Imagine your finger slips as you punch C-4 into the vending machine after class, and instead of the Peanut M&M’s you were craving, a gleaming new pack of condoms pops out.

If you attend Vanderbilt University or the University of New Hampshire, this could be your reality. These schools are among the universities that sell condoms in vending machines to offer more convenient access for students. While UNA provides students with an unlimited amount of free condoms from both the University Health Services and the Center for Women’s Studies, as well as selling condoms in the convenience store located next to Towers Dining Room, the university does not sell condoms in vending machines.

Director of Residence Life Kevin Jacques said that while he personally has nothing against it, from a business standpoint, he does not know if placing condoms in vending machines would be worth doing when students can go to Health Services.

“We’ve had feminine hygiene vending machines that didn’t get used at all,” he said.

When the machines were removed, some 10-year-old products were found inside.

Emily Kelley, Coordinator for Women’s Studies, said UNA receives free condoms (most come from the Lauderdale County Health Department), so there is no reason for the university to charge.

“I don’t think the school wants to make money off of people’s sexual habits,” Kelley said. “I think the school really wants to encourage responsible sexual activity.”

Along with the condoms, both the Women’s Center and University Health Services at Bennett Infirmary provide pamphlets explaining condom usage for safe sex. Condoms are placed in a basket just inside both the Women’s Center and the infirmary so that students can take them.

UNA student Zeke Nichols said he would not buy condoms from vending machines at UNA.

“I don’t have sex, but if I did, I wouldn’t buy them because they would charge about three times the price, or professors or people I might know would see me buying them,” he said. “The only people I can see buying them are people that don’t have transportation to get them.”

If UNA did sell condoms in vending machines, the best place to put them would be in the GUC because it is the center of campus — but off to the sides by the bathrooms, not by the food, Nichols said.

UNA student Joey Wright said he would not buy condoms from vending machines at UNA because a public university is not the place to buy condoms.

It is different when the health clinic gives them away because nobody is benefiting other than the person who receives them and they are not advertising at all, he said.

“If they were to be sold, it would almost be like a subliminal message to encourage promiscuity,” he said.

One benefit of making condoms available in vending machines is that both students and nonstudents would have access on weekends and evenings, Kelley said.

The UNA Health Center is open Monday through Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and on Thursday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Center for Women’s Studies is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Smart Market Convenience Store is open Sunday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.