Fwcc Changes Hands

The Feminist Women's City Club (FWCC) re-surfaced last weekend with members reporting that the club is reorganizing.

"The Feminist Economie Network (FEN) has left and the members have taken over," Sandy Bohanon, a member of the club, told The Sun Saturday. "Everything is as before."

Marsha Fast, new president of the FWCC, reported Saturday that the club will now be called the Feminist Women's Club and reorganization is taking place under a membership management team. She said the bar and pool are open, the cafetería will reopen in two weeks, and that they are booking entertainment. Last week the building at 2110 Park, which once housed the old Women's City Club. was turned over to the Feminist Federal Credit Union (FFCU) to be sold to pay off a $250,000 mortgage.

The Club, launched in April and billed as the largest financial undertaking of the feminist movement in the nation, failed to attract adequate membership, partially due to a bitter struggle over the club's financing which divided the Detroit feminist community.

The controversy became so heated that soon after the club's opening a shoving match erupted between various factions, with members of the FFCU refusing to join the club.

The beginnings of the split can be traced from 1974 when the Ann Arbor branch of the FFCU.fought with the main Detroit branch over the direction of the FFCU. The Ann Arbor women sought "local control" of feminist activities while the Detroit group sought to expand services and link up with feminists from across the country.

One Ann Arbor woman even sent a letter to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) in a successful attempt to stop the FFCU's expansion plans into 15 cities in the midwest.

"I assume that members of the FFCU will now be joining," Marsha Fast said. "The hesitancy before resulted because the club was managed by the Feminist Economic Network. With that group gone, members of the FFCU will be opening a branch office at the club."

The main branch of the FFCU is in suburban Pleasant Ridge, with another area office located in Ann Arbor. According to Fast the FFCU is prohibited by its charter from owning property and must sell the club. She said that the sale would most likely take some time. and that members of the club will be organizing to buy the club in the meantime. Spokespersons for the Feminist Economic Network and the previous management of the Feminist Women's City Club were unavailable for comment.