Lawrence University Commemorates World AIDS Day with Vigil, Public Display of AIDS Memorial Quilt

APPLETON, WIS. -- A two-week-long public display of the famed NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will highlight Lawrence University's commemoration of World AIDS Day.

Celebrated annually on Dec. 1, the first World AIDS Day events were conducted in 1988 to call international attention to the need for education, compassion, hope and understanding about AIDS.

Lawrence will conduct its World AIDS Day activities on Monday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Downer Room of the Seeley G. Mudd Library. A local HIV/AIDS activist and prevention educator and chairman of the Northeast Wisconsin Ryan White Consortium will open the event with a brief talk followed by student readings and personal reflections. At approximately 7:50 p.m., a candlelight vigil will be held on the plaza immediately outside the library in remembrance of those touched by AIDS/HIV.

From Dec. 1-14, two 12' by 12' panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed on the first floor of the library. The Quilt, begun as a memorial to victims of AIDS, has grown into the world's largest community art project. Today the AIDS Memorial Quilt comprises more than 44,000 panels containing the names and personal tributes of more than 84,000 victims of AIDS. The Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

"We are excited about the opportunity to bring panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt to Appleton and the Lawrence campus in commemoration of World AIDS Day," said Paul Shrode, associate dean of students for activities. "Although international terrorism and conflicts in parts of the world have taken center stage in world news, AIDS remains a serious pandemic and deserves our attention and reflection.

"With half of the estimated 40,000 new cases of AIDS in the United States each year infecting people 25 years of age or younger, this is a topic of particular importance to the college-age population. I can't think of a more moving or visual way of invoking thought, stimulating discussion and motivating action than displaying parts of the Quilt."

The AIDS Memorial Quilt grew out of a series of placards containing the names of AIDS victims that were taped to the San Francisco Federal Building as part of a annual candlelight march to honor the assassination of gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. The wall of placards reminded march organizers of a patchwork quilt. A year later, the first panel of the AIDS Memorial Quilt was created. As word of the Quilt spread, thousands of individuals and groups began sending panels to San Francisco to be included on the Quilt.

The Quilt was publicly displayed for the first time in October, 1987 on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C. It contained 1,920 panels and covered an area larger than a football field. By 1992, the AIDS Memorial Quilt included panels from every U.S. state and 28 countries. In January, 1993, 200 volunteers carried panels of the quilt down Pennsylvania Ave. during President Clinton's inauguration parade.

Since its public debut in 1987, more than 14 million people have visited the Quilt in thousands of displays around the world, helping to raise more than $1.8 million for AIDS service organizations.

The display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at Lawrence is made possible through the generosity of the alumni Class of 1965 Student Activity Fund, which supports special experiences and events for students beyond those sponsored by the college or LUCC.

In addition to the two panels of the AID Memorial Quilt on display, two 6' by 6' blank cloth panels will be displayed in the library and Memorial Union for expressions of feelings and reflections relating to AIDS/HIV by members of the Lawrence community.