WOMEN

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They also shared personal sries of when they felt empowered as women: Desir sued her employer — CVS Pharmacy — for discrimination on the basis of hair and won a few thousand dollars, Green proved to a spiteful teacher that she could read well enough to transition into the next grade in school, Angelina Rodriguez inspires her younger sisters to pursue leadership and education opportunities, Marileana Rodriguez was part of an all-female leadership board in the male-dominated Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, and Santos said she was the first in her father’s family to finish middle and high school and will be the first to get a PhD.

The panelists also examined and discussed research on pay gaps across race and gender and

Aro

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Additionally, ARO wanted to be more inclusive of all kinds of students. ARO discovered through research that most campuses were going with the term “accessibility.” By including the term “accessibility” in its name, the office hopes that transfer students will know where to look when trying to find accommodations.

To further help students easily access accommodations, ARO will be rolling out a new system called Accommodate in the fall. It is a software that gives students who register with ARO for accommodations access to their own portal. The way it works is that if a student looks through the portal and sees an accommodation they think would benefit them, they can inform Curry with the click of a button. Curry hopes that it will also let students know that the staff of ARO is always the “pink tax,” whereby products marketed toward women are priced higher than products marketed toward men, and sometimes a pink variety of a product can cost more than a blue variety. The panel concluded with lessons attendees were expected to leave with: treating others with kindness and holding peers accountable.

Shelby Disla and Glendaliz

Espinal, the event’s hosts and organizers, said the women they chose as their panelists exceeded their expectations. When selecting their panelists, they looked for women who don’t usually speak at events, but have powerful voices nonetheless. While planning for the event, they had a list of up to two dozen panel candidates, but about six women they asked to panel declined.

“They said it’s not that they didn’t want to do it, but they were just nervous,” Disla said.

“And I think that’s also what comes with being a woman: every time you say stuff, you’re available to them.

Curry also wanted to emphasize the importance of students being able to easily access accommodations, especially considering that the demand for accommodations has been steadily on the rise. Laura Cronk, coordinator of extended time testing, said that during midterms this semester she expects to be administering 50 to 80 tests a day.

ARO works closely with John Locke, the Electronic Information Technology officer who is a member of the Technology Enhanced Learning staff.

“Our job is to work with faculty so that they can help their students,” Locke said.

Locke ensures that students are able to access resources “that an instructor has provided to them.”

However, because so many students on campus need accommodations in order to be successful, it is hard for Locke and his staff to handle it by themselves.

The workaround for this is that they provide thinking, while you’re saying it, what are the consequences?”

Yet, sometimes the invitation itself can be empowering to a woman, even if she declines it, Disla said.

Attendees received free wristbands with the affirmations “I am creative,” “I am brave,” “I am strong” and “I am amazing” in a variety of colors. Additionally, Fuerza collaborated with the Women in Leadership club, encouraging panelists and attendees to wear purple — a color connoting leadership, status and luxury while not traditionally associated with a particular gender.

Spelling “women” with an “x” was also intentional, as it removes the “men” from “women.” Other alternative spellings include “womyn” and “womon.”

“‘Menstual cycle’ has ‘men’ in it too, and we never realize that,” Espinal said. “All these things around us — even ‘history’ has ‘his’ in it. I feel like there’s men everywhere, but how about women? We also de- workshops and training to faculty so that they can implement accessibility into the resources they provide themselves. Additionally, there is a program called Ally that checks PDFs instructors upload and provides a gauge on whether the resource is ADA-compliant. It also allows students to download alternative versions of PDFs that accommodate students with disabilities.

To download an alternative version of a PDF, students need only to look next to any PDF within Moodle. There is a symbol next to the PDF that looks like an uppercase “A” with an arrow pointing down. By clicking on this symbol, students will be able to access an alternate version of the PDF file.

“They look like speedometers next to each document,” Locke said.

Whether a student needs extended time testing, note-taking services or has visual im- serve to be everywhere.”

Disla has a similar view of the term.

“The more I grow, the more I realize: most of who I am has nothing to do with a man,” Disla said.

Disla also acknowledged the term can be controversial and perceived as exclusive of transgender women and said using the term was a matter of personal preference.

Fuerza’s past Womxn Empowerment Panels discussed aspects of womanhood such as social experiences, COVID-19 and media influences. Disla recalled how last year, someone asked her why International Women’s Day is important, indicating a need for such conversations.

Nelly Reyes, a senior majoring in communications, was one of the 40 to 50 students who attended the event. Reyes said he was raised in a household of mostly women and he likes how women can bring a community together and have “genuine happiness within them.” pairments, ARO is there to help. With the rebranding of SAS to ARO, the department hopes that their services will be easier to find and access.

Students looking for

“I don’t know if it’s something that men are lacking — I don’t know if we just lack being happy — but it’s refreshing to kind of see a product of their joy,” Reyes said.

Reyes said people can be uncomfortable when discussing issues associated with the opposite sex due to subconsciously putting the groups against each other.

“I do feel like men tend to avoid these types of events, not necessarily because they don’t care or that they feel distaste towards women. I feel like sometimes it can be uncomfortable, and vice versa for women, especially when talking about men’s health awareness,” Reyes said. However, Reyes said it felt “good” not to be part of the conversation and instead listen to the women speak at the event and learn their perspectives.

Email ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA cp@cardinalpointsonline.com

the Accessibility Resource Office can find it at 011 Macomb Hall. Students can also email ARO@plattsburgh.edu to speak with Curry to request accommodations or call 518-564-2810. “It’s just really important that people know where to find us,” Curry said.

Email JESSE TAYLOR cp@cardinalpointsonline.com

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