Collection Guide
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Calif. State Univ. (Long Beach) Center for Women's Studies ACLU lawsuit records
LSC.2201
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: California State University, Long Beach. Center for Women's Studies ACLU lawsuit records
Creator:
California State University, Long Beach. Center for Women's Studies
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2201
Physical Description:
0.6 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1974-1991
Abstract: The documents contained in this collection range from 1974-1991, focusing on issues facing the Women's Studies Program at
California State Univeristy, Long Beach (CSULB) in the 1980s. In 1982, 13 faculty members and three students filed a lawsuit
with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against CSULB, charging the University with violations of the First and Fourth
Amendments. Formats of materials include meeting notes, court records, pamphlets, newsletters, press clippings, reports, correspondence,
financial and donor information, and education files.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], California State University, Long Beach. Center for Women's Studies ACLU lawuit records (Collection
2201). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Transferred from the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, 2013.
This collection was donated to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives circa the 1990s by an unknown source.
Processed in Chicano Studies Research Center circa 2013 as part of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive project at UCLA. Further
physical processing and finding aid completed by Khang Nguyen and Mario A. Gallardo in the Center for Primary Research and
Training (CFPRT), under the supervision of Courtney Dean, 2019.
The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA is an outreach and collection-building partnership between the June L. Mazer Lesbian
Archives, the UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW) and the UCLA Library. These collections expand the pool of primary
source materials available to researchers and to the community at large. This partnership was initiated by CSW and is funded
by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to inventory, organize, preserve, and digitize more than eighty Mazer collections
pertaining to lesbian and feminist activism and writings.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9002365
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) was founded in 1949. Its Center for Women's Studies was created in 1972. During
the 1980s, with the rising tide of conservative and traditional values, the Women's Studies Program was a constant target
of harassment for teaching subjects on feminism and lesbians. These attacks came to a peak in 1982 when the Vice-President
of CSULB, with the assistance of other anti-feminist persons and associations of interest, announced they would restructure
the Women's Studies Program to include more traditional views of femininity. The restructuring included removing the program
director, Dr. Sondra Hale, and Women's Center director, Denise Wheeler. This would be the catalyst for the 1982 lawsuit filed
by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Women's Studies Program.
The documents contained in this collection range from 1974-1991, focusing on issues facing the Women's Studies Program at
California State Univeristy, Long Beach (CSULB) in the 1980s. The collection contains materials relating to the Women's Studies
staff and faculty's legal fight over control of the department, particularly the 1982 lawsuit in which 13 faculty members
and three students filed a suit with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against CSULB, charging the University with
violations of the First and Fourth Amendments. Materials include CSULB Women's Studies clippings, "Sandra Hale v. Board of
Trustees" materials, financial records, ACLU Foundation Account materials, correspondence, and lawsuit press clippings related
to this court case circa 1982. The majority of materials in the collection concern the coordinated attacks by conservative
groups against the CSULB Women's Studies Program, in the name of traditional values. These repeated attacks targeted courses
related to feminism and lesbian studies, along with their staff and faculty.
Materials maintain their existing order.
California State University, Long Beach, Center for Women's Studies records (LSC 1817) . Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women's studies -- United States.
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA.
California State University, Long Beach. Center for Women's Studies