Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC)

We work to raise awareness on campus of the AIDS epidemic, both domestic and international. We also work on AIDS advocacy and policy change.

Contacts: Rose Meckhar

Listhost: sgac@listhost.uchicago.edu

Meetings: Monday, 8 pm, Reynolds Club basement conference room

Purpose: Advocacy/awareness group working as a chapter of a national organization.

Goals: increase awareness/recruitment, expand political contacts/more issue-oriented lobby work, do more with local community/more collaboration

Accomplishments: AIDS Week, Abbott Labs protest, letter-writing campaign, increased awareness

Resources: lots of info on issues, national campaign (support and training)

Frustrations: recruitment, getting funding from university

Current Projects (05/01/05):

- Global gag rule event

- Activism Teach-In

- Volunteering on issues of HIV/AIDS

Past Projects (11/19/04):

            ONGOING

-       President Bush.  We are always trying to think of creative ways to tell him that we want more funding with less restrictions.  Letter writing is a big part of what we do throughout the year, so thinking of whom to target and how to do it is very important.

-     Barack Obama.  We want him and Dick Durbin to be the two best senators in the country when it comes to AIDS policy, and we think that he is very receptive to the idea.  We have already sent letters to him about our views.

ONE-TIME EVENTS

-     World AIDS Day (December 1st).  We are planning on having a candlelight vigil, film screening, and are hading out many ribbons on several campus locations.

-     SGAC National March in Washington, DC. (February 26th) We are planning our delegation to this huge event (we are hoping to have 8,000 people on the mall- to represent the number of 15-24 year olds who are infected every day) and want to have participation from groups and/or students all across campus.  This needs to be big!

-     AIDS Week (early in spring quarter).  This is a large event we do with Students for Global Public Health so we start having planning meetings now.  In the past, we have collaborated with other groups on events and had great successes.

Dream Projects (11/19/04):

• Dr. Paul Farmer to speak during AIDS week.
• Someone from the bio department to give presentation on microbicides, with lots of scientific information that would appeal to students interested in research.
• A speaker from Doctors without Borders (MSF) who is in the field and can talk about the day to day realities of fighting AIDS.
• Website/internet issues

Resources Needed (11/19/04):

            FOR CURRENT PROJECTS

-     Groups to collaborate with

• Increased membership/ participation
• Help advertising and promoting our events and organization

FOR DREAM PROJECTS

• Lots of money, connections
• Help from someone who knows a lot about making web pages and using the internet and how to get a webpage at uchicago
• Advice on how to increase membership and visibility