MU students react to male studies major discussed at Wagner College

It would take at least two years to develop an official program.

By Samantha Sunne

Published April 13, 2010

Scholars from colleges across the country discussed the creation of a new academic discipline, male studies, at an April 7 conference in New York. The scholars hope to establish this discipline as a university major, said Miles Groth, Wagner College professor and conference host.

It would take a minimum of two years to establish the program in any university, and no universities have yet been approached with the idea, Groth said.

Naomi Lahiri, a senior women's and gender studies major at MU, said MU should not have a male studies program.

"Every major is catered to men," Lahiri said. "There is a women's studies major because women have been marginalized in society."

Sophomore WGST major Caitlin Alexander said the gender studies program includes the study of men and masculinity, though there are no specific classes for that study.

Groth said there are around 400 women's studies majors in the U.S. He said he knew of only one college with a men's studies minor.

Foundation for Male Studies Chairman Edward Stephens said male educational performance has been declining for decades. There are six women for every four men in college, he said.

"Any statistic on education regarding boys and men shows a decline in performance from kindergarten right though college," Stephens said. "In graduate school, the enrollment decline is much more severe."

Groth said education is one of the areas in which men are declining. Others include health, literacy and the economy.

"If you look at the statistics regarding, let's say in general terms, the well-being of males, there have been really dramatic series of declines in the last 15 to 18 years," he said.

Men have higher rates of depression and unemployment than women, Groth said. Young men are four to five times as likely to commit suicide as young women, and the average male lifetime is seven years shorter than the average female, he said.

At a conference in October, scholars will discuss possible curricula for the male studies program, Groth said. He said the major should be interdisciplinary, encompassing areas of study such as economics, biology, psychology and law.

"All of these traditional academic disciplines have something to tell us about the experience of being male," he said.

The male studies program would welcome female faculty and students, he said. Eighty percent of the students in his Psychology of Men class are women.

"And I think that's pretty typical from what I'm told of the few psychology of men courses that I'm aware of," Groth said. "So I would expect a lot of female students to be interested in this."

Alexander said a male studies program was not necessary for students.

"I think that history and other areas are predominantly male-gendered," she said.

Groth said he hopes universities will institute the male studies major within a few years.

"We don't want to drag our feet," he said. "We want to try to make this happen as soon as possible."