Curriculum Lacks Attention to HIV

Author: Simon Isaacs

The Middlebury College Handbook states that graduates are expected to be "thoughtful, ethical leaders able to meet the challenges of informed citizenship." It is certainly in pursuit of this goal that curricula and syllabi are planned and taught. I am writing on behalf of the Middlebury chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign, because we are deeply concerned that the College curriculum fails to address one of the most important issues facing humanity, namely the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
AIDS is the most important issue facing our generation. Over 40 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS. Fifteen thousand new infections occur daily. The disease has orphaned 15 million children. In some countries, such as Botswana, over 35 percent of the population is infected. The cultural, economic, political and social impact of this disease is undeniable. AIDS may shape the economic and political world order in ways that no single war has ever done.
Despite the many implications of these horrific statistics, the College seems content to keep its classrooms mostly focused upon past paradigms and theories. In doing so, the College commits a double disservice to its graduates by allowing them to remain ignorant of this crisis, and by propagating the myth that upon graduation, students are armed with requisite knowledge and skills to confront future academic, career and life pursuits.
The College is directly responsible for the awareness of large numbers of very bright young people who are opinion-formers in their own right and in their own environments. As opinion formers, whether or not directly affected themselves, College students need to be equipped to handle the potential impact and implications of HIV/AIDS on their own lives and on society as a whole.
Most importantly, Middlebury has an ethical and intellectual responsibility to create an open forum for debate on these issues and to play a role in finding a creative response to the threat that HIV/AIDS poses to the world. Middlebury is an essential vehicle for the provision of a united and effective response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Through collaboration with other institutions and organizations, the College is in a uniquely privileged position to be a powerful influence regionally, nationally and internationally.
How should the College integrate the pandemic into its current curriculum? First, it is clear that the College's response must begin with clearly defined leadership at Old Chapel and be disseminated to every level of the institution: to the deans, heads of departments or librarians. Second, we must re-educate faculty, in every academic discipline, about the pandemic through lecture series as well as hire new faculty with expertise and experience in this discipline. Third, Middlebury should offer classes, beginning with Winter Term, on the global AIDS pandemic. Finally, a Public Health major similar to the proposed African Studies track in the International Studies major must be offered.
HIV/AIDS has exploded in Sub-Saharan Africa and is now threatening Eastern Europe and Asia as well because governments and academic institutions fail to address taboo subjects such as sex and drugs openly. Ultimately, the price of their silence will be measured by the decline in life expectancy, the number of orphaned children or the drop in GDP. Will Middlebury College follow this trend of omission, or will it create a strong academic forum on HIV/AIDS and potentially contribute to the solution?
We invite the Middlebury community to learn more about these issues at the Middlebury AIDS Forum May 2 through 4. On Friday at 7 p.m., Congressman Bernie Sanders will be speaking on fighting AIDS from Capitol Hill. Saturday at 5 p.m., there is a theatrical performance outside on Proctor Terrace, and on Sunday there is a student/faculty roundtable at 2 p.m. and a screening of the documentary, "A Closer Walk" at 8 p.m. in Bicentennial Hall 220. We hope to see you all there.

Simon Isaacs is a political science major from Norwich, Vermont.