I am sure you have heard by now that a student was seen tampering with condoms in one of the washrooms of our beloved Student Union Building on the Abbotsford campus. Since they were available for almost two months, I am envisioning a sudden surge in pregnancy tests and checkups for STDs over the next week.
While I am also upset at the blatant vandalism, I can’t say I’m surprised. There are jerks in the world who have wet dreams about causing plenty of misfortune through a little mischief, and this person seems to be one of them. Welcome to the real world, where the one bad apple ruins the bunch, and there is always at least one in every institution.
In the alert email sent out to students, UFV states that it will not be replacing the condoms, which I fully support.* For one, if crazy people are going to nullify the condoms to nothing more than fancy latex finger-gloves, then UFV is wasting its funds. Beyond that, I have no interest in subsidizing a single penny to anyone else’s sexual activities. For me, this applies to any sort of good or service, but this one especially boggles me. If you can’t afford condoms, I suggest you stop having sex. If — I would argue when — contraception fails you that one time, I wonder how you’re going to afford to raise that child, or afford the medication to subdue the side effects of syphilis.
No one has any responsibility to those who can’t afford contraception or a child. By all means, if you’re struggling, ask for help, and someone just may assist. I just have no desire to have any portion of my tuition go towards subsidizing irresponsible sexual encounters without my explicit permission, nor do I think it’s moral to take potential funding to provide “free” stuff. Even if my tuition is “technically” not going towards it, some form of UFV’s funding is, and I firmly believe that could be well spent elsewhere.
And no, neither the university nor the government have a responsibility to subsidize your decisions. As Milton Friedman said in 1978 at Stanford University: “The government doesn’t have responsibility, people have responsibility. This [university] building doesn’t have responsibility, you and I have responsibility; people have responsibility.” The university’s first and only job is to provide an education that prepares us for the field we study in to find a suitable job as soon as possible. Considering employment is going down again, I must question whether or not it is succeeding. It is not the university’s job to pay for your sex life, or provide transit from home to school and back.
So please, I suggest paying for your own condoms. If not for my financial or moral sake, do it for the sake of your health. Seriously, you’re just going to grab a condom that was sitting there for how long? I can’t imagine what else the community latex bin was exposed to beyond dirty thoughts and unwashed hands.
Since this article was originally written, UFV has confirmed that they will be replacing the condoms, but will be using dispensers.
