The Student Government Association established a Menstrual Equity Task Force at its regular student assembly meeting on April 10 to expand access to period products on campus.

The task force was introduced on April 3 by SGA senator Colin Street and currently contains four members. Its main goals are to install period product dispensers on campus and organize the “Period of Giving” product drive, according to Street. 

The “Period of Giving” product drive, a donation drive for menstrual products to be distributed throughout North Central West Virginia, was created by students at Morgantown High School but expanded to a city-wide drive last semester. 

“We decided we needed a more institutionalized and concentrated effort to organize future ‘Periods of Giving,’ which is part of the reason we created the taskforce,” Street said. 

After receiving a $500 grant last semester, the task force partnered with WELLWVU to place a period product cabinet in the Mountainlair. The date of the cabinet’s installation is to be determined, according to Street. 

“Right now, we've been talking about putting it on the upstairs level by the non-gendered bathrooms. That way, it's in a public location that's both visible and discreet for people who need to grab stuff out of it,” he said. 

Members are also working alongside WELLWVU to make sexual health resources more readily available on campus. The planned cabinet will also contain condoms, dental dams and other sexual health resources. 

Street said the task force wants to expand its resources across WVU’s Morgantown campuses. 

“WVU has a lot of unique challenges being such a spread out, massive campus,” he said. “We want to make sure that there are cabinets not only in the Downtown Campus but in the Evansdale Campus and the Health Science Campus.”

He said he hopes providing period products in high-traffic areas destigmatizes menstruation and offers financial assistance to students who may not be able to afford products.

“The visibility of the products inherently works toward menstrual equity by breaking down the stigma of menstruation,” he said. “Menstrual equity is important because it helps bridge that financial barrier for people who have to buy pads and tampons regularly.”

Street said learning more about the barriers to menstrual equity has made him more passionate about the issue. 

“We want to make menstrual equity a term that a majority of students here on campus at least have heard and understand to some degree,” he said. 

Students can learn more about SGA and its legislation at sga.wvu.edu. Additional information can be found at @sgawvu on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.