Author: Phoebe Christine Bush

The House of Thought and House of Peace and Justice are combining forces this week to raise money and safe sex awareness in honor of a pregnant teen in Kenya.
Senior Abby Godfrey, a resident of HoT, said she began doing holding condom fundraisers when she became a Great American Condom Campaign Safe Site during her freshman year. She said she was awarded $500 in condoms to distribute on campus.
“My sophomore year, I was again a Safe Site, was awarded the condoms, and decided to amp up my efforts, make it a HoT project and ended up raising twice what I did the year before,” said Godfrey. “My junior year, I was both a Safe site and was given an Envoy position with Sir Richard’s Condom Company.”
She said she was awarded 500 Trojan condoms along with 1,000 Sir Richard’s condoms, and that she was able to spread the love much more widely than ever before.
“I am now a senior and am focusing more on distributing Sir Richard’s Condoms because I believe they are truly a better quality condom and they are a very socially conscious company.”
Sir Richard’s produces condoms that are “vegan friendly”; they do not contain the animal by-product casing and are 100 percent latex. For every condom sold during the Condomgrams fundraiser, Sir Richard’s donates one condom to Partners in Health, a foundation that provides relief to those suffering abroad. Partners in Health will then distribute those condoms to Haiti and Rwanda with the goal of promoting safe sex.
In previous years, the funds raised from Condomgrams and similar sales have been donated to the Abzyme Research Foundation, which is currently researching a vaccine for HIV. Godfrey said that while she still fully supports the Foundation, she has decided to raise money for a cause close to her heart.
“This year’s fundraiser is not only my house project, but also my Senior Seminar in Applied Sociology project,” she said. “I am raising money to build a house for a 13-year-old orphan (Fletcher) in Kenya.”
Godfrey worked in an orphanage last summer where she met children unable to attain proper information or materials to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies or STDs. When Godfrey learned one of the girls she worked with was recently dismissed from the orphanage because of a pregnancy, she said she decided to hold the Condomgrams fundraiser to benefit this young girl and other teens in similar situations.
“I want to be able to raise enough money to build her a house,” Godfrey said. “Or at least provide her with enough money to set up a foundation and get her off the streets.”
“Not only are my proceeds going to a good cause, the revenue from the condoms themselves is going to a very philanthropic, socially conscious company,” Godfrey said.
The cause of the fundraiser relates to the mission statements of both HoT and P&J. Both houses promote critical thinking on campus and work to promote conscious awareness of global issues.
“A lot of social justice issues tend to fall through the cracks of curriculums and not a lot of people are aware of how dire the circumstances are for the majority of people all over the world,” Godfrey said.
Junior Erinn Colemenares said she got on board with the fundraiser to promote awareness.
Sitting at the Condomgrams booth in HamWill on Monday, Colemenares tried getting the attention of passing students.
“Condomgrams! Fifty cents to send to friend. No judgment!” she said.
The students continued walking and Colemenares sighed.
“A lot of people don’t even acknowledge our presence here when selling Condomgrams,” Colmenares said.
“But condoms are good! We’re college students who love sex and not babies.”
Sitting next to her was senior Michael Raszmann, who nodded his head in agreement.
“Safe sex is great sex,” said Raszmann, a resident of P&J.
Raszmann says that the fundraiser comes at an opportune time, being held during the Valentine’s Day season, but that it did not significantly influence the fundraiser.
“We would have definitely done this anyway, but we just thought it’d be an especially good motivator,” he said. “Abby’s been involved with (these types) of causes since her freshman year.”
Raszmann said the two houses will hold fundraisers similar to Condomgrams again, fundraisers Colemenares said she will be sure to encourage.
“We’re using condoms to promote a good cause as well as safe sex, to put the emphasis out there,” said Colemenares. “That’s what (HoT) is all about–yes, I want to have safe sex, and I want others to as well.”
Godfrey said she is, and always has been, very interested in issues of sexual and reproductive health both domestically and internationally.
She said she hopes to be doing work surrounding issues like these for the rest of her life.
“It is very important to me that people are aware of, and have access to the information and materials they need to have healthy and positive sex lives,” she said. “Like it or not people have sex; they may as well be protecting themselves and having fun, so why not support a great cause while they are at it?”

