Stripped of sex...

...is the title of this blurb I found in The Yale Herald:

Stripped of sex
Sadly, straight, white Cornell students who decide against rushing fraternities are no longer permitted to have sex—sex education, that is. After the university announced its decision to “decentralize” its sexual awareness programs this week (perhaps in jealous awe of Yale’s Trojan Sexual Health Report Card), it became the responsibility of specific cultural and ideological groups (including Greek houses, Latino and African American groups, and the LGBT community) to teach their members about the birds and the bees. This approach raised eyebrows, since many Cornell students had something more like Sex Week at Yale in mind. Rest assured, though: Students in Ithaca will still be given basic how-to presentations upon arriving on campus. If you forget anything during the subsequent four years, though, you may just be screwed.

Having been a Cornellian, naturally, I was curious on what in the world Yale Sex Week was, so I did some more searching, and here is what I found in the Yale Daily News. An excerpt from this article follows:

For most students, Sex Week at Yale may simply be an excuse to attend humorous lectures or participate in unconventional, even titillating workshops. But for the evaluators of Trojan's Sexual Health Report Card, the event represents much more: a valuable effort to increase understanding of the importance of safe sex on campus. Sex Week was one of the most important features in Yale's sexual-health arsenal that helped it earn the top ranking in Trojan's recent survey, Sperling said.

While I think it's sad that students going to college do not have enough information to know about safe sex practices, it's even sadder that Harvard received F grades in the sexual health report card. One of their own students said

"The thing about Harvard students is that they are so difficult to cater to and difficult to please, and it's hard to get information to people who are brilliant...I think there are things we can work on, but we definitely are trying."

Ouch. I have had that experience with some former Harvard students I've interacted with (difficult to cater to and please), but I think that I would have to edit the response to read "...get information to people who THINK THEY are brilliant". Big difference there.

Anyway, what I find more interesting is the response from Brigham Young University, which scored dead last in the Trojan Sexual Health Survey:

Terry Olson, a professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University - which came in 100th, with F grades in all seven categories - said students there do not seek the services that served as a basis for the survey since the school's honor code forbids extramarital and premarital sex.

Hey, I say more power to these students for claiming that they will not partake in sexual activity, but the school should be a little more realistic than idealistic here. Probably of ALL teens, it is this group that needs sex ed more than any other because they most likely did not receive the information at home or in high school! It's one thing to mess up and then go to confession to ask forgiveness for fornication, but it's another thing to die from HIV because you made a bad choice and didn't know any better!

So, kudos to Yale, tsk tsk to BYU, and how in the world did Cornell get pulled into this mess? It wasn't even included in the survey! Boy, we always get a bad rap.