“It’s a very small community, so you do get a lot of personal attention with professors and your colleagues. You work together and think about questions together,” he says.

Concentrators say that WGS is different from other disciplines for the personal nature of the questions it asks about gender, race, and identity. For them, the open and tolerant way in which these questions are examined makes WGS a safe haven for individuals whose values and interests might otherwise be marginalized by traditional social constructs.

“It’s important to create a space where you’re not going to be ostracized,” Teake says. “I feel like a lot of people who do WGS are disillusioned that they can’t bring up these issues in other concentrations.”

—Staff writer Matthew T. Lowe can be reached at mlowe@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Kevin J. Wu can be reached at kwu@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction.

CORRECTION: OCT. 15, 2011

The Oct. 14 article "WGS Fosters Community" incorrectly stated that Women's Studies was established at Harvard in 1978. In fact, the program was established in 1987.