Lynn Hammarstrom

Whether or not to induct an AIDS policy similar to the one in effect at the University of Illinois is being discussed by the NIU theater arts faculty.

The U of I policy, which has been in effect since spring, states, “The Department of Theater realizes that reasonable precautions and policies need to be put forward in light of the alarming spread of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).”

The policy also states, “The Department of Theater has based the following guidelines on the best medical evidence currently available, the Centers for Disease Control’s ‘Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,’ 15 November, 1985. That evidence shows that AIDS is not spread through the normal social interaction typical of the classroom, shop and stage environments at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (U of I’s theater department).

“Rather, the disease spreads through specific, intimate exchanges of blood and semen. Obviously, the Department cannot control the intimate experiences of its students and staff, but we can make several suggestions to alleviate anxiety about catching the disease.”

The two areas in which precautions are taken are in the production and shop duties of the students and in the acting scenes and productions.

Shop duty precautions include the careful handling of such objects as pins, needles and saw blades. The policy states, “a concern is sometimes expressed that a possible source of infection is the accidental drawing of blood by a sharp tool which could then contaminate another person if that person also accidentally drew blood with the same tool.

“Yet the Centers for Disease Control advise that the AIDS virus lives a brief time outside the body. Since it is highly unlikely that a student would draw blood with a tool and within a short time another student would draw blood with the same tool, the Department believes that normal shop work should continue.

“At the same time,” the policy states, “supervisors should make every effort to minimize injuries—even minor ones—and, when such injuries do occur, supervisors may wish to take the extra precaution of discarding the tool which drew the blood (if the tool is inexpensive, like a pin) or use the currently approved method of sterilization (a wash in a diluted solution of common household bleach) if the tool is expensive to replace.”

The acting department would follow precautions concerning the scenes in which open-mouthed kissing is a part of a scripted play. “In view of the lack of evidence that kissing transmits the disease, the Department believes that such scenes can continue to be performed safely.

“On the other hand,” the policy continues, “since it has not been conclusively proven that kissing, especially open-mouth kissing, could never transmit the disease, faculty and directors of productions will be encouraged not to introduce extensive scenes of open-mouth kissing without due consideration of possible risks to the actors involved.”

NIU Theater Arts Department Chair Al Tucci said, “We have the document from U of I. Although we feel no formal need to adopt such a policy at this time, we have distributed a memo to the theater arts faculty and plan to discuss it.

“I believe the policy at U of I was a mandate from their president’s office stating that such a policy needed to exist in all their departments,” Tucci said.

David Knight, U of I Theater Department head, said, “The AIDS policy was adopted at U of I because the university administration felt that the entire university needed to have knowledge of and protection from the disease.”