PERIOD at UTSA and the Student Government Association (SGA) collaborated to provide accessible feminine products in various restrooms across campus. SGA is a sponsored student organization that serves as the official advocate and voice of the student body, and PERIOD is an established group that plays an integral part in the menstrual movement— its main focus is to bring awareness to menstrual inequity and destigmatize menstruation in San Antonio. 

A lack of access to necessary menstrual products was the motivation for SGA and PERIOD to collaborate in an attempt to provide students with the feminine hygiene products that they need.  

Since the project began in 2019, some of the many obstacles members faced included the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the scarcity of funds required to obtain all necessary products needed to fulfill the project’s main objective.

“It was halted, of course, because of COVID[-19],” Yobana Solorzano, former President of PERIOD at UTSA, said. “People weren’t coming to campus; therefore, the dispensers weren’t being filled because, at the time, it didn’t feel like they needed to be because no one was there.”

Once students were back on campus almost a year later, PERIOD continued its work to provide students with access to menstrual products on campus. 

PERIOD partnered with Womxn in Leadership to create surveys for students to get feedback about the placement of future dispensers on campus. They were even able to have multiple dispensers placed in different restrooms, including the Student Union women’s restroom on the second floor and the family restroom on the building’s first floor; however, a monumental change in this project occurred when SGA reached out to PERIOD and informed them of the Leader Fund grant. 

PERIOD was awarded the grant, which gave the organization approximately $3,300 worth of funds to purchase menstrual products to be distributed in various restrooms around campus.  

“There has been a lot of communication in seeing who will be filling what dispensers and how are we going to accomplish everything we’ve planned,” Carolina Gonzales, the current president of PERIOD, said.

Although this project just recently started again, it has already gained a lot of traction since it deals with an important and inclusive change on campus. 

“The immediate future of this initiative is uncertain,” stated Zachary Nepote. “[SGA] is doing everything within [their] capacity to ensure the long-term sustainability of this initiative in ensuring that it does continue.”

PERIOD and SGA have made tremendous advances in fulfilling the main goal of their ongoing project. They have been able to work together and receive the appropriate funding to install multiple dispensers in various locations. To contact either organization about the project, reach out to them via Instagram, @period.utsa and @utsa_sga, or send an email to [email protected] and [email protected].