Day of Silence: Speaking without words

Students chattered in Terrace Club's dining room yesterday afternoon as Helen Shang '08 sat down at a table. Her friends were discussing the relative merits of different fast cars. The conversation continued for almost 15 minutes as Shang sat in silence.

"Oh, you're doing the Day of Silence," one of them finally said to Shang, noticing the sticker on her cardigan. "I'm doing it too, couldn't you tell?" he joked. Shang nodded in response.

Shang, a straight ally, was one of the dozens of participants in this year's annual Day of Silence. Students pledged not to speak for the day in order to protest the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies.

While the number of participants was up from last year, organizers said the limited support was due to a combination of poor advertising and people's unwillingness to not talk for a day. The small, silent base was not a sign of hostility or indifference to the gay community at Princeton, Pride Alliance co-president Thomas Lipp '08 said in an email.

Some participants carried cards explaining, "My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today."

In an interview Tuesday, Shang said she participates not just to support gay and lesbian friends, but also because she believes oppression and enforced silence apply universally.

"The idea of being silenced, not being heard, applies to everybody in some sort of way," Shang said. "So I guess by participating in this event you both support a cause and also examine your own issues about whether you've felt silenced in other ways."

Though she believes the event has meaning and relevance for everyone, Shang and Pride Alliane Ally co-chairs Jennifer Smith '08 and Elissa Frankle '08, all agreed that participation in the Day of Silence in the past few years at Princeton has been fairly limited. Smith is also a copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

The Alliance group does not track exactly how many people take part, but there were between 10 and 15 people at last year's "wrap-up" dinner for the day, hosted by the Pride Alliance. About 50 students picked up buttons and stickers for the day this year. The increase is due to a large contingent of new freshman and sophomore members, Frankle said.

So few students

"There's a general apathy on campus towards a lot of political causes," Smith said. "But in this case, I think a big part of the lack of participation has to do with kids being scared to not talk in precepts or labs or seminars, though we encourage them to do it for only part of the day, or however much time they feel comfortable with it."

Frankle, for instance, planned to talk during her four-person German seminar while observing the Day of Silence for the remainder of the day.

Lipp added that there was minimal advertising of the event, partly due to the rain that made it more difficult to hang posters. He said that to increase publicity, the Alliance set up tables in Frist Campus Center to hand out information and also visited residential college dining halls to talk to students about the day.

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He added that some students don't believe it to be a significant demonstration and don't participate.

"Many people ... believe that Day of Silence is not an effective event to raise awareness," Lipp said. "They think that it would be much more effective to shout from the roof tops than to stay silent. Why protest the silencing of a group, by doing exactly what people want to happen: For that group to remain unheard?"

Frankle also said that she thought there might be a communication problem on campus about the fact that straight allies, as well as members of the LGBT community, are actively encouraged to participate and get involved with the Alliance.

The involvement of straight allies actually is a crucial element of the Day of Silence, Lipp added.

"It is an opportunity for straight allies to show solidarity with their LGBT peers and thus support them against the homophobia and prejudice," Lipp said. "Perhaps it does seem like a 'high school' exercise to some people, but it is remarkably difficult to remain silent for an entire day."

Though Shang said she valued the event as both an opportunity to support gay friends and a time for introspection, she voiced doubts about its effectiveness.

"I think the environment at Princeton might just be totally unaware of the Day of Silence," Shang said. "I feel like the cause might be lost at Princeton especially now ... when everyone's so wrapped up in their own stuff, and I'm cautious of the fact that if very few people are doing it, the silence could go unnoticed."