-♦
"I think it’s criminal that a uni
versity the size of (the University
of) Nebraska doesn’t have a task
force devoted to the prevention
and awareness of HIV on cam
j)
pus.
-- Jean Durgin-Clinchard,
president of Cornhusker Parents and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays
-♦
UNL losing its focus
on HIV, AIDS issues,
student activist says
By Dionne Searcey
AIDS may be a worldwide epidemic,
but on the campus of the Univer
sity Nebraska-Lincoln, AIDS was
more of an issue several years
ago.
Officials argue whether this decrease
in campuswide AIDS interest is because
of less student demand for AIDS informa
tion or less concern about AIDS by uni
versity officials.
James Griesen, vice
chancellor for student
affairs, said the AIDS
issue had dwindled on
►the UNL campus in the
eyes of students and
administrators, alike.
“It’s been a while
since a reporter has
asked me about AIDS,” he said.
Dr. Garland Bare, a University Health
Center physician, said student interest
in AIDS shifted with news events involv
ing the disease. When news events re
lated to AIDS occur, more students call
the center to find out the symptoms and
signs of AIDS and whether they are at
risk, he said.
“There was a big rush of people after
Magic Johnson’s announcement,” he said.
Basketball player Johnson retired from
the game in October after announcing he
was HIV-positive.
but now the center is back down to
about one call a week, Bare said.
“People forget real quickly,” he said.
It has been estimated that about 40 to
80 students at UNL are HIV posi
tive.
Those numbers were the results of
two different studies.
One study came from university cam
puses across the United States with similar
student bodies to the Lincoln campus,
Bare said. At these schools, one out of 300
students was HIV positive.
UNL was not included in this studv.
But comparatively, Bare said, this would
mean UNL could have 80 students who
are HIV positive.
The second estimate came from a mili
tary survey of men and women who are of
similar age to traditional college students,
which found that one out of600 surveyed
was HIV positive.
This survey, compared to UNL’s under
graduate enrollment of about 24,000,
would mean that 40 students at UNL
could be HIV positive.
Griesen said he thought these num
bers were inaccurate.
• “That sounds high to me,” he said.
“Maybe we don’t have anyone with AIDS
(at UNL).”
1iJ
Al Schaben/DN
The University Health Center pro
vides many resources for students
to learn more about HIV and AIDS.
But Paul Moore, co-chairman of the
Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Student Associa
tion, said he personally knew a student
enrolled at UNL who was HIV positive.
Because UNL officials don’t know
how many students are directly
hurt by HIV, Moore questioned
the university’s efforts to promote
AIDS awareness.
“What has the university done in the
last year to make people aware of the
risks or what life is like for people living
with AIDS?” Moore asked. “We’re at the
same place we were in 1981.”
He said UNL did a better job of dealing
with the disease in 1987 when Griesen’s
office appointed an AIDS task force to
educate the university about HIV.
Janet Crawford, a health educator/
instructor at the health center, said that
in 1990 the task force was left in “limbo”
when chairwoman Margaret Nellis left
UNL to accept a iob in Maryland. Crawford
said the medical director who was on the
committee also had resigned.
Griesen said the task force was created
during the beginning years of AIDS
awareness to educate the community about
AIDS.
“It was in the early stages when there
was a lot of miscommunication about the
disease,” he said.
The task force also promoted safe health
practices and advised the university about
certain guidelines to be followed in health
care.
“It worked very well. It was very ac
tive," Griesen said.
Judith Kriss, interim coordinator of
women’s programs and services at the
UNL Womena Resource Center, agreed.
“The AIDS task force kept AIDS as a
real issue on this campus,” she said.
Griesen said the purpose of the task
force was accomplished.
“So much of what the task force was
doing has been institutionalized,” he said.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard
anything like, ‘I’m afraid to use the toilet
because I’ll get AIDS.”*
Jean Durgin-Clinchard, president of
Cornhusker Parents and Friends of Les
bians and Gays (a group that sponsors
the local AIDS Support Group), said UNL
still needs an AIDS task force.
“I think it’s criminal that the univer
sity the size of (the University of) Ne
braska doesn’t have a task force devoted
to the prevention and awareness of HIV
on campus,” she said.
“College students need all the support
they can get.”
Griesen said that if he knew many
UNL students were HIV positive or had
special needs dealing with AIDS, he would
re activate the task force.
“We don’t have a task force on ch
lamydia. We don’t have a task force on
genital warts,” and those are serious
problems on campus, he said.
Crawford said a new director for the
health center would arrive in June.
Crawford plans to discuss whether to re
activate the task force with the new di
rector, she said.
Kriss said that besides the absence
of a task force, UNL lacks confi
dential testing for the HIV virus.
“We’re sending out the message
that we’re not accepting responsibility
for that health care aspect,” sne said.
Dr. Bare said the University Health
Center stopped offering confidential AIDS
testing in July because of budget cuts.
The health center still can test for
AIDS, Bare said. But these test results
would appear on medical and insurance
records, he said, and could lead to job
discrimination.
Crawford said confidential AIDS test
ing was provided a short distance from
campus at the Lincoln- Lancaster County
Health Department, 2200 St. Mary’s Ave.
“With having a center or test site so
close to campus, I hope that fulfills the
need,” Crawford said.
Bare said the health center could fol
low AIDS patients and treat them after
they had been diagnosed.
Bare said he us$d to follow three HIV
positive patients ajemester.
“This is the first semester since 19851
have not been following an HIV-positive
patient,” Bare said.
He said if any UNL students were HIV
positive, such patients probably were
turning to community physicians. This
happens because, as students, the pa
tients would be forced to end their care
from a health center doctor after gradu
ation, he said.
Although UNL offers no confidential
testing, he said, the university offers AIDS
information resources. UNL’s campus
ministers are equipped to counsel HIV
positive patients.
He said residence hall health aides
also were trained to deal with AIDS is
sues. Lectures about AIDS awareness
are sponsored by UNL throughout the
year, Bare said.
Students affected by AIDS can receive
help at the University Mental Health
Clinic or University Counseling Center,
he said.
Kriss said she was not satisfied
with UNL’s AIDS resources.
“I don’t think that’s enough,” Kriss
said, particularly because the
counseling centerdoes not have a specific
counseling program set aside for AIDS
issues.
Moore said he thought changes needed
to be made to update services to students
affected by AIDS.
The Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Student
Association has “more current informa
tion than the health center. That’s very
wrong,” Moore said.
Kriss said UNL should offer more AIDS
awareness and support programs.
“We have to offer all sorts of things to
let the university be aware that AIDS is
a possibility and a problem,” Kriss said
The university does not offer AIDS
support groups, Griesen said, but stu
dents can turn to city or county programs
for help.
“Were not in the middle of nowhere,
nor are we in New York, he saia. Lin
coln’s students are in a city where cam
pus and community merge.”
When students find out that UNL of
fers no support groups they might think:
“Oh mygod. UNL has no AIDS support
group. They’re not concerned,” he said.
But officials on campus are concerned
about the AIDS issue, ne said. They just
haven’t been confronted by students who
say an AIDS support croup is a real need.
Crawford saia it’s hard for the univer
sity officials to respond to needs if admin
istrators don’t know about them.
“It’s not like a student who’s HIV posi
tive has come forth and said, ‘I’m not
receiving the care I need.”*
Crawford said she encouraged students
to offer input.
“People could just anonymously drop
us a line,” she said. “If that’s something
they want, write me and let me know.”
“It’s real hard to make any changes
... if people won’t come to us.”
Dr. Garland Bare, a physician at the University Health Center, said there could
be between 40 and 80 students at UNL who are HIV positive.