MTVU spotlights charity tourney

[TSteven]

MTVU spotlights charity tourney
By Andrea Diebold
Published: Friday, April 8, 2005
©2005 Kernel Press, Inc.

UK [The University of Kentucky] will receive national exposure as MTVU comes to Lexington on Sunday to film and promote a basketball tournament hosted by Sigma Phi Epsilon.

The fraternity is hosting a three-on-three basketball tournament that runs from Sunday to Tuesday to raise money for the Youth AIDS organization.

"The headquarters of our fraternity contacted MTVU to tell them about the tournament, and they wanted to come and help support the cause," said John Gillispie, president of the fraternity.

More than 700 campuses nationwide are tuned in to MTVU, which is featured on campus at the Student Center. Students participating in the tournament will compete for the chance to win $500 and appear on MTVU. The Final Four and championship on Tuesday will be filmed and televised nationally.

"The network is running a series on fraternities and wants to show footage of frats doing beneficial things for their community," Gillispie said. "They want to break into the whole frat scene and bust some of the stereotypes of fraternity life."

Sigma Phi Epsilon hopes to raise $10,000 for Youth AIDS, whose national spokesperson is UK alumna Ashley Judd [Kappa Kappa Gamma]. Reporters for MTVU will be on campus Monday to interview students and publicize the event.

"I think it is cool that MTVU is promoting UK and showing fraternity life for what it really is," said Tyler Hinton, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Registration

Students wishing to register can do so online at www.Youthaids.org/SigEp/uk.htm. The registration fee is $50. Those who come to support the event get in free Sunday to watch the games. The championship on Tuesday will begin at 7 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum and will be followed by a concert featuring DJ Scrilla. All proceeds from the event will go to Youth AIDS.

[TSteven]

Ashley Judd serves up surprise visit with Sig Ep
(The University of Kentucky)
UK grad, actress thanks Sigma Phi Epsilon for charity work to support AIDS prevention
By Elizabeth Troutman
Published: Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Kernel Press

NOTE: Miss Judd is a Kappa Kappa Gamma (Beta Chi) and and served as her chapter's Education Chair. Shis is also Phi Beta Kappa.

Wildcat sweetheart and actress Ashley Judd came back to her college town yesterday to talk to young men about sex.

And members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity were eager to engage in the conversation.

Judd stunned the fraternity when she and Kate Roberts, executive director and founder of YouthAIDS, made a surprise lunch stop at the fraternity house on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday. The two sat down with the fraternity to talk about AIDS prevention, part of a special segment for MTVU, MTV's college channel.

The UK alumna and renowned UK basketball fan, wanted to commend the fraternity's effort to raise money for YouthAIDS, a foundation she actively supports. Sigma Phi Epsilon ran a three-on-three basketball tournament and donated the proceeds to YouthAIDS. The tournament finals were last night in Memorial Coliseum.

Judd has campaigned with YouthAIDS in six countries around the world to educate young people about the epidemic. She said she's passionate about the issue because it is a global crisis.

"I think it has to do with injustice and the fact that misinformation and lack of information is so sinister," she said. "This is the civil rights movement of our time, and it preys on people of color and people who are poor."

Thirty-eight million people suffer from AIDS worldwide, and 6,000 young people are diagnosed with HIV every day. The global platform of YouthAIDS is the "ABCs": abstinence, being faithful to a partner and consistent condom use, Judd said.
Judd sparked a casual discussion about AIDS and sex on campus and around the world while sipping tea among fraternity members. She shared stories of her experience in Africa and Asia, where the epidemic is growing at a rapid pace.

She also spoke of young people in Africa who attracted spectators in villages plagued with AIDS to perform short plays to spread information about prevention.

"I think I am an actor," she said. "I am nothing compared to what these kids do.

"I act because I am creative, because it's rewarding," she said. "They act because they survive off of it."

Judd and Roberts urged the male students to respect the symbol of the female body. Judd thinks that women in all areas of the world are abused as sexual objects. They encouraged college men to initiate conversation about safe sex with their partners.

"You have to be leaders and stand up for what is right," she said.

Judd urged students to consider the local impact of AIDS and HIV before becoming sexually active. She said open conversation about sex and AIDS is the most effective way to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

"This is the health catastrophe of our time," she said. "It's really quite sensible. You just have to have the courage and sensibleness to have sex education."

Joe Feehan, a marketing sophomore, told Judd that sometimes students assume talking about sex isn't necessary because a female partner is stigmatized as a "good girl." He said it is hard to talk to a girlfriend about using a condom.

"Tell me about this 'good girl' thing," Judd said. "Does that mean she has not enjoyed sex in the past, and she's been saving it all for you, big boy?

"The 'good girl,' 'good guy' thing is no longer valid," Judd said. "We are talking about a very dangerous virus. It (conversation) is a sign of caring about somebody and not wanting a piece of tail right there and right then."

Feehan said he was inspired by Judd's activism and ingenuity. He thinks his fraternity learned the urgency of the epidemic through the discussion with Judd.

"I learned that Ashley is a great person in that the movie thing is her hobby," he said. "She puts it toward a greater cause."

Lauren Dugger, a business and Spanish freshman, appreciated Judd's request that males stop viewing females as sexual objects.

"I was so impressed with her candor and productive conversation with the boys," she said. "What I learned from Ashley is we (women) can learn to become one and our own and proclaim our own convictions."

Judd and Roberts want students at UK and around the country to know they have the power to stop the spread of AIDS.

"I wanted to get across to students that they have the power, each one, to make a difference," Roberts said. "I really wanted to use Sig Ep as a case study by using MTV as a vehicle."

Roberts said Judd never loses her passion and energy to teach prevention to young people about AIDS prevention.

"She's supposed to learn from me, but I learn from her all the time," Roberts said. "I have seen her touch lives all over the world.

"I compare her to Princess Diana. She has a healing touch."