By the end of this month, AU students will be able to purchase condoms, along with sodas and snacks, in the vending areas of the dorms.
As part of a pilot program, condom machines will be installed in "discreet locations near the vending areas in dorms," said Student Government President Ashley Mushnick in an e-mail. Each dorm will contain one machine, which will dispense condoms for 50 cents each.
The installation program will be funded by Auxiliary Services, which is in charge of all vending on campus.
"The Student Government hopes to foster sexual responsibility on campus," Mushnick said. "Sexually transmitted diseases are a real problem at AU."
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Protection report from 2004 on trends in sexually transmitted diseases, "Nineteen million new [STD] infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24." The report cited national surveillance data for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
"STD ... [trends] at AU typically mirror national trends for the college age population," said Daniel Bruey, director of the Health Center, in an e-mail.
The SG hopes to pair the setup of the machines with a campaign on health and sexual responsibility, Mushnick said. This is in part due to the success of a Women's Initiative event on sexual education, which was held in the Wellness Center during Artemas Ward Week.
"We need to encourage protection among students," Mushnick said.
Although the SG supports sexual protection in the student body, the organization does not want to encourage sexual promiscuity or irresponsibility on campus, Mushnick said. The condom machines will read that the only way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases with complete certainty is through abstinence.
Some AU students said they were in favor of the installation of the new condom machines.
"This is the real world, and in the real world, you need protection," said Cherie Richards, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Manan Shah, a senior in the School of International Service and CAS, agreed.
"I think it's a great idea in terms of its convenience and the fact that it will help promote safer sex among all students, since the Wellness Center and the Eagle's Nest aren't open 24 hours," he said.
Laura O'Friel, a freshman in CAS, said she thought differently.
"I think you have plenty of options elsewhere," O'Friel said. "Putting [condoms] in the dorms is encouraging sex in the dorms."
Molly Castellano, a sophomore in CAS, said she did not know there was a demand for condoms in the residence halls.
"I'm interested to see what they look like and have in them," she said.
Other universities across the country are already promoting sexual protection by installing similar condom machines. The Hilltop, Howard University's campus newspaper, reported that Arizona State University just installed condom machines at the beginning of last school year, and the University of New Hampshire did the same a month later, according to the Portsmouth Herald.
Purdue University installed condom machines as early as 1992, according to The New York Times, and the University of Florida put machines in its restrooms in 1989, according to the Miami Herald.
