Touring the Northwestern University Campus From a Feminist Perspective

The Women’s Center at Northwestern University has developed a self-guided campus tour celebrating the achievements of women — and those who face gender oppression.

The Center developed its Feminist Campus Tour during the pandemic to allow community members to experience the university’s history as told by feminist voices. At each stop on the tour, people will learn about the staff and student leaders who contributed to the rights of women at Northwestern and discover gender resources available on campus.

Currently, the Feminist Campus Tour runs just over an hour. Its six stops feature audio from Northwestern’s archives or short recorded talks by tour guides from the Women’s Center, Deering Library and Meadow, the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, the Bursar’s Office, and Hobart House.

A tour stop at Deering Meadow gives visitors a glimpse of a historic campus event from 1970 and emphasizes the role of women in the antiwar movement. Participants can hear an excerpt from an audio recording of Eva Jefferson Paterson, Northwestern’s student government president, addressing a crowd of 5,000 Northwestern students gathered in response to the fatal shooting of four Kent State University student protestors by the National Guard in Ohio.

There are plans to add more stops to the tour, starting with the department of gender and sexuality studies at Kresge Centennial Hall and the history of Take Back the Night at the Rock.