Ohio State ranked third out of 141 colleges on the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card released last week.
OSU showed significant improvement from the past two years. In 2008, OSU was ranked No. 28 and in 2009, No. 23.
“With the sexual health report card, we are not looking at the frequency of sexual activity and we’re not looking at the rate of (Sexually Transmitted Infections) on campus,” said Bert Sperling, survey coordinator and president of Sperling’s BestPlaces, the company Trojan hired to compile information for the report. “We are looking at the resources and services that are available for the students so they can stay healthy and make their own best decisions.”
Trojan came up with the ranking five years ago to measure the availability of resources aimed to prevent the spread of STIs.
Sperling’s BestPlaces contacted the universities’ student health centers, sent out questionnaires and evaluated the health centers’ websites, Sperling said.
The schools were given grades based on 12 areas dealing with sexual health programs and resources, including hours of operation, HIV testing and sexual assault programs.
“What we want to do is increase the information that is out there in order to try and start to combat some of these really high sexually transmitted infection rates,” said Bruce Tetreault, group product manager of Trojan.
Statistics show that one in four people will have an STI by the age of 25, Tetreault said.
OSU earned a 3.58 grade point average on the report card. It averaged As and Bs with the exception of one C regarding walk-in hours at the Student Wellness Center.
But Katye Miller, wellness coordinator at OSU, was puzzled by how the independent research company measured the grades.
Miller said the university usually receives lower grades on the survey for condoms because it charges a small amount instead of giving them out for free.
“We have a lot more that other campuses don’t have, like our sexual assault program,” Miller said. “We are one of the cutting-edge universities with our sexual assault program, but we got a B on it, not an A.”
OSU joined two other Big Ten schools in the top five: Michigan State, which ranked second, and the University of Michigan at fourth.
Representing the Ivy League, Columbia University took the first place spot, and Brown University ranked fifth.
But the Student Wellness Center at OSU is not focused on rankings. Instead, it is focused on taking steps to prevent the spread of STIs.
Students can become a part of the Condom Club at OSU, which offers 50 condoms for $5, Miller said.
STI and HIV tests are also available to students. Columbus Public Health comes to campus each quarter to provide free STI testing, she said.
Students can receive the results of HIV tests within 20 to 40 minutes. They are oral, so no needles are involved, Miller said.
A recent survey of 2,124 OSU students, conducted by the American College Health Association, asked about health history, including STIs.
The category with the highest percentage of student diagnoses was genital warts/human papillomavirus, at 2.2 percent, according to the National College Health Assessment.
It is hard to gauge what the most prevalent STI is because a lot of students don’t get diagnosed or tested, Miller said.
The hope is that the Trojan report card will raise awareness, Tetreault said, and prompt universities to improve their sexual wellness programs.
