Richmond is ranked the second city with the highest rate of HIV and AIDS cases among African Americans.

Kevin Holt, a guest speaker at the HIV/AIDS awareness program, said that Miami, Atlanta, and Chicago are a few of the larger cities in the United States., yet Richmond still out number them in the number of AIDS cases.

“In 2006, blacks in Virginia accounted for 63 percent of reported HIV cases,” says Holt.

Feb.7, 2007 marked the seventh year of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. VCU’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Student Government Association held a forum the same day to increase awareness among African Americans about HIV/AIDS and its impact on the African American community.

The main purpose of NBHAAD is to encourage African Americans to get tested, get educated, get involved and get treated.

Three years ago while in the hospital, Holt found out that he was HIV positive. It scared him, but Holt refuses to let the disease take control of his life.
“I’m a product of life,” he says. “I’m living, not dying.”

Holt’s reason for speaking to students about HIV and AIDS is to educate students on ways they can prevent catching the disease.

“If you don’t have the education, those people are not going to say, well OK, I think I need to get tested,” says Holt.

Holt is the director of STOP; Students Tolerance Outreach Prevention. This program not only addresses HIV/AIDS, but issues about domestic violence and drug abuse.

During this event, Holt asked students to get into groups and come up with some reasons why people do not get tested for HIV and AIDS. The main reason is because many of them are scared of the results and what others may think of them.

Students that attended this program enjoyed themselves and learned something from their experience.

“I’m definitely going to get tested again because I didn’t know how often you had to get tested,” says Meron Berhanu. “I thought that once you did it, then you didn’t have to do it for a long time. But obviously you do.”

Tatiana Paisley, a senior at VCU, says, “I didn’t know that a lot more African Americans, women especially, was carrying this disease…people are being naïve and scared about it and they need to go out and get tested.”

Photo Courtesy of www. blackaidsday.org (Web Hosting/Designed: Healthy Black Communities, Inc & mojaevans PPS, LLC)

Lauren Page Profile

Attending school in Cornwall, England was a life changing experience for Lauren Page. Living there on her own helped her mature.

While living in England, the terrorist attacks and 9/11 took place. Page was scared because her family lived near Washington, D.C. and she did not know if they were ok. This was a wake-up call for Page. She realized how much she needed them and began to appreciate her family more.

Page, a 21-year-old senior at Virginia Commonwealth University, was born in San Diego, Calif. on Aug. 25, 1985. Her father was in the marines until he returned and moved his family to Alexandria, Va.

In high school, Page was not the best student or daughter she could have been, she says. She did not get along with her parents at all.

“I thought I was grown and wanted to do whatever I wanted,” says Page.

Page wanted to leave home and attend boarding school. She wanted to experience something new and be independent. Her parents agreed but said she had to go to school in another country so that she can experience a different culture. They did not want her to leave because she didn’t want to be at home anymore.

Page and her parents researched different schools online to see which schools seemed appropriate. She applied to four schools and was accepted into Truro High School and Bedstone College.

Page attended Truro High School for Girls in Cornwall, England. It was her first time attending an all-girl school, but she enjoyed herself despite the different lifestyle.

“There were smaller towns, all stores were closed on Sunday, and kids were able to smoke and drink at an earlier age,” says Page. “The children could also travel on the buses on their own because there was less crime and guns are illegal.”

Page believes that moving from home helped her calm down and grow up. At home, she never did her work and her grades suffered because of it. Her grades improved at Truro and she realized that all the partying she was doing at home was no longer important to her.

Before she left home, Page’s mother told her that she could never get into college because of her grades. After she saw her improvement, she encouraged her to apply to college. She applied to VCU and was accepted.

Now that she is at VCU, Page’s parents tend to support her more than they did before; which encourages her to focus more in school. She came to VCU for the art program, but soon found out that her passion is writing. To be in the art program, Page realized that she had to be dedicated and make art her life. She often wrote about how much she disliked art.

Page is majoring in journalism because she likes to write. She hopes to get a job writing for Vanity Fair or Vogue. Page’s best friend, Brittany Darden, thinks that Page is a wonderful writer.

“Lauren is always writing about something,” says Darden. “I think she should write for a newspaper or a magazine.”

On-campus Housing vs. Off-campus Housing

Proximity to class, awareness of what’s going on and all utilities included are some advantages to living on campus.

So why do some students prefer to live off-campus?

Candice Reid, a VCU junior, agrees there are many advantages to living on campus, but would rather live on her own.

“I prefer to live off-campus,” says Reid. “I have my own space and my own freedom to do whatever I want.”

Reid says most students view college as a time for fewer restrictions, something they didn’t always have while in high school and living at home.

“You can have all the visitation you want, don’t have to worry about signing people in, and people being in your business,” says Reid.

Fawn Nolan, the housing manager for Broad Street Properties, believes that all students should live on campus.

“They [VCU’s officials] make the effort to take care of the students,” says Nolan. “When you live on private property, owners [only care about] colleting rent. There is more focus on the student here.”

Living in residential housing can make housing responsibilities easier for students. Students do not have to pay separate bills and worry about their electricity or cable being disconnected. In a dorm, everything is included in the room and board fee.

“I’ve never seen so many amenities,” says Nolan. “You can live in an apartment [off-campus] for up to five years and never see a coat of paint unless you pay for it yourself. However, the university does come in and paint as necessary; and change our carpet and furniture.”

According to VCU’s residential life and housing Web site, the mission of Residence Education is to support students’ academic, personal and extracurricular pursuits.

Nolan also says that students also have more time to study and think about why they are in college instead of worrying about where they are going to get money to pay for their bill each month.

