4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18,2002
FACE-OF
Senate and blood drive advertising
Face-Off is a weekly project of the Kansan editorial board. Each Wednesday two editorial board members will argue opposing sides of a hot topic that affects students at the University of Kansas. We hope that this section will help students to understand both sides of an argument and
make better decisions about their own beliefs.
If you have a suggestion for a topic that could be used in Face-Off, or if you would like to join the editorial board, please call Maggie Koerth or Amy Potter at 864-4924. You can also e-mail suggestions to opinion@kansan.com.
Lack of advertisements defeats good purpose
The University of Kansas blood drive will be here soon and the issues surrounding it are getting stickier than the grape juice spills from its donors. These past few weeks Student Senate has been intensely debating whether to use student funds to buy advertisements for the blood drive. The debate stems from the criteria students must meet to give blood.
According to the American Red Cross, if you are a man who has had sex with another man since 1977, you are not eligible to give blood. A logical question arises in many people's minds: Why should we use everybody's money to support something that not everybody can participate in? To answer this, we must ask ourselves why we invited the blood drive here in the first place—because we want to save lives.
Many people object to funding advertisements because the Red Cross discriminates against the homosexual population. Yes, when it comes to donating blood, the Red Cross does discriminate against homosexuals. It also discriminates against those born in Cameroon and Nigeria, as well as IV drug users, current and former cancer patients, hemophiliacs and people with lupus. The Red Cross wants to increase the likelihood of donating healthy blood.
Dr. Myra Strothers of the Watkins Health Clinic said the Red Cross discriminates because "some diseases cannot be identified until months after infection. They try to identify what particular groups are at higher risk for having blood-transmittable diseases, such as gay men or hemophiliacs. They are trying to protect
According to the American Red Cross, if you are a man who has had sex with another man since 1977,you are not eligible to give blood.
an already weakened population." Discrimination is a necessary evil if we want to help and not hurt the needy population.
Another objection to using funds to advertise for this drive is because gay men cannot participate in the blood drive. However, this is a fallacy. Even though gay men cannot give blood, they can participate by helping to get the word out and helping out at donation sites. Yes, a gay man may not be able to save a life with his own blood, but he can save twenty, perhaps even thirty lives, by telling people about the blood drive who would have never known about it.
Senate has taken the most ineffective and easiest way to deal with this issue. Instead of just scraping the blood drive together or giving the drive the support of Senate, it has chosen instead to let the drive faulter. Not advertising for the blood drive does one thing; it hurts our blood supply.
The campus community obviously wants to help those in need by inviting the Red Cross to Mt. Oread. But in order to accomplish this, we need to do more than just show up with exposed forearms, we need to tell KU about the drive.
Katy Birge dissenting
Funding denial the right choice
Student Senate made the right decision to deny funds for advertisements for the annual American Red Cross blood drive because of the discriminatory practices instaled at that event.
It was a simple decision. Because of their bylaws, Senate cannot allocate funds to "corporations, organizations, or groups that violate the University's non-discrimination policies."
In this case, the Red Cross, by obeying the edict of the Food and Drug Administration, is patently discriminating against gay men by unequivocally barring them from ever donating blood if they have ever had sex with another man since 1977.
Before giving blood, potential donors are required to complete a screening questionnaire, which includes the question, "Male Donors: Have you had sex with another man, even one time, since 1977?" If the potential donor answers this question with a "yes", then he is prohibited from ever donating blood, even if he proves that he is HIV negative.
The FDA is not targeting only a risky or dangerous behavior which could lead to an increased risk of contracting HIV, but rather condemning an entire group—gay men—and that is discrimination.
Rather than automatically excluding one group from making blood donations, the FDA should revamp its screening questions to address their admittedly valid concerns more clearly and accurately, perhaps by asking specific questions about preventive practices like condom usage or about riskier behaviors like anal sex and unprotected sex.
Anyone, no matter their sexual orientation or sexual practices, can be considered at risk for becoming infected with HIV or with any other contagious disease.
HIV and AIDS overlap all social, ethnic, and economic sections of the population, and therefore can no longer be considered just "gay diseases," as they were when it was first diagnosed in the early 1980s.
For example, according to the Web site for the Center for Disease Control, around
the world "women are becoming increasingly affected by HIV. Approximately 48 percent, or 17.6 million, of the 37.2 million adults living with HIV or AIDS worldwide are women."
In addition, according to the FDA's Web site, it has recently instated several protective measures to ensure the quality of donated blood, testing all blood donations for "seven different infectious agents."
Instead of unfairly excluding an entire segment of the population, it would be more appropriate and beneficial for the FDA to require more definitive screening questions for potential blood donors, including specific questions about condom usage and anal sex that would apply to all potential donors, not just to one segment.
Until the Red Cross and the FDA stop excluding gay men from participating in community blood drives, Senate is absolutely right in denying funding to those events.
Lauren Stewart for the Editorial Board.
