Women of Color group meets

Several first- and second-year students are endeavoring to organize a Women of Color Alliance for all interested women.

The organization was founded by sophomores Anupama Tantri, Tikvah Myers, Isabella Quintana, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan and Shayla Mitchell and first-year Nina Fallenbaum. Though still in its initial stages of planning, the group promises to provide a way for members to interact with the Oberlin community at large and work on a variety of issues of a social and political nature.

"I looked around on campus and saw all these different groups and not enough interaction between them," Myers said. "It made me want to work on changing that."

"When we started organizing our ideas, we realized that there were a lot of people who felt there was a need for a group like this," Tantri said. "Right now we're trying to form ties and connections and become more involved with the Oberlin community."

Due to the large amount of interested students who attended their first three meetings, organizers are optimistic about the future of the Alliance.

"I was really excited that there was such an interest," said Quintana. "When so many people showed up [to the meetings], it demonstrated that there really is a need for a group such as this one. One of my reasons for being involved in this is that women are often in the background and our voice isn't always heard; a group like this could be empowering for all of us."

The group is now working on both applying for a charter and planning future projects. Ideas include tutoring and mentoring high school and middle school students, forming a support group for young girls to deal with such issues as adolescence and body image, learning about women's health issues and participating in cultural and inter-ethnic discussions.

"At the moment our biggest concern is writing down our goals and submitting them for charter review," added Myers. "We're all tossing around ideas and making an effort to get this off the ground."