Canadian Students Drop Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser

Posted on November 26, 2008
Filed Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Mike Dang

Our Canadian neighbors are causing a pretty big stir in the college philanthropy world. According to the National Post, student government leaders from Ottawa’s Carleton University voted to drop a cystic fibrosis charity as the beneficiary of its annual fundraiser because the hereditary disease isn’t racially “inclusive” enough. The students based this on the revelation that cystic fibrosis “only affect[s] white people, and primarily men.” The charity’s foundation chief executive, Cathleen Morrison, was obviously dismayed:

The rationale for dropping cystic fibrosis as the beneficiary is not correct, she said. CF is diagnosed just as often among girls as boys, although the health of girls deteriorates more rapidly, she said. It is commonly considered an illness that affects Caucasians, but that includes people from the Middle East, South America, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

The president of the student association said that the decision was based more on the fact that students wanted to start supporting a different charity each year. Well, this makes a lot more sense and is much better than using the ancient “blame the white man” argument.

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