• CABRINI COLLEGE, RADNOR, PA.
Vol. XXI, No. 3
December 19, 1974
You decide
Was tlle proposal
1?•.13.
Worldfood
Areyouaware? by Fran MacDonald With the epidemic of shortages that have occurred in the past year, the thought of a new shortage no long sends any panic through the American nation. It might, however, if we were a part of the millions who woke up yester day and will wake up tomorrow without food. Today, ten thousand people will die due to the lack of enough food or the right kind of food. The world food problem has reached crisis proportion and steps must be taken immediately to halt the daily increase of deaths due to malnutrition and starvation. Th ere are several startling facts on this food problem that should be known: • The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization projects a 3.6 percent increase in food demand in developing countries in the l-980's but only a 3.3 percent increase in food production by these same countries. • Four hundred million people already suffer from malnutrition . • To add 250 calories per day to the diets of four hundred million people would require an extra ten million tons of cerea l _grains per year. • To help prevent continued starvation in the world, in places like the sub-Sahara, Bangladesh and India, between 7 and 11 million tons of grain are needed. • World grain reserves are estimated at less that 27 DAYS - the lowest in thirty years. All of these facts point in one direction - towards widespread and continued starvation and malnutrition. The cause of this food shortage are not new nor can they be pinpointed to a single factor . During the first half of the 1960's, , food production in the developing coun- tries began to fall behind population growth, bringing rising food prices, growing food scarcity and increasing dependence on food aid from the United States. These are general causes for the shortage. There are also several specifi c causes which greatly affect the production of food in the world. The first of these causes is population
growth . Expanding at about two percent per year, the world population will double in little more than a generation. Merely maintaining current per capita consumption levels will therefore require a doubling of food production over the next generation. Each year, world grain production must increase three percent simp ly to keep pa ce with the expanding population. The fact that food production has decreased in recent years already creates a ,s hor tage. The year l y increase in population further intensifies this shorta ge. Drought and crop failure const itute a second reason for the univer sa l food shortage. A Ru ssian crop failure in 1972 resulted in the purchase of 28 million tons of wheat, mostly from the U.S. This wiped out most of t he resources that could have been spread to ot her needy nations. In India, overgrazing in Sohel because of an increa se in food demand has helped to advance desert area. This is land that could have been used to support additional agricultural resources to feed millions of hungry people . Floods in Bangladesh knocked out much of its rice crop, destroying another valuable food source . These countries have turned to other nations for help , severely depleting the resources of the world as a whole . The in creased appetite of people, especially the Ameri can people, for grain or grain consuming product s ·represe nt a third ca use . Grain consumed directly provides 52 percent of man 's food energy supply. Consumed indirectly in the form of livestock products, it provides a sizable share of the remainder. In resource terms, grains occupy more than 70 percent of the world 's crop area. An average American consumes close to one ton of grain per year. Only two hundred pounds of it are in the form of bread and cereal. The remainder goes into the production of meat, poultry , eggs and milk. This over-€mphasis on grain consuming products, especially beef, has (Continued
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by Michelle Perna On April 2, 1974 an article entitled "Where do babies come from?," was written for "Loquitur" in an attempt to communi cate the feelings of st udents , especially the female students on cam.pus, concerning the present women's health facilities available on Cabrini's campus . A proposal that "a women's counsellor with experience in the area of sex education and knowledge about the area facilities available to women, be brought in once or twice a week or once every two weeks," was presented in t he article . The remainder of"this article includes what has been done since April 2, 1974. Whether or not what follows can be considered an answer to the April 2 article is left for you to decide. What has been done? After the article was written, what was done to follow up such a request ? The proposal was brought to Council of College Affairs , and Sr. Mona Hallo ck , Vice President for Student Affairs, was asked to meet with women who would apply for the position. This took place during t he remainder of April and through the month of May. With the close of school ca me a temporary halt in progress. At the beginning of the present year the proposal was again brought .up to Council of College Affairs. ext , a student group was organized to represent Council meetings with Sr . Mona . Sr. Mona then drew up what she considered to be the student's view. This was presented to Council and the student committee rewrote the proposal. The student proposal included the following: The students, both men and women, feel that an information referral service be available to them. This service would deal with areas such as, gynecological problems, venereal disease, contraception, and pregnancy. Because of the nature of these concerns, the students suggest that the 'personal counsellor' be a laywomen, who is not otherwise connected with the college, giving the student
answered?
a greater degree of freedom and anonymity if desired. In requesting the referral aspect also, the students have in mind not only an oncampus staff - chaplain, psychologist, nurse to whom they have ready and direct access, but off-campus professionals and facilities gynecologists, clinics - who are qualified and within their reach financially. Aware of the position of the Catholic Church on the topic of abortion, the students hold no expectations that the college provide abortion referrals. The student proposal, along with an additional proposal drawn up by Sr. Mona , including specific guidelines for the service and a letter from Ms . Sharon Schwar~e reinforcing Council's position were forwarded to the Board of Trustee members before their Octobe r 28 meeting. On October 28, t he Board .of Trustee member s met . On November 1, Council of College Affair s received a letter from Sr. Mary Louise Sullivan, Cabrini President , stating t ha t the proposals had been rejected. The main thrust of the letter stated the following: "The unanimous opinion of the Trustees was that such a service should not be con ·nected with the college. The Trustees did recommend that the counselling and health services already available to Cabrini students be reviewed and strengthened where necessary." Sr. Mar y Loui se t hen met with members of Council of College Affairs at t heir November 11, meeting to dis cus s the Board 's reasons for rejection and their suggestions for a review of t he present facilities (three nurses, head residents, chaplain, psychologists, dean of students, etc.) . Sr. Mary Loui se also suggested that a group from Council of College Affairs work with these eleven peopl e to strengthen the present service. A group of students from Council have agreed to meet with this group of people. A meeting date has not yet been set.
Parent's Weekend
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