Senators passed a resolution to make Carta a joint service project of the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU), allowing it to operate as a part of the ASSU budget instead of independently applying for funding, at their weekly meeting. 

Details of the partnership will be worked out in a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations. This decision will potentially allow for grade distributions to return to the website, after Stanford removed them last August because of changes to the grading policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With both Parliamentarian Mià Bahr ’22 and Senate Chair Micheal Brown ’22 absent, the Senators struggled in their last meeting to navigate rules about voting. With only eight out of 15 senators present at the start of the meeting, quorum was barely reached. 

After establishing quorum, senators also passed a resolution supporting a test-optional admissions process for undergraduate and graduate admissions. Under the proposed process, students will not have to report ACT or SAT scores and GRE scores will be optional for graduate admissions, making the COVID-19 policy change permanent. The resolution will be brought to the Graduate Student Council next week before reaching the Faculty Senate, likely some time next year.

Senators reviewed and discussed the first section of a multi-part bill introduced by Emily Geigh Nichols ’23 and Alain Perez ’23 to restructure Senate leadership. If this part were to pass, two undergraduate Senate chairs could be elected for each committee, instead of one.

Nichols believes the bill will allow for the roles and responsibilities to be split between Senators, leaving more time to fulfill the advocacy platforms they originally ran on.

Jonathan Lipman ’21 was concerned about the “jockeying for positions” when senators first assume office, but thought two chairs would effectively split the overwhelming responsibilities. Lenny DeFoe ’21 saw this bill as a “good step in the right direction.” Voting on this portion of the bill will take place next Monday’s meeting.

The 23rd Undergraduate Senate will be sworn in on Week 8 and some incoming members have begun attending the meetings. The Senators also introduced a bill to certify the ASSU election results for the Undergraduate Senate, the executive branch, and Voluntary Student Organization grants. They will vote on the bill at their next meeting.