The Debate Over Safe Sex Lands Dartmouth on "Donahue"

What on Earth was happening at Dartmouth this time? A nationally syndicated column written by Dartmouth Review founder Greg Fossedal '81 referred to the College's "Sex Kit Shocker." College Health Service Director Jack Turco appeared on the "Today Show" and "Phil Donahue" to chat about AIDS with premed student Cuong Do '88 and Dartmouth Review editor Debbie Stone '87. Stories about the College's safe-sex campaign hit the national news wires.

From all the media hype last February, Dartmouth might have looked like a hotbed of sexual experimentation. This likely surprised students in other schools—such as Stanford, whose administration has packaged a game called "Sexploration," or Syracuse, where students can send each other a "condom gram," or a variety of colleges that celebrated National Condom Week.

But Dartmouth was indeed out in front in one sense: it was the first school to offer a "safer sex kit" at registration. That day 250 students voluntarily picked one up. When they opened the sandwich-sized plastic bag they found the following:

• An instruction sheet describing the items in the kit and how to use them properly. Along with advice on "safer sex," the broadsheet notes that "abstinence is always an option" while suggesting that the reader "be imaginative and creative, yet don't put your own or your partner's health at risk."

• A pamphlet that answers questions about the diagnosis, symptoms and transmission of AIDS.

• A Sheik Elite condom.

• A pillow of lubricant with the unfortunate brand name of "PROBE." It contains chemicals that in lab tests have killed the AIDS virus. The lubricant also minimizes the tissue damage that occurs with any type of penetration in heterosexuals and homosexuals.

• A rubber dam consisting of a five-inch square of green latex. Often used by dentists to protect themselves from patients' germs, the dam's purpose in the sex kit is to control the spread of disease through oral sex.

• A pamphlet titled "Safe Sex," written by the Charlottesville AIDS Resource Network for the American College Health Association. Dartmouth, along with about 550 other institutions, is a member of the association. The brochure has drawn the most fire from critics. It evaluates the safety of vaginal intercourse along with such practices as "fisting," "rimming" and "watersports."

"I don't think this is a medical brochure/' Debbie Stone '87 told Phil Donahue in February. "I think it's a slick advertisement." The Dartmouth Review editor argued that the kit's explicit language encourages deviant sexual behavior rather than promoting abstinence. "The College is sending out the message that moral considerations aren't even worth mentioning," she said, adding that the administration has no place in offering condoms to students. "Why do they have to have it handed to them for free like candy when they register for classes?"

"The safer sex kit was not designed to be a media hype or a gimmick," responds Beverlie Conant Sloane, head of the Health Service's education program, who implemented Dartmouth's approach to AIDS education. Sloane points out that Partners in Health, a 64-page booklet that she and others at the Health Service wrote, was also made available at registration along with the safer sex kit. The book's first chapter poses the non-medical questions a student should ask before deciding to engage in some sort of sex.

Turco adds that the AIDS epidemic warrants a frank approach to sex education. Some 1.5 million Americans have contracted the AIDS virus. Of this group, four percent received the virus through heterosexual contact. The Health Service director quotes Surgeon General C. Everett Koop '37, who estimates that without educational programs, 54,000 people will die of `the disease in 1991. "With the proper information and education, as many as 12,000 to 14,000 people could be saved in 1991 from death by AIDS," Koop wrote in a report on the disease.

By 1991, according to the same estimates, AIDS will replace accidents as the leading cause of death among the college-age population. Although no one at Dartmouth has yet died of the disease (other colleges have reported AIDS-related deaths), two students who have since left campus tested positive for the virus. "One of the major reasons we don't have people dying here is that we are dealing with a young population," Turco said. "Although it is certainly possible for students to acquire AIDS as an undergraduate, most of them will not develop the fullblown disease until after they are out of college."

According to Turco, at least 40 percent of undergraduate students nationwide are sexually active; other officials on campus put the figure as high as 80 percent. "I feel strongly that moral decisions should take place in our society; however, we do not have the luxury of waiting for these moral discussions to eliminate the threat of AIDS," Turco said.

The sex kit will probably be made available to students once again at spring registration. Health Education also planned for this month an educational campaign that includes speeches by prominent doctors and smaller workshops run by local health-care officials, counselors and the clergy.

For its part, the Dartmouth Review printed President McLaughlin's phone number and urged readers to direct their outrage toward him. According to Mona Chamberlain, executive assistant to the president, the office received two irate phone calls in response.

Clearly, the controversy - such as it is - has not discouraged officials at other colleges. During the 24 hours following Dartmouth's appearance on the "Today Show," two Health Service secretaries at Dick's House fielded hundreds of telephone calls. About 100 of the calls were colleges and universities requesting a sample of the safer sex kit.