Here's Your Syllabus, and Your Condom

College administrators who endorse condom use agree back-to-school season is a significant time to promote them to students. "Students are, for the first time, out on their own," said Dr. Lora L. Jasman, director of student health services at Oregon State University?Corvallis. "And they have to make decisions on their own. It's critical we find ways to reach out to them."

Jasman said Oregon State provides free condoms in numerous places, including in a student employee office. Safer sex kits at the school contain condoms, lubricant, and Hershey's Kisses.

At Stanford, each student receives 12 free condoms from the student-run Sexual Health Peer Resource Center, which also takes freshmen on annual "field trips," escorting them from their dorms to the center for an introductory talk. Donnovan Somera Yisrael, a sexual health and relationship educator at Stanford, said the aim is to be "sex-positive, not sex-pressuring," and to teach students about safer sex as well as communications skills to negotiate healthy relationships.

U.S. condom sales were $398.3 million last year, up 2.8 percent from 2004 according to Packaged Facts, a division of MarketReserach.com. Manufacturers promote condoms on campus through product giveaways, round-table discussions, and online and print advertising.

Back to other news for September 29, 2006