Last month, 94 percent of voters on a student body-wide referendum indicated that they support allowing the sexual and reproductive health advocacy group Students for Sexual Health (SSH) to distribute contraceptives on campus. The University later issued a statement indicating that it will not being changing its policy of prohibiting the public distribution of condoms on campus.
In response, SSH has announced that it will continue working to support BC students’ sexual health needs with a new service: RubberHub.
According to Connor Kratz, SSH co-chair and MCAS ’18, RubberHub is a free condom delivery service operated off campus in Chestnut Hill by BC student volunteers organized under SSH. Students only need to provide their name and address, and RubberHub will ship condoms directly to their campus mailboxes at no cost.
Orders will be delivered twice a month and must be placed before noon the day prior to a delivery. The service comes without cost to students in the BC community, it is subsidized by public health grants, Kratz said in an emailed statement. The program made its first delivery on Friday.
During the first first few weeks of the program, RubberHub will only be able to fill its first 300 orders per delivery cycle due to the limited number of student volunteers it currently has. The program intends to raise its order capacity as it recruits more student volunteers, who will be able to work with flexible time commitments ranging from two to three hours per month.
“We look forward to introducing more students to this community resource and expanding its positive impact on sexual health at Boston College,” Kratz said.
In addition to RubberHub, SSH also announced in a Facebook post that it will have a new tabling location at Boyden Park on St. Thomas More Road set up to distribute condoms once a month. Kratz has confirmed that this green space is public property, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and that it is considered part of the Chestnut Hill Reservation.
“We are expanding contraceptive access to lower campus to show students we are still striving to serve them following our tremendous victory in the UGBC referendum,” he said.
The group began distributing at the new location on Friday. It will also continue to distribute condoms at its other tabling location on College Road outside of McElroy Dining Hall once a month.
Featured Image by Katie Genirs / Asst. Photo Editor
