<p>How common is it for the smaller LACs to have their own health clinic for basic visits like fever, GI problems and birth control?</p>
<p>For those that do, is it very unlikely that a Catholic, Lutheran, whatever school would offer access to male and female birth control?</p>
<p>Most Catholic schools, and many conservative Christian schools (I don't consider Lutheran in this category), will not offer birth control services on campus.</p>
<p>Small liberal arts colleges typically have an on campus health office staffed by a nurse, with regularly scheduled doctor's visits. They may, however, offer only limited hours (i.e., no weekend hours), and rely on referrals to area hospitals, urgent care centers, or local doctors outside of regular hours. Usually, the security office will provide transportation to the local hospital during off-hours.</p>
<p>These are very good questions to ask of every school, however, regardless of size or religious affiliation. I'd also suggest asking about student health insurance such as: Will you be required to purchase the school's plan? Will your current plan cover services on campus and off? Again, ask not just small colleges these questions -- ask all colleges.</p>
<p>I'd like to add that some secular colleges (I don't know how universal this is) do not offer <em>covered</em> contraception services as part of the student health plan. I think this is unfortunate. JMO.</p>
<p>WOW. I was at a big Southern state school 25 years ago and Student Health dispensed male and female birth control. Just had to watch the educational video first. The staff was also very supportive and non-judgemental. I was an RA and I sent many, many folks over there to get info. Some had incredibly little knowledge about their bodies.</p>
<p>I just looked at 2 random Catholic colleges - Holy Cross and Loyola Baltimore - health services offerings, and they do not mention anything about contraception. </p>
<p>A group that educates about HIV/Aids preventions says:
<a href="http://www.thebody.com/cdc/news_updates_archive/aug12_02/catholic.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.thebody.com/cdc/news_updates_archive/aug12_02/catholic.html</a>
[quote]
With sexually active students on their campuses and the Vatican unswervingly opposed to premarital sex, America's Roman Catholic colleges face difficult choices on such sensitive matters as condom use and unwanted pregnancies.</p>
<p>Except for a handful of schools, the 230 colleges and universities do not provide condoms or other contraceptives on campus, drawing renewed criticism that their students face a higher risk of STDs. Yet many schools do offer up-to-date information on sexual health, and some provide referrals for students seeking birth control or considering abortions...</p>
<p>...Of 133 Catholic colleges responding to the survey, only 16 reported making contraceptives available to students, the group said. When contacted by the Associated Press, three of the 16 denied providing contraceptives. Officials at others among the 16 did not dispute the survey listing but said there was no formal policy for providing contraceptives. Instead, campus medical professionals had the option of helping students obtain birth control, they said. Several college officials said medical personnel might help individual students obtain contraceptives without the explicit approval of administrators.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I looked at my son's school (Denison) and they specifically say that they dispense contraceptives, including emergency contraceptives. They also offer STD testing and treatment, and pregnancy testing and consultation. I know for a fact that they hand out condoms pretty freely on campus (as do most schools these days). One thing I like about Denison is that their health center is still staffed 24/7, but this is increasingly rare on campuses.</p>
<p>I think it would be very worrisome to have a kid at college who did not have access to good birth control...</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think it would be very worrisome to have a kid at college who did not have access to good birth control...
[/quote]
Many of these colleges have been around for well over 100 years without worrying parents about their birth control distribution policy. If it would worry you, it's best not to send your kids there. Or send them along with supplies packed or a prescription that can be filled at any pharmacy in the country. Or through the mail. It sure doesn't seem like an insurmountable problem.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Many of these colleges have been around for well over 100 years without worrying parents about their birth control distribution policy.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Many of the colleges were around for well over 100 years without any female students or their parents to "worry" about contraception.</p>
<p>It's my belief that if kids are not smart enough to figure out how birth control works and the methods currently available, especially in these days of the internet, they shouldn't be allowed entrance into the hallowed halls of our elite institutions of higher education. I seriously wonder how it was possible that a person like myself, of a generation that never once attended a "health" class, figured out how to get myself fitted for a diaphragm. Ditto the generations of men who somehow figured out to buy a condom without parental guidance. Unbelievable. We are raising a generation of moral, emotional and intellectual cripples.</p>
<p>Idad, so your position is that the responsibility of obtaining contraception is entirely on the woman's shoulders? Very interesting......</p>
<p>Good points, HH.</p>
<p>hereshoping:
[quote]
I seriously wonder how it was possible that a person like myself, of a generation that never once attended a "health" class, figured out how to get myself fitted for a diaphragm.
