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Since When?
I was sitting on the streetcar the other morning heading to work, reading the local free Metro paper, when I came across this article about Carleton University cutting out its fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) because the disease wasn't diverse enough. According to the University spokesperson the disease only affects white people and more so men, then any other demographic and therefore wasn't diverse enough to be used for fundraising efforts at the University. I was fuming when I read that. First of all, thats like saying, 'oh i'm sorry we can't help with raising money for your disease, because not enough people have it'. I have a very good friend of mine who has CF and the comments made by the University really bothered me down to the core. I was appaled and outraged at the article and it sincerely almost had me in tears.
The University since then, has done some press to cover their asses, even releasing this statement by Brittany Smyth President of Carleton Univeristy Students' Association:
"The responsible thing to do is to reverse the decision. I believe this issue has been blown out of proportion but the motion was never meant to imply that raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis research was not a worthwhile cause. I do apologize for the negative attention Carleton has received." [The Canadian Press].
I'm sorry, but the damage as already really been done and reversing the decision will not change ANYTHING. There was absolutely no need for the comments that were made in the beginning to even be made. They should have just went about what they were doing and no one would have had to get up in arms around it. Of course, that didn't happen. Of course the comments made were seen as nothing that wasn't 'not appropriate'. I'm sorry, but when you say that you aren't going to fundraise for a disease that isn't diverse enough, that is completely and utterly inappropriate in every sense of the word. CF is a hereditary disease and it is fatal, and in no way what so ever are the only people affected white men.
Manda's note: I know this is a rant, and I technically shouldn't be making any notes on this at all, but I would like to simply put out in the universe how completely and utterly disgusted I am by this entire situation. The fact that the only reason they're "reversing their decision" is because of bad press, is pathetic. It doesn't matter what kind of person Cystic Fibrosis effects. It's a horrifying illness, and the fact that they thought that a disease that has a death sentence attached to it wasn't worth their time because it's not "diverse" enough is a sign of how horribly skewed the world is in the ways of trying to be politically correct. Help the people that need to be helped, that's all that should matter in the long run.
To see the article about the decision, click here.
