HIV/AIDS an “Epidemic” Among African Americans

An AIDS Athens volunteer explains the HIV
testing process to a student at an event hosted
by the UGA Black Affairs Council on October 1, 2009

Justine Sher, an AIDS Athens case manager, sorts
through HIV rapid testing paperwork at an event
hosted by the UGA Black Affairs Council on October 1, 2009.

By Jon-Michael Sullivan

African Americans become infected with and die from HIV/AIDS more than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States. In the South, 58 percent of new AIDS cases reported in 2006 were African American, according to the Southern AIDS Coalition.

Ciarra Coleman, 21, from Milledgeville, Ga., decided, on a whim, to take an HIV test after her doctor recommended it. She made the appointment for a prescription for birth control.

“The doctor asked if I wanted to get tested while I was there, and I said, ‘yea sure,’” Coleman said.

Coleman’s test results were positive.

Since her test in June 2008, Coleman has become involved with AIDS Athens, an AIDS support organization (ASO) that serves 10 counties in Northeast Georgia, including Clarke County. Coleman works to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and influence others to get tested.

Coleman said overcoming preconceived notions about persons with HIV can be difficult.

“People just assume you were doing something bad,” Coleman said, “when you were really just having sex like anyone else.”

In 2004, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 25-44, and 66 percent of women in the U.S. diagnosed with AIDS were African American.

At the forefront of the problem is a lack of communication between sexual partners.

“There are a lot of men who don’t disclose their status,” said Justine Sher, case manager for AIDS Athens. “It may be a power issue or a situation where they don’t want to negotiate condom use.”

For African-American women living with HIV/AIDS, the most common method of transmission was high-risk heterosexual contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because there is a higher concentration of the virus in semen compared to vaginal fluid women are putting themselves at a greater risk by not using contraceptives.

“Behavioral changes, like condom use, are necessary,” Coleman said. “And those are the hardest to change in any culture.”

In 2008, 75 percent of AID Atlanta’s client population was African American. Additionally, 69 percent of clients were males who report sex with another male as the mode of HIV transmission.

“The same shame that’s associated with HIV in our community is the same shame that’s associated with being gay,” said Patrick Kelly, community relations manager of National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities, Inc.

Colloquially known as “the down low,” some African-American men have sex with women while secretly having sex with men. These men do not identify as gay or bisexual, most often to avoid social stigma. Unprotected anal sex increases the chance of spreading HIV/AIDS to unsuspecting women.

“Whatever you want to call it, being in the closet has been around for years,” said Kelly. “It’s nothing new. Taking ownership of the disease in our community is something that needs to be done.”

For those who are sexually active, Coleman said it is important that you are tested for HIV/AIDS. AIDS Athens reported over 500 tests administered last year.

Tests that are most commonly used to detect HIV infection require a blood or saliva sample. Typically the results are not available for a few days; however, some tests, such as rapid HIV testing, can give results as quickly as 20 minutes.

Anonymous rapid HIV testing and counseling is offered by appointment at the University Health Center for $35. HIV testing is also available at AIDS Athens, which is located at 112 Park Ave., and other ASOs throughout Georgia.

Edited by Stone Irvin

Grad students compete for waived tuition

Kiley Dorton helps a professor teach a class at the University's

New Media Institute. (Photos/Carey O'Neil)

By CAREY O’NEIL

Many teaching assistants lecturing in classes every day aren’t doing it just for fun ― they’re getting free tuition.

The more than 3,000 University of Georgia students on assistantships—whether they're research assistants studying biomass or teaching assistants lecturing on the differences between classicism and neoclassicism—have their graduate school tuition waived and receive a monthly stipend.

“It's a huge economic benefit,” said Judy Milton, assistant dean of the Graduate School.

David Knauft, associate dean of the Graduate School, said students on assistantships receive a waiver for all but $25 of their tuition and are covered for 40 percent of their health insurance premium costs, but are still responsible for student fees.

Although the stipend varies depending on assistantship, Milton said students are typically paid the same as the University’s other hourly employees for their average 13 weekly hours of work.

Kiley Dorton, a Grady College grad student working as a TA, said he spends anywhere from 10 to 15 hours a week planning lectures, grading papers and creating tests for his tuition and $1,000 monthly paycheck.

“It pays just about right for rent and food and gas,” he said. “The only problem is, since I have a girlfriend, I have to have another job.”

Dorton said he works three nights a week at Locos and does odd jobs like create Web sites for extra spending money, keeping him constantly occupied.

“I'd say it's better to be busy than bored,” he said. “[Is it] hard? Yes. Fun? Definitely.” Milton said the Graduate School doesn't recommend students work jobs outside the University and limits the hours students can work on their assistantships to 20 per week.

