To: Mr. —, Union Facilities Manager
Mr. —-, Associate Director, Carolina Union

CC: Ms. —-, Director, Carolina Women’s Center
Dr. —-Chair, UNC Department of Women’s Studies

Dear Mr. — and Mr. —-,

Thank you very much for your response to me and to Ms. — of the Carolina Women’s Center. I truly appreciate you noting the inconvenience and your efforts to restock the restrooms with urgency. I did not know about the vandalism and theft concerns and I appreciate your efforts to keep the machines stocked despite these problems.

I am sure I speak for many women when I thank you for paying attention to this issue on a regular basis. It is also great relief to know that when a student raises a matter of serious concern, the officials who make this University the wonderful place that it is respond with their efforts to help. I very sincerely thank you again for your work as you continue to follow up and keep the feminine products machines consistently stocked.

Please let me know if I could be of assistance in the future.

Thanks again,

Taiyyaba

The whole story:
Keeping Feminine Products Machines Stocked
Attempt 2: Feminine Product Machines
The Response
Update: Manager Response

Sheeza [see comment] brings up a good point.

For me, it was part of both (big issue & manager not responding) but I think I was angrier that they didn’t respond *because* it was such a big issue to me. The fact that the machines are there and they don’t stock them feels unjust to me. If they’re there, I expect them to be stocked - otherwise, don’t give us false hopes of putting them there! Sorry to throw a law term out, but I think of it as an “undertaking” - you start doing something, allow someone to rely on you for it - and if you stop doing it, you can’t pull out and say “Well, I never really had to do that anyway, I was just doing it because I’m nice.” Follow through!

I guess I’m angry at the principle of the thing. Here, fine, I was close to the Student Stores and I could go buy a pad; no harm done. What if you walk out in the middle of class, in a building in the middle of campus, and there are no pads there and no store nearby - what are you supposed to do?

I’d even go so far as to say that there should be more bathrooms with these machines in them - stocked, of course. The facilities managers make sure the toilet paper, soap, etc. is always stocked -why not these machines? The users pay for it with a quarter, so the cost to the facility is offset. By now, I think it has become or should become a part of the etiquette of “bathroom stocking” that pads and tampons should be available in women’s bathrooms.

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