Natsumi IKOMA
Director, CGS
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the seventeenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]
CGS is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Spearheaded by the powerful initiative of its founder, Prof. Kazuko Tanaka, our members have been engaged in a wide range of activities over the past 10 years, striving to create a center that is "a safe place for anyone" and to get the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies on track. We've organized international workshops and guest lectures, nurtured young researchers, and supported the activities of the Tama Gender Education Network. We've also disseminated news and research on gender and sexuality through our annual journal and regular newsletters. At the same time, on campus, we've raised awareness of human rights issues, initiated support structures for LGBT students, organized a movement for childcare, and established the Special Counseling Room for Gender and Sexuality. We wish to express our heartfelt appreciation to all those who have supported and facilitated our endeavors over the years.
This year has also marked the retirement of Prof. Tanaka from ICU, prompting us to reflect deeply on the direction of CGS in the next decade. While we are determined to continue our activities with the same degree of intensity and enthusiasm, we are also faced with the current reality of significant reductions in our budget and human resources. Therefore, we aim to proceed slowly to find a means for sustainable management without compromising the center's influence, but we must also consider our work ethic in order to protect our staff from burn-out. This entails narrowing our focus: our priority lies in the issues of gender and sexuality in higher education and its institutions, including ICU. We will begin with the upcoming 10th anniversary symposium in November, which will offer the opportunity to consider the conflicts of gender and sexuality that are encountered both on campus and in society by shifting our perspective to see them as our own problems, not as somebody else's.
Lately, we have been receiving more and more enquiries from other universities regarding LGBT issues. We are delighted to see the fruits of the initiatives of our members and also to find that more and more people are becoming aware of the need to be sensitive to gender and sexuality issues. Yet many problems still remain unresolved in the education system, not only in higher education but also in the levels before it. In the wider society, there are also ongoing problems involving male-centrism, dichotomous gender formations, and heterosexism, to name but a few. In such a climate, we are mindful of our foremost responsibility to secure and nurture our center as "a safe place for anyone." I am deeply committed to this mission and look forward to further collaboration with staff, students, and all those involved in our activities. We sincerely appreciate your continued interest, support, and engagement.