The Gay/Lesbian Union will be one of several campus groups across the United States holding a press conference Friday to protest discrimination.

The groups will read a prepared speech written and mailed by Jordan Marsh, a University of Wisconsin at Madison student government senator, at 1:30 p.m. Central Standard Time.

NIU’s press conference will be held in Room 405 of the Holmes Student Center.

“This is one way we can get connected with other universities,” said GLU President Theresa Brown.

At this point, Brown said GLU members will speak, but no other campus groups are involved. “I think it would be better to keep it smaller.”

Marsh said he thought of the nation-wide press conference idea after about 100 UW-Madison students protesting the Reserve Officers Training Corps’ policy banning homosexuals spent nearly a week in a sit-in at an administrative building.

The sit-in was broken up April 23 by police and one student was hospitalized.

“Things have been going really fast around here lately,” Marsh said. The conference is to raise awareness at campuses of “why we cannot tolerate discrimination.

“It’ll be a really big, big deal,” Marsh said. “Twenty-four schools confirmed and more are coming in every day. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and National Gay/Lesbian Task Force have been getting involved, too.”

After reading the prepared statement, Marsh said he encourages people to make speeches.

Scott Urban, a student government tri-executive of the University of Colorado at Boulder, also will take part in the press conference.

Urban said U of C does not have a human rights clause protecting sexual orientation. The Boulder campus has about 24,000 students.

“Colorado is really pretty conservative. We’re agitating to get the Regents to put the clause in,” Urban said, adding the Colorado Regents are elected rather than appointed, as in Illinois.

Brown said NIU is lucky to have a sexual orientation clause, which is one reason the GLU’s efforts to rid NIU of discrimination have been noticed.