This is the fifth story in a five-part series on Duke's 20 years of research and social work against AIDS.
A diagram of HIV's structure is projected on a white screen. A patient openly discusses the troubles she has with her benefit plan. An intense conversation on the ethical implications of a new drug cocktail fills the room. Is this a research laboratory in the Medical Center?
Not exactly.
Since the mid-1990s, discussion of AIDS has expanded from the Medical Center's labs and hospital rooms to the University's classrooms. From public policy seminars to law school courses, AIDS and all of its biological, ethical, economic, political, cultural and legal implications are now a standard part of the curriculum--and for good reason.
AIDS was identified at the same time most of today's college students were born. They have grown up with constant reminders of AIDS, including Magic Johnson press conferences, red ribbons and condom giveaways.
Duke was one of hundreds of universities in the early 1990s to first participate in the Program for Health and Higher Education, an initiative by the Association of American Colleges and Universities that helps to improve undergraduate learning by focusing attention on HIV/AIDS and other health concerns.
"Every course I've taught, I've had at least one unit on HIV/AIDS," said lecturer Sherryl Broverman, who arrived at Duke in 1993 and teaches the biology course AIDS and Emerging Diseases.
"The science of HIV/AIDS is a window to look into how science works."
Associate Professor Kathy Rudy, who teaches AIDS: Ethics, Policy and Representation, said that when she arrived at Duke in 1994, no courses were offered on AIDS. That year, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that of the 12 U.S. colleges offering courses on AIDS, those classes were the most popular.
"I teach this course every year and I've become convinced that students need it.... They learn how to protect themselves not only against the virus but also [against] injustices accompanying the virus," Rudy said.
In the School of Law, students can take Clinical Professor Carolyn McAllaster's AIDS Law course and participate in the AIDS Legal Assistance Clinic, a program McAllaster founded in the mid-1990s to help low-income patients with guardianship planning, benefits representation, end-of-life planning and discrimination cases. Ten students each year work on almost 200 cases a year.
"[The course and clinic] bring sensitivity to issues that not only people with HIV face, but poor people as well. The experience really opens [students'] eyes to a totally different kind of life," McAllaster said.
She said many former students continue to do pro bono work for AIDS patients and people of low income.
"I never knew anyone that had HIV or AIDS, and it's good to expose yourself to different types of people, increase your tolerance and educate yourself about these things," said Michelle Buchmeier, a third-year law student who is enrolled in the class and works at the clinic.
Senior Evelyn Gosnell, a student in AIDS and Emerging Diseases this semester, said one of the most memorable moments from this semester was when a Durham AIDS counselor from spoke to the class and revealed that she herself has been HIV-positive for 16 years and had a child who was born HIV-positive and died at an early age.
"This wave of shock went through the class," Gosnell said. "The personal side of it was really, really effective. It gave a face to the issue we were talking about."
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