Who is Megan Handle? Student Senate’s new president discusses period products and future projects

The Ohio University Student Senate former Women’s Affairs Commissioner and current President Megan Handle has had a busy year. Between organizing women’s events, spending time with her service dog, Juniper and orchestrating a plan to have free period products in all Ohio University bathrooms, Handle is now preparing for her presidency of Student Senate.

Handle is from the village of Waynesville, Ohio, although she was originally born in Wisconsin, “the land of the cheese,” she joked. She found her home at Ohio U through her acceptance into the Honors Tutorial College’s Social Work program.

Handle’s Student Senate career began in large part because of her high school involvement. 

“Back in high school, I did literally everything,” said Handle, who played soccer, ran cross country, swam, ran track, played in the marching band and was a member of National Honor Society. She was also on the “Teen Board” for her local library, and was a member of her county’s “Teen Advisory Council” focusing on healthy relationships and dating violence. 

After arriving at Ohio U, Handle was overwhelmed by the number of student organizations she could join. She searched for an organization that would allow her to be deeply involved on campus, without spreading herself too thin. The search led her to Student Senate, the elected body that helps to fund many student organizations. 

“I can see what’s going on and know what everyone’s doing, even if I’m not a part of it,” Handle said.

Handle’s passion for women’s issues started because of her mother. Growing up, Handle’s mother encouraged open communication, forming a relationship with Handle that encouraged the de-stigmatization of women’s issues in the household. 

Detailing her increasing passion for women’s issues, Handle pointed to being a woman in college and “having no money for all the things you need money for.”

“As a woman, I just got really, really angry. Like, what can I do to fix this? Because if I’m annoyed, and in a large place of privilege, then I know those who are less privileged than me are way more annoyed,” Handle said. 

Some of the other projects that Handle and the rest of the Women’s Affairs Commission have spearheaded include, “Love Yourself” week, a “Women’s Empowerment” week, in collaboration with all the multicultural women’s student organizations; a heating pad DIY craft night; a collaboration with Alden Library for the “Feminism and Art” Wikipedia edit-a-thon; a Women’s Festival; distribution of “Safer Sacks”  and Take Back the Night.

Handle began research for her menstrual products project last fall, which would eventually become her biggest project yet. She began by investigating the phenomenon of “period poverty,” in which many people who menstruate are unable to access or afford hygienic menstrual products. 

“I’m actually doing my thesis about period poverty on college campuses,” Handle said. “So, I brought it up to all the senate people, and it became my big passion project.”

Following her research, Handle wrote a piece of legislation that was passed through senate, and then met with Ohio U President Hugh Sherman. Handle described the experience as “a whole process because it’s so much money.” 

Because women are not the only people who menstruate, Handle advocated for a one-to-one ratio of period products in all campus bathrooms, including men’s, women’s and gender-inclusive bathrooms. 

The university allowed companies to bid on the project, and the vendor will be chosen soon. 

“They said they would put $50,000 to $70,000 per year, for five years, into the project. That is a huge, huge chunk of change,” Handle said, before adding, “Tampons are just so ridiculously expensive.”

Handle remarked it was her persistence that kept the project moving. “If I stop being annoying, it’s not going to happen,” Handle said. “Hopefully, it will be starting to be implemented this summer.”

When asked about her plans for the future, Handle lit up and began describing “a notebook full of all our ideas.” Primarily, she wants to work towards growing Women’s Fest, incorporating bigger events into the festival. She wanted to distribute more “Safer Sacks,” because their entire supply of 100 bags was distributed in just an hour and a half of tabling outside of Baker Center. Handle also discussed expanding Take Back the Night by increasing involvement. 

Student Senate’s Greek Life Senator Isaac Davis was Handle’s running-mate in the recent Student Senate presidential election. Davis was elected, and is now serving, as vice president. Davis described Handle as a strong presidential candidate. When he offered her his pitch to be her running-mate, Handle agreed because she appreciated why he was running. 

“I try to live a life in service to others, and she appreciated that and I appreciated her appreciating that,” said Davis.

Davis described Handle’s conduct throughout their campaign process, saying: “She’s the kind of person that’s very able to get what needs to be done, done. Even though she’s already a very busy person. She’s able to do it very positively, and she has strong leadership qualities. She has a good passion for what she’s doing. She knows what she’s doing, and she knows how to do it.”

Following the conclusion of the election, Handle shared more information about her plans for the upcoming academic year.

“I want to create an opt-in accessibility email service for campus. Like, how you get emails from IT when Blackboard is down–it would tell you when and where escalators or elevators aren’t working. Also, working to make fentanyl test strips and Narcan, as well as safe sex products, more readily available. In addition, we want to work to make students get more involved and have easy access to all of the resources available on our campus, just to name a few,” Handle said. 

When asked how she felt about her presidency next semester, Handle said, “I am very, very excited to take on my new role in senate. I am honored that I was chosen for this role.”