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As a women's studies major and co-facilitator of the Women's Studies Student Organization, I can't express how thrilled I am that the Institute for Women's Studies will be moving into Gilbert Hall.

The administration listened to the many students who raised voices to ask for a new building, and it feels great to know our weeks of organizing, petitioning and rallying around the issue have resulted in such prompt action by the University.

Though I'm seriously impressed with the administration's response, I must call on all women's studies students, faculty, staff and sympathizers to remember the years of work that set the stage for our few short weeks of activism; for seven years, our faculty members have worked hard behind the scenes to get women's studies out of Benson. Although we are grateful about the move to North Campus, I must also stress our work as student activists is not done. Because we have devoted so much time to ensuring adequate classroom space for our intellectual pursuits in women's studies, our efforts to establish a women's center on campus have gone by the wayside.

Students at the state's flagship institution should not have to divert all of our grassroots organizing efforts into rallying for new academic space; basic accommodations for academic departments should be a given. Since the administration has responded to our calls for a new building, we can return our attention to other, more appropriate, organizing activities.

According to the Women's Center Proposal written by the spring 2007 women's studies capstone course, "six institutes of higher education in the state boast campus-based women's centers - the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory, Georgia State University, Spelman College, Clark College and Georgia College and State University."

A women's center, which in this proposal is defined as "a space specifically for the women members of the University community … that addresses the specific needs of women on campus in a broad-based, collaborative and non-academic setting" would illustrate the University's commitment to diversity and equality while enabling the Institute of Women's Studies to return to its appropriate role as an academic department for feminist scholarship and research.

I applaud the administration for responding to this issue promptly. The move to Gilbert is much more than we could have hoped for, especially in the current economic climate. I know I can speak for the Institute for Women's Studies and WSSO when I say we are truly grateful we're moving out of Benson.

However, after the initial excitement wears away, we all need to remember that if we want change, we must use our positions as students to rally for action.

Our voices matter, and we should use them to ensure the administration hears and understands all our needs.

- April Greene is a senior from Tunnel Hill majoring in women's studies.