News

Rape Kits Data, By the Numbers

A five month CBS News Investigation has found a staggering number of rape kits -- a collection of swabs and clothing that provide DNA evidence -- have never been sent to crime labs for testing.

Below are the findings from over 16 states and cities nationwide.

ALABAMA

According to the Birmingham Police Department there are at least 2,100 rape kits in storage but the department does not know if they are tested or untested.

ALASKA

Officials at the Anchorage Police Department told CBS News they don't know how many kits, tested or untested they have in storage.

ARIZONA

According to the Phoenix Police Department there are 4,100 rape kits in the property and evidence storage facilities. The department tells CBS News it does not know how many of these kits are tested or untested. These are rape kits where law enforcement has not requested testing.

CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department’s Scientific Services Bureau have had a historic problem processing rape kits. At last check the LAPD had tested thousands of kits but were still working their way through a remaining 2,937.

However, LAPD’s new Chief Charles Beck says the department now tests all kits. Beck says efforts to reduce the backlog have “resulted in 405 hits (suspect identifications)” in the FBI DNA database.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department sent a statement to CBS News saying the number of untested kits in their possession is now at 3,777, down from 4,673 due to ongoing testing.

The Sheriff’s Department is testing the backlogged kits with the aid of federal funding. The department says they anticipate the full backlog will be cleared by 2011.

San Diego: Earlier this summer the San Diego Police Department told CBS News it was in the process of counting its untested kits in its storage facility. One San Diego law enforcement source who did not want to be identified explained the reason for the counting, “'we don't want to be on the front page of the L.A. Times.” This is in reference to the negative attention Los Angeles received from its rape kit backlog.

However, by this fall, a spokesperson for the San Diego PD told CBS News it had stopped counting in order to meet other priorities, according to Lt. Richard O’Hanlon of the San Diego PD.

Michael Grubb from the San Diego Police Department Crime Lab says the department does not test every kit. For example, he writes in an email, kits will not be tested if the “detective has information from the prosecutor’s office that the prosecutor will not take the case to court. In these cases, we are not asked to examine the kit.”

Oakland: This year the Oakland Police Department did a "hard census" of their untested kits in storage and found 489 untested kits from "solvable" stranger rapes that they realized they should have tested but never did.

These kits date back to 2003. Ten in 2003, 108 in 2004, 102 in 2005, 90 in 2006, 69 in 2007, 69 in 2008, and 42 in 2009, according to the Oakland Police Department Crime Lab.

Why were the kits never tested? "It was not a priority for the Oakland Police Department," says Lt. Kevin Wiley of the Oakland PD’s Special Victims Unit. Wiley says back in 2002 and 2003, the department had only 4 to 6 sex crimes investigators who were overwhelmed by individual caseloads of 659 cases per investigator. Recommended caseload for a sex crimes investigator is 10 to 15. Wiley said due to the backlog in sex crimes investigations it was not unusual for a victim to report a rape and not hear from an investigator for a full year.

Today, Wiley says his investigators are down to about 55 to 70 cases per investigator. Wiley adds that now all kits are tested, even cases where the question seems to be that of consent, not of identity, but he says it will take the department about two years to plow through the 489 untested kits they recently uncovered. Lab director Mary Gibbons says she will have to shift resources around to accommodate these older kits as well as the everyday caseload but she says that testing the older kits has value, "These kits have a story to tell and there could be connections that you would never know of but for this evidence,” Gibbons said.

FLORIDA

The Jacksonville Sheriff's office says they don't know how many tested or untested kits they have in storage.

ILLINOIS

The Chicago Police Department tells CBS News that it sends all of its rape kits to the Illinois State Police lab for testing and requests that they be processed. Chicago stores untested kits that are "unfounded," meaning the victim might have recanted or never responded to department investigators. But the department does not know how many of those kits are in the department's possession. If the Chicago PD does not want a kit to be tested then the Illinois State Police lab returns that evidence to the Chicago PD.

MARYLAND

The Baltimore Police Department says they have no way to estimate how many untested kits are in storage. Lab director Francis Chiafari says the reasons for not testing kits include: “Non-probative evidence/cases, uncooperative victim, false statements resulting in unfounding, detective not requesting processing for investigative reasons, reclassification of the type of crime…”

INDIANA

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, there are currently 1,356 rape kits in storage but the department does not know which kits are tested and which are untested.

