Trojan Sexual Health Roundtable and sexual health services available at Minnesota State

Originally published in the MSU Reporter Oct. 25, 2007 under the title "Evolved Awareness," I cut the word count in half and put the statistics into bulleted lists.


I recently attended the Trojan Evolve Sexual Health Roundtable in Denver, Co. Never in the last 21 years of my life have I been this glad to be from the North. Denver was beautiful, but after spending three days with three students from Texas, two students from Oklahoma, two students from Louisiana, one from Missouri and one student from Nebraska, I have never been more proud to call the blue state of Minnesota my current place of residence.

Part of the campaign includes the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card. Students at 139 universities were surveyed and schools were ranked on sexual health awareness programs, sexual violence programs, student peer groups, condom and contraception availability, HIV testing, other sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, student health center hours of operation, lecture outreach programs and availability of Web-based sexual health information.

Since Minnesota State is not a Division I school, it was not ranked among the other 139 universities graded in 2007, but this is the second year that MSU has been invited to be a part of the roundtable discussion. The University of Minnesota, however, was ranked number one after a ranking of 54 in 2006, and I would like to think that MSU would rank higher than our bible-belt counterparts would.

The MSU Student Health Services homepage makes information readily available about gynecological/contraception examinations including Colposcopy and STI diagnosis and treatment. The annual National College Health Assessment Executive summary is also available under the News You Can Use portion of the Web site. This survey provides information about students' general health, preventative health, academic impacts, violence, substance use, sexual behavior, nutritional & exercise behavior, and depression.

In the 2007 survey results, MSU students surveyed reported:
• having an average of 2.16 sexual partners in the last school year
• 49.9 percent of sexually active students reported using a condom mostly or always in the last 30 days when having vaginal sex
• 50.6 percent reported using a condom the last time they had vaginal sex
• 23.4 percent of students who drank reported having unprotected sex while under the influence in the last school year.

Students can buy Trojan, Lifestyles, Durex and other latex condoms in a variety of styles for as low as six for $1. Condoms are also free to students in residence halls and are available on every floor; seek your floor's condom representative for details. Very few other colleges or universities who had representatives attending the Denver roundtable claimed to have free condoms available in their dorms.

MSU Student Health Services also offers Gardasil, the vaccine for girls and women between the ages of 9 and 26 that helps protect against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes genital warts and is the most common cause of cervical cancer.

Not one of the other schools at the Denver roundtable reported having this available on their campus.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention asserts that about 20 million people are currently infected with HPV, at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives by age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection and about 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year.

In 2007,
• 49.7 percent of female MSU students surveyed reported using birth control pills in the last year
• 1.9 percent reported using Depo Provera (the shot)
• 43.3 percent of all sexually active students surveyed using condoms within the last year to prevent pregnancy.

Student Health Services offers the birth control pill, Depo Provera and the Nuva Ring, which is somewhat newer method of hormonal birth control that offers more flexibility than the "pill."

Free 4U at MSU is a service that provides free birth control, annual exams, emergency contraception and family planning education for MSU students between the ages of 15 and 50 not enrolled in Medical Assistance or Minnesota Care and are U.S. citizens. To be eligible for Free 4U at MSU, however, you must meet certain income requirements.

Part of the Trojan Evolve campaign is taking your sexual health and responsibility into your own hands. That means having an annual STI screening if you are male or female, a Pap smear if you are a woman, and using a condom - every time. Have you had your annual STI test or Pap smear?