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