In honor of World AIDS Day, the Union Program Council’s Ideas and Issues Committee hosted the AIDS Memorial Quilt in the Union Ballroom Monday and Tuesday.
Jason Meier, assistant director of Union programming, said the entire quilt never has been placed together.
According to the AIDS Quilt Web site, the quilt has approximately 46,000 panels and is equivalent to the size of 272 NCAA basketball courts.
The Web site also said there are more than 82,838 names on the quilt, representing only about 17 percent of all AIDS related deaths in the United States.
Some panels of the quilt that were not featured in the Union include names of famous people such as rapper Easy E, performer Liberace and Pedro Zamora from the MTV show “The Real World.”
The Union featured four of the panels from the quilt and six small panels from the UPC’s Black Culture committee.
The quilt panels included pictures of people who have passed away from the virus, along with poems, sayings and notes from loved ones. One panel even included a recipe for great pork.
One panel was dedicated to the Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council of Lake Charles and included the names of people on the council who have passed away because of the virus.
Meier said the panels from the Black Culture Committee are an inspiration to encourage University students to educate themselves about HIV and AIDS awareness and to get tested.
Allison Ford, a mass communication senior, said she thinks it is a good idea for people to make a panel for a loved one who has passed away because of AIDS, and also for the Union to feature panels to educate students of AIDS awareness.
Ford said AIDS has a bad connotation and people need to realize that AIDS is contracted not just from unprotected sex, but also from blood transfusions.
“AIDS is a tragedy,” Ford said. “And it’s nice to have a memorial for those people who have died from it.”
The Ballroom had four easels with paper and markers next to each panel for visitors to write messages if they chose.
Meier said the easels were something the UPC’s Ideas and Issues Committee decided to have, not something that is part of the AIDS quilt display.
“Too many college students don’t think AIDS can affect their lives,” Meier said. “They aren’t taking the message seriously. Hopefully, this will bring the issue closer to home for some students.”