Practicing Safe Newspaper

As a parent of a Cal State University student (though at a different school), I can't tell you how proud it makes me to read stories like this:

FULLERTON – A plan to have Cal State Fullerton's student newspaper, the Daily Titan, distribute free condoms in its Nov. 14 issue has been killed by campus administrators, after complaints from some students.

The student health center had arranged with the campus newspaper to place some 4,500 condoms into the upcoming issue of the paper, to encourage students to have safe sex.

A promotional campaign, alerting students to the upcoming giveaway with a poster depicting stick figures having sex, offended some and led to complaints that ultimately resulted in the decision against distributing the condoms, Dean of Students Bob Palmer said this morning.

Instead, Palmer wanted the paper to print a coupon that students could clip and take to the student center to redeem a free condom.

“If I’m picking up a paper to read it, I would not necessarily want to have a condom there,” Palmer said. “You know how newspapers are; we would probably have condoms out all over campus.”

Student journalists were angered that the student health center of the 37,000-student campus had backed off from the plan.

I threw newspapers for awhile when I was in college, but we put the rubber band on the outside.