Male-friendly . . . Female-friendly: Can a school be both?

Men's Health magazine recently rated Princeton one of the ten most male-friendly schools in the country.

Sports Illustrated for Women recently named Princeton one of the nation's ten best schools for female athletes.

At least for the moment, where gender-friendliness is concerned, Princeton can't lose. Or can it?

Are those characteristics that make a school welcoming to males the same as those that make it welcoming to females? Or are the two locked in some sort of zero-sum war, in which a victory for one means a blow to the other?

And, the assertions of Sports Illustrated for Women notwithstanding, is there reason to believe that Princeton — with its 200-year history of all-male education — is still more welcoming to males than females?

"I think that when you look at the documents and pictures from the number of institutions that were all-male for many years, you see an imbalance," said former Princeton Dean of Student Life Janina Montero, who is now the vice president for campus life and student services at Brown University — which was listed as one of the top ten anti-male schools in America. "I think it is understandable to look at the representation of women on campus compared to the representation of men."

Men's Health magazine credited Montero's departure with making the campus more male-friendly. "Good news," the article reads. "A notoriously PC dean of student life resigned earlier this year. (She went to Brown. Of course.)"

Montero said that at first she found the article "humorous," but after considering the "disrespectful" style in which it was written, she said she was "dismayed."

Men's Health magazine — whose list lauded colleges that make men "feel welcome and relaxed, not silenced or besieged" — sought to identify schools where "there is less overt hostility, and the traditional male point of view is appreciated socially and academically." The magazine's final conclusion about Old Nassau was that it is "the only Ivy that isn't poison to men."

"It is hilarious to think that in the year 2000 women have less than an equal voice on campus," said Laurence Stains, the article's author who worked on it for more than six months. "Women control academia, they are the majority of the students, they get better grades, they are more favored and their concerns are paramount. The overall point that I wanted to come across was that it is tougher to be a guy on some campuses."

The criteria — athletics, academics, rules, social life, free organizations and appeal after graduation — could be used to distinguish schools for any student, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Nevertheless, they formed the backbone of the Men's Health ratings.

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"Athletics was a criteria because more men are interested in sports than women," said Stains, who subscribed to The Chronicle of Higher Education, consulted surveys and talked to "scores of sources."

"This is not to say that there aren't plenty of women who are interested in sports," he explained. "But surveys have been done that say if a coach calls a guy and wants him to go to a certain school, that guy is there. With women, more than just athletics goes into a decision on where to go to college."

When Men's Health evaluated Princeton's academic program, it compared the number of economics classes with the number of women's studies courses, showing that the University has "strong programs, especially in the fields of keen interest to men."

"It is ridiculous to think that economics courses are for men and women studies courses are for women," Stains explained. "A strong women studies program does not mean that the university is hostile to men. It is the tenor of the women studies program that matters. If it teaches that one in four women are victims of date rape, then that produces a hostile environment to guys."

A male-friendly campus also must be socially friendly — a place where "people like each other" and "men and women are friendly" — and must welcome fraternities, according to Men's Health.

"Fraternities are usually the focal point of male hatred. If there is an active fraternity scene, that means that the administration allows men to socialize," Stains said. "When there is a campus that allows the presence of fraternities, that shows that the administration is not governed by an over-arching ideology that does not allow single sex companionship. I don't think that the drinking and hazing part of frat life is male-friendly. I am talking about fraternity programs where seniors help freshmen and where the frat does community service."

The final indicator that was used in Men's Health magazine was called "silly rules," and referred to the sexual harassment policies that campuses must follow.

"I think that sexual harassment codes are schools' attempts to combat a very serious problem. I just don't agree with codes that say that if two people are drunk and they have sexual intercourse, then it is the man's fault," Stains said. "I think that schools have the right to have codes that even civil courts would not follow, but I don't think that it is right for the school not to fully educate its student body about those policies."

