Concordiensis T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F U N I O N C O L L E G E S I N C E 1 8 7 7 Volume. CXLIV, Issue XV
concordiensis.com
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Tony Porter makes a call to men to end sexual violence By Megan Brown co-News Editor
Tony Porter, public speaker, activist, author and co-founder of “A Call to Men,” an organization working to promote “healthy, respectful manhood,” addressed the campus community during a webinar this past Thursday, April 29. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Porter engaged in a dialogue on breaking out of the “man box” and encouraging a healthier, more reverential development of boys to men in modern society. The conversation revolved around Porter’s conception of the “man box” (“coined 20
plus years ago”), encapsulating three prominent societal and cultural “norms”: women being less valued than men, women being viewed as the property of men and women being viewed as sexual objects. He mentioned that these three components of the “man box” have a direct coorelation behind sexual and domestic violence against women. In addition, the “man box” also holds the idea that, according to “A Call to Men,” “men are expected to be strong, successful, powerful, dominating, fearless, in control, and emotionless.” When explaining further why it was that Porter created “A Call to Men,” he stated a few key statistics to help put into perspective the extent to
which violence against women and girls is of “epidemic proportions.” “One out of five women will be sexually assaulted during her four years on the college campus. One out of six women will be raped. Every three to six seconds a woman is a victim of domestic violence. Over 50% of female homicide victims are women killed by their husbands or partners. It is at epidemic proportions.” Porter does a lot of work in providing resources and training those men that aspire to increase their allyship to women and girls in their communities. He expressed that targeting all men, not just violent men, is key to the success of the movement. “The majority of men don’t
perpetrate violence against women and girls, but we are central to the problem of the violence. We don’t perpetrate the violence, but so much of the culture of what it means to be a man contributes to the violence.” Violence against women, like other social justice issues, is a widespread effort that holds more than just the victim parties responsible. “That’s why we put our attention … when we say ‘a call to men’ … on the majority of men. Men who don’t perpetrate the violence but far too often are silent to the violence or far too often the culture of manhood that we are part of is feeding the violence.” Porter made sure to highlight that “if women could end the violence
on their own they would have already.” Additionally, Porter emphasized how much his organization invests in highlighting military men and male coaches and/or athletes because those are the men that other men look up to the most. He stated that targeting these men will help “expedite” this call to action. The efforts to curb this epidemic of violence against women and girls is a movement that starts like any other: education. “A Call to Men” provides such education as well as additional steps. The training Porter’s organization provides is open to any member of the public at acalltomen.org.
President David Harris hosts sixth annual Feigenbaum Forum online By Dante Sasso Jr. Editor-in-Chief
On May 4th, 2021, President David Harris of Union College was joined by Mary Beth Labate, Joshua Kim (from Dartmouth College), Jeff Selingo, Brian Rosenberg, hosted the sixth annual Feigenbaum Forum on Innovation and Creativity. Originally created by Armand V. Feigenbaum ‘42 and Donald S. Feigenbaum ‘46, the Feigenbaum Forum as described by the Union College website is “a gathering on campus at which academicians discussed characteristics of a new generation of leaders and how better to Opinions. page 3 Glamorization of mental illness
integrate liberal arts and other studies.” After a series of introductions made by President Harris, Selingo began to explain about higher education and how large of a disconnect there is between the employment market/what it desires, and where parents and students put their money into college. Rosenberg commented on this, stating that he saw a “tectonic shift” towards STEM disciplines at Macalester College. For Rosenberg, some of the more recent issues were demographics and the economic model, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Many colleges are struggling with admissions currently, and that it will only
get worse in coming years.” On the employment market shift, Rosenberg stated, “it’s a challenge… you have a workforce that is extremely specialized, and a student base that’s difficult to shift around.” Labate stated that “demographics are not on our side,” as several states are seeing a decrease in high school graduates. Labate explains that the reason private colleges are more expensive than state schools is because the state schools are using taxpayer subsidies to uphold their colleges; “it really creates a challenge for [private schools] to counter those narratives.” See FORUM on page 2
Dante Sasso Jr. | Concordiensis Mary Beth Labate (U-L), Joshua Kim (U-R), David Harris (M-L), Brian Rosenberg (M-R), and Jeff Selingo (bottom) at the 2021 Feigenbaum Forum.
We’re beautiful on the inside, too
Sci/Tech. page 5 NASA martian helicopter lands down
807 Union St., page 7 Students vs. Union Jackbox Games
World, page 4 Palestine elections postponed indefinitely
Sports, page 8 Men and Women’s Crew at Liberty League