Spectators, state delegates, state chairs and political gurus sported cheese hats, plush corn cobs, red, white and blue face paint and American flags at the 2012 OWU Mock Convention Feb. 10 and 11.
Banners surrounded the balcony in Grey Chapel, each promoting a different state through clever sayings and decorations. Cardboard cutouts of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan joined those of current Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
The convention started Friday Feb. 10 at 4 p.m. and ended Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Participants were provided with dinner and musical entertainment from groups such as the OWTsiders, the Hayes High School Junior ROTC and OWU’s Brass Ensemble.

Students, professors and alumnae alike milled about Grey Chapel cheering, booing, chatting and discussing political issues and candidates with unparalleled fervor.
The student -led convention allowed politically-minded students to discuss and show support for the political candidates and issues. The convention, a primarily friendly affair, promoted participation in American politics and allowed students to think about and view political issues through a different perspective than they usually would.
“It’s so interesting to vote a different way politically and find a way to support it,” said senior Maren Oehl, the Oklahoma state chair.
Oehl announced her state as the “reddest state in the U.S.” each time she submitted votes on behalf of her delegation during roll call votes.
Students were able to discuss controversial political issues they felt strongly about, such as gay marriage and the death penalty.
“States can propose an amendment and 75 people need to sign and then we can vote on it,” said sophomore Rachel Vinciguerra, a delegate for Washington, D.C. “I think it’s kind of fun.”
The chapel was separated into sections according to states, and delegates from each state sat together. Security personnel guarded the stage where the organizers of the event, Tim Carney and Megan Hoffman sat. Each person who entered the event was asked to wear a credential and take it off upon departing from the convention.
Senior Chad Williams was one of the guards for the event, and spent the majority of his time guarding the stage. There were no large security threats but Williams still felt the need to be careful.
“Seeing people excited and dressed a little silly keeps you on your toes; it could get chaotic,” said Williams.
Williams felt, however, that the mood of the event was largely positive.
“Everyone’s here to really get down to business,” he said.
Junior Meredith Merklin echoed this sentiment in a statement to the entire convention.
“(There is) a lot of passion on both sides of the debate,” she said.
An example of this was found in the debate on domestic policy, namely the use of marijuana in the United States. This debate, titled the “War on Drugs” featured debates by students from several different states. Each debater stated the opinion of their state and supported it with examples. These examples and opinions, in some cases, were ones the students themselves may not necessarily have agreed with. Arguments garnered boos, cheers and even laughter depending upon their content.
After debate on that plank of the Republican Party platform, the minority option replaced the original text, which moved to end the “War on Drugs” as the “official” stance for the Republican Party.
Senior Alex Bailey’s statement that “(The Founding Fathers) founded this country on morality and we (the Republican Party) are God’s chosen party,” was met with an uproar.
A particularly controversial amendment proposed at the convention was “The Undead Protection Amendment,” proposed by Puerto Rico’s state chair Mark Esler, professor of politics and government.
The amendment stated,
“The party that supports the unborn should also support the undead.”
This amendment was eventually passed, and many students participating believed it brought down the serious tone of the convention. Others, such as the Wisconsin delegation, followed the zombie route by submitting a vice presidential nomination form for “Zombie Ronald Reagan” on Saturday.
Ultimately, this nomination was not taken into consideration despite the fact that the required number of signatures was obtained.
“It is the opinion of the Chair that nominees should have a pulse,” said Honorary Chair John Peterson.
Students took the mic to support nominees of their choice.
Up for presidential nomination was Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsmen, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Vice presidential nominations went out to OWU senior Kate Raulin, OWU President Rock Jones, Condeleeza Rice, Stephen Colbert, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman and Ashley Baiser, associate professor of politics and government.
Raulin was eventually disqualified from the race due to ineligibility—she is not old enough to run—and Jones voluntarily dropped out of the race in favor of OWU.
After much debate, the convention settled on Mitt Romney and Stephen Colbert for the Republican Presidential ticket.