Student Government Association supports distribution of free menstrual products
Student Government Association President Anna Owens delivers the weekly executive board update on Dec. 4 in the Bovee University Center Auditorium.
Student Government Association Senator Lyndi Rose's legislation proposing a campus-wide distribution of free menstrual hygiene products passed unanimously in the senate and 94-3 in the house.
The bill, passed during the Dec. 4 meeting in the Bovee University Center Auditorium, officially became the first and final legislation addressed during SGA's fall 2017 semester.
Senator Rose said the legislation was inspired by a post on Twitter questioning why Central Michigan University doesn't provide menstrual products for students.
"We pay $20,000 a year, roughly, and not (enough) of that goes toward women's products," Rose said.
Giana Korth, co-founder of Tampon Tribe, an organic tampon company based in California, learned of Rose's initiative after reading an article on the Central Michigan Life website.
Korth passed similar legislation during her education at Georgetown University. She has continued supporting the cause. Rose said Korth has also offered to help provide dispensers for the products.
"She wants to partner with us to help us and give us a good deal (and) help the university pay for this," Rose said.
The next step for this legislation, or when it will be discussed in Academic Senate, was not mentioned at the meeting.
President Anna Owens announced four positions have vacancies for the upcoming spring semester:
- SGA Legal Clinic Co-Director
- Office Manager
- Press Secretary
- Volunteer Coordinator
Positions have been vacated because students are graduating, have internships or have been elected to leadership positions elsewhere.
During the weekly executive board update, Vice President Derek Sturvist addressed concerns that arose following SGA's Student Body Town Hall on Nov. 29. Anonymous questions regarding a lack of diversity in SGA drew responses from the panel that the audience deemed insensitive.
"The difficult thing about being a representative is trying to remain unbiased and objective in the way you speak about what SGA as an organization thinks," Sturvist said. "We do not speak for ourselves. We speak for the student body."
Citing the political state of the nation as a hurdle to cross when dealing with these sort of topics, Sturvist continued reading from the speech, saying SGA stands in solidarity with marginalized students on campus and understands each student's unique challenges the student must overcome.
"We own the fact that we fall short in many ways," Sturvist said. "We hope this can be a small step in the right direction."
