As a part of Pride Week, the Faculty and Staff LGBTQ+ Allies Committee organized Day of Silence/Night of Noise Thursday in the Anderson Student Center to connect members of the St. Thomas community.

Brad Pulles, Student Diversity and Inclusion Services Retention program director, said the goal of the event was to “make sure that everybody’s feeling welcome and supported.”

Last year, Night of Noise followed a day of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination. Although there was no official Day of Silence at the university this year, Pulles and the faculty committee decided to keep the Day of Silence/Night of Noise name for clarity.

Sophomore Shannon Twiss attended the event and and was impressed with the level of faculty involvement. They were “all in one place for a specific reason, which is LGBTQ visibility,” she said.

Attendees dressed up to take pictures, heard student performances from sophomore Karina Cuate and senior Chrislo Gittens and made cards embedded with flower seeds.

Graduate student Chase Logsdon said the event’s main purpose was to “show that St. Thomas cares” about all its students.

Pulles agreed. “There are students from all walks of life here at St. Thomas … You want to feel like the place you chose to go to school is a place where you can be who you are.”

According to Pulles, the Faculty & Staff LGBTQ+ Allies Committee hopes to expand Pride Week in the future to include more events and more campus participation.

Elena Neuzil can be reached at neuz3833@stthomas.edu.