The best in last week's editorials from college campuses across the nation

University of Connecticut

The Bush administration has already threatened to veto the Security and Freedom Ensured Act. The act has not even been debated in a congressional committee to date, yet the administration is already unwilling to accept this reform.

The SAFE act must be debated in an appropriate manner. If Congress can debate the act above election year politics, the bipartisan support the act commands will prove to the president that the SAFE Act is a far better choice than renewing the PATRIOT Act.

From all accounts, the PATRIOT Act has infringed on too many individual rights. Finding an appropriate balance between civil liberties and securities is a hard task Congress must now debate. In the end, passage of the Security and Freedom Ensured Act will ensure a proper symmetry.

- "SAFE better than PATRIOT," from University of Connecticut's The Daily Campus

University of Kansas

Healthy competition has long been a strategy used by those trying to promote community service.

But the April 7 and 8 blood drive at the University of Missouri showed that competition can get out of hand and bring out the worst in people.

That drive was part of the university's "Greek Week," where fraternities and sororities competed to see who could donate the most.

Christie Key, blood donation coordinator for Gamma Phi Beta sorority at Missouri, sent an e-mail to her sorority sisters advising them to lie about their health in order to bypass safety guidelines for donating blood.

Key's actions take the noble concept of a blood drive, a community event designed to help people, and turns it into a pathetic attempt to bring attention to her sorority, endanger people and waste the Red Cross' time.

- "Philanthropy should be noble, not forced," from University of Kansas' University Daily Kansan

Virginia Tech

Medical use of marijuana warrants controlled scientific studies conducted by appropriate research facilities, but at this point the drug remains illegal and its benefits are purely speculative. Consequently, doctors should not freely suggest its use, especially in respect to children with irregular behavioral patterns.

Furthermore, without conclusive results from thorough research, there is no reasonable motivation to fully legalize and standardize its use. If it is to be legalized at all, the illicit weed must undergo the same rigorous testing as any other marketplace drug before it is legally authorized as a prescription medicine. Moreover, the federal government must demand the demonstration of significant advantages in marijuana treatments before granting approval.

- "Marijuana too risky for pediatric care," from Virginia Tech's The Collegiate Times

Rutgers University

AIDS is terrifying, and so are the thoughts of any sexually transmitted infection. At a time in our lives when college students tend to experiment with sex, being more promiscuous and possibly not as careful as we hopefully will become, safe sexual practices should be highly valued. However, too often they are not.

Everybody who decides to engage in sexual intercourse should always use protection and should be tested regularly. The only safe sex is protected sex.

Potential AIDS outbreaks are frightening ordeals for all those involved, but those not immediately affected contemplate their own sexual behavior and realize how easy it is for something to go terribly wrong.

We should all learn from this potential outbreak and use it as a reminder to practice safe sex.

- "Protected sex, only sex," from Rutgers University's Daily Targum

- Compiled from U-Wire