Syracuse University Student Association recently allocated $500 to the purchase of more than 3,000 menstrual hygiene products.

The purchase, unanimously approved by the assembly, will allow SA to restock the supply of menstrual products bought last year.

Elizabeth Sedore, chair of the student life committee, said she hopes the 2,500 tampons and 750 pads will be delivered this week.

“Pads and tampons should not be considered luxury items,”said Angie Pati, vice president of SA. “It’s interesting that we have toilet paper in the bathrooms, (but not menstrual hygiene products).” 

This initiative began last year, when SA stocked five buildings’ bathrooms with menstrual hygiene products. The products go in bathrooms of all genders. Caddies were placed on the counters of sinks and filled with pads and tampons.

The stocking of the products was intended to serve as a way to solve an emergency situation. However, Pati and Sedore said if there is a cost barrier to people who need the products, then that is another good reason to take the products.

“The disparity between women who can afford those products and can’t is large,” Sedore said. “And tampons and pads are extremely expensive.” 

Last year, the co-chairs of student life purchased more than 1,000 pads and 1,000 tampons, Sedore said. There are now only about 160 tampons and about 500 pads left.

While there is no hard data on the success of the program at this point, Sedore said she’d like to keep track of the number of pads and tampons being used to monitor the circulation. The biggest complaint Sedore said she has heard is about the infrequency of the resupply of the products.

“We know it’s successful because there are never any pads or tampons, so someone is using them,” Pati said.

SA’s future goal is to make the menstrual hygiene program a sustainable and permanent initiative. Currently, Sedore and Pati said they are strategizing to ensure people do not take more than what they need from the menstrual health product supply.

They added that keeping the bathrooms stocked is difficult because they currently do not have a system for volunteers or SA members to refill the supplies.

“I’m really hoping to do a better job of keeping them stocked so the students are more happy with the service,” Sedore said.

They recently created a hotline people can text when a specific bathroom is out of tampons or pads. This hotline has not yet been set up, but SA is working on new caddy signs with the phone number on them.

“(We’re) making sure that soon in the future, all bathrooms offer menstrual products,” Pati said. “That is the goal, and it’s obviously a long-term goal, but it’s this bigger conversation about a bodily issue.” 

Published on October 15, 2017 at 10:10 pm

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