Women's center opens school; women register for new classes

About 60 women turned up to register at the new Boston Women's Center's Women's School yesterday. The school will offer a ten-week series of classes in 15 subjects.

The center, which opened two weeks ago at 46 Pleasant St. in Cambridge, is the outgrowth of the women's center created in an occupied Harvard building last spring.

A group of Boston women, including some Radcliffe students, occupied the Graduate School of Design warehouse at 888 Memorial Drive as part of an International Women's Day Celebration on March 7.

The women left a week later, under threats of police bust.

The women received several large donations for the purchase of a permanent center during the occupation. An ad hoc committee chose the present site last spring but zoning and insurance problems delayed purchase for nearly a year.

Woman interested in a particular topic will conduct informal classes stressing collective planning and evaluation. Some courses will be on topics directly related to women's liberation--women's history, lesbian liberation, women and their bodies--and others will be on topics of general interest such as economics, nutrition, art, and creative writing.

Classes will begin on Sunday, March 5. The center will provide child-care arrangements.

The women's center will also provide a lesbian lounge, a high-school equivalency course, emotional counseling by women from Radical Therapists, and paramedical training on a administering pregnancy, VD, and pap smear tests.

There will be a Women's Film Benefit at Harvard Friday to raise funds for the Women's Center.