The Graduate Student Council (GSC) met on Wednesday night and approved several funding requests in addition to considering other business. Among the issues discussed were the prospect of holds being placed on students who fail to complete Title IX training and the new graduate housing that Stanford seeks to build.

Approximately 20 percent of graduate students have reportedly failed to complete the required Title IX training as of the meeting time. If students continue to fail to complete the training, it is possible they will receive a hold on their status and have difficulty enrolling in classes in future quarters. The timing between the first and second classes in the training sequence has reportedly been shortened by the administration to 21 days, which may help students avoid an unwelcome hold.

A proposal to increase graduate housing at Stanford reportedly encountered opposition from several Ph.D. students when it recently went before a Santa Clara County body. It remains possible that the GSC will be called upon to weigh in on the project, but at this time, the project remains on track for approval.

The GSC also approved a variety of funding requests. Unanimously approved funding requests came from the Thai Student Association, the Stanford India Association, Graduate Students in Applied Physics, Persian Student Association, Stanford Association of New Zealanders, Turkish Student Association, Hindu Student Association, GradQ, oSTEM, the French Stanford Student Association, the Stanford Hellenic Association and Belgica.

The Stanford Biotech group also applied for funding for an event that would be held at a venture capital firm near Stanford. The event received pushback for several reasons from GSC members. Some concerns raised were that only one venture capital firm would be present and a perception that GSC funds would be indirectly subsidizing the firm. Another concern was that the event will be held in concert with a Graduate School of Business (GSB) club at a time when the GSB does not have a good relationship with the GSC. Despite these concerns, the event was eventually approved on a 6-4 vote.

The GSC also discussed how it voted on funding bills and approved a bill to buy new electronic equipment.

Contact Caleb Smith at caleb17 ‘at’ stanford.edu.