In the Trenches: Being Conservative in a Liberal Classroom Posted: Jan 28, 2010 After my freshman year in college, I made the decision to spend the first half of my summer on campus to get a required chemistry course out of the way. "If I'm here anyway," I thought, "I might as well take as many hours as I can." With that in mind, I signed up for my first course in women's studies. Three years later, I graduated with a minor in the subject. Women's and Gender Studies, which became widely recognized as an academic genre during the political turmoil of the 1970s, no longer constitutes a small and insignificant subculture. At the end of June 2007, the National Women's Studies Association will hold its 28th annual conference with more than 1,000 expected to participate. According to the Artemis Guide to Women's Studies, more than 400 women's studies programs are offered in the United States alone with more than 700 similar programs worldwide. After examining these statistics, it is doubtful that women's studies programs are going to decline in popularity in the future. How, then, does a Christian handle this part of academia? What are young women (and men) being taught in these courses that might challenge their faith? Should parents simply encourage their children to avoid these "liberal" classes altogether? Certainly not. If I learned anything during my time as a women's studies minor, it is this: When approached the right way, women's studies courses can actually be benefit the collegiate Christian in at least three ways: