Many students are embarrassed to get condoms in public, which is why Students for Choice is kicking off a new campaign to put free condoms in the residence hall bathrooms.
Amanda Mabry and Alexandra Bullock, co-directors of Students for Choice, said it doesn’t matter that the University Health Center gives away free condoms if students are too embarrassed to get them.
“We realized that anybody can get access to free condoms from places like the health center here on campus, as well as other resources like Planned Parenthood,” Mabry said. “But we really felt like it was important for students to be able to get them in more of a discreet manner — to get them without having to ask someone for them.”
Students for Choice’s new campaign — which was conceived by the co-directors last year but wasn’t realized until this year’s kickoff party — primarily targets freshmen. Mabry said the group is trying to reach those who recently left home and may be exploring their sexuality for the first time.
The ability to get condoms in the residence hall bathrooms would also make them accessible to those who immediately needed them but didn’t have any on hand, she said. It would also make them available for free after the health center closed.
Students for Choice is in the process of forming a committee to oversee the project, but it can’t put its plan into motion without the approval of the health center and University Housing.
Health center Director Tom Ryan said he supports the group’s goals and applauds its attempts to make condoms readily available to students. He stressed that making condoms freely available does not promote having sex, adding that he didn’t immediately foresee any difficulties in making condoms available in the residence halls.
However, Mabry said the plan probably won’t be a walk in the park. The main difficulty she sees is the logistics of putting condoms in the halls.
“We certainly wouldn’t want to put 100 condoms in one dorm and have them gone in one day,” she said. “Or have condom balloons floating around the residence halls. We definitely need to talk with the health center to see how we need to work with them to make it work.”
She also said funding for the project might be difficult to obtain, especially in a time of budget tightening. But she pointed out that condoms are low-cost or often free.
Freshman Jessica Hirschy said she thought the project would be a wonderful idea as long as the condoms were distributed very discreetly.
“If parents visit and they see a big box of condoms in the bathroom, that’s not going to give a good impression of dorm life,” she said.
Freshman Colin Culbreth thought putting condoms in the residence halls would promote safer sex, adding that there are probably a lot of students who are too embarrassed to get them from the health center.
Mabry said her group is hoping to see its project implemented by the end of the school year.
The group is currently doing research and trying to figure out how many University groups they will have to go through to make the project happen. Also, group members are in contact with similar groups on campuses across the nation. Mabry said that on Nov. 4, the group’s first meeting, a solid timeline will be established for the project.
For more information or to get involved, contact Students for Choice at 346-0644, or by e-mail at [email protected].