DISCOURSE
- Birth control price hikes too much for students Editorial
- Hazing prevents Greeks from being taken seriously Editorial
- Donate to charities so companies don't profit Jamie Williams
- Dumping in the ocean puts damper on environment Laurel Wright
- Letters to the Editor
Birth control price hikes too much for students
Editorial
Parking and tuition are not the only things that will cost more next year at the University of North Florida. Soon students will face an increase in contraceptives purchased at student medical services.
Plan B prices will increase from $20 to $35 a pack, NuvaRings will increase from $18 to $40, and birth control pills will increase from $15 to $22. If students can't afford the new prices, they're out of luck because there's nothing SMS can do for them.
A super-sized jar of condoms is readily available for students in SMS during office hours, and condom prices at drugstores are much cheaper than birth control prices, especially for those who can't afford insurance and have to pay full price for the pills.
But some students might feel uncomfortable grabbing a handful of condoms from the waiting room each week and many women need birth control for reasons other than contraceptive purposes.
In all fairness, SMS can't do anything to keep prices steady when the contraceptives they've previously purchased run out. New Medicaid rebate laws make it unaffordable for pharmaceutical companies to sell devices to student health centers at nominal prices, and it has no other way to get the funding.
Planned Parenthood offers birth control pills and NuvaRings at lower prices, but it requires patients to come into the office once a month to pick up pills. Many students who will be affected by the price increase live on campus, and they're the same people who are least likely to own cars and can readily drive to off-campus doctors' appointments.
The harsh reality is that students who normally practice safe sex might feel forced to go without contraceptives. Teen pregnancy rates have been declining because birth control and emergency contraceptive pills are more readily available to high school and college students. But if they become unaffordable, unplanned pregnancies might skyrocket to rates comparable to the '70s and '80s. It's contraceptive pills that have kept rates low through the late '90s and first part of the 21st century, according to the Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention statistics.
New York City launched a campaign on Valentine's Day to give away 1 billion condoms to people on the streets. Fees that go toward SMS are included in tuition prices students pay each semester. If it ordered mass amounts of condoms along with other medical supplies and made them readily available in bathrooms on campus, it will give students a way to maintain condom supplies in private. And if condoms were stored in dispensers and sold for 5 cents a piece, it would help ensure students aren't abusing
privileges.
If SMS can't help students like they used to, they'll need to look at additional ways to make
ends meet.
Hazing prevents Greeks from being taken seriously
Editorial
Many first-time college students look forward to joining a fraternity or sorority when they get to college and seeing what "Greek life" is all about.
But if this included being abused, slightly tortured, and embarrassed by your future "brothers" and "sisters," would you really want to do it?
Hazing is an act of power and control over others. It is pre-meditated victimization and not at all accidental. Hazing is abusive, degrading and often life-threatening.
It usually exists as a means to promote group loyalty through shared suffering to create a supreme bonding experience among newcomers while in the process of initiation. Is it really worth suffering
and ridicule?
Let's ask members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon's Florida Nu chapter here at the University of North Florida. Reports have recently surfaced that they were supposedly involved in hazing activities.
Now Sigma Alpha Epsilon has been issued a cease and desist order by its national board, and this makes our school look bad. Whether the activities that took place were severe enough to be considered hazing isn't the issue.
It's the fact that Greek Life is supposed to stand for much more on campus. And this comes a year after SAE was charged with underage drinking and possession of beer kegs; they were reinstated in January.
Although hazing has occurred and continues to occur in a variety of social situations such as the workplace, on sports teams and even the armed forces, we don't need it at UNF.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is an embarrassment to our community for committing such a highly immature and irresponsible act. How is that for setting an example?
Perhaps those responsible should take a look at www.stophazing.org, which serves to educate on eliminating hazing from colleges and
universities by providing in-depth coverage and real life accounts of such incidents.
Hazing has even resulted in death. Is that really worth the cost of being part of a social organization on campus such as a fraternity or sorority? It shouldn't be, and our peers should not have to succumb to that kind of ridiculous peer pressure placed upon them just to be part of such
an organization.
Remember, fraternities and sororities are supposed to carry a certain respectable dignity about them and give back to the community. How can they adequately do this if any of their members are possibly injured or hurt from hazing activities?
If the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon think it's going to help them receive respect, they should know that respect cannot be taught - it must be earned. Victims of hazing rarely report having respect for those who have hazed them. Just like other forms of victimization, hazing breeds mistrust, apathy
and alienation.
Hazing is wrong, dangerous, and an embarrassment to the university and its community. It should not take place and must be stopped.
Now that you know, do your part to help. Remember, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Try to educate others who don't know about hazing and encourage them to spread the word and take action so that hazing will not occur anymore.
Donate to charities so companies don't profit
Staff Opinion
I am the Perhaps you've noticed those Gap ads in recent months. You know, the ones with people wearing red T-shirts with white words that all have the word "red" in parentheses. Do you even know what it stands for?
It's part of a campaign called RED to support The Global Fund, a non-profit organization that raises money for countries to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Alright, so maybe you knew that much. And maybe you even bought one of these products with good intentions in mind - good for you! But not so good for beneficiaries of The Global Fund.
Did you know the total cost for the ad campaign ran around $100 million? The campaign, however, only raised around $18 million dollars, according to Advertising Age, an advertising trade publication. Was it successful?
Do the math.
When high profile celebrities including Bono and Oprah Winfrey are supporting the project and big name brands such as Gap and Apple joining the cause, what could go wrong?
