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Office for University Women/Commission on Women
Historical Overview: 1960-2004

Minnesota Plan I

• 1960 Minnesota Plan for the Continuing Education of Women (later referred to as MN Plan I) is initiated as an effort to mobilize University resources to address the needs of women whose education often had been interrupted by marriage and motherhood. The plan sought to increase educational opportunities to help women reach their full potential. The pioneering plan served as a model for other institutions nationally and internationally, sparking a national movement in women’s higher education.
  
• 1960-65 The Minnesota Planning and Counseling Center for Women and the Continuing Education for Women Program are established as outgrowths of the MN Plan I.
  
• 1970-75 The Minnesota Planning and Counseling Center for Women is renamed the Minnesota Women’s Center. Emphasis shifts from educational programming to research on the status of women at the University.
  
• 1973 Shymala Rajender, a temporary assistant professor in chemistry, charges the University of Minnesota with discrimination based on her sex and national origin; her complaint becomes a class-action lawsuit.
  
• 1980 The Rajender case settles out of court and the University agrees to operate under a court-ordered consent decree until the 1991-92 academic year. The decree mandates affirmative action goals, a timetable for hiring more women, and specific hiring practices.
  
• 1987 In response to the backlash against the Rajender consent decree, senior faculty women secure a commitment from the University to hire a person to assess the University’s climate for women and plan activities related to climate assessment and improvement.

Minnesota Plan II

• 1988 Professor Janet Spector, who had helped found the Department of Women’s Studies and the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the University, is appointed special assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and to the Director of Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action.
  
  Spector drafts what will become the Minnesota Plan II, providing a framework for improving and enriching the environment for women on campus. The draft is refined based on feedback from faculty, professional and academic staff, deans, and other key administrators.
  
  The Minnesota Plan II is introduced to the University community and a 70-member Commission on Women, chaired by the special assistant, is appointed.
  
• 1989 A salary settlement is reached through the Rajender decree providing all women covered by the decree with permanent salary increases.
  
• 1990-91 The Minnesota Plan II Student Initiative is launched.
  
  The Commission on Women creates a Special Grants Program to support projects that improve the campus climate for women.
  
• 1991-92 The Rajender consent decree expires.
  
• 1992-93 The Minnesota Plan II Civil Service/Bargaining Unit (CS/BU) Women’s Initiative is launched. Members of the initiative work to improve the campus climate for CS/BU women by identifying priority issues for the Commission on Women, helping implement suggested changes, and offering programming to enhance professional development among CS/BU women.
  
• 1993-94 The Minnesota Plan II Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Initiative is launched. The WISE Initiative seeks to improve the climate for women in science and engineering in order to enhance the recruitment, retention, and professional development of women students and faculty in the sciences at the University of Minnesota.
  A Network of Women Administrators group is created to offer a supportive professional community for the small and isolated group of women administrators.

  “Guide to Improving the Campus Climate for Women” is published. It is distributed campuswide and to others outside the University who request it.

  The Minnesota Plan II Women in Professional Schools (WIPS) Initiative is launched.

• 1994-95 The Commission on Women conducts interviews and compiles data to assess the University community’s capacity to improve campus climate for women. Findings are reported in “The Minnesota Plan II: 1995-2000: Recommendations to Increase the University Community’s Capacity to Improve the Campus Climate for Women.”
  
  University President Nils Hasselmo distributes The Minnesota Plan II to provosts, vice presidents, deans, directors, and department heads. Hasselmo asks them to work with key constituents to identify priority recommendations for improving the climate for women in their areas, and to outline concrete actions for implementation.

  The University of Minnesota reorganizes all diversity units, including the Commission on Women, within Academic Affairs in July 1995.

• 1995 The Commission on Women establishes the Mullen/Spector/Truax Women’s Leadership Award to honor retired University employees Patricia Mullen, Janet Spector, and Anne Truax and to recognize women leaders on campus. All three women worked throughout their careers to improve the campus climate for women faculty, staff, and students: Mullen as director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (OEOAA), Spector as special assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and chair of the Commission on Women, and Truax as director of the Minnesota Women’s Center and later as director of OEOAA.

