Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 10/15/97
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  135

AIDS QUILT TO BE DISPLAYED AT SLU NOV. 3-7
     HAMMOND -- The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed at
Southeastern Louisiana University during AIDS Awareness Week, Nov. 3-7.
     Six panels of the quilt, a national memorial to lives lost to AIDS, will be exhibited in the
War Memorial Student Union Ballroom from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. daily expect for Wednesday, Nov. 5,
"Community Day," when it will move to the Student Union Park.
     The quilt display is one of many activities planned for AIDS Awareness Week, including
AIDS testing and counseling, special educational programs, and a twilight procession. The Neill
Corporation also will sponsor "Cut Away AIDS," with hair stylists offering $5 hair cuts to
benefit AIDS research. SLU's Delta Sigma Theta sorority will add to the AIDS research coffers
by selling symbolic red ribbon pins at a $1 each and area schools will be invited to participate in
an art contest.
     "College age students are among the segments of the population most affected by the
rapid growth of the AIDS epidemic," said SLU Student Organizations director Mari Ann Callais,
chairman of the AIDS Awareness Week activities. "We wanted to do something positive to raise
awareness on campus and in the community."
     Callais said the Louisiana chapter of the Names Project, the San Francisco-based
foundation that sponsors the AIDS Memorial Quilt, is providing six 3-by-6-foot quilt panels for
Southeastern's display. According to the Names Project, the panels are among more than 42,000
quilt pieces, all sewn by relatives and friends to celebrate the life of someone who died of AIDS.
     The Names Project said that more than 100 new panels a week are received at the
                                 (MORE) 
AIDS AWARENESS WEEK -- Add One

organization's San Francisco headquarters. According to Callais, several new panels may be
dedicated by students or community members during the quilt's stay at Southeastern.
     The full quilt exhibit, which is displayed periodically in Washington, D.C., covers 28
acres, an area equal to 25 football fields. Includes 78,800 names, a number that represents 21
percent of all U.S. AIDS deaths. The Quilt has been viewed by more than 9 million people.
     The idea for the AIDS quilt originated in San Francisco in 1985, after a march marking
the city's 1,000th AIDS death. During a candlelight vigil, the names of the victims were written
on placards and taped to the side of a building. Gay rights advocate Cleve Jones thought this
makeshift paper memorial resembled a patchwork quilt, and he soon established the NAMES
Project to put together an actual quilt to memorialize those who died of AIDS.
     For more information about AIDS Awareness Week, call Callais at 504-549-2248.
                                 - SLU -
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