By: Jessica Griggs ~Editor-in-Chief~

A Student Government Association (SGA) project in progress plans to make free feminine hygiene products readily available for student use by early March.

The Feminine Hygiene Product Project, which was spearheaded by SGA senator Samuel Buettner, has been in the works for the majority of the school year. Buettner said that family experience is what prompted him to pursue the issue.

“Growing up in a low-income family, I saw how much of a strain these products put on my siblings,” Buettner said. “To me, this project comes down to having the ability to help make a true difference in people’s everyday lives.”

According to a proposal for the project that was released by SGA, “Eighty-six percent of women have started their period in public with no supplies. Seventy-eight percent of women said they felt anxious, nervous, and panicked when starting their period in public. Thirty-four percent of women said they went home immediately, regardless of where they were at the time. Seventy-nine percent of women have been forced to use toilet paper or some other extremely unhealthy and unsafe object because their period started without any hygiene products.”

Physical Plant will help with attaching the baskets that will hold the products to the countertops in the Gallagher Student Center (GSC) bathrooms, according to Buettner.

GSC Manager Chris Marshall has also been active in progressing the initiative.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to help support a student driven initiative that helps create an inclusive environment while providing a service to our students,” Marshall said. “Although there are restrooms on campus that have product dispensers for $.25, many of these are not fully operational or always stocked. Also, as a 24 hour facility, the GSC allows for open accessibility to these products for students at times when accessibility to such products may be limited.”

The funding for the project is currently incomplete, and SGA is reaching out to companies like Proctor and Gamble for donations.

“If we cannot collect the needed donations by the time we need to order products, I will be requesting the money from the Student Senate project fund,” Buettner said.

The proposal estimated that the initial amount needed for the implementation and trial period is $1,000 and that this amount would cover an order of 2,880 tampons and 2,400 feminine pads.

“This order is based off of a similar project at Brown University,” the proposal stated. “It is the same order that Brown University makes every five weeks. We are estimating this amount for around double that time.”

“This project truly shows how much we as the Student Government Association care for our constituents,” Buettner said.

Any questions or donations can be directed to SGA by phone at 513-745-4249 or email SGA@ xavier.edu.