[/quote]
Well, I wonder what percent of college educated women got their first diaphragm fitted at the college health clinic.</p>
<p>stickershock:
[quote]
Many of these colleges have been around for well over 100 years without worrying parents about their birth control distribution policy. If it would worry you, it's best not to send your kids there.
[/quote]
Indeed, my son applied to Catholic colleges, but didn't end up at one. Had he though, I would have known the "situation" at the health clinics and reacted accordingly. I think that is all the OP is asking about. Everybody knows the Catholic church's stance on women's issues, and they also know you can take it or leave it...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Idad, so your position is that the responsibility of obtaining contraception is entirely on the woman's shoulders?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't believe I wrote that, did I? That has never been my personal view.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, we do live in the real world. Women (and parents of high school and college age women) have more of a vested interest in the matter, as evidenced by the number of births nationally that occur as "dad" is hightailing it over the horizon in a cloud of dust.</p>
<p>I'm not sure an historically male college or a college governed by males is likely to have quite the same views on the subject.</p>
<p>At one West Coast institution I am familiar with, no religious affiliation, condoms are free to all students, but are limited to one per student per day. Can you imagine that?</p>
<p>They were in a basket on the counter in the bathroom in my daughters freshman year dorm</p>
<p>This is what you wrote, idad:
[quote]
Many of the colleges were around for well over 100 years without any female students or their parents to "worry" about contraception.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The only way to read that statement is that worrying about contraception is for females and their families. I'm gald that you really don't believe that.</p>
<p>I've seen the devastating news of an early, unplanned pregnancy affect boys as seriously as girls. (A dear friend's son is now single-handedly raising two pre-schoolers after the "shot-gun" wedding/marriage didn't pan out.) This is a life-changing event, whether you are carrying the child or not. </p>
<p>I think it is absolutely silly to suggest that men who govern a college would not recognize the responsibility that men and women share in preventing unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STDs. On what basis would you make such a statement?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think it is absolutely silly to suggest that men who govern a college
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There's a sexist assumption for you...</p>
<p>
[quote]
On what basis would you make such a statement?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I attended an historically male college that enrolled women for the first time. They had to build a reproductive/contraceptive health services infrastructure from scratch. It was not an issue the college had ever had to deal with previously.</p>
<p>
[quote]
There's a sexist assumption for you...
[/quote]
How so? Read post #11 to see what I am referring to. It is a statement about a college governed by men.</p>
<p>Idad, it sounds as if your college served the needs of its new female students. What about their previous policies made you think they encouraged their male students to shirk responsibility? Did they provide train fare out of town if the student's girl friend was pregnant? Male contraceptive needs are pretty simple, so I can't imagine a big men's reproductive health clinic was necessary before the women arrived. Women need GYNs as teens. Men don't need a uroloigist until middle age, so the college year health needs of women will always be more complicated than those of men, regardless of sexual activity.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What about their previous policies made you think they encouraged their male students to shirk responsibility?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Where did I say that?</p>
<p>What I am saying that an all-male school with all male administrators and an all-male governing board probably has a different point of view than a school that has had women students, women administrators, and women on the governing board for a long period of time.</p>
<p>There are issues here that go beyond condom dispensers. For example, one key issue is the way colleges deal with sexual assault allegations.</p>
<p>Stickershock, I don't know why you're beating Idad up. He said that his men's college provided no birth-control resources until female students joined them. His statements are neither sexist nor controversial -- just an accurate reflection of verifiable reality. If you read a little of the history of men's colleges and women's colleges, you'll see the difference is striking.
As for suggesting that "women need GYNs as teens" and men don't need a urologist until middle age -- was that a joke?</p>