The men of North Carolina A&T had their voices and opinions heard Nov. 8, at the kick-off of Mr. A&T’s “Week of the Gentlemen.”  

The inaugural event, which partnered with the campus fraternities, saw chairs filled in Merrick Auditorium with both men and women alike as the night’s topic focused on “The Man.”

Head intern under Mr. A&T, Whindleton “Josh” Walker, who helped organize the weeks activities explained, “This program came about because Mr. A&T wanted to empower men, which is part of his duties.   So we decided to make a week committed directly towards men just to empower them in different aspects.  The whole week is about building the total man,” continued the junior speech communications major from Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Todd Porter, Mr. A&T and a senior broadcast production major from Raleigh echoed those sentiments.    

“This has been an idea of mine as soon as I got elected. I was like, let’s define this word:  man.  What is a gentleman? A conscious man?  What’s a responsible man?  It has been a lot of planning to get the panel and make up the proper questions to stimulate peoples’ minds.”

 The program started with Porter  giving the purpose of Gentlemen’s week which was followed by host, Joseph Escobar, giving an opening statement and introducing the initial panel which included various class Misters, Mr. Black Greensboro, representatives from the involved fraternities and even the first Mr. A&T, Austin James.  

The night was filled with questions and open dialogue that saw usually taboo and quiet issues brought to the forefront for thorough examination.

 “I thought it was a good program.  It gave black males an opportunity to discuss manhood.  It gave people an opportunity to discuss diversity and the meaning of what is a man,” said Mr. Junior, Christopher Wade, a public relations major from Richmond, V.A., who also was on the panel.

“I think it was a good turn out,” said Porter afterwards. “We all learned from each of other.  It was a moment where the African American males could basically mentor each other and see what the problems are that we deal with as a man, definitely in this society.  We all have a lot of things against us and we just want to encourage each other throughout this entire week to make sure we’re dealing with things we’ve got to do as a man and be leaders in this society.”

Miss A&T, Carla Saunders, was very satisfied with how her counterpart’s program turned out.  

“I feel like it was something the campus really needed it was presented in a positive way.  For the guys to not only be able to take something from it, but to be able to share it and apply it with other students on campus,” said the senior agriculture education major from Fayetteville.

The Week of Gentlemen will continue through Thursday, with “The Conscious Man” in Merrick Auditorium Nov. 10 and conclude with the “Responsible Man” Nov. 11 in Hodgin Auditorium.  Both events start at 7 p.m. and require business casual attire.

• Charles Johnson