About the SIUC Student Center
Information and Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan Coriasco
Student Center Marketing and Graphics
Phone – (618) 453-1142
Fax – (618) 453–3492
Date: November 15, 2007
AIDS Awareness 2007
Student Center Special Programs and Center Events first took up the gauntlet for AIDS awareness on the SIUC campus with an exhibit of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2000. Since that one day show, the annual AIDS Awareness program has become a multi-day campus event involving not only the Student Center, but the Student Health Center, University Housing, Jackson County Health Department, and the newly formed Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Resource Center.
With financial aid from a grant by the Illinois Department of Public Health, this year’s events will once again put a public face on a deadly disease. Beginning Tuesday, November 27, and running through Thursday, November 29, there is a message for everyone.
On Tuesday morning, multi-colored marker flags will once again send a visual message along Lincoln Drive winding from the corner of South 51 up to the Student Center. A total of 3,800 flags will fly in four colors this year. 2,000 red flags will represent a total of 1,200,000 AIDS cases currently in the United States, each flag representing 600 people living with AIDS. An estimated 25% of those living with HIV/AIDS are undiagnosed and will be represented by 500 white flags. 560 pink flags will represent the 350,000 women living with HIV/AIDS virus. This year, the color purple has been added to the flag display with 800 flags representing the 563,600 minority persons living with the HIV/AIDS virus in the United States.
Free anonymous HIV testing will be provided all three days beginning Tuesday by the Jackson County Health Department from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm in the Student Center Ballroom A. At-risk individuals are encouraged to take advantage of this valuable service.
A brief opening ceremony will be held at 6:00 pm in the Lower Level of Grinnell Hall featuring remarks by SIUC Chancellor Fernando M. Trevino. This will be followed at 6:30 pm by the “Walk for Awareness” beginning at Grinnell and proceeding over the pedestrian bridge to the Student Center.
The University Housing Hall Councils will be promoting a banner contest to create educational banners with messages to support the fight to eliminate AIDS. This will culminate with the announcement of the winning banner and presentation of the traveling awards plaque in the John W. Corker Lounge at approximately 6:45 pm on Tuesday. All of the banners will remain on display in the lounge through 8:00 pm Thursday with the winning banner displayed in Gallery 51, north of Starbucks in the Student Center through Monday, December 3.
The 7:00 pm program “Sex in the Dark” in Ballroom B will feature Christy Hamilton from the Student Health Center and Steven St. Julian from the Jackson County Health Department in an entertaining, yet educational, program designed to answer all of the questions you always wanted to ask but never thought you could! All questions will be submitted anonymously prior to the program. No questions will go unanswered by these two dynamic health educators.
Wednesday will begin with the Health Fair in the John W. Corker Lounge in the Student Center from 12 noon until 4:00 pm. Area healthcare professionals will be present to answer questions and promote good health practices.
Along with the anonymous HIV testing in Ballroom B, there will also be an ongoing 73 minute screening on both Wednesday and Thursday in Ballroom A from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm of the documentary titled “Got Purpose”. It features hip-hop artist Common, Sam Greenlee, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and Chicago comedian and radio personality, Tony Sculfield, along with three dynamic spoken-word performances. This film was created by SIUC College of Mass Communication and Media Arts alumna, Candace Griffin, and is dedicated to Spike Lee.
The three day series will wrap up on Thursday, November 29, in Ballroom D with the 7:00 pm program. Comedian River Huston will perform her one-woman act “Sex, Cellulite, and Large Farm Equipment: One Girl’s Guide to Living and Dying”. As a standup comic, award winning poet, sex columnist, public speaker, aerobics instructor, cabbie, musician, and a whole lot more, River Huston is an engaging performer with a whole lot to say but only one hour to say it in. Don’t miss a minute of her dynamic message!
All events are free and open to the public.
For additional information, visit our website www.siucstudentcenter.org or call Special Programs and Center Events (SPACE) at 453-1142.
