To the Editor:
We were pleased to see the high level of activities around World AIDS Day / Day Without Art last week. Unfortunately, we were dismayed that one of these events duped students into thinking they were doing their part to end the AIDS crisis.
Elevate, the so-called AIDS benefit dance did more harm than good for people living with AIDS. The event charged $5 admissions, but cost $4000 to put on! That means 800 people had to attend just for them to break even. This event, attended by maybe 400 people, therefore lost at least $2000 that could have gone to people living with AIDS. For the organizers to urge students to show their support for the AIDS cause by attending their self-aggrandizing party is repulsive and demeaning.
If they want to throw themselves a little party, that's fine, but for them to pretend that they're helping people with AIDS is ridiculous. Maybe next year instead of flying in DJ's from across the country and making their party bigger and more expensive, they can all just go to the sco one night and give their money directly to AIDS organizations.
For students who really do want to make a difference, try calling Hoffman-LaRoche or Abbott Pharmaceuticals and asking them to make their drugs more accessible to people who cannot afford them. Write to President Clinton (1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20500) and demand he appoint a cabinet-level AIDS Czar, or write your Representative (US Congress, Washington DC 20510 for Senators and 20515 for Reps.) to demand a federally funded needle exchange program. Make a direct personal donation to an AIDS service or prevention program locally or nationally. Or join one of the student organizations on campus like ACT-UP, SIC, or the Arts Student Committee, that are busy every week fighting the spread of AIDS.
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 12; December 13, 1996
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