In a small room on the fourth floor of the UMC, on the second and fourth Monday of each month, the Women’s Resource Center puts on an event called “Kitchen Table,” providing a safe place for multiracial women to come together and, among other things, enjoy each other’s company.
A myriad of color representing the diversity of the female form, Kitchen Table is sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center, a student-funded organization on campus. Every month they also hold different events like “White on White,” a forum for women of all races to come together in an effort to dismantle hate.
“Our purpose is to provide a place where women (of color) can come for support. We sit on couches, eat food, listen to music and discuss racial issues. Sometimes it’s serious, but mostly it’s fun,” said Felicia Montano, outreach coordinator for the WRC and sophomore psychology major. “Kitchen Table has become a campaign with an ongoing theme of defining womanhood and embracing liberation.”
Kitchen Table is currently in its fifth year of existence and is a great place for women to network and support each other in times of both dissention and unity.
“I’ve come to Kitchen Table quite often since last semester; tonight is kick-off so I had to be here,” said Alejandra Starner, a freshman psychology major. “It’s a great place for raising awareness of women’s issues; this group helped educate me and now I wear a red ribbon in support of women.”
The WRC often collaborates with other diversity driven groups at CU like SORCE and the GLBT Resource Center. Most of the women who take part in the bimonthly event are also involved in some or all of these other organizations on campus.
“I’m also involved with Pi Lambda Chi, a Latina sorority and MAST, which is the minority arts and science program,” said Tara Obrien, a freshman biological sciences-MCDB major. “This is my first time at Kitchen Table but I heard it was interesting and a great experience, so I had to check it out. I just wanted to see if other women feel the same way I do.”
The WRC is a mecca for everything and anything relating to women, functioning as a referral center for female members of the student body. Magazines and pamphlets cover the walls and women’s resource books can be found in every corner of the room. Their library has hundreds of books about women ranging from spirituality, to economics, to activism. Women’s studies majors frequent the impressive literature collection, and professors often come into the office to choose books for their curriculums.
“It’s nice to find other people like me,” said Montano. “You know, same values and the basic understanding of the impact minorities have on the world. If nothing else, it’s a great place to make friends.”
The Women’s Resource Center is located in UMC 416 and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
