I don’t want to call myself an “alpha male” because it would imply I have a massive ego. But if you feel that way about me, I would love for you to let me know.
When I walked into my laboratory course last week, I was one of few males in a sea of gawking ladies. To my girlfriend, don’t worry: I stared at the ground and quickly took my seat. For the first time in my college experience, I felt alone in what is a stereotypically male-dominated field.
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about the failing status of boys in the K-12 education system in the United States. I wanted to know if this disappointing trend applied to the student body of this fine academic establishment.
According to “Mommy, I Know You,” a Jan. 30 Newsweek article, many public universities are failing to enroll equal proportions of the sexes.
“At many state universities, the gender balance is already tilting 60-40 toward women.”
But this doesn’t appear to be the case for College Park undergraduates. In fall 2005, 12,480 females (49.1 percent) and 12,962 males (50.9 percent) enrolled. There is a deviation of a few hundred students, but these proportions are close to equivalent. If you had taken a visit to my lab, these numbers would have seemed irrelevant.
A lot of attention is paid to racial diversity at the university, yet issues of gender are rarely mentioned because they are not an issue at this school.
How does Towson University, our soon-to-be competitor as the flagship of the University System of Maryland, compare?
Of all its first-year students, Towson enrolled 64 percent females and 36 percent males, more closely following the aforementioned national average. This university enrolled 49.6 percent females and 50.4 percent males. Now this seems interesting.
Why is this university defying the national average?
There are many reasons a large number of males choose to matriculate at this school. In addition to stellar athletics programs right here in College Park (even if they haven’t been up to snuff lately), this institute boasts internationally recognized academic programs, such as the male-dominated engineering department that receives millions of dollars in private funding (leading to the construction of the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building). For comparison purposes, take a gander at the old and downtrodden Benjamin building, where the College of Education houses female-dominated classes.
In the 1993 hit song, “C.R.E.A.M.,” the Wu-Tang Clan eloquently sang about this funding matter: “Cash rules everything around me [or the university, but I don’t think the Wu-Tang was so educated], C.R.E.A.M. get the money, dollar dollar bills y’all.”
While the university has made a strong effort to appeal to the fellas, it’s also done a good job appealing to the ladies (with the exception of the education majors). This is why this school has done a good job keeping the student body’s male/female ratios equal, defying what most state universities have yet to do.
Other schools should take note of Maryland as a somewhat utopian society with its equal gender statistics. It’s far from perfect, but at least we’ve got one thing going for us.
As time goes on, it is getting more difficult for all applicants, male and female, to gain admission to this university. This academic competitiveness has started to undermine Maryland’s “safety school” status, making it more attractive to those of a higher intelligence. Even though there’s been some trouble with boys throughout the K-12 system, no such effects can be seen here.
To the single men in College Park: sign up for my laboratory section; engage the ladies in a discussion over the Bunsen burner. It’ll be the hottest date you’ve ever had.
David Levitt is a sophomore physiology and neurobiology major. He can be reached at dlevitt@umd.edu.
