On Tuesday night, the Undergraduate Student Government senate voted to allocate a roughly $2,000 addition to the period pantry’s budget, a section within the Trojan Food Pantry that provides free menstrual care products to students. 

Senate bill 145-17, which the senate passed unanimously, will allow the Period Pantry to provide more pads, tampons and heating patches to students, as previous inventory has been depleted, said chief diversity officer Yasmeen ElFarra, who presented the resolution. ElFarra said the project received $910 of legislative funding in November 2025 and began distributing menstrual products to students Dec. 1, 2025.

“I am both deeply proud of this initiative, while also cognizant that such a quick rate of utilization signals significant demand for such a critical basic need for all students menstruating,” ElFarra said. “This rate of utilization exceeded initial projections and demonstrates the significant demand for menstrual care resources that meet students’ very unique health needs.” 

ElFarra said the period pantry idea originated from the advocacy department, where ElFarra and last year’s Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment advocacy liaison, Alia Noll, began envisioning what a period pantry could look like. 

The Trojan Food Pantry is located in King Hall, suite 103, and is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

During officer reports, speaker of the senate Jeremiah Boisrond said both he and chief programming officer Ali Edmonds released pairings between senators and assemblies. Boisrond also said USG will host a housing rights workshop on Wednesday, in partnership with the Gould School of Law’s Housing Law and Policy Clinic. 

“We want to make sure that our students are well versed in their tenant protections, as they start looking for off-campus housing,” Boisrond said. 

Boisrond said he has been working with USC Hospitality to create a solution for after-hours food access. He said he is looking to implement a vending machine from Crave Robotics that dispenses hot meals for students in under three minutes. 

“The funding of [the vending machines] doesn’t sound too out of reach for USG,” Boisrond said. 

During his presentation, Boisrond said that senator Kevin Hoang successfully advocated for the implementation of adding wait times on the USC Campus Dining App for Tutor Campus Center restaurants, so students can see the wait times before they purchase their meals. 

Boisrond also said senator Sudeepta Murthy successfully advocated to modify the Flex120 meal plan, allowing students to use six meal swipes instead of three per day. 

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the Period Pantry was a section of the Office of Basic Needs. The article was updated Feb. 19 at 11 p.m. to reflect that the Period Pantry is a section of the Trojan Food Pantry, which itself is overseen by the Office of Basic Needs. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.

Editor’s note: This article was updated Feb. 24 at 7:45 to include the name of the 2024 — 25 Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment advocacy liaison.

Disclaimer: Alia Noll formerly served as an associate managing editor at the Daily Trojan from Fall 2024 to Spring 2025. Noll was not involved in coverage of the Undergraduate Student Government meeting.