TAKE A deep breath and prepare yourself, because what I'm about to tell you may shock you: College students have sex. Not shocked? Good, you shouldn't be, unless you've been living in a hole during your time at the University. Unfortunately, many administrators both at the University and in Richmond seem to be unaware of this fact, or just simply choose to ignore it.
The consequences of these decisions may be devastating, and it's time for the University to begin to recognize reality and make sure contraception is readily available and easily accessible on Grounds, as well as making sure students are well-informed about their options regarding sex.
Some of us have come to the conclusion that sex is best held off until marriage. However, those of us with this opinion are a minority, and it's time to recognize that denying contraception.. This creates availability to students will not discourage students from having sex, it will simply encourage sexual relations without contraception, creating a danger of unwanted pregnancies, as well as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
If preventing these things among students is a goal of the University, as it should be, then the University should move immediately to change the status quo regarding contraceptive availability.
Last week, VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood hosted the Planned Parenthood Emergency Contraceptive Van on Grounds to give students an opportunity to purchase emergency contraceptives, which are otherwise only available by prescription from Student Health and the local Planned Parenthood. This event alone highlighted the problems with contraceptive availability on Grounds, as this is the only opportunity students have really had to purchase emergency contraceptives at a convenient location.
While the University doesn't have the power to make emergency contraceptives much more readily available (that would take FDA approval of over-the-counter emergency contraceptives), the University does have the power to make more readily available contraceptives that are already available over the counter.
As it stands, for example, with an FDA-reported effectiveness of 86 percent, condoms are known to be the most effective contraceptive for preventing both STDs and pregnancy short of abstinence.
However, presently condoms seem only available on Grounds through purchase at the bookstore, or some of the convenience stores around Grounds. This will discourage condom usage among students who cannot afford the condoms (who are also the students least able to afford an STD or unwanted pregnancy), or the students who are simply too embarrassed to purchase them.
The University should move to set up multiple, well-known, but hidden from plain view dispensers around Grounds where students would be able to pick up free condoms, provided by the University. The fact that the condoms will be free will help take care of students who cannot afford them, and having these dispensers set up out of plain view will help encourage those too embarrassed to purchase condoms to go and pick them up. This step alone would serve to greatly increase the availability of contraception on Grounds, as well as show the University is committed to protecting its students.
However, the University's commitment to protecting its students should not end with readily available contraception. The University should also work to make sure that students are as informed as possible about what they can do to take care of themselves. Students come to the University from a wide variety of backgrounds, and we cannot simply assume that everyone received the same sex education in high school.
Through publications like the Stall Seat Journal, as well as RA programs for first-years, the University should work to make sure all students understand contraception, know how to get contraceptives, and of course can feel free to remind students that there is no "safe sex," only "safer sex."
The only way to guarantee that a student will not contract an STD or go through an unwanted pregnancy is abstinence. However, the reality of today's world is that most students elect not to follow this route. As a result, the University should do more to make sure that these students follow as safe a path as possible.
The University must make contraception more readily available, and must make sure that all University students are well-informed of their options regarding sexual relations.
Sam Leven's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at sleven@cavalierdaily.com.
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