UA topped ASU in a sexual-health report card sponsored by Trojan brand condoms last week.
Trojan, the top-selling condom brand in America, ranked UA at 17th place and ASU at 70th among 100 colleges nationwide in a sexual-health survey Sept. 19.
Yale University led the list at first place and Brigham Young University trailed behind in last place.
Trojan condoms published the report with the polling service Sperling's Best Places, and evaluated sexual- health resources, school Web sites and student newspaper sex advice columns in ranking the schools.
Freddie Roman, assistant director for ASU Wellness and Health Promotion, said she finds it "interesting" that Trojan would rank ASU without contacting her or anyone else in the department about the University's services and outreach programs.
Roman presents what she calls a "comprehensive" sexual-health education program to UNI 100 classes and residence halls in the fall semesters.
That program discusses abstinence, but is realistic in providing students with vital sexual-health information about condom use, sexually transmitted infections and student services, she said.
According to an ASU survey, 76 percent of students are sexually active, and 57.4 percent do not use condoms during vaginal intercourse.
Despite those figures, Roman said ASU should have scored an "A" for condom availability.
Students can get free condoms at Roman's presentations, the Campus Health Service pharmacy and at Condom Corner, a table set up outside the Memorial Union on Thursdays.
Students can also buy Lifestyles condoms for 50 cents each in vending machines in the first-floor
restrooms of all residence halls except Hassayampa, where the vending machines haven't yet been
installed.
In comparison, UA offers free condoms only at seminars and presentations and sells "low-cost" condoms, according to the UA Campus Health Service Web site.
"I think we do a really good job of making condoms available," Roman said.
According to a New York Times article published Sunday, manufacturers Trojan and Durex send representatives to some college campuses to promote condoms during the back-to-school months.
But Roman said neither of these companies have ever contacted ASU's Wellness and Health Promotion department to hold promotional events.
She once contacted Trojan for information about their Elexa brand condom, which is marketed for women, but only received a few samples.
Trojan particularly targets college-aged audiences through its Elexa Myspace.com Web site, and network television commercials that first appeared on The WB in June 2005.
Jim Daniels, the vice president for marketing at Trojan, said to the Times that a third of condoms are purchased by college-age students.
Condom sales totaled $398.3 million in the U.S. last year, according to Packaged Facts, a market research publisher.
But Trojan took into account other factors in determining the school's sexual health grade.
ASU scored an "F" in the student column category because The State Press does not have a sex-advice column, while the UA scored an "A" in this category for its "SexTalk" column in the Arizona Daily Wildcat newspaper.
ASU scored an "A" in contraception, a "C" in HIV and sexually transmitted infections testing, a "C" in sexual-assault services and a "D" in lecture and outreach programs.
Emily Denniston, a women and gender studies and journalism senior, is the president of AIDS HOPE, the student organization that holds Condom Corner at the Memorial Union on Thursdays.
She said Trojan's rankings are inaccurate.
"We offer an educational component at ASU," she said. "We don't just hand out condoms with stickers. We add valuable context and have no monetary gain."
Representatives from Durex and Trojan could not be reached for comment.
Reach the reporter at: annalyn.censky@asu.edu.
