???The grades are in, and UB's GPA is experiencing some sexual healing when it comes to performance between the sheets.
???Out of 139 universities, UB was ranked 59th on a recent sexual health practices report card released by Trojan Brand Condoms.
???Up from its place at 86 out of 139 universities in 2007, UB met more of the sexual health safety criterion in 2008, evaluated by Sperling's BestPlaces Research.
???"We wanted to measure how good of a job colleges and universities were doing in terms of providing sexual health information and services to students," said Bert Sperling, President of Sperling's BestPlaces Research.
???The factors used to evaluate sexual health care included hours of operation; availability of drop in appointments, STI and HIV testing, information about contraception and reduced costs of contraception, anonymous advice via e-mail and telephone, outreach and lecture programs, peer outreach and Web site usability.
???Online access to sexual health information ranked high on the list of desired services, according to Sperling.
???"Students aren't likely, in the middle of winter, to trudge across campus to ask some potentially embarrassing questions," Sperling said. "They look online to find out as much as they can first. I think a good Web site is very important."
???In addition to its regular criteria, the survey expanded this year to include student opinion. Although UB received a "C" from researchers, students evaluated sexual health care at UB as a "B," according to Sperling. This disparity could be the result of additional outreach programs within the university that were difficult for researchers to pinpoint.
???"We did a Facebook campaign targeted at each of the 139 schools and we asked students to give their opinion regarding the offerings of sexual health care at their schools," Sperling said. "We received over 9,000 responses."
???UB succeeded in terms of promoting a drop in appointments, cheap and readily available HIV and STI testing and outreach programs, according to Sperling.
???"You see lots of groups and the Wellness Services giving out free condoms and promoting sexual health care all the time," said Charlotte Ethel Zoda, a senior media study major.
???Like many other universities, UB fell down in terms of hours of operation. The daily operations of these facilities is viewed as extremely important because busy fulltime students cannot obtain sexual health care or post-sexual assault information or care on weekends or late evenings, Sperling said.
???"The only complaint I have is that you have to go through this whole informational session to even get an appointment with a gynecologist with Health Services who will then write you a prescription for birth control," Zoda said. "That's kind of ridiculous if you've been on birth control for years and you have to wait to go to an informational session before you can even obtain an appointment."
???UB also failed to have a clearly defined entity for preventing sexual assault, only providing information on what encompasses sexual assault, or care to its victims, Sperling said. A lack of anonymous advice, coupled with poor Web site direction also caused UB to score lower.
???"Most people in college are sexually active," Alana Greenberg, a senior media studies major. "I guess its okay that UB isn't on the bottom of the list but it's actually a little disheartening when you consider that we are such a huge university compared to some of the other schools we're being compared to."
???At the lowest ranked school, DePaul University, Sperling said students felt there was not an open culture of discussing sexual health by officials. One student even cited officials tearing coupons for condoms out of a publication distributed to students at the start of the year as they viewed it unsuitable.
???"This is the third year. There's nothing out there that has an unbiased comparison of student health centers," Sperling said. "We hope schools and staff of student health centers reconsider their offerings or possible changes they could make to better serve their student bodies."
