Condom machines may be installed in OU dormitory basements, depending on a UOSA committee decision.
This year’s Student Congress Problems and Projects Committee began discussing the need for condom machines during the fall semester, but has not reached a conclusion, said Jonathan Vann, committee chair and advertising junior.
Committee members conducted one survey in November to gauge student attitudes toward the machines, Vann said. However, they had a hard time narrowing the field to just those who lived in the dorms and only polled 3,000 students.
“From what we’ve seen the majority of students are neutral,” Vann said. “There is a small percentage against them though.”
The committee is meeting this weekend for the first time this semester and will discuss options of conducting another poll, Van said.
The Daily asked eight students in Cate Center on Wednesday how they felt about the issue. Of those eight, only one said he was against it.
“I think it is sending the wrong message,” said Beau Burciaga, dorm resident and University College freshman. “They are not necessarily condoning it but it sends the wrong idea.”
Five students said they are for the installation of the machines because it would allow students to make safer decisions.
“I am definitely for it,” said Sydney Elliott, University College freshman. “Pregnancy rates are high right now, especially for teens. Anywhere [teens] are, contraceptives need to be.”
Elliott currently lives in the dorms.
The remaining two students were neutral, understanding both sides of the argument.
University College freshman and dorm resident Alex Cramer said access to condoms would be nice for those who are sexually active, but machines could make others uncomfortable.
Although the committee is not definite on the logistics of the machines, Vann said, the current thought is to put one in the basement of each of the dorms. It decided against selling them in Xcetera because of students’ apprehension at purchasing condoms in public.
“I would prefer to have them put in the bathroom, but it is a good idea,” said Natalie Seefeldt, planned programming junior. “The men and women’s bathrooms seems like a more appropriate and private place for them.”
Students would probably have to buy condoms with change and the price would depend on how costly the maintenance for the machines was, Vann said. Ideally, the committee would restock the machines, but it might have to pay an outside company to do so.
According to Daily records, the push for condom machines is not a new one. In an article from February 2006, Vice President of Student Affairs, Clarke Stroud, said the dorms had machines in the early 1990s but the vendor removed them because of vandalism and low profits.
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JAK 2 years, 3 months ago
@jssooner4: Stop for a moment and consider what would happen to a bowl of condoms in the bottom of Adams Center on a Saturday morning at 2AM with dozens of intoxicated students roaming around being idiots. Consider the number of condoms that would be used for intercourse (there would be some, for sure) versus the number of condoms that would be used for reasons other than safe sex...This isn't like a bowl of complimentary M&MS.
With that being said, I'm shocked these machines don't already exist in the dorms; they absolutely should.
sooner12 2 years, 3 months ago
I'd like to add that the Housing Center Student Association is working with UOSA to form a resolution on condom machines on campus. I'm just saying, give credit where credit is due.
ThatOneGuyFromThatOnePlace 2 years, 3 months ago
Dearest matthewmurrayday,
You are a condescending jackass. That is all.
matthewmurrayday 2 years, 3 months ago
""Agree to disagree"... begging for attention."
This is an issue that, in a way, hits home for me. For one, I am originally from Lubbock, Texas, THE home for some of the highest STD and teen pregnancy rates in the nation.
Furthermore, my high school diploma came from a high school with (in all likelihood) THE highest teen pregnancy rates in Oklahoma. Even with an abstinence-only program, the effect was so negligible, you would think it was irrelevant.
These are my exclusive intentions. Period.
rufduk 2 years, 3 months ago
It is pretty crappy to not get a comment from the Housing Center Student Association. If it's something UOSA really wants to happen in housing, they have to have their support.
Person with the bowl idea. Tampering. You can't leave them unmonitored as someone might tamper with the condoms and render them useless. You can get them for free from Goddard or the Women's Outreach Center though.
jssooner4 2 years, 3 months ago
why not just give them away? I do not understand why we cant do that. Missouri does it, Texas does it, lots of schools across the country. If people don't like the idea of contraceptives, then they have the right to not use them. But why punish those for a small minorities opinion. Put a bowl on each floor and let people make their own decisions. It is a free country after all.
matthewmurrayday 2 years, 3 months ago
Upon the review of my commentary, I would like to say one more thing:
I cannot tell you what to do. If you want to listen to my advice, then perhaps it will halp you and be beneficial to you. If you do not, that is your choice; BUT do not say I did not give you advice.
I intended my advice to be free of charge. Put another way, it doesn't cost you a penny.
Moreover, I did not say that I hope anyone gets an STD or AIDS. What I did say is that the reality of getting an STD, AIDS, an unplanned pregnancy, or a combination of the aforementioned is flagrantly visible.
