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Gloria Weston Campus Outreach Fund
The Gloria Weston Campus Outreach Fund was created by AAUW California as an honor to our own Gloria Weston, a former president of the Orinda-Moraga-Lafayette branch. She also served as the last appointed AAUW California LAF Director, and the first elected California LAF Vice President. Throughout her membership with AAUW, Gloria has given selflessly of her time, money and love to LAF (programming and plaintiffs).

The vision of the GWCOF is to stop discrimination before it can occur, by creating opportunities for education and discussion on topics of equity, discrimination and tenure at California universities and colleges. As approximately 20% of all LAF cases have originated in California, such programming is badly needed..

The Gloria Weston Outreach Fund sponsored its first program at California State University at Fresno in 2005. At that time, according to CSUF faculty member Dr. Kathryn Forbes, CSUF had been investigated twice by the Office of Civil Rights for Title IX violations, and was defending three Title IX suits by female coaches/administrators, all still pending as of 12/06. CSUF also had no mandatory sexual harassment training, except after a sexual harassment charge was made against a faculty member. Further, a survey of 120 CSUF students found that less than 5% knew where to go to report sexual harassment and none knew that a Title IX complaint could be filed as part of a sexual harassment complaint.

Gloria Weston Fund monies were used to bring lawyer Dan Siegel, American Association of University Professors former president Mary Burgan, and former AAUW LAF director Leslie Annexstein to campus for discussions with faculty and administrators. Statistics and studies generated by the AAUW were heavily emphasized during the discussions.

Here are the changes that occurred in a little over a year, since the Gloria Weston Outreach Fund-sponsored program:
• CSUF now has new sexual harassment policy, based on the Stanford model. It promises to be the most comprehensive and well-researched policy in the entire CSU system.
• CSUF placed an AAUW and Title IX advocate on the search committee for a new Athletic Director. As a result, CSUF hired a candidate with an excellent record on Title IX.
• Maternity leave is procedurally easier to obtain and Family Medical Leave is understood as a federal right. In addition, the university is now beginning to discuss family friendly work policies in relationship to the retention and recruitment of female faculty.

We at AAUW-OML can be proud that the Gloria Weston Fund, though new, is already helping colleges and universities solve their problems with outside help, but without resort to litigation.