Stronger together

Welcome (back) to UIC!

For students who are new to UIC, whether you are first-year or transfer students: if you are reading this note, we want you to consider WLRC a second home on campus. 

Come by to visit, stay for programs, snacks, and quiet study space. We want you to succeed at whatever you choose to do at UIC, and we are here to help you do that.

We welcome the involvement of faculty and staff in the work of the center, whether through cosponsoring events with us, bringing your classes to visit, collaborating on research projects, giving talks, meeting in our space, or creating opportunities for students to be involved in engaged learning. This fall, we will be hosting the always-fun faculty tea for women and nonbinary faculty of color who are new to UIC. Stay tuned!

The fall 2025 semester is well underway and the staff of WLRC and CAN have been quite busy getting the word out about our upcoming programs. This semester hits a little different for us though. For one thing, we (and the other cultural centers) are dealing with a significant cut to our program budget which may affect both the breadth and frequency of programming. If you recall, most of the campus was asked to take a five percent cut in units’ respective budgets, with more cuts possibly coming soon. For a small unit like ours which is persistently underresourced, any cut is felt deeply. Until now, WLRC has prided itself on our generosity in cosponsoring and collaborating with units around the campus who have fewer resources but want to offer programming that address issues related to gender, social and environmental justice. This is the first year that we will not be able to bring much to the table beyond our expertise and enthusiasm, and we are very sad about that. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invite us to cosponsor a program or offer a workshop. It just means we are working with lots of heart and very little cash.

Bigger things happening around us include inter alia threats by the current U.S. president to send military troops to Chicago, and raids/kidnappings by the masked workers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All of these events make us feel less safe, less able to talk to and connect with each other, and more isolated as we try to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But withdrawing and existing in silence and isolation is exactly what we should not do at this moment. When we show up for others, and they show up for us, we are so much stronger together.

Over the semester and the year, WLRC will host a series of community-building spaces that will help us build and deepen our connections to each other, and learn about how we can act in solidarity with each other. Look out for the announcement, show up, tell a friend.

This month is Student Parents’ Month a time to raise awareness about and bring visibility to parenting students on campus - in our classrooms, units, on transportation. WLRC, in collaboration with the Little Sparks program, has been working over the past two years to center parenting students in the campus discourse about student success. We are working to create spaces to educate the campus, and to offer opportunities for parenting students to build community and advocate for their own needs. We will continue that work in 2025 - stay tuned!

The fall 2025 meeting of the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women will be held on Monday, September 8, 2025. Please respond to let us know if you would like to attend.

Students, watch this newsletter for announcement about applications for the WLRC Tuition Award, which supports women students in their educational pursuits who have a great deal of financial need that is not being met by financial aid or loans.

Until we see each other again, take care yourselves and each other.

Natalie Bennett

[ID: "Welcome back" in white cursive text and "Flames!" in text designed to look like flames, all on a blue background.]

Saturday, September 6 | 10am - 12:30pm
Location shared upon registration
Audience: UIC Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Students

Join us in community and learn about our exciting Fall 2025 programs to promote the participation and persistence of women and nonbinary people of color in engineering! We’re honored to welcome Dr. Jessica Esquivel as our keynote speaker—an Afrolatine queer physicist, engineer, movement builder, and co-founder of Oyanova Enterprises. 

[ID: Dr. Jessica Esquivel smiling toward the camera, with details about the PERSIST(Σ) Fall Welcome event next to her.]

Tuesday, September 9 | 1:30 - 3:30pm
Black Cultural Center, 207 Addams
Audience: Everyone (open to the public)

Join us for a screening of Academy Award winner Moonlight! Come for snacks and conversation, and stay for the queer-centered community space. All are welcome!

Co-sponsored by the Black Cultural Center.

[ID: Moonlight character Chiron, shown at 3 different ages, looking toward the camera. To his right is text describing the Queer Stories: Moonlight event.]

Wednesday, September 10 | 11am - 1pm
WLRC, 1700 Student Services Building
Audience: UIC Students, Staff, Faculty

Stop by WLRC during the Student Services Building Open House! Visit the academic support programs, Disability Resource Center, Career Services, Student Employment, and all our other wonderful neighbors.

