Some UMass Dartmouth Men’s Bathrooms Stocked With Tampons

By Tom Joyce | May 23, 2023, 14:37 EDT

A box of tampons and menstrual pads in the Pembroke Public Library men’s bathroom

Tampons are now available in men’s bathrooms on the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus.

Since late January, the school has provided free menstrual products in 11 of the Campus Center’s bathrooms. These include women’s, men’s, and gender-neutral bathrooms. The Campus Center is a “hub of activity where you’ll find the Campus Services Center, Campus Store, food court, Main Auditorium, SAIL office, an ATM, and more,” according to the school’s web site.

The initiative, known as the “Menstrual Access Pilot Program,” is a collaborative effort between the university’s Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality and the Student Government Association, according to The Torch, the student newspaper at UMass Dartmouth.

The initial cost of the program is $5,000. That includes costs for installing tampon and menstrual pad dispensers in these bathrooms, in addition to the products themselves, which the school is providing free of charge.

The funding is coming from student service fees managed by the Student Government Association.

Zoi Burns, the chairman of the Student Government Association’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, said that putting the tampons in the men’s bathrooms also serves to normalize the idea of biological females who identify as men getting monthly periods.

“It’s not only women who menstruate,” Burns told Dartmouth Week in February.

The Student Government Association hopes to also provide tampons in all bathrooms at the Claire T. Carney Library on campus, a goal that has not yet been achieved. 

However, its ultimate goal is to have menstrual products available in all bathrooms, irrespective of biological sex.

“Having it everywhere just makes sense,” Burns told Dartmouth Week.

UMass Dartmouth is a public university with about 7,200 attendees, located in Dartmouth, Massachusetts — a town of 34,000 people on the South Coast of Massachusetts.

UMass Dartmouth is not the only place that offers tampons in men’s bathrooms in Massachusetts.

Starting in July, Emerson College plans to provide menstrual products, including tampons, in all of its public bathrooms on campus, including men’s bathrooms.

Additionally, the men’s bathroom at the Pembroke Public Library offered tampons and menstrual pads when NewBostonPost visited it in December 2022. And the men’s bathroom at Brookline Town Hall offered free menstrual pads when NewBostonPost visited in January 2023; however, the bathroom was out of tampons.

Burns and spokesmen for the Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality; Student Government Association; and UMass Dartmouth could not be reached on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of last week.

New to NewBostonPost?  Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts.  But you’ve found it.  Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months.  And join the real revolution.