Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 22 - March 20, 2008

              WEEK OF MARCH 20,2008
Vol. 35, Iss. 22 - 20 pages
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WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
New
volleyball
coach is
'perfect fit'
Peter Caty/I He Mirror
Sexual orientation limits donors: The American Red Cross sponsored a blood drive at Fairfield on March 11 and 12 in the BCC. Despite
the need for blood donations, willing donors may be denied based sexual history and orientation, according to FDA regulations.
BY JACK MCNAMARA
In spite of the current blood
shortage nationwide, it's easy
to be turned down when trying
to donate blood. For example,
donors with a tattoo or an infec-tion
must wait before becoming
eligible to give.
But, under the 25-year-old
rules set by the Food and Drug
Administration [FDA], gay male
volunteers are banned for life
from giving blood.
This directive has been a
point of contention at Fairfield
University, as it was enforced
during the American Red Cross-sponsored
blood drive that took
place in the Barone Campus
Center Oak Room on March 11
and 12.
In place since 1983, this
policy regarding what is referred
to as "high-risk behavior" has
come under fire several times be-fore,
but the FDA has repeatedly
stated that its primary responsi-bility
is to ensure the safety of
the blood supply.
The regulation, which can
be found on the FDA's Web site,
www.fda.gov/cber/faq/msm-donor.
htm, reads quite clearly:
"Men who have had sex with
other men, at any time since
1977 (the beginning of the AIDS
epidemic in the United States)
are currently deferred as blood
donors. This is because MSM
[men who have sex with men]
are, as a group, at increased risk
for HIV, hepatitis B and certain
other infections that can be trans-mitted
by transfusion."
According to the site, this
is a policy subject to change
pending the arrival of sufficient
scientific data.
Glenn Sauer, the chair of the
biology department, stated that
the blood supply policy needs
to be positioned on the side of
caution.
"While I can't say that I
know all the reasons for deter-mining
what a high-risk group is,
I can say that groups that are con-sidered
to be high-risk do need to
be excluded," said Sauer.
But such opinions do not sit
well with the current president of
Fairfield GLBT Alliance, Frank
Fraioli '08.
"I believe [this policy] is
misinformed and bigoted," said
Fraioli. "Given that, I believe
that donating blood is important
because it does save the lives of
so many people... I would say that
efforts should be taken to change
the ban so that gay men can give
blood."
SEE "FDA" ON P. 6
Flu season still in session
BY RACHEL BREAN
Don't be fooled by the rising tempera-tures
and spring-like weather. College stu-dents
are still susceptible to the flu virus, and
U.S. health officials say it's partly because
the vaccine doesn't protect against most of
this year's spreading flu bugs.
Fairfield's Heath Center has reported
75 cases of students with the flu or flu-like
symptoms this academic year, which is actu-ally
down from last year.
'Spring Break came at a perfect time,
because right before
Spring Break, we were
seeing a lot of the flu,"
said Gary Nelson, di-rector
of Health Ser-vices
at Fairfield.
Flu seasons are
always unpredictable,
and this year has been
one of the worst.
NELSON According to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention
[CDC], the timing of the flu season
and its severity depend on many factors,
including what influenza viruses are circu-lating
and how well viruses in the vaccine
match the ones circulating.
Each year, the CDC makes their best
educated guess on which influenza strains
will be active in the coming year.
"This year's flu shot is less effective
SEE "LESS" ON P. 6
BY TOM CLEARY
PlTTENGER
When Jeff Werneke took the Rut-gers
head volleyball coach position, he
left behind a program that is among the
best in the MAAC. His former position
was filled on Monday, by Pittsburgh
assistant coach Alija Pittenger.
Pittenger, who graduated from the
University of Michigan in 2001, had
spent the past five years at Pittsburgh
University, serving as the lead assistant
coach under Chris Beerman.
"I knew Fairfield had a success-ful
program and, as soon as I heard
about the opening, I pursued it," said
Pittenger.
"They won the conference in the
regular season and have a lot of talent,
and I want to keep that going."
Pittenger
was hired after
a month-and-a-half
long search
for a coach,
led by Ath'etic
Director Gene
Doris.
"We are
excited to wel-come
Alija to
the Fairfield
University community as our volley-ball
coach," said Doris.
"She brings with her a wealth
of experience at the highest levels of
NCAA competition. Combined with
her enthusiasm for the sport, she's the
perfect fit to continue the Fairfield vol-leyball
tradition."
While a player at Michigan, Pit-tenger,
an outside hitter and setter, led
her team to three NCAA tournaments
in 1997, 1999 and 2000. In 2000,
Fairfield played Pittenger's Michigan
squad and were swept.
The Wolverines also reached the
top 25 for the first time in school his-tory
in 2000. When she left Michigan,
she was the team leader in digs and
second in kills.
Following her playing career,
Pittenger became an underclassman
assistant at Michigan and then moved
on to Southern Indiana. She spent one
season at Southern Indiana, helping to
lead them to a conference champion-ship,
a berth in the NCAA Division
II tournament and a first round vic-tory.
After that season she went on to
Pittsburgh.
"I got a lot [out] of playing vol-leyball
— competitiveness and con-
SEE "FORMER" ON P. 6
>■••■■■*«■•••
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