Another public university announces it will give free tampons to men

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the latest university to announce it is starting a new program to provide free feminine hygiene products in women's — and men's — restrooms.

In an email to The College Fix, the university explained that it would begin offering the menstrual products in three different buildings on campus. Two of the buildings, Helen C. White and Sterling halls, will offer the products only in the women's restroom. But the third, The Red Gym, will have tampons and feminine pads available in the women's, men's, and gender neutral restrooms. The Red Gym building is home to the Lesbian, Gay and Transgender Campus Center, according to the school's website.

University spokesman Steve Wagner said the school wanted to make sure anyone who needed the product would have access to it.

"Menstrual products will be available in all of the bathrooms of the Red Gym," he said, in the email to The College Fix, "so that they are available to any student who might need them."

Student Rep. Katrina Morrison was one of the members in the student government who first recommended the program.

“It’s definitely a deficit and an unnecessary burden for [anyone] to have to go and purchase menstrual products,” Morrison said, according to the University of Wisconsin Badger Herald. "Having them be free and readily available in campus buildings is definitely a necessity."

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of several universities that have recently announced its plans to provide women's hygiene products in men's restrooms to ensure access for transgender males, following behind the University of Michigan, University of Maryland, and Northwestern University. The initiative will launch no later than April 30 and run through December.