Newsweek, September 6, 2016: Free Tampons and Pads are Making Their Way to U.S. Colleges, High Schools, and Middle Schools

“When students at Brown University head to their first class or hit the gym for their first workout this week, they’ll find something new in many campus bathrooms: free tampons and pads. Brown’s student body president, Viet Nguyen, who’s pushed the student-led initiative, will be hand-delivering menstrual products into all nonresidential bathrooms with the help of 20 other students. ‘There’s been a lot of conversation about why pads and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury, but not a lot of action. We wanted to take it into our own hands,’ says Nguyen, a senior studying education policy. ‘Low-income students struggle with having the necessary funding for food, let alone tampons.’ Nguyen sent a campus-wide email today announcing the initiative, which has made Brown one of the first higher-education institutions to implement such a widespread program. University officials have not yet responded.”