 Bemidji State University is celebrating Women's History Month with a wide variety of programming. Today they held their first ever women's panel to discuss some issues facing the community. Reporter Cheryl Moore tells us about the discussion. The women of Bemidji State University are on a mission to bring many issues to the forefront. And today that mission continued with a panel discussion in the A.C. Clarke Library called We Will Not Be Quiet So You Can Remain Comfortable. I'm so glad that we have faculty members from different departments as well as staff. They come together and share their knowledge, their experiences as you know, being a role model on campus with students. We went with a panel because we wanted to really highlight some of the awesome women on campus who potentially aren't giving many panel discussions because of gender norms or whatever else. Six panelists, all professors from different departments at BSU, led the discussion. They have met a few weeks ago before to discuss the topics that would eventually shape the event. We have some of these conversations in classes of course, but to have them in an open forum outside is really interesting. And I think the diversity of views that were presented here are helpful in even having students understand that, you know, we bring our own struggles to our jobs as professors. The panelists answered nine questions that ranged from pop culture topics like the Me Too movement to diversity, sustainability and privilege. There was also a discussion about language in regards to gender identity. It's really important to remember in any conversation about male privilege or disadvantages that women face that trans women also face disadvantages because they are trans, whether they are trans women within the binary. So trans women who were assigned male at birth or non-binary trans women who could be any type of non-binary gender identity. Audience participation was encouraged at the end of the discussion. One of the main goals of the panel was also to remind everyone that women's issues are important for everyone on the spectrum to be aware of. Learning to talk about gender issues is going to enrich a lot of our students' lives in the sense of what are skills we can take from college degrees to jobs. I do hope that not only does this specific event become annual, but I hope that the library itself is able to welcome more events of this type. Reporting of Imagee, Shawmore, Lakeland News. PSU will continue to celebrate Women's History Month with a presentation by public speaker Tish Norman next Monday. That starts at 6 in the evening at the Boards Ballroom. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.