Education

UT Austin Suspends Search For ‘Healthy Masculinities Coordinator’

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Rob Shimshock Education Reporter
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The University of Texas at Austin suspended its search for a “healthy masculinities coordinator” Wednesday, insisting that it does not treat masculinity as a “mental health issue.”

Soncia Reagins-Lilly, UT Austin vice president for student affairs and dean of students, announced that the school paused its recruitment of a “healthy masculinities coordinator” in a letter to University President Gregory Fenves and obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Reagins-Lilly made the announcement after PJ Media reported on its MasculinUT program, which aspires to “impact campus culture to increase acceptance of gender diversity, promote healthy relationships with an emphasis on consent, and prevent interpersonal violence.”

“Although [the MasculinUT program] is housed administratively in the university’s counseling and mental health center, it has never approached masculinity as a mental health issue,” Reagins-Lilly wrote to Fenves. “That is not its purpose.”

“The program was established to help men address interpersonal violence, sexual assault, and related issues,” the vice president continued. “I believe it has done that and I am proud of the many students who have been involved.”

MasculinUT referenced “restrictive masculinity” and suggested that men suffer when they are told to “act like a man” or encouraged to be the “breadwinner.” After media coverage, the vice president reconvened the campus steering committee, which initially devised the program to reassess it by August 1. While Reagins-Lilly suspended the school’s search for a “healthy masculinities coordinator,” she said she planned to repost the job offering.

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