The University of Wisconsin-Stout celebrated its kick-off event Monday night for its “Not Here” campaign, designed to tackle issues of hate and bias on UW-Stout’s campus.
Dean of Students Joan Thomas said it has been a collaborative effort on the behalf of the university, faculty members and students in order to respond to the recent hate-related incidents that have taken place on campus.
Over the past semester, UW-Stout has had seven hate-related incidents occur on campus, mostly targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning individuals, Thomas said.
She added one other hate-related incident that occurred early in the semester targeted a student based on race.
Thomas said the incidents have mostly involved the writing of anti-gay slurs on whiteboards outside of student’s dorms in residence halls. She said there have been several incidents of verbal slurs on campus as well.
Thomas added the university and students wanted to get a handle on the situation before the incidents became more prevalent.
“This is an opportunity to educate, inform and give a strong message against intolerance,” Thomas said.
UW-Stout’s LGBTQ Coordinator and coordinator of the event Julie Miller, said the campaign will help to nurture a campus climate that views diversity as an asset to the campus and celebrates differences among students.
Miller said she wants students who have been the target of the hate-related incidents to see the outpouring of support from the university, faculty and students because she believes it is important for them to see a large number of people who care.
“It will give us a chance to say, ‘Here we are and we are all concerned about this’,” Miller said.
Miller said students, faculty and community members are encouraged to attend the event.
At the event, people will have the opportunity to sign a pledge to denounce and report actions of hate on campus, Miller said.
She added future events and opportunities to participate in the event will be announced as well.
This campaign will continue into the spring semester, working on several initiatives, Miller said.
She said the initiatives include training sessions on how to respond to and prevent incidents of hate and “Not Here” t-shirt and sticker distribution.
