Does BYU deserve F or an A for sex health?

PROVO — Brigham Young University received straight F's on the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card released Tuesday, but BYU officials believe they should get straight A's for helping students practice safe sex through abstinence.

BYU finished dead last in the survey of 100 colleges and universities sponsored by the condom company Trojan and conducted by Sperling's Best Places. The University of Utah also flunked, finishing two spots better than BYU — 98th — because it got a single D instead of all failing grades.

Yale University, which hosts an annual campus Sex Week, finished first with a 4.0 grade-point average.

The survey graded the sexual health of campuses around the nation based on the idea that a lack of information and access to condoms can lead to unsafe sex, higher risk for sexually transmitted infections or STIs and unintended pregnancies.

BYU and the U. fared poorly because they don't provide sex education on their Web sites, don't provide condoms or other contraceptives in dorms and don't have a sex advice column in their student newspapers. Professor Terry Olson of BYU's School of Family Life and BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said the survey's methods undermined its findings. Sperling's did not contact BYU — just collected information from the school's Web site.

"The hysterical thing about this survey is, it assesses sexual health on the grounds of what kind of information is provided on a Web site," Olson said. "It collected no data on rates of STIs on campus or rates of unintended pregnancies. There are no empirical foundations and no discussion of actual behavior on campuses."

Jenkins said BYU students don't want the services expected by the survey. Before they enroll, students must sign a statement that they will live by BYU's Honor Code, which prohibits extra- and premarital sex.

"Our students come expecting to uphold the Honor Code," Jenkins said. "They have already made a conscientious decision to avoid unintended pregnancies and STDs through abstinence. If (Trojan and Sperling's) truly were looking at preventing unintended pregnancies and STDs, we would have come out on the top, and hopefully with an A."

U. officials also questioned the report. The U., a public school, provides condoms and sexual health outreach, including HIV screenings, testing and counseling.

"We probably shouldn't have been No. 1, but there is no way we should be only two ahead of BYU," said Jason Gillman, office manager of the U.'s Health Promotion Program.