MONDAY
DAILY EGYPTIAN AUGUST 19, 2013
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SINCE 1916
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 1
SALUKI FAMILY WELCOMES NEW STUDENTS
Above: Students disperse Friday after taking a group photo on the field during the Southern Social at Saluki Stadium. During the New Student Convocation ceremony, Chancellor Rita Cheng welcomed the group of new students, including what she called the largest freshman class in 20 years. The event also included the Saluki Pride Pep Rally, which featured the Marching Salukis and cheerleaders, and introduced several of the fall sports teams and coaches. SARAH GARDNER DAILY EGYPTIAN
Right: Ryan Geist, right, a freshman from Naperville studying cinema, and Rachel Smith, a graduate student from Geneva studying higher education, race through an inflatable obstacle course Friday during the Southern Social and Saluki Pride Pep Rally at Saluki Stadium. TIFFANY BLANCHETTE DAILY EGYPTIAN
See Page 6 for more photos from
Safe Zone Training a valuable student resource SETH RICHARDSON Daily Egyptian As the school year begins, members of the SIU community will engage in a crash course geared toward Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer lifestyle awareness. The Safe Zone Training Program, led by the university’s LGBTQ Resource Center, takes place today through Friday as part of the school’s Week of Welcome. LGBTQ coordinator Wendy Weinhold said the center aims to create an inviting atmosphere to students of all sexual orientations. “The Safe Zone Program is a program that educates people who are interested in being
allies in the LGBTQ communities,” Weinhold said. “It is an opportunity to explore some of the issues and concerns regarding safety and identity for LGBTQ peoples.” Despite the name, Safe Zones aren’t actually areas. “The idea of a Safe Zone is not about making spaces … because there’s no such thing as a safe space,” Weinhold said. “People are safe zones; spaces aren’t, because people can be responsible for their actions.” The program has been a staple of the Week of Welcome for several years. It consists of a 60-minute training session tailored to the heterosexual community that engages in discussion, role-playing and education about
resources to the LGBTQ community, she said. Topics covered include coming out, respecting gender identity, terminology and ways to help LGBTQ people, Weinhold said. Sarah Self, an LGBTQ Resource Center graduate assistant, said the program has been viewed as a success. “It has improved tremendously over my time here,” she said. “I’ve been here since December 2010 and we have increased our numbers from approximately 200 to about 1000 participants.” Weinhold said the program is not a rote series of repeatable steps. Each session is customized for the particular group partaking in the course. The process has an added benefit
of making a difficult issue more relatable to the community attending the event, she said. Interim Dean of Students Katie Sermershein agreed that the program was critical to the campus. “We want students coming in to our university community to respect the environment in which they are coming in to,” Sermershein said. “Everyone should be allowed to be the individual that they are and that they choose to be.” Nearly 200 Recreation Center student staff members participated in a training course Friday. Please see SAFE ZONE | 4