Condom Boxes Erected in Freshman Dorms

The Harvard Crimson ^ | 5/1/06 | JOHN R. MACARTNEY

[dukeman]

Condom boxes were installed in freshman dorms Greenough, Canaday, and Weld laundry rooms last Thursday, the climax of two and a half months of planning, involving the Undergraduate Council (UC), Community Health Initiative (CHI), and the Freshman Dean’s Office.

This is the first time these little black boxes, which have been enjoyed by upperclassmen for years, will dispense free condoms to students in freshman dormitories. Previously, first-years were able only to obtain free condoms from peer counseling groups Room 13 and Contact, which have offices in the Yard, condom boxes in the upperclassmen Houses, or from University Health Services (UHS).

The dispensers were purchased by the Center for Wellness and Health Communication, a branch of UHS, and will be restocked by student members of CHI, as are the boxes in the Houses. Yard Operations erected the bins last Thursday.

Beside each box is a set of leaflets, such as “Contraception: Choosing a Method.”

The UC passed a motion showing stiff resolve to install the boxes in February, although Dean of Freshman Thomas A. Dingman ’67 was working with CHI to acquire the dispensers before that, according to UC member Jeffrey Kwong ’09.

“Right now there are [free condoms] at UHS, but I know a lot of people aren’t going to go all the way to UHS just to get condoms,” said Ricky B. Shah ’09, a sponsor of the bill, identifying the main benefits of the boxes as convenience and equality with upperclassmen.

Kwong, however, said that he thought the new boxes were unnecessary.

“These new condom boxes are out of the way of a lot of students,” he said. “They’re not any more accessible than any existing resources.”

Kwong also raised doubts about the legality of the appearance of condoms in the Yard, saying that it was unclear whether the College could provide condoms to a class which includes some students under the age of consent.

“I’m not convinced [those issues] have been researched fully by Mr. Sundquist and Mr. Shah,” he added, referring to the UC bill’s sponsors.

Students seemed to be less divided on the scheme’s merits.

“It certainly sounds like a good plan,” James P. Canning ’09 said, although he did not know about the installations until told by The Crimson.

Matan Shelomi ’09 who works with Peer Contraceptive Counseling said the he thought the new boxes would be popular.

“I would say that anything that involves people walking less [will be successful].”

According to an e-mail sent by Keli Ballinger, the director of CHI, the project could be extended to more dorms in the future if there is demand.

[dukeman]

Yes, the original headline reads "Erected."

[nuconvert]

Well, being a college paper, what else would it say?

[i_dont_chat]

Beside each box is a set of leaflets, such as “Contraception: Choosing a Method.”

Beside each box should be a warning, "Don't chew this gum, it tastes like rubber."

[dighton]

According to an e-mail sent by Keli Ballinger ...

[fzx12345]

"...the climax of two and a half months of planning..."

Unnngh.

[M203M4]

The UC passed a motion showing stiff resolve to install the boxes in February

....

[Wuli]

I see, tonight the Marxists are leading our representatives through the nose, through the intimidation of the mob, to establish the right for anyone who merely steps across our southern border to declare, demand and obtain our agreement that such persons have all the rights of citizens, and you're concerned about condoms.

No wonder our conservative GOP representatives are voting on this issue with Ted Kennedy, they know where your priorities are.

[Billthedrill]

Bah - we used to use them all the time in my undergraduate days. You fill them with water and slip the open end over the doorknob of your victim...what? They have other uses? Oh, yeah, I forgot - they make great water balloons...

[catholicfreeper]

You know there is a about a 30 threads on here talking about the immigration issue. I am sure people are looking at those too.

[Larry Lucido]

I see, tonight the Marxists are leading our representatives through the nose, through the intimidation of the mob, to establish the right for anyone who merely steps across our southern border to declare, demand and obtain our agreement that such persons have all the rights of citizens, and you're concerned about condoms.

That's what I told my wife. "Wife," I said, "I see, tonight the Marxists are leading our representatives through the nose, through the intimidation of the mob, to establish the right for anyone who merely steps across our southern border to declare, demand and obtain our agreement that such persons have all the rights of citizens, and you're concerned about me taking out the garbage."

[Wuli]

There should be 30 more; our nation is at stake.

[fzx12345]

The Total Perspective Vortex derives its picture of the whole Universe on the principle of extrapolated matter analyses.

To explain--since every piece of matter in the Universe is in some way affected by every other piece of matter in the Universe, it is in theory possible to extrapolate the whole of creation--every sun, every planet, their orbits, their composition and their economic and social history from, say, one small piece of fairy cake.

The man who invented the Total Perspective Vortex did so basically in order to annoy his wife.

Trin Tragula--for that was his name--was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher, or as his wife would have it, an idiot.

And she would nag him incessantly about the utterly inordinate amount of time he spent staring out into space, or mulling over the mechanics of safety pins, or doing spectrographic analyses of pieces of fairy cake.

"Have some sense of proportion!" she would say, sometimes as often as thirty-eight times in a single day.

And so he built the Total Perspective Vortex--just to show her.

And into it he plugged the whole of reality as extrapolated from a piece of fairy cake, and into the other end he plugged his wife: so that when he turned it on she saw in one instant the whole infinity of creation and herself in relation to it.

To Trin Tragula's horror, the shock completely annihilated her brain; but to his satisfaction he realized that he had proved conclusively that if life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.

[Senator Bedfellow]

I assume she told you to take out the trash on your way to the barricades then... :)

[youthgonewild]

At most schools, you go to the health center and ask for some. At mine, they have a big bucket of them and you grab some.

[dcnd9]

Self-destruction is a choice


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1625201/posts

[SunkenCiv]

In the laundry rooms? Geez, can't they wait until they get back to their beds?

[ValerieUSA]

There oughta be a romantic laundry room love song ... something with a rap beat about high Tidevs dryers and the perils of softener..

[SunkenCiv]

I think there is one, from the 1960s -- "Shout!"