Published on Monday, September 24, 2007

Two Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender organizations use Blackhawk Cafeteria to host events

By DAVID THOMAS

On any given Thursday, there is at least one Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender oriented event to be found in the Blackhawk Cafeteria.

Two LGBT faculty organizations host meetings in the Holmes Student Center’s Blackhawk Cafeteria East on Thursdays.

One group, Northern Pride, meets for lunch every Thursday.

Margaret Cook, director of the LGBT center on campus, said the group has a relatively simple goal.

“The goal of Northern Pride is to provide an informal social networking opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender faculty and staff at NIU,” Cook said. “Faculty and staff who identify [themselves] as allies, or supporters of their LGBT colleagues, are also welcome.”

Originally, Northern Pride was a more formal organization. Norden Gilbert, chair of the Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, said that is no longer the case.

“It’s a very informal thing,” Gilbert said. “Sometimes one person comes; sometimes a bunch of people do.”

Northern Pride does not plan activities outside of its weekly lunch. However, Cook said that could change if faculty members are interested.

Another LGBT-oriented group that meets in the Holmes Student Center is the Third Thursday Series. The group, now in its third year, meets the third Thursday of almost every month.

“The goals of the series are to showcase the research being done at NIU by faculty and graduate students in the interdisciplinary field of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and to provide a place for discussion of that research,” said Diana L. Swanson, LGBT studies coordinator.

Third Thursday participates in presentations on LGBT-related topics presented by NIU faculty. Recently, David Stone, director of the Office of Sponsored Projects, and research development specialist Kellie Dyslin delivered a presentation on how faculty and graduate students can get grant funding for research in LGBT topics.

Cook described the series as beneficial to the LGBT center and community by “creating awareness that there are people on campus involved in LGBT studies.”

“It helps build a community among those interested in research and teaching on LGBT topics,” Cook said.

The next Third Thursday meeting is Oct. 18, with Mark Rosenbaum, assistant professor of marketing, scheduled to present.