I am astounded at Randy Alexander’s objection to selling condoms in the C-Stores and certainly confused by his logic. If I am interpreting his statement correctly, the Department of Residence is not neutral regarding condom availability and is therefore not in favor of promoting safer sex. And yet, “bad things happen” when young people are sexually active, so isn’t promoting safer sex the responsible thing to do?

Mr. Alexander needs to walk over to the Thielen Student Health Center to pick up a brochure on condoms. The one I have is called “Condoms: What you need to know.” The opening statement is “Condoms are one of the easiest and most effective methods to prevent against pregnancy and to protect against sexually transmitted diseases.” Mr. Alexander can also get accurate, nonbiased information about condoms from the Centers for Disease Control’s Web site, www.cdc.gov.

While abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, Mr. Alexander needs to face the reality that college students are having sex. Rather than appearing to limit access to condoms to please the Board of Regents and parents, the Department of Residence needs to be proactive about promoting safer sex. I suspect parents would prefer Jack and Jill buy a condom in the C-Store than to show up on their doorstep with an unplanned pregnancy, STD or asking for money for an abortion.

Chris D. Gleason

Graduate student

Public administration