The upcoming spring quarter may see new University social initiatives on campus, ranging from block parties and food trucks on the Row to the design of a Town Center in the White Plaza area, according to recent announcements from Student Affairs.
“Students have been telling us that they would love to see our campus foster a vibrant social life including what we have now, and much more,” wrote Student Affairs spokesperson Pat Harris in an email to The Daily.
Other projects, including an expansion of Cardinal Nights alcohol-free social programming and the 5-SURE, Stanford’s safe rides program, were mentioned along with the Town Center project in a January email sent to students by Vice Provost of Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole.
“The Town Center project is charged with re-imagining the White Plaza region as a central point of social connection,” wrote associate vice president for student engagement and Town Center project leader Matthew Tiews.
“The project is in the very early scoping phase: gathering input, identifying needs and defining program elements,” he added. “We will be doing extensive campus outreach starting spring quarter, including soliciting broad student input.”
The planning team consists of “campus leaders representing student, faculty, staff and alumni perspectives,” with students being appointed by the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Nominations Commission, Tiews wrote.
As with the Town Center project, other Stanford social initiatives are still in the planning phase. More than 20 students have joined in the brainstorming process for these other initiatives, Harris wrote, adding that volunteers “came from all over: Greek and non-Greek, all classes and all academic disciplines.”
“The initiative is still quite new, and we have yet to formalize our plans,” Harris wrote. “We expect to share more information on next steps shortly, and perhaps implement a few ideas in spring.”
She did not answer The Daily’s question about which ideas may be implemented first.
“Ideally, the initiative will dovetail well with the Town Center concept,” she wrote. “We are in touch with Tiews on this topic.”
Contact Holden Foreman at hs4man21 ‘at’ stanford.edu and Ryan Tran at rtran56 ‘at’ stanford.edu.