Letter to the Editor 1

Dear Editor, Your misgivings about the criteria for Trojan’s sexual health study are well… Dear Editor, Your misgivings about the criteria for Trojan’s sexual health study are well placed, but don’t go far enough. Handing out free condoms sends college students precisely the wrong message. We’re adults, and adults are supposed to be responsible. Responsibility entails going out and paying for what you need. We pay for our meals (most of them, anyway). We pay for our books. Can we not pay for our condoms? Trojan’s idealized campus appears to be a scene more befitting inclusion in the director’s cut of ‘Caligula.’ The executives of Trojan doubtlessly hope that college students are all depraved nymphomaniacs recklessly wheeling from one sexual partner to the next. Handing out free condoms only helps them achieve this perverted scheme. If you want to teach students responsibility and prepare them for the outside world (and, the last time I checked, this is supposed to be a goal of colleges), then stop the free condom program. Make students take responsibility for their desires and actions and go buy a package the same way people outside of college do. And, if that leads to more STDs, tough luck. That’s life, suck it up and deal with it. We allow students to fail academically when they make poor choices, so let’s permit them to fail sexually, too. A better measure of sexual health is commitment to single sexual partners. Then we’ll see if students really understand sexual health. Condom giveaways can only, at most, mask the issue and do more harm than good. Steve Kaszycki School of Arts and Sciences