Local News in Brief : Rally for Women’s Center

Despite a slight drizzle, nearly 200 USC students and faculty members rallied Thursday in support of establishing a women’s resource center on campus, a proposal that had been rejected by the school administration last month. Among the speakers was Betty Friedan, the feminist leader and a visiting professor at USC’s School of Journalism, who called the lack of such a center “a source of distinct personal pain.”

Its supporters said the center would provide counseling and legal services for women and would become a showcase for women’s artistic and scholarly achievements. But USC officials said that the center would be too costly and that there is no room for it; instead, they have offered to appoint an “ombudsperson” to refer women to services currently available on campus.