According to a survey, UNM's sexual health is better than NMSU's, but there is still room for improvement.
The 2008 Trojan Sexual Health Report Card ranked UNM's Student Health and Counseling center No. 76 of 139 universities nationwide.
The annual report card measures universities' availability of sexual health resources and accessibility of sexual health-related information.
Bert Sperling, president of Portland-based research firm Best Places, which designed and conducted the survey, said each university's sexual health GPA is determined by responses to student surveys answers from health center administrators.
Stanford University, ranked No. 1, had a sexual health GPA of 3.5, while UNM had a GPA of 2.79. New Mexico State University, ranked No. 121, had a GPA of 2.01.
Sperling said this year's report differed from previous rankings because there was a greater emphasis on results from student surveys.
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A total of 9,000 students nationwide were asked five questions about their campus health centers, he said.
Fifty-four UNM students took the five-question survey. The questions pertained to the SHAC's performance, trustworthiness, availability of information, room for improvement and accessibility, Sperling said.
Jo Antreasian, clinic program coordinator for SHAC, said she spent two days gathering data for the center's portion of the survey and doesn't understand why UNM is ranked in the middle of the list.
"We try and stretch our dollars as much as we can to provide all the services for students we possibly can," Antreasian said.
She said SHAC provides all the sexual health care necessary for students.
"We might not be scoring that high, but I think their criteria is a little loose," Antreasian said.
Sperling said the score emphasizes accessibility of sexual health-related services to students.
Junior Danny Romero said he went to SHAC last fall to request a full range of STI tests.
"It's pretty professional. It's pretty discreet," Romero said. "If you don't have insurance, though, it can kind of be pricey."
Antreasian said the SHAC offers testing for all sexually transmitted infections at the on-campus facility but that students have to pay for each test.
Another key factor on the report card is how well each center provides information to students, which has a lot do with the centers' Web sites, Sperling said.
Sperling said students were asked to rank their student health center's Web site on a scale of one to 10.
The SHAC Web site averaged a five, he said.
Romero said the SHAC would be more effective if it made more information available to students.
"I think setting up informational desks out there where the students are walking around - just kind of giving information to people personally rather than through a Web site - would be a good idea," Romero said.
Antreasian said getting information out to students is one of the center's goals.
"I think I probably talked at 150 presentations over the summer, reminding students that we're here," she said.
Antreasian said the SHAC is also updating its Web site.
"We're working on upgrading it," she said. "We're trying to make it better, and I think you'll see it improve over the next year."
