In the second senate meeting of spring term, Monday, April 7, Associated Students of Southern Oregon University President Monique Teal addressed the issue of a Red Cross blood drive hosted by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at McNeal Pavilion March 31.

Teal, several ASSOU senators and other student organizations believe the blood drive is a direct breech of the campus ban on the Red Cross for discriminatory reasons that have been upheld by administration and students since 2003.

The ban comes from the questions that the Red Cross asks donors concerning sexual practices. The Red Cross asks men if they have had sexual relations with other men. Other questions are required by the Food and Drug Administration: in the screening process the Red Cross must ask whether males have had sex with other males or if women have had sex with men who have had sex with men.

The senate gallery at the meeting was packed with students, represented by several on-campus groups such as Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group, Gender Sexuality Union, Commuter Resource Center, Veteran’s Affairs, Oregon Student Association, Resident’s Hall Association and Women’s Resource Center, among others. Although the meeting lasted four and a half hours, very few people left before the senate was resolved.

ASSOU Director of Student Communication Philip Shilts commented that it was the lack of communication between athletics and overall administration that moved Teal to action, specifically calling on senate at one point for a vote of no confidence in Dennis Francois, SOU athletic director. The vote would have meant that students no longer believed they could entrust Francois. The vote was overturned.

Senator At-Large Alexx Gauthier expressed anxiety over the senate’s consideration of a vote of no confidence, which he believes could have had negative effects on Francois’ career.

"Making a vote of no confidence to a certain individual can have a lasting effect on a person’s career in a negative way," Gauthier said. "I don’t think we have enough information to say he was solely responsible for the decision."

Instead of voting no confidence in Francois, ASSOU passed an amendment in favor of a written reprimand entered into the personal file of anyone that knowingly violates the anti-discrimination policy or the law of shared governance. Francois is also invited by ASSOU to attend the senate meeting on Tuesday, April 15 in order to assess the situation.

Vice President of Student Affairs Jonathan Eldridge commented in defense of Francois and in regards to confusion surrounding where the Red Cross ban applies on campus.

"It appears part of the problem involves a former administrator and that the ban involved only the SU," Eldridge said. "Dennis was told that by a former vice president and thought the information was accurate."

"There was additional information sought, but there was confusion around it," Eldridge said. "I’m still collecting information. It appears Dennis was attempting to do the right thing and not actually approve the blood drive inappropriately," Eldridge said.

Francois declined to comment on the subject of the Red Cross ban but said of the Red Cross, "It was nice of them to come here and provide a service to help save lives."

Some students at the senate meeting questioned the timing of the blood drive, being the first day of spring break when few students would be aware of the event. Francois reasoned that the Red Cross had few, if any, dates available where there would be enough staff to run the blood drive, aside from March 31.

"Red Cross were limited in dates available," Francois said. "The issue was availability on their schedule, and it fit into ours as well."

On the day of the drive, Christina Dunlap, territory representative for biomedical services for the American Red Cross and former public relations coordinator for SOU until 2003, handed out fliers in the Stevenson Union concerning the blood drive and alerting student organizations.

"It was actually very rewarding to see some of the students I had talked to on campus later on [at the blood drive]," Dunlap said. "33 donors presented, and there were 17 first-time donors."

"A lot of community members came out," Dunlap said. "We were very appreciative."

Dunlap acknowledged the Red Cross ban and recalled the motion to ban the organization from campus in 2003, as well as a tangible miscommunication about whether or not the ban was for the SU or included other areas of the university. It is presently unclear exactly as to where the Red Cross is banned on campus aside from the Stevenson Union.

"All blood banks have to follow the FDA guidelines," Dunlap said. "The Federal government actually requires the Red Cross to ask these [questions of homosexual men] because as soon as blood leaves your body, it is considered a drug."

Despite the controversy over the Red Cross ban, and it being the first day back in class, SAAC advisor Kelly Mason was optimistic.

"We had positive feedback about having the drive on campus," Mason said.

It is unclear who in the administration met with Francois in regards to the approval of a blood drive.

Co-chair of the GSU Ryan Farley feels very strongly that the Red Cross should not have been allowed on campus due to discrimination in their blood screening process.

"For five years, our group on campus has upheld the decision to keep the Red Cross off campus," Farley said.

He also commented that the athletic director should have known about the ban.

Shilts had an understanding that senate in the past has approved an entire ban on the SOU campus. It was not necessarily just that the athletic department and other organizations hosted the Red Cross blood drive on campus, but how it was handled or not handled by the administration.

According to the senate agenda history of the Red Cross on campus, since the ruling, a student group has attempted to challenge the ban each year to have a blood drive, but the ban has been upheld. The only exception of a Red Cross blood drive on campus since 2003 was a GSU emergency blood drive for Hurricane Katrina, hosted in the Stevenson Union.

To view the FDA’s policy regarding blood donor eligibility go online at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts. Students are invited to attend the next ASSOU senate meeting Tuesday, April 15 in SU 330.