Students urged to 'wrap it up'

By Jennifer Umaña
Daily Forty-Niner

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, but when this certain group of students encourages others to "Wrap it Up" they are not talking about wrapping presents in colorful paper and bows.

They are talking about using protection when having sexual intercourse.

The seven students joined together for a group project in their Communications 132 class in which their assignment was to take a social issue, make awareness of it, and improve the situation.

The group surveyed 272 of the little more than 30,000 students on campus and 62 out of about 1,800 dorm residents about their sexual practices. The surveys were anonymous and were distributed to students of varying ages and ethnicities at different times of the day.

The group was alarmed to find out that many of the students do not practice safe sex. They trusted the honesty of those who answered the survey because of the anonymity of the questions.

"We were surprised that most people were pretty receptive to it," said Kevin Soult, one of the group members. "I think they honestly answered it."

Also, the answers given did not seem outlandish or fictitious to the group members.

" 'Yeah, I had sex when I was five and I slept with 150 people'– we didn't really get that," group member Mike Lordanich said.

Of the 272 students surveyed, 95 percent said they are sexually active, and 71 percent admitted to having sex while under the influence of drugs, alcohol or both. Many of them said that they had unprotected sex more than once.

Almost half of the males and females had not been tested for sexually transmitted diseases. The reasons given for not getting tested included: laziness, fear, and lack of time to get tested.

The dorm residents received a different survey, one that questioned the need for condom dispensers along with the residents' sex habits and 59 percent felt that a condom dispenser is necessary in the dorms.

Of the dorm residents surveyed, 68 percent of them are sexually active and only two people said they use a condom during oral sex.

"It was kind of surprising when we told people in the dorms (the results) they were just like 'Yeah, I could see that,'" Lordanich said.

The group wants to raise awareness in the dorms. They would like to have condom dispensers placed in the dorms for 24-hour access.

"A lot of people said that if they had that available they'd be more prone to use it because they said a lot of times they don't plan on having sex," Lordanich said. "But they get into a situation where they're going to end up having sex and if there's a dispenser available they would be able to go and use it. They're not going to go and say- 'Hold on, I'm going to run down to the student health center."

Although condoms are available in the Student Health Services for $2 a dozen, the group would also like to see condom dispensers placed in the male and female bathrooms on campus.

The group's overall goal is not to keep people from abstaining from sex, but to protect themselves

"At least think about it and be prepared for what the consequences are and just use something if you're going to have sex," Lordanich said.