Education

UCLA Students React To Mandatory Fees Funding Toxic Masculinity Committee

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Grace Carr Reporter
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Students who attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) must pay a hefty fee for the operation of a committee dedicated to combatting toxic masculinity on campus, and not all students are happy about it.

Formed by a group of female UCLA students in the spring, the Toxic Masculinity Committee pushes back against forms of masculinity that “cause men to act in a harmful way towards others based on unattainable gender norms and impacts real life situations in a negative way,” according to UCLA senior Aziza Wright, Campus Reform reported Monday. Wright served as the captain of the Toxic Masculinity Committee during the university’s spring semester.

All UCLA students must pay a student activity fee amounting to $376 per quarter or $1,126 every academic year to support the committee’s activities.

“UCLA is a public university. They should not be spending money on [the] committee,” UCLA junior Victoria Miller said, according to Campus Reform. “There is nothing wrong with masculinity. In fact, many women are attracted to it.” She did, however, applaud the group’s February event raising awareness about sexual assault.

“Toxic masculinity ridicules men for just being men … toxic masculinity is a myth and when its brought up, it’s always to disparage men,” senior Louis Madrid IV said. “Men and women are different both biologically and psychologically,” he added, noting that those differences are okay. (RELATED: Why ‘Toxic Masculinity’ Is A Toxic Concept)

The Toxic Masculinity Committee falls under the university’s Diversity Peer Leadership Program, which costs the university roughly $40,000 annually, according to Campus Reform.

“The cost of the program alone could have gone to multiple scholarships, and potentially given a disadvantaged student a full ride through college,” UCLA student Arik Schneider said. “Instead the money goes to luncheons and echo-chamber sessions, in which participants attempt to out-victimize each other and not actually solve any problems.”

UCLA’s Intergroup Relations Program hosted a February event to discuss “toxic masculinity” on campus and only 10 students showed up, according to The College Fix. Roughly 45,000 students attend the university.

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