Out Week 2012 is over
But we're still interested in hearing from you! We're still on campus, having brunch every Sunday at 11 at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee and we'd love to have you. Not from the area? Send us an email at contact@unifreethought.com and let us know your story, send us a tip or just let us know what you think. Read on below for information from this past Out Week.
Join us in celebrating Out Week 2012
Introduction to Out Week
We are the UNI Freethinkers and Inquirers (UNIFI), a student organization made up of atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, of skeptics and freethinkers. This is our second annual Out Week, a series of events to foster a community welcoming of non-believers and to change public perceptions of the non-religious. Last year, we held our first Out Week event with many similar themes. We co-sponsored a blood drive, we provided a welcoming environment for students to come out, and we held our fourth annual Flying Spaghetti Monster Dinner, this time with a twist: we held a charity raffle to raise money for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.
We hope you join us this year as we engage in service and welcome students to our community.
Volunteer to help
We can't do this alone - we need your help. If you can contribute an hour or two to volunteer, please sign up.
Be (more) out
Taking a cue from our friends in the LGBT movement, we earnestly believe that coming out is the best way we can change the way our friends and family see the non-religious. Of course, coming out can be a difficult process, and has all too often involved hardship for the people coming out. So if you feel uneasy coming out to your parents, perhaps you can come out to your friends, or to your campus. Even just the act of coming to our events, giving blood, or contributing to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank this week can help change how our fellow students see the non-religious.
Tell us your story
If you've come out or would like to, or if you'd like to tell us about how friends, family or a community (even UNIFI) welcomed you or accepted you, please let us know and we will post these stories over the course of Out Week. We accept anonymous submissions, the most important thing to us is your personal story.
Please, tell us your story.
Do service
Many in our society think that good can only come from God, but we know that we can be good (without God). We welcome you to join us this week with one of our two service opportunities.
First, we are hosting a blood drive in the Maucker Union on Tuesday, 9/18. To schedule an appointment, please call 1-800-RED-CROSS or go to www.redcrossblood.org. Search for an appointment near zip code 50613 and our event will be listed on September 18 and titled "University of Northern Iowa Student Groups". Giving one pint can save up to three lives, so please donate.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster Dinner is not just food and merriment anymore - since last year we have hosted a charity raffle during the dinner. Prizes are raffled off from local businesses that have donated gift cards, gift certificates and other items for the charity raffle. Check out the list of businesses on the sidebar!
Join our community
We're not just around for Out Week, UNIFI maintains a presence in Cedar Falls all year. We have a weekly Brunch every Sunday at 11:00AM at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee cafeteria. We host educational events such as "Know Your Arguments", service events, and others which will be posted on our blog at www.unifreethought.com. We also work with fellow progressive student organizations, with whom we recently hosted our second Progressive Picnic. And we will be hosting our fifth Darwin Week event in February of 2013. During Darwin Week we host lectures from faculty and invite speakers to promote critical thinking and scientific inquiry on a variety of topics. Last year we held talks on skepticism, diversity, sexuality, and origins, with a keynote by theoretical physicist Dr. Lawrence Krauss.
With the diversity of events we have to offer, we hope you take the time to join us or learn more about our community on campus.
