Forbes Cafe will feature a new boba tea concept later this month, Residential and Dining Enterprises announced at the Graduate Student Council (GSC) meeting Tuesday.
The GSC also approved funding requests, heard updates from the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) and Faculty Senate and discussed a possible amendment to fill seat vacancies on the council.
Boba tea and plate size reductions
Representatives from Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) shared important updates about a new boba concept, recent plate size reductions and upcoming deadlines for housing.
“We’re about one to two weeks away from opening up a new boba tea concept, Chun Yang Boba Tea in Forbes Cafe,” said Eric Montell, assistant vice provost of Stanford Dining.
He also said the University will continue celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, with another event this Thursday at Stern Dining Hall.
Guillem Megias Homar, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in aeronautics and astronautics, asked Montell about the smaller size of the plates in dining halls, as well as concerns about kosher breakfast availability.
“There are many studies that show that the plate size is directly proportional to the amount of food waste,” Montell said. “The larger the plate, the more food waste that occurs.”
However, with the “less than positive enthusiasm” from students, they plan to bring back the large plates in upcoming weeks.
“We never actually offered a kosher breakfast. It was always a kosher lunch and dinner,” Montell said in regards to concerns around kosher breakfast. He explained that changes from hot breakfasts to continental breakfasts are an attempt to manage costs as they slowly recover from the effects of COVID-19.
Jocelyn Breeland, chief communications and marketing officer of R&DE, asked Montell to share resources for eating disorders after referencing an opinion piece published in The Daily that claimed the dining hall plates encouraged disordered eating. Montell said Stanford has a set of resources for diet issues, works closely with Vaden to aid students and takes measures to avoid students from calorie counting.
Leslie Luqueño, fourth-year Ph.D. student in education, asked Justin Akers, senior director of student housing assignments, about coterms’ difficulties in finding housing. The current process for coterms who are finished with their senior year is to enter the graduate lottery system with the lowest priority. They are not guaranteed housing, but they may be given off-campus subsidized housing as an option.
In the long-standing priority structure, Akers said, coterms are given last priority. “So if you move coterms up, who are you going to move down?” Akers asked. Imogen Hinds, senior associate director of student housing, added that the priority process was created in collaboration with deans across the university.
ASSU and Faculty Senate update
Kristen Jackson, GSC co-chair and third-year Ph.D. student in race, inequality and language in education, pointed to a need for an organizational structure to oversee an audit while another councilor encouraged large community events with GSC social guidance for party planning.
Jacob Randolph, a third-year law student, provided the Faculty Senate update, sharing that Provost Jenny Martinez was excited to start working with the GSC on issues related to “affordability, mental health and the like.”
GSC members are able to send invitations to any committee chairs to talk about their committee’s jurisdiction and issues that GSC sees on their end, according to Randolph.
The GSC unanimously approved three funding requests: the Rains Halloween Bill, which asked for extra funding to attain sober monitors; funding for Oktoberfest and a request by the Engineering Students for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The council is expected to vote on the affirmative action bill next week. Emmit Pert, a third-year Ph.D. student in chemistry, said “it is expected to pass.”