UR Men 4 Change ends tour with cumulative discussion

What does hooking up really mean? Students asked each other about topics such as casual hook ups, sex and racial issues on campus at the last UR Men 4 Change meeting of its month-long program, "UR Men 4 Change: On Tour."

About 25 students gathered in the Brown Alley Room on Wednesday night for an informal cumulative discussion. Sophomore Ra-Twoine Fields led the discussion, which aimed to cover topics such as race, sexuality, gender, what it means to be a man and the hook-up culture on campus, all topics that the group had discussed in previous meetings.

The group vehemently discussed the issue of affirmative action's and race's factor in college admissions during the first portion of the meeting.

"Affirmative action only ties to race," Fields said. "It has nothing to do with an intellectual gap. Why does race even have to be a part of college applications?" he asked.

Other students argued that eventually affirmative action would be irrelevant, but right now the gap between races had not closed and because there was still unfairness and disadvantages for minorities, it was still necessary.

Next, the students discussed the topic of hooking up on campus, and issues such as interracial hook ups, the double standard for men and women and the culture of talking about hook-ups on campus.

"Guys lie about what they really do with girls," Fields said.

He quoted Michael Kimmel, the author of "Guyland," who said the hooking up culture benefited both men and women.

"Both can protect their reputations because no one actually knows what happened," Fields said. "Girls can say they just kissed and guys can say they had sex."

Sophomore Amadi Slaughter said: "Everyone knows what you do here, because people will talk. No one knows what it's like to be intimate and discreet here. Everyone just says 'It's college, whatever.'"

The group plans to host one more program this semester as well as bi-weekly meetings to evoke substantial discussions about issues that are important to the UR community, Fields said.

Contact reporter Elise Reinemann at elise.reinemann@richmond.edu