VALLEY COLLEGE : Group Works for AIDS Awareness

Armed with condoms and informational pamphlets, a handful of Valley College students and faculty members have set out to increase campus awareness about AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes it, said Barbara Krevitz, an AIDS peer counselor.

“Somebody has to educate students on campus. It just hasn’t been done,” Krevitz said.

The group’s efforts began last year after an AIDS class was reinstated because students protested cancellation of the course.

The students went on to do a survey of the campus, and found that students were generally uninformed about the disease, said Darrell Hammack, also a peer counselor.

Last month, the group held an informational day that included lectures by the head of the school’s life science department, Lois Bergquist, who teaches the AIDS class. The students also showed a video featuring celebrities discussing the importance of AIDS awareness. Literature and free condoms also were available.

But getting the message across hasn’t been easy, Krevitz said. The program is not supported by school funds or by the administration, she said.

Hammack drove several miles to Downey to pick up 2,000 free condoms.

Others in the group made phone calls during their free time to solicit donations of informational literature.

Organizers said they had to ask permission to hand out the condoms and play the video on AIDS, which they said was an unnecessary roadblock.

“The administration could be more supportive. We’re dealing with consenting adults,” Krevitz said. “It’s everybody’s disease.”

The program is needed because the age group on campus is the one that most needs to be educated, Krevitz said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the number of cases reported among 16- through 24-year-olds has increased by 62%. In 1991, more than a quarter of a million people in the United States were diagnosed with the disease. The incidence among women and heterosexuals has increased by 40%.

“The thought on this campus is that it is a homosexual disease. It’s not,” Krevitz said.

Don Witherow, a peer counselor, said that student response to the AIDS awareness program has been favorable.

More than 100 students came to the lectures during a three-hour period, he said.

“If we can save one life, save just one person from catching the HIV virus, then we would have achieved our goal,” Krevitz said.