150 Turn Out for Gala To Benefit AIDS Cause

About 150 undergraduates filled Dudley Hall Saturday night for the Harvard Undergraduate Charity Council's first annual gala fund-raiser for AIDS research and education.

Two prominent AIDS researchers from the Harvard AIDS Institute, Democratic candidate for governor of Massachusetts Mark Roosevelt '78, and New York hair stylist Oribe spoke at the event. They stressed the urgent need for a cure for the disease, which has infected 320,000 Americans.

"As individuals, we all have the ability to contribute to defeating this epidemic," Dr. Richard Marlink, the executive director of the Harvard AIDS institute, told the black-tie audience. "The pace of our work must match the urgency of this epidemic. AIDS knows no bounds and does not discriminate."

Marlink, who assisted in discovering HIV II, the second strain of the disease which causes AIDS said 14 have AIDS. He predicted that 40 million more will become infected with in the next six years.

"With HIV continuing its rapid spread throughout the world, we continue our efforts to stop its spread," Marlink said.

Students paid $40 per person to attend the event. Clad in formal wear, the undergraduates enjoyed a large wet bar and hors d'oeuvres ranging from sushi to cheese-filled dried pears. after the speeches, they danced to the sounds of a New York disc jockey.

The event was the first of what will become an annual black-tie event for the Charity Council, a student organization which raises money for "important social issues."

"I though it went quite well," said Peter G. A. Fitzpatrick '95, the president of the Charity Council. "I'd like to do something a little bigger next year."

Dr Max Essex, chair of the Harvard AIDS Institute and one of the world's premier AIDS researchers, said "much of AIDS is still a story of gloom and doom." Essex cited the high rate of infection in Northern Thailand, where one in five adults have AIDS.

"There are many avenues of hope," Essex said. "Organizational concern, like that shown tonight, is necessary."

Roosevelt, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said his generation of Harvard classmates "didn't have AIDS to deal with."

"You have your own struggle which your generation can either ignore or embrace," Roosevelt said. "We can either remember how lucky we are and do nothing about it, or remember how lucky we are and act on that."

Oribe said he had lost all of his friends to AIDS and urged the government to increasing funding for research and medication. "There should be no suffering," Oribe said.

Actress Farrah Fawcett, who was expected to attend Saturday's event, canceled "at the last minute," Fitzpatrick said. "That was unfortunate."

Models from the Ford Modeling Agency also attended the event.

Charity Council officials yesterday could not say how much money the event raised because they had not yet received some of the payments.