Sergeant Paul Thompson of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told CBS in an email, “The kits would not be tested if the victim did not report the incident or chose not to pursue prosecution or cooperate in the investigation.” Kits are destroyed if the responsible officer says they can be destroyed.

MICHIGAN

In Detroit, the Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy recently said she is worried about 10,000 untested rape kits in the Detroit evidence storage facility.

John Roach, a spokesman for the Detroit Police Department, says there are really about 7,000 kits in storage with an estimated 5,800 kits that are untested. He attributes this to cases where there is a known alleged assailant, no charges being pressed, a guilty plea or insufficient evidence to proceed.

MINNESOTA

In Minneapolis, with the help of a new federal grant, the department and the Hennepin County Attorney’s office recently started looking through untested kits in storage and found there were kits from stranger rapes where the victim did not cooperate that were never tested. At the urging of Steve Redding, Hennepin County Attorney, and Lt. Nancy Dunlap, the head of the Sex Crimes Unit at the Minneapolis Police Department, the kits were put in for testing. Almost immediately it yielded results and Minneapolis law enforcement was able to put eight men behind bars. In an effort to find more cases of this kind, the prosecutor and the sex crimes unit are combing through 8,500 rape cases reported since 1991 looking for stranger rapes where the evidence was never tested.

NEW MEXICO

At the Albuquerque Police Department lab there are 1,116 rape kits from active cases that have not been tested that are up to nine years old. These kits have not been tested for the following reasons, according to department spokesman Paul Feist: the suspect pled guilty and the kit wasn't needed; charges were dropped; or the victim changed her mind and did not want to prosecute. The statute of limitations for rape in New Mexico is nine years. After nine years the department can destroy the rape kits.

NEW YORK

New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner tests every single rape kit that accompanies a report to the police at the request of the New York District Attorney’s offices and the New York Police Department.

OHIO

The Cincinnati Police Department has 1,248 rape kits in storage but does not know if they are tested or untested.

The Columbus Police Department does not know how many untested kits it has in storage.

Cleveland Police Department also does not know how many untested kits it has in storage and sends all of its DNA requests to the state lab.

PENNSYLVANIA

Joseph Szarka, Lab Manager at Philadelphia Police Department’s Forensic Science Center, tells CBS News that his department, like New York City, tests every rape kit. “How could we not?” he asked in a phone interview. Szarka described to CBS a series of cases where even testing acquaintance cases illuminated key evidence.

RHODE ISLAND

The state lab at the Rhode Island Department of Health told CBS News in a statement it has 1,050 untested sexual assault cases in storage that will be tested if the police departments that submitted these kits ask for testing to be done.

TEXAS

At the Houston Police Department there are 3,846 kits in storage that have not been tested, according to a department spokesperson. A Houston Police Department spokesman told CBS the kits have not been tested because the kits are taken from victims where the identity of the suspect is not in question, where the department is not pursuing prosecution or the kits are provided by victims who later recanted.

The San Antonio Police Department tells CBS News in a statement that they have 5,191 untested rape kits in storage.

Warmer Climates: Women in Community Colleges

Recently, an article in Time Magazine raised the question, “Is there a climate-change tipping point?” As the article suggested, some scientists believe that the global ecological climate is akin to a system on a fulcrum. Typically balanced around an unstable equilibrium, the system, once permanently destabilized, accelerates swiftly away from the status quo. In nuclear physics, the concept of “critical mass” plays a similar role: a “critical mass” is the minimum amount of material needed to support a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Once started, the reaction accelerates without external support. These images are compelling—and if Malcolm Gladwell is to be believed, they illustrate social as well as physical realities. But do social systems have “tipping points”? Is there such a thing as a “critical mass” for institutional climate change?

When it comes to the climate for women, no institutions provide a better natural laboratory for testing these questions than community colleges. Community colleges have higher percentages of women students, faculty, and administrators than their four-year counterparts, raising compelling questions about their climates for gender equity. Do women gravitate toward community colleges because they do, indeed, provide more hospitable workplace environments? And if so, have their climates been affected by the existence of a “critical mass” of women? This issue’s authors explore these questions with results that are mixed but instructive, pointing toward the strengths of this unique educational sector as well as its sources of imbalance.

