Safe sex should be a part of a person’s everyday concern.

Nonetheless, the Campus Activities Board is sponsoring Safe Sex Week along with Health Enhancement Services, the Residence Hall Association and the Gay/Lesbian Union on Dec. 1 through Dec. 7.

Throughout the week, CAB is sponsoring several activities. The Visual Arts Committee will display portions of the famous NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt at various sites in the Holmes Student Center.

Beginning Dec. 1, the Quilt will be in the Heritage Room, Dec. 3 through Dec. 6 in the Regency Room and the last day, Dec. 7, in the Illinois Room.

Eric See, CAB Visual Arts coordinator, said, “The Quilt was started in June, 1987, when friends and families of people with AIDS came together and made a quilt square for each person they knew who had died from the disease.”

See said, “The Quilt now has 12,000 names with eight names on each 12 foot panel. NIU will display four 12-foot panels, which will include 32 names.”

The Quilt, when completely assembled, covers two football fields, See said.

On Dec. 4, the Speakers Committee will host AIDS researcher Dr. David Recker in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium at 8 p.m.

Tim Kocher, CAB speakers coordinator, said Recker will give a slide show on what the AIDS virus does to the body’s immune system and follow with how the disease will affect the population in the future. He will wrap his presentation up with questions from the audience.

“The whole idea came from Dec. 1 being World AIDS Awareness Day, but we don’t want to single out AIDS as the only sexually transmitted disease,” Kocher said.

He said Safe Sex Week is not intended to inform students about AIDS only. “There are plenty of diseases out there that students need to be made aware of,” Kocher said.

On Dec. 5, the movie “Common Threads” will be shown in the Regency Room at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The movie is a documentary about how the famous NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt got started.

“Health Enhancement Services is responsible for a literature campaign that will focus on all STDs,” See said.

See said he hopes Safe Sex Week will generally enlighten the whole student body, which will help everyone in the long run.