From Noah Leavitt, Director of the Student Engagement Center
Today, Dec 1, is World AIDS Day, an annual moment since 1988 to reflect on the terrible toll taken by this disease and a moment to think about how to work toward improved public health policies and practices. This year, filled with the terror of millions of positive COVID cases throughout the United States, seems an especially relevant time to think about these massive assaults to human life and health. (It is worth noting that Dr. Anthony Fauci, leading the federal government’s response to COVID, was in a similar role during the AIDS crisis. Here is his statement from World AIDS Day 2003)
The Whitman community has intersected with this day and this issue in the past in many ways:
– First, we have a longstanding relationship with Blue Mountain Heart to Heart (H2H), an extraordinary Walla Walla non-profit which since its founding in 1985 has been supporting people in the region who are HIV positive and their families (the organization has since expanded the number of public health issues they address). Heart to Heart has been proud partners of many Whitman College and Walla Walla University students over the years, supporting work study programs, practica, fellowships, and interns. Many of these students have gone on to earn advanced degrees in public policy, medicine, dentistry, and health advocacy.
ACTION OPPORTUNITY: BMH2H is our annual partner for our Adopt A Family program, which supports local families living at or below the poverty level, and you can still sign up for today! See this 1-minute video for more information about how to do that
– Third, the SEC has supported many students through the Whitman Internship Grant program to work at H2H and other organizations and research labs around the country that are reducing AIDS and helping people who are HIV+.– Second, Whitman has many inspiring alumni who have been recognized for supporting people with AIDS, like Kris Nyrop ’79, who received Whitman’s 2012 Alumnus of Merit Award for his work in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and for his commitment to helping community members in Seattle at risk of contracting HIV, and Danielle Barnes ’10, who made amazing contributions to the AIDS Legal Referral Panel in California.
– In addition, in previous years, Whitman community members have helped organized and have participated in the annual local World AIDS Day event, which has taken place downtown almost every year.
– Whitman honors the work and memory of David Nord ’83, who died of AIDS in 1999, through an annual prize given for student projects designed to address critical issues facing queer communities through a variety of creative and scholarly mediums.
– In keeping with our educational mission, Whitman has classes, lectures, and other educational events related to HIV / AIDS every year.
– Finally, Whitman staff and faculty have served as Board members of Heart to Heart (including the author of this post) and at least two Whitman employees have even served as the Executive Director of the organization!
This week I reached out to Everett Maroon, the current Executive Director and a mentor of many Whitties over the last several years, and he shared an important reflection with me for today:
“AIDS is now considered by some to be simply just another chronic disease. But HIV and AIDS continue to be stigmatized in a way that hypertension and diabetes do not, and other chronic diseases are not prone to seeing their therapeutics—in this case, antiretroviral drugs—become incompetent as the disease progresses and “learns” how to work around them. This World AIDS Day as we remember the lives lost, the medical battles won, and the state of the ongoing global HIV crisis, let us continue to focus on the people still living with this virus who need support and who also contribute to our society. Thank you to Whitman for your service in our area on this issue.”
Want to know more about any of these ways that Whitties have been connected to this important day? Want to get involved in any of the initiatives described in here? Please contact the Student Engagement Center (sec_info@whitman.edu) and we’ll be happy to chat!