SEMO TO HOLD AIDS AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

Southeast Missouri State University will hold several AIDS awareness activities on Tuesday and Wednesday, centered around the theme, "Be a Force for Change."

The activities are scheduled in conjunction with World AIDS Day, set for Dec. 1.

"The intention of World AIDS Day is to challenge our young college students to recognize the crucial role they play and to motivate them in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS," said Judy St. John, director of the Center for Health and Counseling at Southeast.

"We also want to lend support to those affected by HIV/AIDS," she said.

St. John said she and others at the center counsel Southeast students who have family members who are living with or who have died from AIDS.

"The biggest support you can give them is compassion and emotional support," she said.

Southeast will recognize World AIDS Day with a display of a panel from the Names Project Memorial AIDS Quilt. The panel will be displayed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the University Center lobby.

Also in the University Center lobby, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., educational films on HIV/AIDS will be shown.

Informational tables will be set up in various campus buildings on Dec. 1 and red ribbons will be distributed to students.

Capping the day will be a candlelight vigil in front of Academic Hall, beginning at 7 p.m. The Names Project quilt panel will be displayed in the Academic Hall lobby from 7-8 p.m.

On Dec. 2, Mohammed Bilal, one of the seven cast members of MTV's "Real World" television show will make a presentation.

Bilal is a musician, poet and writer who educates audiences about today's social ills. He also is a member of Midnight Voices, a Hip-Hop band.

Bilal's presentation is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. He will offer solutions on how to better accept the reality of HIV/AIDS. The presentation is co-sponsored by the Student Activities Council and the University AIDS Committee.

AIDS awareness activities will end with an open poetry reading from 7:30-8:30 p.m. in Crisp Hall Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by the Journey literary magazine and the AIDS Committee.

The Center for Health and Counseling is helping sponsor all the AIDS awareness activities at Southeast.