The Graduate Student Council (GSC) voted to approve a joint resolution calling on the University to improve campus Wi-Fi at their Monday meeting. GSC also voted to allocate funding for First-Gen Week programming and granted full approval for funding requests towards an election night watch party for graduate students and a Diwali event.
The Joint Resolution to Improve Campus Wi-Fi Accessibility and Reliability recommends that University IT (UIT) improve Wi-Fi fidelity, availability and reliability across campus.
The resolution also calls on UIT to identify “problem areas” across campus as part of their effort to modernize Wi-Fi. Additionally, GSC compelled UIT to simplify the process of connecting to EduRoam and Stanford networks and assess the possibility of adding a dedicated network for students.
“Inconsistent internet access and complicated device registration processes create unnecessary barriers for students,” the bill claims.
Undergraduate Senate (UGS) Co-Chair Laila Ali ’28 was excited about the addition of a call for UIT to promote a reporting form for Wi-Fi and data connectivity issues. The form allows students to report dead zones to UIT, allowing them to better focus their modernization efforts.
Ali emphasized the importance of spreading the form. “We’re gonna send it out in the Undergraduate Senate newsletter,” she said. “Hopefully we can connect more students with IT that way as well.”
GSC passed the resolution, which had already cleared UGS, with only one abstention.
In addition to the Wi-Fi resolution, GSC passed a joint bill allocating $3,000 for First-Gen Week, which “centers first-generation and/or low-income (FLI) students and advances equity in access, belonging, and student success at Stanford.” According to the bill, $2,500 of the funding is sourced from the UGS’ discretionary account, and the rest is from the GSC discretionary account.
First-Gen Week, which runs from Nov. 2 to Nov. 8, is currently underway and is hosted by the First-Generation and/or Low-Income Student Success Center (FLISSC) in collaboration with the First-Generation and/or Low-Income Partnership (FLIP).
GSC also allocated $2,000 for an election night watch party for graduate students at Stanford Law School.
“We have a lot of excitement amongst the law school, and hope that other folks will join us and celebrate, or commiserate, however one wants to take the election results,” said Stanford Law School representative Max O’Hare J.D. ’28.
The Stanford India Association (SIA) also received funding from GSC for a Diwali event set for Nov. 6. The SIA received $8,000 for the event, which they project to host over 1,000 student attendees — over two-thirds of whom are expected to be graduate students.