Confidence in Condoms

In 1981, the University of California at Berkley instituted a new slogan for its famed Condom Week: “When you rise…condomize.” Three thousand miles to the east and 25 years later, Harvard’s Community Health Initiative (CHI) still denies first-year men the resources to fulfill that prophetic motto. Thankfully, the Undergraduate Council recently passed a bill to support the placement of condoms in all freshmen dorms to supplement the current supply in the Houses—a move that Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 has encouraged. We hope that in the coming weeks, CHI addresses the obvious desire of the community and begins to stock freshmen dorms with protection.

On average, upperclass students benefit 30,000 times each year from the distribution of free Lifestyles condoms, while freshmen continue to suffer through cold and awkward trips to CVS at 2 a.m. Harvard freshmen—stereotypically not the most socially nimble and suave pack—should not be burdened with the additional obstacle of locating contraception at the off-chance of sexual success while their older peers receive condoms in laundry rooms. In addition, timid freshmen’s unfettered access to condoms will eliminate the awkward and potentially prohibitive face-to-face interactions, which are often requisite for obtaining condoms from the Yard’s peer health groups.

According to student CHI head Joseph K. Lee ’07, this blatant inequality in condom distribution has been justified by paternalistic concerns for the 1,600 incoming 18-year-olds. “Past college officials have felt that the maturity level of freshmen might not be high enough to merit condoms in the dorms,” he said. But after years of proposals from student leaders, Lee reports that current administrators “realize that condoms are actually very necessary for freshmen.”

While we doubt that the growth of freshmen’s sexual enlightenment during the move from the Yard to Houses warrants the current unequal system, we sympathize with administrators’ fear of appearing to promote intercourse to naïve freshmen. The solution to that dilemma, however, is not depriving sexually active freshmen of free contraception. Instead, CHI officials and the Freshmen Dean’s Office should focus on educating students about safe and healthy sexual lives.

Adding to the controversy of CHI’s condom distribution, the effectiveness of Lifestyles condoms was questioned last November by the Radcliffe Union of Students’ visiting sex expert, Kim Airs. But an investigation by Kelli Ballinger, staff head of CHI, and Dr. David C. Olson, director of obstetrics and gynecology at University Health Services, discovered no evidence that the Lifestyles condoms function improperly. From experience, we strongly endorse the Lifestyles product, and hope that freshmen in the upcoming weeks, months, and years will experience “proven protection that feels really good®”—for free.