Silence will come to the University on Friday as students participate in the National Day of Silence.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, an organization that promotes equality in public schools, has sponsored the NDS since 2001 to remember students who have been bullied because of their orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
“The Day of Silence is a day to protest the bullying and harassment of students in the classroom,” junior education major Jessica Myers said.
“The vow of silence symbolizes those who have taken their own lives because of harassment.”
Myers is a resident assistant at Settegast Hall in the Quadrangle and is a member of a group of resident assistants that are organizing the event.
UH’s LGBT student organization GLOBAL and the UH chapter of the Gamma Rho Lambda sorority will be participating in the event alongside the RA’s.
This is the second year the RA’s have facilitated the NDS activities on campus.
Individuals who decide to take a vow of silence for the day can get information on Thursday at registration tables set up in residential housing units on campus and the LGBT Resource Center, which is located on the second floor of the University Center.
Individuals who decide to participate will be given a card explaining why they have chosen to remain silent for the day.
On Friday, the registration tables and the LGBT Resource Center will become “safe spots” where participants can engage in dialogue with other participants or individuals who are curious about LGBT harassment and bullying.
“Our society is not the friendliest in the world,” said Cameron McFarland, a studio art senior who is an RA at Cougar Village.
“We are speaking out against the aggressiveness, stereotyping and fear that comes from close-mindedness,” McFarland said. “All we are doing is trying to start a dialogue.”
Post-baccalaureate electrical engineering freshman Aubrey Peloubet is the vice president of the LGBT sorority Gamma Rho Lambda.
She believes that silence is a particularly effective way to address the harassment of LGBT-identified individuals.
“It’s a form of peaceful protest,” Peloubet said. “It brings attention to it because nothing is said.”
At 4 p.m. on Friday, a “Breaking the Silence” party will be held in the Oberholtzer multi-purpose room in the Quadrangle.
For more information on UH’s LGBT Resource Center, visit its website at www.class.uh.edu/lgbt/.
For more information on the National Day of Silence, visit www.dayofsilence.org/.
