IU drops to 63rd in college campus sexual health ranking

Trojan Brand Condoms released its 2011 Sexual Health Report Card, ranking IU at 63rd of 141 schools surveyed this year. Last year, IU ranked 39th of the 141 schools.

Columbia University in New York City ranked first, followed by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in second and Princeton University in third.

The study’s lead researcher, Bert Sperling, said IU had not regressed since last year, but rather “other schools are improving a bunch.”

Sperling said one weakness at IU was its lack of an anonymous column in the student paper in which students could ask questions about sexual health.

“Last year, there was a mechanism for (asking anonymous questions),” he said.

However, Jennifer Bass, communications director for the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction said the institute promoted sexual health via kinseyconfidential.org, which runs a weekly column in the IDS.

“We looked for an advice column this year,” Sperling said. “But we had a hard time finding it.”

Sperling’s BestPlaces, a company that analyzes data about locations in the United States, fielded the study, which was conducted through surveys sent to each university’s health center.

The health centers could complete the survey by mail, fax, email or online. Each health center was scored on 13 criteria, such as hours, website functionality and student opinion.

According to a press release about the study, “researchers collected extensive data via student health center representatives, along with follow-up secondary research on those centers and students on campus.”

Rebecca Balkin, the administrative coordinator at the Office of Work/Life at Columbia University, wrote in an email that Columbia’s sexual health programs are run predominantly by its health center.

At IU, the responsibility of sexual health is divided among several places on campus including the Kinsey Institute, the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation and the IU Health Center.

“We only contacted the health centers on the campuses,” said Sperling.

Kinseyconfidential.org is run by the Kinsey Institute, and HPER has a Center for Sexual Health Promotion. These and other resources were not considered in the study except for possibly in the extra credit category, which was based upon student opinion.

Sperling said it is important for universities to promote sexual health.

“Any kind of health is important for students to live long, happy lives and to excel at school,” he said. “Students have to be healthy in all ways.”