KSU Men (KSUM) has stirred up controversy, particularly through AVfM’s sponsorship (which is only one of many) and Paul Elam’s quotes on rape prevention being taken out of context yet again. You can pick up on the pertinent vibe in the comment section of this Sentinel article.
Needless to say, I have skimmed a smorgasbord of petulant emails on how KSUM is misguided from students and faculty who have yet to attend a meeting. Those emails I choose to reply to are filled with stock prevarications.
I expected this lunacy, and of course I am prepared to make a statement.
KSU students, you can destroy KSUM today, and I am going to tell you how to do it.
All you need to do is catch up on missed work for men and boys and demonstrate enough humility to critique your own preconceptions on gender using logic and courage as your guides. So long as those things are accomplished by passionate students on campus, KSUM has no reason to exist.
That said, there is a lot of missed work that has not been addressed, let alone questioned by feminist students. KSU RAD Systems is based on harmful preconceptions and is a risk for male students. The IPV center has gynocentric branding that makes it harder for male victims of IPV to know there is help available to them. The literature in the Interdisciplinary Studies department is predominately feminist, leaving no room for compassionate exploration of the male perspective outside of the myth of hegemonic masculinity.
And that’s for starters.
You may have heard of our conference, Male Students in Peril, which is 100% free to attend. Like other organizers, we want people to RSVP. We have fascinating things to talk about; a low turnout is a non-issue. However, you have always had a chance to demonstrate any error in my ways, and I have been telling you how in two simple words over and over again:
Show up.
For a while, KSU Men was a one-man show. I walked and drove hundreds of miles, worked with administrators, set up tables, investigated programs, and researched legal division documentation, among other thankless activities done at the expense of myself and donors. I have invested serious personal finances in KSUM and have been cognizant of the lifestyles of others in my work. At no point did I encourage a policy or procedure that is in any way harmful to any person, but rather evens out the representation gap between men and women on campus.
Imagine your work speaking to a willingly deaf crowd.
Every last judgmental spectator has never bothered to talk to me face to face or take the time to come to a meeting. Even though feminists have been invited to attend meetings and present their cases, they remained content to spread rumors with nothing to support them but conjecture.
And people continue to insinuate that I’m a threat to critical thought.
I am not offended by this state of affairs, but rather amused and expectant. Every turd thrown by chimps caged by ideology is more evidence that we live in a culture of fear, conjecture, and shit.
KSU students, let action back words, not speculation. If you care about gender equity on campus, then be ready to sweat and cry under the heat of hard work and the childish judgments of the idle. Spouting accusations and opinions is your right, but so long as you have no experience or facts to give your words teeth, don’t be surprised if KSUM never goes away.
If you want to end KSUM right now, then do KSUM’s job better. There are other groups and departments that are more established than KSUM, such as the Women’s Resource and Interpersonal Violence Prevention Center and the Interdisciplinary Studies department. The problem is that they show no interest in making a difference, and some faculty therein have actually acted as obstacles to building an equitable campus.
You can start a conference on men’s issues. You can come to Male Students in Peril and calmly question the speakers as much as you wish for the sake of discussion. You can invite your friends and make this an enlightening, diverse experience.
So far, you didn’t do any of those things. But what if you did?
By being the kind of campus KSUM has always called for, you render KSUM obsolete and I want that to happen.
I cannot speak for others, but I know that every Men’s Rights Activist wants to hear that they are no longer needed because the evidence shows men have representation and compassion from society.
What relief that news would bring! It’s a shame that the evidence points to the opposite.
I’d much rather live in a world where KSUM was not needed, but it is needed, and it is up to each and every one of you to take the first step out of your fears, ruminations, and feminist-approved propaganda to explore a renewed compassion of gender for yourself. KSUM is here to facilitate that in an effort to render itself obsolete!
I threw my career and my reputation in public crosshairs knowing that reasonable people would not fire. But so long as you fear KSUM, spread rumors about it, and make accusations against its members, KSUM gains power. Every vitriolic comment is another expression of a culture of conjecture in which people believe what their fears tell them to believe, and not their reason.
Will you be different? Will you set the example of a university student by exercising your curiosity and passion, or will you be the next insecure pundit, shrieking politically fashionable opinions for approval from your fellow church-goers? Are you a better university than others, and are you prepared to prove it with hard work?
Look, you don’t need to agree with everything I say, and you don’t need to make any substantial lifestyle changes to demonstrate your concern for equity. But you don’t get to be right without doing the work.
If you want to be taken seriously in our mutual quest to render KSUM obsolete, then show up to meetings in Clendenin room 3050 every Monday and Thursday at 4:30 PM EST, and RSVP for our upcoming conference. You are within walking distance of everything KSUM has to offer, so there is no excuse to be the passive-aggressive coward who offers nothing but a reason for KSUM to keep doing what it’s doing.
KSU students decide what happens to student organizations, so will KSUM be obsolete or a permanent part of campus life?
It all boils down to compassion versus cowardice. For what I hope are obvious reasons, I respect the compassionate but do not respect the cowardly.
Now pick a team.
