Georgetown Student Group Offers Condom Delivery Service for Parties, School Won't Try and Stop It
ByAt Georgetown University, students need only fill out a form to have condoms delivered for free to their event or party, the Huffington Post reported.
H*yas for Choice (HFC) have long advocated for easy access to birth control and contraception for students. This service is their effort to make it as easy as it has ever been.
Abby Grace, Georgetown sophomore and HFC vice president, said the group would usually hand out condoms for free every afternoon in a "free speech zone." She said that strategy stopped because condoms are not in high demand during that time.
Georgetown is the nation's first, and therefore oldest, Jesuit university and does not sell condoms on campus. Like many schools, Georgetown has a "free speech zone" for students to promote their own ideals and beliefs.
Boston College had a similar issue, only they ruled that students handing out condoms, even in residence halls, was against the catholic school's code of conduct. Georgetown will not support HFC, but will not prevent it either.
"H*yas for Choice is not an organization with access to university benefits and does not use university resources," said Rachel Pugh, director of media relations at Georgetown. "We respect the rights of our students to join outside groups as individuals and believe this activity falls within that context."
According to the school's news magazine, the Georgetown Voice, some students were critical of HFC's delivery service. Critics thought the easy access to condoms would promote "hook-up culture" and sexual assault.
The Voice, however, showed their support for the program in a staff editorial, saying those criticisms could not be substantiated.
"In light of Georgetown's continued refusal to promote contraception as a method of safe sex, the presence of H*yas for Choice on campus is invaluable to the promotion of safe sexual practices among the student body," the editorial read.
Grace told the Huffington Post that HFC had already served a few parties and each went "very well."
"I think that it's very unlikely that the people who picked up condoms there did it as a joke," she said. "Since the closest place to purchase condoms is eight blocks away, there is a legitimate need on campus."