By NCFM
UNC student newspaper The Daily Tarheel attacks NCFM Carolinas then refuses to print reply letter… what are they afraid of?
October 23, 2014
Note: On Tuesday of this week, The Daily Tarheel UNC’s student newspaper ran a hatchet piece against the Carolinas chapter of the National Coalition For Men filled with libelous claims and innuendo, a great example of yellow journalism. When the truth isn’t there and the facts are missing or twisted, this is when you have yellow journalism and The Daily Tarheel was up to the task. NCFMC submitted a response letter to the editor the following day asking for our opportunity to reply to the numerous false claims. The DTH has yet to publish our response which begs the question, what is the newspaper afraid of? Below is our response letter.
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It is sad to read such extreme, biased remarks from Alice Wilder, a women’s and gender’s studies major, who goes to great lengths to disparage an honorable human rights, gender equality organization like the National Coalition For Men and our Carolinas chapter.
Ms. Wilder makes unfounded claims attempting to smear our organization by stating that we “foster violent ideology and use male survivors as objects of propaganda instead of respecting them” and “are not interested in supporting male survivors of interpersonal violence”. She fails to offer any credible evidence backing her claims. The facts tell a very different story:
• NCFM has worked with and advocated on behalf of male victims for decades, providing support and even suing the State of California to overturn a law that excluded battered men from state funded shelters.
• NCFM helped create the first official Task Force on Male Victims of Domestic Violence in California. We have spoken at universities and raised awareness about male victims, helping them get services when and where needed. We got the City of Glendale to offer free self-defense classes for men after years of their only offering these classes for women.
• NCFM has been an outspoken advocate on the devastating issue of paternity fraud. Federal Judge David Hanschen praised our work in this area and for our representing paternity fraud victims in high profile cases. (http://ncfm.org/wp-content/upl…)
• While a relatively new chapter, we are proud of our advocacy around due process protections for accused college students, both men and women. This year we provided invited testimony to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee’ hearing on Sexual Assault on Campus. We have worked closely with Congressional staffers on bringing fairness and equity to the complex issue of campus sexual assault and are a proud member of the Campus Justice Coalition.
• We were the first organization to place a spotlight on the harmful new sex policy that UNC instituted this year that puts the university squarely in the bedroom of students and greatly increases the risk of students being falsely accused of sexual misconduct. We passed out literature during Parents Weekend and spoke with numerous parents and students who voiced concern over these new policies and who expressed outrage upon learning that UNC students have less due process rights available to them than that of the average K-12 student. (http://media.wix.com/ugd/81633a_a380b2b3061d4648b9aff0518b171646.pdf )
Gender rights need not be a zero-sum game. Impassioned activists can coexist in this world without resorting to the kind of character attacks that Ms. Wilder uses. MHRM organizations bring such issues as due process rights for the accused to the forefront just as feminist organizations bring society’s handling of rape into the public discourse. As noted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”. It’s time to shine sunlight on the work of men’s human rights organizations and end the negative attacks. Male and female students, rape survivors and those who have been falsely accused deserve better.
Sincerely,
Joshua Strange
Spokesperson
National Coalition For Men Carolinas
