Board of Visitors reverses decision, allows Health Center to dispense ECP

Jessica Taylor / art director

JMU's Board of Visitors overturned its decision banning the University Health Center from selling the emergency contraceptive pill.

After a vote from the board Friday, the Health Center was able to begin dispensing the ECP, also known as Plan B, last Monday.

The board voted 10-2 last Friday, with one member abstaining, overturning the 7-6 vote last April that spurred many debates and placed JMU in the national spotlight.

The vote also "grants authority for all future health-related decisions pertaining to students, to the administration and its medical staff," said Meredith Gunter, chair of the Education & Student Life committee.

Prior to the vote by the entire board, Helen Blackwell, a board member, explained why she voted against distribution of ECPs during the Education & Student Life meeting earlier that morning. She said the board should wait until there was information on the pills' long-term effects.

"This dispensing on campus sends a very bad message … that recreational sex is fine because there is always a back-up," she added. She also pointed out that while 2,700 students signed the petition last year, some 11 to 12,000 students did not.

Board member Stephen Reeolou said people should not allow their personal judgments and views to influence their voting.

"This is an issue of law, and we should defer to the law and not try to interpret the law on behalf of students," he said at the board meeting.

All but one of the five new board appointments, which were made in July, voted to overturn last April's decision. Mark Bowles abstained from the vote.

Student Body President Levar Stoney said he was happy with the vote and "ecstatic about [the issue] coming to an end."

After last April's decision, 2,700 students signed a petition in two days asking the board to reverse its decision. The Student Government Association passed a Bill of Opinion by 55-6 with two abstaining requesting that the board change its decision.

Students also marched to the office of Mark Obenshain, who originally proposed the idea not to allow the Health Center to continue dispensing the pills.

"I learned there will be some road blocks and obstacles, but persistence and hard work will work," Stoney said. This new decision shows that student government can help the students, he added.

He also said this shows "that we do represent the student voice."

Ann Simmons, associate director of Health Promotions, said she too was pleased with the vote. Last October, she gave the board an "opportunity to ask questions and get them answered," which helped to educate the board members on this issue, she said.

As a result of the controversy and publicity of the dispension of ECPs, there also was an "increased student awareness of the student health center," she said. Students went to the Health Center's Web site to get information on ECPs and accordingly were able to view all the services offered, she added.

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration is working to make ECPs available over-the-counter, according to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation at www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports.