Student Association passed a resolution Feb. 19 to provide free tampons and menstrual pads to all women’s restrooms, gender-neutral restrooms and one third of men’s restrooms on campus.

The Women’s Center Period Act: Free and Equal Access to Menstrual Products was passed unanimously Tuesday night. The bill was written by SA President Omar van Reenen and Lizbeth Ortega-Ramirez, SA director of gender equality and women’s affairs.

The resolution will provide $500 drawn equally from the SA president’s executive civic engagement fund and the SA contingency fund. These funds will go toward the products as well as the installation of menstrual dispensary waste bins in gender-neutral restrooms and the men’s restrooms that will supply menstrual products.

“The point is to make [menstrual products] largely available,” van Reenen said at the SA meeting.

By drawing funding for the resolution from both funds, there will be a precedent for both SA and future presidents to continue supporting the program, van Reenen said.

“In the case of the future, because you never know,” van Reenen said. “If SA says, ‘Oh, we only fund clubs with the contingency [fund]. We do not want to sustain this project,’ then this resolution could ensure it is continued.”

This resolution follows a New York state law passed in July providing free feminine hygiene products in restrooms across New York public schools, the resolution said.

“[The resolution] would be a big help to girls and menstruating people on campus,” said Amanda Gydesen, a creative writing student at Oswego State who made a public comment at the meeting in support of the resolution. “It’s like a proposal to put toilet paper in the bathrooms. That’d be a big deal.”

Gydesen said she has never seen menstrual product dispensers on campus before.

“Having them available at all would really resolve some emergencies,” Gydesen said.

By passing the resolution, Oswego State will help set an example for more campuses to make similar changes, van Reenen said.

“It’s the kind of change that I think is probably going to occur all over the place, but I think campuses are leading the charge,” Gydesen said.

The resolution is expected to take effect during March, which is Women’s History Month.

Photo provided by Omar van Reenen