DePaul is no longer the most sexually unhealthy college in the country, according to the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card. When the 2011 Report Card was released, DePaul sat at the very bottom, 141 out of 141. In the 2012 Report Card DePaul now sits at 114.
The rankings are based on the sexual health services available to students. The schools are graded on their services in 11 different categories, including contraceptive availability, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, sexual assault programs and the quality of sexual health information available to students.
Two of the major categories in the survey, contraceptive availability and “hours of operation of health services,” are major issues for DePaul. The university does not have a health services center, with the minor exception of SAGE medical group, which is only available to students living in a residence hall.
If there have been any major changes to the health services available, students are not aware of what they are.
“If they have added any services, I don’t know what they are,” said junior marketing major Brian Van Meter. “I’m on campus all the time, so I definitely would have heard about health.”
The Dean of Student’s Office was unavailable for comment.
DePaul is far behind the list’s number one school, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. U of I’s McKinley Health Center has an entire page on it’s website devoted to “Healthy sex.”
Although a marked improvement from last year, this ranking still indicates that DePaul has a long way to go to truly improve its sexual health.