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Announcing Free Menstrual Products Pilot on the St. George Campus

From: Sandy Welsh, Vice-Provost, Students
Ron Saporta, Chief Operating Officer, Property Services & Sustainability
Date: March 1, 2022
Re: Announcing Free Menstrual Products Pilot on the St. George Campus

As we return to increased in-person activity across the University, we are excited to share a new initiative on the St. George campus. The Office of the Vice-Provost, Students and Facilities & Services are collaborating to make free menstrual products available for U of T community members. Similar projects are already underway at our UTM and UTSC campuses. The St. George pilot builds upon the work that has been underway by staff and student leaders locally to make these products available and moving towards embedding this in our operational services at the institution. This pilot was originally planned to launch in 2020 but was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting this month, 75 washrooms across the St. George campus – including all-gender, women’s, men’s, and accessible washrooms – will offer free menstrual products to U of T community members. Facilities & Services has installed coinless machines and will stock and record usage data on a weekly basis over the next six months (February to July 2022).

This pilot project focuses on seven buildings across campus:

  • Robarts Library
  • Student Commons
  • Warren Stevens & Clara Benson Buildings
  • Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport
  • Sidney Smith Hall
  • Exam Centre

U of T community members can find locations offering free menstrual products at uoft.me/washrooms.

Please see two resources to advertise this initiative: 8.5×11 and 11×17.

We want to thank the student leaders who have raised this issue over the years and who worked with us to launch this project. We also want to thank the Facilities & Services caretaking staff who arranged to have the machines installed and who will stock product and monitor usage over the next six months.

Promoting equitable access to menstrual products is an important step toward making our campuses more inclusive and welcoming for all community members. We look forward to learning from this pilot  and to the expansion of this project in the future.

If you have any questions or have feedback you would like to share, please contact vp.students@utoronto.ca.