When many students living near East College Avenue returned from spring break earlier this week, they had mixed reactions to a new sidewalk addition.

A phone booth, offering free local calls, now also offers users Lifestyles condoms for a quarter. The condom-dispensing phone booth is located between the S'Hair-eng Styling Salon, 512 E. College Ave., and an office building at 502 E. College Ave.

It is unknown to residents and area business owners when the installment of the condom-dispensing machine took place.

However, students living in the area said they noticed its appearance upon returning from break.

"I first noticed it on Monday on my way to class and did a double take. It's so random," Ashley Rumbaugh (sophomore-marketing) said.

Rumbaugh lives in an apartment complex nearby and frequently walks down College Avenue.

"It's not what you would expect on the side of the road," she said.

In January 2001, an anonymous person installed a free phone in the same location, but after several instances of vandalism, that phone was removed.

It is unknown whether the current phone booth is related to the one installed in 2001, and no one has come forward to claim ownership of the phone.

The owner of the salon said the current phone had been in place when the business started on Dec. 3, 2002, but she is unaware of how long it existed prior to that.

However, she was only recently informed of the addition of the condom dispenser and declined to comment on its existence.

Other local businesses also declined comment about the phone and condom machine.

Lee Gierczynski, a Verizon spokesman, said the pay phone business has been unregulated since the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

"Anyone can set up a public pay phone, but they would have to get service through a provider," Gierczynski said.

However, he said customers buy the service from a phone company on a wholesale basis, and then, they can resell it under their own name. Because of this system, phone companies cannot track who owns the phone. There is nothing on the College Avenue phone/condom machine to indicate an owner or service provider.

A small label on the condom dispenser says: "Because this is a public establishment -- and considering the AIDS crisis -- management, by placing this condom-dispensing machine, is taking moral responsibility in providing its patrons with a life-saving choice and is neither approving nor disapproving of any particular behavior."

Linda LaSalle, community health educator at University Health Services, said she thinks that there isn't anything immoral with the phone's condom-dispensing addition.

"I think that the more access people have to condoms, the more likely they are to engage in safe-sex practices," she said.

LaSalle said she doesn't think the odd location of this machine makes it very different from those found in public bathrooms or other public places.

She said the lack of public restrooms downtown may be the reason for its appearance on the public phone booth. It is important for the condoms to be accessible because some people are embarrassed to purchase them, she added.

"In the last 20 years, there has been a lot of education on condom use, and we have talked more to normalize usage, in spite of [the fact] that people are still embarrassed about buying condoms," LaSalle said.

Ana Munoz-Matta (senior-life science) said she agrees that buying condoms can be embarrassing for some students.

"I think that anything out there to make condoms available helps to reduce the risk of AIDS and HIV, especially for people who live nearby," Munoz-Matta said.

She said she thinks the machine paired with the phone booth is creative and somewhat comical.

"It brings a whole new meaning to the idea of a 'booty call,' " she said.