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uwClaire/SarahHarder:working for equarightsBy Mary Howard Leader-Telegram staff4 4By her own description, she is a workhorse.” And her record of achievements, especially in the past 10 years, bears that out.Sarah Harder has worked for womenand minorities as assistant to the chancellor for affirmative action and educational opportunities at the University of Wisconsm-Eau Claire since 1975. She has won some impressive battles for herself and other women, and she is determined to see that more, women gain equality, especially in the area of employment.Her work has brought her recognition as a leading advocate for women's rights, not Only in the state but nationally and internationally as well.Harder also describes herself as a feminist, a word she says should not be associated with the destruction of the traditional family. To her. a feminist is someone who recognizes the job to be done before women gain equality and who is willing to do something about it.One of her first battles toward equality was waged in 1971. She had requested and been denied maternity leave from her English teaching position at UW-Eau Claire. She later fought and won the right to take sick leave during the birth of her child.Through her job at UW-Eau Claire, Harder makes certain the university attracts qualified applicants for staff and faculty positions and that all applicants are given equal chances to vie for those positions.Harder said the interesting aspect of Eau Claire's affirmative action program is that it is both prepares people for job roles and hires them.She is interested in educational opportunity since it is the route of leadership and I want to assist individuals not to be limited in their perspective in age, gender or ethnic background.”Harder said the upper level of administration at the university has been supportive of both affirmative action and equal educational opportunity.Harder also supervises the Continuing Education Academic Skill Center and the American Ethnic Coordinating office, which assists minority students in coping with university life and making use of the resources around them.The academic skill center has a two-prong purpose, Harder explained — to help people become qualified to seek new employment and to give them an even break.Of her work at the university, HarderPeoplementioned three major accomplish ments:One: At this university we have a broad spectrum involved in the commitment to affirmative action as I know of anywhere.”Two: There is a good working relationship with university personnel office. “We have worked cooperatively onprograms to increase sensitivity to the importance of the broader participation of women and minorities.Three: We have worked successfully with academic departments and faculty who are now readier to accept the fact to improve educational background of the student. We have to work with students who have not been served well bv our systems.• •Harder's plans include provision for educational flexibility for the adult learner.We have been dominated by the young student and now we need to do more to explore learning options,” she said. We should re-examine our educational packages and address the needs of course times and degree options. We need to realize that all learning does not have to take place on campus. We need to be more flexible to give credit for learning taking place apart from us but not actually give credit for living.Her efforts have been rewarded in recent years. One of her most coveted accomplishments was being elected cochair of the Continuting Committee of the National Women's Conference. From this election she learned it is very easy to move from the front row to the podium if you are willing to take chances and become involved. She firmly believes that there is a role for women to play in this world.Another award she is quite proud of is the Milwaukee Journal designee as one of 80 Wisconsin men and women identified as Leaders for the 80s.” She was cited for activities related to women’s rights and educational change on behalf of returning adults and the disadvantaged.Harder also is a member of the Eau Claire County League of Women Voters, American Association of University Women, Unitarian Fellowship, public library board and the Women’s Community Center, along with the Wisconsin Women’s Network. She was one of the founders of that coalition.Commenting about Harder's affirmative action work. UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Leonard Haas said, Sarah Harder has done a tremendous job in affirmative action and in her articulate expression of the needs in this area.”He also mentioned that Harder has done an excellent job in total educational opportunity programming, helping non-traditional students and all others into university education,All of her ambitions have not been realized, however, Haas said. Changes are not occuring rapidly at this point, he said, so making affirmative action progress is difficult.Another problem has been the campus location in regard to minority students. Being away from large population centers has “given us a disadvantage in terms of recruiting minority students,” Haas said. “We just haven't met all of our goals yet.”But Harder has done a splendid job in her work and has become nationally and internationally known, he said.Recently, Harder's activity has been pressed toward the family in general. She was a delegate to the Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Children and Families in Madison in March as was a delegate-at-large appointed by President Carter to the White House Conference on Families in Minneapolis in June. That was one of three regional conferences held around the country. Resolutions adopted by the three meetings have been forwarded to the White House for consideration.Harder supported several themes at the family conferences, including increased acknowledgment of the contribution of the career homemaker, especially legal recognition of the economic value of homemaking, and employment policies that enable parents to hold jobs while maintaining strong family life, such things as flexible time and flexible leave policies for both sexes, job-sharing programs, child care and part-time options.At the family conference in Minneapolis she wrote the following resolution, which did not pass in final voting:4 4Government must function to assure protection and rights for all families and family members. Families should be encouraged toward self-suffi-Sarah Harder, affirmative action officerStaff photociency in the exercise of their traditional choices. Every family should make its own decisions regarding its well-being.Every family unit should be supported and its diversity respected in a society which guarantees elimination of discrimination in all areas of government support services and equality of rights under the law. If the family is unwilling or unable to assume those rights, special assistance should be available to support the needs and interests of family members.”The conference was a bitter disappointment for many of the 150 U.S. delegation members who hoped that much would be accomplished in the areas of health, employment and education.Although Harder said politics got in the way of much of the meaningful communication, she said she will view the conference and the forum as one of the most valuable experiences of her life.“There was a shift in our home relationship,” Harder explained. “For the first half of our 15-year marriage, I played the dominate role on the home front, but now he has taken over the greater portion of that role in the past years.”Most recently, Harder took part in the U.N. Decade for Women World Conference in Copenhagen, July 14-30. She was active in both the conference, attended by some 2,000 people, and a non-governmental forum in which participation totaled 8,000.Harder said her many activities have caused her to sacrifice some time with her family.She said her husband, Harry, is a remarkable man” who balances his career as an English professor at UW-Eau Claire with a work load shared with his wife at home.Her children, two sons ages 21 and 19 by her first marriage and a 9-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter, haven’t suffered because of their parents’ careers. In fact, she says, they are quite proud. One of her sons, while registering for classes at UW-Eau Claire, saw two articles about his mother in the Summer Times, a publication of UW-Eau Claire, and was bursting with pride, Harder recalled.Harder does believe career and meaningful family relations can be combined.Food expertsWASHINGTON (UPI) -American colleges and universities will train too few food and agriculture experts in the next five years to meet demand for highly specialized jobs.The Agriculture Department’s Science and Education Administration has issued a warning that job supply will fail to meet demand in several important areas — especially jobs that mustbe filled by persons with doctoral degrees.Fashioncurriculumfor FailThe GreatClassics
Newspaper Details
Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US
Wed, Aug 20, 1980
Page 44
Full Page
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USA 21 Oct 2019
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