Improved education, behavioral changes and better communication are elements that could help AIDS from escalating to even higher numbers in the black community, said student peers and professionals during a panel discussion entitled "AIDS and the Black College Student" last night.

Although black persons make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 25 percent of all persons with AIDS, including half of all women and six out of every 10 children, said Darrick Johnson, president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

"The statistics are alarming, and rising every day," Johnson told the small crowd in the HUB Assembly Room who gathered for the Healthy Loving Week program.

One reason those numbers are so disproportionate may be that some black persons are counted as double minorities, said ValRay Irvin, a counseling psychologist at Ritenour Health Center.

"If a black male is also an intravenous drug user, then he is counted twice," she said.

Agatha Lowe, a graduate student in health education, said that these numbers mirror those of other problems in the black community such as poverty and unemployment.

"It's not a 'black thing,' " Lowe said. "It's a 'social thing.' "

Another reason education is necessary is that many students are unaware of their sexual partners' past, said Neena Smith, a peer educator for the Sexual Health Awareness Resource Program.

"Once you sleep with just one person, you are also sleeping with every person they have slept with," Smith said, adding that many students believe they are safe if they have a monogamous relationship.

"There is no such thing as safe sex, but there is safer sex," Smith said.

Gerard Louison, Black Caucus vice president, said many students think they are too smart to catch the virus. "We have this idea we are invincible," he said, adding that education and counseling will change this perception.

Lowe said black people should not concern themselves with the origin of AIDS because no theories have been proven. Some speculate that the disease was developed by the government to eliminate black persons or gays and lesbians. But this should not be the focus, Lowe said.

"We are looking at the survival of a race," Lowe said. "Whether it's genocide is not the issue. We need people to change their behaviors."

The program was sponsored by the National Panhellenic Council.