If one refers to the magnum opuses of American cinema such as “Animal House,” “American Pie” and even “The Social Network,” college is as much about sex as it is about learning.
The contraceptive company’s recently released Sexual Health Report Card Rankings placed MU at number 26 out of 141 colleges across the country.
MU was the highest-ranked Big 12 Conference school, sitting seven spots above Texas. Columbia University in New York City topped the rankings and DePaul was the lowest school.
The independent research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces conducted the survey, which gathered information from individual students, student health center representatives and the actual health centers. Criteria of the survey included information about the health center such as hours of operation, methodology of making appointments and student opinion.
Other factors measured were availability of HIV and STI testing, condom and contraceptive availability and student peer groups addressing sexual health issues.
By placing 26th, MU improved 32 spots from 2010’s rankings. Heather Eastman-Mueller, the curriculum coordinator for the Sexual Health Advocate Peer Education Program, attributed MU’s improvement to improved technology, such as improvements to SHAPE’s online resources.
“This resource allows students to post anonymous questions and get answers from an expert, blog with a SHAPE peer educator and navigate through a ‘choose your own adventure’ risk reduction learning module,” Eastman-Mueller said.
Eastman-Mueller also mentioned the Student Health Center’s “SHealth” iPhone app, which gives students directions to STI screening locations. The app also includes an anonymous question and answer capability and videos normalizing open communication about sexuality.
MU has extensive services regarding the sexual health of students. There are free condoms available at the Student Health Center and the Women’s Center and incoming freshmen view wellness skits at Summer Welcome.
“Our increase (in the survey) is a combination of increased accessibility and information to our students,” Eastman-Mueller said. “Sexual health is continuing to be a clear priority on this campus through a variety of resources we provide to our students.
