If you notice an influx of men with mustaches on Cal Poly’s campus, don’t be alarmed.
Cal Poly’s Men and Masculinity program is celebrating Movember by hosting a month of events from Oct. 21 until Nov. 15.
Movember is a worldwide campaign that was started by the Movember Foundation, during which male-identified people grow mustaches as conversation starters to raise awareness and fundraise for men’s health.
The foundation focuses on men’s mental health, suicide prevention and prostate and testicular cancer.
“The point of the mustache is to grow something and have this visible conversation starter,” Men and Masculinity Coordinator Nick Bilich said. “Movember is really for anybody who has a vested interest in seeing men, male-identified, masculine-identified people be healthy.”
Cal Poly students and staff can sign up to join a Movember team on the Men and Masculinity website to participate in fundraising for men’s health.
The goal is for participants to raise $5,000 in donations for the Cal Poly Movember team to contribute to the Movember Foundation.
Men and Masculinity has helped plan several events during Movember, including the Pen15 Comedy Show in collaboration with the Smile and Nod improv team.
“I’ve seen the script for the comedy show [and] it actually is pretty damn funny,” psychology senior Winston Chang said. “For us the real goal at the end of the day is, how do we get more men to talk about their mental health, their physical health, their emotionality?”
The free comedy show will be Nov. 6 from 5-7 p.m. in the University Union, room 220.
“This is a topic that touches everyone and we need to talk about it,” Chang said. “ If we want to change it, we have to start talking about it.”