By Jacqueline Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Undergraduate male life cannot be summed up in relieving sexual
frustration, avoiding the dishes, or fighting over the play
station.
To help male students handle the responsibilities of college
life, the Department of Student Health, a division of the Arthur
Ashe Center, is adding a new section to its Health 199 male
development course which focuses on multi-cultural identity, anger
management, interpersonal relationships and gender from multiple
perspectives.
Students have until Feb. 25 to submit their enrollment
applications by e-mail. Enrollment is limited to around 50 students
and will be decided by lottery.
The class is currently being offered and will add a new section
next quarter.
“Everyone, including myself, could use a little
perspective when we look at other people in everyday life,”
said Devin Ozdogu, class participant and a third-year English
literature student. “I neither expected over-sensitive guys
holding hands singing “˜kumbaya’ nor over-manly guys
talking about fast cars.”
Pam Viele, the Ashe Center director of health education, said
she was surprised by the breadth of appeal after receiving around
700 responses by male and female students.
While it may seem undergraduates already inclined toward
psychological health issues would be the only students interested,
Viele said she has observed the opposite.
All types of men have shown interest in the class, Viele said,
including guys with different sexual orientations and from various
racial backgrounds.
“Men defy any kind of stereotype,” she said.
Viele said the class ranges from issues of identity ““ such
as learning where one’s place is as a “hyphenated
American” or as a transgender student ““ to how to deal
with stress. Undergraduates need a way to figure out how to be
successful people in addition to being successful students, Viele
said.
The class hopes to help students “negotiate the landscape
and become the man they want to become,” Viele said.
While all undergraduates deal with stress and the transition
from college student to working adult, certain issues tend to be
gender specific, Viele said. For example, while male students must
figure out how to express anger in ways that are not
self-destructive or hurtful to those around them, female students
have to learn about expressing anger at all, she said. Developing
healthy relationships and defining what “healthy” even
means, however, remains a key part of both classes.
The Department of Student Health decided to start the class
after reviewing data collected since 1987, which found that
students, particularly male students, felt they were lacking
intangible life skills.
The center originally wanted to start the men’s health
course last year but could not because the grants they received
were specified to support female health issues. Therefore, they
started the Women’s Health 199 course instead. This year, the
budget for the health education program allowed the department to
offer more male undergraduates the same benefits.
While students come in with varied attitudes, including their
ideas of the difficulty of the class, Viele said she is confident
that they have an engaging and challenging experience.
“This is not a sandwich class,” she said, quoting a
student who took the class.
Judging by the evaluations which nearly average a nine on a
scale of 1-10, and by the paper and project required to complete
the four-unit upper division course, students will have to work to
gain the perspectives they need, she added.
Rabin and Viele said they felt a lottery was the fairest way to
enroll students, as typically there are too many to
accommodate.
“People hearing that there is a class designed solely for
men might conjure up an image of a bunch of guys sitting around in
a circle grunting at each other, but this is far from the
truth,” said Phil Wade, an undergraduate enrolled in the
course.
“If you happen to wander by an open door up in the Covel
Commons one morning, you would hear something that might surprise
and even shock you: men sharin’!”By Jacqueline
Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Undergraduate male life cannot be summed up in relieving sexual
frustration, avoiding the dishes, or fighting over the play
station.
To help male students handle the responsibilities of college
life, the Department of Student Health, a division of the Arthur
Ashe Center, is adding a new section to its Health 199 male
development course which focuses on multi-cultural identity, anger
management, interpersonal relationships and gender from multiple
perspectives.
Students have until Feb. 25 to submit their enrollment
applications by e-mail. Enrollment is limited to around 50 students
and will be decided by lottery.
The class is currently being offered and will add a new section
next quarter.
“Everyone, including myself, could use a little
perspective when we look at other people in everyday life,”
said Devin Ozdogu, class participant and a third-year English
literature student. “I neither expected over-sensitive guys
holding hands singing “˜kumbaya’ nor over-manly guys
talking about fast cars.”
Pam Viele, the Ashe Center director of health education, said
she was surprised by the breadth of appeal after receiving around
700 responses by male and female students.
While it may seem undergraduates already inclined toward
psychological health issues would be the only students interested,
Viele said she has observed the opposite.
All types of men have shown interest in the class, Viele said,
including guys with different sexual orientations and from various
racial backgrounds.
“Men defy any kind of stereotype,” she said.
Viele said the class ranges from issues of identity ““ such
as learning where one’s place is as a “hyphenated
American” or as a transgender student ““ to how to deal
with stress. Undergraduates need a way to figure out how to be
successful people in addition to being successful students, Viele
said.
The class hopes to help students “negotiate the landscape
and become the man they want to become,” Viele said.
