Condom plan breaks through

By Ettie Berneking

Published March 4, 2008

This article cites a document obtained under the Missouri Sunshine Law. This document is available here (8KB, PDF).

Chancellor Brady Deaton has approved an initiative to make condoms available for free in MU’s residence halls if the plan meets five conditions. Deaton approved the plan in a letter sent to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs in December. The e-mail was obtained through a request under the Missouri Sunshine Law. In it, the chancellor offered his support for the plan and said he made the decision based on three issues. The letter is a response to a letter from Scroggs outlining the findings of a task force created to study the plan. Scroggs sent that report to Deaton on Oct. 31. “Three primary factors lead me to support the proposed plan: (1) our commitment to the safety and physical health of our students; (2) the comprehensive and thoughtful process taken by students to discuss and evaluate this issue; and, (3) the preponderance of studies cited by the Task Force confirming that condom access does not increase sexual behavior, but does promote safer sexual practices,” Deaton said in the letter. Student Health Center Director Susan Even and Residential Life Director Frankie Minor will be coordinating with Scroggs to implement the plan. Even said it’s too early to tell when the condoms will be available to students, but that the reason behind the wait would benefit the students in the end. Before the plan is undertaken, Even and Minor will be meeting with a student group to discuss where and how the condoms will be made available to the students, MU spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken said. Student representatives from a number of student organizations — including student government, residence halls governing bodies and the Student Health Center — will meet to hash out the details of the plan, Banken said. In addressing concerns and strategizing an approach to the initiative, the task force eventually established four provisions for dispensing of the condoms. The task force required that funding for the plan be raised through “supporting organizations and external sources,” the dispensers be tamper-proof, the dispensers be installed at the request of the residence hall’s student governments and that independent evaluations of the program’s effectiveness be conducted. The chancellor added a fifth provision that one or more student organizations actively participate in the implementation of the plan. Missouri Students Association President Jim Kelley said MSA would contribute some funding to the program. “I would like to see other organizations contributing,” Kelley said. “This is an initiative for all students, and anytime organizations can help out, that’s great.” Vice President Chelsea Johnson said that while the previous MSA administration had set aside money to fund the program, she didn’t want to commit to an amount until after meetings with the program coordinators and other student organizations. “I think that we’ll definitely be able to find funding,” she said. Residence Halls Association Vice President Nate Ballance said he would be a participant in the discussion. “We feel that before anything is implemented, the distribution method must meet certain requirements and be held to high standards,” Ballance said. “Our support is based on the assumption that the products will be placed in dispensers that are tamper-proof and allow residents to obtain the products anonymously.” He said RHA wants to ensure the program would benefit the students it was designed to protect. “We as an organization hope that making products and information easily and readily available to residents will promote not only sexual safety, but a sense of personal responsibility among our residents,” he said. The initiative was first announced in October 2006 by the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, which agreed to supply the condoms. Deaton halted the program pending further discussion. The university held several open forums seeking student input on the plan, and Even said the chancellor used these to gather student opinion. In the letter, Deaton said he attended several of these forums where students expressed their opinions of the plan. “I was impressed by their sense of responsibility,” Deaton said in the letter. “I am sensitive to concerns raised by some students about the provisions of condoms in residence halls, and these diverse views must be taken into consideration.” Then, he directed Scroggs to form the Sexual Health and Safety Products Task Force to develop a plan to address any concerns and come up with an implementation strategy.