Those who raise their eyebrows at the free condom table in the HUB can "wrap up" their skepticism.

In a report released by Trojan Brand Condoms and Sperling's Best Places, Penn State scored a solid "15th safest" out of 100 schools rated for sexual health.

Schools were evaluated from February to May 2006 on seven points, including contraception advice and availability, sexual assault services, condom availability and HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection testing. Each school was graded on a scale of one to 10. These scores were converted into letter grades, and then each school was given a final G.P.A.

On this scale, Yale University claimed valedictorian, bragging a perfect 4.0. Penn State's 2.7 placed it right

behind the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and just before George Washington University. Brigham Young University and University of Notre Dame tied for last with a G.P.A. of 0.0.

Susan Kennedy, associate director of University Health Services, said she feels Penn State deserves its high rating because of the multiple programming efforts, free protection and information made available.

"We are certainly trying to make resources, information and sexual health protection available and accessible," she said. "We work to provide resources and info in fun and engaging ways. Hopefully that encourages Penn State students to make sexual health a priority."

Despite these efforts, Penn State earned an "F" in the "Condom availability" category. Kennedy said she did not feel this grade was accurate.

"I think we distributed 25,000 free condoms last year. We also sell them in the pharmacy. We give them to groups and let them know they can request free condoms," she said. "I don't know where they got their information."

Bert Sperling, President of Sperlings Best Places, said the schools were ranked strictly on information provided by university health center Web sites -- not student responses or programs occurring on campus.

"We originally started the methodology by contacting the health services directly, but it didn't let us look at the type of the information available ourselves as if the student were looking for information," Sperling said.

Sperling added that Penn State could improve its ranking.

"Every college can improve by improving communication with the students," he said. "Every place can have a better dialogue between students and health professionals in the center."

Ryan Collins (sophomore-microbiology) promotes sexual health through the HIV-AIDS risk reduction advisory council. He said he thinks Penn State's high rating is "definitely a positive thing," but that the rating itself will probably not cause much change in sexual behaviors at Penn State.

"The best thing that news of this rating will do is starting a dialogue about sexual health awareness," he said.