Advertisments for Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) often cause a look of bewilderment and perhaps even anger on many faces here at ETSU.
Some may not understand what feminism is; others may wonder why these so-called feminists need an alliance of leadership. What they probably don’t know is that FMLA has been responsible for a large portion of the women’s cultural, political and service oriented events on campus.
In the past, the organization has hosted events such as the F-Word Forum, a panel discussion for the awareness of women’s issues and Get Out Her Vote, a voter registration drive.
FMLA occasionally even hits the road to take political action in our nation’s capitol. In 2005, the organization participated in the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C., as well as the Feminist Majority Foundation Conference in Spring 2007.
The organization is central for women, but more specifically feminism, on campus, and has played an increasingly important role in raising political awareness at ETSU.
The women, as always, speak for themselves: Pat Buck, faculty advisor to FMLA, and Veronica Limeberry, president of FMLA.
Why is FMLA important on campus?
Veronica: I feel like a lot of people, first off, don’t understand what feminism is. They hear that word and run away screaming “lesbian man-hater” or something of the sort. I think FMLA is important to help people understand that feminism is a humanitarian effort for gender equality, not a support group for man-haters.
More importantly, though, I think a lot of people feel that feminism has had its heyday and was a radical movement that does nothing for us now. In reality, feminism is why women can vote, attend college and work in professional jobs (or in any job at all).
Do you feel that some are threatened by your presence on campus?
Veronica: Most of the time, when people know who I am, I get a lot of “I don’t agree with your group, but I … ” and then comes a long list of how they believe in equal values of men and women.
So of course, my response is “you are a feminist, then.”
What is the most important work FMLA has done this semester?
Veronica: Definitely our Get Out Her Vote project. We held a booth before the primaries to encourage voter registration and to raise awareness about the importance of voting for women. We successfully registered several new people (women and men) who will be voting this November.
It was a very inspirational project for me and I felt that we really motivated people, especially women, to become more involved in participating in their government.
The fact that women fought more than 100 years to gain the right to vote but that still today only about half of eligible women voters take time to vote really worries me. People need to be voting; women need to be voting. It’s the only way our interests are preserved.
Ms. Buck, what’s it like to be active in third wave feminism as someone who was active in second wave feminism?
Buck: It’s exciting; I think it’s great. But [second wave feminism] pretty much narrowed down to jobs, legal rights in the workplace and educational institutions – the issues of the money economy. But certain issues got forgotten and so we need to get beyond what second wave turned into.
Did you think at the time that it would continue and evolve in the way it has?
Buck: Yeah, definitely. I suppose I might have thought that my generation within a decade could remake the world entirely; I might have thought that. But I got over that pretty quickly. I certainly considered this an ongoing social force that would continue to be very powerful in the future.
What kind of evolution and improvement has taken place in third wave feminism?
Buck: Young women can be very sure of their opportunities in education and pretty sure of their opportunities for work in the world. They know, for example, that women can run companies and women can hold public office. There’s just tremendously more opportunity that this generation can take for granted, which is a good thing.
Does FMLA embody those improvements?
Buck: Yeah. I think the organization as a whole certainly is all about opportunities for young women. Look at the name … It’s about learning how to get things done within your institution and having the aspiration to transform society as a whole.
What do you think FMLA offers to students, male and female?
Veronica: I think FMLA offers students a place to learn about gender inequity along with the dramatic and often devastating effects it has on society, as well a place to feel comfortable and equal among their peers. We harbor no prejudice and welcome absolutely everyone. I feel that we offer a community where everyone can share their views.
Do you see a community of women on campus?
Buck: I do. Definitely. Some of it centers around the Women’s Studies Program. That’s what I’m most aware of but also the Women’s Resource Center. I think there is solidarity among women faculty. I don’t know if students feel that.
Veronica: I see a lot of female students with similar views, ideas, and hopes but I do not see a strong, connected community. Women tend to vocalize their viewpoints in women’s studies classes and then separate from each other in other fields of study.
What are your hopes for FMLA in the future?
Buck: FMLA is not just about equal rights for women; it’s about social justice for everyone. It is against discrimination on the base of race and sexual orientation.
It is in favor of the preservation of the environment.
The point is that all these things are connected; so my hope is that FMLA could be part of a movement for social justice but also a sustainably just society.
Veronica: I hope to expand FMLA membership by way of awareness of what feminism really is and I hope that we can continue and broaden our activism on campus to promote humanitarian gender equality values.

Among other events, this semester FMLA plans to host a second F-Word Forum, voter registration for the November election and a lecture by Jean Kilbourne, renowned speaker and social theorist.
Kilbourne will lecture on the portrayl of women in advertising on April 16 in Brown Hall Auditorium. This event is co-sponsored by Tri-Iota Honors Society.
FMLA meets on Fridays at 2 p.m. in the Cave of the D.P. Culp Center. All are welcome.

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