READERS' REPRESENTATIVE
Opinion page is an open forum for different student beliefs
Commentary and letters to the editor are just two ways for readers to reach out and not only express themselves but receive feedback in a way that can alter original opinions.
A newspaper can be one of the greatest sources of information available, but few realize the capacity that a newspaper has for providing personal growth.
Steve Vockrodt, columnist for The University Daily Kansan, took advantage of this outlet to express his opinions on religion in a commentary published Sept. 5.
Though it is not necessary to understand the inner workings of a publication to read and appreciate one, it is
vital to the concerned reader to realize that a column labeled commentary or perspective is nothing more than the viewpoint of the individual. Perhaps even more important is the knowledge that, though you may never see this person in your life, you still have the opportunity to tell him or even the entire campus exactly what you think about what he thinks.
That's the beauty of free press.
Several students did write to the opinion page editor concerning Vockrodt's commentary with varying levels of agreement or disagreement.
The Kansan Web site became host to a form of religious debate.
Perhaps Vockrodt never intended
Laurel Burchfield
lburchfield@kansan.com
for his column to be taken to such lengths, but that it did so is only another example of how the Kansan can serve you.
The ability to think for ourselves is a power that we are to sharpen, not dull, at college. Reading the newspaper, reacting to editorials and columns and even replying through letters or calls to
the editors are some of the ways to advance this skill.
It's obvious by the response to Vockrodt's column that religion is not only a delicate subject to argue but a very important part of many students lives. If there is any question of that, all one needs to do is check out the Student Organizations and Leadership Development Center to pick up a list of registered religious groups at the University of Kansas.
For example, Campus Crusade for Christ meets every Thursday for students to come together and learn about Christianity.
But the list is not limited to Christian groups. Organization and Leadership
clubs also represent Buddhism and Wiccan beliefs.
Everyone has the right to his beliefs; it's not necessary to read an article in a newspaper to recognize that. Yet, participation in such debates, forms of published speech or organizations meant to educate and unite is the only way to truly come to terms with the concept of religious freedom.
I encourage you all to continue learning and debating over such beliefs, but more importantly, I encourage you to continue to voice your opinion.
Burchfield is a Basehor sophomore in journalism, education and english. She is readers' representative.
TALKTOUS
Jay Krall editor 884-4854 or krall@kanan.com
Brooke Hesler and
Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864 4854 or
bhesleri@kansan.com
and
kramsey@kansan.com
Laurel Burchfield
readers'
representative
864-4510 or
hurchfield@karlsruhe.com
Maggie Koerth and
Amy Potter
opinion editors
864-4924 or
opinion@kanan.com
Amber Agee
business manager
864 4358 or
advertising@kansan.mx
Eric Kelting
retail sales manager
864-4358 or
advertising@kansan.com
valcolm Gibson
general manager and
news adviser
884-7667 or
mgibson@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
Free for All
Matt Fisher
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7686 or mfisher.kansan.com
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
Hey, Eva Lanel! I found your checkbook and walkman Tuesday morning. They're in the Strong Hall lost and found.
The Free for All uses their caller ID to decide which calls to publish, and which
ones not to publish.
-Ed. note: Free for All does log callers' phone numbers, but this information does not influence which calls appear in the Kansan.
What's up with that stupid Juicy Fruit commercial, where the lady beats up the scary fish? Stop the madness, and leave the fish alone!
she's wrong.
she's wrong.
Just in case you're on the staff at Naismith, if the fire pump motor runs for more than two hours at a given time for no reason, you probably have a problem, unless you're too stuck up to realize it.
she's wrong.
Have you ever heard of Degree? It's a deodorant, and you need to wear it if you're riding the bus. It's a necessity because I need to breathe.
she's wrong.
God help me but I'm oddly intrigue 1 by
she's wrong.
MTV's Sorority Life.
Look at that crazy bird walking down the tree sideways. Bird, you're sideways!
--she's wrong.
Last night, I wasn't feeling too well, and I took like, 30 Tylenol. And you know, yada-yada-yada, they had to take me to the hospital and pump my stomach. But I didn't overdose, I just had too many.
图
You know, I think we should celebrate the Sept. 11 just like the Fourth of July. Except use nuclear weapons. It'll help keep the axis of evil in line.
And you know, it'll also help keep Bermuda in line, 'cause you know, they keep stealing our ships.
Me and my roommate were trying to have a bet, and we wanted to know: can you skate on a skateboard if one leg is longer than the other? Please tell me I'm right and
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I've got a comment on the whole financial situation and university's judgement to slash the budget. I have a quote from Mark Twain. In the first place, God made idiots, and that was for practice. Then He made school boards.
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OK, Free for All, here is my dilemma. I have a massive crush on my TA Jason, but he's married, Shoot me. Why does my life suck?
I was just wondering if there was anybody out there that was actually interested in going to see a concert put on by Thursday Curses and From Autumn to Ashes at the Beaumont Club on October 6. If so, call me at (913) 634-4259. Thank you.
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(computer voice) Quick. Rub this meat tanderizer all over your naked body. It is the only way to distract the pandas.