Men Discriminated Against in Academia?

From Tech Central Station:

. . . an interesting post on how males are underrepresented in colleges and universities.

Do we need an Affirmative Action program for male students?

The article, by Glenn Harlan Reynolds, quotes USA Today:

Currently, 135 women receive bachelor’s degrees for every 100 men. That gender imbalance will widen in the coming years, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Education.

Reynolds goes on to note:

There seems little doubt that universities have become less male-friendly in recent decades, to the point of being downright unfriendly in many cases. The kind of statements that are routinely made about males and masculinity in classrooms and hallways would get professors fired if they were made about blacks, gays, or many other groups. Sexual-harassment policies start with the presumption that men are guilty, and inherently depraved. And colleges now come at the tail-end of an educational system that is (compared to previous decades) anti-male from kindergarten on, meaning many males probably just want to get out as soon as they can.

Of course, Reynolds notes, it might simply be that men can get good-paying jobs without going to college.

Plumbers, electricians, and building contractors face their own sets of barriers, but they don’t need a college degree. (And, as an upside, those jobs aren’t likely to be outsourced.)

Still, this inbalance should be thrown in the face of every Affirmative Action quota advocate.