equipment during the day. The lactation rooms and resources on breastfeeding, health, and tips for nursing are available to all students, faculty, staff and visitors with the need to nurse or pump at the locations and hours below.

SMSU Campus Map

• Bellows Academic (BA) 250, Available Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Bellows Academic (BA) 246 (Women’s Center) Available Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  A small refrigerator is available within the Women’s Center and a restroom is located right next to BA 246.
• Conference Center Lower Lobby Available Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday/Sunday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. 
  There is an accessible Mamava Breastfeeding pod in the Lower Level Conference Center, equipped with a charge port for electronic devices as well as a breast pump. In addition, the pod is well-ventilated, secure, accessible by wheelchair, and includes a changing space for an infant. The pod utilizes a keypad entrance and can be accessed by scanning a QR code adhered to the pod or by downloading the Mamava app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.