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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
Stanhope Hall
Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264

Contact: Mary Caffrey 609/258-5748
Date: November 30, 1998
 

Kate Shindle, Miss America 1998, to Give Keynote Speech During World AIDS Week on Princeton Campus

Princeton, N.J. -- Kate Shindle, who devoted her year as Miss America 1998 to AIDS education, will be the keynote speaker during the University's World AIDS Week, which begins today and concludes with Shindle's lecture Friday, December 4. The weeklong observation is timed to coincide with World AIDS Day on Tuesday, December 1.

Shindle's lecture will be held in McCosh 50 at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Shindle, who will graduate this spring from Northwestern University, traveled 20,000 miles as Miss America on a national speaking tour entitled "On the Way to a Cure: Preventing HIV Transmission in America." Her straightforward approach made news wherever she went, including the 12th Annual World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where Shindle moderated a panel discussion on women and AIDS at the invitation of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala.

The lecture is just one of several events planned at Princeton to increase education and boost HIV/AIDS prevention among teenagers and young adults, who are the target audience of this year's World AIDS Day. December 1, 1998, will mark the start of a yearlong effort aimed at this group. The initiative, "Be a Force for Change," will highlight the fact that at least half of the new HIV/AIDS infections worldwide occur among people under the age of 25, according to the American Association for World Health.

Among the activities on the Princeton campus:

• Toy Drive for New Jersey HIV-positive children. This weeklong drive, organized by Community House in Princeton, will benefit children between ages 5 and 10 at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Both new and used toys will be accepted.
• Screenings of "Philadelphia," starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Monday, November 30, at 9 p.m. in Chancellor Green and Tuesday, December 1, at 8:30 p.m. in the Old Graduate College.
• Day Without Art, Tuesday, December 1. Sculptures at Firestone Plaza and Library will be covered in memory of artists who have died of AIDS. Sponsored by the Art Museum, Princeton University.
• Fifth Annual Coffeehouse, Tuesday, December 1. Student performers will express their feelings about HIV and AIDS through songs, readings, and other works. Proceeds benefit the Community House Toy Drive. Event begins at 10 p.m. in the Murray-Dodge Cafe; admission is $1 or donation of a toy.
• Student-Faculty Lunch Discussion, Wednesday, December 2. Princeton Professor of Psychology John B. Jemmott III, a leading researcher of teenage sexual activity, will lead the talk from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Langfeld Lounge, Green Hall. Pizza and beverages will be provided.
• Candlelight Vigil, Wednesday, December 2. The ceremony will honor Princeton alumni who have died of AIDS. The Firehazards and the Footnotes will perform, and students are invited to give statements. Vigil begins at 10 p.m. at the East Pyne Arch.
• Third Annual AIDS Awareness Dance, Thursday, December 3. Music by DJ SUBZERO; proceeds of $5 admission will benefit Rainbow House. Event begins at 10 p.m. at Terrace Club, Washington Road.

  World AIDS Week at Princeton is coordinated by the student group Princeton AIDS Awareness and Health Education Office of Princeton University Health Services. Additional sponsors are the President's Fund, the Class of 2001, the Undergraduate Student Government Projects Board, the Office of the Dean of Student Life, the Office of the LGB Coordinator, the Public Lecture Series of Princeton University, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and the Student Health Advisory Board.

  The week is also dedicated to the memory of Drs. Jonathan Mann and Mary Lou Clements-Mann. The couple, both AIDS researchers and activists, died on Swiss Air Flight 111 on September 2, 1998.

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