Boston University installed free menstrual product dispensers over the summer in six buildings on the Charles River Campus as part of a menstrual products pilot program first proposed to the university more than three years ago.
The pilot was first proposed to the BU student government by Senate alumnus Nehemiah Dureus and College of Arts and Sciences senior Hayley Gambon in fall 2018. The initiative earned preliminary support from Senate and in spring 2019 a semester-long SG pilot program began to test the program.
After the SG pilot program ended, Campus Planning and Operations worked with the Dean of Students to implement their own pilot program over the summer.
The CAS student government’s goal was to place a dispenser in every bathroom across campus. So far, the university has placed dispensers in the Questrom School of Business, College of Communication, CAS, School of Law, the George Sherman Union and College of General Studies.
Jennifer Lloyd, the project manager of the menstrual product pilot, said there are 164 dispensers across campus, and for now, BU’s administration does not plan on expanding it.
Michael Donovan, the vice president for Campus Planning & Operations, said that the pilot program is going well and concerns from trying this initiative in previous years have not been an issue.
“Actually, we’ve done a number of times years ago, and due to vandalism, theft and probably abuse, in so far as overuse, it was difficult for us to maintain a reliable supply of products,” Donovan said.
The dispensers are also in the men’s bathroom in order to be inclusive, Donovan said.
“There are people who identify gender wise as a male that may have a need for the product,” Donovan said. “We’re just being respectful of that and trying to be accommodating.”
Mary Murphy-Phillips, the director of Graduate Student Life, believes the initiative is something that should happen on both the Charles River and Medical Campuses, as well as in dorm buildings.
“I just want to stress that it is very important for it to happen in both campuses,” Murphy-Phillips said. “Right now, we’re doing it in the School of Public Health because it’s something that’s important to us. But I’d like to see it also in the dorms.”
BU’s School of Public Health led a similar initiative called “The Period Project” that works towards the goal of placing dispensers in bathrooms on campus and beyond.
Caroline Ezekwesili, the president of The Period Project, believes that the initiative should have taken place long ago, as student government senators proposed this idea last fall semester.
“I think it’s definitely long overdue,” Ezekwesili said.
Ezekwesili said she believes providing dispensers in the bathrooms at BU is an equity and access issue, and she was grateful for the support the SPH immediately put forward after The Period Project was created.
“Whenever I think about it, it doesn’t make sense to me how providing menstrual products is a topic of debate and a topic people don’t agree with for some reason as we provide other hygiene products on campus for free,” Ezekwesili said. “Sure, people have been navigating this for literally years, but it doesn’t mean it’s okay. You’ve been navigating it because you have no other choice.”
Ahlam Ibrahim, a freshman in CAS, said she thinks this is “definitely a step in the right direction.”
“I feel like BU going out of their way to make sure that everyone has equal access to those products is really important,” Ibrahim said.
Elena Gonzalez, a sophomore in CGS, fully supports the initiative as it is making a positive impact for people across campus.
“I really love this initiative and honestly, I think it should have been done earlier,” Gonzalez said. “… I feel as though the products that are used for [periods] should be free because it’s not something that we choose to have.”
Francis Okyere, a sophomore in COM, believes the dispensers in the men’s bathroom can be a good way to show acceptance to the LGBTQ community.
“If [transgender students] want to use the men’s bathroom while transitioning, they should be allowed to,” Okyere said. “They need the products that they need.”
