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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1993)
EDITORIAL Clinton’s 100 days unfair measurement With the end of President Bill Clinton's first 100 days rapidly approaching, political pundits are sharp ening their opinions of the Clinton administration. It's a long-standing tradition dating back to Franklin Roosevelt's first term in office, when he passed nearly all of the New Deal legislation through Congress within his first few months. Ever since, presidents nave boon grad ed by their accomplishments ih the 100 days after inau guration. almost as if it will determine their success for the next fruir years. The immediate criticism from columnists isn't only unfair to the president, it’s also pointless. Clinton was elected for four years, not three months. His policies, like any president's, will take time to implement, espe cially with Senate Republicans showing resurgent strength of late. (They turned back his stimulus pack age last week.) Therefore, his administration should not be judged as a success or failure until his term of office is complete and his policies have had a chance to mature. Besides, is there any reason the first 100 days are more important than the second 100 days, or the third? Why not judge him on the fifth. 10th and 15th months? Those so-called "sweeps'' months could be the basis for predicting the chances of Clinton's re-election. It's no more illogical than expecting his first 100 days to fore shadow the success of his administration. The reason Roosevelt was so successful was because the country was in the fp-ip of the Great Depression when ho was elected. It was important that dramatic legislation was passed; the Congress understood this and acted quickly. Anything loss would have been disastrous. Clinton does not face the same problems and thus does not need the same impact. Give him time; he still has three years and nine months to make a mark. One more time Exempt from ODE. April 19, 1968 The University Black Student Union released a list of demands Thursday which were presented to University President Arthur S. Flemming last week. • "We strongly demand that Afro-American history and black culture be instituted in the regular academic curriculum. • "That all faculty members and teaching assistants should have some training in human behavior and inter personal relations, •"That black professors must be hired. If white stu dents are not exposed to black professors, they will con tinue to maintain that black people cannot achieve such academic status. Furthermore, black students need pro fessors with whom they can relate and identify in cul tural relevancy.” The Oregon DXy Emerdd « pubfcehed (JXy Monday through Friday during «« achod year and Tueeday and Thureday during in# eummer by in# Oregon Daily Emerald Pubaahmg Co me al me Unrveredy oI Oregon. Eugene. Oegon The tm«ald operate# independently d me Unrveredy eren odrcee at Su*e 300 d me Erb Memorial Uruon and • a member ol me Aaaooaled Preee The Emerald « pmrele property The unteartd removal d uae d paper# • proeetuUde by‘ CdNor Pel Malach NmEiMx J»»N EdNorM Editor Mvtn fmhm OrwAlc* CdNor Ml l^utay Edtor OMOmtontHi Hwi JnM« Cakav AnOmton Jaka Barg Associate Editor a. Tammy Batov Student Goverrment/Acfinfier. Daratyn Ttappa. Community Coieen Poneg f<Ac*twrv'Ac»*wi*ea«xxi Neva Slant Cheater Alan. Matt Bandar Judm Brown. Saran Clark. Mag Dedotpn. Amy Devarwort. Jan E**on. Amanda Fame. Arahony Fomay Bam Meg*. Tarawa Muntamgw lata Maun Rabacca Mart*. Slava Ura, Kaly MoaNar. Tatm MuaMar. Tnau Moat. Elan Shaw End Sludancfca. Manon Suitor. Randy Thraoan. Mchala Thompaon-Agraar. Amy W Tuyt. Todd tAMfcam*. Clayton Vaa Oanaral kMnagar Judy Rwdi Production Manager Michele Roaa Advartlamg: Tom leach. Sharon Vaj. Sale* Manager* Shawn Server. OHm AMnagar Jwta kola. Taraaa laabaae Phwp Johneon H, On* Kano" Jaramy Maaon. Van V O'Bryan H. G*an Oh. Rachael Tnja. Anga Wvupiaen ClaaatWad: Becky Merchant. Managar Barry logan Sharon Sauva Otatrtbutlon: Brwxjon Andaraon. Nek Mannnmg. Graham Stmpaon Buamaaa: Kathy Carbon*. Suparvrwv Judy Connoay Production: tnyid Whrta. Production Court»na*x Knatm# Granger, Oee McCobb. Stacy lAtcha* Janrvlar Roland. Janmtar Sm*h Ntwtroom__*•*■««" Butin* m OWe*... 346-3712 Cimmcd Advertising lo-w^-l3r TH LmuCmiDdH ..-feRtM. W(l« COMMENTARY Sexual Assault Fund necessary By Enc Bowen A recent survey of rape incidence on college campuses found that one in six college-aged women have been the victims of rape. The role of tertiary preventions, according to the same article is to "limit damage after an inci dent has occurred by providing support services. ... Staff should be prepared to respond to and assist the victim with immediate needs and long-term support." One of the key elements in this support is providing appropriate medical treatment. For a myriad of reasons (fear, shame, denial, etc.) many women are unwilling or unready to report their sexual assault. Often they are equally reluctant to seek medical treatment. We would like to encourage sexual assault survivors to take steps toward their health while maintaining their sense of choice and power over those choices. In order