The Reitz Union hotel desk is the first 24/7 on-campus location to offer free menstrual products to UF students with a Gator 1 Card.
Pads or tampons, packaged in small bags, became available Thursday at the hotel desk, which is always staffed, Student Government Senator Branden Pearson (Independent, Lakeside) said. The project is funded by the student health fee.
“It’s the first step to really making sure that students have permanent access to menstrual hygiene products across campus,” Pearson said.
Pearson said he collaborated on the project with Gators Matter, Period., a coalition advocating accessible menstrual products on campus led by Chase Werther, the vice president candidate for Challenge Party, but Werther said Pearson finalized the hotel desk project on his own, without the approval of Gators Matter, Period.
After an SG budgeting committee declined to fund menstrual products in January, a wave of student backlash led to UF buildings offering pads and tampons. Currently, free menstrual products are available in the Reitz Union GatorWell office, Infirmary and Field and Fork Pantry, according to Alligator archives.
Pearson organized a Jan. 26 meeting with Reitz Union Senior Director Myra Morgan, Senator Zachariah Chou (Inspire, Murphree), Senator Ali Gardezi (Impact, Engineering) and Women’s Student Association president Rebecca Kravitz, who represented Gators Matter, Period., to discuss piloting free menstrual products at the Reitz Union.
During the meeting, Kravitz said the coalition hoped to offer menstrual products in gender-neutral bathrooms for students to access them discreetly.
Morgan said the Reitz Union wouldn’t offer the products in public bathrooms because non-students, who don’t pay the health fee, would be able to access them. She said there was no data to prove a critical need of accessible menstrual products on campus.
“We’re trying to see what’s the need,” Morgan said. “It’s a question of how many people are asking for this program.”
She said about 30,000 people visit the Reitz daily, and regulating who uses bathroom products would be difficult.
Pearson met with Morgan again Feb. 7, without a Gators Matter, Period. member present to confirm the deal.
Werther and Kravitz said they disagreed with the proposal because students might be uncomfortable asking a hotel staffer for pads and tampons. Werther said the coalition is continuing conversations with Newell Hall and the libraries to make menstrual products more accessible on campus.
“I felt that the proposal was a little invalidating, and I didn’t think it was something that was promoting a culture of care on this campus,” Werther said.
Kravitz said she wouldn’t feel comfortable asking for a tampon at the Reitz.
“I would maybe even say I would go home before I ask a stranger at a hotel desk to hand me menstrual products,” she said.
Contact Amanda Rosa at arosa@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @AmandaNicRosa.
A photo of tampons.
