The Daily Northwestern

When Jessie Mathiason leaves her dorm today, the Weinberg freshman wants to make a statement without saying a word.

She’ll be wearing a homemade T-shirt that says “Day of Silence” and a rainbow-colored ribbon. But these are only visual signs of her message. Mathiason’s main tactic will be silence.

She will join other Northwestern students and students across the country in Day of Silence, a national student-led movement to raise awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

NU’s participation in the protest is sponsored by Rainbow Alliance, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.

“The silence represents the silence of minorities, specifically the LGBT community over the years,” said Mathiason, an organizer of the event.

Day of Silence began at the University of Virginia in 1996 and has grown into a national project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the United States Student Association, according to www.dayofsilence.com. In 2002, over 1,900 colleges, universities, high schools and middle schools participated.

This is NU’s second year participating in the event. Only about 20 people were involved with last year’s protest, but Rainbow Alliance expects more support after increasing publicity for this year’s event, Mathiason said.

Students will remain silent from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Then the silence is broken by a countdown and a unified scream at The Rock. Participants will wear rainbow ribbons and carry cards explaining their actions throughout the day.

Following the scream, participants will gather at Unicorn Cafe for a discussion led by Jillana Enteen, a visiting assistant professor of English who has taught classes in gender studies. Students will have the chance to share the day’s experiences.

“I assume there’s going to be a lot of positive reactions but also negative ones that need to be talked about,” Mathiason said.

Barrak Alzaid, a Communication freshman and member of Rainbow Alliance, said he is participating in Day of Silence to support Rainbow Alliance and his friends who are involved in organizing the event.

“It’s to recognize and bring to the foreground the invisible discrimination that goes on against the LGBT community,” Alzaid said. “The purpose is to show what a world without LGBTQQ (queer and questioning) would be like.”

Alzaid said the event parallels the November 2003 protest against hate crimes when minority students wore black and remained silent.

But this protest is not limited to members of the gay community, Alzaid said. Anyone who supports gay rights is encouraged to join.

Silence is an effective method of protest because it affects how people interact on a college campus, said Shea Rentschler, a coordinator of student organizations at Norris University Center.

“It really is a way for people to realize the silence that can occur within the LGBT community because of homophobia and heterosexism,” said Rentschler, who handles Rainbow Alliance. “It’s kind of fighting silence with silence.”

Rentschler said events such as Day of Silence try to create awareness about LGBT issues and fight discrimination — even in traditionally liberal settings such as college campuses.

Mathiason said NU is no exception, but she hopes the event will increase acceptance at NU.

“I’ve definitely noticed discrimination on campus in the past,” she said. “So hopefully that will change over time.”