That bowl of condoms in your college or faculty social space is probably there due to the work of the Sexual Education Centre (SEC) at the University of Toronto, an organization that provides resources, workshops, sex-positive events, and a peer-support service.

The SEC is seeking a levy from all fee-paying members of the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (GSU).
Graduate students voted on the levy via a referendum held concurrently with the GSU elections last week.

“SEC is seeking more funding to be able to meet our increasing service demands,” says Mika Howard, SEC’s levy coordinator.

SEC receives a levy of 25 cents per full-time undergraduate student per semester, a figure that has not changed since a 1996 referendum, according to Howard.

SEC is requesting a levy from the GSU of 50 cents per full time student per semester and 25 cents per part-time student per semester.

Like the levy paid by undergraduate students, the proposed GSU levy is refundable upon request.

Despite not currently receiving funding from graduate students, Howard says that the “SEC provides approximately 36 per cent of all bulk orders of [safer sex supplies] to graduate students at U of T.”

“SEC would like to be able to better represent and support graduate students. By receiving funding from GSU, this relationship can be strengthened,” she says.

As it stands, SEC’s levy is not subject to Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA). “This means that even though safer sex products have become more expensive, due to inflation, we are still receiving the same amount of money we were 19 years ago. With more funding, SEC would like to be able to meet our increasing demand and expand our services,” Howard adds.

SEC has requested that COLA be applied to the GSU levy, which will ensure that the proposed levy can be adjusted based on inflation. According to Howard, COLA are critical to providing continual support.

Howard says that the group also plans to increase its funding from UTSU and that obtaining funding from the GSU is a step towards increasing SEC’s overall funding.