UC-Merced hiring admin to support feminist ‘activism’

The University of California-Merced is hiring an administrator well-versed in feminism to support “student driven events” such as “activism” and “political activities.”

In a recent job posting, UC-Merced specifies that it is seeking a candidate for the newly created position of Coordinator of Women’s Programs, who will be responsible for planning “social justice” programming and supporting “student driven” activism.

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The coordinator will work to support the school’s Womxn’s Programs. Housed in the Office of Student Life, select Womxn’s Programs at UC-Merced include an annual “Womxn in the Wilderness Backpacking Trip” and a “Womxn’s Empowerment Conference.”

According to its website, the office deliberately chooses to misspell women “to be more imclusive [sic] of the diversity within the category of womxn.”

The job posting states that working knowledge of social justice theories is required, specifically mentioning “Feminist Transformational Leadership,” “Intersectionality Theory,” and “2nd-4th wave feminism.” Notably, the description omits reference to the first wave of feminism, the wave that was focused on equal voting rights.

[RELATED: Student: Mainstream feminism ‘excludes’ many feminists]

The job will pay up to $54,000 plus benefits, the same rate as the school is offering to pay its inaugural “Social Justice Initiative Program Coordinator,” a position the the school is also seeking to fill.

“The Program Coordinator will develop and implement Social Justice programming...related to identity exploration/intersection of identities, power, privilege, in the areas of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, etc.,” the job listing notes.

The listing also suggests that UC-Merced may be planning to spend even more taxpayer funds to create “multi-identity centers.” Unlike some other schools that host stand-alone Black Resource Centers or LGBTQ Centers, UC-Merced only offers identity-specific resources within its Office of Student Life.

The job description suggests that the school may be creating stand-alone centers, but the school did not respond to an inquiry from Campus Reform seeking information about the multi-identity centers and how the new positions are funded.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen