SU jumps 23 spots in sexual health report card
Syracuse University made a slight recovery this year in Trojan Brand Condoms’ fifth annual Sexual Health Report Card, jumping to 53rd from last year’s ranking of 76.
SU has been bouncing up and down the rankings, from 20th in 2006 to 60th in 2007; back up to 19th in 2008 then down to 76th in 2009. Now at 53rd, SU is pulling in a sexual grade point average of 2.56, averaging an overall C+.
‘Syracuse has always been in the middle of the pack,’ said Bert Sperling, president and founder of Sperling’s BestPlaces, the firm hired by Trojan to conduct the survey.
SU received an A in the majority of the categories BestPlaces considered in the survey, including health center hours of operation, contraception and condom availability, and free HIV testing.
The lowest grade on the report came from the category of student peer groups, which would be any student organization meant to discuss and support issues ranging from LGBT to rape, Sperling said. BestPlaces searched SU’s website to determine the availability of student peer groups.
Grading combines the score obtained from a survey sent to SU Health Services and the accessibility of information on SU’s website about sexual health.
This was the first year the grading did not involve a student opinion poll. Sperling said the company found it too difficult to get student responses, and students’ opinions may not necessarily be fair to the available resources on campus.
Kathy VanVechten, associate director of SU Health Services, said she is unsure of the validity of the report card, as SU Health Services never received the survey. VanVechten said to her knowledge, no one from BestPlaces contacted the health center about the survey.
‘I don’t think the results accurately reflect the services at SU,’ VanVechten said.
And with all the peer activity at SU, VanVechten said, it surprises her to see SU receive a D in that category.
While SU made improvements this year in terms of information offered to students, other universities, such as Yale University, have consistently received high scores, Sperling said. Yale was ranked 13th this year, up from 15th last year, with a GPA of 3.17.
SU sits between Middle Tennessee State University, right above Syracuse, and University of California, Berkeley, ranked at 54, right below Syracuse.
Around New York state, Cornell University was ranked 12th this year, down from 8th last year. Columbia University in New York City was ranked first this year.
‘It’s sort of like a marathon with all the runners trying to make it to the end,’ Sperling said.
Published on October 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm
