University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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A Controversial Campus Personality Has His Say For eleven years, Reverend Mike Kaulk, or Preacher Mike as he was more widely hailed, has amused, outraged, and even befriended students on the Diag with his sermons. While some may have thought that it took an extraordinary personality to speak to the masses, Preacher Mike really considered himself a down-tO ' Carth type of guy. By Heidi Messner Reverend Kaulk, 43, never saw himself as controversial, although he admitted that the Bible always results in controversy. Instead, he intended to steer students in the right direction. He saw problems with the pressures that face the younger generation, namely fear about students ' unstable future, both economically and otherwise. The father of five, Reverend Kaulk described himself as a family man. Family, he claimed, was the most important element missing in America today. That is the basic building block. Everything depends on it and nothing can replace it. Accordingly, family values was the topic that he discussed most frequently as he believed repairing the family unit should be the country ' s top priority. His gathering of students varied, but respect for Reverend Kaulk was heartfelt. You ' ve got to respect someone who ' s so dedicated, said Sarah Friedeberg, a first-year student. Melissa Grego, also a first-year student, said, It ' s important to believe in something. It ' s cool that Preacher Mike is that to some people. Jonathan Wilson, sophomore, agreed, I appreciate what he has to say because I hear so little of it at campus here. I think he speaks the truth and I ' m glad he has the guts to do it. However, not everyone agreed with his ideas. As a matter of fact, one would more likely find students who resented Reverend Kaulk ' s hell- fire Diag sermons and who condemned his condemnations. Indeed, those lovely fall and spring afternoons that found Reverend Kaulk preaching from a Diag bench always found opponents counter-charging and disputing with the preacher. According to Reverend Kaulk, whenever a dispute arose, he would try to ascertain if the person was sincere, if he had hit on a subject that was too close for comfort, and then acted accordingly. Despite such careful tactics, negative feelings persisted towards him. He makes contradictions about his belief. He says he ' s a Christian, but he puts himself higher as a non-sinner. If he was a real Christian, he would know that God forgives everyone even if they do sin, stated Rachel Margedian, first-year student. Nevertheless, Preacher Mike envisioned himself as giving a fresh perspective to students that they didn ' t otherwise receive in the classroom, I would really like students to do two main things. Firstly, find out who God is and, secondly, figure out who they are and be that person. 41, Michigan Life 17

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Preacher Mike belts out his message on the Diag. You ' ve got to respect someone who gets up in from of a thousand kids, first-year student Sarah Friedeberg said. 1 6 Michigan Life

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- ' t Take note, my friend Since the late 1970 ' s and the early 1980s, the United States has been overwhelmed with cases of Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) and it ' s result, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV belongs to a group of viruses called the lentiviruses, lenti meaning slow . By Cathleen Eckholm Most lentiviruses show appearance of the disease only after roughly one third of the animal ' s life span. HIV has two forms, HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV does not behave as a normal lentivirus in the respect of actual appearance of the disease AIDS. It may take a month for AIDS to infect the victim or it may take up to five years. AIDS is acquired because it can not be transmitted by casual contac t. An exchange of body fluids must take place, through unpro- tected sexual intercourse, mother to fetus, intravenous drug use with dirty needles, or blood transfusions. Blood that is donated is tested very extensively and it is now extremely uncommon for someone to receive infected blood. Lentiviruses such as HIV produce infections that continue for years. HIV, like the Greeks in the Trojan horse, hides in human body cells and is invisible to the body-just as the Greeks soldiers were invisible to the Trojans. At the right moment the virus emerges and spreads from cell to cell. The difference is that Troy fell in only one night, while HIV takes years to conquer the human body. The way that HIV damages the body, or in a sense takes it over, starts with invasion of the cell. After the cell has been invaded, the virus starts reverse transcription, which causes many mutations and forms many different viruses. The viruses do not differ that much, but enough to make it different and behave differently than the original virus. The ultimate goal of the virus is to get its single stranded RNA to become part of the double stranded DN A of the cell. This will in effect be replicated as part of the DNA and passed on through cell reproduc- tion to insure the replication of the virus. HIV starts with the cell, but in the end ruins the immune system of the host. It does this by destroying the Tcells of the immune system that produce antibodies, since the antibodies can not be made to attack foreign proteins, sickness will take over the body. Most AIDS patients will die from pneumonia. HIV and AIDS education became somewhat more prominent in the early 1990s. Health classes, media, and parents helped spread the word about the terrible disease. Leah Fredman, LSA first-year student, said, I learned every- thing that I know about AIDS from my parents and a little from health class. But for less- informed parents, the media served as the biggest educator. Amy Labriola, first-year engineering student, said, My parents were learning about AIDS with me. It is such a relatively new disease, they didn ' t know that much about it either. We have learned all we know from the media. Even with the spread of AIDS education, prejudice against HIV victims persisted - some parents remained fearful of sending their children to school with infected kids. Sam Dudek, LSA first-year student, dismissed that myth, saying, Knowing all that I know about AIDS, I really don ' t see going to school with an AIDS victim as a health risk. Indeed, younger people seemed a targeted and receptive audience of most AIDS-awareness promotions. Senior engineering student, Jeff Zilmer commented, It ' s ridiculous that some parents keep their kids out of school because another child has AIDS. I think people our age are aware of the myths about AIDS and dismiss them. I think the older generation has not been as exposed to AIDS awareness as the younger generation. 18 Michigan Life