Nearly filling a whole banner with student signatures, a record number of students signed up for the first annual Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Lunch of Silence this year last Friday. Instead of an all-day event like the Day of Silence has been in previous years, the Lunch of Silence consisted of a picnic lunch outside in total silence. Gabbi Fisher ’13, former Co-President of GSA, was instrumental in the change. She said, “We thought that reorganizing the Day of Silence so that it was just one strong, potent event would be more effective than just a bunch of distributed silenced voices in a bunch of classes.” There were no formal complaints from teachers, but the board of GSA perceived that faculty members were finding it difficult to conduct class around the Day of Silence. Some students and faculty were concerned about students being able to participate in class that day, according to Fisher. “While the day is about sacrificing your voice, I don’t think that sacrificing your voice is something that should be met with not being able to perform as well in the class,” she said. Day of Silence is a national movement that was started in 1996 at the University of Virginia. Andover has participated by hosting its own day since 2000.
