Condom Machines to Be Installed In Houses, Freshman Union Today

Months of planning will come to a head today as condom machines are installed in all the Houses and the Freshman Union.

More than six months after the Undergraduate Council first urged the Houses to consider setting up machines, the council has orchestrated their arrival.

"I regret that the machines could not be in earlier to be of use this year," said council member Noam Bramson '91, who was in charge of arranging the installation. "Obviously, they're intended to last for several years to come, so I still think they'll be quite valuable," Bramson said.

The council switched vending companies last month because the outfit originally slated to install the machines refused to assume all insurance costs, as college policy requires, Bramson said.

In addition to the complications over insurance premiums, the council also had to wait several weeks for each house master to write a letter agreeing to accept the machines, Bramson said.

Installed by Northeast Concerns, the prophylactics will be "Trojan condoms, spermicidally lubricated, 50 cents each," Bramson said. Each house committee chose where to install the machines, and most opted for the laundry rooms, said Deborah J. Slotnick '90, chairman of the council's services committee.

Neil R. Collins, vice president of Northeast Concerns, said yesterday that the Harvard name could help him sell condom machines to other colleges.

"It's a nice feather in your cap when speaking to other universities to say Harvard went ahead and had them installed," Collins said. He said his company also markets shampoo and deoderant dispensers to hotels. "It's kind of strange bed-couples there," he said.

Because the machines are being installed during exam period, the distribution of an information pamphlet about AIDS and the use of condoms will be delayed until next semester, Slotnick said.