While comprehensive safer-sex education is taught at OU, some people question whether protection is adequately available on campus.

"I understand that the university is a public university and in Oklahoma, so it may not be possible to have the over-access that we need," said Anna Brown, safer-sex education intern and office coordinator for Women's Outreach Center. "But I'd at least like to see [condoms] in the dorms."

Condoms are free at Health Services in Goddard Health Center and are sold at Goddard's pharmacy.

But Brown, one of two "sexperts" on campus who offer a safer-sex presentation to students on campus, said she thinks condom machines in the men's and women's residence hall bathrooms would be a more effective way of increasing condom usage.

If the machines were inconspicuous and didn't look tacky, students would be likely to use them, Brown said.

Gonorrhea

Women ages 15 to 24

o Statewide, 0.82 percent of women reported cases of gonorrhea.

o Of 9,247 female students, about 76 would have reported gonorrhea in 2005.

Men ages 15 to 24

o Statewide, 0.43 percent of men reported cases of gonorrhea.

o Of 9,655 male students, about 41 would have reported gonorrhea in 2005.

Source: Statistics taken from www.census.gov, OU Institutional Research and Reporting and the Oklahoma State Department of Health. All statistics are estimated for 2005.

"It's important that they wouldn't look dirty, because we don't want people to feel like they were doing something bad when they are really making a mature decision," Brown said.

Clarke Stroud, vice president of Student Affairs, said condom machines were once installed in the dorms in the early 1990s.

"It wasn't [OU administrators] that requested them," Stroud said. "And it wasn't [OU administrators] that removed them."

He said the vendor could not make enough money from sales to offset the cost of combating vandalism of the machines.

"It's not something we've looked at since then, and that was close to 10 years ago," Stroud said.

Chlamydia

Women ages 15 to 24

o Statewide, 3.25 percent of women reported cases of chlamydia.

o Of 9,247 female students, about 300 would have reported chlamydia in 2005.

Men ages 15 to 24

o Statewide, 0.68 percent of men reported cases of chlamydia.

o Of 9,655 male students, about 65 would have reported chlamydia in 2005.

Source: Statistics taken from www.census.gov, OU Institutional Research and Reporting and the Oklahoma State Department of Health. All statistics are estimated for 2005.

Some universities, such as the University of Texas at Austin, sell condoms in vending machines in the dorms. But most schools in the Big 12 Conference are in the same situation as OU.

Terry Wilson, coordinator of Health Promotions for the University of Missouri, said the school has considered selling condoms in the dorms but decided against the idea.

"We looked into condom machines in the residence halls, but it takes too much human resources to keep them stocked, and they would get vandalized," Wilson said.

Tiffany Carrethers, health educator for Texas A&M University, said she would not expect to see condom machines in the dorms at the school because it is a conservative campus.

"We have [condoms] available upon request, but we do focus a lot on abstinence, too," she said.

Many OU students said they could see condom machines benefiting dorm residents.

"I think people would use them," said Wayne Bass, construction science sophomore. "It would have definitely come in handy a few times for me."

But other students said they think people who are irresponsible are going to act irresponsibly no matter what is provided for them.

"If people aren't going to use them when they can go pick them up at Wal-Mart, they're not going to use them period," said Maribeth Gardner, pre-pharmacy sophomore.
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