Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 2000)
Wednesday Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com Needed: A shot of good Three weeks ago, the Student Health Center received 300 doses of in fluenza vaccination. The number of doses represents only 10 percent of what the health center normally receives be cause vaccine manufacturer Wyeth-Ayerst had difficulty developing one of the new flu strains this year. With only 300 doses available to adminis ter to students and faculty, Dr. Gerald Fleis chli, the director of the Student Health Cen ter, decided that at-risk students and faculty needed to have first priority for the shots. The editorial board applauds this ethical and hu mane decision, as people with diabetes, asth ma and weak immune systems can face a risk of death from the flu. Fleischli made a terribly unethical decision, however, in sending 50 of those 300 doses to the athletic department to be given to the men’s and women’s basketball teams and re serve football players. This action is outra geous, but more outrageous is the fact that no one seems to recognize this decision as the eth ical breach that it is. Fleischli and Bob Crist, team physician for the athletic department, should acknowledge the error and apologize. Crist has stated that he didn’t know there was a shortage of flu vaccines. We’re sorry, but unless this is simply a face-saving statement, Crist’s ability as team physician should be ex amined. How could a physician not be aware of this year’s flu vaccine shortage? The topic has made national news on an ongoing basis, as agencies across the country have struggled to decide how to parcel out the few vaccines available. We don’t buy his ignorance as an ex cuse for the preferential treatment. If anyone was going to get the first shot at those 300 vaccines, it should have been at risk faculty. As Fleischli himself acknowl edged, hundreds of students’ education can be affected by a professor’s absence. Even with a Rose Bowl on the line and our basket ball teams’ season openers hanging in the balance, one student athlete is simply one student athlete. The decision to give flu shot preference to the big-money athletes on campus is part of a long-standing policy, according to Fleischli. That may be acceptable some of the time, but this year is a special case. Fleischli was aware of the shortage problem and the fact that more vaccines won’t be available until late in the flu season. He acknowledged Tuesday (“UO Health Center short on vac cines,” ODE, Nov. 28) that not all the at-risk students have received vaccines yet, so he should have denied the athletic depart ment’s request. The “long-standing policy” is necessary, Fleischli says, because student athletes travel to other parts of the country and so are more likely to be exposed to and spread the flu. But athletes are generally healthier than the rest of the student population. They will probably be less likely to contract the flu, and the symp toms will most likely be less serious. And if traveling is a concern, why didn’t the Club Sports athletes receive flu shots? Many of the Club Sports teams traveled during the two weeks before Thanksgiving, but they did not receive special treatment. The traveling argument breaks down en tirely when we consider Thanksgiving. Most of the student body visited other parts of the country last week. Why was everyone not considered eligible for special treatment? Perhaps the athletic department’s self-iden tified role as University booster—these are the elite students that bring the campus fame and fortune, after all — makes it be lieve it has special rights and privileges. i Some students may believe that the a football and basketball players deserve a J| little privilege. Sports and sports heroes are highly valued in America, often more ft so than intellectual or artistic achieve- * ments. But athletics isn’t the only de- 1 partment that brings money and prestige m to the University. m Numerous scientists bring in grants V and fellowships, including professor Rus- I sell Lande, who got the MacArthur Fel- | lowship’s “genius grant” two years ago. The University has the one of the world’s | leading experts on the Balkans in profes sor Ronald Wixman, who consults with the U. S. State Department about the prob- ^ lems in Yugoslavia. There are many other examples, but that’s not the point. With so few vaccines available, the most endangered faculty and students should have been the only ones on the short list on Nov. 6. In a situation where health and lives are at risk, no one de serves preferential consideration, except those whose ailments make them especially susceptible. Fifty such people were denied a flu vaccine for the sake of a few athletes, and we wish someone would recognize the inhu manity of that decision. This editorial represents the opinion ot the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to ode@ore gon.uoregon.edu. Alumni who donate funds have a say, too Guest Commentary Cora L. Bennett From your mudslinging editorial about Phil Knight and the WRC (’’Hook, Line and Sinker,’’ ODE, Nov. 21), it sounds like the Emerald edito rial staff is pandering to the in terests of a small percentage of the student population (and the Eugene Weekly), which is the same sort of pandering of which you accuse University President Dave Frohnmayer. If students were to take a few moments and think about your editorial, they could easily de vise a conspiracy theory that involves ASUO President Jay Breslow, his vice president, Holly Magner, and one or two other students whose feelings are hurt because Frohnmayer isn’t under their collective thumb. You all sound like a bunch of dilettantes. Get over your selves. Which of the Universi ty’s reputations are you wor ried about? The “Most Activist Campus” reputation? That would be worth worrying about if more than a mere 8 per cent of University students cared enough to vote in any giv en student election, including the last one, where the WRC was front and center. Thank the magazine Mother Jones for us, but 8 percent doesn't sound like student activism. Ultimately, I think Knight is only pulling the Athletic De partment’s strings — it is their expansion project in jeopardy here. Unfortunately, this Uni versity’s budget is in serious trouble if we don’t rely on alumni donations. The state funds less than 20 percent of the University’s budget. And most people fail to recognize that Knight is not the only wealthy alumnus who has a vested interest in the Universi ty’s success. I’ve met plenty of alumni who feel that their opinions about University policies are as important as students’. While many students may not believe so, alumni care as much about this University’s success as we do, and if they are providing money that the Legislature and taxpayers are unwilling to, log ic has it that they do have a say in some University practices. We also don’t have the luxu ry of land, air and sea grants like Oregon State University, whose facilities (other than ath letic) are better than our ovyn. The grants they get have strings, too. Knight and the WRC are an other issue altogether. Knight is as much a dilettante as anyone else in this situation. I don’t be lieve he has any desire to de cide what gets taught at the University or to influence ad missions policies or anything remotely similar to true Uni versity policy. It’s clear at this point that Knight cares about two things in this matter: his precious N ike swoosh getting on TV, and the football team. Like it or not, more people with money — the state Legislature included — care about the success of our football program than care about the success of students academically. Cora L. Bennett is a political science major at the University. Letters to the editor Quality journalism, for once Hurrah! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect such critical and clear thinking, not to mention quality writing, from the Emerald ed itorial page. But in your editorial (“Hook, Line and Sinker,” ODE, Nov. 21) finally naming the University administration as behaving like ut ter tools in regards to His Honorable Sir Knight (Nike CEO Phil Knight) — well, you have done it. Your editorial was a quality piece through and through, and I hope you continue to use your wit as an independent critical tool, and not just as a means to get invited to those free breakfasts University President Dave Frohn mayer holds in Johnson Hall. For most of the past 5 years, the Oregon Dai ly Emerald has seen itself as some sort of free public relations machine for the administra tion, and I am pleased to see that you have fi nally found the guts to go out on your own a bit. I can only hope for more in the future. Kyla Schuller class of‘99
