Illinois’ Wheaton College Students’ HIV/AIDS Efforts ‘Blow Away’ Bono, DATA

Students and alumni at Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian liberal arts college in DuPage County, Ill., have been "among the most active of any of the schools" rock star and AIDS advocate Bono visited in December 2002 as part of his "Heart of America Tour," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Since Bono visited the campus, students have established a chapter of the Student Global AIDS Network and have become members of the DuPage Local AIDS Action Network. In addition, a small group of Wheaton students met with Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) earlier this month to lobby for an increase in AIDS funding for Africa, the Sun-Times reports (Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/25). On March 17, Hyde, chair of the International Relations Committee, and Tom Lantos (D-Calif)., the committee's ranking Democrat, unveiled legislation that would authorize spending $3 billion annually for five years to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/18). Hyde said last week, "I am very pleased that so many young people in my district, particularly students from Wheaton College, support the fight against AIDS." Jaime Drummond, executive director of Bono's organization Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa, said, "Wheaton blew Bono and the DATA crew away. Wheaton is proving itself even more as a nerve center within America's heart and within a faith network that is waking up to the crisis in Africa. The college has played a critical role in persuading the president, his speechwriter and congressional leaders ... to go way out in front on this." Wheaton students are planning to host a one-day symposium on AIDS at the end of April (Chicago Sun-Times, 3/25).