If you are a woman, you know that Skyline’s women’s bathrooms have dispensers for feminine hygiene products. It is also known that they are all empty and have been for quite some time now. The same is true for our sister college, College of San Mate

Sure, feminine hygiene products are available for free at the nurse’s office but one would still have to leave the bathroom, which is still terribly inconvenient.

Having to leave class in the middle of it is disruptive to students’ daily lives. It has been proven that colleges with feminine hygiene products readily available in bathrooms have higher attendance rates and more involved students because they’re less likely to skip class due to a last-minute emergency.

SEC. 2. Section 66026.5 of the California’s Education Code, which was amended April 6 reads: “Regents of the University of California are encouraged, to provide an adequate supply of feminine hygiene products sufficient to meet the needs of female students at each campus in their respective jurisdictions.”

One opposing argument would be that students have other options. They can go to the bookstore to purchase feminine hygiene products, or just always carry such items with them at all times but that isn’t convenient enough.

As the Education Code states, female students are to have “direct access to feminine hygiene products in college bathrooms.” Providing women with immediate access to these products also save them from any embarrassment or shame that may result from being unprepared.

We aren’t asking the school to give students feminine hygiene products for free, although that would be nice. All we’re asking for is that the school gives us what they are legally supposed to. Either fix the machines and re-stock them, or get new ones if they are no longer functioning.
I’m sure the college can cull out some small rainy day fund to support this. It would not cost much to find a solution for the broken machines that do nothing but remain an eyesore in bathrooms across campus.
Students want to feel like their school has their best interests at heart and this would be one way of showing that. We’re not asking Skyline to change the world, just their bathrooms.