WWU professor shows closed-mindedness; UW Tacoma chancellor, in contrast, shows concern
During a recent panel discussion on declining enrollment in post-secondary education, UW Tacoma Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange responded to a question from the audience about the lack of males in college. She affirmed that the gender gap in college enrollment “is an ongoing issue” and “has been an issue for a while”. Her expression of concern contrasted with comments by the panel’s moderator, Bill Lyne, who is a professor at Western Washington University, a co-director of the College Promise Coalition, and the president of the United Faculty of Washington State.
“I don’t think it’s tough for White boys to go to college these days. If they don’t, it’s not because they don’t have the opportunities.”
Bill Lyne, Western Washington University
Mr. Lyne’s singling out of “White boys” as being free of obstructions to attending college fits a common narrative about White male privilege. But his claim is at odds with well-documented statistical realities. His full comments, presented in the video and transcription below, reveal an ignorance about the gender gap in college enrollment — a phenomenon that applies even when accounting for intersections of race/ethnicity and social class.
Boys are just not going to college as much as their similarly-situated female peers.
An analysis of Census Bureau data by the Global Initiative for Boys and Men found that Black, White, and Hispanic males are significantly less likely to attend college than their female counterparts from identical racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. (See articles “Education in Black and White” and “American Education in Numbers“.) For example, a comparison of White males to White females within the third income quartile shows a college participation rate of 61% for males compared to 77% for females.
College Participation Rates By Race, Sex, and Quartile 3 Income of 18 to 24 Year-Old Dependent Family Members from 2012 to 2020 (Source)
| Males | Females |
| White: 61% | White: 77% |
| Hispanic: 57% | Hispanic: 71% |
| Black: 61% | Black: 71% |
| Asian: 82% | Asian: 84% |
Reserving empathy only for some
With the panel’s topic billed as the worrying decline in enrollment in Washington’s post-secondary institutions, it is very disappointing that the panel’s moderator was so eager to draw attention away from a certain population of Washington’s youth who might also be deserving of targeted outreach and support for their educational achievement. This is an example of knee-jerk inclinations we are seeing to exclude White and Asian boys from concern — reserving empathy solely for Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic boys. This is wrongheaded. It is indicative of prejudice and ignorance. It is too common among academics and politicians. (See related: King County Council Chairperson Claudia Balducci Rejects Idea of a Men’s Commission: ‘Men Don’t Face Systemic Discrimination, Women Do’)
What did they say?
The text below was transcribed from an audio recording of the panel discussion about higher education at the Re-Wire Policy Conference on December 5, 2022 in Tacoma, Washington. Bill Lyne was the panel’s moderator. Sheila Edwards Lange was a panelist.
Bill Lyne (professor, Western Washington University): Ok, we have our first question from the audience. And this will be interesting to see how you all come at this.
“Superintendent Reykdal was recently asked at a State Board of Education meeting to comment on the gap between the number of male and female students in college. His response didn’t indicate he saw the gap as a problem, per se, and he didn’t put forth any ideas for increasing male enrollment. 1) Do you see the ~60/40 female/male college enrollment split as a problem, and 2) Are there any ideas for increasing enrollment by males that you find compelling?”
See related: Education Superintendent Chris Reykdal Responds to Question on Lack of Males at Universities [Video]
Sheila Edwards Lange (chancellor, University of Washington Tacoma): Yes, I do see that this is an ongoing issue, and actually it has been an issue for a while, particularly for underrepresented students — there are a lot more women in higher education.
It’s interesting because I entered higher education as a gender equity person who worked on getting more women into engineering. Then as we see this downturn [in male enrollment], I think we need to pay attention to making sure that everyone gets access to higher education.
Do we have anything that works? The UW Seattle campus started a Brotherhood Initiative. When I was at Seattle Central College we had a program to get more men of color into higher education.
It really is just doing the same kinds of things [that we’ve discussed earlier in this panel] — starting early, supporting students when they’re on the campus, and encouraging them to complete [their degrees]. It’s a formula that worked to get more women into higher education. It’s going to have to work to get more men to go to college.
‘I don’t think it’s tough for White boys’
Bill Lyne: Yeah, I mean…I would agree with Dr. Lange, but maybe refine that to men below a certain income level and men of color. I don’t think it’s tough for White boys to go to college these days. If they don’t, it’s not because they don’t have the opportunities. It’s not because they’ve been excluded.
Editor’s note: Here a member of the audience speaks up…
Carolyn Logue (audience member): If they have the opportunity to go, why aren’t they going? That is an important question. Do they feel they don’t belong anymore? Have we created a system that is now changing to a different structure? These are very important questions if you’re really talking about an equitable access and opportunity to go to college.
Mr. Lyne responds to the audience member…
Bill Lyne: And, are they not going from…I mean, if you do the crosstabs on that…[there are] people in the middle class and above and they’re White and they’re boys — they’re still not going?
Carolyn Logue: I don’t know.
Bill Lyne: Oh, ok.
Carolyn Logue: But if they’re not, you don’t write it off.
‘Don’t write it off’
We admire and appreciate the audience member’s bravery in objecting to Professor Lyne’s eagerness to dismiss White boys as being worthy of concern without having the facts.
When more of our leaders are exposed to statistics proving that the challenges boys and men experience are not confined to males of a particular race or class, they will be less likely to withhold empathy and concern the way Professor Lyne did.
See related: When Schools Teach Boys They Are Oppressors
See related: Summer of Discrimination Against Boys Begins at Pacific Science Center