Columbia Sued for "Bigoted" Women's Studies Courses

Not content with suing Manhattan nightclubs for discriminating against men on Ladies’ Night, or suing the federal government over the “unconstitutional” Violence Against Women Act, lawyer provocateur Roy Den Hollander has filed a class-action lawsuit against Columbia University for offering women’s studies courses. Hollander says the lawsuit at last completes his blockbuster “trilogy of antifeminist lawsuits,” according to City Room. A rumored prequel has him suing the Gynecological & Obstetrical Society for refusing to give him a Pap smear.

Den Hollander guy sure knows how to charm the ladies; you’ll recall that last summer the New Yorker spent a night out with the divorcee, who explained his life mission: “What I’m trying to do now in my later years is fight everybody who violates my rights… the Feminazis have infiltrated institutions, and there’s been a transfer of rights from guys to girls.” Hence the Columbia lawsuit, in which Den Hollander maintains that the university should not be using government aid to preach a “religionist belief system called feminism.”

The suit goes on to call women’s studies programs “a bastion of bigotry against men… [that] demonizes men and exalts women in order to justify discrimination against men based on collective guilt. Columbia has thrown its influence and prestige into violating the rights of men by offering a women’s studies program but no men’s studies program… spreading prejudice and fostering animosity and distrust toward men with the result of the wholesale violation of men’s rights due to ignorance, falsehoods and malice.” The whole pdf of the complaint can be scoffed at here. And the first two episodes in Den Hollander’s Fem Wars are also still pending in court; you can join the resistance and "help battle the infringement of Men’s Rights by the feminists and their allies” by contacting Den Hollander at his website. Courage!

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By John Del Signore in News on August 19, 2008 10:28 AM

Comments [rss]

rootneg2

WISC (Women in Science at Columbia) has invited Roy Den Hollander to speak about his lawsuit against the aforementioned university. He'll give a short talk briefing us on the case against Columbia and then answer any questions from the audience. All are welcome.

The talk will be Thursday, August 28 at 1:00pm, on Columbia campus in 209 Havemeyer.

If you use facebook, please feel free to rsvp:

http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=27929186974

bananaana

By the way, has anyone even mentioned that ladies' night is NOT intended for LADIES????

zodak

good job, 25! pretending to be an elightened male feminist always gets the ladies hot. evidence? see #28. lol

eyekantspel

I doubt this lawsuit is supposed to be taken seriously; I think most of the people who seem upset by it are missing the point. It seems to me that this guy is trying to provoke discussion and get speaking engagements, that kind of thing. Starting a debate about whether these programs are necessary.

It's funny how a group that largely sees free speech values in spray painting is angered by some guy saying he doesn't think ladies nights and gender-specific programs of study are fair.

At least that's how I'm interpreting this. I think his point is to have the debate, not to win the lawsuit. If he IS serious about the lawsuit, I agree it does seem pretty stupid.

NannyState

For his efforts, this two-bit shyster deserves a dream date with Andrea Dworkin and Molly Yard.

And stop it, Kojak, you're killing me!

chris lee

"As a white male, I just hate white males who complain they have it so bad. If you are a white male in America who is having trouble making it, you just suck. It has nothing to do with affirmative action or women's studies. You were dealt the best hand, you just played it poorly. Suck it up!"

There's so much wrong with that statement...think about it pleeez..and I'm black by the way.

duanereade

Top score, [25].

Spiny

As a white male, I just hate white males who complain they have it so bad. If you are a white male in America who is having trouble making it, you just suck. It has nothing to do with affirmative action or women's studies. You were dealt the best hand, you just played it poorly. Suck it up!

Marry me.

Kojak

They should have Kitchen Studies replace Women's Studies. Now THAT class will give women the skills they need to make it, and to not burn my roast.

smitty

He's scary, he reminds me of those anti-women serial killers that were dumped harshly so take it out on all women.

gttim

What you want a white men's studies course? That is every history course taught for over 230 years in the US. The idea behind women's studies and black history studies is to bring their history of contributions, which have been sorely overlooked by standard courses, into the education system. If white men had not purged all their contributions from the history books, as well as discriminated against them since the founding of the US, those courses would not be needed.

As a white male, I just hate white males who complain they have it so bad. If you are a white male in America who is having trouble making it, you just suck. It has nothing to do with affirmative action or women's studies. You were dealt the best hand, you just played it poorly. Suck it up!

sahar1902

Gah, this guy is an idiot. If men and women were treated equally, then this lawsuit would be SLIGHTLY less ridiculous than it is now.

The Department is Women and Gender Studies, which includes feminist studies, queer theory, etc.

Also, he will have to sue a lot more universities than Columbia to get rid of this major.

To the people knocking the degree, I majored in it (not at Columbia), and actually have a career that is not limited to the service industry. A majority of people in WGST departments combine it with another degree (art history, english, history, comparative literature, social science, anthropology, etc.). There are men, even though it is a minority, in these departments. But women are a minority and a lot of other departments. Should we ban computer science and engineering while we are at it?

EvanMyers

It's ironic that you would complain that women aren't treated equally when his argument is about equality. Computer science isn't anti-female and misogynistic whereas WS is anti-male and misandristic.

AHT

If this guy wants "Men's Studies," he should enroll in a few European History classes.

How did this guy manage to get a JD in the first place?

Amanda Harletsch

empowering women undermines...men?

That is zero sum logic, but yes totally men like.

Amanda Harletsch

This guy wants to be a woman, but he can't so he decides to kill them -or women causes.

Polite New Yorker

I don't see how he has grounds for a lawsuit. Columbia University is a private university. I can maybe see such a lawsuit being aimed at a public university if there were not similar bullshit courses also being offered to men. If he's angry with the kind of radical feminist women who take and teach these courses, his rage can be assuaged by the knowledge that there are few decent jobs outside of the academic world for women's studies majors.

fortyver

A pathetic little man. Why the hell do these dudes sue when they can't get laid? Besides, what a dumb f**k. The odds were way against him when he rolled the dice on the Russian Bride.

God Bless the dumb and bitter. They will need it. Oh, how he must flagellate himself every night for being so goddamn dumb.

What is worse, NYC is full of stupid f**ks like him.

Funny how a little bit of self introspection could probably get him laid on a regular basis. I have some pretty ugly friends who have mad sex lives due to being smart and maybe a little fun to be around.

I guess being a dick is not serving him well.

Spiny

What would a men's studies course involve, actually? The widespread diagnosis of hysteria for educated men in the Victorian era? The struggle for men's voting rights? The men's rights movement of the 1970s? Derogatory images of men in hip-hop culture and advertising for household products?

...Riiiiight.

Me, I'm all for equality -- equal pay and job opportunities for women, equal consideration in custody battles for men. Everything should be equal as far as sex and gender are concerned. But there's no harm in an academic pursuit devoted to studying the progression of equality for the half of society which has been unequal for the longest amount of time, and has been left out of most mainstream history textbooks as a result. I think just about anybody could learn something from studying the history of women in America. Yeah, it's true -- sometimes these classes are fluff, and sometimes they focus on what's wrong with history and society, instead of what's right. But in and of themselves, ____'s studies courses are sound subjects.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for my heterosexual studies class. Today we're learning lessons from police harassment of straights in the Sixties, you know, before they rioted for equal treatment.

jenspellnogood

the only problem i see is that this course is basically a free pass to pad your gpa; c'mon could there be a thinner curriculum?

_____-studies courses, hate crime laws, affirmative action... the constitution protects all citizens equally, STOP WHINING!!!! Stop fighting each other because in case you missed the memo, Haji al achmed is coming for us and we better stick together.