Courtesy of Ana Flood ’25
“That time of the month.” “Aunt Flow.” “Shark Week.” “The dot.” Ana Flood ‘25 and the other members of this club at Connecticut College call it what it is: PERIOD. According to the National Institute of Health, about 26% of people across the globe are menstruating at any given time. Access to period products is essential; Flood calls it a human right. When menstruators are not educated on their periods and cannot adequately take care of their bodies during their periods, their quality of life is sacrificed. Flood is committed to “ensuring that menstruators don’t face obstacles in their daily lives and they can have the same…access to life that other people have.”
Flood’s passion for combating period poverty and lack of access to period products was inspired by her friend Norah Morissey ‘25. Flood, Morissey, and Maggie Kleiner (former member of Conn Class of 2025) noticed that the few period product dispensers on campus were not functioning or consistently filled. A few years ago, another student created a sustainability project to install those dispensers, but they did not receive enough support to continue the project. Flood and her friends wanted their new PERIOD club to tackle the project of refilling the current dispensers. However, the group thought bigger: Why not install dispensers everywhere on campus?
Soon enough, Flood and Morissey presented their idea to the Student Government Association (SGA). After collaborating with Director of Gender and Sexuality Programs (GSP) Justin Mendillo ‘18, Associate Dean of Campus Life Geoff Norbert, and Director of Sustainability Margaret Bounds, Flood felt hopeful about the future of this project. Everyone was receptive and understanding of the need for widely accessible period products. Norbert helped Flood convince facilities staff of the issue’s importance. “Menstruators deserve to have part of their tuition go toward menstrual products,” says Flood.
Now, head to the first-floor bathrooms in the Athletic Center, Blaustein Humanities Center, the College Center at Crozier-Williams, Fanning Hall, Jane Addams House, Morrison House, and Shain Library to find brand new pad and tampon dispensers installed by Flood and her friends. For buildings with gendered bathrooms, the dispensers are outside on the wall in between the two. Buildings with gender-neutral bathrooms have product dispensers inside, acknowledging the fact that people across the gender spectrum menstruate. Flood emphasizes the importance of erasing the stigma and shame associated with menstruation. She did not want to hide the dispensers away, contributing to the period taboo.
The pads and tampons come from Unicorn, a sustainable brand that makes biodegradable products. Members of PERIOD club liked the products after testing them out, and Unicorn makes easy-to-install dispensers so as to not burden janitorial staff. For the past month, Flood has been refilling the dispensers herself and storing the inventory in her housefellow suite. The goal is for facilities staff to replenish and factor the products into their budget, along with toilet paper and other hygiene products.
Flood always wanted to leave a concrete legacy at Conn and says it is satisfying to actually see the difference she made. She hopes the project will continue beyond her graduation this spring. The next phase of the project is to install product dispensers in every residential building at Conn, but Flood is skeptical about the timeline. She is “doing whatever [she] can to cement [the project]” and does not want it to fall under Gender and Sexuality Programs (who already delivers period products to students’ mailboxes through the Period Pixie program). Flood’s point is that general access to period products should not be gendered; rather, facilities staff should take charge of buying and filling the dispensers just like they do for hand soap.
Flood is grateful for everyone who helped this project come to fruition, including Morissey, Kleiner, Julia Toyer ‘27, Sophia Hauschildt ‘26, SGA, Norbert, and Bounds. She urges students to fill out a feedback form sharing their thoughts on the current period product dispensers and indicating where they would like to see additional dispensers.
