Fredericton’s St. Thomas University will include condoms in Frosh Week welcome kits for the first time ever after action by the school’s student union.

Days before Frosh Week kicked off on Sept. 5, the St. Thomas University Student Union (STUSU) was still awaiting a final decision on whether president

Dennis Cochrane and the school’s advisory committee on student health would allow condoms to be included in welcome kits for the first time, student union president Ella Henry said.

Henry said she had received many emails from students surprised by Cochrane’s decision not to include condoms in the welcome kits.

“The university mentioned having a rule against it . . . but a lot of it was very vague,” Henry said.

“After asking the president about that policy, he said it never existed,” she said. “Instead, the president referred to it as a longstanding practice.”

Henry said the omission of condoms had ties to St Thomas’s Catholic heritage and many people assumed the community was against distributing condoms.  She also said the university felt the condoms would give students a wrong impression.

As  the school year drew closer, Cochrane put together an advisory committee to put an end to the controversy, Henry said. 

Henry said she was part of the decision-making body, along with STU faculty members and health-care staff from STU and the nearby University of New Brunswick- Fredericton.

After several meetings, Cochrane  agreed to include “a sample condom, accompanied by appropriate sexual health education materials” in orientation kits, Henry said.

“This decision will send a strong symbolic message for incoming students about their sexual health,” said Jeffrey Carleton, Cochrane’s spokesperson.

University policies vary regarding safe sex materials in welcome kits.

Although condoms are available in welcome kits at the University of Ottawa, the university will no longer be handing out contraceptives.

At Queens University in Kingston, Ont., there are no welcome kits at Frosh Week, but condoms are available upon request, said second-year student Orietta Mukeza.

Carleton University includes condoms in the packages.