Saint Augustine’s University Senior John Cates looks around the classroom and counts 17 other males and only five females. “Sometimes I wonder if I attend an all-male school,” he said.
As one walk around the campus of Saint Augustine’s University – a coed institution – the thought that might occur at times is: Where are the Women? In most colleges, there are more women enrolled than men. Why this is the case is this suggesting that woman care more about having an education than men. But Saint Augustine’s has the opposite problem. With an enrollment of 426 male and only 384 woman making the total enrollment of 810.
Female students also notice the imbalance. “This is a man’s world I’m reminded of this everyday as a female student at St.Aug,” said Kim Cate, a freshman. “I’m just trying to prove that I can survive in this man’s world.”
John Walter, a senior, who was passing through on his way to a senior meeting, chimed in: “ This is not a man’s world, at least not as it relates to this institution,” Walter said. “We just so happen to have a lot more males here than females, which is a great thing because are not a lot of brothers thinking about going to college and, if they do, most colleges wont’ except them due to their background or grades from high school. This school gives us brothers a chance that we never would have had and I’m grateful to be here.”
But young men must take advantage of that opportunity, school leaders say. “If someone has invested in you, it is your job to do your very best to not be a bad investment,” said SAU former choir director Eric Poole, who lamented that many do not dress well or have respectful attitudes. Chad Brown, a junior, agrees. “I see a lot of my brothers walking around here with their head really not on straight and not taking this school thing as seriously as they should,” he said. “But I can’t change them — they are their own person. All I can do it pray for them and try to be a light and positive example for them to follow.”
–Devin Paylor
