I know that in the days that come, and as we begin the 2016-2017 school year, we will likely see many women doing the exact same thing that I am doing now: sharing my displeasure and anger that MSU has decided to change the Women’s Study Lounge from what it was. But I would like to share a few thoughts and a personal experience I have had with the lounge and why it plays such an important and symbolic role in the experiences of women at Michigan State University.

It was a cold morning during January of 2016, and I had walked to the Union to warm up and study for a little bit before heading back to the bus to go to my next class. I went to Biggby (arguably, one of the best parts of the Union aside from the women’s study lounge) to grab a hot drink and, in an uncharacteristic move, I sat in the general part of the union not the women’s study lounge. I took out my books and computer and settled down to start doing my homework, and all of a sudden, someone came and sat down at my table. It was a man who I didn’t know, and he said hello. I was confused and said hello back, and tried to get back to my studies. He started asking me questions about myself, telling me I was pretty, and asking me to buy him books from a store down the road. I was very taken aback and told him that no, I couldn’t; I had just come to the lounge to study. He grew more and more insistent, and it got to the point that I packed up my books and went into the women’s study lounge.

I think this incident, small as it was, really speaks to the heart of the study lounge’s purpose, as stated on the plaque in front of the lounge—its purpose is to provide a “quiet and secure place for women” and a “safe refuge.” In that moment, a moment where I was trying to fulfill my purpose in attending MSU—where another space on campus did not let me do that, the women’s study lounge allowed me to. I am sure countless other Spartan women have similar experiences with the lounge as a place of refuge, a small shelter from a world that otherwise does not always necessarily grant them the ability to exist comfortably—a space where we can study, relax, and worry less about being harassed or heckled.

From the very first day I found the women’s study lounge during my freshman year, I knew it was a special, almost sacred place. I always read the bulletin board in the lounge that listed the month’s events being hosted by the Women’s Resource Center (which, much to my disappointment and anger, no longer stands alone), and it was through that board and the lounge that I attended some of the most enriching lectures and events outside of my classes, and found one of the first student groups I joined at Michigan State. My heart is heavy at the thought of the fact that future generations of Spartan women will not be able to reap the same benefits from the lounge that I and so many women before me have, and I truly urge our administration to reevaluate its decision to convert it. Many women are willing to take a stand, sit in, and fight back to keep it as it is, and I know that I am one of them.

Signed,

Ewurama Appiagyei-Dankah