Vaginas and penises are important parts of our body: They give us pleasure and create new life. They need to be cared for and they need to remain healthy, so we as humans are healthy. The simplest way to keep these parts healthy is to protect them from harm. There are all sorts of forms of protection. We wear underwear to protect our vaginas and penises from being chafed and to prevent germs from getting inside of us. We wear protective gear playing sports to guard us from injury. We also use condoms while performing sexual actions. Condoms protect us from infections that could harm us and our partners. They also protect against unwanted pregnancies. Oral contraceptives protect women from unwanted pregnancies as well. They do a number of other things to keep women healthy, but the main purpose is to prevent unwanted pregnancies which could potentially lead to an unhealthy relationship with a partner, a child who is not appreciated or an abortion.

Now this may seem very obvious to most of us, but I am not certain it is clear to the people who make decisions for Marquette. Director of Student Health Services Dana Mills said in a Sept. 26 Tribune article, Condom maker…, "Marquette provides an atmosphere where the health and well-being of the total person — physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual — is encouraged and promoted." She is wrong. The university is not doing a good job caring for the whole person. My vagina is part of me and it needs to be protected. It needs to be healthy and it needs to remain that way. It needs to remain that way for the relationships that I have with my family, my future family, my friends and for those who don't even know me. Why? Because my vagina is part of me. It defines who I am as a person and who I am going to become. If I want to make a difference in the lives of others, to be a woman for others, I need my vagina to remain healthy. My peers need their vaginas and penises to remain healthy for the same reasons.

Marquette is a Catholic, Jesuit university, they must abide by those rules. I know, we all know. However, it is very ignorant of them to not take into consideration that their fellow Catholics are having sex and are being put in harm's way because the university fails to support them by means of protection. The very least they can do is to tell us where we can go to receive the help we need since they cannot help us themselves, and Marquette fails to do that. In my eyes, Marquette has failed.

Yaritz is a junior in the College of Communication.