Taking up these questions explicitly, contributing author Linda Serra Hagedorn finds evidence that women have indeed reached a critical mass in the community college sector—but that women and men in adjunct positions, despite their similarly dominant numbers, are still subject to a chill. Taking a different viewpoint, Jaime Lester suggests that gender norms continue to negatively affect women’s experiences in the community college sector, despite their numerical equity. Still, as both Traci Schlesinger and Charlene Dukes point out, community colleges can be sites of unique opportunity for women students and administrators—and, as Christine Iijima Hall argues, they could teach four-year colleges a few lessons about serving their constituents. Collectively, these authors illustrate what some of these lessons might be, while also challenging the community college sector to continue improving its climate for female faculty, administrators, and students.

Institutional climate is notoriously difficult to measure, and the climate at community colleges is no exception. Yet as this issue’s authors affirm, women’s high numbers in community colleges suggest potential warming in that sector that may eventually extend across institutional types. In this instance, warming would be a welcome change.

What's Being Taught In College Rape Prevention Programs?

Asking men to visualize being raped is a graphic way to prove a point-but is it an effective strategy to prevent assault? College campuses around the country are beginning to adopt prevention programs and a new article examines their tactics.

On Sunday, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece exploring the struggles of colleges trying to measure the effectiveness of programs designed to reduce rape and sexual assault. These programs have shifted the focus from women to men - and have stepped up the idea that men can assist in preventing third party assaults.

Click here for the rest of the article and video clips:

First Forensic Nurses Week Highlights the Problems of Violence

Nov. 9. 2009 - “Violence is a Health Care Problem” is the theme of the first Forensic Nurses Week, taking place November 9-13, 2009. This week, which is expected to become an annual event, was created to honor and celebrate forensic nurses. This year’s theme reflects data showing that up to 37.5 percent of health care costs may be the result of violence, and research such as the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study that found a strong correlation between childhood experiences of violence and adult health problems such as diabetes and tobacco addiction.

Forensic nurses work to combat these problems, properly care for the victims and provide information and assistance to law enforcement to help them prosecute violent offenders.

The International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) Web site defines forensic nursing as “the application of nursing science to public or legal proceedings.” Nurses in this specialty may work in a variety of settings and situations. Many care for victims of sexual assault and other violent attacks in emergency medicine, or work with victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, child abuse or natural disasters. Some hold positions as coroners or legal nurse consultants for attorneys.

“Forensic nurses build upon their medical skills of patient care and add skills in injury identification, evaluation of the nature and scope of injuries, documentation of the patient’s incident, and collection and proper storage of biological and physical evidence,” explained Carey Goryl, IAFN executive director. “They also learn to interface with law enforcement and attorneys and provide factual and expert testimony. “

In the United States, the training and education of forensic nurses varies, but most begin as a sexual assault nurse examiner, which typically requires 40 hours of classroom training followed by a 40-hour clinical training.

“Nurses can also go beyond this initial training and become board certified,” Goryl commented. “The two most common certifications are the SANE-A® and SANE-P®. These are professional board certifications for a sexual assault nurse examiner with a specialty in the care of adult and adolescent patients (SANE-A) or pediatric patients (SANE-P). Both are the earned credentials that recognize that the highest standard of forensic nursing for sexual assault nurse examiners has been achieved. To become certified, nurses must meet the eligibility criteria determined by the IAFN Forensic Nursing Certification Board as well as take and pass an examination that is offered bi-annually.”

“Registered nurses can also consider taking a death investigator course, but first they should look to see if any of their local communities hire nurses as death investigators.”

Goryl believes that every emergency department should, minimally, have one forensic nurse on staff.

IAFN, which has 3,100 members, including 192 from 26 countries outside the United States, held their 17th annual scientific assembly October 21-24, 2009, in Atlanta, Ga. The conference had a record 640 attendees and nearly 40 exhibitors from across the globe.

“The conference was a great opportunity to network with people from the U.S., Canada and around the world,” remarked Kim Day, RN, FNE A/P, SANE-A, SAFE technical assistance coordinator at IAFN. “What stood out to me was that no matter their specialty or where they were from, every forensic nurse’s focus was on caring for the patient. The conference renewed my passion for the work.”

IAFN’s 18th annual scientific assembly will be held October 27-30, 2010, in Pittsburgh, Penn.

