‘My gift to Murray State’

    Madeline Bartley has a box of 500 Trojan “Her Pleasure” condoms under her desk in her Hester College room, and yes, she is going to share them.
    Bartley, sophomore from Louisville, Ky., won the condoms after seeing a Facebook ad for Amplifyyourvoice.com’s Great American Condom Campaign, GACC.
    “I just did it on a whim,” she said. “I filled out an application with questions about my school’s family planning and safe sex resources and thought if I won it would be like my gift to Murray State.”
    Bartley was one of 1,000 students in the U.S. to win a supply of Trojan condoms this semester.
    The GACC gives out 1,000,000 condoms a year to selected SafeSites, translating to 500 condoms for 1,000 winners each semester of the academic year, according to the program’s Web site.
    The GACC Web site describes the program as a youth-led grassroots movement that intends to reduce unintended pregnancies and the spread of STDs through education.
    Bartley and her friend Whitney Marples, sophomore from Louisville, have not yet made definite distribution plans, but possibilities include dressing up as fairies and passing them out, or setting up a table on campus during the last week of classes, she said.
    Bartley said she was motivated to enter the contest because of  the recent removal of family planning services at Murray State’s Health Services, as well as the conservative tone of the region.
    “You see a lot of anti-abortions campaigns on campus, but nothing that tells you how you can help out,” she said. “They had those negative images surrounded by fences and cops, and it was just a negative scene. I think what we’re doing will stir up some happiness on campus.”
    While Bartley said she does not consider herself an activist, she thinks family planning is important to every college campus.
    “A lot of people depended on the family planning services for their birth control, and even though this is a small campus, I feel like there are so many benefits to it,” she said.
    Roberta Garfield, director of Health Services, said in an August interview with The News the state grant was cut for financial reasons.
   Garfield said state government gave Murray State the grant in the early 1970s. Due to the conservative leanings of the region, the family health plan has been under scrutiny since its introduction, she said, and she has fought for over three decades to keep the services on campus.
     All services previously available on campus are still offered at the Calloway County Health Department.
     Judy Lyle, staff nurse and health educator, said the free condoms available in the lobby at Health Services are funded by a different grant and will continue to be offered.
     Contact Walters at mia.walters@murraystate.edu.