The Greek Week Central Committee would like to set the record straight as to our reasons to no longer offer points as an incentive to donate blood for the Blood Drive.

We have made this decision after much thought and consideration for all members of our greek community at Iowa State.

It is our responsibility as an organization that is solely based around the promotion of greek life to encompass all of our members.

There are several reasons that individuals cannot or do not wish to donate blood: religious beliefs, private medical history and sexual orientation are among the most common.

Therefore, we do not feel right about offering points that are supposed to act as an incentive, but can also have the opposite result of making people feel pressured into something they do not want to do.

We are not boycotting the ISU Spring Blood Drive. As a fellow student organization, we respect the hard work and planning that goes into hosting a weeklong event.

The blood drive is a campuswide event that has the opportunity to recruit from more than 27,000 donors. Putting the pressure on Greek Week Central and the greek community and blaming them for speculated blood collection loss is unfair. We encourage the other 89 percent of the student population to do their share as well.

The greek community prides itself on being service-oriented and philanthropic. If this is indeed true, we should not need incentives through Greek Week points to contribute to a good cause.

The Greek Week Central Committee challenges each and every ISU student, especially greek members, to participate in the drive through either donation or volunteering. We encourage people to donate blood because it is their personal decision to do so for the right reasons.

This is a chance to prove to everyone that we don’t need points as an incentive to do something good for our state. Just because things are not associated with Greek Week doesn’t mean that goals can’t be achieved – it’s up to you, Iowa State, to set the record straight.

Courtney Knupp

Greek Week general chairperson 2007

Senior

Agricultural business