The SJU Student Health Center, according to its mission statement, “strives to assist students in the pursuit of their academic goals and personal development by identifying and addressing health situations which impede student learning. This mission is served by the provision of high-quality health care as well as health promotion that facilitates the development of the whole person.”

Furthermore, the Student Health Center has a non-discriminatory policy as a member of the American College Health Association, which “rejects all forms of intolerance and subtler forms of discriminatory conduct with respect to the following: age; gender identity, including transgender; marital status; physical size; psychological/physical/learning disability; race/ethnicity; religious, spiritual or cultural identity; sex; sexual orientation; socioeconomic status; or veteran status.”

Removing a student’s access to this vital part of their healthcare places a burden on their overall well-being due to the high cost of co-pays from outsourced gynecological care. The on-campus OB/GYN was in high demand in the past and so students should continue to have access to this resource. In light of the Student Health Center’s policies, an on-campus OB/GYN practitioner is a necessity.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, call upon Saint Joseph’s University to immediately begin the search to hire a full-time OB/GYN to work in the SJU Student Health Center and begin practicing by the start of the Spring 2019 semester.