To help facilitate attitude changes on campus, a men’s outreach program was added as part of the Margaret Sloss House Women’s Center’s curriculum earlier this semester.

Pam Thomas, director of the Sloss House, said the center has a responsibility to work with men, as well as women.

“Men are the other part of the equation; it will ultimately affect how we live as a community on this campus,” she said.

Some of the new programs offered through Men’s Outreach address issues such as sexual assault, marriage, work and fatherhood.

In a broader sense, the program will focus on the socialization of men and what being a man in today’s society means, Thomas said.

The program is mostly a campus project right now, but Thomas said she hopes to expand the program into the Ames community.

However, before it can expand, she said the center must solve the problem of getting men involved.

Thomas said the problem is that the Sloss Center has a negative connotation with some men.

“Men don’t fully trust programs like these because they are afraid that there won’t be an open dialogue — that we’re going to bash them for being male,” Thomas said.

David White, Men’s Outreach coordinator, said the program is vital for understanding among men.

“I think it’s important for men to talk to men,” he said.

“Men are the ones doing the raping; they’re the ones who need to be taught,” White said.

White also said men need to be taught to be gentlemen and not condemned.

“It’s hard to get men to understand that they need to change,” he said.

Despite the lack of men currently in the program, there are men who have shown an interest, Thomas said.