Members of the Student Global AIDS Campaign met last week with administrators to discuss the possibility of bringing HIV testing to campus.There is a proposal to implement testing as early as next fall, SGAC coordinator Iyah Romm '07 said. Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer and Health Center Administrator Kathleen Maloney, APRN, BC, have discussed drafting a proposal, Romm said.

The club offered free and confidential testing on Mar. 17, and 328 showed up to register, though only 55 people were tested because of resource restraints.

Romm said the club met with administrators after the event.

"I left the meeting with a bottom-line understanding that [Maloney] is going to write a proposal," he said. "That certainly doesn't mean, 'yes, we are going to have testing here in September, but it certainly means that she's thinking about it, and she's going to write up something formal to present to [Sawyer]."

Sawyer said he has no objections to testing on campus. But he said it would not be funded by the University and students would be expected to pay for the services. Romm said research conducted by his group showed that the only schools that provide free testing are universities with a medical school.

Romm said his club has suggested a two-option system. Students can have their insurance providers pay for the testing or, if they wish to hide the results from their parents, pay a fee between $25 and $40.

"If students have the option of either insurance or paying $25, either one of those [is] still a better option than trekking all the way down to [Massachusetts General Hospital] and waiting in line for several hours and then having to go back two weeks later to get your results."

Maloney said September would be a good target date for the proposal, and that it is about time for the University to begin investigating testing on campus. "This is not an insignificant thing to do and if we're going to do this, I want to make sure that we do it right," she said.

Maloney said she will need to consider how to break the news to students who test positive. "There need to be a lot of policies in place," she said. "We need to figure out what's going to be best for us," she said.

Maloney said she has already begun investigating the testing policies of other schools in the area.

According to a study conducted by SGAC, out of 17 Massachusetts schools including Bentley College, Tufts University and Harvard University, only Brandeis does not offer testing.