By Julia Gardiner
In response to an emergency shortage of blood and a severe decrease in participation at the Long Island Blood Services (LIBS), the University is promoting a large blood drive on Wednesday, Oct. 31 in the multipurpose room and Thursday, Nov. 1 in the plaza rooms. Dean of Students Peter Libman is orchestrating the campus-wide initiative.
In recent years, the participation of the University population in on-campus blood drives has decreased dramatically. A high of 860 pints was collected in 2003, last year’s collections dwindled to 609 pints and the amount for 2007 is only 305.
“Our current blood supply is significantly lower than it should be, which makes it difficult to meet current hospital needs for blood and ensure our preparedness for unexpected emergencies that may occur at any time,” said Andrew Martin, the executive director of LIBS.
LIBS has to collect 800 pints of blood daily in order to service hospitals in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens counties. The University is attempting to take an active role in bettering the community by increasing donations at the drive. “There is, right now, a major shortage of blood in New York,” Libman said. “This is more important than ever.”
According to an LIBS press release, 60 percent of Americans are eligible to donate blood. Five percent of the population gives yearly, and in the New York area the donation rate is 2 percent.
At the University, Libman is working to boost blood donations in conjunction with LIBS by promoting the drive through advertisements, fliers and a table in the Student Center atrium. “I was asked to chair this initiative and kind of reverse the trend,” Libman said. “We set a goal of 1,000 pints.”
The initiative to promote community service at the University was approved by the administration. “The folks from the blood drive met with [University] President [Stuart] Rabinowitz,” Libman said. “He totally supports the initiative.”
Regarding the drop in participation at the University, Doreen Fiscina, account manager for donor recruitment at LIBS, could not offer a conclusive reason. “I want to say that it’s everywhere right now. Education-wise it’s been actually going up,” Fiscina said. “For some reason here at Hofstra it’s been going down. It’s hard for [students] to even find time to come to class.”
However, there is a trend that smaller universities have a higher participation rate, which could be due to a closer-knit community on campus, according to Fiscina. “Dowling is one of our leading colleges. They give more than Hofstra but have a smaller population.”
The lack of donations could also be caused in part by the lifestyle that is prevalent among college students. In New York state, one may not donate blood if he or she has received a tattoo within the previous twelve months. “Even though the tattoo parlors are more modern than they were years ago, it takes a year for hepatitis to show up,” Fiscina said. Further, donations are prohibited if the donors has “had sex with another man since 1977, even once,” a restriction that many oppose as being unreasonable.
To entice students and faculty to donate blood Wednesday and Thursday, a steering committee was formed including many student and faculty organizations on campus, including Student Government Association, the Greek organizations, the department of human resources, the Office of Student Leadership and Activities, and more. “We tried to hit all the constituents on campus,” Libman said. Those organizations were called upon to advertise and promote the drive among their members as well as offer suggestions as to other methods of promotion.
The university is offering raffles of products and services donated by the NY Jets, and many local restaurants. As an added incentive, the residence hall with the most residents who donate will receive a pizza party, and the same goes for the highest donating Greek organization and club. WBAB and WBLI will be broadcasting from the drive as well.
The University is in a competition with local schools such as St. John’s, SUNY Stonybrook and Dowling college to bring in the most pints of blood by the end of the year. The contest was initiated in a letter to Rabinowitz by Dowling College President Robert Gaffney. At the end of the year, all of the schools’ contributions will be tallied and the winner announced.
Only University students and faculty are invited to attend the drive. “They won’t have the staff to accommodate people from the community,” Libman said. Potential donors are encouraged to sign up at the table in the atrium for an appointment time, but walk-ins are welcome.