Beki Park is lying on the gray couch of the Northwestern’s Women’s Center, a tiny house on the corner of Sheridan and Foster, enunciating.

“Va-gi-na,” says the current director of Women’s Coalition, the syllables rolling crisply off of her tongue. “What’s the big deal about that word? Nothing.”

From the other corner of the couch, Katy Quissell, the former director of the group, laughs, commenting on how the public’s discomfort with that word and other words like it often leads to misconceptions about feminism.

The organization seeks to break what Quissell considers “the stereotypical view of feminism” – a man-hating, angry and blindly pro-choice movement – by encouraging diverse discussion of women’s issues to raise awareness. As an activist group, Women’s Co relies on grassroots work and a variety of on-campus programming to promote equality between the sexes and educate students about issues ranging from rape to childcare in the workplace to the availability of contraceptives. Of ll the other organizations that promote women’s issues at NU, Women’s Co is the most visible to students, organizing activities such as the Vagina Carnival and tonight’s Take Back the Night .

Referring to her experience with the media’s response to February’s Vagina Carnival, Park talks about a conservative Chicago radio show that lambasted the idea of the Vagina Carnival by reading an article from The Daily Northwestern on-air. Following the radio show, Park received an e-mail from a listener calling her “a poor excuse for a woman.”

Quissell discusses a column in The Daily on Feb. 21 that criticized the feminist movement for focusing too much on female sexuality, as opposed to the “social construction” of gender, by using such symbolic language as “vagina.”

“‘The Vagina Monologues’ were about so much more than sex,” Quissell says, listing the local, national and international women’s issues addressed through the carnival’s programming. “It’s frustrating that the only thing (the columnist) picked up on was the sex portion when we do so many other things. There was a context behind every single game and activity.”

Quissell and Park’s frustration with the public perception of the Vagina Carnival illustrates their greater concerns about how Women’s Co is viewed on campus.

“Sometimes we feel like the campus is trying to set the agenda for us,” Park says. “They almost want us to be reactive, and that’s not what it’s about.”

What it is about is constant activism: According to the coalition’s brochure, the organization believes in “many forms of political activism.”

So what distinguishes activism from pure reactivity?

Knowledge, especially the kind that Quissell and Park just can’t seem to keep bottled up. They periodically digress to discuss the importance of intellectual activism as well as the theoretical background behind feminism. Quissell rattles off facts and figures about late-term abortions, acquaintance rape on college campuses and the “formal equality” theory of feminism. Meanwhile, Park talks about injustice toward women on an international scale.

Within the group, participatory democracy plays a crucial role in the process of compromising among the political views and ideas of different group members.

“We don’t all agree,” Quissell says, “but dealing with issues is all about having discussions. It’s really important for us to listen to different perceptions.”

But some feel that different perspectives aren’t always recognized by the organization, especially when it comes to abortion. Women’s Co publicly defined itself as an abortion rights advocate last year following the exit of its five-person executive board. Two of the former members did not advocate abortion. The new 15-person executive board voted for the group to “fight to keep abortion legal,” the language used in the Women’s Co brochure.

“I am very alienated from Women’s Co. because of their very specific political views, which is kind of sad because I used to consider myself a feminist,” says Mary Jones, a Weinberg freshman and the publicity chair of the College Republicans. “By not addressing the complexities of the abortion issue, Women’s Co really alienated a lot of women with more moderate views on abortion.”

But Quissell says that part of the reason the coalition only recently defined itself in favor of abortion rights is because of the complex personal situations associated with abortion.

“Context is so important when you’re addressing controversial issues (like abortion),” Quissell says, adding that definition on the abortion issue was important to the validity of Women’s Co not just as a feminist group but as an activist organization in general.

“It was really frustrating because people thought we couldn’t come to a decision,” Quissell says.

Actively advocating abortion rights is one of the very few decisions that Women’s Co. has made through a direct vote rather than via discussion and compromise, says Park. But Park and Quissell say that the purpose of taking a public stance on abortion was not to alienate potential involvement.

“Having a position means that we want women to have as many options as possible,” Quissell says. “Being pro-choice is the only open-minded position (when you) want women to have all of the options that they can.”

Still, the desire of Women’s Co to promote awareness of the choices in women’s lives extends beyond the abortion issue. Park explains that the coalition aims to promote awareness of options in all areas of women’s lives, from access to basic health care to workplace childcare to dealing with cases of sexual assault and rape.

While Women’s Co is more oriented toward student activism, the NU’s Women’s Center seeks to be an open resource for all women on both the Chicago and Evanston campuses. The relationship between the two organizations has “varied from tight to loose depending on the leadership and the needs of Women’s Coalition” since the first Take Back the Night rally in 1988, says Becket Bessolo, program director of the Evanston campus Women’s Center.

The relationship between the 25 to 30 women’s organizations on the Chicago and Evanston campuses is growing stronger as the Women’s Center works to develop a Network of Women, says Elisabeth Lindsay, director of the Chicago office of the Women’s Center. She hopes that this resource will help women’s groups to share ideas more effectively and to save money by avoiding repetitious programming.

The Network currently lists seven undergraduate student organizations that deal specifically with women’s issues, including Women’s Co; emPOWER, the feminist organization of the Greek system; and JUICE, NU’s feminist magazine.

“The magazine is a forum for men and women to express their varying perspectives about gender issues on campus,” says Erin Quinn, a Medill freshman who writes and designs for JUICE. “We don’t have a specific set of guidelines that defines our writers. You don’t have to be a pro-choice man-hater that doesn’t shave to work for us.”

While Women’s Co is not linked formally with either emPOWER or JUICE, Park says that a lot of overlapping involvement exists between the organizations. Additionally, the three groups seek the support of groups outside of those associated with women’s issues.

Jones, who was “shocked” that the College Republicans were so supportive of Take Back the Night, says that she is impressed that so many different campus groups unite to support Take Back the Night.

“When (Women’s Co) really tries and reaches a middle group, they can do so much,” says Jones. “That’s an amazing thing.”

The clock strikes 9 p.m., and Park stretches as she leaves the comfort of the gray couch. She has another meeting to attend, and Quissell has to meet a group of Women’s Co members to distribute fliers for Take Back the Night.

“It’s a misperception that Women’s Co3 is monolithic,” Park says as she gathers her bags. “We’re working with so many different definitions of feminism, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.” nyou