Even though Princeton passes the Men's Health test of male-friendliness, the Sports Illustrated for Women ranking raises the question of whether the campus is equally female-friendly, and for the same reasons? Is this a direct tradeoff in which when men win, women lose?

"A truly male-friendly school is one where the women are capable, confident and equal. It needs to have a program that is equally good for men and women," said Michael Kimmel, a sociology professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who specializes in gender relations. "A male-friendly school is one where women can major in quantum physics, can row on the crew team and can read 19th century British literature. It is also where men can play sports, excel in academics and play chess."

Is Princeton the sort of place where women and men can equally excel in academics, athletics and social situations?

Sports Illustrated for Women has listed Princeton in its top-ten Division I schools for female athletes, saying that it is a welcoming place where women can study and compete with excellent results. Nearly 23 percent of female students at Princeton are varsity athletes, a percentage not too far from the 32 percent of male students who play a varsity sport. Also, there are 598 women on club teams, while there are 610 men who participate in club sports. Princeton has 20 men's varsity teams, and 18 for women.

"Women's sports are at least as equally important to young people as men's sports . . . Without strong athletic facilities and appeal, you can't be a strong college community," University Vice President and Secretary Tom Wright '62 said. "We have spent a lot of time and money to ensure the equity of resources between male and female athletics at this school. We made sure that the locker room facilities were as good, if not better, than the men's facilities, and have paid attention to everything from coaches' salaries to the square-feet of office space."

In academics, women make up 30 percent of the University's engineering school — significantly higher than the 17 percent of engineers nationwide who are female. The social scene appears to be more friendly than it was before the last all-male eating clubs went coed in the early 1990s.

"Things are getting better here for women. During my sophomore year, only 15 women marched in the Take Back the Night march and we were shouted at," said Brooke Friedman '01, who organized the event. "This past year, over 100 people came, both men and women, to take a stand against sexual violence. It was a huge success. Because we are coming from behind the times, it has been an uphill battle for women to be recognized and supported by the students. But I think we are pretty much there."

Yet, academics, athletics and social-friendliness are not the only criteria that make a campus welcoming to female students.

According to Susan Overton, director of the University's women's center, other criteria should include the sense of security on campus, the presence of female leaders, women's comfort in social situations and the existence of healthy relationships between men and women, such as solid friendships with members of the opposite sex.

"Princeton is pretty good in a lot of these areas, but the criteria concerning social issues, we are really in the bottom half," Overton said. "Women are more comfortable on campus than they were 10 or 15 years ago, but I do think that women are uncomfortable socially. The 'Street' scene is an issue. Sexual harassment and sexual assault do happen on campus, and women are not speaking about it."

"Young girls in general lose confidence when their bodies change and when they become valued for their appearance," Overton added. "These insecurities sometimes carry through as women get older. Some women don't speak in class as much as men do, or will only speak when they have the right answer or something profound to say. This sort of thing gets exacerbated at a place like Princeton, which has an all-male history."

Students also have noticed an undertone in Princeton's campus life that not only causes women to be uncomfortable in the social scene, but also leads to a lack of women leaders on campus. This year, there are no women on the U-Council, and only a handful are eating club officers.

"The girls that come to Princeton were all leaders in their high schools, but they are slowly broken down here," said Nancy Ippolito '01, who is the president of the Organization for Women Leadership, a club in its first year. "They are suddenly intimidated to run for things like a position on U-Council or a position in an eating club."

However, it may no longer be up to the administration to make Princeton more female-friendly. It may be up to women themselves.

"The resources are there for women to become leaders and raise their voices. It was easy to start this organization," Ippolito said. "There was support from every area, and over 300 students, both men and women, expressed their interest in an organization that helps women become leaders on campus. It is not the guys' fault or the administration's fault that this campus is not as female-friendly. It is the girls' fault for not speaking up. There is definite potential for this place to be student-friendly — equally friendly for men and women."