Is this different than in Europe? We do have lots of high profile University Hospitals. Hospitals around / with university for our highest education and research.
I would most likely elect to donate to the vast majority of them, however, compulsory use of my blood in research without giving me the option to even give my consent, or opt out in the rare occurrence that it is of moral or ethical concern to me, is anti-American, and I disagree on it on two accounts: both principally, and practically. In an age where we give up more and more of our liberties and freedoms for a little more convenience, I believe you have to take stands where you can. If the Red Cross would like to ask me if I would like my blood used for medical research, and would disclose what type of research, I would be more than happy to donate to them again.
I can't speak for the Red Cross, but in the research settings I was involved in, donated blood (or tissue) was subject to strict review, from ethical review boards, guaranteed donor anonymity and required record-keeping.
Blood (in my setting) was from healthy anonymous donors, and was used for experimental models. The blood would be spun down on a gradient to separate into red and white and other fractions, and we would typically take just the white cells for immunology experiments, perhaps with more specific FACS/MACS separation as well, before use in the actual experiments. Because we wanted "generic" white cells, the donor background was irrelevant and we had no information about the donor. [We could provide the package lot number to the NHS if there was a need to pass information back, but we ourselves would never be allowed to know the identity.]
The other side was diseased samples from sick patients. For example, cancer biopsies. One lab member did a lot of work with prostate cancer, and got samples delivered after prostate biopsies or surgeries in local hospitals. These required explicit donor consent, on top of the anonymity already in place. They can again be tied back via sample/lot numbers, but the patient identity is fully protected.
The main problem with asking for consent with blood donations for specific medical research is that the blood isn't allocated for a specific purpose up front. It's easier to ask generically for consent for any purpose, then it can be directed to research if it's surplus, or split into fractions and used for multiple purposes. Sometimes we didn't know we would get any blood until the hospital phoned us a few hours before delivery, and sometimes they didn't have any. It's difficult logistically to handle this (though not impossible, of course).
Even if it's surplus to requirements? It has a shelf life, demand is variable, and it's a better fate than simply throwing it away.
I'm a regular donor in the UK, and it also happens to our donations. It can be used as is, separated into different blood products (plasma, platelets etc.), or used for research purposes. It's not realistic to expect it only to be used for transfusions; there's a lot of uses for it in addition, and I can't see why you would want to control that.
The immunology research group I used to work in routinely received blood deliveries from the NHS blood service. It was used for HIV research if I recall correctly, and was done in partnership with the NHS.
University experiments involving human specimens are not "random". They are all approved by ethical review panels, and presumably may help to save people in the future.