Attitudes towards sex, etc. at various Welcome Week activities.
Yesterday I moved into my dorm room to start my first year of college at NYU. Now, I love this university, and I am very happy and excited to be here. But there's one thing that's been bugging me.
At my first floor meeting:
"If you are under 21, you are not allowed to drink, and any drugs are illegal. Now I know you guys are still going to want to do all that - I was a freshman, too, everyone does it - so just don't let me catch you."
and
"I have a goodie bag of condoms and dental dams for you guys! And yes, everyone has to take at least one."
At the "Reality Show":
We are treated to a 2-minute song about condom use, followed by a 30-second song about abstinence.
At the Catholic Center's buffet dinner:
While discussing the new dorm, built on the former site of a church, one student asks if there is any truth to the rumor that as part of the agreement when NYU bought the property, they are not allowed to hand out condoms in that residence hall. The rumor is debunked by some current residents, which is met with unanimous disappointment by all others present.
You have no idea how good it felt to finally meet other people who share my distaste for this particular facet of college life.
Now, I don't have a problem with the university educating kids about condoms and making them available, because I am fully aware that not everyone shares my religious objection to them. It's really just the cavalier treatment of the issue and the requirement that everyone take a condom from the "goodie bag" that gets to me.
The "everyone does it" attitude towards sex, drugs and alcohol (which was coming from my RA) also bothered me, because the fact is that some people don't want to do it, and that sort of attitude only feeds into the already powerful peer pressure.
At my first floor meeting:
"If you are under 21, you are not allowed to drink, and any drugs are illegal. Now I know you guys are still going to want to do all that - I was a freshman, too, everyone does it - so just don't let me catch you."
and
"I have a goodie bag of condoms and dental dams for you guys! And yes, everyone has to take at least one."
At the "Reality Show":
We are treated to a 2-minute song about condom use, followed by a 30-second song about abstinence.
At the Catholic Center's buffet dinner:
While discussing the new dorm, built on the former site of a church, one student asks if there is any truth to the rumor that as part of the agreement when NYU bought the property, they are not allowed to hand out condoms in that residence hall. The rumor is debunked by some current residents, which is met with unanimous disappointment by all others present.
You have no idea how good it felt to finally meet other people who share my distaste for this particular facet of college life.
Now, I don't have a problem with the university educating kids about condoms and making them available, because I am fully aware that not everyone shares my religious objection to them. It's really just the cavalier treatment of the issue and the requirement that everyone take a condom from the "goodie bag" that gets to me.
The "everyone does it" attitude towards sex, drugs and alcohol (which was coming from my RA) also bothered me, because the fact is that some people don't want to do it, and that sort of attitude only feeds into the already powerful peer pressure.