Poor strategy

This past April 8th was the annual Gay/Lesbian Union-sponsored “Jeans Day.” However, they threw us a curve ball this year and instead of saying that everyone wearing jeans on this day supported them, they said that anyone wearing clothes on April 8th supported human rights. The President of the GLU, David Huggins, additionally said that everyone supports human rights and everybody has to wear clothes.

First of all, I don’t feel that he is allowed to speak for everyone concerning their position on human rights. He’s probably correct on his assumption, but that still doesn’t make it acceptable to classify everybody with the majority.

The second part of Huggins’ statement is, however, correct according to the law. Everyone must wear clothes to appear in public. So what’s the point of even having clothes day? Just because someone wears clothes does in no way imply that they are supporting the GLU’s cause. I think the GLU should find something more unique for students to express their support for human rights or gay rights or whatever the GLU decides they are supporting. “Jeans Day” is a better idea because it is something the students can either choose to do or choose not to do, but jeans are common clothing around campus, so it still wouldn’t be very significant in showing support because of the lack of awareness.

Lack of awareness of their day is another one of the problems with the GLU’s plan to gather support for their organization. I personally try to stay current on campus activities, but I only found out by word-of-mouth. Otherwise, I would have had no idea of what that day was, other than Wednesday, April 8.

My suggestion to Huggins and the GLU would be to find something unique to do that won’t acquire unaware supporters, and then make it known to the students at NIU. Choosing something that students already do anyway only gives their organization a false sense of being supported. I’m sure they have many supporters for their cause, but they cannot say that simply because someone is wearing clothes, that person supports the GLU’s cause.

Luke Pollock

Freshman

Pre-Engineering