Rainbows, hearts, musical notes and pictures commemorating eight different AIDS victims covered a quilt laid out in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium last Tuesday evening as part of AIDS Awareness Week on campus.The Brandeis chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign displayed one square from a 52-mile-long quilt of remembrance distributed among various campaign chapters nationwide.

"The quilt puts a human face to all people who have died," SGAC co-president Lauren Maramara '09 said.

The national Names Project Foundation provided the Brandeis SGAC chapter with the quilt square display, a central piece of the Awareness Week, which led up to World AIDS Day last Saturday.

As Common Threads, a documentary about the personal stories behind the quilt, played on repeat over a four-hour period, students passing by stopped to sign the quilt's guest book, which continues to accrue signatures and is held by the Names Foundation.

"A lot of passers-by have stopped to see it," said Samantha Greenberg '10, whose interest in AIDS awareness began in high school. "AIDS needs to get more attention than it has in the past."

Brandeis' SGAC chapter has grown rapidly since 2006, when the entire campus rallied around the campaign to bring free HIV testing to the Health Services Center. The group holds weekly meetings, occasional lectures and periodic candy gram sales. At the South Asian Students Association event MELA, SGAC collected donations for the HIV/AIDS sector of ICDDR, B, The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh. This unit provides HIV testing and counseling services, and helps impoverished clients acquire treatment for opportunistic infections.

Newly elected SGAC National Liaison Emily Frost '10 added that SGAC has also donated to the Kenya AIDS fund. Over the last 2 1/2 years, donation drives at Brandeis alone have raised $1,400 to provide AIDS orphans in Kenya with food, clothing and resources for education.

Additionally, SGAC is working on a letter-writing campaign urging Massachusetts senators to co-sponsor The PATHWAY (Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth) Act, modifying current legislation to eliminate the state regulation that requires 33 percent of AIDS education funds support abstinence-only programming.

The group held a candlelit vigil at dusk last Wednesday to remember AIDS victims. "An important moment for me was when one woman remarked as she lit her candle that she knew one of the first 100 people that died of AIDS in US," reflected Maramara. Partnering with the Boston Medical Center last Thursday, SGAC sponsored a needle-and cost-free HIV-testing event in the Intercultural Center that was open to the public.

The success of the group's programming lies in its targeting a broad range of students.

"We reach out to other activist groups," said Maramara.

"We realize AIDS is a global issue," added Michael Yin '08 SGAC's co-president. Although some SGAC chapters take a more political approach, the Brandeis chapter focuses on fundraising and education.

"It's important to get active," said Rachel Pulinthitta '10, who remembers high school talks about world issues sparking her interest in AIDS advocacy. "We're all on this earth together.