Op-Ed
Gannett's Gaffe
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The Red Line
The Red Line
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It has been a year since Gannett began charging $25 for standard HIV antibody testing, a policy which continues despite resolutions by both the Student Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, as well as the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation that all Americans should be routinely tested for HIV. Of course not all services can be free at Gannett, but HIV testing is free at the vast majority of university health departments — including many of Cornell’s Ivy League peers — for the following reasons:
1) The social stigma surrounding HIV discourages students from being tested. Despite the public health campaign since the AIDS crisis in the ’80s, the disease still retains many of its negative associations, further embedded in social taboos about sex. AIDS is still cited as a scourge sent by God and associated primarily with “risk groups” instead of being part of standard medical checkups for everyone. Just this summer, members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed on Cornell’s campus, carrying signs reading, “AIDS cures fags.” The fear and secrecy surrounding HIV and issues of sexual health make testing an anxiety-ridden experience and one emphasized primarily for the LGBT community. The fact that Gannett charges for HIV testing only exacerbates this problem.
2) The biology of HIV also works in the favor of the disease. Unlike an outbreak of tuberculosis or flu, the incubation period for HIV can last up to 10 years, allowing the disease to spread undetected while the infected person remains symptom-free. In fact, the CDC estimates that half of those infected with HIV in the United States are unaware of it. And yet this symptom-free period is the most crucial intervention point; it is during this time that HIV is most often spread and when drugs are most effective in extending lifespan and improving quality of life for those infected. But to someone who is symptom-free, the $25 or more that an HIV test costs at Gannett seems like a needless expenditure.
3) Student budgets are limited. Many undergraduate students work and borrow money to afford the $48,000 that a year at Cornell costs. For graduate students whose yearly income rises just above $20,000, the strain is just as burdensome. While in other cases — for school supplies or books — a student might ask his or her parents for extra money, many students feel uncomfortable talking to their parents about sex, much less admitting they are sexually active and asking for money for an HIV test.
4) HIV testing pays for itself. Researchers at Yale and Harvard have determined — using statistical modeling — that routine HIV testing would in fact save the healthcare system money; the cost of testing would be offset by a decrease in the number of infections. Representatives from Gannett estimate that free HIV testing for the entire University population would cost $18,000 per semester. The average yearly cost for HIV treatment for a single person is $25,200. Of course, it would be the University that paid for HIV testing and the insurance company that paid for treatment, but given its vast financial resources, $2 per student does not seem too extravagant an investment in students’ well being.
5) Free HIV testing has symbolic value. It fosters a culture of openness about issues of sexual health and helps encourage healthy attitudes and habits. Lack of free HIV testing says something about the University's priorities, in this case something incongruous with its mission’s high-minded charge to “apply the results of [its] endeavors” to public service.
At heart, Gannett says the problem is about money. Representatives explained that it was not a Gannett decision to stop offering HIV testing last fall; the State stopped funding the program. They expressed their frustration to have been removed as a free testing site in last March’s edition of “Dear Uncle Ezra.”
For those students who insist on a free HIV test, they suggested turning to the Tompkins County Health Department, which provides free rapid HIV testing.
Cornell should not outsource its responsibility to its students. And the availability of free HIV testing should not be contingent on outside budgetary resources. While many healthcare professionals at Gannett have lamented the loss of State funding, a year later the University has not made up for the shortfall, in spite of the fact that University departments submitted budget proposals last January. It is difficult to believe that a university with a physician president, a $2.7 billion operating budget this year and a $5.1 billion endowment can do nothing but say its hands are tied in the face of a crucial $36,000 investment in student welfare.
Gabriel Arana is a graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at gga3@cornell.edu. The Red Line will appear Thursdays this semester.