4A the university daily kansan
opinion
wednesday, april 21, 2004
EDITORIAL BOARD
Philanthropy, blood drive should be noble, not forced
Healthy competition has long been a strategy used by those trying to promote community service.
OUR VIEW
When competition drives a good cause to be bad, it has gone too far.
But the April 7 and 8 blood drive at the University of Missouri showed that competition can get out of hand and bring out the worst in people.
most.
That drive was part of the University's "Greek Week," where fraternities and sororities competed to see who could donate the
Christie Key, blood donation coordinator for Gamma Phi Beta sorority at Missouri, sent an e-mail to her sorority sisters advising them to lie about their health in order to bypass safety guidelines for donating blood.
"I don't care if you got a tattoo last week, LIE. Recent piercings? LIE," the e-mail read.
The American Red Cross tells recent tattoo or piercing recipients not to donate blood in order to protect the health of those receiving donated blood.
Zach Newton for The University Daily Kansas
Even more offensive than Key's advice to "LIE" was her next piece of advice. She told the women to donate blood "even if you're going to use the Do Not Use My Blood sticker," which donors who have second thoughts may discreetly put on their file.
Key's actions take the noble concept of a blood drive, a community event designed to help people, and turns it into a pathetic attempt to bring attention to her sorority, endanger people and waste the Red Cross time.
self. But she is not the only one to blame. Missouri's blood drive has long been emphasized on campus; the university is proud to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest single-site, single-day blood donation for 1999's drive.
Key should certainly be ashamed of her
But this year's scandal taints that record and shows that the goal of Missouri's blood drive has been obscured by unhealthy competitiveness.
unhealthy competition The University of Missouri needs to take action to ensure that this situation doesn't
repeat itself.
It's rare that such a positive event can be given a glaring black eye. Missouri needs to stop licking its wounds and figure out what to do to make sure it doesn't get hit again.
'Apprentice' ignites women workers
COMMENTARY
Donald Trump yells out "you're fired" again on his hit television show The Apprentice, taking all the women contestants off the show. What happened to all of the smart, successful women on the show? Was it their lack of skills or cattiness that left them without a job?
Kari Zimmerman opinion@kansan.com
For weeks, viewers watched the two teams on the reality television show battle it out to gain a position on Donald Trump's elite staff. But some begin to wonder if the women who didn't make the cut helped or hurt themselves with their attitudes.
In the beginning of the series the women were unstoppable, winning all the tasks as an all-female team. But once the teams turned coed, all the "girl power" went down the drain. The women soon began using themselves against one another and one by one dropped out like flies.
There is no doubt that women can be successful in the work place. ABC News reported that in 1999, women
owned 9.1 million businesses in the United States and held 48.9 percent of all managerial and professional jobs. ABC also said that only nine female CEOs held positions at the helm of America's 1,000 largest companies.
Many critics believe that it is women themselves holding one another down instead of supporting themselves through business successes.
"Women their whole lives have been taught to try and become the best and work their way up the corporate ladder in whatever means possible.
And that usually means taking out men, and especially women, who end up being their biggest competition," said Canan Kocabasoglu, American Business Women's Association adviser.
adviser. A recent Oxygen Media poll found that 65 percent of women resent women who are in power or act like they are. Women also acknowledged that among female co-workers there is gossip and manipulating, indirect acts of aggression that usually result in a woman co-worker's failure.
worker's nature. Kocabasoglu said women, unlike men, get involved in strong friendships in the work place and then when problems arise they use their friendships as a way to get back at one another.
Another Oxygen Media poll showed that men usually confront their problems and deal with them face to face while women retreat and cause more commotion by talking about the situation behind their co-workers' backs
Businesswomen are also concerned
with images like the show Apprentice left behind for future working girls. The show has encouraged sexuality, catfights and deviance as means to get to the top.
"The media shows that women wearing a short skirt and a cute smile will obtain success in the real world, but in reality it takes bright, sharp women supporting each other to make it," said Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center.
Rose-Mockry said women needed to realize that working together and supporting one another's goals would in return help them to be successful in the work force.
