Sex and alcohol shouldn’t be mixed, and national speaker Joel Goldman will tell the campus why at 9:15 tonight in the Union Ballroom.
Goldman contracted Human Immunodeficiency Virus – more commonly known as HIV – soon after he graduated college, as a result of the irresponsible behavior pattern he began in college and continued after.
“I became infected with HIV by mixing alcohol with sex in social situations,” Goldman said. “I was infected after college but it was that college behavior that did it ” so I feel like I’m returning to the scene of the crime.”
Goldman, who grew up in Columbus but presently resides in California, has spoken to over 1 million students since 1992, the year he found out he had contracted the virus.
He said he has a soft spot for Ohio because it feels like home to him and he particularly enjoys speaking at the University because of his good rapport with the students.
“Every time I’ve been to BG, it’s been a good connection with the students,” Goldman said, adding that he can distinctly remember his past speeches in Bowling Green down to the details of the room.
Although Goldman is not the traditional student age anymore, he realized that the same irresponsible behavior and risk-taking he used to engage in is still occurring on campuses nationwide today.
“HIV has been around these students all their lives,” Goldman said, referring to the fact that when he was growing up, he didn’t hear about AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections to the extent that today’s generation has.
“It’s the most educated generation but its also getting the most infections,” Goldman said.
His program, “Sex Under the Influence,” is “part alcohol awareness, part sexual health lesson,” according to the Campus Speak Web site, an agency founded in 1999 that represents college speakers.
Goldman said that with STI rates on the rise, the main goal of his speech is to help students connect the dots between alcohol and sexual decisions, and how the combination can lead to Sexually Transmitted Infections.
“Late at night, students are having a couple drinks and not really thinking about what they learned in their health class,” he said.
Senior Maegan Horinek, who was in charge of bringing Goldman on campus, thinks his speech serves an imperative purpose to all students and audience members.
“I think it’s a big issue,” said Horinek, vice president of programming for the Panhellenic Council, the governing body for the 14 National Panhellenic Conference sororities at the University. “I think a lot of people think that it will never happen to them ” it just takes one time.”
Goldman was considered to be a “model student” according to Campus Speak. He was fraternity president, involved in all the activities and knew all the administrators. “But when it came to parties, Joel learned to mix sex and alcohol,” the Web site said.
Horinek used these facts as an example that you never really know everything about a person.
“He was a model student, got good grades ” everyone knew him and then this happened,” Horinek said.
She added that this illustrates that Goldman’s story could happen to anyone.
“There’s no way of truthfully knowing everything about someone,” Horinek said. “So you never truthfully know what you’re getting into.”
Goldman’s speech is also meant to reach a variety of students, and not just focus on one gender or type of person.
“I didn’t want to bring something that was geared towards just women or just men,” Horinek said. “I wanted to have something that everyone can relate to ” someone that the crowd can learn from.”