“If you're already working 20 hours a week and you're taking 12 hours of classes, there's the reality that we actually want you to have time to devote to your studies,” she said. Nick Browning, a Grady graduate student and research assistant, said he's content with his schoolwork and 16 hours of research every week.

“Most of the time I'm pretty busy,” he said. “Sometimes I've got to borrow money from my folks. I know other people get loans.”

Browning said even though he's sometimes short on spending money, waived tuition is an offer too good to refuse.

Milton said assistantships are incredibly attractive, but equally difficult to get.

“Most of the students who plan to attend grad school full time have explored the possibility,” she said. “They may not apply for it because they have to be nominated, but they've probably looked into it.”

Milton said each department at the University is allotted a number of assistantship nominations based on the demographics of the college. Nominees are then rated by the Graduate School and the top rated students are awarded the assistantships.

“The Graduate School only funds a small portion of the total graduate student population, primarily through competitive programs designed to help attract high quality students,” Knauft said.

If students don't make the cut for grad school assistantships they still have a shot at getting one through their individual colleges thanks to things like research grants and extra money in the budget, she said.

Dorton said he's happy with his job as a TA and glad he got his assistantship. “Every minute there's something new,” he said.

Edited by AUTUMN ECKENBRECHT

Sick students struggle to balance class work, rest

By Lauren Bellamy

With the University of Georgia’s estimated swine flu toll nearing 300, students all over campus are feeling the effects of the virus.

Some students who have already contracted swine flu this semester are glad they caught it early. Anna Carvalho, a sophomore from Tallahassee, Fla., is one such student. “Now is a better time to get it, because it’s still the beginning of school and you won’t miss as much,” she said.

Even though it is the beginning of the semester, Carvalho still struggled with professors and missing class. “I E-mailed my Spanish teacher telling her I had swine flu, but she just responded that it wasn’t a good time to miss class and that I should be looking at the syllabus,” she said.

Carvalho had to rework her schedule to complete makeup work for class. “I had plans to go [to Tallahassee] for Labor Day, but I had to stay in Athens and catch up on schoolwork,” she said.

While she had swine flu, Carvalho had to check into a room at the Holiday Inn Express to avoid spreading the virus. “The health center told me that I should go home, but I couldn’t drive five hours to get there,” she said. “My roommates were wary of me staying, so I figured the best option would be a hotel.”

Doctors at the health center have been urging students like Carvalho to find an off-campus place to stay while getting over swine flu if at all possible. While some are choosing to isolate themselves in their rooms, many sick students who don’t live far from Athens have simply gone home to recover.

“I can’t imagine feeling as bad as I did without having my mom to take care of me,” said Audrey Batts, a senior from Dalton, Ga. who contracted the virus the second week of school.

Mark Towers, a fifth-year from Augusta, also went home to get over his swine flu. “I had a 105° fever and I was having hot and cold flashes,” he said. “Being in the comfort of my own home and away from everyone helped me rest and get over it much faster.”

While there are many symptoms of swine flu — fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, according to the CDC — most students find that fatigue is the most difficult to cope with.

“Even though I don’t have the swine flu anymore, I still feel exhausted,” said Carvalho. “I get so tired just from walking to class.”

Batts said she spent days sleeping when she had the virus. “I laid in bed and basically didn’t move until I felt better,” she said.

As swine flu continues to grow nationally, students can do a few things to help prevent the spread of the virus on campus.

Liz Rachun, health communications coordinator at the University Health Center, says that they are promoting frequent hand washing, covering one’s nose and mouth with a tissue when sneezing or coughing and avoiding contact with sick people.

Towers said that he was careful about germs once he found out that swine flu was going around the University, but doesn’t think it made much of a difference. “I was washing my hands all the time, but I still got it,” he said.

Another precaution students can take is getting a seasonal flu shot. The vaccine is expected to arrive at the health center in October according to Rachun, but there are many places in Athens that are already offering the shot.

While getting vaccinated is a popular method of flu prevention, Rachun warns that getting the shot too early in the season could be problematic.

“The vaccine’s level of protection can weaken a few months after getting the shot, which can make people more susceptible to catching influenza during the virus’s peak season,” she said.
Nevertheless, many students will get vaccinated this season.

Towers said he plans to get a flu shot after he has fully recovered from swine flu and he is encouraging others to do the same. “I’m telling everyone I know to get a flu shot,” he said. “No one should have to go through what I went through if they don’t have to.

Edited by Stone Irvin

Universities wrestle with influenza, student body

By Stone Irvin

This school year administrators are adjusting to the strains caused not by schoolwork but the virus H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, by exposing students to an array of sanitary practices to prevent the disease’s spread.

