Life

This College Is #1 For Sexual Health Resources

by Amanda Chatel

Today, November 4th, marks the 10th Annual Trojan Sexual Health Report Card, in which colleges are ranked based on their sexual health maintenance. Each year Trojan examines colleges across the country and decides who’s winning and who’s losing when it comes to sexual health and accessibility on campus to resources that keep their students healthy in regards to sex. Did your college make the list? Possibly.

Along with Sperling’s BestPlaces, Trojan researched 140 universities across the United States to see what schools were offering as far as resources and information goes to keep the sexual health of their student body on the up and up. For the second year in the row, top honors went to Oregon State University where everything seems to be tip-top when it comes to sexual health and the what the university provides for their students. The data was compiled based availability to condoms and other contraception, HIV and other STI testing accessibility, hours of operation, along with programs for educating students on sexual assault. Basically, everything you could possibly want in a university’s sexual health program.

Although not every college in the U.S. was examined, the 140 schools did cover every one of the 50 states. Thanks to Trojan Brand Condoms and Sperling’s BestPlaces, here are six things to know about sexual health in colleges across the country.

1. Oregon State University Was #1 On The List — Again

Before 2014, Oregon State University was hanging out in the #25 spot. But they decided to do some major revamping. Since then they’ve come in at the #1 spot for the past two years, making them a “model” for all other campuses when it comes to sexual health.

2. Columbia University Is Doing It Right

Although Oregon State University is in the top spot, Columbia is stellar in its own right. Since 2008 it’s been in the top 10 best schools for sexual health ever single year, making it definitely a school that other schools should live up to.

3. University of Wisconsin Is Making Great Strides

If you go to the University of Wisconsin, it’s a good time to be a student there! Between 2006 and 2015, the school jumped from #92 on the list to #23. While they’re still not in the top 10 list, they’re definitely making some major headway.

4. Ivy League Schools Know How To Take Care Of Their Students' Sex Lives

According to the research, Stanford, Brown, and Columbia are all in the top 10 list of sexually healthy schools, at #2, #5, and #8 respectively. University of Iowa, which is known for its graduate writing program (Girls' Hannah Horvath went there, remember?) is also on the list at #7, as are University of Georgia, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Oregon (not to be mistaken with Oregon State University which is at #1), University of Texas at Austin, in the 10th spot, the University of Arizona. Harvard, however, doesn’t come in until #29.

5. Brigham Young Has A Lot Of Work To Do

Whether it’s because of its religious affiliation or simply because they’re not focused on sexual health, but Brigham Young is at the very bottom of the list at #140. Yikes!

Also on in the bottom 10 schools that really need to get their act together when it comes to providing proper sexual health resources for their students are Troy State University, Providence College, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Texas Tech University, St. John’s University, University of New Orleans, Louisiana Tech University, and Baylor University, which, again has a religious affiliation.

6. Schools Are Getting Better Overall

As Trojan notes, since it first started this project back in 2006, schools are getting much better when it comes offering the necessary sexual health resources for their students. Schools like the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland have left behind their rankings in the '60s, and jumped up to #21 and #14, respectively. According to Bruce Weiss, Vice President of Marketing for Trojan Brand Condoms, the average scores of the colleges have been on the rise because every year schools are coming up with better and better programs for their students.

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