Over 200 people gathered in the ARCO Forum at the Institute of Politics for a panel discussion on AIDS in the black community last night.

Speaking to an audience of black media representatives and concerned students, the panelists urged more awareness and activism behind the issue of AIDS.

According to DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr., who opened the panel, AIDS is the leading cause of death among blacks aged 24 to 45.

"Forty percent of new AIDS cases are among blacks--black men in particular," said panel moderator Alvin F. Poussaint, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical School.

"This epidemic is devastating out community, and we are not talking about it," Poussaint said.

The need for discussion and education was a central theme of the panel.

"We've got to develop a fundamental model for discussion," said panelist Leroy Woodfield, associate editor of the magazine Positively Aware, which promotes AIDS awareness.

"No one is out there advocating for my life," Woodfield added.

Woodfield is openly HIV-positive, as were four of the six panelists.

The panelists advocated several options to get the message out about AIDS.

"We have lost out sense of activism," said Mario Cooper, founder of the AIDS program Leading for Life. "We need the support of our leaders behind this."

When some panelists lamented the lack of black leadership support, Cooper recommended a full-scale assault on the issue.

"There's a real concern out of demonstrating against the NAACP and the National Urban League, but if they don't recognize the magnitude of this, then I think we need to do it," Cooper said.

Cooper also recommended increased funding forprograms that have been successful in the past.

"If we had federal funding for needle-exchangeprograms, there would be a one-third reduction inAIDS transmission the day they began," he said.

Audience members agreed that the issue of AIDSin the black community has not gotten enoughattention.