Skyline College needs to make available the necessary resources for students in designated areas.

The request may seem unusual and not very important but to many students, the lack of resources that are supposed to be available is worrying. There are several hand sanitizer dispensers that are located on every floor of each building. These dispensers are typically ALWAYS empty, and never refilled. It’s wonderful that these are available to use, but they’re rendered useless when they aren’t maintained.

There are also several pad/tampon dispensers located in each bathroom, but they are typically empty as well. One would think that feminine hygiene products are just as necessary as toilet paper. They should be provided and accessible for every female student and staff member in every bathroom.

A recent survey was done by Harris Interactive that shows 86 percent of women start their period unexpectedly in public without the necessary supplies, and 34 percent of those women immediately went home to get supplies.

According to data published by Office of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness, 52.3 percent of Skyline students are female. Half the student population of Skyline is in a position to need these hygiene products, and there is no easy way to “just not.” Menstruating is an inevitably uncontrollable biological function that begins with puberty.

A college campus is meant to educate, and difficult task when half the student body could be absent for easily preventable reasons. When each and every day there’s a chance for a student to have to leave their classes when all it would take is a small change in priority.

Legislation was introduced in both New York and California that allowed the states to tax menstruation products. Luckily, at Skyline College it’s provided for free. However, only at the health center, and not in women’s restrooms which is literally the only other place it needs to be. These products should be treated as all other restroom products.

There are already dispensers in the bathrooms, why shouldn’t they be filled?

To continue to not offer necessary resources to students would be unfair. It’s not unreasonable to provide these services generally everywhere, but especially college campuses. It’s a basic human function. We are here to learn and attend classes, and for a portion of the student population to have to suddenly leave campus to go on a quest for these products is not fair.