Chelsea Lennox, a junior at Boston College, has long been a part of The organization Boston College Students for Sexual Health, a group that regularly spreads information regarding "S.T.I. facts, birth control choices...and Planned Parenthood locations and resources." However, just recently, Ms. Lennox and her fellow students received a letter from their administration urging them to cease the group's distribution of condoms to students, a note signed by the Dean of Students and the Director of Residential Life at Boston College. As a Catholic university, school officials argued that such a distribution was "not congruent with [their] values and traditions."
In
the letter, Boston College's administration acknowledged the group's
harmless, potentially beneficial aims to aid their student body, yet it
also advised that the group stop their distribution of condoms
immediately, or else face disciplinary action by the university. While a
meeting between the group and their administration has been reserved
for April 29, a conflict has arisen concerning
"how sexual health practices and Jesuit teaching should coexist in
contemporary college life."
Jack Dunn, a
spokesperson for the college, stated, "As a Jesuit, Catholic university,
there are certain Catholic commitments that we are called to uphold."
Lizzie
Jekanowski, a senior and a group chairman, responded, "Students are
going to be having sex regardless, and unless they have the education to
know that you need to use a condom every time...and unless they have
them available, they're not going to use them."
Whereas
some conservative Boston College students have opposed such actions
writing letters against the distribution of condoms, arguing that
"hand[ing] out condoms on campus...puts an idea in their head," other
students, like former student Scott Jelinek, think the distribution
"help[s] normalize the presence of condoms, whereas before, they were
super taboo."
Regardless, current leaders of
the organization were shocked by the letter, considering the many
previous years without any serious trouble. The question became: "Why
the threat now?"
As of now, however, Ms. Jekanowski and Ms. Lennox are planning on continuing their practices into the next week.
Questions:
Why do you think Boston College has all of a sudden cracked down on
student-run condom distribution? Do you think that Boston College's
administration has overreacted? How do you think sexual health practices
and Jesuit teaching should coexist in contemporary college life at
Catholic schools? What's should be more important at Boston College:
retaining Catholic tradition and conservatism or adapting to fit
widespread college hook-up culture?
4 comments:
I think that this development at Boston College is interesting because I remember reading about something similar happening at Georgetown, another Jesuit university, a few years ago. I read the article on Georgetown again and the similarities are remarkable. In fact, some sources have shown that Georgetown's administration is supporting BC's condom distribution ban.
While this ban is extremely unfortunate, its not entirely surprising that these Jesuit universities would object to overt condom distribution. I understand that the administration would never openly condone condom distribution, but I do wish they would turn their cheek rather than actively suppressing it. Its important for policies such as these to be publicly known because I think students should be aware of what kind of administration they're signing up for when deciding on which college to attend.
The fact that people are surprised about Boston Colleges' opposition to condom distribution makes me laugh. I would expect nothing less from a Jesuit college. I am not surprised that Boston College, a Catholic university, is objecting to condom distribution. While I agree that students need to have access to condoms, I understand why Boston College is so upset about the easy access. By allowing such public distribution on campus, the college is somewhat condoning it and allowing premarital sex. The administration is correct in saying that the distribution was not part of their "values and traditions." I understand that students who are going to engage in such activities need to have access to condoms. I think it is rather ridiculous for Lizzie Jekanowski to claim that unless students have condoms "they're not going to use them." She should give students at Boston College some credit. They're smart enough to realize that if you have sex without a condom, you will get pregnant. I doubt girls would want to be pregnant a month into freshman year. There needs to be a balance between access to condoms and keeping Catholic traditions. It will be interesting to see how the administration handles this situation.
Like Sam said, its not necessarily surprising that Boston College, a Jesuit school, is opposed to condom distribution. However, if the risk is the health of the students, then banning the distribution is not the best idea. While there should be some sort of balance between the college's teachings and student life, the free distribution of condoms has probably been useful to students on campus, and an immediate ban would have some negative repercussions. Overall, the effect this ban could have on students should be kept in mind, and should probably be the main concern of the administration.
Although, obviously, a jesuit university doesn't want to contradict their values, I agree with Andrew that they really shouldn't actively suppress it. It is inevitable that college kids are going to have sex. They really can't stop that. So if a campus group is distributing condoms, why stop it. It teaches students safe sex. I get that as a jesuit school, they aren't into that kind of thing, but seriously, would they rather have spreading STD's around their campus?
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