Kattey Ortiz
Equinox Staff
A group of students at Boston College have handed out contraceptives on campus for several years, but the recent response to these actions from their Dean of Students is the subject of conversations across college campuses nationwide.
On March 15, 2013, the Jesuit college threatened to take disciplinary action against the students if they continued distributing condoms to their peers.
School officials warned them that their actions are contrary to their “responsibility to protect the values and traditions as a Jesuit, Catholic university.”
Photo Illustration by: Emily Fedorko / Photo Editor
The predicament has made headlines, but BC is not changing its position. Keene State College junior Annie White said she thinks those students should be allowed to continue their efforts. “I don’t think the stance of the college should have that much of an impact on what student organizations do,” she said, “I think they should have their freedom to offer that to people because there’s definitely a community that needs it.”
The Center for Health and Wellness at KSC caters to that community on the campus, offering much more than the male condoms and various pamphlets in the waiting area of its office for students to take.
“We consider student sexual health as part as their holistic health,” Director of Health and Wellness Christine Burke said. “So we do a lot of preventive education. Generally our attitude when it comes to sexual health is we’re always looking at STI [sexually transmitted infection] and pregnancy prevention,” she said.
Burke explained many of the services the center offers students in regard to sexual health, including four different birth control pills, the NuvaRing, male and female condoms, pregnancy tests and dental dams. “We diagnose STIs, we treat STIs, and we do wart removal which is associated with the HPV virus,” she said. “We also do Plan B. The local pharmacy is going to cost you $40; we sell it for $14. But part of what we do is you have to come in and have a conversation with the provider about plan ‘A.’”
Burke also noted that a big percentage of their overall contact with students has to do with sexual health. “Even when you go to the issue of a UTI, often they are connected with certain sexual behavior. It’s a big chunk of what we do,” she said.
Sophomore Brendan Snyder said he supports services like this around college campuses. “I think it’s important that schools offer it because having it or not, it’s not going to stop people so they should be safe about it as a school.” Burke said from a health promotion perspective, she understands both sides of the situation.
“Our job is to reduce barriers that prevent someone from making healthier choices. Before I worked at Keene State [College] I worked at a Catholic college. I was raised Catholic, so I kind of get the fact that that’s what [BC’s] about. That’s what they believe in, that’s what they value. The people who go to school there and who work there have to be ready to support that value. I kind of see it in the context of, you work within the environment you’re in, and you do the best you can.”
Snyder concurred, but noted he feels for the students too.
“Going into a religious school, the students know the beliefs of the school. But I also feel that they shouldn’t be punished for spreading what they feel is right unless they’re forcing it on people,” he said. Junior Govinda Hooper, however, said religious schools should not participate in contraception distribution.
“They shouldn’t provide condoms at a religious school like Boston College,” he argued, “But rather educate the students about safe sex. Other colleges like KSC and other liberal arts colleges should also educate, then secondly provide.”
“It’s kind of a hard place to be,” Burke said, “But I don’t think the school’s out of their realm or responsibility by responding. They have the right, and probably should.”
The director compared it to a hypothetical situation at KSC, saying it would be as if somebody was doing something on our campus that counteracted the college’s commitment to service. For the school not to respond to that would almost feel like the school is not standing up to what it says its values are, she said.
“I think the idea would be to bring the students to the table and try to get them on board and help them understand and know that just because [the institution] is not giving them out, it doesn’t mean students don’t have access or can’t get their own,” Burke added. White said she feels it’s important to be open about sexual health on any college campus, and it would be detrimental to KSC if these services weren’t offered.
“I don’t think the college would be what it is–I mean as a liberal arts school they’re kind of open to everything. We have so many groups that cater to everybody in the community.” Snyder sided with White and said, “I feel if they got rid of it [the health services], I think it wouldn’t change what students do, but I think it wouldn’t be as easy to access for certain people, or it wouldn’t be as comfortable for certain people.”
Hooper said that he doesn’t believe it would impact the students that much, saying students rely on them because it’s a safety cushion.
“They take it for granted that it’s always there. If they didn’t provide free condoms, they wouldn’t have that mentality,” he said. Burke stressed the issue of institutional values. “Every school has values,” she explained, “and the decisions that they make should reflect what the institution stands for. So when we develop programs in this department, I have to be able to articulate how I think that contributes to our mission and our goals, so that’s where BC’s coming from.”
It is clear that the values at KSC involve educating students about what is being offered to them, and students certainly do seem to appreciate it.
Kattey Ortiz can be contacted at
kortiz@keene-equinox.com