One of the free menstrual product dispensers on Danforth campus in a women’s bathroom in Eads Hall. (Yiwen Zha | Student Life)

Three years after Washington University rolled out programs to increase student access to period hygiene products, both students and administrators are pushing for increased awareness surrounding menstrual issues and access.  

Multiple different programs offer students access to period products, including pads, tampons, and menstrual cups. In 2021, the University launched Go Green for Red, a program funded by Congress of the South 40 (CS40) that gives students free, reusable period products. In the same year, the University made pads and tampons available for free in bathrooms on both the Danforth Campus and Medical Campus. 

Nationwide, student groups are pushing for free menstrual product programs at their respective universities and the University is one of the first to establish these programs. Student leaders on campus hope to see more period product dispensers placed and maintained in women’s and all-gender bathrooms on the medical and Danforth campuses in the upcoming years. 

First-year Scoot Wang, co-founder of not-for-profit Lotus and a Student Union senator who is on SU’s Diversity & Inclusion committee, said they hope to see period products distributed outside of the women’s bathroom in the next stages of the program. 

“We want to ensure the restocking of period product dispensaries and the expansion of the locations at WashU, not only in female bathrooms, but also expand to gender-neutral bathrooms and high-traffic men’s bathrooms,” Wang said.

Wang said that some people see menstrual product accessibility as a female-only issue and hopes to see this ideological barrier dismantled in the next iterations of the free menstrual products program on campus. 

“It’s not about your sex or your gender,” Wang said. “I want to encourage more people to learn about menstrual stigma and poverty.”

Speaker of SU Senate, sophomore Sonal Churiwal said it is time for the various period product programs on campus to take a broader perspective of who a menstruating person can be.

“I definitely appreciate the initial setup of the project, but I think it’s important for us to veer toward a more inclusive take,” said Churiwal.

By widening access to period products, Churiwal hopes free products on the Danforth Ccampus will help alleviate period poverty in the community.

“Period poverty is very real and I think the expansion of the program is really important,” said Churiwal.

According to Churiwal, there is a lack of awareness surrounding the Danforth Campus’s free period product programs, such as Go Green for Red and dispensers. 

While this is an issue, Churiwal believes that period product programs on the Danforth Campus need to be better maintained before they are publicized.

“I believe, equally as important as advertising, is restocking,” said Churiwal. “If we’re advertising, it has to be a reliable source.”

Cassie Hage, the assistant director of the Office of Sustainability, said that confusion about period products on the Danforth Campus is a result of limited information about them online. 

“The thing that I’m really concerned about is, there needs to be easy access. If you are in a restroom and it’s not one of the ones that have the dispensers, you need to be able to really easily find where [else] to go,” said Hage.

As of February 2024, approximately 600 students on the Danforth Campus have ordered reusable period products through Go Green for Red, according to Hage, and just over 100 students on the Medical Campus.

“The easiest way to get the products is to sign up and pick them up at the Zenker Wellness Suite in the Athletic Center,” Hage said. “Students can also request online and pick up from our office in Schnuck Pavilion, or they can have it sent via campus mail if they’re on campus.”

Hage has also been coordinating with the Facilities Planning and Management Department as they rolled out the pilot program for the free period product dispensers in Danforth Campus restrooms. 

In order to reduce confusion, Hage hopes the next stage of free period product dispensers will include an easily accessible online map of dispensers throughout campus, as opposed to the map that exists now. 

She also wants expanded access to the all-gender restrooms on campus and more regular restocking. Currently, the free period product dispensers are intended for emergency use and restocked twice a week by WashU’s custodial contractor, according to Hage.

Hage hopes students will participate in discussions on improving period product programs on the Danforth campus in the upcoming years.

“Reach out if [you] identify opportunities for improving the program and be an active participant in future expansion,” said Hage.

The Menstrual Hygiene Products Program on the Medical Campus is also seeing changes in its program. Michelle Lewis, director of the Operations & Facilities Management Department,  said that it is standard practice to add free menstrual products in the construction of new all-gender bathrooms.

The School of Medicine has menstrual hygiene dispensers, which are checked daily, in seventeen buildings and will expand into two new construction projects this year, the Ambulatory Cancer Building and the BJCIH Vertical Expansion. 

Lewis said that instead of alienating menstruating people by treating a normal topic as taboo, she wants people to start a public dialogue to show people that their institutions care about them. 

“Having this conversation out in the open that we have these dispensers across campus does help destigmatize,” said Lewis. “We want to advocate for our employees and students’ health to foster a healthier community.”

This article was updated on March 6th for accuracy.