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March 8, 2005 By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Young men may be in crisis.Forty-two percent of college graduates in the United States are men, down from almost 50 percent in 1979.
There were 22 sex crimes committed against women disclosed through the Women's Resource Center's anonymous reporting system at Southern Oregon University during the 2003-04 academic year. A trio of young men, some of whom had been associated with the SOU football program, were arrested in Talent for armed robbery last year. In June, a former SOU wrestler allegedly assaulted the late actress and comedian Joanie McGowan a block from her home as she walked her bike home from a party at 2:30 in the morning. Charges were dropped in that case after McGowan committed suicide. It was McGowan who finally said something should be done. In the weeks following her attack, she met with community members to discuss therapy and support for those accused of violent crimes. Nine months after she was attacked and almost two months after McGowan took her own life, a pilot program for college men emphasizing personal responsibility exists at SOU. "There's a problem here that jails can't fix," said Dennis Mead-Shikaly, an Ashland counselor who has worked since June to create the Accountability in Men program. Three weeks ago, AIM pulled in 18 male students involved with student government, the football program and leadership in the residence halls for an intensive three-day, 17-hour training that examined the young men's beliefs and values. The course encouraged discussions about where students obtain their values, what they stood for, what accountability is and what it means to be accountable. Question-and-answer sessions had the young men both asking and being asked the questions. The course included a segment on rape mythology and a discussion led by a woman in her 40s who had been raped as a young woman. "It was all designed to make good choices at crossroads." Mead-Shikaly said. "It's not that we want to shame anyone. These are deep-seeded issues that lead to violence." Male leaders from the Ashland community, the university and several SOU football coaches led discussions that urged the young men, most of whom were ages 18-22, to speak openly about the ways they've been injured both physically and emotionally, and what they do with that pain. "Male students need support too," said John Fitton, the associate director of student support services at SOU who helped coordinate the training. "These are big issues." Fitton explained men tend to get angry instead of admitting they feel hurt or afraid, which can lead to violence. "We taught them there are more productive ways to deal with it," Fitton said. "It really was a collaborative community-SOU effort to try to address some of these challenging issues for male college students." The program was a unique way to reach male students, who Fitton says may not access emotional and academic support on campus as frequently as women because lack of male counselors, male-centered programs and discussion about male issues. "In order for it to be effective, I knew it had to come out of the work and energies of men," said Deltra Ferguson, the coordinator of the Women's Resource Center at SOU who sat on the AIM advisory committee. "In a roundabout way, it has to do with violence prevention." At the training, some of the young men had grown up in single-parent households or with abusive parents and maybe learned dysfunctional behavior early in life. Others had more stable childhoods, but now are having a tough time making ends meet, balancing school with work and athletics. While the young men discussed their lives, leaders such as SOU head football coach Jeff Olson also revealed personal stories. "It was experiential and talking about issues." Fitton said. "This wasn't the norm for these guys. It was brand new for many of the guys and it had a deep effect." Although young men participating in the training wished to remain anonymous, before-and-after surveys showed a marked increase in accountability and knowledge that indicated the program had at least a short-term impact on the participants. "It's just a start," Fitton said. "We're not doing [the survey] six months after the program, but the results were significant." However, AIM organizers know that for the training to make a visible impact on the community, it must continue. There is talk of holding another training during spring term and then working with incoming students in the fall. Olson would like to see all football players entering his program - both freshmen and transfer students - participate in a similar program. The organizers of the AIM program plan to retool before the next training, which has yet to be scheduled. Fitton would like to see a more diverse group of students and they may restructure the program to avoid such long days - the men spent more than six hours at the training on Friday night and about 10 hours there on Saturday. "We could easily do four to six trainings a year." Mead-Shikaly said. "The whole administration is behind this." The first AIM training was funded through a $3,500 endowment to the university and matching funds from the student government. Program leaders are looking into outside grants and community fundraising to sponsor future events. For more information about AIM, call Dennis Mead-Shikaly at 541.488.7800, or email at dms@radicalcoaching.com. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or jsquires@dailytidings.com. |
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