'Standing on Higher Ground' events at UNI

In an effort to improve campus life for students, staff and faculty, the University of Northern Iowa is hosting a series of events in September and October called Standing on Higher Ground: LGBT Dialogue & Reflection Around Civility. The events include award-winning LGBT-themed movies, panel discussions and an appearance by Judy Shepard.

The Rainbow Reception
Sept. 1, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
The Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center (GBPAC) Lobby, UNI
The Rainbow Reception is an event to welcome LGBT and ally students, faculty and staff back to campus. Join us for an evening of information sharing, networking, fellowship, and dessert.

Movie: The Laramie Project
Sept. 13, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
University Book & Supply, Cedar Falls
Moisés Kaufman and members of New York's Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, Wyoming, after the murder of Matthew Shepard. This is a film version of the play they wrote based on more than 200 interviews they conducted in Laramie. It mixes real news reports with actors portraying friends, family, cops, killers, and other Laramie residents in their own words. It opened the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for four Emmys.

Lecture: Judy Shepard
Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m.
GBPAC, UNI
Free for UNI students
In October 1998, Judy and Dennis Shepard lost their 21-year-old son Matthew to a murder motivated by anti-gay hate. Determined to prevent others from suffering their son’s fate, Judy and Dennis decided to turn their grief into action and established the Matthew Shepard Foundation to carry on Matthew’s legacy. In her continuing role as board president, she travels across the nation speaking to audiences about what they can do as individuals and communities to make this world a more accepting place for everyone, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender identity and expression, or sexual orientation. Speaking from a mother’s perspective, Judy also authored a 2009 memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew.”

Panel Discussion: The Politics of Gay Marriage in Iowa
Sept. 21, 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Waterloo Center for the Arts
Join us for an evening of dialogue, presented by One Iowa, with panelists representing legal, religious, PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and same-sex couples.

Safety & Learning: Optimal School Environments for LGBT Students, moderated by Dr. Nick Pace
Sept. 27, 4 p.m.-5 p.m.
Center for Multicultural Education, UNI
Join a panel of educators and students for sharing of experiences and suggestions on how we can collaboratively ensure optimal learning environments for LGBT students.

Life-Long University Course, with Scott Cawelti
Oct. 4-6, 10 a.m.-noon
Fee: $20; To register: call 319-273-5141
This course is an analysis and discussion of the 2002 film "The Laramie Project," a 97-minute feature employing 53 actors, many of them well known (Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Laura Linney, Michael Emerson, Peter Fonda, Janeane Garofalo, Dylan Baker, Joshua Jackson, Amy Madigan, Camryn Manheim) to play the parts of the investigators and citizens of Laramie. Essentially, they perform the stage version on screen. Yet it's not the same; this class will focus on how it's necessarily different, and how those differences affect viewers' perceptions. We will watch the first half on Monday and the second on Wednesday, discussing sequences and their implications from the DVD version.

Workshop: “That’s So Gay” in partnership with Iowa Safe Schools
Oct. 7, 4:45 p.m.-7:15 p.m.
AEA267, Cedar Falls
Oct. 8, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Center for Multicultural Education, UNI
That's so gay, no homo, fag, and dyke are heard countless times in our schools. But how do you stop students from saying these hurtful words and phrases? Bullying and harassment of LGBT students can and must be stopped. This session is designed to create awareness of bullying and harassment facing LGBT students, and offer proven solutions to ending bullying and harassment.

Movie: Milk
Oct. 9, 2 p.m.
GBPAC, UNI
This is a powerful and inspiring story of California's first openly gay elected official Harvey Milk. In 1977, Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights, he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans. Join us for a brief discussion afterward.

Movie: Out in the Silence
Oct. 9, 7 p.m.
GBPAC, UNI
Out in the Silence captures the remarkable chain of events that unfold when the announcement of filmmaker Joe Wilson’s wedding to another man ignites a firestorm of controversy in his small Pennsylvania hometown. Drawn back by a plea for help from the mother of a gay teen being tormented at school, Wilson’s journey dramatically illustrates the universal challenges of being an outsider in a conservative environment and the transformation that is possible when those who have long been constrained by a traditional code of silence summon the courage to break it. Join us for a brief discussion afterward.

Performance: The Laramie Project, by Tectonic Theatre Project
Oct 13 and 14, 7:30pm
In October 1998, Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. Five weeks later, Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, and over the course of the next year, conducted more than 200 interviews with people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, a chronicle of the life of the town of Laramie in the year after the murder. The Epilogue was written ten years later when the same company revisited Laramie.

Talk Back & Interview with Tectonic Theatre Project Company Members
Oct. 15, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
Center for Multicultural Education, UNI
Join members of the company for post performances discussion and learn about the process of interviewing and how to craft into a stage play. Come with questions you’d like to ask Tectonic Theatre Project Company members!

And look for these events coming soon!
Workshops by the justice department
Workshops provided for area law enforcement and our students considering careers in law enforcement. Part of a Federal Department of Justice project, law enforcement agencies are provided training on the new Hate Crimes Legislation passed in Matthew’s memory and issues of enforcement and diversity relating to that enforcement.

Bookclubs, Discussion and a Movie showing at University Book and Supply
Rose Lorenz and UBS are fully behind the project and will be adding the play and Judy Shepard’s book to their book club groups. Additionally they will host a showing of the Laramie project film and discussion lead by emeritus faculty Scott Cawalti.

Participation by national Matthew Shepard foundation and Iowa’s Eychaner Foundation
Students on campus who have received the Matthew Shepard scholarship and alumni who also did talk in a moderated forum about what it is and was like to be LGBT at UNI/in Cedar Falls.