Bloody liar!

We would like to commend the IU chapter of Gamma Phi Beta this week. \nThe sorority hosted its second-annual blood drive Tuesday. The event, which raised 75 to 100 pints last year, was held to help meet Indiana hospitals' increasing demand for blood (Indiana Daily Student, Tuesday).\nAttending to this need is an important effort. According to the March 11 issue of the Northwest Indiana Times, the Red Cross tries to have a seven-to10-day supply of blood but typically only maintains a supply for three days or less. And, according to the Red Cross Web site, an American needs a blood transfusion every two seconds. \n But perhaps the best part of Gamma Phi's philanthropic event isn't that they put it on -- it's that they did it without encouraging participants to lie.\n Unfortunately, the same sorority at University of Missouri-Columbia didn't get that part right. According to The Associated Press, its Gamma Phi chapter also recently attempted to aid the Red Cross with a competitive campus blood drive -- but the zeal surging through one member's veins was enough to "taint" the whole process. \nEven though the American Red Cross tells those who are sick have recently received tattoos or piercings not to donate blood, sophomore Christie Key, the chapter's blood donation coordinator, e-mailed fellow sorority sisters to tell them otherwise.\n"I dont (sic) care if you got a tattoo last week, LIE. I dont (sic) care if you have a cold. Suck it up. We all do. LIE. Recent peircings (sic)? LIE."\nWhoa, Christie. First thing to remember is "i-before-e." The second thing you might want to recall is the reason you were holding a blood drive in the first place. \nKey's lapse of perspective might be due to the fact that the Columbia campus has a history of blood donor excellence. In 1999, the school earned mention in the Guinness Book of Records for taking in 3,156 units of blood -- the largest single-site, single-day blood collection (The Associated Press, Tuesday).\nBut surely pride for the school's success couldn't possibly override a concern for the welfare of donors and future transfusion patients. Could it?\nKey's gross error in judgment is disturbing on a number of levels, which probably don't need to be outlined. All we can do is hope the incident was enough to jostle her motives back to the altruistic side. \nMeanwhile, we can be thankful IU junior Shiva Kalaiselvan has already got her reasons for donating blood straight. \n"There are a lot of people out there that need it, and if you can, why not?" she told the IDS Tuesday. "There's no reason not to if you're healthy."\nIf you're healthy. Who knew what an important qualifier this could be?