Rebel Girl dedicated a few minutes of her day to investigating a breaking story: the disappearance of feminine hygiene products from the restrooms.
She discovered that many of the now empty dispensers sported a helpful notice that directed women in need to the nurse's office in the Student Services Center. Of course, the helpful Health and Wellness Center is located some distance from many of these facilities and, most importantly, has limited hours while the phsyical needs to students, staff, faculty and visitors do not. This is perhaps especially pertinent for students who take classes in the evening.
In some facilities, the entire dispenser has been removed from the wall, leaving an unsightly depression and no helpful signage.
But, over in the new Beefsteak Building, Rebel Girl was happy to find that the facilities possessed shiny dispensers, recessed into the walls. She was hopeful.
However, when she tried to purchase the product, her quarter remained stuck in the slot and the dial refused to turn, leaving Rebel Girl to believe that while the shiny dispenser was there, it too was unstocked, incapable of providing what was promised.A brief inquiry suggests that the new policy has been in place for a few months.
Rebel Girl expects that this discussion might be uncomfortable for some readers but no more uncomfortable than for the occasional evening student who has arrived at the college with certain expectations about the minimum services provided.
25 comments:
You know, when I worked at Chipotle like 6 years ago, I used to have to clean out the womens restroom. You know, that little trash bin in the stall for "women's product?" Know who cleaned it?
This guy.
Bohrstein,
When I was in the Army, I don't think it was insensitive on my part to refuse taking out the trash-cans from offices of snuff/dip-spitters, or picking up the discarded cigarette butts from smokers when ordered to "police call" the common areas. As a non-tobacco using Californian (educated to the dangers of tobacco, and that it just really smells awful), I refused. In your position, I would have done the same. In fact, I would have found a woman to do it. I don't believe it is insensitive to say or request such things.
Interesting expose, Rebel Girl.
Maybe this is just part of the general cutbacks.
Expect more.
Is Saddleback in a similar position?
Same thing happened at UCR a few years back. People arrived back after summer and the dispensers were gone or left unstocked - no announcement, no advance word, etc.
So - people responded by circulating a petition, forming a task force and eventually persuading the administration that this was an essential service (as easily as essential as the Coke machines that are everywhere!) and First Class Vending Company was contracted to stock the machines sometime that spring. It took about 8 months. It was an educational opportunity.
Good luck.
The nurses' office gives such supplies away free which is great! but you do have to get over there and they do have to be open. That can be a problem sometimes. This change wasn't well-thought out and gives a bad impression of the college.
When I saw what they had done I knew it would be only a matter of time before someone began to point it out - though admittedly it's a awkward subject to bring up in meetings.
But what were they thinking?
They weren't thinking it through.
This is typical in terms of the poor situation here in the evening for students, staff and teachers.
This happened at SBCC too.
The guys commenting on this seem to be a little uniformed, how women dispose of feminine hygenine products is not really the issue here. The issue is the availability of the product, not how it's disposed of.
Excellent, investigative report! This decision to remove feminine products was not thought out!!
I remain surpirsed that nobody in a position of power intervened to advocate for our students.
I think a line has been crossed here in terms of what a public school is expected to provide. This is insulting.
No, what is insulting is, not providing women on campus with "women Products" Also, these products where not free, so public schools where not giving them away.
I wonder if this is pointed out on the campus tour.
One does wonder about some possible ADA violation - how would, say, a person on the second floor of the BST building or one of the business buildings who has physical limitations be able to find her way over to the nurses office in a speedy way - let alone handle this situation in the evening.
Poor oversight on this one, guys.
In the words of your illustrious leader, "How does this decision effect students?"
I guess he has plausible deniability!
No, it hasn't happened at Saddleback.
So you take the man (of course it was a man) who made this decision, and attach to the inside of his leg a bottle of red ink that may, or may not, leak a little, or a lot, a little at a time, or all at once in a flood, at some not very predictable time. (The middle of class is always good.) Make sure he has to go across campus to clean up.
Once the leak is over, repeat the process approximately 13 times over the course of a year or until he changes his Y-chromosome-challenged mind.
It isn't scheduled maintenance, guys. It isn't nice and neat and predictable. It isn't possible to always be prepared. If there's a problem, it's a mess, and often women feel very sick on top of everything else.
And yes I do believe if men needed the machines they'd still be there. Can you imagine Dixie, for example, letting anyone get away with that?
Fill up the @#%^@#* machines.
Alannah! You're so great!
rotflmao
I love it 9:51:
"How does this decision effect students?"
Maybe we can get stickers affixed to the empty machines that say just that.
If you're really going to make stickers, it's "Affect."
If they set up tampon machines in teh womens heads(restrooms) at IVC, i would appreciate it if the powers to be could install those fancy smancy cologne machines in the mens head. Great smelling stuff like english leather, old spice and the like, just like at the truck stops.
thank you
VC
I can tell you for a fact that the same "see the nurse" sticker was on the dispensers in the restrooms in the PAC right from the get-go. But hey, they installed them, but they were never stocked, and that building has been open since last October. So that policy has been in place for quite some time. The irony is that patrons are generally in that building on weeknight evenings or weekends - precisely when there is no possibility of them seeing the nurse .
This seems to have been remedied though I can't tell when it happened. Now there's free supplies in a nice dispenser.
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