Parent attacks condom plan

An angry parent wrote to Elson Floyd, objecting to the proposed condom plan.

By Roseann Moring

Published Oct. 20, 2006

After finding out about a fraternity's efforts to distribute free condoms on campus, a parent of an MU student wrote a letter and a poem last month to UM system President Elson Floyd, encouraging him to stop the plans.

In a news release on Oct. 9, Chancellor Brady Deaton announced that he was stalling the condom distribution.

Phi Beta Sigma, a historically black fraternity, proposed the initiative, which called for free condoms in common areas of every residence hall.

The Maneater obtained letters involving the condom distribution plan after filing a request under the Missouri Sunshine Law for correspondence between Floyd, Deaton and Clifton Berry, the father of an MU freshman.

"As an African American, I am concerned that your action encourages behavior among our youth that is antithetical to behavior that will direct us out of the moral morass into which we've fallen," Berry stated in one letter.

In this letter to Floyd, Berry also included a poem he wrote, titled, "Condoms (or commendation) at Mizzou" which claims the condom distribution makes the school "a cesspool."

"I condom your behavior as a letch and a whore/ I condom your behavior how could I ask for more?/ As a teaching institution that's preparing you for life/ Your morals are less valued than your academic life," is the first stanza of the poem.

The poem later accuses the university of racial inequality.

"Just blame it on the Black kids the call is up to them/ We can call on them for leading for the Trustees look to them," says the third stanza. "Up to now they've all be[en] voiceless in your academic halls/ But when it comes to placing condoms you ask them to take the fall."

Berry opposed the leadership of the condom plan because it was not representative of the entire campus.

"Adolescent and very young, immature men on a college campus being responsible for decisions affecting the student body is ill-advised," Berry said.

He said he doesn't know if the level of sexually transmitted disease at MU is at a level that requires free, widespread condoms, and that as adults, MU students' sexual activity should not be public.

Deaton halted the plan on Oct. 9 because it "requires further study," according to an MU news release. It also said the initiative went public before it could be reviewed by the proper university leadership.

According to the release, Deaton is planning a series of public discussions during the next few months featuring students, student affairs professionals, health care and health policy professionals, parents, faculty, staff and other concerned parties.

President of Phi Beta Sigma Christopher Keller declined to comment on Thursday.

Earlier he requested further explanation about Deaton's statement.

"I want someone to tell me a legitimate reason why the plan isn't being implemented," he said in an earlier interview.

He said Phi Beta Sigma would be at the public discussions to gain support from students.

Berry said the African-American community was being portrayed incorrectly.

"They are being scapegoated, unfairly stereotyped," Berry said. "Disrespected by policies that seek to identify them as the authors of these policies because of the level of sexual disease among them as compared to the general student population when in fact they are less affected by STDs according to the administration." He also said he would oppose the condom plan on moral grounds.

"I think we need to do what's in the best interest of all the students, and the condom plan is the best interest," said Missouri Students Association President John Andersen. "There's always going to be someone on either side of the fence."

Floyd referred Berry to Deaton, who told Berry about the public discussions in a later letter.

"It is my hope that in subjecting the proposal to critical analysis, our ultimate decision on how best to educate and protect our students will be better informed," Deaton said in the letter.

UM system spokesman Scott Charton declined to comment about other possible complaints received by MU or UM system administrators.

MU spokesman Christian Basi also declined to comment Thursday.

Berry's letter also said, "I am not so naïve as to believe that the 'health' issues you are facing on campus are not serious ones, they certainly are. But the answer is not to step back from your responsibility to call your students to a higher standard in matters of morality. And the answer is certainly not to abandon what might be the minority in your student body who have made the decision to avoid sexually transmitted diseases by avoiding pre-marital sex."

Free condoms accompanied by health information are available at the Student Health Center, the Women's Center and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center.