to aid this process, we have submitted an initiative that requests "the students fund a pilot 'Sexual Assault Examina tion Fund' at the Student Health Center that would provide funds to sexual assault survivors who are unable to afford a sexual assault exam through a one-time fee of 17 cents per student per term for one year" to be ear marked for survivors who need sexuallv transmitted disease test ing and treatment. Many survivors who have sought medical treatment, as sev eral health center practitioners have observed, are emotionally unready or unwilling to official ly report the assault. We believe STD testing and treatment should be made available to survivors who want confidential results. The underlying problem is that testing and treatment is costly. Many survivors do not want STD testing and treatment to appear on their billing statements, but confidential tests cannot be billed to insurance companies. To have STD testing and treatment offered at no (xxt is the most feasible way to promote medical care to those women and men who are work ing through their trauma and do not want to officially report their sexual assault or who do not have i l l t I * t I he resources to cover these expenses. The cost of complete STD test ing and treatment is about $145 (Mir student. This covers all com mon STDs: GC-chlamvdia, HIV. wet preparations. RPK and antibi otics for treatment. Informal and empirical observations at the health center show that an esti mated 50 students per year dis close to their practitioner that they have been sexually assault ed, and they may not have dis closed this to anyone other than the practitioner. To honor their privacy in this highly traumatic and emotional time is essential to the survivors' recovery. A number of points must be made to support the rationale behind this proposal. These include the value of continuity of student care, public health concerns, providing otherwise unavailable services, survivor retention and the overall benefits to the University community of offering no-cost STD testing and treatment to sexual assault sur vivors. Continuity of care for Univer sity students means that indi viduals can receive comprehen sive and holistic health care from one health center rather titan receive piecemeal care from a variety of clinics. The Student Health Center is peoud of its ability to offer comprehen sive services and feels strongly that students receive their care at the health center whenever possible. This is especially true when a student has multiple health con cerns. as in the case of sexual assault. To ask a student who is unwilling to officially report her sexual assault to go to a public health clinic after disclosing his or her assault to a Student Health Center practitioner would be a breach of trust that has been developed between this student and his or her care provider. Chanc es are great that she or he will not. in fact, go to the public health clinic in the community. From a public health perspec tive. offering no-cost STD testing and treatment for sexual assault survivors will increase the like lihood of controlling the further spread of STDs to other sexual partners. Untreated STDs, spread ..iVc.Mtv.-AtTAc. .... via unprotected sex, can pose public health problems and may compromise the long-term repro ductive health of individuals. The individualized services of the health center are not repli cated at low cost elsewhere in Eugene. In addition, health cen ter practitioners ant able to refer survivors to additional campus resources, including the Coun seling Center, the Mediation Pro gram and Sexual Assault Support Services. Such integration of ser vices. which ant in the Imst inter est of the survivor, is unlikely to occur elsewhere in the commu nity. Offering no-cost medical test ing and treatment will aid sur vivor retention rates An integral part of recovery is the ability to integrate back into the Univer sity community by restoring self confidence and faith in others. By providing various services on campus in a supportive environ ment. we are more likely to achieve that goal. Collectively, these rationale illustrate the importance of hav ing increased medical accessi bility for sexual assault survivors. Increased accessibility means offering no-cost medical care for survivors who are unwilling or unready to report their assault. Advertising of no-cost testing and treatment would ideally be presented along with other sur vivor services rather than be pro moted separately. For example, a statement about medical ser vices available at the Student Health Center on a sliding scale fee could be included on infor mational pamphlets targeted at survivors. Maintaining strict confiden tiality. statistics will be kept on the numbfer of survivors who use the no-cost services and the costs associated with the use of the ser vices. This program will then be reviowed at the end of one year to determine the level of demand and to secure long-term funding for the program. Please support this ballot mea sure by voting “yes" in the ASUO General Election Tuesday and Wednesday. Eric Bowen is ASUO programs coordinator. Student Health Cen ter Committee chairman and ASUO president-elect.