The Undergraduate Senate (UGS)’s Affordability and Accessibility Committee is awaiting a new Executive Director of Stanford Transportation to fill Bryan Shaw’s outgoing position, while working with the Acting Executive Director of Stanford Transportation, Jessica Alba, to improve the Disability Golf Cart Service (DisGo).
Class coordinators from the DisGo Advocacy Group had gathered data over the summer on specific improvements that could be made to DisGo, including making it more accessible for members of the Stanford community with disabilities and medical conditions and facilitating travel between core campus locations.
This Wednesday, Co-Chair Gordon Allen ’26 and Lizbeth Hernandez Rios ’25, chair of the Affordability and Accessibility Committee, met with the DisGo Advocacy Group, Alba, and Head of the Disability Access Office (DAO) Krista Martinelli to discuss how UGS could help them facilitate their efforts to improve DisGo.
Hernandez Rios has confirmed that, as DisGo continues to engage in conversations with Vice Provost of Student Affairs Michele Rasmussen, UGS will continue to “advocate for student voices.”
The Senate also addressed its ongoing initiative to continue supporting Students for a Sustainable Stanford (SSS)’s shuttle service, which facilitates students’ travel to and from the nearby airports. Hernandez Rios, Allen, Celeste Vargas ’27, and UGS Co-Chair Ivy Chen ’26 recently met with Rasmussen to discuss potential improvements to this service. Hernandez Rios said that they should work more closely with Stanford Transportation to better present the needs of the student body to them.
Yoanna Hoskins ’27 and Viviana Chuquijajas ’26 also gave an update on their initiative to collaborate with Green Library to expand the First-Generation and/or Low-Income (FLI) library. The FLI library is a library loan system for used textbooks. Hoskins and Chuquijajas want to expand access and affordability to textbooks for FLI students through funding provided by the Green Library. They are using last year’s data provided by Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) President Diego Kagurabadza ’25 to see what the most important books are for the student body.
The Senate is drafting a joint resolution to support undocumented students and another joint resolution to establish a student staff at Bechtel International Center to resolve issues international students face regarding financial aid. They also approved funding for Volunteer Student Organizations (VSOs).
This article has been updated to correct confusion between DisGo and DisCo groups. The Daily regrets these errors.