The housing rates vary depending on which dorm a student chooses to live in. The prices range from $1,800 to $3,500 a semester. The communications fee, which covers the basic telephone, Internet and cable TV connections, is between $320 and $400 for the year. Students can pay these amounts in full or by a payment plan.

Virginia Totaro, a VCU professor, says that students should ask themselves if they are ready to add more stress to their lives before moving off campus.

“If [you] are already struggling to pay bills and make good grades, moving off campus might make problems worse, not better,” she says.

Students not only have to worry about paying bills monthly, but they also have to deal with roommates. Totaro says the best thing to do is to set standards with your roommates about things you find acceptable and unacceptable.

“Talk and communicate openly and it will save many headaches and heartaches in the future,” she says.

Don Imus vs. Rap Culture

It is time for the media to start paying attention to what is being said on television and the radio regardless of who makes the comment.

Don Imus was fired from his job with CBS radio after calling the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed ho’s.” This statement caused a lot of debate on whether or not it was appropriate for him to make this particular comment about black women. Even though this remark was not necessary, I think it has caused too much attention that is also not necessary.

Why are comments like this a big issue now? I am not justifying what Imus said because the comment he made was not acceptable, but why was it made such a big deal for him. Is the statement wrong because Imus is white? What if an African American female or male made the same remark?

I have thought about this statement “nappy-headed ho’s” for a few days and wondered how I would feel if someone was to refer to me as one. I have heard many opinions on this topic, read about it Online and even watch a clip of when Imus made the comment. This is not the first time there have been unnecessary comments made by people who are on television.

In my opinion, women tend to let people, especially men, from different races and backgrounds call them out there name by the way the present themselves. If you wear clothes that are too tight and everything is popping out in the wrong places, they are going to say you look nasty. If you give men what they want and put your business out in the street, people will call you a ho. So why get mad if someone refers to you in this manner? This name is not acceptable, yet we continue to let people call us rude names.

In popular culture, it seems to have become a fad calling females names based on how they look or act. One way it is shown is through rap music. After this comment made by Imus, people have started to wonder whether or not rappers are wrong for referring to females as a ho, slut or b---h. I choose not to listen to this type of music because I do not want to agree to a type of music where people are degrading women.

In an interview with MTV, Snoop Dogg says that he doesn’t think that rappers should be compared to Imus.

“It's a completely different scenario,” says Snoop. “[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money.”

I understand what he meant by saying that rappers just talk about what they are feeling and are not pinpointing a certain group of females, but the language should not be acceptable. If we continue to broadcast their music where they are degrading women, then we are saying that it is allowed. If we continue to dance and sing to this type of music, then we are calling ourselves these names. Not all females who wear skimpy clothes are ho’s and not all of them that aren’t doing anything for themselves are ho’s either.

In other words, I wouldn’t take offense to someone when they call me a name or refer to me as a particular name. I wouldn’t accept them either. Instead, I would try to do something about.

Photo courtesy of The Washington Post, AP File Photo/Richard Drew

VCU's Lottery Process: Fair or Not?

VCU student Justin Chamblee was lucky to obtain on-campus housing through the university’s lottery room selection. However, he is not happy. Instead he is frustrated. All students should be guaranteed housing, he said.

“I personally dislike and cannot stand this lottery selection,” says Chamblee. “When you pay your money, you should be able to have a dorm to live in.”

According to VCU’s residential life and housing Web site, the online lottery sign up process normally takes place in the beginning of February. Students, mostly freshman, who would like to stay on campus the next year, fill out an application online confirming that they want to be included in the lottery.

A few weeks after students sign up for the lottery, they are each issued a random number. Once they receive their number, the students are given a certain day and time in which they can sign up for housing. The catch is, the closer you are to number one, the better your chances are in getting housing.

The lottery room selection was done online. Students were given a time to choose their housing based on the random number they were given. Once they logged into the system, they had three minutes to choose a dorm from the rooms that were available.

Chamblee, a VCU freshman, was number 392 in the lottery. Although he obtained housing for next year, he has a couple of friends who are still without housing.

“I think it is wrong to get their [freshman] money to get them into the school and then leave you on your own as an upper classman to find housing,” says Chamblee.

Chamblee isn’t the only one frustrated by a lack of guaranteed housing on campus after freshman year. Kishona Lewis, a freshman at VCU, thinks that she wasted her time.

“If they had told me that I was probably not going to get housing when I signed up, then I could have started working on this [finding an apartment] sooner,” says Lewis. “[Instead of] at the last minute trying to find something and having to go to my parents to figure out something.”

Lewis was number 1,493 in the lottery. Although one of her friends was able to pull her in a dorm on MCV campus, she was still not satisfied with the housing situation.

“I was actually thinking about transferring because of the situation,” says Lewis. “I’m coming all the way from New York and if I don’t have a place to live, I can’t go to school. To me, that is saying that the university doesn’t care about me.”

Jane Firer, associate director for Administrative Operations, says that the lottery system was designed to be fair to all students who desire on-campus housing after their freshman year.

“In recent years, there has been a significant increase in upper-class students wanting on-campus housing,” says Firer. “Even though we have added significant upper-class spaces in our inventory over the past few years, we still do not have enough space to meet student demands. This is how the lottery came into play.”

Lewis agrees that the lottery seeks to give everyone the same opportunity to live on campus, but she believes that there is a better way to handle the situation. She suggests that VCU build more on-campus housing.

VCU is in the process of building a new engineering and business building across Monroe Park. Along with the new building, they are planning on constructing another dorm for students.

“Approximately 400 [new] upper class student spaces are scheduled to be opened in fall 2008,” says Firer.