Last June, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) launched the Menstrual Product Initiative, aiming to provide free menstrual products across the IUPUI campus. Through overwhelming support from the IUPUI community, USG achieved their goal and the initiative has passed.
With a total of 1,100 signatures and support from more than 50 student organizations, free, environmentally safe tampons and pads can now be found in select restrooms across campus. On top of that, USG has found ways to be inclusive of everyone who menstruates, making IUPUI one of the first midwestern universities to offer products in male restrooms.
“Something we really wanted to achieve [was putting] products in women’s and all-gender restrooms,” Director of Initiatives for USG Julia Cilleruelo Fernandez del Moral said. “Now we are expanding the initiative and installing more dispensers, which have been placed in more than 19 men’s restrooms so far.”
USG is in the process of developing a website so that students and faculty can find the nearest restroom with products inside. By the end of February, about 75 percent of core academic buildings will have dispensers installed. Below is the planned list for where menstrual products can be accessed:
Zone 1:
Informatics and Communications Technology Complex (ICTC)
Inlow Hall (IH)
End. And Sci. Tech (SL)
Science (LD)
Sci. Eng. Lab (SELB)
Eng. And Tech (ET)
Innovation Hall (IO)
Total: 7 Men’s + 57 Others = 64
Zone 2:
Ed. Soc. (ES)
Bus/SPEA (BS)
University Library (UL)
Taylor Hall (UC)
Eskenazi Hall (HR)
Natatorium (PE)
Hine Hall/Tower (IP/HO)
Total: 7 Men’s + 67 Others = 75
Zone 3:
Campus Center (CE)
School of Dentistry (DS)
University Hall (AD)
Cavanaugh Hall (CA)
Lecture Hall (LE)
Total: 5 Men’s + 50 Others = 58
Now that USG has finalized the MPI, they want to take the issues of period poverty and sustainability on campus a step further. USG member Isra Haider discovered an opportunity called Campus Cup 2020 last semester and partnered with OrganiCup to bring free menstrual cups to the community.
“Over the course of 10 years, one person will use about 26,000 disposable period products, but if you use a cup, that one cup can last you 10 years,” Haider said. “You are saving a lot of money, and you are also helping the environment because you are not producing as much disposable waste.”
To get a free cup, anyone can sign up online through March 1. After the sign-up period, USG will be contacting students about options for picking up their cup from the Campus Center -- between March 15-17 -- or having it shipped to an address in the United States.
“More than 800 people have signed up for a cup,” Cilleruelo said. “That shows how needed and how wanted [the menstrual product] initiative was. Our goal was 800, and I remember saying ‘Is that too much to reach? More than 1,000 people signed up for the MPI, but I don't know -- maybe 800 is kind of a lot.’”
For more information on menstrual cups and ways to get involved with USG, follow their Instagram @iupuisg.