The Echo

Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Editorial

Media Credit: Natasha Betancourt It's all Greek to me: All of these full chairs at the "Sex for Chocolate" STD/HIV awareness event prove there is significant student interest in sexual health.

Here I am, sitting in my office, all set to slam on the Greeks for not having enough STD/HIV awareness activities, when the members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. jump up and take all the steam out of my argument.

And then the members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. jumped up and grabbed some steam of their own.

Don't you just hate it when you get all fired up to argue something, but then you find out you're wrong?

Members of these Greek organizations, in conjunction with student development, are doing something so right that I'm okay with being wrong.

Members of Delta Sigma Theta are offering free HIV screenings provided by Chattanooga Cares today in the UC in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which is also today.

And members of Sigma Gamma Rho and Kappa Alpha Psi hosted "Sex for Chocolates," an event to inform students about STDs and HIV Tuesday night.

These organizations are providing an extremely important service to the UTC community and should be applauded for their efforts.

It has been too long since our campus was reminded of the importance of safe sex.

I know some of you may be tired of me harping on this issue. Perhaps you saw my "How to Put on a Condom" presentation in public speaking or media writing II, and you're thinking, "Come on, Katherine. Find something else to talk about. STDs are so 90s."

Not only are STDs still a problem, they're a growing problem.

According to the American Social Health Association Web site, cases of Chlamydia increased 5.6 percent from 2005 to 2006, with more than one million cases being reported in 2006, a "record" number, according to John Douglas, MD, director of the Center for Disease Control's division of STD prevention.

The Web site also reports that gonorrhea cases had a similar increase, 5.5 percent, in the same period, with more than 350,000 cases reported, and after declining through the 1990s, rates of syphilis increased 13.8 percent between 2005 and 2006.

So, no, I'm not going to find something else to talk about until those numbers begin to decline once more.

I challenge all student organizations, and all members of the administration, to make STD/HIV awareness a priority on this campus. Don't just leave it to the Greeks.

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