“It is important for nurses considering forensics to realize that in this field you need to educate yourself, your coworkers, and the public about the need for forensic nurses,” said Day, who has worked in forensics 11 of the 31 years of her nursing career. “Also, there is a community piece. You interact with a broad spectrum of people and educate the public about violence prevention.”

Day urges medical staff who treat victims of violence to be thorough in their assessment of the patient and in documentation, because of the criminal justice ramifications. Additionally, they should be conscious not to destroy evidence by cutting through bullet holes or stab wounds in clothing or carelessly handling items that might reveal fingerprints.

“Crime and violence bring together two of the most powerful systems that can impact daily life: health and justice,” remarked Goryl. “Forensic nurses are not and never should be extensions of law enforcement or relegated to the role of collection of evidence. It is important to remember that in forensic nursing, it is nursing that is first and foremost and is the primary dictator of practice.”

Rape evidence shelved?

Detroit police handling of sex assault kits troubles Worthy

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy wants an independent investigation into what she says may be thousands of kits holding evidence of possible sexual assaults that were found in a Detroit Police Department evidence storage facility.

In a Sept. 8 letter to Police Chief Warren Evans, Worthy said there may be more than 10,000 so-called rape kits and hundreds of other pieces of evidence warehoused, unanalyzed, in a police "overflow property room." The situation raises fears that cases could be affected if the evidence is challenged in court, Worthy said.

Police spokesman John Roach said today that Evans has an internal investigation under way, and that so far, police have found no mishandling of evidence and no cases that have been tainted. Roach also said the evidence is secure.

But Worthy contends in her letter that though the issue predates Evans' administration, the investigation should be handled by an outside agency. Worthy's letter also asks for an immediate meeting, but none has been set.

The police crime lab was shut down a year ago because of an extraordinarily high error rate in firearms cases.

William Winters III, president of the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association, said it may be time for federal authorities to look into the lab and the handling of evidence. "They have the money and resources," he said.

Worthy wants an outsider to conduct police evidence probe.

The discredited Detroit Police Department crime lab continues to haunt the criminal justice system a year after it was closed because of errors and mishandled evidence.

Officials have to act decisively to assess thousands of sexual-assault evidence kits found in an evidence facility, and it's going to take an outsider to do it, Worthy told Evans in an urgent letter sent this month.

The problems that closed the police lab "have already raised too many issues within the courts with how evidence has been processed and tested," Worthy wrote in the Sept. 8 letter.

She called the evidence handling "alarming." Worthy's spokesman, Jack Fennessey, said Friday that she was stunned by the reports. He did not return calls today.

But Detroit police spokesman John Roach said that, so far, the department's preliminary investigation shows the kits include ones "already processed for criminal investigations, as well as a large number of kits that never required processing because the cases were resolved without the need for DNA evidence."

Those unprocessed kits include cases in which a person didn't want to pursue the charges or the prosecutor declined to issue a warrant, he said. Other cases ended with a plea or involved assaults that would not have left DNA, Roach said.

Boxes of evidence found.

Worthy's letter, however, offered a grimmer view, of an evidence room that to her "understanding," was filled with sexual-assault evidence kits, known as rape kits, and other evidence that had not yet been analyzed. The problems have been worsened by the destruction of other, unspecified evidence that needed to be retested because of "the sub par work conducted by the lab," Worthy added in her letter.

Boxes of rape kits were found in an evidence room several weeks ago during a routine inspection of police facilities by Michigan State Police.

The evidence warehouse also had hundreds of other pieces of evidence and case files, some of which, Worthy wrote, is "unmarked and not catalogued in any intelligible way."

If any of the kits are used in court, they are open to challenge "on a number of levels, and my office needs to know the clear gravity of this situation," Worthy wrote.

Roach said the internal probe was under way before Worthy's letter. "Once the internal affairs report is finalized, the chief will determine whether an outside review is necessary, and he will share our findings with the prosecutor," Roach said today.

He said judgment should be withheld until the investigation is concluded, and the department "takes sexual assaults very seriously and is committed to making sure all evidence is handled appropriately."

The lab was closed last year after an audit found an error rate of 10% in firearms cases. The entire lab was shut down out of fear the slipshod practices extended to other testing.

Detroit reported 1,264 rapes from 2006 through 2008, according to the latest FBI statistics released last week.

Bigger than just Michigan.

