By wpengine February 17, 2003
More than six busloads full of Ithacans, Cornellians and Ithaca College students attended an anti-war rally in New York City on Saturday. “There are a million people here,” noted an NYPD officer Saturday, referring to the positive turn-out at Saturday’s anti-war rally in Manhattan. The numbers actually reported ranged from 100,000 to a half-million protestors, who were part of an international day of action against a war on Iraq. Protests occurred on the same day all over the world with numbers reaching into the millions in Europe. New York Times estimates range from half to three-quarters of a million for Hyde Park in London, England, and 200,000 for Berlin, Germany. “Someone told us that there had been a million in London, two million in Rome, and half a million in Berlin. Figures from the BBC the next morning confirmed more or less those numbers, summarizing that about eight million had demonstrated in 600 cities around the world. Right now, my feeling is that this might actually make a difference,” said Jim Rundle, Labor Education Coordinator at the school of ILR. “There were even protesters in Thailand and Japan. There were literally millions of people around the world standing up for peace and justice,” said Dio Tsitouras ’05. While at least 500 people from the city of Ithaca, Cornell and Ithaca College attended the rally in Manhattan, a march was held in Ithaca to coincide with “The World Says No To War” day. “It was a really historical event, because if you look at the numbers of people that were participating all over the world, it was approximately 11 million … people were condemning the U.S. and condemning our president,” said Alicia Swords grad. “I had no idea it was going to be so huge. There were literally people everywhere, three avenues and 20 blocks long. I have never been to a protest before. So it was quite a first time experience. Demonstrating is not given much credit in our country as an organizational tool. But, Saturday the amount of dissent around the country was amazing, not to mention the world,” Tsitouras said. The rally was centered on the east side at 49th St. and First Avenue where the organizers, primarily the activists’ coaltion, United for Peace and Justice, had set up a large stage where a litany of singers, actors, writers and politicians spoke and performed. The organizers had hoped for a huge march to Central Park following the rally, which began at noon. However, the city of New York refused to grant them a permit for such a march, even after the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city for not granting the protesters the permit. “Three avenues were taken over for about twenty blocks. Other avenues and streets were filled with people moving toward or away from the demonstration. We were constantly amazed at the size of the crowds everywhere we went. It was obvious that it was way over 100,000. The crowd was mostly good-natured, but the mood of the cops got much more serious as we got into main demonstration. We saw a scuffle and a few people dragged away,” Rundle said. At the New York City rally, interspersed with speakers who urged the U.S. government not to attack Iraq, performers like Pete Seeger and Richie Havens sang songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Freedom.” “Peace! Peace! Peace!,” said South African Bishop Desmond Tutu. “Listen to the rest of the world– and the rest of the world is saying ‘Give the Inspectors Time.'” Martin Luther King III declared, “Just because you have the biggest gun doesn’t mean you must use it,” from the stage. Other local politicians spoke on the pending war. “As people of conscience we are responsible for what our government does. We are here exercising that responsibility. We will continue to be heard, to stand strong, to speak truth to power, to say no to a unilateral pre-emptive war,” said former Borough President of Manhattan Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service. While thousands of people watched and listened to the main stage, many thousands more were unable to get to First Ave. where the action was occurring. “We got there at 11 am and stayed until 5 pm and could not get within ten blocks of the UN. The cops were basically diverting us and telling everyone try on 51, try on 67, maybe 72, maybe … etc. It was ridiculous. We never really made it to first avenue except for a brief time around 5 pm,” said Tara Hatami grad. Alex Bomstein ’04, of the Cornell Anti-War Coalition had a similar experience. “We got down to 2nd Ave, down to 48th st, they kept shoving us north. We got to be a big crowd. There was a big crowd of us trying to get to 1st Ave. We were slowly going up 2nd Ave, and when we got stuck in the 50’s somewhere people started to chant ‘Whose Streets? OUR STREETS!,'” he said. Bomstein’s group never