BC Babylon Revisited

Faithful Catholics who send their children to Boston College (BC), and the no less devout students who matriculate there may begin to wonder what the C in the college’s acronym stands for.

On the one hand, students can receive baptism, communion and confirmation on campus. That’s not all they can get.

“The Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), a grassroots movement of Boston College students moving to ease accessibility to condoms on campus, has recently made their new condom distribution campaign public via an online blog,” Max Bindernagel reported on April 27, 2010 in The Observer at Boston College. “Their latest promotion of prophylactics consists of ‘responsible party kits.’”

“These kits are described as such: ‘Each kit consists of two components: a set of solo cups with a condom taped to the bottom of each cup and a series of three flyers with consent and safer sex information.’”

“Any Boston College student can receive a Responsible Party Kit for free as long as they promise to hang the flyers in a visible place during their party,” the BCSSH promises. “In this way, anyone holding a cup of beer at a “Responsible Party” is also discretely provided a condom.”

At the same time, one of the flyers warns that “YES only means YES when consent is given freely, without verbal or physical threats, and not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol.”

“Despite lacking official status and funding, the BCSSH website can be accessed directly from the website for the UGBC (Undergraduate Government of Boston College) alongside links to the student rights policy, menus from local restaurants, and resident assistant resources,” Bindernagel reports.  Students might understandably be receiving mixed messages from the group that stand a very good chance of contradicting Catholic doctrine.

In March, “they hosted a sexual health trivia night at a local bar, cosponsored by the BC Law Students for Reproductive Health, at which material from Planned Parenthood was distributed,” Bindernagel wrote.  “The BCSSH website also lists several off campus sites as places where one can obtain contraception, including a local convenience store, a nearby CVS, and the nearest Planned Parenthood.”

Also at BC, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer Leadership Council (GLC) released its budget, also reported in The Observer by editor Jesse Naiman. “The 2009-2010 GLC budget covers eight separate areas of expenditure,” Naiman reports. “Two-thirds of the budget, or $20,000, goes toward the annual GLC Gala.”

“In addition, the GLC spends $3,000 on the ‘Support Love Campaign,’ $2,500 on both ‘National Coming Out Week’ and the ‘Alumni Reunion/Senior Send-Off.’” It is not known whether solo cups were distributed at the events.

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.