Colors of the Week

To honor the tradition started during Stand Up Again Hate week last year, students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to wear similar colors every day during Augsburg Coming Out Week. The colors are:

* Red on Monday, October 10

* Orange on Tuesday, October 11

* Yellow on Wednesday, October 12

* Green on Thursday, October 13

* Blue, Purple, or Rainbow on Friday, October 14

Below we asked Augsburg students on the ELE (Everybody Loves Everybody) residence life special interest community to share why they think Augsburg is a welcoming place.

Alaa Baquer, sophomore, biology/pre-med and chemistry

[left]

Augsburg has been my home since I came here. I live on the ELE floor. I’m an LGBTQIA ally because I want people to live in peace and harmony and be appreciated for who they are.

Fia Goldfine, junior, business management [right]

I feel Augsburg College embraces people from all walks of life who are seeking a first-class education creating a welcoming place.

Laura Grobner, sophomore, sociology and mathematics [left]

Augsburg has a great variety of student groups to get involved in, all of which are very inclusive. Since coming to Augsburg I have found a great group of people and acceptance in the queer community. Augsburg has given me a safe and accepting place to reevaluate my beliefs and explore new ways of thinking and living.

Dan Meyer, junior, business management and MIS [right]

I think that Augsburg is a welcoming place because of the small community that we have here. ResLife does an amazing job at being welcoming to everyone, the school accepts people to Augsburg every year no matter who they are. We have good resources to go to on campus if there are issues or if you just want to talk to people. The ELE floors going from 1 floor last year to 3 floors this year just goes to show how amazing the students are here at Augsburg College.

Augsburg Coming Out Week Events

Ally Training for Students

Tuesday, October 11

5:00pm-7:00pm

Augsburg Room

Ally Training for Staff and Faculty

Thursday, October 13

9:00am – 12:00pm

Marshall Room

Augsburg Coming Out Week Keynote Speaker: David Weiss

Honoring the Promise to be There: Turning Back the (Anti-)Marriage Amendment in the Name of God

Wednesday, October 12

7:30pm – 9:00pm

Science 123

David Weiss–theologian, poet, essayist, and former religion processor–is our featured keynote speaker for the 3rd annual Augsburg Coming Out Week. Weiss will discuss the intersections of gender, sexuality, faith, and family. Using the Christian Bible as a guide, Weiss will also talk about marriage and the negative impact the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota will have for all families.

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I’m currently studying international business at DHBW Mosbach campus. My first course was an introductory language class in which I digested more practical German in the first week than I had throughout the three months I’d spent back in the states in my extracurricular studies. My second course was Human Resource Management (HRM) wherein we were taught the value of corporative HRM. After HRM came macroeconomics, international accounting, and then finance. Classes at DHBW are quite different from those I’ve taken at my home institution in the states.

On the weekends I have seized every opportunity to travel to and view the many fine sights Germany has to offer. My favorites have been the castles in Fussen. The Neuschwanstein Castle was absolutely thrilling to tour. It was grand and elegant, piercing proudly through the mountains. Also, I have made my way to many cities on the romantic road. From Wurzburg to Munich, Augsburg to Rothernburg, Stuttgart, Hiedbronn, and Trier; every city has been an unbelievable adventure filled with charm and beauty, each surpassing its reputation.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to visit Berlin. During our five days there, I learned a great deal about the German government and a few of Germany’s largest companies, not mention seeing countless attractions like the Berlin Wall. We started our tour with the Reichstag Parliament, climbing all the way to the top of the glass dome. I also learned all about Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railroad company, as we received a lecture from the head of human resources at the headquarters. We visited the STASI-prison too, the famous Brandenburg Gate, and Alexanderplaz.

Outside of Germany I have visited a few of the surrounding countries including Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands. Amsterdam was, as it is invariably said to be, an incredible adventure. I visited the Red Light District, as you are obliged to do in Amsterdam, went to the flower market, the Anne Frank house, and the exquisite Van Gogh Museum. Although I must say, our most extraordinary visit had to have been the notorious Prague in the Czech Republic. It was there that I walked through the old Jewish ghetto and learned much of the city’s history. Prague was simply a fairytale. One morning I woke up unusually early and beheld the sunrise on the Charles Bridge; a heavenly sight like none I’d ever set eyes upon.

This has been a wonderful experience that has allowed me to travel to places I would have shamefully never knew existed, meet and befriend delightful new people, and discover so much within myself that I never knew was there. It has been an education like none I could have ever wished to receive, and an experience I will always remember as the trip that so irreparably and fortuitously changed my life. I now possess that feeling you get after visiting somewhere new and knowing you could never be satisfied with just settling down to lead a “normal life.” I want to see more, to ingest every bit I can until I’m full and expired. For anybody considering spending a semester abroad to study in Germany but isn’t sure if it’s worth it, my advice is to not dare deprive yourself of the wonders that lay within the majestic, inexhaustible Deutschland. Es ist die beste Erfahrung.

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Michael Grewe, coordinator of LGBTQIA services at Augsburg, said he was very pleased with the turnout. “Despite the snow, 375 LGBTQIA and allied students from around the state gathered together and learned knowledge and skills around LGBTQIA communities and social justice leadership,” Grewe said. “MOCC was a moving and fun experience, and I’m incredibly proud of Queer and Straight in Unity for the tremendous leadership and vision they had to put this event on.”

The program included guest speakers and performers and workshops addressing issues prevalent in the GLBTQ campus community. The conference kicked off Friday night with a screening and discussion of the film “Two Spirits,” a poignant true story of the oppression and unjust slaughter of a gay Native American man. Saturday’s events included workshops, free HIV testing, and evening speeches by Susan Raffo, Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, and national race and gay rights activist Coya Artichoker.

Sunday’s program continued with workshops and a wrap-up with guest speaker Kenyon Farrow, executive director for Queers for Economic Justice. Farrow has served as national public education director and continues to research, write for, and advocate for new approaches to the HIV epidemic in Black gay men in the US.

Fia Goldfine, [pictured third from left] co-president of Augsburg’s Queer and Straight in Unity chapter, says the conference was the opportunity of a lifetime for her. “It was exhilarating to witness the large amount of people who came together. The conference enlightened and educated, but the social aspect was an unexpected bonus. I came away with a whole new confidence in myself as a leader and a renewed sense of pride and belonging.”

The 2010 conference was twice the size of last year’s, and this was the first MOCC held at a religious institution. Augsburg’s Queer and Straight in Unity and LGBTQIA Services hosted the event.

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