The Feminist Collective held its first weekly meeting Sept. 17 at The Grill. Among the items discussed, besides a new meeting place, was how the less than 10 members in attendance could make a definite and positive impact on campus policy this year. The feminist collective wants to “create a safer environment for women, and, also, for everybody,” says President Maria Siino. Siino, a 19-year-old sophomore, and former Collective vice president, has succeeded SFUAD alum and Collective founder Julia Griffin as the club’s top administrator. Griffin, who now lives and works in Humboldt County, Calif., says of Siino, “Maria is a lot of intensity in a very small package…I know she has the fortitude, the sense of humor and the imagination to run this group…I trust her to pick the right future for the Collective.” Siino, in her new role, views herself as a facilitator in service to the needs of the Collective, its members and the student population. “I hold a lot of the responsibility, but I try not to maintain all the power,” Siino says. Her leadership style is meant to cultivate an inclusive atmosphere, and to ensure that lack of official position, or the holding of a position lower in the hierarchy, does not preclude any potentially valuable contributions. “We want to make sure that no one’s voice goes unheard,” Siino says. Among those voices is sophomore studio arts major Shelby Criswell, know on Facebook as Buncle Shelborp. “I joined the Collective because there is a big need to redefine the word ‘feminism’ and show people it’s not a dirty word,” Criswell says. “To me, feminism encompasses so much more than the struggle of women. It’s the fight for equality of everyone…it’s the advocacy of justice for survivors of...

The National Atomic Testing Museum sits on East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas, NV. From there one can travel 65 miles northwest by charter bus to the Nevada National Security Site and take a general interest tour sponsored by the Energy Department. However, before the NNSS became a respite from casino floors and buffet lines, it was known as the Nevada Test Site, and was a destination for contention—particularly between anti-nuclear protest groups and Department officials. In 1988, on this very site, Lisa Adler was arrested, jailed and charged with a misdemeanor for trespassing on government property. Though a misdemeanor, at a federal level this charge carries a potential penalty of up to one year in jail. Adler managed 24 hours and community service. Today, in Santa Fe, Adler teaches political theory for the liberal arts department at Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Since 2002, when SFUAD was still the College of Santa Fe, Adler has covered a wide range of subjects including global politics, feminist theory and, currently, social movements for civil rights. Adler’s arrest in Nevada wasn’t her only confrontation with the Establishment. Her career in political agitation spans almost the entirety of the 1980s and was centered on women’s equality. In college, Adler founded her own women’s rights organization called POWER—People’s Organization for Women’s Equal Rights. “We just really liked the acronym,” Adler says. POWER advocated for reproductive rights, and participated in many events such as the famous Take Back the Night marches. “Women are denied a sense of safety,” Adler says, and these marches were designed to raise public awareness of sexual assault and rape, according to the organization’s website. Created by European women’s groups in the 1960s, TBTN marches made their way to the U.S. by the 70s,...