Sexual health experts at the University support the findings of a recent report that ranked Illinois first in sexual health out of 141 other schools in the nation.

The report, called Trojan Condom Brand’s 2012 Sexual Health Report Card, based its rankings on the sexual health resources available to students on campus with data collected from student health centers.

All the institutions were critiqued on categories including the usability and quality of their health center websites, condom and contraception availability and STI/HIV testing on site, according to the report card.

Lena Hann, clinical instructor and Master of Public Health program coordinator, said sexual health education in a college setting is very important. Hann said she was excited to see the University’s recently released rank and immediately posted it to the discussion board of her Human Sexuality class. 

“Besides the actual sexual health topics we talk about, what I like to do with my class is emphasize the amount of local resources that students have for their sexual health,” she said. “Every day there’s something [regarding] sexual health going on on campus.” 

Hann said for her class’ midterm, she assigns students in her section to go out in the community and research a local sexual health resource. 

“It’s not just about sitting in a classroom and gaining the information and learning the material,” Hann said. “There’s actually sexual health programming that’s going on all the time. And whether it’s through registered student organizations or actual resource centers on campus (or) academic speakers who are doing a lot of research in the field of sexual health, (they) are coming to town all the time.” 

Hann said although she and her students know of all the resources available on and off campus, other students who are not in the class may not. The Trojan report acts as a third party reinforcing the idea that there are sexual health events and opportunities available to students, she said. 

“At the college level, I think sexuality education is extremely important,” Hann said. “And I think it’s important to have a variety of ways for students to learn about it because obviously a human sexuality course isn’t required.”

McKinley Health Center does offer a variety of services to students, including access to a sexual health consultant, the availability of condoms and other forms of contraception and STD testing, paid for by the health service fee all students pay.

“All of that happens with the support that we gather from the fee,” said Robert Palinkas, director of McKinley Health Center. “But we hopefully deliver the goods.”

Although the report praises the University, Palinkas said he thinks the ranking may be more geared toward publicity for Trojan rather than a source of information. 

He said Trojan representatives most likely did a “long-distance visit on our website” because to his knowledge, no one from Trojan contacted the University about the study.

“We’re always happy to talk about health and see this as a health issue rather than some other portrayal of the University, so we’re pleased with it,” Palinkas said. “I do think they’re probably going to use this as a marketing tool because it gets people to see the brand of their product, so I do wonder about whether or not in some way they may be trying to play it for more than it’s worth.” 

Besides the “goods” McKinley offers, Palinkas said he thinks the campus does well with keeping students informed about sexual health, whether it’s through interaction with the Sexual Health Peers, a student group that focuses on educating other students about sexual health, local resources, like Planned Parenthood and the Champaign Urbana Public Health District, or by learning about sex in the classroom. 

Emma can be reached at [email protected].