About the Project
Our origins began in Dr. Mytheli Sreenivas’s “History of Feminist Thought” (WGSST 2550) course in 2016. Students asked, “Has student activism ever brought about change at OSU?” The answer was, resoundingly, yes. As we learned about the first gay student group on campus in 1969, the efforts of students to challenge the university rules governing “coeds” in the early 1970s, and the push for rape awareness and prevention in the 1980s, we began to see how student activism has always, and often, transformed the landscape on campus. And we wanted to share that with the larger Columbus community.
Since then, we have striven to show how Ohio State students are and have always been fundamental drivers of change on campus. We are committed to documenting, investigating, and analyzing histories of feminist thought and activism from the past up until (and including) the present. We define feminism to include ideas and activism that challenge gendered oppression and discrimination, based not only on gender, but also on race, ethnicity, sexuality, (dis)ability, class, nation, and a number of other axes.
What began as student research projects joined by a common goal has grown to become an accessible and comprehensive digital platform. We are now a dynamic, collaborative effort between faculty, staff, undergraduate students, graduate researchers, and community leaders, both past and present. Our website is constantly expanding to include new archival material (written, visual, and audio), exhibit-style analyses of that archival material, and educational resources—to help you share these histories.
We hope you’ll join us by contributing, sharing, and/or learning alongside us. Contact us at (mooney.196@osu.edu) with any questions, comments, or resources you’d like to share.