Conference to Focus on AIDS

About 60 people from Boston-area schools will gather this weekend to discuss how to start and improve AIDS education programs at a conference sponsored by Harvard's AIDS Education and Outreach (AEO).

"The purpose of the conference is to give other schools the know-how or motivation to initiate their own AIDS education program and to further develop any existing programs," said Greg C. Belmont '89, one of the event's organizers.

The conference, which will be held in Sever Hall, will cover such topics as starting an AIDS education program, assessing a particular college campus' needs for AIDS education and evaluating the success of specific programs.

Five undergraduates started the AEO last year, saying that students on campus were not being properly informed about the danger of AIDS in a college community. About 25 cases of AIDS have been reported in the Harvard community, but no undergraduates have been among those infected, University Health Services officials have said.

Group members said that the conference, which is funded by University Health Services and the Undergraduate Council, will stress the importance of reaching college campuses with AIDS education.

"AIDS education is especially important for all students because of the long incubation period of the virus, the level of sexual activity on college campuses and the psychological effects of the immortality complex," Belmont said.

Tia Martinez '90, an AEO codirector, said that it is also crucial to reach the college community because students will have the greatest effect on AIDS public policy in the future.

"AIDS is a great problem and presence in society," Martinez said. "A lot of people in college now will go on to make public policy and make a difference in society, so we want to educate people on a lot of different levels."

Conference organizers said they hope the conference will result in a network of AIDS educators at Boston-area colleges.

Clara N. Lee '89, one of the conference organizers, said, "There have been a lot of unconnected programs in the past and as a result there has been a lot of reinvention of the wheel."

She said, "This conference will bring these schools [in the Boston area] together, and after the conference is over we will be able to say that this is the way things stand in Boston."

This weekend's gathering will be followed up with a regional conference tentatively scheduled for the spring. The conference beginning tomorrow will include a keynote address by Christine Lyman, a health educator at the University of Pennsylvania.