Two activities planned for final month of group’s inaugural year as ‘official’ student organization.
After being granted official student organization status last year, LISTEN aims to finish its first academic year with a flourish, with two events planned this month.
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The Two Spirits film will be shown
Wednesday, April 17.
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LISTEN will show the film “Two Spirits” on Wednesday, April 17, at 6 p.m in Evans Auditorium. The film interweaves the story of a mother’s loss of her son with a look at a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female, and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders.
The event has cultural events credit designation.
The group, which has more than 200 members, also is planning a Day of Silence two days later, on April 19, to coincide with or join the National Day of Silence. The national event asks students throughout the country to “take a form of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools,” according to the organization’s website. Founded in 1996, the first-ever Day of Silence was held at the University of Virginia.
Also marking the organization’s first “official” year, the group sent four students to a Gay-Straight Alliance conference at Agnes Scott College in February. President Bekah Ingram and members Kevin Teasley, James Padgett and Charley Bates attended, participating in the conference’s leadership seminar, said former faculty advisor Christina Bucher, an associate professor of English.
And the group is seeking a visual identity, working junior Communication major Cecilia Shields-Auble. Shields-Auble is helping to develop a logo and a newsletter for the group, Ingram said.
A long road
LISTEN was officially recognized in September of 2012 after several years of debate, discussion and controversy.
“It has been an incredible thing for it to be official because it’s taken almost 18 years for that to happen,” Bucher said. “It was a genuine milestone, one I’ve been waiting [on] for a long time.”
The group is focused on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, and it strives to generate a safe and supportive environment for all students, said Kris Carlisle, faculty advisor to the group and an associate professor of music.
It is a way for students to feel included at Berry regardless of their sexual orientation, he said.
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Junior Courtney Walls,
memberof LISTEN
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Junior LISTEN member Courtney Walls said she feels that the organization is crucial for supporting LGBT students on campus because the LGBT community at Berry is significantly smaller than at other schools.
Zeke Varajon, a freshman LISTEN member, said he arrived at Berry “at the perfect time, when LISTEN was made official.
“I was really worried about coming to a school like Berry, where it’s very conservative,” he said. “I have found myself as the group was able to find itself,” he said.
The group’s members are “all just very open and loving,” he said.
LISTEN meets in Krannert Center every other Wednesday at 7 p.m.
According to Campus Carrier reports, LISTEN first formed unofficially in 2003. The group was approved by the Student Life Council and then-Berry President Scott Colley in 2004, but the college’s board of trustees reversed the decision and denied the organization official club status.
Current president Steve Briggs made the final decision to approve LISTEN last year. The group held its first “official” meeting on Sept. 20.
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