Although a number of colleges and universities throughout the nation " including Stanford, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania " are currently celebrating Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Celebration and Awareness Week, no such activities have been planned at Dartmouth.
Explaining the College's reasons for not participating, Advisor to LGBT students Pam Misener, said the College's lack of programming is a result of logistical conflicts rather than incognizance.
"What you're noticing is probably a trend among schools on the semester system rather than the term system," she explained, pointing out that, while semester-system school terms are well under way, Dartmouth has barely begun the quarter.
Indeed, had the College celebrated GLBT Awareness Week on its traditional dates, March 26 - April 2, the start of Spring Term academic classes on Tuesday and Wednesday would have bisected the festivities. Much of the student body would not even have been on campus for a kick-off.
Misener also pointed out that lack of programming could actually be an advantage for students who wish to attend non-Dartmouth celebrations either locally or at other colleges and universities. The nearby University of New Hampshire, for example, has observed GLBT week in the past.
Instead of concentrating the celebration into a single week then, the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance and Gay Straight Alliance have opted to spread activities throughout the term.
Next week the Hopkins Center will be presenting the play "Gertrude and Alice: A Likeness to Loving," which depicts the relationship between feminist author Gertrude Stein and her lesbian lover. The parts of Gertrude and Alice will be played by Linda Chapman and Lola Pashalinski, who are partners in real life as well as on stage. The showing will be followed by a post-performance discussion.
In addition, the Greek System has invited Shane Windemeyer, homosexual activist and co-editor of "Out on Fraternity Row: Personal Accounts of Being Gay at a College Fraternity," to speak later in the term.
Misener anticipates that further events are still to be planned, and that the month of May will be particularly eventful for the College's community.
"Students are still getting organized," she explained.
As Dartmouth students organize, however, other national academic institutions have already begun their awareness celebrations.
In its week-long Queer Awareness series, Stanford University has invited a variety of activists to speak including comedian Kate Clinton and activist Keith Boykin. Documentary filmmaker Tom Shepard will be showing an advance screening of his new movie "Scout's Honor."
Yale University's School of Drama kicked off the week by performing "Brother: Songs My Mother Never Taught Me," a play celebrating the acceptance of homosexuality.
Congressman Barney Frank, an openly gay Massachusetts Democrat spoke at Penn earlier in the week as a part of their festivities.
Students at Indiana's Depauw University invited transgendered speaker Leslie Feinberg to speak in order to spark debate on campus.
Homosexual activists at the University of Minnesota plan to culminate the week by showing the controversial coming out episode of "Ellen," a sitcom with a lesbian protagonist.
The GLBT library at Texas A&M is in the process of planning an open house following a week-long ribbon distribution encouraging the campus the physically show their support for homosexual and transgendered students.
