Campus offers silent 'gesture of support'

If students are going out of their way to be quiet today, don't automatically think they are antisocial. In fact, they might be perfectly healthy extroverts going out of their way to recognize the National Day of Silence. More like an observance than a holiday, the National Day of Silence allows people to take a pledge of silence to support the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights movement.\n"I would hope members of the campus community would respect the silence pledge taken by participants and would reflect on what ways we as members of the campus community contribute to an environment that silences others," said IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig.\nCoordinator of GLBT Student Support Services Doug Bauder said college campuses across the country participate in the silence, which also has expanded into high schools where there are gay/straight alliances. He said in its history at IU, the National Day of Silence was just that -- a national day. But recently it's grown into several days of events that began Tuesday and run through Thursday, Bauder said. \nWhether you take the pledge to be silent for part of the day or the whole day, Bauder highlighted the significance of taking the pledge at all.\n"(It) represents the way people who are gay feel silenced at some point in their life, or their entire life ... it's a symbolic gesture of support," Bauder said.