Education Department looks into men’s rights complaints
WASHINGTON — At home in Turkey, Kursat Pekgoz considered himself a feminist. In the world of American higher education, where he is now pursuing a doctorate in English literature, the 30-year-old activist says it is men who are being treated unfairly.
Arguing that campus resource groups for women and women’s studies programs amount to discrimination against men, Pekgoz has filed federal complaints against several universities with the backing of the National Coalition for Men, an American men’s rights organization.
The Education Department is taking the complaints seriously. Over the last year, its civil rights division has opened investigations into Yale, Princeton, the University of Southern California and Tulane University to determine whether their women’s programs violate Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funding. The department also has received complaints against Georgetown, Northeastern and the University of Pennsylvania.
With more women attending and graduating from college than men in America, Pekgoz says women no longer need additional support.
“Women are the majority, so I really cannot see how this is not discrimination against men,” said Pekgoz, a student at the University of Southern California. He studied English literature in Turkey and moved to the U.S. four years ago to pursue an advanced degree. “We can’t keep living in the past on these issues.”