Sexual health can be an uncomfortable, unfamiliar subject for the average college student. But there are ways for universities to make conversations about condoms or contraceptives easier.
Trojan Condoms conducted a study of university sexual health services and recently released its annual Sexual Health Report Card. The study ranks colleges and universities across the nation on the sexual health resources they provide for students. Of the more than 2,500 colleges and universities in the United States, 140 were included.
“We choose the largest colleges and universities,” said study conductor Bert Sperling . “By choosing those, we were able to go ahead and actually cover about over 30 percent of the undergraduates in the nation.”
Sperling said universities were scored in different categories. Factors such as contraceptives provided for males and females, health clinics with extended hours, HIV and STI testing, and informational programs on sexual health were among the areas the study analyzed for each school.
MSU ranked 41st on the Sexual Health Report Card .
“So if you’re going to give it a grade, I’d say it is a B plus,” Sperling said.
The schools ranked in the top ten engaged their students populations with sexual health resources and information in college newspapers and on smartphone apps.
Among the reasons why MSU was ranked 41st was the convenient health clinic hours and access to other health services on campus.
Coordinator of MSU’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion Erica Phillipich said promoting safe sex at MSU is essential.
“We distributed over 25,000 condoms through the Residence Halls Association partnership with Condom Connection in the residence halls last year,” Phillipich said.
In the past 12 months, Phillipich said 76 percent of on-campus MSU students used a condom the last time they had sex. Only 1 percent of MSU students reported having unintentional sex, getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant.
“Overwhelmingly, our campus data shows sexual health needs are being met,” Phillipich said.
Applied engineering science junior Markeith Bowens said MSU provides information on sexual health to a certain extent.
“In the dorm halls, they provided condoms for us, but they didn’t really have conversations with us,” Bowens said.
MSU mainly focuses on enforcing sexual harassment policies more than encouraging safe sex, he said.
Sperling said the study results show that MSU provides more information for sexual assault than sexual health.
“That received our highest grade, so that’s certain a model for other schools as well,” Sperling said. “As far as providing sexual health information on the school website, it’s not as good. There’s not that many resources for students to learn about sexual health and what is provided for students.”
Phillipich sees the availability of sexual health information differently.
“While our department is committed to ongoing program evaluation and approval, it is clear from our longitudinal data that the sexual health reality on our campus is not reflected in the Trojan report card,” Phillipich said. “Finding information on the web can be easy and comfortable and anonymous. We do the work to bring the best resources together on the Olin Web page.”
Sperling said Trojan Condoms will continue to compile its Sexual Health Report Card in the coming years.
“We do a lot of studies, but this is the one we’re most proud of because it really makes such a positive difference for the students,” Sperling said. “To be able to empower the students to make the change is something that we really feel good about.”
