Condom Service Born at U.T.

What do pizzas, newspapers, and condoms have in common at the University of Texas?

All three can be delivered right to students' doors.

Three enterprising U.T. juniors founded a contraceptive delivery business last month called "Protection Connection." Patrons can pick up their phones and order condoms or sponges delivered to their door within minutes.

"We're trying to eliminate the hassle and embarrassment involved in buying contraceptives," said Carl F. Graef, a co-founder of the budding firm. "Generally, our customers are just people who don't feel like going to the drugstore. Now they don't have to look the guy in the eye and say, 'I'd like a condom, please.'"

In two weeks, the business has grossed $600, of which $300 is profit, said Christopher P. Bray, another pioneer of the off-campus company. A set of three condoms costs $2, and sponges sell for $5.

Last year at Harvard, six freshman started a similar service, called Spermbusters, but the operation closed down after one day because of a College rule which prohibits students from running a business out of their rooms.

But Protection Connection's off-campus status has put its founders out of the reach of U.T.'s disciplinary system.

Ex-Spermbuster Darius S. Zoroufy '89 said that the Texas prophlayctic peddlers probably modelled their company after their Harvard predecessors.

"I find it hard to believe that they came up with the same thing on their own," said Zoroufy. However, the two businesses have very different ideologies, said Graef.

"They approached it from a humorous angle, based on last-minute sex," said U.T.'s Graef. "It seems to me that the deliveries we've made have not been emergency situations. Protection Connection is not a joke."