Campus to join the national anti-bullying and acceptance campaign
What:
According to the 2009 National School Climate Survey, nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment in school. This month, Adelphi joins the nation to celebrate Diversity Awareness Month and LGBTQ History Month, as well as be a part of the national anti-bullying and acceptance campaign called “It Gets Better.”
In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, “yes, it does indeed get better.”
Adelphi University’s Center for Student Involvement will host a number of activities this month to educate the campus community and the public, as well as honor hate crime victims. On October 6, Adelphi students, staff, and administrators will tape messages of hope to be uploaded to ItGetsBetter.org. The purpose of the activity is to engage in campus dialogue and prevent tragedies from happening such as the suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer.
“People would be like ‘faggot, fag,’ and they’d taunt me in the hallways and I felt like I could never escape it,” said Rodemeyer in a YouTube video posted in May as part of columnist Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project, which seeks to give voices and hope to bullied gay and lesbian teenagers. The teen’s video has now been viewed more than a million times.
When:
Thursday, October 6, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where:
Adelphi University,
Ruth S. Harley University Center
Room 213
1 South Avenue,
Garden City, NY 11530
For further information, please contact:
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications Director
p – 516.237.8634
e – twilson@adelphi.edu