Rubber Match

By Roseann Moring, Staff Writer
Feb. 27, 2007

In a back and forth debate between students, administrators and Missourians, The Maneater looks at some of the questions raised about a plan to place free condoms in residence halls, just in time for the culmination of National Condom Month.

Erecting a plan for next year's students

Six months after the initiative was proposed, the planning stages of putting condoms into residence halls are finally beginning.

"A lot of the confusion that resulted from this premature arrival on the public scene was whether we should make condoms available," Deputy Chancellor Michael Middleton said. "And that decision has been made that we should. Now the question is how."

Residential Life Director Frankie Minor and Heather Mueller, Sexual Health Advocates Peer Education coordinator, have been put in charge of coming up with a plan or plans of implementation.

Minor said they are planning to have a meeting with delegates from important student groups this week. He said they plan to invite the Residence Halls Association, the Missouri Students Association, the Legion of Black Collegians, the Graduate Professional Council, SHAPE, Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and residence hall staff members to the forum.

Each of these groups, except GPC, has played an important role in the plan and the discussions about the condom plan.

"We're trying to make the planning of this as inclusive as possible but also trying to make the committee as effective as possible," Minor said.

Minor and Student Health Center Director Susan Even were asked by Vice Chancellor of Students Affairs Cathy Scroggs to present options to be approved by Deaton before anything goes into effect.

In terms of funding, Minor said it was too early to tell how much money would be needed and where it would come from.

Originally, the Columbia/Boone County Health Department agreed to donate 3,000 condoms and Phi Beta Sigma was to pay for anything extra, health department director Mary Martin said.

However, she said no one had contacted her since the planning stages were reinstated.

"Certainly the cost of the plan is a factor of whether it can be implemented," Middleton said. "We have had budget problems for the last several years with declining state resources. It's getting very difficult to find new money for things."

Minor said sexual health information would be a large part of the plan.

"Part of our information is that we're not advocating students to be more sexually active than they would be," Minor said. "We're just indicating if they choose to be sexually active, we want them to make good decisions. And the choice not to be sexually active is a perfectly appropriate decision."

The information would include instructions for the proper use of condoms and encouragement for the student to question the situation before deciding to be sexually active.

Minor said the earliest the plan could be implemented would be this fall.

"If we could develop some strategies or options by the end of the semester," he said. "I think that would be ideal with an eye towards implementation beginning with the fall semester."

Finding the right fit

The idea of condoms in the residence halls began in September when Phi Beta Sigma fraternity proposed the plan to the Department of Residential Life.

It was to be a pilot program to test whether sexual health devices would be effective. Condoms, dental dams and dental wraps along with sexual health information were to be available in residence hall lounges and bathrooms.

The Columbia/Boone County Health Department agreed to donate 3,000 condoms, director Mary Martin said. Phi Beta Sigma would supply plus-sized condoms.

Even though free condoms are available at other places on campus, Phi Beta Sigma President Chris Keller said the reason his fraternity proposed the plan is because they wanted condoms to be available to students who are uncomfortable getting condoms in public or who are in emergency situations.

Chancellor Brady Deaton halted the plan in October and stated in a news release that it required more discussion.

"When the word of the effort broke, there was a lot of missed information about what was going on," Deputy Chancellor Michael Middleton said. "So it was necessary to pull the thing back into the institution and reach some consensus on where the chancellor wanted to go with it."

Soon after the plan was halted, Middleton asked Assistant to the Deputy Chancellor Roger Worthington to compile a report summarizing the debate, which Worthington submitted in December.

During the next several months, the administration sponsored forums about the feasibility and suitability of putting sexual health devices in residence halls. Representatives from the Residence Halls Association, the Legion of Black Collegians, Sexual Health Advocates Peer Education and the Missouri Students Association spoke in favor of the plan at several of the forums.

Many people were concerned about the logistics of the plan, especially the possibility of tampering with the condoms.

Worthington's report gave an overview of the debate and it stated, "The vast majority of our participants expressed favorable views of condom availability in the residence halls."

In an e-mail sent to Worthington on Dec. 19, Middleton stated the concept of the plan had been approved.

"It's hard not to recognize the health benefits," he said in an interview.

Middleton said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs had been charged with coming up with a plan of implementation.

Scroggs asked representatives in Residential Life and the Student Health Center to take charge, and Residential Life Director Frankie Minor and SHAPE Coordinator Heather Mueller are working with student groups to solve some of the logistical problems.

Any plan proposed will go through Middleton and Deaton before it is implemented.

Sex at other schools

Although MU would be the only Big 12 university to offer condoms in its residence halls, other schools have attempted to institute or have instituted similar plans.

Students at the University of California-Davis recently tried to install condom machines in the dorms, but the plan did not succeed.

"The reason it did not go through on our campus is not because this is a bad idea or was shut down by student housing but because they have tried it before," said UCD Associated Students Senator Molly Fluet, who co-sponsored the plan.

She said the school tried to put condom machines in the dorms three times: in 1989, 1994 and 2003. Each time the machines were removed because of vandalism and theft.

"We are looking at other ways to increase immediate and anonymous access to forms of sexual protection," co-sponsor Andrew Peake said.

He said students are often isolated from other places condoms are available and they often do not plan ahead, so more immediate, easy access to condoms is necessary.

"Condom machines are a crucial safety measure that should be in dorms to ebb the rising tide of STD's that are occurring on all college campuses," Fluet said.

Peake said they are now looking at other ways to distribute condoms, including boxes in laundry rooms and through resident advisers.

The University of Oregon has distributed free condoms through resident advisers since 2003, Health Promotion Director Paula Straight said.

She said the school also looked at baskets and condom machines, but baskets would invite tampering and they did not have personnel to monitor machines.

"We always encourage them to have information on how to use condoms on hand," she said.

Straight said the housing department paid for a box of 1,000 condoms.

Oregon spokeswoman Pauline Austin said they also give out condoms at events around campus and even in introductory packets for new students.

According to the Oregon Daily Emerald, the university's student newspaper, the plan was originally conceived for the same reason as MU and UCD's plans were: To allow students who are embarrassed to get condoms in public or have an immediate need to have access to condoms.

At the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, condoms have been available in residence halls since the early 1990s, said Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Chris Payne.

In the past, UNC had condom machines in the residence halls, but the company that maintained the machines "indicated that they were no longer going to provide that support," Payne said.

The loss of support combined with some instances of vandalism led the school to look for a new approach.

"The mechanism of delivery is important." Payne said. "Consistency and predictability was a concern for students as well as those involved with campus health services."

Since spring 2005, UNC has offered a packet called "Condom Sense" for $1 in snack vending machines.

The packet contains two condoms and information about condom use and sexual assault prevention tips.

"Several other schools were providing condoms through the vending machines, which is more predictable," Payne said.

Payne said the cost is underwritten by health education, as they wanted to keep the cost of the condoms at a minimum.

"It was really students and student government leaders who took the initiative," he said.

Harvard University set up boxes of condoms in the freshmen residence halls in April 2006, which were previously only available in upperclassmen residences on campus, according to The Harvard Crimson, Harvard's student newspaper. The condoms are accompanied by leaflets entitled "Contraception: Choosing a Method."

Several other schools, including Duke University, Purdue University, George Washington University and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, offer condoms in university housing.

— All background information gathered from previous Maneater reports.

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Rubber Match

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