Editorial: Pitt’s sexual health ranking might not be as bad as it seems

‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt scored a dismal 2.8 on a 4.0 grading scale, or barely above a B minus average, in… ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt scored a dismal 2.8 on a 4.0 grading scale, or barely above a B minus average, in Trojan’s recent sexual health study, which ranked the University as number 73 out of 139 schools researched. ‘ ‘ ‘ The study evaluated universities on a variety of categories, including HIV and STD testing, student opinion of the university health center, presence of a separate awareness program, free condom and contraceptive availability, sexual assault services and outreach programs. The report did not evaluate universities on the reported cases of STDs on campus. ‘ ‘ ‘ Student Health at Pitt provides one free HIV test and one free STD test annually. The pharmacy sells condoms at discount prices, and students also have access to free condoms. What Pitt seems to be lacking, in comparison with other schools in the Trojan study, however, is adequate sexual health programs and educational material. ‘ ‘ ‘ PantherWELL, a peer education group, conducts HIV tests and, with programs like Sex in the Lounge, provides free condoms and lubricants, as well as valuable sexual health information to students. ‘ ‘ ‘ When it comes to separate awareness programs, student organizations like Rainbow Alliance and Campus Women’s Organization are helpful resources for sexual health information. ‘ ‘ ‘ Melissa Warthen, assistant director of Residence Life, said the group provides sexual health information and programs to students, and resident assistants can propose programs to ResLife for approval. But this is part of the problem. While RAs are students and can probably best understand students’ concerns, it is irresponsible to put the burden of coming up with programs in the RAs’ hands. ResLife would do well to institute required sexual health seminars for all residence halls. ‘ ‘ ‘ A key problem of the programs seems to be limited promotion and advertising. The resources are out there, but it seems like many students don’t know about them. Student Health could increase its advertising and better inform students of the services it offers. ‘ ‘ ‘ Overall, while a 73 ranking is nothing to be proud of, we don’t think Pitt is as bad as Trojan makes it seem. ‘ ‘ ‘ For one thing, we’re not sure we completely trust Trojan’s standards of what makes a school sexually healthy. One of the categories evaluated by Trojan, for instance, was free condom availability. As a company that produces condoms, it is not surprising that Trojan places great importance on this category. Perhaps if the research came from a third party, one that is not affiliated with sex products, we would be more open to criticism. ‘ ‘ ‘ Furthermore, some of the lowest ranking schools ‘mdash; DePaul University, St. John’s University-New York, University of Notre Dame ‘mdash; are Catholic schools. In other words, it is imprudent to expect these schools to be very open as far as sexual health is concerned. For all we know, the students at these universities could be as knowledgeable of sexual health as students at any other school. The stigma attached to being a low-ranking school is a little unfair. ‘ ‘ ‘ College students are adults, and we would hope they would all be smart about sex. Nonetheless, there are still many students who are not educated when it comes to sexual activity. Regardless of where Pitt stands,’ there’s always room for improvement with a health issue as important as this.