AU Fights AIDS!, an organization founded and managed by two Women's Initiative members, did an excellent job this weekend bringing various campus organizations together for the AIDS Walk Washington, an event started in 1987 that was designed to heighten awareness of the deadly disease.
The 280 students who joined AU Fight AIDS! comprised the largest team walking in support of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, a nonprofit health-care provider located in D.C. Even more impressively, AU students raised $13,173.04, the largest amount of any college in the District, a fantastic and commendable feat that AU Fights AIDS leaders have said is just the start of what is to come.
It's also great that so many students, regardless of political affiliation or campus organization, were able to come together under a single cause. Too often, petty divisions prevent us from working together to confront problems that far transcend the boundaries of our university.
And, of course, it is good to see students giving AIDS prevention the attention it deserves. The District has state-of-the-art medical and science facilities and some of the nation's best doctors and researchers, yet the area's AIDS infection rate remains a dangerous one in 20. Awareness and fundraising events, especially the AIDS walk, are the first step in combating a disease that affects all of us. Hopefully, AU Fights AIDS! can continue to campaign for the cause with the same ferocity and vigor that made its participation in the AIDS walk such a success.
