Women's Centers serve today's conservative students.

Women's Centers on campus have a distinct mission. They're charged with addressing gender inequities in higher education and they do so through the lens of social justice. The centers are recognized as a safe place to test ideas and to learn more about controversial issues.

At the same time the climate on many campuses has been moving to the far right. Groups of women students have become more outspoken about their beliefs and desires. Some are respectful, cooperative and willing to collaborate on programs and issues. Others antagonize and attack, wanting the center and its programming to fit their agenda.

And when the more liberal programming of a Women's Center clashes with the demands of conservative students, the results have often been confrontational. Just whose center is it anyway?

Wanda Viento, coordinator of the Women's Center at Boise State University and Rebecca Morrow, director of the Anderson Gender Resource Center at Idaho State University, have seen this clash of cultures on their campuses. Idaho is a conservative state and many of their women students fit the social conservative profile.

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With Ann Coulter as their role model, these women don't fear confronting people whom they believe are wrong. Speaking at the NASPA/ACPA conference held in Orlando in April, Viento and Morrow discussed serving women students of all political views.

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