We commend ASHA (AIDS and Sexual Health Awareness) for not only providing free STI testing at the Green Street Arts Center next week, as they have done for many years, but also for opening up the service to Middletown residents as well. By offering this service at Green Street Arts Center, which acts as a converging point between the campus and Middletown, ASHA is demonstrating their commitment to increasing awareness and safety both at Wesleyan and in the greater Middletown area.
The work of groups like ASHA is crucial: many studies indicate that STI’s are more prevalent on college campuses than most would expect. According to Columbia’s Health Services, “20-25 percent of college students across the country have either been infected with an STD or transmitted an STD to their sexual partners…[and] two thirds of all individuals with STDs are under the age of 25.” The 2002 National College Health Assessment offers one explanation for these surprising statistics, reporting that “only 54 percent of students regularly use condoms during vaginal intercourse, 29 percent during anal intercourse and only 4 percent during oral sex.”
It is important to stress that, even if the majority of Wesleyan students are using protection regularly, STI’s can still be contracted unexpectedly. And for the 25 percent of college students across the country who contracted STIs last year, taking the time to get tested, likely prevented long-term health complications.
Given the potential consequences of inaction, we were disturbed to find out that only 217 University students – less than 10 percent of the total student body – took advantage of the free STI clinic that ASHA ran at Eclectic last year. For a student body that prides itself on being open about sexuality and sexual health, it is unfortunate that many students, possibly emboldened by a false sense of security, feel it unnecessary to get tested.
Therefore, we hope that when ASHA tallies the numbers this year, there will have been a substantial increase in attendance of Wesleyan students, who are starting to take STI’s more seriously.
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