Worthy acknowledged that any problems with the rape kits existed before Evans was tapped as police chief, but she said in her letter that an outside agency should lead any investigation. Without independent eyes, the situation "is a huge problem for us, the bench and other parties in the criminal justice system," she wrote.

State Police spokeswoman Shannon Akans said today that it's up to the Detroit Police Department to request an audit. No request has been made.

"We don't know how many of the kits were analyzed or not analyzed," Akans said.

Worthy also raised questions in her letter about the department's practices in entering information in rape and other criminal cases into a national DNA databank.

William Winters III, president of the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association, said Worthy's concerns are justified, given the lab's history and the implications for the national databank. "This can affect the whole country," Winters said.

Scholarshp Alert!

Students with science or math majors planning to study abroad in Spring or Summer 2010, take notice - There is a new government scholarship available for you, but the priority application deadline is *October 6th, 2009*!

The scholarship may be used for ANY credit-bearing Spring/Summer 2010 program abroad, but you must be majoring in a STEM field, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering or Math.

Other requirements:

• US Citizen
• Undergraduate student attending a U.S. institution of higher education
• Receiving a Federal Pell Grant at the time of application, or able to provide proof that you will be receiving a Pell Grant during the term of study abroad
• Currently applying or accepted to a study abroad program for which you will receive academic credit at EMU
• Studying abroad for at least four weeks and no more than one academic year in one country
• Studying abroad in a country not currently under a US Department of State Travel Warning or in Cuba

 

The online application is available at

http://www.iie.org/gilman

 

During the 2009-2010 academic year Gilman will award over 1,700 scholarships. The Gilman website notes that applications for the Spring/Summer 2010 awards will be available during both the current semester and next semester application cycles. However, students are strongly encouraged to submit their applications during the first application cycle (by the October 6, 2009 deadline) to ensure timely notification of their award. Applicants who miss the October 6, 2009 deadline can apply during the second award cycle, but they will not be notified of their award status until the first week of May.

For more information regarding eligible study abroad applications, please visit the Academic Programs Abroad website and contact our office as soon as possible!

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips

Guaranteed to Work!

1. Don't put drugs in people's drinks in order to control their behavior.
2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!
3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!
4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.
5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON'T ASSAULT THEM!
6. Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.
7. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.
8. Always be honest with people! Don't pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don't communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.
9. Don't forget: you can't have sex with someone unless they are awake!
10. Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone "on accident" you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.

And, ALWAYS REMEMBER: if you didn't ask permission and then respect the answer the first time, you are committing a crime- no matter how "into it" others appear to be.

HIRING: HOPE Hospitality & Warming Center

HOPE Hospitality and Warming Center, Inc. was founded in 1998 as a community response to an individual freezing to death in downtown Pontiac, Michigan. The organization began with the mission to create a place where people struggling with homelessness would be welcomed, find warmth, and have access to support services. Since this time, the center has provided seasonal emergency shelter for individuals in northern Oakland County, turning no one away.

WE ARE HIRING! Click here for job descriptions, requirements, and qualifications.

Sudan Court to Define Indecent Dress for Women

NAIROBI, Kenya — This is not about pants, Lubna Hussein insists. It is about principles. A woman should be able to wear what she wants and not be publicly whipped for it, says Mrs. Hussein, a defiant Sudanese journalist, and on Monday her belief will be put to the test. Mrs. Hussein has been charged in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, with indecent dress, a crime that carries a $100 fine and 40 lashings. She was arrested in July, along with 12 other women, who were caught at a cafe wearing trousers.

Sudan is partially ruled by Islamic law, which emphasizes modest dress for women. Mrs. Hussein, 34, has pleaded not guilty and is daring the Sudanese authorities to punish her.

“I am Muslim; I understand Muslim law,” Mrs. Hussein said in an interview. “But I ask: what passage in the Koran says women can’t wear pants? This is not nice.”

Mrs. Hussein even printed up invitation cards for her initial court date in July and sent out e-mail messages asking people to witness her whipping, if it came to that. She said she wanted the world to see how Sudan treated women.

Hundreds of Sudanese women — many wearing pants — swarmed in front of the court where the trial was supposed to take place, protesting that the law was unfair. Twice now, the trial has been postponed. Some of the other women arrested with Mrs. Hussein have pleaded guilty and were lashed as a result. Past floggings have been carried out with plastic whips that leave permanent scars.

