Condom machines being repaired

It is unclear how long the repairs will take.

By Ben Kupiszewski

Published Feb. 19, 2009

After last semester's prolonged effort to make contraceptives accessible for students, the recently installed dispensers in six campus residence halls disappeared at the start of this semester.

The reason for the removal of the dispensers is technical, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs said.

"They haven't been functioning really well," Scroggs said.

Student Health Center Director Susan Even said the products were jamming in the machines. The dispensers were then taken from the residence halls and shipped back to the manufacturer, Quality Condom Vending Ltd. Canada for repair.

"It's taking them a little while," Even said. "One specific part needs to be modified."

The component needing modification is the actual delivery mechanism for the box holding the products. Upon student request, the dispensers were specifically customized to provide male and female condoms, as well as oral dams, instructions for use and other sexual education materials.

That increase in contents and overall packaging size originally caused a delay in the completion of the dispensers.

"Hopefully, they'll be fixed faster than they were fabricated," Scroggs said.

According to QCVL, the fixed dispensers will be sent back to MU soon.

"We have identified the problem," QCVL Director Dan Shekhar said. "They will definitely be shipped out by the end of next week at the latest."

When the repaired dispensers do return to MU, they will return to their previous locations at Gillett, Mark Twain, Center, Bingham Commons, Lathrop and Wolpers residence halls.

Once reinstalled, it will be the responsibility of Campus Facilities staff to maintain the machines, Even said.

Scroggs and Even both said there is no talk of expanding this pilot program to place more condom dispensers in other residence halls. This is mainly because the machines were not functioning long enough to create the needed effect on students for an assessment by the pilot program.

"We want to see how the dispensers works, address any other problems that arise and then evaluate the impact on the students," Even said.

Another factor into the expansion of the pilot program is the criteria Chancellor Brady Deaton laid out at the inception of the program.

"Under the chancellor's guidelines, we are limited to the money students allocate for the project," Even said.

Deaton's guidelines include that the participating residence halls ask for the dispensers, the program must be a pilot study before it could be a campus-wide investment, the dispensers would be located in private, tamper-free places and the university would not fund the program.