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Photo by Jonah
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Hundreds gathered at Bruin Plaza on Dec. 1. |
Heavy Turnout for HIV Testing
Campuswide events focus on world AIDS pandemic
BY ANNE BURKE
UCLA Today Staff
Hundreds of students turned out for free HIV tests in Bruin Plaza
on Dec. 1 as UCLA marked World AIDS Day with music, marching and
educational programs.
Heavy turnout for HIV testing caught event organizers by surprise.
About 200 students were tested, but dozens were turned away after
waiting in line an hour or longer.
“I’m completely astounded,” said event organizer
David Gere, an associate professor in the Department of World Arts
and Cultures. “I’ve been tested in my life but never
in public. This tells me that students do want to be empowered,
and they see this as a starting place for their lives as sexual
adults.”
The pin-prick HIV tests were conducted in private inside mobile
testing units from Los Angeles County and the Minority AIDS Project.
Counselors informed test-takers of results about 20 minutes later
inside the mobile units.
“This is just good to know — to be safe, to be confident,”
said senior Tracy Zieve, who listened to live music on a Bruin Plaza
stage as she waited in line. Test-takers were given red, rubber
wristbands imprinted with “I Know.”
AIDS Day activities, presented as part of the UCLA Year of the
Arts, were conducted across campus. The most dramatic was a procession
of marchers who converged on Bruin Plaza holding aloft signs bearing
information about AIDS’ grim toll. Freud Playhouse hosted
a number of events, among them performances by artists from Uganda
and India, a film about people living with HIV/AIDS and a symposium
on the legal impediments to AIDS education and services.
The HIV testing launched a yearlong campaign called “I Know
— and Knowledge Is Power.” Sponsored by the UCLA AIDS
Institute and other campus groups, the campaign encourages people
to find out their HIV status.
Because of heavy demand at the Dec. 1 event, the UCLA AIDS Institute
will bring back to Bruin Plaza free HIV testing on the first Thursday
of each month throughout 2005, said Edwin Bayrd, executive director
of the AIDS Institute.
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