Questions remain why AIDS Week not held

Last spring, HIV/AIDS Awareness Week was tentatively planned to take place this week -- 12 months after last year's events, which were sporadically attended. But the event isn't being held this year, and now more and more people are asking why. The answers as to why planning for the week never got off the ground, however, are not clear, and several University officials gave differing and sometimes conflicting reasons yesterday. Student Health Educator Susan Villari said that the decision to cancel the event was made last semester by Student Health staff, who have traditionally taken a leading role in organizing the week's events. She pointed out that a former Student Health official, Chris Lyman, co-chaired last year's HIV/AIDS Awareness Week planning committee. But Student Health Director MarJeanne Collins said yesterday that the week could not have been canceled because it was never planned. "When Chris [Lyman] left, we talked about things that we would carry forward, and the week was just not one of them," she said yesterday. "There was no turnover, no plan, no discussion that it would be done." But Villari said the week was not organized due to the time it took to find Lyman's replacement. It is also unclear which University office was supposed to organize the week. Assistant Director of Student Life Programs Robert Schoenberg, who has co-chaired the planning committee for the week in the past, said he knew the week was not being organized, but was told almost a year ago by Vice Provost of University Life Kim Morrisson that HIV/AIDS education was the responsibility of Student Health not Student Life. And Alcohol and Drug Education Coordinator Jo-Ann Zoll said Student Health would be the primary initiator of the event. But Student Health Director Collins said last night that HIV/AIDS education was never soley the responsibility of Student Health, adding that it was to be a collaborative effort with several offices. Morrisson declined to comment on the matter. Some University officials said they thought Student Health was organizing the week, and when they found out that it wasn't being organized, it was too late to organize any substantial events. Schoenberg added he didn't believe he needed to take steps towards planning the week, because he thought the responsibility had been given to Collins and her staff at Student Health. "If Dr. Collins decided at some point that the week was not going to occur, I wonder why she didn't let any of the people who had been working on it [in the past] know," Schoenberg said. Collins defended her decision last night saying that on-going programs could be a more effective use of funds. "Obviously if I personally decided the week was the most important vehicle, than I would have taken the ball and run with it," Collins explained. The director said she felt that new programs, such as peer health education, a city-wide AIDS resource guide, and the implementation of HIV/AIDS education into the University's curriculum would be more effective than the annual awareness week because of low attendance in many of the programs run in past years. But Zoll said she was very upset that the week did not take place this year saying that a lack of attendance would be a main reason for running the week. "I consider apathy one of the main reasons why we need to do the program," she said. "You can't expect your constituents to come forward and ask to be educated on any number of issues, including HIV/AIDS awareness." Collins said that Student Health receives no specific funds for the awareness week, nor sets aside any money specifically for HIV/AIDS Awareness Week. But according to Villari, in past years the funds for the week were taken from money earmarked for health education. She added that those funds will now go towards peer health education which topics include acquaintance rape and sexual health education. "My focus is to make sure that peer health education is maintained and to keep workshops on-going throughout the year," Villari said. Specifically, she said that some of the funds wil be given to Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape, and Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health, two student groups.

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