Georgia is listed on the Centers for Disease Control Web site as one of six states reporting widespread influenza activity. Kathryn Moss, the executive administrative assistant of campus life at Emory University, sent an e-mail to students and their parents that listed Georgia as the No. 1 state in the nation for reported H1N1 cases.

Liz Rachun, health communications coordinator for the University of Georgia Health Center, said that as of Sept. 8, 285 cases of swine flu have been diagnosed on campus. But Rachun also pointed out that the virus is not hitting students as hard as once expected.

“A lot of students aren’t coming in because they don’t need to,” she said.

She stressed that over-the-counter medicines like ibuprofen combined with judicious rest are the best remedy for swine flu.

“The good thing is it’s not as aggressive or virulent as other strains of flu,” said Dr. Christopher Whalen, professor of epidemiology at the University of Georgia. But while swine flu may be mild compared to some strains of influenza this fact has not stopped schools from working to hinder its flow.

The most obvious measure universities are taking to halt H1N1 is the promotion of CDC guidelines for keeping healthy. Because of these campaigns to reach students, most now know to cover up coughs and sneezes, avoid touching the eyes and nose, wash their hands regularly and stay home if feeling sick.

Additional measures include self-isolation dormitories to accommodate sick students. The University of Georgia temporarily used Family and Graduate Housing for this purpose but has decided to focus more on encouraging sanitary practices in students instead. Emory, on the other hand, has continued to use its self-isolation dorm.

“It’s voluntary, and everyone has taken us up on it,” said Bridget Riordan, dean of students and campus life at Emory. She said the Turman South dormitory, though due to be demolished, was kept open by the administration in case it was needed to accommodate students sick with swine flu.

“I’m from Bombay, India so going home wasn’t really an option for me,” said Simran Khosa, an English major at Emory who contracted swine flu early in the semester. She said Turman South was a good environment to recover from H1N1 because it was “not a hospital, it was like any other dorm.”

While Riordan counts Emory fortunate for having a dorm available for self-isolation, especially for students like Khosa who are unable to go home to recover, Whalen and Rachun both said that UGA is too large a school for a self-isolation dorm to be effective.

“Isolating 100 people like that might make a difference but it wouldn’t be my priority,” Whalen said. He also said that the guidelines for cleanliness should be enough to curb transmission of swine flu.

But while H1N1 has thus far proven less virulent than once feared, complications and questions about seasonal flu and are now being raised.

“The question on my mind,” Whalen said “is whether it’s possible to get H1N1 in September and turn around and get seasonal flu in January.”

This question has administrators taking precautions on the issue of seasonal flu vaccine. Rachun pointed out that getting seasonal flu vaccines too early can render the recipient vulnerable in January and February, the peak time for catching seasonal influenza. Nevertheless, Emory and UGA are strongly encouraging students to get immunized.

“We started [seasonal] flu vaccination today,” Riordan said Tuesday, “We’re saying ‘Come one, come all; get your flu vaccination today.’”

Edited by Lauren Bellamy

Dry job market sends students to grad school

By ASHLEY STRICKLAND

University of Georgia graduates are returning for graduate school after meeting with meager internship and job offerings over the summer. During the times of the economic downturn, students may be better off staying in school before attempting to enter the real world.

“It has always been challenging for students to find jobs,” Marian Higgins, career consultant and diversity coordinator for the University’s Career Center, said. Higgins said the difficulty for recent graduates securing jobs has increased ever since the economic downturn.

“As career consultants, we are seeing students take an interest in adding certificate programs or professional schools to prolong entering the job market,” Higgins said.

Nearly a year ago, the Atlanta Business Chronicle published a report stating that the University’s graduate school reached a record enrollment of 7,125 students in fall 2008.

“Our application numbers for fall 2009 increased above the numbers for the previous year, but we do see an increase every year,” Krista Haynes, director of graduate admissions and students services for the University’s graduate school, said. No specific numbers for this year’s enrollment were given.

The possibility that employers are turning away recent graduates is alarming for students enrolled in the University as undergraduates and they are turning to their academic advisers for help.

“I have definitely seen an increase in the number of students inquiring about graduate school,” Maria Cooper, academic adviser in the Grady College, said. “I believe this is a direct result of the economy and the poor job market and lack of jobs.”

Students are encouraged now more than ever to pursue specialization that will make them more attractive and competitive in the job market.

Some students do this through certificate programs allowing them to completely master their field of interest. Others are adding courses that are related to their majors to increase their marketable skills.

