Already, I’ve joined the growing list of those who have been tapped by censorship. My ideas and artwork were criticized by Scott Stocking on Jan. 31.

Mr. Stocking misunderstood the message that the Wellness Resource Center was relating about STDs, their topic that week.

I am the artist who designed and created the banner which read, “You Decide: STDs or Condoms.” Also on this banner was a drawing, which Scott Stocking failed to mention.

It was a drawing clearly symbolizing the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

I feel the adage was appropriate for the topic because it illustrates that an STD can be avoided if a condom—the best way to avoid sexually transmitted disease aside from abstinence—is used.

Of course, abstinence is the best way to avoid an STD—if someone is not having sex, they won’t get infected—it’s very simple. College students, to whom the banner was addressed, are a large group at risk.

Many students are sexually active, and some, who are abstinent, don’t choose to be. For the students who choose to be active, a condom is the best protection against STDs.

It is difficult to create a banner about a touchy subject like sex that will be pleasing to everyone.

Contrary to what Scoot Stocking believed, my “agenda” was not to “degrade God’s beautiful gift of sexual expression”—rather, to inform those who have intercourse about the risks they could be taking.

And again, Mr. Stocking, I don’t feel the banner was “discriminatory,” because sex is universal and STDs could affect anyone who doesn’t practice safe sex.

The Wellness Resource Center realistically cannot tell students not to have sex; we can only supply information about the risks involved and prevention available.

Although my banner was taken down, it served its purpose. Despite the misunderstandings and wrong accusations by Scott Stocking, something good has happened; the banner caught attention and caused someone to think about this important topic, as I hope many others did also.

Claudia Clemens

Freshman

Illustration