UNC Chapel Hill kicks off semester with 'Queer Fall Fest'
On August 15, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill held a 'Queer Fall Fest' event as part of its annual welcome week.
The event advertised “resources for queer and questioning students" and provided “a safe space to connect with the on-campus community.”
On Aug. 15, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill) held a “Queer Fall Fest” event as part of welcome week.
The event was hosted by UNC-CH LGBTQ Center with the purpose of discussing “resources for queer and questioning students” and providing “a safe space to connect with the on-campus community.”
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Displays at the Queer Fall Fest included a table advertising “Out in STEM,” a “community of queer STEM undergrads.”
Another table offered t-shirts emblazoned with the statement “Imagine Liberation.”
UNC’s LGBTQ Center is an office on campus that hosts a variety of events. The office will host an LGBTIQA+ Speaker Series with numerous sessions planned this fall semester.
Upcoming speaker sessions include “Latinx Heritage Month Keynote Lecture,” “Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration,” and a “National Coming Out Day Celebration.” To close out the 2022-23 school year, the Center is hosting a “Drag Queen Bingo” on April 27, 2023.
Past sessions in the series included topics such as “Queer Classrooms: Leaky, Joyful, Creative,” “Nicaraguan Legacies: Advances and Setbacks in Feminist and LGBTQ Activism,” and “The Battle Over Marriage: Messaging Strategies of Proponents and Opponents of Marriage Equality.”
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Full-time undergraduate students at the university pay $989.06 in student fees in addition to $3,509.50 for in-state tuition and $17,790 for out-of-state tuition.
Portions of the student fees go toward student activities.
Campus Reform has previously reported on the money and resources universities across the country have been dedicating to LGBTQ-centered initiatives and events.
In April, for example, Campus Reform reported on a variety of universities that held special graduation ceremonies for LGBTQ students. That same month, Campus Reform reported on an LGBTQ Center at Case Western Reserve University that hosted a “Rainbow Gala,” where students were encouraged to perform in drag.
Campus Reform has reached out to UNC Chapel Hill, the director of the UNC LGBTQ Center, oSTEM. This article will be updated accordingly.