By purchasing products from brands such as Gap, Apple and Motorola, you are letting these corporations play the middleman for you. They place a need on the consumer to make such a contribution to such a charitable fund, in turn placing a possible guilt trip on the consumer. The consumer then feels the need to give back and buy said product.
But does the consumer actually know how much of the total proceeds are actually going to charity? While most companies let the consumer know this more often than not, the RED campaign, however, was criticized for not doing such.
So these companies win in the end. By getting "involved" in such a cause, they not only look good, but reap extra profits.
But fear not. There is a way to get around this: donate directly to the charity itself. Many of these charities' stores "support" have their own Web sites where you can donate directly to them without having to go through some name brand or franchise.
Maybe you don't really have the time to go out and volunteer for a charity. Maybe you can't even afford to give them that much money. Don't feel too guilty. But by buying products from the store, you are actually giving less than you can, and for that you should feel some degree of guilt. By giving to a charity directly, chances are you'll feel much better about your decision
Here's a starting point: go to http://www.buylesscrap.org, an organization that serves as a means for people to donate directly to a charity and to remind them this is the most resourceful way to support a cause. Its motto is "Shopping is not a solution. Buy less. Give more."
Think about it. Apple doesn't really need any more money. The American Diabetes Association, the National Breast Cancer Foundation and The Global Fund all do, though. These are all non-profit organizations. Can you imagine Apple being a non-profit organization? Not in this lifetime.
Don't be lazy. It might seem easier when you're shopping in the air-conditioned comfort of the local Gap to buy that red T-shirt and feel inspi(red). But it's just as easy to give that same amount of money you'd spend on the shirt directly to the charitable source itself.
Contact Jamie Williams at uspinnak@unf.edu -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Dumping in the ocean puts damper on environment
Staff Opinion
Three miles offshore from the beaches of Florida, gamblers are enjoying their slot machines and poker tables, but what is happening under all the excitement is disturbing.
Each time the gambling ships leave port, they dump their partially treated sewage into the federal waters of our ocean. This is approximately 26,000 gallons of human waste dumped a week, per ship, along with thousands of gallons of other waste, according to the Surfrider Foundation Web site. There are no exact numbers because the ships are not required to report their dumping.
The sewage is thought to pollute the ocean, destroying fisheries and washing up on the beaches full of bacteria.
Dumping sewage into the ocean is ruining many Floridian's occupations. The sewage has been blamed as one of the causes of Red Tide, which kills sea life, making it hard for fishermen to earn a living and diminishing the money made from tourism in Florida.
Currently there is minimal regulation on the gambling ships' dumping because dumping in federal waters is permitted, but Florida lawmakers are working on a bill to wane the discharge.
The Clean Oceans Act will require gambling vessels and other ships that routinely carry 100 or more passengers for two hours to report discharges made in coastal waters. It will also encourage the ships to bring the sewage back to ports to have it disposed of in treatment facilities.
The bill can't require the ships to bring the sewage back to port because Florida Law doesn't reach into federal waters. It would, however, require them to pay a treatment fee to the port, regardless if they bring their sewage back or not. The ships can either pay the fee and use the treatment facilities, or continue ocean dumping and pay the fee.
The idea is if the ships' operators are paying the fee, they will be more likely to utilize their payments and use the onshore treatment facilities than dump in the ocean.
The act is necessary and long overdue. However, it is encountering opposition and debate throughout the approval process.
Keeping the ocean clean seems like common sense to most Florida residents, but marina owners, day cruise operators and boat manufactures are protesting the act, which has failed to pass before.
Having members of Florida's government who care enough about the oceans to create a bill to limit dumping is phenomenal, but without the support of Floridians, this bill might not pass.
Because many University of North Florida students living in Jacksonville reside nearby a casino ship departure point, they need to show support for this bill. The ocean is polluted enough from other sources of waste, and casino boats shouldn't be able to add to the pollution just because it is convenient for them.
The people opposed to this bill care more about money than one of our planet's greatest natural resources. They need to realize the health of our ocean is directly related to the health of our society. The short-term goal of money is nothing in comparison to the long-term effect of polluting the ocean.
Contact Laurel Wright at uspinnak@unf.edu -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Letters to the Editor
Former SG President Endorses Standing United, Moving Forward
Dear Editor,
It's the season for Student Government elections again. It is important for all students to understand the significance of voting on election day and making their voices heard. It is vital that we support people who will successfully communicate our interests to university administration, thus making our University of North Florida experience more valuable and enjoyable.
Standing United as we Move Forward is important in a season of change such as this. A unified student body will achieve so much more than any of our independent efforts ever could. This is why I endorse Rachael Tutwiler and AJ Souto for your next Student Body President and Vice President. I have had the opportunity to watch both of these student leaders mature and develop while I was serving in SG leadership. They are the most qualified to do the job.
The vision they have developed is one that responds to the needs of this university. The team they built is of your trusted leaders from every community on this campus. Their platform is comprised of issues you care about, and they are things that are achievable under the right kind of leadership.
Tom Foran
Former Student Body President
A smaller case against alcohol
Dear Editor,
This is in regard to the column that ran in the Spinnaker entitled "Unshining the moon: The case against alcohol."
I couldn't agree with you more. A while back, I stumbled across a quote on a high school acquaintance's Facebook.com page.
To me, this quote summed up the major reason I do not drink, and at the same time is probably the reason she, and a majority of people, continue to drink. The quote is: "I live for the nights I can't remember, with the friends I'll never forget..."
I guess I can respond to this by asking: What is the point of living if you have never actually lived?
Evan Judd
Junior, Biology
Contact Jessica Medina at uspinnak@unf.edu -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE