Campus Collaborates For AIDS Week

Although AIDS Week has long been an annual tradition at UConn, it wasn't until this year the event became a campus-wide effort.

This week's events represent a collaboration of over 15 campus organizations, including Student Health Services, the William Benton Museum of Art, the UConn Co-op and university cultural centers.

According to Health Education Coordinator Joleen Nevers, Student Health Services ran the entire event until the past two years. "It's nice to have others involved," Nevers said.

"This year was a nice coming together of different groups on campus to make a bigger impact," said Benton Museum Director Salvatore Scalora. "All the co-sponsors tried to do something on a larger, more coordinated scale."

A variety of events will be offered this week. All are free and open to the public.

The Wilbur Cross Gallery will host the "Cold Heaven and Life Interrupted" photo display and the "View From the Inside" art show, as well as a closing reception for the two exhibits.

The "View From the Inside" art show displays 12 "talking murals" created by inmates who participated in a creative arts workshop at the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers. According to the display, the artists originally intended to create a single mural. However, the project quickly evolved into a series of pieces. Each mural is comprised of two panels, which "serve as windows into each artist's thoughts and experiences concerning HIV/AIDS."

Heriberto Hernandez, an inmate at Osborn, quoted an HIV-positive friend who said, "I have learned that I am not dying from AIDS, I am living with it."

Many of the other murals reflect similar feelings of hope.

According to an AIDS Week flyer, a panel discussion about "the medical and social history of the FDA ban on blood donations from homosexuals" will take place at the Student Union on Wednesday, along with a 7 p.m. showing of the "State of Denial" documentary film.

According to Scalora, a section of the traveling AIDS quilt, commemorating the lives of those lost to the disease, will also be on display at the Student Union throughout the week.

The William Benton Museum of Art will observe "A Day Without Art" on Thursday as well as hosting the week's closing ceremony.

According to Scalora, museums traditionally honor artists lost to AIDS by annually shrouding pieces of artwork on Dec. 1., which is designated World AIDS Day.

"When artistic people, or anyone dies, we have a sense of loss," Scalora said.

Scalora said he hopes students feel a similar feeling of loss for the shrouded paintings. Scalora called the tribute "a demonstration of AIDS in the world as a continuous threat to life."

AIDS is especially a threat in countries such as South Africa where 2,000 people are infected with HIV daily and 600 die daily, according to Scalora.

According to Nevers, half of all newly diagnosed HIV cases afflict people under 25. Nevers said she hopes AIDS Week "will raise awareness and hopefully understanding of the affect that HIV/AIDS is having on the world around us."