Just because a woman wants to be successful and fulfill her dreams doesn't mean someone else can't as well. Rose- Mockry suggested that women obtain their own goals and then go back and be a mentor for someone else.
Zimmerman is a Topeka senior in journalism.
ON POLITICS
News more than what's on networks
I sat down to write my column this week just as I usually do. I began by looking at the news. I checked CNN online. I watched the Sunday morning line up. I thought about the presidential race. I thought about Iraq. And something struck me.
COMMENTARY
Something was missing. There were 20 stories that analyzed every word that President George Bush or presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had to say. There were 10 stories on crime in the United States. There were stories about Hollywood stars. There was even a story on a dog that was found six days after its owner had been killed by an avalanche. What was missing has always been missing, though I bet most of us never notice it.
The headlines said nothing about the civil war in Colombia between leftist rebels and right wing paramilitary groups that kills dozens of people every month. There was no mention of the hundreds of people that have died in the Ivory Coast this year as a result of rebels fighting the state. There is no
Anna D. Gregory
opinion@kansan.com
information about the thousands of women who are living with sexually transmitted diseases after being raped but surviving the Rwanda genocide. (The U.N. estimates that more than 250,000 women were raped in 1994 in Rwanda.) And though an international news source estimates that more than 110 people have died this month at the hands of the Shining Path guerillas in Peru, American news has said nothing about it.
nothing about it. Information about the rest of the world, especially undeveloped parts, is absent from the news we get in the United States. Thus, tragedies and incidents of injustice go unacknowledged by most of the civilized world.
euged by most of the victims Not only is our ignorance sad, but it is dangerous. The United States sets
most of the economic and political policy on the international stage. Though we may not have a direct hand in many of the world's conflicts (though we sure do in some), these countries' internal conflicts are a result of international policies inflicted upon them. This fosters an anti-American sentiment that can have tragic consequences. Example A: Sept. 11.
The message sounds simple: We should know what is going on in the world. But the consequences for not knowing are anything but simple.
knowing are anyhigher Be a responsible citizen. Check out the news,the international news.
Gregory is a Topeka senior in history and political science.
Free for All Call 864-0500
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Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansas editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
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I wonder how many people can't enroll because *students.ku.edu* is down? Odd.
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What's the best part about warm weather? Gorgeous blonde girls in Mustang convertibles. Damn right.
To the kid wearing the Missouri shirt: I will now hunt you for sport.
I don't think the Free for All is working.
Bring back Pride week. I want more drag queens.
I am an amazing fisherman. Fish are attracted to my hook like women are to my body. Yeah, I don't catch that many fish.
I want to see cottage cheese on my plate, not on your thighs.
I hate Johnson County.
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All I have to say is "damn." Women are so hot.
4/20 is the only holiday that I wish was more like Hanukkah.
KANSAN
In today's 4/20 article nobody mentioned that 4/20 is Bob Marley's birthday. I am ashamed.
Michelle Romback
editor
864-4954 or mburhenn@kansan.com
Ardrew Vaupel
managing editor
864-4854 or vaupel@kanan.com
Meghan Brune and Johanna M. Maska opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Stephanie Graham
retail sales manager
864-4358 or adalesa@kanaan.com
Danielle Bose
business manager
864-4358 or addirector@kansan.com
Matt Flishor sales and marketing adviser 864-7866 or mfisher@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
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Editorial Board Members
Kendall Dell • Lynze Ford
Laura Francoviglia • Anne Gregory
Amy Hammontree • Kelly Hollowe • Teresa Lo
• Mindy Caborne • Greg Holmqiust • Ryan Scarrow • Elizabeth Willy • Sara Behunek *Kevin Flaherty • Brandon Gay • Zack Homenway *Alex Hoffman • Kevin Kampwil • Amy Kelly
Cameron Koelling • Courtney Kuhlen • Brandi Matheusen • Travis Metcalf • Mike Norris
Jonathan Resder • Erin Rifley • Alea Smith
Kari Zimmerman