made it close enough to the rally to hear the speakers. Many protestors had similar experience with police, who were attempting to control the growing crowds and keep traffic flowing simultaneously. While initially only First Ave. was closed to traffic, protestors took over Second, Third and Lexington Avenues at various points in the day for twenty blocks in either direction of the rally. “At one point we got in a large group of people on 63 and 2nd where people started to get angry, and started to chant “let us through” and “make a right for peace” in an attempt to get past the police barriers,” Hatami said. “Some people broke down the barriers on the side of the pen. There was a bridge somewhere over First Ave., and under the bridge, people were drumming, singing and meditating–saying “Ohm”– in a circle that grew to 50 or 60 feet wide in diameter.” As the crowds grew, police reacted to the disruption of traffic. Many protesters became disillusioned with the confrontations that ensued. “Police were representing the worst forms of brutality and control by keeping people cut off in pens,” Swords added. “They were trying to subvert the whole thing, trying to get us to go home,” Bomstein said. Estimates of arrests ranged from 50 to 100 protesters who came into conflict with police. “A small bunch of people made it through [the barricades], one protester was hit in the face by an officer and another was pushed against a building and arrested,” Hatami said. While news sources reported several hundred counter-protesters on the West side of Manhattan, a few were intermingled with the crowds on the East Side. “There were two coutner-protesters up in an apartment building with signs that said ‘We support our government,'” Bomstein said. “It’s very unlike wars in the past where people were proud to fight for their country.” While the protesters were broken into smaller groups and separated by street and intersection, there was solidarity among the crowds. “[They] was [sic] extremely diverse both by race and age. Signs ranged from humorous to somber to didactic to slightly obscene. Some had reproductions of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ with ‘Bagdad’ written over them. I expect the generally upbeat mood will change drastically if the bombs start to fall,” Rundle added. “Part of the fun is the various shows of support you get spontaneously along the way. For example, the tour bus industry and the piano business seem to be pretty solidly anti-war. People riding the buses would wave and shout from their seats on the top level as they rode by, but the best part was the tour guides lined up at one of the stops, all in bright red coats, who cheered us, stomped their feet, and joined our chants. But the really bizarre display was in the window of a Balwin Piano store where, in a floor-to-
By wpengine February 17, 2003
“Egg Donor Needed … Compensation $10,000 plus expenses,” said an ad in The Sun last week. Maybe you’ve seen ads similar to this one. If you check the classifieds and peruse the 1/8 and 1/16th page ads in your local college newspaper you might see ads just like these. “Stanford student wanted for sperm donor. $15k offered. Intelligent, good looking, over 6 ft. tall. No history of self or family addictions,” said an ad in the Palo Alto Daily News. These ads have become if not standard at least prominent in campus newspapers. The most famous was a series of ads run in Ivy League newspapers in 1999 offering $50,000 for a suitable egg donor. The ad was specific and sought certain criteria such as 5 feet 10, at least an SAT score of 1400, and other particulars. Over 200 hundred women responded to the ad. It was later revealed that the wife of the couple seeking donors had graduated from an Ivy League school and was merely seeking a close proximity of herself. Do a search on the internet and you’ll find that there is a significant market for Ivy League egg and sperm donors. One company, Tiny Treasures, located in Massachusetts, offers “Extraordinary Ivy League [Egg] Donors”. These are recent women Ivy League graduates who are offering their eggs for $8000 to $15000. “I think it’s unbelievable, and kind of strange, although hard to compare,” said Jessica Lucent spokesperson for the New England Cyrobank Center, located in Cambridge, Mass., when asked to comment on the recent trend of high priced offers for donations. East Coast Assisted Parenting, of Pennsylvania has a very similar “Exceptional Egg/Sperm Donors” database. They state that they “Encourage college students to apply”. Criteria for their elite donor program listed on their website are, “Tested exceptionally high for IQ test (over 125), Candidates who completed PhD in either Science, Mathematics, Computer Science, Literature, Psychology, Art or Music, Medical and Law students (graduates), Ivy League