Board slams FDA policy
Jesse Kimbrel
Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: News
The decision to ban blood drives at SJSU has spread beyond the campus limits to the Santa Clara County legislature.
In a unanimous decision Thursday morning the board of supervisors' legislative committee agreed with SJSU President Don Kassing that the Food and Drug Administrations blood drive policy against gay men is discriminatory.
The policy, which was implemented in 1983, prohibits any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood.
Supervisor Ken Yeager, who is an SJSU alumnus and former professor in the political science department opened up the discussion and said the meeting was about the FDA's policy, not about banning blood drives.
Yeager described himself as an openly gay man and said that there are many "archaic and discriminatory laws that prevent gay Americans from being full participants in society."
"As a Spartan, I am very proud of what San Jose State did," Yeager said, in reference to SJSU President Don Kassing's decision to ban blood drives on campus on Jan. 29.
Vincent Yalon, administrative director of the Stanford Blood Center, expressed his disagreement with Kassing's decision to ban blood drives.
He said only 38 percent of the population is eligible to donate and of those 38 percent, only 3 percent is actually willing to donate blood.
Samantha Kinneman, a senior hospitality management major, said she didn't think gay men should be discriminated against. But she added that blood drives shouldn't be banned because campus blood drives give a lot of people the opportunity to donate.
"It was a ballsy decision. I respect it," said Marek Kapolka, a freshman computer science major.
In a news conference Tuesday, Kassing said, "We chose the action that we took because we feel like it violates our non-discriminatory policy."
After the committee voted to oppose the FDA's policy account manager for the Red Cross in northern California, Mona Helmhold, said that the Red Cross is planning to hold a blood drive at the Grace Baptist Church on the corner of 10th and San Fernando streets on March 17.
Helmhold said she is planning to advertise for the blood drive on the San Jose State campus to make students aware of the opportunity they will have to attend a nearby blood drive.
Afterward, associate vice president Larry Carr said SJSU brought a lot of attention to the issue by taking the initiative to do something about the FDA's policy.
Carr said it's unlikely the committee meeting would have taken place if Kassing had not banned blood drives at SJSU.
He said Stanford University opposes the ban, but it hasn't done anything to stand up against the FDA's discriminatory policy.
Carr explained that because the committee voted to oppose the FDA's policy, the issue will now go in front of the entire board of supervisors for a vote.
A representative from Supervisor Yeager's office said the date for the board meeting would most likely be Feb. 26.
The representative said if the board votes to oppose the FDA's policy, that means Santa Clara County would possibly use its resources to further pursue the issue.
Related Stories:
Feb. 14, 2008: Campus Voices: Do you agree with SJSU's ban on blood drives?
Feb. 13, 2008: University stands alone in blood policy
Feb. 13, 2008: President fields questions from campus media
Feb. 13, 2008: Opinion: Making sense out of blood drive nonsense
Feb. 12, 2008: Controversy no longer local
Feb. 7, 2008: Plot thickens in wake of blood drive suspension
Feb. 7, 2008: Where to donate blood off campus
Feb. 7, 2008: Opinion: This Queer Life: Bad Blood
Feb. 4, 2008: President halts blood drives; policy questioned
Feb. 4, 2008: Opinion: Making a deadly situation worse
Jan. 30, 2008: Blood drives stopped
Poll: Do you agree with SJSU's blood drive ban?
Other Links:
Letter from President Kassing
Other links from the President's office
In a unanimous decision Thursday morning the board of supervisors' legislative committee agreed with SJSU President Don Kassing that the Food and Drug Administrations blood drive policy against gay men is discriminatory.
The policy, which was implemented in 1983, prohibits any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood.
Supervisor Ken Yeager, who is an SJSU alumnus and former professor in the political science department opened up the discussion and said the meeting was about the FDA's policy, not about banning blood drives.
Yeager described himself as an openly gay man and said that there are many "archaic and discriminatory laws that prevent gay Americans from being full participants in society."
"As a Spartan, I am very proud of what San Jose State did," Yeager said, in reference to SJSU President Don Kassing's decision to ban blood drives on campus on Jan. 29.
Vincent Yalon, administrative director of the Stanford Blood Center, expressed his disagreement with Kassing's decision to ban blood drives.
He said only 38 percent of the population is eligible to donate and of those 38 percent, only 3 percent is actually willing to donate blood.
Samantha Kinneman, a senior hospitality management major, said she didn't think gay men should be discriminated against. But she added that blood drives shouldn't be banned because campus blood drives give a lot of people the opportunity to donate.
"It was a ballsy decision. I respect it," said Marek Kapolka, a freshman computer science major.
In a news conference Tuesday, Kassing said, "We chose the action that we took because we feel like it violates our non-discriminatory policy."
After the committee voted to oppose the FDA's policy account manager for the Red Cross in northern California, Mona Helmhold, said that the Red Cross is planning to hold a blood drive at the Grace Baptist Church on the corner of 10th and San Fernando streets on March 17.
Helmhold said she is planning to advertise for the blood drive on the San Jose State campus to make students aware of the opportunity they will have to attend a nearby blood drive.
Afterward, associate vice president Larry Carr said SJSU brought a lot of attention to the issue by taking the initiative to do something about the FDA's policy.
Carr said it's unlikely the committee meeting would have taken place if Kassing had not banned blood drives at SJSU.
He said Stanford University opposes the ban, but it hasn't done anything to stand up against the FDA's discriminatory policy.
Carr explained that because the committee voted to oppose the FDA's policy, the issue will now go in front of the entire board of supervisors for a vote.
A representative from Supervisor Yeager's office said the date for the board meeting would most likely be Feb. 26.
The representative said if the board votes to oppose the FDA's policy, that means Santa Clara County would possibly use its resources to further pursue the issue.
Related Stories:
Feb. 14, 2008: Campus Voices: Do you agree with SJSU's ban on blood drives?
Feb. 13, 2008: University stands alone in blood policy
Feb. 13, 2008: President fields questions from campus media
Feb. 13, 2008: Opinion: Making sense out of blood drive nonsense
Feb. 12, 2008: Controversy no longer local
Feb. 7, 2008: Plot thickens in wake of blood drive suspension
Feb. 7, 2008: Where to donate blood off campus
Feb. 7, 2008: Opinion: This Queer Life: Bad Blood
Feb. 4, 2008: President halts blood drives; policy questioned
Feb. 4, 2008: Opinion: Making a deadly situation worse
Jan. 30, 2008: Blood drives stopped
Poll: Do you agree with SJSU's blood drive ban?
Other Links:
Letter from President Kassing
Other links from the President's office
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Garret
posted 2/18/08 @ 7:26 AM PST
If only the SJSU President, Don Kassing, would enforce our school's anti-discrimination policy accross the board. Sitting in a class last week, I heard a teacher telling us about a scholarship that was "for women only. (Continued…)
Brian Sexton
posted 2/18/08 @ 5:35 PM PST
> In a unanimous decision Thursday morning the board
> of supervisors' legislative committee agreed with
> SJSU President Don Kassing that the Food and Drug
> Administrations blood drive policy against gay men
> is discriminatory. (Continued…)
Post a Comment