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.”
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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.