The Women and Gender Resource Center was renamed the Camellia Center on Monday.
First established in 1993 as the Women’s Resource Center, the program was created to promote women’s inclusion and opportunities at the University. In 2015, it was renamed the Women and Gender Resource Center to “represent the full spectrum of eligible clientele” after expanding its scope to provide “comprehensive support for members of the UA community, especially related to interpersonal violence,” according to its website.
According to the Camellia Center’s Instagram post announcing the change, the new name is inspired by the camellia, Alabama’s state flower, which “thrives here despite not being native to the area, symbolizing Alabama’s welcoming spirit.”
The post stated that the Camellia Center welcomes and serves the entire campus community and was drawn to the camellia as a symbol of the program’s comprehensive advocacy and support.
“The center’s services remain the same,” said Alex House, associate director of communications for the University. “The team will continue to provide advocacy, outreach and support related to interpersonal violence for UA students, faculty and staff, along with programming that promotes well-being and connection.”
House’s response did not answer whether or not this change was related to the previous name’s mention of gender or SB129, an Alabama law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public schools and restricting classroom discussion about “divisive concepts.”
This change comes after multiple other revisions made by the University following the bill such as removing the mention of equity and inclusion from the Capstone Creed, replacing the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with the Division of Opportunity, Connections and Success and closing the Black Student Union’s office and the UA Safe Zone, a former center that provided LGBTQ+ support and advocacy programming on campus.
