The Undergraduate Senate (UGS) debated creating a political action committee, urged the University to support diversity initiatives and transgender athletes and unanimously voted to expand Title IX education at Wednesday’s meeting.
Senators considered a bill to establish a fourth Standing Committee, or permanent UGS committee, for political action focused on coordinating student political mobilization efforts, providing civic and policy training for undergraduates, defending the rights of student activists and promoting free speech.
“The ASSU (Associated Students of Stanford University) has always been seen as an organization that just doesn’t want to be political, but everything we do is political. How we move, how we walk, the way we live our lives, the way we go on is political,” said UGS deputy chair Ethan Alfonso ’27.
Noah Maltzman ’26, UGS parliamentarian, questioned the extent to which the UGS should participate in political action.
“There’s a difference between being political when it comes to a localized center versus political when it comes to outreach beyond the scope of that,” Maltzman said.
Alfonso responded that political advocacy has an impact on “members of your community that you have class, sit and eat lunch with.”
“This information may be a lot, but it’s serving someone at the end of the day. [That person] may not be you, but it might be the person next to you,” Alfonso said.
The UGS also discussed a letter sent from the UGS to President Jonathan Levin ’94 and Provost Jenny Martinez Wednesday morning urging the University to “reevaluate its long-standing posture of neutrality” and issue a “clear, independent statement of solidarity” to protect international students.
“I think that it is really important to address — especially seeing what is going on at peer institutions, including Harvard — and make sure that our voices are heard and that we work to really [create], as student leaders on campus, a safe space on campus for all students to succeed,” said UGS Chair of Administration and Rules Jared Hammerstrom ’27.
The UGS also unanimously approved a resolution recommending that the University expand “efforts to recruit… students from historically underrepresented backgrounds,” continue “policies that allow transgender athletes to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity” and provide “greater transparency on how it will navigate federal restrictions.”
“We want to make sure that our community feels heard and that we do take a bold stance against the federal administration,” said UGS co-chair Gordon Allen ’26.
The UGS also unanimously voted to “enhance Title IX education” through a comprehensive, grade-specific, four-year Title IX education program and initiatives to transform campus Title IX culture including thought-input sessions and expanded access to emergency contraception.
A 2024 study at Stanford found that 32% of undergraduate women, 13% of undergraduate men, 23% of graduate women and 8% of graduate men reported “experiencing sexual harassment.”
UGS co-chair Ivy Chen ’26 said that Stanford’s SHARE Title IX team hopes to formulate an improved, grade-specific Title IX education program over a period of two years beginning this fall. The timeline includes evaluating early data by spring 2025 and officially launching the full program by spring 2027, Chen shared.
“Just seeing a proposed timeline brought tears to my eyes because this is something we have been working on this entire year,” Chen said. “It is honestly ridiculous that we don’t have something that is here for the long run, that integrates [Title IX] education every single year, every single quarter.”