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Men's rights are ignored

While reading the editorial section (1/30/96) I had the opportunity to see two articles related to gender issues here at the University. One was a letter addressing feminist opposition about single-sex (read as "male-only") educational institutions and the other was titled "The Science of Eve."

I thought about two things: The first was that here at the University there are female-only scholarships; a women's study department; a Center for the Continuing Education for Women; a Women's Health Initiative; SAFE House, a women-only shelter where some student interns from the University work; Breast Cancer and Women's Health Awareness Week/Month; the Michigan Agenda for Women; special grants for women researchers only and according to the Daily "more than 300 courses on Women's Health." The list goes on. (I'll bet that, if any, there are no more than a dozen courses on "men's health.") Undoubtedly at least a little public money finds its way into these programs. There are no male-specific programs here at the University, no men's studies department, etc. So where's the outcry against this type of gender-specific spending of public money here at the University as there is for abolishment of VMI, which gets about 2 percent of its funding from public coffers?

The other thing that came to mind was the simple fact that spending on women's health far outpaces spending on "men's" health, yet women live on average almost eight years longer than men. Just where is the logic or justice in this policy?

So the next time you hear someone lecture about the need for resources to be channeled into programs such as the "Women's Health Initiative" or any other special program for women only I think you should keep this in mind. It shows that many of these arguments are rather sexist and hypocritical.

CHRISTOPHER GODWIN