Faculty members Louis Barassi and Talya Sokoll commemorated World AIDS Day in assembly by sharing the history of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and two individuals whose quilt panels are currently on display in the Academic Center gallery.⁠ ⁠ Peter Bird '71 passed away in 1992 and was a Nobles grad who would have celebrated his 50th reunion this year. Frank Blanco passed away in 1988 and was somebody with no connection to Nobles, but librarian Sokoll used her research skills and was able to connect with his friend, Paul Hill, who helped create his quilt panel. More than 37 million people have lost their lives to AIDS since 1981, and Hill wrote that, "Frank's death has been and will be one of the great tragedies of my life...I hope and pray that it will always hurt this much and anger me this much, and that every AIDS death that follows is just as painful to me. I never want to get used to something this horrible." This is a poignant reminder that the AIDS epidemic is still ongoing after 40 years.