The Faculty Senate questioned Provost Jenny Martinez about an altercation between an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier and a student on campus and approved a motion to increase the Civic, Liberal and Global Education (COLLEGE) program from two quarters to three during a Thursday Faculty Senate meeting.
A student representative asked what steps administrators have taken in response to an IDF soldier tackling a student at a tabling event on campus April 23. In response, Provost Martinez said a University investigation confirmed that an “altercation” between an IDF soldier and a student happened after the soldier mistakenly believed that the student grabbed a VR headset from their table.
“There are disputed accounts of the physical altercation between the two people involved in it,” Martinez said. Stanford’s Department of Public Safety has collected information from both the witnesses and camera evidence, which it has shared with the District Attorney for further evaluation, according to Martinez.
Provost Martinez affirmed that an inquiry to the Vice Provost of Student Affairs had been made into “whether the student organization responsible for the tabling had complied with all of the rules for registering and conducting tabling at White Plaza.” The investigation found that no violations had been made, and no further actions will be taken against the student organization.
Professor Jim Campbell, chairman of the Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policies, gave a presentation to the Senate on the COLLEGE (Civic, Liberal, and Global Education) program.
“This is an exceptional program,” Campbell said. The committee reached its recommendation following extensive studies that synthesized student testimony, rates of satisfaction with the program and instructor feedback. One study Campbell cited found that students, on average, rated their experience in the COLLEGE program as a 4.6 out of 5.
Several members of the Faculty Senate spoke out in support of the COLLEGE program. Notable speakers in favor included political science associate professor Allison McQueen, psychiatry, pediatrics and education professor Shashank Joshi and School of Humanities and Sciences Dean Debra Satz. Satz said that the COLLEGE program “[is] doing a really good job of advancing open inquiry.”
Others expressed skepticism about the merits of the COLLEGE program. Accounting assistant professor Ivan Marinovic said he would not be voting in favor of the program, citing his belief that the course serves as “fine electives” instead of general requirement. Professor Jonanthan Berk echoed some of Marinovic’s comments. “This is not a course, this is a political agenda,” he said about a course that included a text authored by W. E. B. Du Bois.
Professor Kathryn Stoner, who said she “went in skeptical” but ultimately spoke in favor of the program after visiting a COLLEGE 102 class, “strongly cautioned” Marinovic “not to judge this program by their titles of the courses.”
The motion to recommend the COLLEGE program from two required quarters to all three ultimately passed on a divided vote.
Undergraduate Senator Dan Kubota ’27 asked about the recent decision to remove Beyond Sex Education (BSE) from required programming during NSO.
Provost Martinez affirmed administrators’ commitment to preventing sexual assault on campus. She explained that first-year students complete a required Title IX training. Martinez stated that “in thinking about the experiences of new students coming on campus, we have moved away from having many hours of required programming.”
University President Jonathan Levin ’94 aimed to “stress his enthusiasm” regarding the recent decision to merge Human-Centered AI (HAI) and Stanford Data Science into one institute. Levin recognized Professor James Landay, who will serve as the director of the program. “I encourage everyone to stop by and look at the new department,” Levin said.
Professor Brian Conrad asked a question about potential updates to Stanford’s AI Playground. He said he “[hopes] the AI playground can be upgraded” in light of newer, more efficient models on the market.
Provost Jenny Martinez said that changes are in the works. “The University is working on negotiating contracts with new products coming into use like Claude or Gemini,” she said.
Two memorial resolutions were read before the Faculty Senate.
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies senior fellow Karen Egglestone delivered a resolution honoring professor of economics Victor Fuchs. His book “Who Shall Live? Health, Economics, and Social Choice” marks one of his many contributions to health policy. “Fuchs would deliver a stand up comedy yearly,” Egglestone said, recalling his contributions to campus life.
Holding back tears, Kim and Ping Li Professor of Medicine Manisha Desai delivered a similar memorial resolution for Richard Olshen, a statistician who was a professor at Stanford School of Medicine. A scholar of biomedical data science, Olshen made several contributions to the field of statistics. He is well known for developing classification and regression trees (CART), described in his book “Classification and Regression Trees.” “Richard was a devoted mentor to his trainees,” Desai said.