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Politics | 08/19/2008 8:25 am

Columbia Accused of Discriminating Against and 'Demonizing' Men

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Self-described anti-feminist New York lawyer Roy Den Hollander has sued Columbia University over its women’s studies program he claims "demonizes men," saying it should either be eliminated altogether, or the school should offer a comparative men’s program.

He says the teaching of such programs centers around the idea that men are "the primary cause for most, if not all, the world’s ills."

Also named in the suit is the U.S. Department of Education, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, New York Board of Regents and its Chancellor, New York State education commissioner, and president of the New York State Higher Education Services Corp.

In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Hollander — who, on his MySpace page, calls himself a 100-year-old "civil rights attorney" who brings civil cases to "defend the rights of men against the feminists, feminist allies and feminist opportunists" — complains that Columbia uses federal money to fund a "religionist belief system called feminism." The class-action suit argues that the women’s studies program "demonizes men and exalts women to justify discrimination against men based on collective guilt."

It also accuses state and federal authorities of violating the First Amendment of the Constitution by aiding Columbia, and federal authorities for violating equal protection under the Fifth Amendment by "aiding the intentional discriminatory impact against men."

The New York Times reports that Hollander’s suit says such programs that serve as "a bastion of bigotry against men" at universities nationwide are "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."

Hollander last year filed a suit in federal court that accuses New York City nightclubs of discriminating against men for charging them more admission than women. He also last year filed another federal suit challenging sections of the Violence Against Women Act as unconstitutional for what he describes as its allowing illegal immigrant women to acquire citizenship by falsely accusing their American husbands, or ex-husbands, of mistreatment.

52 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

theCHEROKEErose
a RELIGION called ‘feminism’…say what…boy, this guy doesnt want women to rise en-masse and castrate him or something…i think this is GREAT…and columbia is GREAT for having the intestinal fortitude to make it happen!!! what a SEXIST, BIGOT, FUDDY-DUDDY!!just espousing what i believe with every inch of my being…the world would be a MUCH better place if men were just kept in cages OR even another planet…RIGHT ON, COLUMBIA
By theCHEROKEErose on 08/20/2008 9:55 am
K O
I believe he referred to feminism as a “religionist belief.” I’m still trying to figure out what ‘religionist’ means.
By K O on 08/20/2008 12:43 pm
Sharon Lee
Hmmmmm……he sounds like a man trying to get even. Do you think “rejection” is one of his issues? I seriously doubt that bevy of beauties on his “space” actually have any personal connection to him. He should be made part of history!
By Sharon Lee on 08/20/2008 2:04 pm
Diana T
Well, Sharon, it’s like the other person on our site…I think they got soaked with their divorces, and probably with their attitudes deserved everything they got, and I don’t think it’s rejection at all..To my way of thinking they have deep seeded anger problems and seem hung up with trying to prove what Macho Men they are, and as I said above, chances are there’s a hangup about their hangouts.
By Diana T on 08/20/2008 3:37 pm
Sharon Lee
Ah Diana, you are onto something. Hangouts, hangups, it’s all ego to me…lol.
By Sharon Lee on 08/20/2008 10:44 pm
kermie b
I printed out all 18 pages of his brief tonight at work and showed it to a lawyer who didn’t think it was funny at all. He didn’t even get the World History joke. I am just saying, our Hollander is not the only clown in the rodeo.
By kermie b on 08/21/2008 2:08 am