Men in the Arena

The primary focus of the Men in the Arena symposium is building men of character. A variety of active and reflective workshops sought to promote skills and positive images of masculinity while dispelling the negative cultural stereotypes that promote athletic prowess, sexual conquest and economic success as the foundation of masculinity.

The symposium is named for the sentiments expressed by Theodore Roosevelt in his 1910 speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Student workshops have included: The Art of Negotiation, Becoming a College Athlete, Childcare and Fatherhood, Dating and Relationships, Lost in the Desert (survival skills), and Making Salsas.  Field trips have included visits to the California Science Center, The Huntington Library, and Sony Pictures Studios.

Click here to view an entire gallery from the 2011 Symposium Days.