I am sure that many students on the Boston College campus— myself included—have found themselves caught up with one of the Seven Deadly Sins, swept away in a deadly riptide of envy. Despite going to one of the best schools in the country, in one of the best cities in the country, in one of the best countries in the world (no bias), we have all at one point or another experienced a twinge of jealousy.

Whether it is the girl with the awe-inspiring singing voice who skillfully juggles the Honors Program and a great boyfriend, the “really, really ridiculously good-looking” guy who went home at the end of the kegger with the girl you were eying all night, the kid who does not buy the books and shows up to class only for the mid-term and final and still gets an A, or the football player—just because he is a football player and your athletic endeavors are limited to solo cups and a ping-pong table, we have all been there.

Previously, something that might have comforted us was the old adage, “Well, at least you have your health.” Thanks for the support, Mom, but unfortunately, thanks to the new threat of H1N1 on campus, our health may no longer be able to satiate us in times of jealousy and self-doubt. Although the University has put forth a great amount of effort not only to spread awareness about swine fl u but also to educate the community about prevention of the virus, multiple cases have already been reported and the numbers are growing.

Part of the problem with the lack of consciousness on campus regarding H1N1 can be attributed to the means through which the administration has chosen to communicate the pertinent information. If one were to happen across the main page of the Boston College website, the link to swine fl u information is a small maroon rectangle that, to those of us who lack technological savvy, appears more like a decoration than a useful resource. Moreover, after one has signed in, the main page of Portal has no direct links to any of the three main BC swine fl u documents: the Academic Protocols, the Guidelines for Season Flu and H1N1 viruses, or the latest Update.

Even worse, another one of the ways BC has tried to inform students about the threat of swine fl u has been e-mail. What is the likelihood that many people actually noticed that in their inboxes, let alone read it? Considering I also receive e-mails from BC about parking when I don’t have a car, the probability that many students were able to distinguish that this e-mail was important—and then took the time to scrutinize its contents— is slim at best.

While the free hand sanitizer distributed by the Office of Residential Life has certainly come in handy, college students are not the most discriminating individuals when it comes to free stuff. Just because we have Purell with a BC logo, does not guarantee we will consciously use it to prevent the spread of germs. We may just use it after touching something really gross, like used napkins left on a table in Eagle’s Nest or helping our friends after they drunkenly drip fro-yo from Lower all over our futons.

I will be the first to admit that I have jealousy issues when it comes to people who have the immune systems of oxen. They never seem to suffer from the common cold, don’t sneeze like maniacs when the flowers start blooming in April, don’t require gloves and hat when it falls below forty degrees (Celsius), or don’t think swine flu is a serious threat. Someone could sniffle in O’Neill and I, who prefer to study in Bapst, will end up under the weather for two weeks.

For all the other students on campus like me, I am asking everyone to please, please, be more careful. H1N1 affects people under 25 in greater numbers than people over 64, according to data collected since the April 2009 outbreak. Cover your mouths when you sneeze or cough, both of which the Center for Disease Control classifi es as the most common means though which germs are spread. As the cap of a Snapple bottle has taught us, a single sneeze releases 40,000 aerosol droplets at a rate of 100 miles per hour. That is an awful lot of airborne germs for one measly “Achoo.”

Also, stay away from your friends who are sick! There is a new phenomenon called a “Swine Flu Party,” where a group of healthy people will hang out with a person with H1N1 to build up their immunity. As the CDC explains on their website, this will not work. Even if you personally don’t get sick, you may transmit the germs to other people who weren’t cool enough to be invited to your f u fiesta. Seriously, save your partying for the weekends.

If you are the one who becomes infected with H1N1, please understand no means no. That means no going to class, no being around other people, no physical contact. Nobody will be impressed if you show up to class with swine fl u, nobody will think you’re a warrior for being out in public with a contagious illness, and nobody will thank you if you get them sick.

For further information on what you can do to protect yourself and others during flu season, visit the Center for Disease Control website or simply follow that little maroon box on the BC homepage.

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