Men commit more than 70 percent of conduct violations on college campuses.@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/uomc/about_us.php@@ They commit most sexual assaults and campus shootings. Men are more likely to abuse drugs and commit suicide. College men are going through a health crisis, according to University psychologist Jon Davies@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=%09Jonathan+A+Davies+@@, but they don’t want help.
To address these concerns, Davies helped develop the nation’s first student-run men’s center at the University 10 years ago. Because men are expected to be stronger and more aggressive, they are typically less likely to seek help, Davies explained. He pointed out that two-thirds of patients at the University Counseling and Testing Center are women.@@http://counseling.uoregon.edu/dnn/@@
“We realized we needed a different approach,” Davies said.
In a 2010 article for the American Psychological Association, Davies detailed what he calls the “Men’s Center approach” @@http://www.chatham.edu/academics/programs/graduate/mscp/faculty_get.cfm?FacultyID=191@@to prevent men from being aggressive and encourage more men to ask for help.  Davies found that men prefer focus groups rather than one-on-one therapy sessions, so the center created a five-week class called “Mad Skills” offered every term. About seven students meet each week for 90 minutes to talk with other men about sexual assault prevention and ways to relieve anger or stress.@@??? So these guys are coaching each other on how NOT to rape someone?@@
“Most people, when they sign up for the class, are angry or embarrassed about it — but by the end of it, they’re thankful,” Davies said. “Men have found these focus groups to be liberating.”
To help spread the word about the center — which is located in the basement of the EMU — Davies and John Phan, University graduate student and director of the Men’s Center@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=John+Phan@@, have given presentations to University classes, worked with fraternities and collaborated with the ASUO Women’s Center and the University Health Center. But because of the center’s limited budget, Phan said it has struggled to get more students involved. This term, the center hired University junior Alex Fall @@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Alexander+J+Fall+@@as its first outreach coordinator to help recruit more volunteers.
Fall is majoring in Family and Human Services@@http://education.uoregon.edu/field.htm?id=54@@ and wants to encourage more men to become involved in counseling centers and professions. He also wants to help change the image of the typical college man.
“Sometimes, I’m embarrassed with the way men act on campus,” Fall said. “I tend to stay at home or in small groups because I don’t want to be a part of the male stereotype.”
To help increase the center’s popularity, it collaborated last year with the University Health Center on a campaign targeted at male students called “Be That Guy,” to raise awareness about sexual assault prevention. And with events planned for Sexual Assault Awareness Week in April, Phan and Davies hope more men will become involved with the center.
“We hope to attract more undergraduate men who would most benefit from the sources we provide,” Phan said. “By the end of this year, we really hope to be more of a presence here on campus.”