“When a student asks about graduate school options, I strongly encourage them to look into a variety of different programs to see what interests them the most and what would increase their chances in the stagnant job market,” Cooper said.

“I also inform students that graduate school is not to be taken lightly. It is a lot of work, and they will invest a lot of time into the program, so they need to be sure that they are passionate about the program they choose,” she said.

But what about students who feel it is too late to change their major or specialized field of interest?

“There are jobs out there, this situation just requires more networking,” Higgins said.

Government jobs are always available, and students don’t have to be limited by their major when looking for jobs, Higgins said. And for students considering remaining in the education field, teachers who specialize in math, science or special education are still needed.

Students concerned with finding jobs are encouraged by career consultants to attend one of the many events put on by the Career Center. The Classic Center will be hosting the Fall Career Fair on Sept. 23. At least 130 potential employers seeking interns or full-time applicants are expected to attend and the list covers a broad range of career options.

The Career Center also offers workshops that will cover career choices in various majors. The workshops will cover resume writing, interviewing etiquette, networking and graduate school information.

Students can view the full calendar on the Career Center’s Web site, www.career.uga.edu, or stop by Clark Howell Hall to speak with a career consultant.

Meanwhile, recent graduates are still dealing with economic upheaval.

Olga Herndon, a triple major in cultural anthropology, human geography and global studies, graduated in the spring and has been working odd jobs. She is considering going to grad school, but wants to ride out the economy for now to see how it goes.

“I want to see how scary it is,” Herndon said. “It’s not just the economy, it’s your attitude about the economy.”

Edited by Carey O'Neil

Work-Study Program Grows In Popularity

By Carey O'Neil

University of Georgia student Ashley Bene doesn't mind juggling school and work. Since both her parents lost their jobs, she does as much as she can to help out.

“It's tiring, but you get used to it,” she said. “I'm a little crazy, like the Energizer Bunny, I guess.”

Bene, a junior from Woodstock, said she does her best to stay positive.

“That's all you can do,” she said. “If you beat yourself up about it then you just go crazy.”

She begins her day at 7:30 a.m., then bounces between classes and work until walking home around 6:30 p.m.

Bene is a member of the University's Federal Work-Study Program, which has been increasingly
popular as unemployment rates have increased.

Sherryl Fern, federal work-study coordinator for the University, said work-study positions are all most likely filled.

Fern said students must apply to be eligible for work-study jobs. After applications are submitted, Fern's office determines which students receive admission to the program, then allows them to apply for jobs through a Web site similar to Monster.com.

Fern said this semester, all of the work-study program money was applied for by April 6.

“It ran out a little earlier this year than last year,” she said. “It could be a combination of more people applying and more people applying early.”

Bene has been in the program for several years working at the library on the Georgia Newspaper Project converting newspapers to microfilm.

While the job isn't the most exciting, Bene said she enjoys the people and is happy to be working.
“If that's what I need to do to go to UGA I'll make it work,” she said.

Lucille Davis, student assistant coordinator for the libraries, hires work-study students. Because the federal government pays 75 percent of work-study students’ wages, Davis said her department has been taking advantage of the money.

“This year we're hiring more student workers than we ever have,” she said. “We're right at about 31, 32 students. There are a couple more that we're waiting on.”

The library is just one of 65 departments taking advantage of the work-study program, Fern said. Although most students work as office assistants, Fern said a few lucky ones get more interesting jobs.

“We have a couple of jobs through poultry diagnostics, and there's one job where they feed the animals,” she said.

It is also possible for students to work as lab assistants, and this semester there was an opening at the University Health Center in the dental lab.

Most students in the program are paid the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and are eligible to earn up to $1,500 a semester. To earn the full amount, the average student would have to work nearly 14 hours weekly.

Holly Getchell, director of employer relations for the University Career Center, said her office has gotten mixed messages about student looking for jobs.

"We had a part-time job fair in August and that attendance was amazing," she said. "We've had other events, just things like our regular walk in hours, and the numbers from that have been basically the same or even less than what we would expect."

Although the Career Center has been getting mixed messages, Getchell said the career fair on Sept. 23 will clearly indicate how many students are worried about jobs.

Bene said she feels lucky to already have a job. She said she finds her school work schedule almost relaxing compared to the summer, when she worked two jobs for around 50 hours a week.

“I get one day off when I go home, so that's my summer,” she said. “It hasn't given me much room to breathe.”

Bene said she doesn't mind the work, especially when student debt is her only alternative. With a little brother starting college the year after she graduates, she said she does what she can to be frugal.

“It's not a good time to be in my family,” she said, “but we always work it out and figure it out and we're always fine.”

Edited by Ashley Strickland