The Medical Sciences Auditorium was filled last October 16 with students, faculty, staff, and members of the community who attended a free public lecture featuring Rae Lewis-Thornton, who shared what it is like living as a young African American woman with AIDS

Before she was diagnosed, the nationally known AIDS educator and motivational speaker was not considered at high risk for the disease, i.e., she never used drugs and was not promiscuous. As a result of her experience, she has made "getting to the truth about AIDS" her life's mission. She has told her story to more than 70,000 high school students, and has been featured in Ebony magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and the Dayton Daily News, and she recently won an Emmy for her series about living with AIDS that aired on CBS. "I want to make a difference and if, by going public about the disease, I can save even one life, then it has all been worth it."

U.S. Representative Tony P. Hall was the guest speaker on October 22 for the annual Piediscalzi Lecture Series, sponsored by the Department of Religion. The topic of Hall's lecture was the "Role of Religion in American Politics." In his talk, Hall drew upon his 18 years serving Ohio's Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Democrat told of times when he went against his party's, and his constituents', stand on certain issues in order to vote his conscious. "Several times, I thought that the vote would be the end of my political career. But so far, it has not proven to be so," he said. Known for his work on hunger issues, Hall also talked about his 22-day fast in 1993, which helped gain increased national and international attention to the issue. "It's the most powerful thing I've ever done," he said. The Piediscalzi Lecture series was founded in 1989 to honor the founder and long-time chair of the Department of Religion, Nicholas Piediscalzi, who retired in 1988. The lectures are free and open to the public.

K­12 teachers from around the region gathered on campus October 16 to learn about American Indian issues as they relate to the classroom. The conference, part of the Western Ohio Education Association's in-service day, offered continuing education units for participants. Activities included an American Indian marketplace and book sale that included American Indian folk tales, authors, and classroom guides.

Opening and closing plenary sessions were free and open to the public and featured Suzan Harjo, lecturer, curator, and policy analyst, who spoke about how Native American issues are communicated from a non-Native viewpoint; and Joseph Hesbrook, Ph.D., director of the Bureau of Land Management's national Native American Program and faculty member at Santa Fe Community College. He talked about the principles and values of Indian living, teaching methods, and learning styles.

Clarence Page, a nationally syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune, and Ellis Cose, contributing editor for Newsweek, hosted a "Town Hall" public forum on affirmative action issues as part of a two-day conference on October 17 and 18.

The columnists were part of the W.E.B. Du Bois Conference on "Conservatism, Affirmative Action, Gender, and Public Policy Issues: The New Political Scene," hosted by the College of Liberal Arts. Organized by Marlese Durr, assistant professor of sociology, the conference featured nationally known scholars offering their analysis of the social, economic, and political climate of the U.S. and how it is affected by the issues of race, immigration, gender, and public policy.

Symposium topics included: "Political Change and Affirmative Action," "Urban Politics, Segregation and Race Relations," "The American Population 2000," "Welfare Reform, Immigration and Proposition 187," "The Politics of Race/Ethnicity," and "Race and Entrepreneurship in Center Cities."