[ID: Crowds of students and visitors in front of various offices in the Student Services Building, which is decorated with red and blue balloons and signs. To their left are details about the SSB Open House.]

Thursday, September 18 | 12 - 2pm
WLRC, 1700 Student Services Building
Audience: UIC Students, Staff, Faculty

Join us for our Fall Open House! Meet our staff; check out our warm and welcoming space at SSB; learn about feminist activism at UIC; and connect with other students, staff, and faculty!

Be sure to also stop by all the other Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change Open Houses!

[ID: WLRC staff and friends at various WLRC events. To their left are details about the WLRC Fall Open House.]

September 3 - September 10

Please stop by our table and meet our team at these upcoming Weeks of Welcome events around campus!

College of Nursing Sweet Start
Wednesday, September 3 | 11:30am - 1:30pm

Involvement Fair (look for the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change table)
Wednesday, September 3 - Thursday, September 4
11am - 3pm

Meet FSL
Monday, September 8 | 11am - 2pm

Grad College Welcome Back Picnic
Wednesday, September 10 | 11:30am - 1:30pm

[ID: WLRC team members tabling at campus events.]

Applications reviewed on a rolling basis
Apply on Handshake by September 14

Apply to be a peer educator with our Campus Advocacy Network program and help prevent gender-based violence at UIC!

- 10 hours/week, $16/hour
- Full year (Fall 2025 & Spring 2026)
- Open to UIC sophomores, juniors, and seniors

[ID: Text describing the Peers to Allies Internship with the Women's Leadership and Resource Center's Campus Advocacy Network program.]

Survivors, we are here for you! Please reach out to the Campus Advocacy Network any time you need support, information, resources, answers, and/or advocacy related to safety, healing, or gender-based violence (sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, stalking, harassment, family abuse).

Our services are free, confidential, and open to all members of the UIC community.

We can help you

We're also here for allies! Please reach out to us if you are in a role where you may need to support survivors on campus (instructors, mentors, advisors, student leaders, friends, or colleagues) or have questions about resources, mandated reporting, and more. 

To connect with an advocate:

[ID: A grey t-shirt with "Someone you love is a survivor" painted on it, and a brown tabletop with a few buttons on it. The buttons have messages including "Take a stand," "Survivor," "Love shouldn't hurt," "Feminist," and "Be a voice."]

If you are a student leader, instructor, or supervisor, please consider inviting CAN to speak to your class through our Don’t Cancel Your Class! program, or request a training for your department, college, student organization, or other campus unit. 

[ID: Three students participating in a dating timeline activity on a tabletop.]

Faculty, please include info about us in your curriculum and syllabus:

"If you have experienced sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, stalking, or harassment, there is help available. The Campus Advocacy Network provides free and confidential services to UIC students, faculty, and staff who have experienced or are experiencing interpersonal violence. 

Pregnant and parenting students are also welcome to contact CAN for resources, information, and support.

If you would like to speak with an advocate, please email CAN at can-appointment@uic.edu, call (312) 413-8206 and leave a voicemail message, text (312) 488-9784, or fill out CAN's Ask An Advocate form online at can.uic.edu/ask. To learn more, visit CAN's website at can.uic.edu."

[ID: A CAN team member standing next to a presentation screen and facilitating a discussion on how to respond to a disclosure of gender-based violence.]

It's a new school year, full of new possibilities!

What are you looking forward to most this semester?

Check back next week for your responses and a new question!

[ID: "What do you think?" in yellow block letters inside a yellow-orange frame on a purple-blue gradient background.]

September 8 - 18

Stop by all the Cultural Center Open Houses to meet the staff and learn about our histories, resources, and upcoming programs!

[ID: A skyline view of UIC and Chicago buildings. Below that are details for the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change Fall Open Houses.]

Check out what else is happening at all our sibling centers this week!

[ID: A statement about who the UIC Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change are, which can be found on our website.]

UIC Women’s Leadership and Resource Center
& Campus Advocacy Network

1700 Student Services Building (MC 363)
1200 W. Harrison St., Chicago, IL 60607

(312) 413-1025 ∙ wlrc@uic.edu ∙ wlrc.uic.edu

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