Undergraduate Senate to address executive orders impacting international students

Jan. 31, 2025, 12:04 a.m.

Undergraduate senators are working in collaboration with Stanford’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to introduce a resolution that will respond to President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which would impact international students, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and undocumented students at Stanford.

Senators are developing possible resources, which will be defined by a survey sent to the student body, they announced at Wednesday’s Undergraduate Senate (UGS) meeting.

Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that plans to deport and cancel the visas of international students who have been involved in pro-Palestine protests. Trump has also pursued executive action that include plans of mass deportations, which could potentially affect DACA recipients and undocumented students. Trump rescinded DACA during his first presidential term in 2017, which was ultimately overturned.

During the Wednesday meeting, David Sengthay ’27 also shared an update about the Bridge Peer Counseling Center. Sengthay noted that, during the 2023-24 school year, live-in counselors started receiving a stipend that is similar to that of an undergraduate residential assistant (RA). However, they will still have to pay graduate-level housing bills, senators said.

Senators noted the new stipend is not enough to cover the living expenses of Munger.

“You can imagine this as a one year band-aid,” Sengthay said.

A joint resolution had been passed by UGS and Graduate Student Council (GSC) to establish a student staff member at Bechtel International Center. They are now working on establishing a budget for the pilot student staff program. 

Additionally, UGS Co-Chair Ivy Chen ’26 updated the senate on her last meeting with SHARE Title IX. They talked about implementing a continuous education program, and will prioritize passing a joint resolution with the GSC that will “emphasize the importance of institutional support,” Chen said. 

Senators also unanimously approved a bill accepting funding requests for annual grants, which is now over $1 million. The deadline to submit annual grants is Jan. 31. 



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