The Graduate Student Council (GSC) passed clarifying changes to the Honor Code and received updates from Residential and Housing Enterprises (R&DE) on the graduate housing lottery, housing amenities and space utilization during its meeting last week.
There was some debate on adjustments to the Honor Code, specifically setting the level for reviews to clarify the guidelines and ensure they are appropriate for student needs. The GSC voted on the proposed changes, which passed unanimously with 3 abstentions.
Justin Aker, R&DE Senior Director of Student Housing Assignments, announced that the graduate housing lottery has opened for the upcoming summer and fall quarter applications with no major changes to the process. Aker mentioned a pilot program for shared rooms in the lottery, and administrations’ plans to conduct outreach confirming that applicants understand the details of the housing they are applying to.
Regarding details provided about housing options, 3rd-year Ph.D. student and councilor Kwamina Nyame mentioned that many housing options have unique amenities to provide for students’ medical accommodations, for instance, and asked for this information to be available as people select housing.
Aker said his team will consider the suggestion.
Other updates from R&DE included that new water bottle filling stations will be installed in EVGR-B and EVGR-C during this summer, reported Senior Associate Director of Neighborhoods Rebecca Benaderet.
R&DE also reported that they are engaging in ongoing dialogue with Stanford students on campus with young children who may wish to remove furniture due to safety concerns. They were asked to explore concerns by GSC Co-Chair Emmit Pert, a fourth-year chemistry Ph.D. student.
Councilors also hoped to make graduate spaces on campus more lively through centrally programmed, large-scale events in shared spaces such as the EVGR Pub. R&DE representatives expressed willingness to support this initiative, adding that they would like to work with the GSC to ensure that students are not excessively disturbed by noise.
Several student groups requested funding from the GSC, including the The Stanford German Student Association for their annual “Fire on Fire” barbecue, Stanford Camarada for a historical concert and the Stanford Law School for their annual Shaking the Foundations Conference. The GSC tabled a final decision on funding requests to review in more detail.