Campus club fosters the pursuit of authentic male values and concerns
By Lauren Seynhaeve
Brotherhood, truth, justice and authentic masculinity. These are the four pillars for which the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or LXG, stands.
When he was hired in 2005, Josh Noem of Campus Ministry was given the task of trying to get the male population on campus more interested in partaking in school activities. He was asked to do so because of a national trend in American colleges showing that men are lagging behind women academically and in extracurricular involvement in schools.
For two years, Noem struggled to come up with an idea which would involve the men on campus in one unifying activity. But in 2007, he decided to try something that St. John's University in Minnesota enacted, and he called it the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
"In broad terms - from a Campus Ministry perspective - we're meeting spiritual needs on campus," he said. "We're giving them space to be self-reflective, engage in brotherhood and communicate on a deeper level to look at stories of their lives to find a grand coherence."
Noem asked the Office of Residence Life to recommend any guys on campus who might be interested in the League, and he was given 11 names.
Junior Kyle Kearney is one of the original men to join LXG and he is now the official Webmaster for the club. The LXG Web site, https://pilots.up.edu/web/LXG, is run completely by Kearney.
"I wanted to find a group that I could have deeper discussions with," Kearney said. "It's brought men together who wouldn't initially interact."
The pilot group of LXG is still together today, working toward the same goals the club was founded upon, and a few new ones as well.
"We encourage discussion among men while at the same time we're not being entirely serious," he said.
The mission of the League is to give the members an environment in which they feel comfortable talking about things a little deeper than what might happen in a hallway, according to Noem. The idea is to talk about subjects other than sports, cars and girls.
"It's creating a place for guys to be real, to be authentic with one another," Noem said.
Meetings are supposed to give LXG members the opportunity to talk about how they really feel without fear of harassment.
Members of the League meet in small groups of eight to 10 with one or two adult mentors every few weeks. In the beginning of each school year, the League holds a mass recruiting drive, nicknamed the "Manquisition."
After the initial recruiting session, which has already occurred this year, joining the League isn't encouraged; however, Noem is willing to work with men who still wish to join LXG.
The Consul for Brotherhood, junior Creede Caldwell, hopes to boost awareness of LXG on campus in the future. The League is already hosting events on campus, and hopes to add to that number in addition to working more off campus.
"It provides a really good opportunity for bonding and meeting other men," he said. "We definitely hope to increase our member base and our presence."
The groups of men are all from the same year and stay together throughout their time at UP, to encourage a stronger friendship amongst them. Each year also follows a certain theme during discussions.
Freshmen focus on identifying who they are, sophomores talk about their relationships (namely family and friends), juniors talk about the challenges they have encountered and how they have overcome them and seniors (of which there are currently none) mentor freshmen groups and talk about what they have learned from their time in LXG.
Each meeting's discussion is led by a different member of the group, allowing for each person in the unit to demonstrate leadership skills and influence the topic with his own experiences and feelings.
Service has also been introduced into the League's curriculum, and several organized community service projects have been completed. One of the more recent projects LXG participated in was removing leaves and washing windows at the Children's Relief Nursery.
The leaders of LXG make up what is called the Consulate, representing the main pillars of the group. The Legatus (president) is junior Andrew Berigan, the Consul for Brotherhood is Caldwell, the Consul for Justice is junior Brian Walsh and the Consul for Masculinity is junior Matthew Vanderlaan.
These men are all interested in finding out what it means to be a man.
"That component about examining masculinity has been a really important piece for us," Noem said. "It's been an important value to keep us grounded in our identity as human beings and to talk about and overcome the conventional stereotypes."
Over the past three years, LXG has grown from 11 men to over 60. It seems to double in size each year, to the great happiness of Noem and the student members.
"We've spread virally, with the initial group telling everyone to join," joked Kearney.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is meant to help men on campus get involved. With group discussion, community service and a uniting sense of brotherhood, LXG is working to reverse the negative male trend at UP and get guys involved in an extracurricular activity.
