A Ryerson student is trying to start a men’s issues group on campus.
Kevin Arriola, a fourth-year politics and governance student, recently announced the launch of the Ryerson Men’s Issues Awareness Society in a Reddit thread. And he says he’s taking steps to have it formally recognized by the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU).
“There’s been previous efforts to form a men’s issues group at the university that have fizzled out,” said Arriola. “This is continuing that effort and right now we think it’s the best time.”
Arriola told The Ryersonian that his decision to start the group was based on the new RSU, which he said is more “open to different ideas” than the previous executives.
Two years ago, the RSU refused to provide official recognition to three students who wanted to start a campus men’s issues group. Arriola said he’s not personally connected to this group.
“We found the last student union (executives were) very politicized,” he said.
“They frequently divided the Ryerson community through things like banning Israeli products,” he said, referring to the RSU’s vote last year to join the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. “They were the ones responsible for barring the previous men’s issues group that tried to form, even though they went through all the avenues and (met) all the requirements that the students’ union had.”
Arriola said his group currently has a few members and he hopes to get in contact with more Ryerson students through collaboration with other men’s issues groups such as the University of Toronto Men’s Issues Society and the Canadian Association for Equality.
“They’ve provided us with contact information for current as well as alumni Ryerson students that are interested in these issues.”
Arriola said he has already contacted the current RSU executives to discuss the future of the group. “I’ve set up a meeting for Friday and (they’re) going to go over the requirements that we need to become an official group.”