If you wish to disagree with me, I would love to debate you in a short amount of time on OU Exchange. But as a triple major, my time is limited. If you want to trash-talk me, then I will delete your message from my inbox. If, however, you have something civil to say to me, then I would like to hear your input. Thank you.
matthewmurrayday 2 years, 3 months ago
I say to ThatOneGuyFromThatOnePlace that I agree to disagree. You may not agree with me, but I hope I helped you out in your relational endeavors.
Paige 2 years, 3 months ago
I completely agree with jssooner4.
Head to Planned Parenthood on Lindsey. They've got a bowl. Take as many or as few as you want. Go multiple times a day.
Buying them is always an option, but condoms aren't cheap. Plus most stores don't sell the really fun ones.
Bowls of condoms are awesome.
matthewmurrayday 2 years, 3 months ago
I would like to take a few minutes to, A, give some advice, and B, tell how I really feel.
A. I would strongly recommend that if you do decide to partake in sexual intercourse:
Start looking at job prospects, or start looking at how you can go to school with at least one child. I kid you not, I cannot tell you how many times I can sense someone saying "it won't happen to me."
Begin to think about who will pay for your medical bills when you get chlamydia or gonorrhea. Are you going to pay for them? Is your father? Will your partner (a generic term) and/or his/her family pay for this disease that either you and/or he/she get(s)?
Even if you use a latex of polyurethane condom, you're still opening Pandora's box when it comes to dangers of sex.
Now, I have to say with 99% certainty that I will have no use for this should these machines become available, in a PRO BONO ("for the good of the populace sense" in Latin). In fact, I feel that I will either have, A, a debilitating stroke, or B, a massive heart attack before I even get into a relationship and (possibly) have any use for a condom machine used supposedly for a PRO BONO purpose. (Disclaimer: I do not want either to happen to me. I am only speculating from previous experience and the fact that I haven't had much sleep this week.)
Good luck, fellow Sooners, in this endeavor. Even though it may sound discoursging, it is not meant to do so.
matthewmurrayday 2 years, 3 months ago
I thought of something else:
Here's what you who use the machine think:
"I'm invincable. I can't get pregnant with my partner. I can't get an STD. I can't get AIDS."
What, do you think you have magic fairy dust coming out the mouth and the rear end? If you do, I hope I've thrown it in the trash today with my commentary. In fact, I hope it's in the landfill.
I can understand why people might be a little offended with my remarks. By encouraging these condom machines, you are encouraging prostitution--no exceptions.
I still do not wish AIDS, STDS, and/or unplannned pregnancy on anyone. But if you want to make an adult decision--and don't get me wrong, you're over 18 (or, a vast majority of you), so you dorm-dwellers THINK you're adults because you're away from your folks--and something happens, GET OVER IT. As the saying goes, "You will sleep in the bed you made" (no pun intended).
I'm not the least bit apologetic about being as blunt as possible. I'm only trying to get the reading public to think about how overrated prostitution toys--I mean, condoms--are. I know this is politically incorrect; I know you think I'm spewing hatred.
Know this: I'm trying to help you. Take it or leave it.
ThatOneGuyFromThatOnePlace 2 years, 3 months ago
Dearest matthewmurrayday,
Oh no, I don't disagree with you. I just wish you wouldn't endorse things I happen to somewhat agree with. You might be a good person with good intentions, but you're so full of yourself in your delusion that you're helping people (by telling them what they already know) that it makes me sick. This is the comments section for a COLLEGE newspaper. If you wanna wrap common sense in a bow and try to pass it off as your own knowledge or wisdom, try an elementary school, or better yet, a personal diary.
"Agree to disagree" with me all you want, but don't think people can't see through your holier-than-thou charade to see that you're a sad, narcissistic ass begging for attention.
And congrats to you. Your hope has been realized.. You helped me realize that I so despise the spirit in which you wrote the above comments that I want to have absolutely no relation to you in any way. So much so, that instead of ignore the utter insignificance that you and your comments represent, I felt inclined to create a profile on this website for the sole reason of calling you out as pathetic and small.
I'll get off my soapbox now. And I hope (for all our sakes) that you do the same.
You fail at life. Good day.
daveward 2 years, 3 months ago
The Student Congress Problems and Projects committee will see a resolution encouraging H&F to put condom dispensers back in the basements of the dorms this Sunday, and it will likely be heard in Student Congress on Tuesday, Feb 23, at 7PM in Adams 150.
And I'm pretty certain that HCSA will pass a similar resolution on Monday night (Feb 22) at their meeting.
These are resolutions, basically just letting H&F know what the students want. It will then be up to them to do what they want.