What did you do this last week? Sleep a lot? Recover from Spring Carnival's craziness? Many campus organizations are hoping that you also stop and remember some people who have not been fortunate enough to live in a world as tolerant as ours. The Hillel Jewish University Center promoted two events to remember Holocaust victims, while many campus organizations banded together to put on the National Day of Silence.

Hillel held a Holocaust victim name reading last Tuesday, April 25. On that day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Hillel members sat by the Fence and read some of the names of the victims of the Holocaust. They chose to read the names of children who perished, but even so, they could only read about 4,500 names, a small portion of the 1.2 million children victims of the genocide. Laura Conrad, Hillel's program director, estimated that reading the names of all of the children victims would take 80 days of reading 24 hours a day. When one considers that even that number would only be about 10 percent of all of the Holocaust victims, it puts the horror of the Holocaust into perspective.

Hillel aims to put the Holocaust into perspective another way as well: by collecting 6 million bottle caps, one for every Jewish Holocaust victim. Although the 6 million number may be an unreachable goal, they hope to collect as many as possible so that they can be displayed next year.

"Bottle caps come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors," explained Conrad, "as did the victims of the Nazi regime."

On Wednesday, April 26, Carnegie Mellon's GLBT support groups, including ALLIES, SoHo, and Sexual Assault Advisors (which also works more broadly with all victims of sexual assault), joined together to put on a day's worth of events to commemorate the National Day of Silence. The Day of Silence, started by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, is now in its tenth year, and its fourth here at Carnegie Mellon. Traditionally, the event has been held to support members of the GLBT community affected by hate crimes, but at CMU, its meaning is expanded to include all victims of hate.

During the Day of Silence, some students volunteer not to talk for an entire day, until the "breaking the silence" event at 5:30. They stay silent to serve as a powerful reminder of those who were silenced by hate crimes. For students who couldn't or didn't want to be silent, but still wanted to participate, the groups sold National Day of Silence t-shirts.

Besides the vow of silence and the t-shirt sale, many other events were held to commemorate the day. The Clothesline Project, held throughout the day in the UC Wean Commons, displayed t-shirts designed by those affected by sexual violence as part of Sexual Violence Awareness Month. Students could also design their own shirts. In addition, at 5:30 p.m., a Breaking the Silence OUTSpoken Discussion was held. Students discussed their experiences throughout the day as well as ways to help prevent future hate. 

The "breaking the silence" theme was continued at the Comedy Hour at 7 p.m. in the Underground. This event, hosted by HSS alumnus Adam Atkinson, was a big success. HSS sophomore Benjamin Saalbach-Walsh started the event with his funny guitar music, despite the fact that he "doesn't play guitar." The high point of his set may have been "Bar Nun," a tale about a rock star who falls in love with a nun, or it may have been his stirring rendition of Sesame Street's "C is for Cookie." The No Parking Players continued with a few of their always-ridiculous improv games. After Atkinson related his own (hilarious) coming-out story, HSS sophomore Tim Dimond continued with a few songs of his own, and the event concluded with an open mic night.

Finally, at 9 p.m., a vigil was held at the Fence to honor the victims of hatred. This seemed a fitting conclusion to a full day that had its share of fun, but primarily served to remind students of a serious issue.

So go ahead, enjoy your week that's probably been a lot less hectic than the last one. Finish up your last few assignments, study for finals, and relax a bit. But think for a moment about those who've been victimized, through the Holocaust or through other instances of hate. Until hate and intolerance are eradicated, Hillel and the campus GLBT groups will remind us that they have no place in our world.

Editor's Note: The author of this article is a member of the No Parking Players.

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