• 1995-96 Jessica Bailey is hired as the new assistant vice president for Academic Affairs with Responsibility for Diversity and chair of the Commission on Women.
  
  Responses to The Minnesota Plan II from chancellors, provosts, vice presidents, and deans are compiled.

• 1996-97 Commission on Women members consult with departments to help strengthen action plans developed in response to Minnesota Plan II.

• 1997-98 The Commission on Women’s Executive Committee reviews its mission, focus, and organizational structure, resulting in a series of recommendations to the executive vice president and provost.
  
  The following recommendations are adopted:

  • A reaffirmation of the mission articulated in 1988.
    
  • The establishment of an Office for University Women located within the Office of the Associate Vice President for Multicultural and Academic Affairs.
    
  • The creation of a more inclusive structure, inviting all women faculty, staff, and students to participate in initiatives and working committees, guided and coordinated by a diverse and representative Steering Committee. The new office and committee structure replace the appointed Commission on Women.


• 1998-99 The Office for University Women is established with Jane Whiteside as the interim director. A transitional Steering Committee is formed. Women faculty, staff, and students participate in focus groups to determine priorities for the office.
  
  The Office for University Women continues the Minnesota Women’s Center, the CS/BU Initiative, the WISE Initiative, and the Special Grants Program.
  
  
  
• 1999-2000 The Office for University Women and the Office of the Vice President and Vice Provost for Equity and Diversity host the national teleconference “Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices, Women’s Solutions: Shaping a National Agenda for Women in Higher Education” in March 2000. The teleconference focuses on the needs and issues of women workers, teachers, and students at U.S. colleges and universities, and explores solutions to problems women face in higher education. Conference participants develop a National Agenda for Women in Higher Education, and individual campuses are charged with creating and implementing action plans based on the agenda. The National Initiative for Women in Higher Education (NIWHE) is launched to support implementation of the national agenda and provide leadership on issues concerning women and higher education.
  
  H. Jeanie Taylor is hired as the first permanent director of the Office for University Women.
  
  
• 2000-02 Under Taylor’s leadership, the office coordinates local and national implementation of the National Agenda for Women in Higher Education that was produced at the 2000 teleconference.
  
  The University Women of Color Network (UWOC) is established and facilitated by the Office for University Women. UWOC supports connections among students, staff, and faculty women of color at the University of Minnesota; it sponsors events to increase cross-cultural understanding and recognition of the contributions of women of color to the University.

  The CS/BU Women’s Initiative receives a sesquicentennial grant to support its history project, a video titled “Holding Up the U: 150 Years of Staff Women at the University of Minnesota.”

• 2002-03 The CS/BU Women’s Initiative receives initial funding to begin production of a publication about University of Minnesota CS/BU women. The Special Grants Program continues OUW’s focus on funding initiatives to improve the campus climate for women, and the spring 2003 Celebration of University Women honors contributions of women to the University.

• 2003-04 Claire Walter-Marchetti is hired as interim director of the Office for University Women. Use of the title, Minnesota Women’s Center (MWC), is discontinued and the undergraduate and graduate student focus of the MWC are incorporated into programming developed under the Office for University Women (OUW). The decision to move to a single identity is intended to raise the visibility and effectiveness of the office in a time of budgetary and staffing constraints.
  
  In December 2003, materials collected for the publication about CS/BU staff women are edited and refined into a publication titled, Out Front And Behind the Scenes: Articles and Anecdotes, Images and Issues From University of Minnesota Civil Service and Bargaining Unit Women. The publication is distributed to all full-time women staff members in CS/BU job classifications, as well as to University leaders, Wilson library, and University Archives.

  In January 2004, OUW conducts a needs assessment of University women across all constituent employee groups, as well as women graduate and professional students.