While all undergraduates deal with stress and the transition
from college student to working adult, certain issues tend to be
gender specific, Viele said. For example, while male students must
figure out how to express anger in ways that are not
self-destructive or hurtful to those around them, female students
have to learn about expressing anger at all, she said. Developing
healthy relationships and defining what “healthy” even
means, however, remains a key part of both classes.
The Department of Student Health decided to start the class
after reviewing data collected since 1987, which found that
students, particularly male students, felt they were lacking
intangible life skills.
The center originally wanted to start the men’s health
course last year but could not because the grants they received
were specified to support female health issues. Therefore, they
started the Women’s Health 199 course instead. This year, the
budget for the health education program allowed the department to
offer more male undergraduates the same benefits.
While students come in with varied attitudes, including their
ideas of the difficulty of the class, Viele said she is confident
that they have an engaging and challenging experience.
“This is not a sandwich class,” she said, quoting a
student who took the class.
Judging by the evaluations which nearly average a nine on a
scale of 1-10, and by the paper and project required to complete
the four-unit upper division course, students will have to work to
gain the perspectives they need, she added.
Rabin and Viele said they felt a lottery was the fairest way to
enroll students, as typically there are too many to
accommodate.
“People hearing that there is a class designed solely for
men might conjure up an image of a bunch of guys sitting around in
a circle grunting at each other, but this is far from the
truth,” said Phil Wade, an undergraduate enrolled in the
course.
“If you happen to wander by an open door up in the Covel
Commons one morning, you would hear something that might surprise
and even shock you: men sharin’!”By Jacqueline
Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Undergraduate male life cannot be summed up in relieving sexual
frustration, avoiding the dishes, or fighting over the play
station.
To help male students handle the responsibilities of college
life, the Department of Student Health, a division of the Arthur
Ashe Center, is adding a new section to its Health 199 male
development course which focuses on multi-cultural identity, anger
management, interpersonal relationships and gender from multiple
perspectives.
Students have until Feb. 25 to submit their enrollment
applications by e-mail. Enrollment is limited to around 50 students
and will be decided by lottery.
The class is currently being offered and will add a new section
next quarter.
“Everyone, including myself, could use a little
perspective when we look at other people in everyday life,”
said Devin Ozdogu, class participant and a third-year English
literature student. “I neither expected over-sensitive guys
holding hands singing “˜kumbaya’ nor over-manly guys
talking about fast cars.”
Pam Viele, the Ashe Center director of health education, said
she was surprised by the breadth of appeal after receiving around
700 responses by male and female students.
While it may seem undergraduates already inclined toward
psychological health issues would be the only students interested,
Viele said she has observed the opposite.
All types of men have shown interest in the class, Viele said,
including guys with different sexual orientations and from various
racial backgrounds.
“Men defy any kind of stereotype,” she said.
Viele said the class ranges from issues of identity ““ such
as learning where one’s place is as a “hyphenated
American” or as a transgender student ““ to how to deal
with stress. Undergraduates need a way to figure out how to be
successful people in addition to being successful students, Viele
said.
The class hopes to help students “negotiate the landscape
and become the man they want to become,” Viele said.
While all undergraduates deal with stress and the transition
from college student to working adult, certain issues tend to be
gender specific, Viele said. For example, while male students must
figure out how to express anger in ways that are not
self-destructive or hurtful to those around them, female students
have to learn about expressing anger at all, she said. Developing
healthy relationships and defining what “healthy” even
means, however, remains a key part of both classes.
The Department of Student Health decided to start the class
after reviewing data collected since 1987, which found that
students, particularly male students, felt they were lacking
intangible life skills.
The center originally wanted to start the men’s health
course last year but could not because the grants they received
were specified to support female health issues. Therefore, they
started the Women’s Health 199 course instead. This year, the
budget for the health education program allowed the department to
offer more male undergraduates the same benefits.
While students come in with varied attitudes, including their
ideas of the difficulty of the class, Viele said she is confident
that they have an engaging and challenging experience.
“This is not a sandwich class,” she said, quoting a
student who took the class.
Judging by the evaluations which nearly average a nine on a
scale of 1-10, and by the paper and project required to complete
the four-unit upper division course, students will have to work to
gain the perspectives they need, she added.
Rabin and Viele said they felt a lottery was the fairest way to
enroll students, as typically there are too many to
accommodate.
“People hearing that there is a class designed solely for
men might conjure up an image of a bunch of guys sitting around in
a circle grunting at each other, but this is far from the
truth,” said Phil Wade, an undergraduate enrolled in the
course.
“If you happen to wander by an open door up in the Covel
Commons one morning, you would hear something that might surprise
and even shock you: men sharin’!”