Speaking volumes while saying nothing.

Today Prism will sponsor “The Day of Silence” in order to draw attention to the discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

“Nationally, the sponsoring organizations estimate that about 500,000 students around the country will participate this year,” said Margie Cook, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center. “At NIU, it is hard to say exactly how many people participate each year; students elect individually whether to participate.”

Prism will sponsor all events related to the Day of Silence on campus. Along with flyers and posters around campus briefly explaining what the day means, Prism members will also be in King Memorial Commons handing out leaflets from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., said Lucy Andich, senior sociology major and Prism president.

“We get the word out to a broad range of NIU students about our cause,” she said. “The goal is to let as many people as possible know that LGBT people have been harassed throughout history. Perhaps they will notice a portion of the student population who are being silent and want to learn more about the reason why this is the case.”

In order to make demonstrators more noticeable, Prism will provide badges or stickers for participators to wear as well as equip them with leaflets to hand out.

While it may seem like a difficult task to organize a group of students to take a vow of silence, Prism has received positive feedback with the event.

“Last year we had around 15 Prism members throughout the day passing out fliers during the day,” Andich said.

While the Day of Silence can be rather somber, the silence is broken at nightfall.

Prism will also host a Night of Noise at the East Lagoon. Students are encouraged to join in a bonfire and talk about experiences that day.

“Later on the Night of Noise [breaking the silence] will take place at the lagoon fire pit beginning at 9 p.m.,” Andich said. “We will have a short program explaining the significance of ‘The Day of Silence’ and then have pizza and s’mores.”