Eleventh Wage Newsletter

WAGE Fund-Raising
Faced with a $3,000 deficit and upcoming operating expenses, we are creating a special sustaining membership category to ensure a budget sufficient for operations so we can focus our energy on issues of concern to our members. We need twenty-four donors to commit $500 per year for two years to cover routine expenses: supplies, postage, and administrative costs (letter writing, photocopying, mailing publicity, programs, etc.). That's only $42 per month to sponsor the only organization of its kind dedicated to exposing and eliminating gender discrimination and sexual harassment in academia.
Your response will determine whether we make the transition from a grassroots organization to a recognizable force with government agencies and in Sacramento, from an informal advice network to a dependable resource for women and men who need help and information. We know some members cannot afford this type of commitment. Please consider taking an active financial role in WAGE's growth if this is an option for you. Details about sustaining memberships will be mailed this spring.

Whistleblower's Testimony	Jury Awards $12.7 Million	Feminist Appointed Chair at UC Davis	Book Review
I dreamed Again That I was Drowning	Women of Livermore Lab Stand Up	MIT Women Win Fight Against Bias	Female Professor Victorious

Welcome to Newsletter #11
by Catherine Shepard-Haier

This column breaks a long tradition in WAGE history-a new author for Welcome section. When Charity Hirsch resigned as chair last year, she suggested the WAGE chair write this column from now on. This gives me a chance to tell you about changes we are making in the organization's structure and to introduce the 1999 WAGE Governing Council.

Governing Council
The new GC members are Dr. Odelia Braun and Dr. Cathy Kessel. You may remember Odelia's story from the fall, 1998, Newsletter. Director of UCSF's Center for Prehospital Research and Training, attending physician and faculty member, she sued UCSF and the City of San Francisco and received the largest settlement awarded to UC woman: $2.4 million. Dr. Cathy Kessel is a mathematician turned mathematics education researcher who works at UC Berkeley. She also conducts seminars and projects throughout the U.S. and abroad and is active in campus efforts promoting fair treatment for women graduate students.

Executive Board
Dr. Marjorie Mosier and I are the co-coordinators this year; Dr. Cathy Kessel is secretary (replacing me) and Dr. Anne MacLachlan continues as treasurer.

Good-Byes
We are grateful to Dr. Phyllis Agran, co-founder of WAGE, Dr. Sue Carole DeVale, Dr. Frances Jurnak, and Dr. Jacqueline Wiseman whose terms ended in December, 1998. Special thanks go to Jane Lundin, former GC member and Newsletter editor who resigned last summer.

Mission Redefined
The Governing Council held a special planning meeting in September, 1998, to identify ways to address our rapid growth so we could be more responsive to our members' needs for support, advice and information. We agreed our mission statement did not adequately describe what we do or whom we serve. The revised statement

"To end gender bias and achieve gender equity in the education, hiring, retention, promotion and compensation of women in the academic community within the University of California and other academic institutions."

reflects our expanded membership including faculty, students, non-faculty academics, staff, managers, and non-UC women in academia. Gender discrimination and sexual harassment affect women regardless of job title. We wanted our mission statement to reflect that.

Restructuring
We changed "chair" to "coordinator," and reassigned responsibilities among the Governing Council so that more of us would share in the work. Marjorie Mosier and I are looking forward to a productive year for WAGE. Please contact us anytime with your suggestions and concerns.

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