If the campus seems eerily quiet today and a few of your friends are refusing to talk to you, don't be alarmed.

Today marks the first year of the UA's participation in the Day of Silence.

Organized by members of Students Promoting Respect and Individuality Through Education and the ASUA Pride Alliance, the day is meant to demonstrate the silence students in the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual community have endured throughout their lives, said Alex Grubb, president of SPRITE.

Participants will remain silent from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., and organizers said they hope people who have yet to sign up for the event will decide to join the group at some point during the day.

"We will have an information desk on the mall, and I am hoping that a lot of people walking by will stop and participate," said Grubb, a journalism junior.

Participants will wear T-shirts with the Day of Silence logo and they plan to have lunch together on the UA Mall between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Grubb said they will also be carrying 'speaking cards' to their classes to help answer questions.

"Instead of talking we will all carry a card that explains why we are doing this," Grubb said. "It's an easy way to explain what we are doing without actually talking."

In previous years, students traveled to Arizona State University to participate in their Day of Silence events, but this year Grubb said he wanted that to change.

"When I ran for president of SPRITE last year my platform was to organize Day of Silence events on our campus," Grubb said. "I thought instead of going to ASU we should have it here so it can impact our campus too."

Grubb said another drawback of going to ASU was the urge for participants to talk.

"You're supposed to be silent, but when you go up to ASU you're going to want to talk to the other people," Grubb said.

Cameron Moore, a member of the Pride Alliance, said last year's Day of Silence at ASU was well organized and had a lot of student participation.

"It was a good opportunity to see what another Pride Alliance did for the Day of Silence," Moore said. "And now I'm looking forward to assisting and getting the word out to students on this campus."

Ernesto Romero, an accounting sophomore, said the Day of Silence coming to the UA can only be a good thing, and since the UA is more centralized than ASU, more people on campus will be aware of their silence.

"You will definitely be able to see it going on, on campus," Romero said. "Being able to see so many members of the LGBT community and allies participate, really makes those watching see how strong the community really is."

There will be a 'Breaking the Silence' rally by the fountain in front of Old Main this afternoon. Participants will meet at 4:45 to have a silent countdown until they break the silence at 5 p.m. with loud screaming.

"We'll have diversity speakers talk to the audience after we break the silence," Grubb said. "I'm really looking forward to it."

The Day of Silence was founded in 1996 at the University of Virginia. This student-led action has since spread to more than 1,900 middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide.

Coordinators said they hope the Day of Silence will have students asking themselves at least one question: "What are you going to do to end the silence?"