For over nine years, NYU students could go to any building on campus and find the menstrual products they needed for free — that is, any building except Tisch Hall, the School of Global Public Health, Warren Weaver Hall and 370 Jay St. That was before Stern senior Rena Chen launched an initiative to install more product dispensers early last semester.
Accessibility to menstrual products has been a nationwide issue as 18.3% of U.S. university students experienced period poverty, with significantly higher rates among LGBTQ+ students and Black students. An October 2023 INTIMINA survey of 1,321 students across multiple universities — including 181 respondents from NYU — found that almost 50% of college students have struggled to obtain menstrual supplies due to cost.
“As a woman who experiences periods myself, I noticed this has always been a problem,” Chen told WSN. “I felt the school should be providing these for free — especially given how much tuition we pay.”
As of August 2024, all public colleges and universities in New York are mandated to provide free menstrual products in campus restrooms after State Senator Michelle Hinchey signed it into law. However, private institutions like NYU are not obliged to follow the mandate — making student-led efforts like Chen’s all the more important.
In October 2025, Chen, who was elected the undergraduate senator for the Stern School of Business the prior spring, conducted an audit of NYU’s internal building policies with the help of Leticia Mosqueda, manager of the Student Government Assembly’s Initiative Fund Committee. The two went around campus to survey different buildings, taking note of ones that did not provide free menstrual products.
“There were some really big gaps in some key buildings that I was surprised didn’t have them — for example, Tisch Hall at Stern, which houses all the classes for undergraduate Stern students,” Chen said. “As senator, I thought it was something I could try to address.”
After her audit, Chen talked to the building managers of each NYU building, who largely supported her initiative. However, Chen soon discovered there is no unified system across NYU making it harder to get funding for certain buildings over others.
In Tisch Hall, the process was fairly straightforward. Stern’s contract with their building’s service provider, Collins Building Services, allowed them to negotiate a deal where CBS provided menstrual products at no added cost to NYU. For smaller NYU buildings, like GPH or Warren Weaver Hall, Chen needed outside funding. She secured that support through the Initiative Fund, NYU’s $500,000 reserve dedicated to working with students on projects that benefit the student body.
“The contract between Tisch Hall and CBS is more favorable than the contracts CBS has with other buildings,” Chen said. “The relationships with contractors differ across buildings, so I don’t think it would be logistically possible to have a unified approach — which is why sometimes we just have to step in and close that gap however we can.”
For Chen, the effort comes down to a simple, equitable principle. She understands how expensive menstrual care can be, especially for students already dealing with other financial burdens. Chen emphasized that the process of implementing initiatives like hers is more open and accessible than many realize.
“Some people may not know this, but you don’t actually have to serve on student government like myself to do these things — anyone is allowed to submit a proposal,” Chen said. “If anyone has any ideas on how to improve NYU we can try to do nice things.”
Contact Aryana Arora at [email protected].