In Monday’s issue of the Guardian, a news story was written about a group of Visual Arts 2 students who passed out condoms punctured with staples on Library Walk last Wednesday.

The group apparently got the condoms from Student Health Services and used the stapled condoms to make a statement about the risks that people make when they have sex while using a condom. Although the Guardian believes in the right of free speech, we also think that the actions that this group took to make its point were both ill-advised and shameful.

First of all, the group used condoms that were handed out by Student Health Services in an attempt to lower the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and the instances of conception. It was not appropriate for condoms that are paid for with student fees to be destroyed so that a small group of students could have their opinion heard. Just as it wouldn’t be OK for the group to write out their argument on the walls of a lecture hall in spray paint, it is not acceptable for them to destroy materials bought for the good of the university. This display was not an approved expenditure of those funds and should not have occured.

Secondly, there is now an unknown quantity of condoms on campus that cannot prevent pregnancy or the transmission of a disease. The statement that this group was trying to make is not lost on the members of the Guardian editorial board, and while nobody would doubt that abstinence is much safer then protected sex, the damage done by this group was much greater than any good they may have caused. Although most people understand that condoms with staples in them are unusable, some people may not. This presents an obvious danger. Also, if the staples are pulled out of the condoms, it would be almost impossible to see the small holes that the punctures would leave. If not properly disposed of, these condoms could easily be mistaken for unpunctured condoms, and used as such.

Further, by the time students reach college everybody understands the risks involved with sex, both protected and not. This art project really did nothing to increase the consciousness of the public about the problems associated with sexual promiscuity. Their actions could have serious consequences for students that are fooled by the punctured condoms. This “”art”” project was an exercise that should never have taken place, and could cause considerable damage to individual lives.