As the brothers of Iota Phi Theta pointed out, young males need a new definition of swagger.
The recently established fraternity held an event called "Men's Fear of Women" at 7 Wednesday night in the Pollock Commons. The fraternity decided it wanted to honor Women's Appreciation month this March by discussing and presenting the proper way to approach women.
"We came to a consensus that any program we were going to do would be geared toward women," said Iota Phi Theta President Deitrich Davidheiser (sophomore-actuarial science). "A lot of the brothers have female friends, and they wanted to be more enlightened about it."
About 50 students attended the discussion, and almost half were female.
Davidheiser said that he was excited about the successful turnout, especially because it was only the second event the fraternity has held since it formed in October 2008.
Ollie Ogbu (junior-sociology and criminal justice) began the discussion by acting out an example of the different ways to approach women. He first showed the "wrong" way to approach a woman, and then followed it with the "correct" way.
"Hello, ma'am, how are you? Would you like to maybe go out to dinner sometime?" he asked his female volunteer in the example.
Chanell Autrey agreed that more men should use Ogbu's proper approach.
"Intelligence, well-spoken, confidence. That's what we want -- a goal-oriented guy," said Autrey (senior-political science and French). "That chivalry stuff, it's not there anymore."
However, some of the men, such as Nana Acheampong, disagreed with Autrey's statement.
"I think ladies want a bad boy," said Acheampong (senior-supply chain and information systems). "Nice guys finish last."
Ogbu continued to offer various scenarios, and allowed the attendees to give their opinion on the matter.
"Some dudes' fears are that they're afraid to be nice, you know," Ogbu said to his audience. "They feel like they have to turn on that swagger to get a girl."