Students (graduates).” The ad and the general trend beg a number of ethical questions. Many people question the morality of selling one’s biological assets. Professor Michael Goldberg who teaches a human genetics course here at Cornell, said, “The only argument against this [trend] is that it is commodifying life, but that is a rather abstract idea. These are adult people making decisions.” The trend is not limited to women as the Stanford ad indicates; elite male students are vigorously recruited to donate their sperm. Women are however, often paid much higher then men due to the difficulties in obtaining their eggs. Women must take a series of medications meant to induce hyperactivity in the ovaries so that more than one egg can be extracted at a time. Women donors are highly medicated and must be monitored very carefully. Many of the country’s sperm banks, or cryobanks are located near college campuses. This is no coincidence. Cryobanks actively recruit students and more often than not, these are students at the most selective universities. California Cyrobank, headquartered in Los Angeles, has a branch office in Cambridge, Mass, where they recruit Harvard and MIT students for sperm donations. Marla Eby, a company spokesperson, said that the majority of clients have exhausted all other resources before resorting to artificial insemination via donor. “Most clients have spent 1000’s of dollars on hi-tech procedures and are totally infertile,” she said. The process of donating is not a simple one of just walking in the door and handing over a sample. Applicants are screened for various STDs, they have a full medical examination and a three generation medical history is closely examined for genetic defects. Only 3 to 5 percent of applicants are finally approved; a similar percentage of women donors meet final qualification standards. Depending on the sperm bank, donors are required to consent to from anywhere between six months to up to a 2 year obligation. During that period, they will be asked to donate 2 to 3 times a week, and for quality purposes, they are asked to remain abstinent. Women usually donate for a period of six months in which each period of ovulation 10-15 eggs will be extracted. Pay scales for sperm differ among banks. Fairfax Cryobank gives up $200 depending on the quality of the specimen and the size of the aliquot. Other banks such as California Cryobank give $75 per sample with a policy of no differentiation in pay. Because of the time commitment and the steady pay, most students and banks consider donating sperm a part time job, one that can pull in about 400 to 900 dollars a month. Fairfax will also however give slightly more for well educated donors. “Doctorate candidates are paid more. It is definitely a scale of how much we want the donor,” said Suzanne Seitz, Fairfax Cryobank spokesperson. “The doctorate list is growing and sells better than anything else”, she said. Fairfax also deals with egg donors. Seitz, speaking of the ads for egg donors, said, “Couples are very interested in finding woman who are intelligent and that really is not too surprising. If [the parents] have a choice they will try to give their child an advantage.” This is where the moral ambiguity becomes very complex. A Commonweal Magazine editorial in 1999 said of this trend, “when it comes to the commercialization of human reproduction and the marketing of human eggs, we are fast returning to a world where persons carry a price tag, and where the cash values of some persons(or at least of their genetic “endowment”) is far greater than that of others.” Many critics point out that a Ivy League genes do not guarantee smart offspring. As Jay Dixit recently said, in a Salon editorial, “It all involves a roll of the genetic dice. The human genome is far too complex for a ‘what you see is what you get’ principle.'” Lucent said that education is one of many criteria that they look for in donors. All of the sperm banks said that clients often seek close facsimiles of themselves, and thus aesthetics are equally important if not more than intelligence or from what school the donor graduated. She says that there are 3 types of women who will decide on artificial insemination: infertile couples, single mothers by choice, or women couples. In reference to the active recruitment of elite students Lucent said, “We are in a great geographical location in the sense of quality of young intelligent people.” For all the debating many remain ambivalent. An anonymous Cornell student, responding to the trend, said, “It’s a great way to make money.” Prof. Goldberg said, “I don’t understand the motivation for egg and sperm donation, but beyond that I don’t see why it’s any one’s business as long as there is a strong contractual relationship between donor and recipient.”Archived article by Michael Margolis