• "Journey to a Hate-Free Millennium" will be presented tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Weasler Auditorium.
• The event will feature a video and discussion related to hate crimes and the Columbine High School shootings.
• The purpose of the program is to raise awareness and to provoke discussion on the issue.

Yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings that left 12 students dead and 23 students injured.

Tonight Omega Delta, Sigma Lambda Gamma, the Gay/Straight Alliance and Black Student Council will host "Journey to a Hate-Free Millennium" to raise awareness about hate crimes and their causes. The event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Weasler Auditorium.

The program will highlight "the continuing issues of intolerance and cruelty that can set off hate crimes of this nature," said Mike Greuel, a senior in the College of Education and vice president of Omega Delta.

"With the 10-year anniversary of Columbine falling the day before this program, we feel like there is even greater reason to highlight the message of acceptance and the potential to enhance the way in which we celebrate diversity here at Marquette," he said.

The program is set to begin with a moment of silence for those who died in the Columbine shootings. ARCh, the Association of the Rights of Citizens with handicaps, a local non-profit organization, will then present a documentary video that features the stories of the Columbine shooting, along with the hate crimes committed against James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepard.

Byrd died after being dragged from a car in 1998. The same year, Shepard was beaten into a coma by two men because he was gay. He later died in the hospital from massive brain injuries.

The event also comes days after the two-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings that left 32 dead and many more injured.

"It really hits home," said Jonathan Viard, a junior in the College of Business Administration, who has already seen the video presentation. "It's definitely a special experience to say the least."

The organization has presented the film to area high schools and adult audiences since 2002, Greuel said. Omega Delta contacted ARCh to adapt the program to a college audience.

Greuel said that not being aware of certain perspectives held toward various people can cause them feeling excluded, "like they aren't valued on campus."

"School violence is going to resonate with people, particularly at Marquette," Greuel said. "We don't want to have a college campus where people feel like they're loners."

Greuel and Viard emphasized the importance that small actions can have in someone's life.

"For even someone to say, 'How are you doing?' can change the whole course of his day," Viard said. "Even the smallest little actions can speak negatively, or hopefully positively in people's lives."

Black Student Council has been waiting for an event such as this to present to Marquette, said College of Health Sciences senior Melissa Durity, the group's president. She said many people have questioned the purpose of the organization, whose purpose is "to build a sense of community through cultural, social and political awareness."

" 'Journey to a Hate-Free Millennium' will allow students to recognize that all acts of hate or discrimination are not as grand and made public such as the Columbine shooting or dragging of James Byrd Jr., but can be as little as questioning the existence of a support group," Durity said.

Planning for the program began last summer upon the founding of Omega Delta. The film was previewed to the organizations involved, and groups then signed on to co-sponsor the event with Omega Delta, Greuel said.

"School violence isn't stopping," Greuel said. "My biggest hope is that people learn from the bad things that happen in the news."