All public restrooms on the University of Michigan’s main Ann Arbor campus, as well as at many Athletics and Michigan Medicine facilities, will be stocked with free menstrual products.
The decision to expand the program came after an initial placement of the products in 670 main-floor public restrooms across student-facing academic and Student Life buildings, said Geoffrey Chatas, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
In March, free products were placed in the main-floor public women’s, gender-inclusive, and men’s restrooms in about 245 student-facing academic and Student Life buildings. This program stemmed from a fall-term pilot project involving 100 restrooms and designed to gauge product demand and determine logistics.
The decision to expand the university’s menstrual product program to more than 2,000 restrooms is informed by the recent implementation and strongly supported by university leadership to increase access to these products, Chatas said.
The March implementation enabled university leadership to better understand the logistical and operational effort needed to support this program.
Planning is underway for the expansion. Full implementation will depend on product availability as well as logistical considerations.
Aric Runzheimer
Why are menstrual products being placed in the men’s restrooms?
David Blair
Placing female menstrual products in male restrooms have more to do with an agenda than biology.
I’m personally offended by this, especially when there are gender neutral facilities avaiable that these could be placed in.
Rob Carleski
What’s it like being offended by cotton and plastic? Inquiring minds want to know.
Helen Darling
Please explain the science behind placing menstrual products in men’s restrooms. As well, there was always a small cost to obtain these products for many years, so why is it being offered for free now?
Matthew Beer
I used a tampon from the men’s room to stop a nose bleed…it worked great!
Coretta Ealy
Prime example of wasting products.
Christopher Godwin
Have you been to a city park in AA lately? I have – feminine hygiene products scattered about all over the floors, etc. That to me is real waste. The powers that be need to work on a solution to address the littering and waste that accompanies this.
Kate Hockaday
This action means a lot to so many queer folks. There are men who still need menstrual products and it’s wonderful to see all bathroom spaces being inclusive!
Kathleen Scola
This has been a great program! I am very happy to hear you decided to expand it to ALL the restrooms. I would like to suggest equipment to be installed to contain the products in a larger capacity. The supply runs out quickly. I also appreciate the placement in ALL bathrooms for the use of anyone who has a need for personal body fluid protection/hygiene products. These items are useful for multiple uses. Thank you for helping our community with the free products!! GO BLUE!!!!
Coretta Ealy
I am confused as to why the university thought putting menstrual products in the men’s bathroom was a good idea. The whole concept is counter productive. Why are you stocking the men’s room with products they will never use? I have been bringing my own because there NEVER is any in the tampon dispenser in ANY of he bathrooms on campus. Let’s stop wasting money and the janitors time by stock the men’s room with female menstrual products.
Christopher Godwin
I’m old enough to remember when a local feminist civil rights attorney successfully lobbied the U. to put in double the numbers of women’s restroom relative to men’s restrooms in Hill Auditorium during the renovations in the name of “equality” (the term “equity” was not in popular use back then). That to me was a real head-scratcher, but I figured, “Ok, I see the long lines for the women’s restroom” and became Ok with it. I’m also completely on board with accommodating transgender people in their restroom needs; they are our fellow humans, so can we please have some compassion here? Please put a lid on the snarky comments about putting these products in “men’s” restrooms.
What I am *not* Ok with is the reality that in at least some, and I suspect now many, buildings on campus, men’s restrooms are being converted to gender-neutral restrooms while women-only restrooms remain in place. The Student Health Services building is a notable example, or at least it used to be (I’m retired now). As a survivor of prostate cancer, my ability to “hold it in” is not nearly as good as it was before I became ill, therefore, I think that the only truly equitable to solution to this problem would be to make *all* restrooms on campus gender-neutral. Problem solved. However, that would require that women give up at least a little of their privilege in this regard, and judging from the Hill Auditorium affair, that doesn’t seem to be very likely at the moment.
Joe Wade
Good program! A quick Google search pulls up many unusual and unexpected uses for these products by all genders!