The student union at Simon Fraser University (SFU) has approved a budget of $30,000 a year to finance the creation of a men’s centre on campus, pending a final vote, according to the SFU website.
The project will receive the exact same amount of funding per year that is given to the Women’s Centre.
SFU’s women’s centre was created in 1974, according to its website.
Midgley told the school’s newspaper, the Peak, that he believes that men too are entitled to a safe space on campus.
“There are a number of issues that men face that they don’t really feel comfortable talking about in a formal setting,” he said.”Whether it’s dealing with alcoholism, drugs, or an abusive relationship.”
Martin Mroz, director of health and counseling services at SFU, said there is a need for a men’s centre.
“Men’s health issues are a serious matter that hasn’t been taken very seriously,” Mroz told the Peak, citing past B.C. coroner’s reports finding that males account for approximately 75 per cent of suicides in B.C.
The Women’s Centre on SFU’s campus said on its website that the university doesn’t have a men’s centre because “the Men’s Centre is everywhere else.”
“Though we often don’t think about it, men and women move through this campus (and the world) in very different ways and that is because Canadian society is still (by and large) a man’s world. “
The Women’s Centre at SFU stated on its website that it would support the Men’s Centre “if the centre were about challenging popular conceptions about masculinity, confronting homophobia, sexism, racism, classism, and ability issues then we would definitely be the first to promote and fundraise for such a group.”
Carleton women’s and gender studies professor Aalya Ahmad said that although there may be discrimination against men, it does not have the same effect that it does on women.
“The playing field is still not equal,” she said. Because men “own the money, own the power [and] own the property” a men’s centre may not be something campuses really need [but] rather, a case of ideology, Ahmad said.
“Thirty thousand dollars is definitely equal, but is it equitable given the circumstances? I’m not sure,” Ahmad said.
Some students at SFU said they are wary of the new project. In a YouTube video featuring male and female SFU students, students argued that the centre will be “a highly masculinized place,” “a place to celebrate hegemonic masculinity,” and “a room with a PS3 and a bunch of douchebags.”
“Given the current progression of the project, it seems as if the men’s centre could quickly turn away from the goals it wishes to achieve,” said first-year SFU Jesse Gruneau.
“Of course I would enjoy a space to relax and hang out with friends, but that is not what the centre should be used for.”
“The most important thing is to bear in mind what the centre is supposed to be accomplishing- promoting campus wide gender equality and providing a space where men can truly express themselves,” he said.
Carleton has its own womyn’s centre but does not offer a men’s centre.
“If Carleton men want a men’s centre, we would be sexist to deny them that,” said second-year journalism student Bee Russell-Petigrow.
“This should not be boys versus girls.”
