Men’s centres on campuses are needed, advocates say, but so are programs designed to support men in other communities

In a visit that was probably destined to create controversy, Miles Groth, an educator and activist in the men’s rights movement, came to the University of Toronto on September 27, 2013 to speak on the topic of “why we need men’s centres in a time of crisis.” The fact is, fewer and fewer men are attending university. The controversy comes with the discussion of why that is happening.

The Huffington Post focused on Groth’s comments about efforts to prevent sexual violence against women:

Fewer and fewer males are enrolling in college institutions, and one men’s rights activist argues that it’s because men “don’t feel that welcome on campus.” He says he thinks college orientation seminars about date rape are partially to blame.   —Huffington Post (Sept. 27, 2013)

The Huffington Post article goes on to briefly examine the possible dynamics behind the “men’s movement”—including the possibility that concerns about men, by men, are fueled by entitlement:

Michael Kimmel, a sociology professor and author of Angry White Men, thinks the movement is fueled by entitlement. “Men feel besieged and attacked by women’s advancement,” he said during a 2010 lecture, according to Feministing. In a CNN editorial last year, he wrote “Equality sucks when you’ve been on top — and men have been on top for so long that we think it’s a level playing field.”  —Huffington Post (Sept. 27, 2013)

Promoters of the Groth presentation point out what appears to be the possible disappearance of men from post-secondary campuses:

This year about 35% of university students in developed countries will be male. If the statistically projected steep rate of decline continues, the last bachelor’s degree earned by a male will be awarded around 2025. Although that is not likely to happen, the situation for males on campuses everywhere is precarious, yet only a few faculty and administrators are responding to the reality. What is that reality? What is it like to be a young man 18-21 living and studying at university? How did matters come to be as they are? What is being done to care for young men in the current situation?  —Canadian Association for Equality

The decreasing number of men studying at university, the possible reasons for their disappearance, and the call for creation of men’s centres, opens up a wide range of issues related to sexuality, gender, and politics. In other words, there isn’t one answer to the questions about this:

University of Toronto PhD candidate Christopher Little is completing his dissertation on education, masculinity and development. In an email to The Canadian Press, Little said that he had seen “heaps of overly ambitious reasons” purporting to account for the underperformance of boys, including behavioural differences and curriculum changes. “My personal feeling is that there is no one answer, because this is a complex issue to which there is no one answer,” Little wrote.  —National Post (Sept. 27, 2013)

We speak with Grant Waldman, executive director of West Coast Men’s Support Society, about the need for men’s centres and men’s programs both on- and off-campus.

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RELATED | The Huffington Post: The Men’s Rights Movement Doesn’t Have To Be Anti-Feminist (Oct. 2, 2013) |

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Miles Groth at University of Toronto on September 27, 2013: “Caring About University Men”