The debate on the gender wage gap between economics professor Walter Block and Women’s Resource Center director Karen Reichard has been cancelled.

The debate, “Should Women Make Less then Men?”, was intended to highlight opposing arguments regarding feminism and the wage gap between men and women. Loyola Society For Civic Engagement was asked to moderate the debate scheduled for Monday, March 12.

Block said his reason for pulling out of the debate has to do with the responses he and the university received from his column published in The Maroon on March 2. The piece was titled “Several fatal flaws mar the feminist movement” and was published alongside a column by Reichard.

“I wish I could participate in the debate, but I feel that it will add to the heat,” Block said. “And (the debate) would not be a conducive learning environment, which is what the university is all about.”

Although the debate has been cancelled, Reichard said she does not plan to give up on educating students on the subject.

“At this point it is important to create something positive out of this controversy for our Loyola community. I will be meeting with students and women’s studies faculty to put together a forum that will allow us to have meaningful and productive conversation,” Reichard said in an email.

“The focus is no longer the specific issue of the wage gap, but rather the larger context in which the wage gap happens as well as the importance of responsible speech.”

Hannah Iannazzo can be reached at [email protected]