Deaton breaks condom plan
Deaton would like further study of the issue before implementing the plan.
Published Oct. 13, 2006
The plan to distribute free condoms in residence halls was halted by Chancellor Brady Deaton on Tuesday.
In a news release, Deaton said the initiative requires further study. Deaton was unavailable for further comment.
MU spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken said the chancellor would like to open up discussion regarding the initiative.
"The chancellor would like to back up at this point," she said. "He thinks it is a broader issue."
Banken said the "broader issue" is how to most effectively educate students on increased incidents of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
The chancellor plans to hold a series of public discussions over the next few months that would feature students, student affairs professionals, health care and health policy professionals, parents, faculty, staff and other concerned parties.
"More discussion is always a good idea," said Frankie Minor, director of Residential Life. "We weren't quite ready to initiate the program."
Minor said things that need to be addressed at the discussions are student support for the proposal and the extent to which the condoms should be provided.
Residential Life had been working with the Student Health Center and Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, which proposed the initiative.
"The fraternity had an idea," Minor said. "And most ideas benefit from further examination and discussion to become an even better idea."
Phi Beta Sigma President Christopher Keller, who has been leading the campaign for the initiative, said he is upset and disappointed with Deaton's decision.
"I want someone to tell me a legitimate reason why the plan isn't being implemented," Keller said.
Keller said the fraternity had done everything necessary in order to make the plan work, from finding a supply of condoms to providing health information to accompany the condoms.
"I believe (the decision) is something to appease the legislators," Keller said. "They're just sugarcoating the fact that they don't want this."
Banken said that the chancellor would like to look at this as a global issue and initiate discussion to gauge the need for the program.
"It is my hope that these discussions will be undertaken in the spirit of the University's values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence," Deaton said in the statement.
Keller said Phi Beta Sigma will be at the public hearings and is trying to gain support from other student groups.
"We don't want to be looked at as a little black frat," Keller said. "We want to get diverse student groups to support us and contact state legislators."
Part of the reason the existing proposal was stopped is because the plan was "never really official," Banken said.
The initiative had been discussed at various campus levels but was never appropriately reviewed and discussed by MU leadership, she said.
"There isn't any written policy, but it's understood that when something impacts the entire university it should go to the higher-ups," Banken said.
UM system spokesman Scott Charton said the condom initiative has yet to come on the agenda of the UM Board of Curators.
If it did go on the agenda, the board could ultimately overturn the chancellor's decision.
"The Board of Curators is the governing board of the entire UM system," Charton said.
Condoms accompanied by health information are already available at no charge at the Student Health Center, the Women's Center and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center.