On Thursday, December 1st 2005, the University of California, San Diego will recognize World AIDS Day with a public viewing of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Quilt will be on display at the Price Center Ballroom on the UCSD campus from 9am until 4:30pm . For a map and directions to the Price Center Ballroom, please visit http://maps.ucsd.edu. The event is free and open to the public.

On display at UCSD will be ten sections of the Quilt that have emerged from San Diego organizations and individuals as San Diegans responded to the AIDS crisis, both in the early years of the epidemic and through the present day. Each "block" (or section) of The AIDS Memorial Quilt measures approximately twelve feet square, and a typical block consists of eight individual three foot by six foot panels sewn together. Virtually every one of the more than 40,000 colorful panels that make up the entire Quilt memorializes the life of a person lost to AIDS.

Founded in 1987, The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a poignant memorial, a powerful tool for use in preventing new HIV infections, and the largest ongoing community arts project in the world. As the epidemic continues claiming lives around the world and here in the United States , the Quilt continues to grow and to reach more communities with its messages of remembrance, awareness and hope. For more information the quilt, visit http://www.aidsquilt.org.

Along with the AIDS Quilt, UCSD will sponsor a number of other events in recognition of World AIDS Day. Red ribbons will be handed out a UCSD’s Library Walk throughout the day. A reading of names of those who have passed away from AIDS will take place at Price Center Plaza from 10 am to 3 p.m. At the Quilt display, more specific information regarding people of color and AIDS as well as women and AIDS will be presented. At 1pm at UCSD’s Cross Cultural Center in the Lecture Hall, the Peer Education Program (PEP) Los Angeles will lead informal discussions on sexuality, decision-making and negotiation skills and provide realistic techniques for resisting peer pressure to engage in the risk-taking behaviors associated with HIV/AIDS.

The film "A Closer Walk" will be screened at UCSD’s Cross Cultural Center in the Lecture Hall at 6 p.m. "A Closer Walk" is the first film to provide a definitive portrayal of humankind's confrontation with the global AIDS epidemic. Directed, written and produced by Oscar nominee Robert Biheimer, and narrated by Glen Close and Will Smith, the film explores the intricate relationship between health, dignity and human rights.

These events are co-sponsored by UCSD’s LGBT Resource Center, Student Health Advocates, the department of Sociology, The Imperial Court de San Diego (ICSD), San Diego Young Positives (SDYP), the Women’s Center and the Cross-Cultural Center. For more information on this event, please go to http://lgbt.ucsd.edu.

Media Contacts: Shaun Travers UCSD LGBT Resource Center, 858-822-3493.