Approximately 350 students packed into a standing-room only Collis Common Ground last night to hear "Friendship in the Age of AIDS," a funny but sobering presentation by two men, who warned about the dangers of unprotected sex, especially among college-aged students.
Despite the powerful subject matter, T.J. Sullivan and Joe Goldman -- two friends who met more than 10 years ago at Indiana University -- kept the audience laughing during much of their candid presentation.
Sullivan began the program by describing his first encounter with Goldman at Indiana, and recalled how during his college years, AIDS was not "something my friends and I were sitting around talking about."
He said he never really thought AIDS would affect his life, since he did not know anyone with the virus.
But that all changed a few years ago, when Goldman called Sullivan to inform him that he was HIV positive.
"I couldn't handle it," Sullivan said of that phone conversation. "I don't think I did too well. I kind of froze. And then I started to lose it."
Sullivan said no matter how much he thought he knew about AIDS he suddenly realized he knew "very little I needed to know" as he began to confront his friend's mortality.
"Making those phone calls was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life," Goldman said.
Goldman said he had a careless attitude about sex during his college days, often having unprotected sex, especially after he had had a couple of drinks.
He said he went through college with this attitude and "thought nothing life-threatening" would ever affect him.
But after college, when Goldman stopped drinking, he said he noticed he was practicing safer sex and began to worry about his past mistakes.
Goldman said he decided to be tested for HIV "just to be sure," and the results were negative.
However, after he began to experience stomach pains and other health problems five years ago, he said he was tested again and found out he was in fact HIV-positive.
"It was definitely the worst day of my life," he said. "I really though this was a bad dream, but then I realized 'I'm HIV positive, and I'm going to die someday.'"
Goldman said he has since then found strength in his character and decided to educate others about the virus, encouraging them to practice safe sex and be aware of the reality of AIDS.
"I decided to never take anything for granted again. I realized how precious every flower and every tree is," he said.
He also described other obstacles he had to overcome when dealing with the reality of AIDS.
"Absolutely the worst thing in the world is having to tell your Mom and Dad that you will probably pass away before they will," he said.
He said he also felt a sense of obligation to contact his past sexual partners and to tell them he was infected.
Goldman said many mispercep-tions are present in common thinking about the AIDS virus.
College students rarely think of AIDS as something that affects them directly since they often consider themselves invincible, he said. However, half of new AIDS cases in America are college-aged men and women.
Goldman said the "window period" between when people have the virus and when it is detectable increases the dangers of unprotected sex.
"You can't tell from just looking who has AIDS," he said. "It takes five to seven years to develop symptoms," and 75 percent of the people who are currently HIV positive do not yet know they are carriers.
He said chains of unprotected sex perpetuate the problem, since a person has sex "with whole sexual histories rather than with a single person."
AIDS, he said, is the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 20 and 44, more than even unintentional injuries.
Goldman urged members of the audience to practice safe sex, get tested for HIV and not to mix alcohol with sex.
"It all depends on what you do and not on who you are," he said. "Friendship in the age of AIDS means having to look after our friends and ourselves."
"This is our generation's Vietnam," Sullivan said, because of its massive impact on American society.
Last night's presentation was sponsored by Sexual Awareness through Greek Education.
