Donations forfeited

By Editorial

Desperate times do call for desperate measures. This is all too true right now as the world is facing the aftermath of some of the worst natural disasters we've ever seen. Unfortunately, Santa Clara hasn't really recognized the "desperate measures" part.

As reported in last week's issue, University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., sent an e-mail to undergraduates explaining the university would not be collecting any kind of donations for relief from the recent earthquake in Pakistan and India. Instead, students and faculty were encouraged to search "earthquake relief" on the Web to find an agency working in that area.

Upon searching "earthquake relief" on google.com, the first sites that pop up are USAID for Tsunami relief, the Earthquake Relief Fund for Orphans that encourages donations to Katrina victims, and a series of blogs responding to the disaster. One must navigate the junk links to find what one is looking for, and even then there is no guarantee the chosen organization is legitimate.

And if these aid relief organizations were going to be so easy to find, then why did the administration say they did not have "a readily identifiable agency in the area to receive contributions"?

That's odd, considering Intandesh, Santa Clara's Indian, Pakistani and Bangledeshi student union, raised over $4,000 last week for Catholic Relief Services, an international relief organization working in the affected area. Catholic Relief Services has local contacts in San Jose who link the local communities to global causes. Sounds like a "readily identifiable agency" was hiding out in Santa Clara's back yard.

The Santa Clara challenges the administration to rethink their non-involvement in raising funds for earthquake relief. As Locatelli said, we will "keep all the victims in our prayers."

But in this kind of emergency, sometimes prayers aren't enough.