“The flogging, yes, it causes pain,” Mrs. Hussein said. “But more important, it is an insult. This is why I want to change the law.”

The law in contention here is Article 152 of Sudan’s penal code. Concisely stated, the law says that up to 40 lashes and a fine should be assessed anyone “who commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing.”

The question is: what exactly is indecent clothing?

In Sudan, some women wear veils and loose fitting dresses; others do not. Northern Sudanese, who are mostly Muslim, are supposed to obey Islamic law, while southern Sudanese, who are mostly Christian, are not. Mrs. Hussein argues that Article 152 is intentionally vague, in part to punish women.

Rabie A. Atti, a Sudanese government spokesman, said the law was meant for the opposite reason, to “protect the people.”

“We have an act controlling the behavior of women and men so the behavior doesn’t harm others, whether it’s speech or dress or et cetera,” he said.

But, he insisted, Mrs. Hussein must have done something else to run afoul of the authorities, besides wearing pants.

“You come to Khartoum and you will see for yourself,” he said. “Many women, in offices and wedding ceremonies, wear trousers.”

“Thousands of girls wear the trousers,” he added.

Asked what other offenses Mrs. Hussein may have committed, Mr. Atti said that the case file was secret and that he did not know.

Mrs. Hussein countered that she did not do anything else that might have violated the law, and that countless people from inside and outside Sudan are supporting her.

“It’s well known that Sudanese women are pioneers in the history of women’s rights in this region, and that we won our rights a long time ago because of our awareness, open mind, good culture and struggle,” she said.

The last time Sudan’s courts handled a case that attracted such international attention, they found a compromise solution. A British schoolteacher faced up to 40 lashes and six months in prison for allowing her students to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, which was perceived as an insult to Islam. But after being sentenced to 15 days in jail, she was soon pardoned by the Sudanese president.

A widow with no children, Mrs. Hussein is a career journalist who recently worked as a public information assistant for the United Nations in Sudan. She quit, she said, because she did not want to get the United Nations embroiled in her case. But Sudan, given its renewed interest in normalizing relations with the United States, might be reluctant to draw much international ire by harshly punishing her.

Protesters are expected to come out on her behalf again when Mrs. Hussein returns to court Monday morning. She says her family is also behind her.

“My mother supports me,” she said, “but she is worried for me and prays for me.”

Iran Confirms First Woman Minister

The Iranian Parliament approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee for Health Minister,Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, yesterday. Dastjerdi is the country's first woman to be appointed to the cabinet since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. The nominations of two other women,

Fatemeh Ajorlou for the welfare and social security minister and Susan Keshavarz for the education minister position were blocked, reported the BBC.

After her nomination was approved, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi reportedly said, "I think today women reached their long-standing dream of having a woman in the cabinet to pursue their demands...This is an important step for women and I hold my head high." During the confirmation process, she also said, "Women must have a greater role in the country's affairs...Where there are women and men working together, miracles take place," according to the Guardian UK.

Dastjerdi is reportedly a hardline conservative who has previously proposed gender segregated healthcare. She is a gynecologist and currently teaches at the Tehran University

of Medical Sciences, where she is also a member of the Medical Ethics Board Committee,reported Bloomberg.

Ahmadinejad was sworn in to his second term in office August 5, following widespread massive protests both in Iran and internationally after June's disputed presidential election. Women played a major role in the public uprising that followed the election and were particularly visible during the election campaigns.

There was strong support among women for reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi whose wife, Zahra Rahnavard, played an especially visible role in her husband's campaign and continued to speak out during post-election protests. There is widespread speculation that Ahmadinejad's move to appoint women to the cabinet is a means of courting women's support after the post-election turmoil.

Introducing, A Program Coordinator

The Women's Resource Center has been on a long journey that started in the early 90's. We were first recognized as a student organization called Womyn's Space and we have definitely come a long way since then. For the last few years we have been recognized as a department, and we have been running strictly on the hard work and dedication of students ONLY.

We are fortunate to announce that we now have a full-time Program Coordinator! While this position will be temporary for one full school year, we are working hard to find grants and other sources that will help us extend this position further into the future! At this time, however, we are incredibly grateful to all the people who have made this uphill battle possible. We are so thankful that we have this position at this time, even if it's for one year.

We ask all of YOU to continue to support the WRC and all of our programs, events and our growth. THANK YOU!