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Today, as many as 1,300 children will die of AIDS.

Today, Dec. 1, is World AIDS Day. Many undergraduates are too young to remember the early ’80s. Lacking from our memory are exciting events such as the election of President Reagan – Hollywood star turned world leader – the Iranian hostage crisis, outrageous fashions and a booming new drug culture.

Also lacking is the paralyzing fear that came with the discovery of a new and deadly disease known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The death of Rock Hudson on Oct. 2, 1985, marked the first celebrity to admittedly fall to this elusive viral enemy, forever scarring the American consciousness and awakening millions to the fact that their lives would be forever changed.

Today, 20 years after its discovery, AIDS has been put on the back burner. Most people agree that it’s a worthy cause, but the consensus and initiative stops there. Despite honest attempts to raise awareness about AIDS through imaginative fundraising events, these events generally send the message that this fatal disease is some distant evil that most middle-class, respectable, heterosexual college students should not have to worry about.

The truth of the matter is that anyone can contract HIV, the incurable virus that leads to AIDS. And anyone can die of AIDS.

Today, 2,500 women will die of AIDS.

Today we are bombarded with numbers until they cease to have meaning and simply become nameless figures. What do these facts mean to you? Just another statistic, so often spoken and so rarely pondered? But this is somebody’s sister, daughter or mother.

So often the AIDS pandemic is simply a string of unanswerable questions, laden with the guilt of a society with sufficient resources – but insufficient desire – to help.

Today, 7,200 people will die of AIDS.

Today the students of UCLA are given a unique opportunity.

Today we can send the message to the rest of the world that young people care, that young people are doing something about this pandemic, that we are united in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

This fight starts in our classrooms and hallowed halls, from Bruin Walk to our own dorms or apartments. It is about being educated. It is about being aware. It is about knowing your own place in the epidemic and educating others about theirs.

We are supposed to be enlightened students. We have no excuse for our irresponsible acceptance of such a horrendous disease. We are in a position to educate our friends and peers, to give advice from someone they may actually listen to. An attitude of complacency or, worse yet, thinking that AIDS only strikes the distant poor, is essentially giving the virus free rein.

Today there will be mobile testing units in Bruin Plaza administering free, confidential HIV tests to any and all students who feel ready to step up and take responsibility for their actions. Responsibility begins with knowledge, and knowledge begins with action. We can no longer sit and pretend this disease is going to be taken care of by people in positions of power – we are those people.

Today and every day, the Ashe Center administers free HIV tests to any student. Burying your head in the sand will simply not work. The end of this epidemic will start in our own homes and campuses, our own cities and states. It starts with us and with those around us.

Today and every day, people are dying of AIDS. And today and every day, something needs to be done. Start today, World AIDS Day.

Stevenson is the director of the AIDS Awareness Committee of the Student Welfare commission.