The Campus Commission on the Status of Women began officially May 1971 with a general organizational meeting. The idea goes back much further to the 1970 A.W.S. Tri State Meet at Penn State University with the theme "Let Us Be Women". The purpose of this organization shall be to explore in depth such areas as: education, home and community services, private employment, employment in the Federal Government, labor standards, and the legal treatment of women in respect to civil and political rights. The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated to the improvement of all Clarion University’s women, regardless of age, race, class, ethnicity, disabilities, and/or sexual orientation. Established in 1983 as a subcommittee of the Affirmative Action Committee, the group achieved commision status in 1989 by state mandate. The establishment of the commission responded to the need for an organization dedicated to equity for women, as well as a philosophy of social, political, and economic equality.