Nohemi Davila – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Tue, 14 May 2019 09:07:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Nohemi Davila – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 City council discusses Caltrain expansion and citywide tunnel, passes motion prioritizing residential parking https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/14/city-council-discusses-caltrain-expansion-and-citywide-tunnel-passes-motion-prioritizing-residential-parking/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/14/city-council-discusses-caltrain-expansion-and-citywide-tunnel-passes-motion-prioritizing-residential-parking/#respond Tue, 14 May 2019 09:07:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1154856 The Palo Alto City Council discussed Peninsula Corridor’s 2040 Caltrain Business Plan, Residential Parking Programs (RPPs) and a citywide tunnel on Monday night. The business plan highlights potential scenarios for Caltrain’s future expansion and will involve a partnership with Stanford.

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The Palo Alto City Council discussed Peninsula Corridor’s 2040 Caltrain Business Plan, Residential Parking Programs (RPPs) and a citywide tunnel on Monday night. The business plan highlights potential scenarios for Caltrain’s future expansion and will involve a partnership with Stanford.

Caltrain

The staff of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (JPB), which governs Caltrain operations, came forward to present information regarding the 2040 Caltrain Business Plan.

The plan will be comprehensive, encompassing how Caltrain’s service and business will change over time, the community engagement necessary for Caltrain expansion with respect to grade separation and other impacts and how the JPB will have to evolve to keep pace with these changes. The staff presented three potential growth scenarios — baseline, moderate and high growth — and discussed the infrastructure changes that would be associated with each. Expanding Caltrain to the extent the plan details would relieve freeway congestion, the staff said, as the baseline growth scenario is equivalent to widening the US-101 highway by two lanes.

The staff noted that a major challenge moving forward will be acquiring dedicated funding, as grade separations and crossing improvements are key aspects of the plan. However, they raised the possibility of putting a three-county sales tax on the ballot and emphasized that they will be partnering with Stanford to leverage the university’s contracting capacity and offset the cost of the project. They plan to flesh out a draft of the plan by the end of the year for board consideration.

Parking programs

Wayne from the Parking Staff presented a report on the current state of the RPPs in the city for the council, which unanimously motioned to accept the RPP Program Review Report and to continue reducing available parking permits to prioritize residential parking. RPPs provide preferential parking privileges to residents and employees of businesses within a specified district.

Currently, Palo Alto has a combination of a few straightforward RPP areas as well as a Citywide RPP Ordinance that is much more complicated than RPPs in other cities. Wayne reported that this complexity came from the city attempting “balancing the desires of residents to reduce parking within neighborhoods and the needs of adjoining businesses for customer and employee parking.” This use of RPPs, “has been partially successful.”  

“The end goal is availability of parking,” the staff said.

Tunnel

The city council discussed a city tunnel as part of possible grade separation option for future high speed rails.

The tunnel would run north to south, beginning 500 feet north of Churchill Avenue and ending at the southern boundary with Mountain View. The staff and council discussed extensively the possibility of alternatives to have the tunnel run adjacent to existing rail or launching temporary “shoofly” tracks using existing tracks. Staff said that construction near existing rails would only be feasible near Alma Street and that this would still require significant costs and impacts to property near the rails.

Housing concerns

In the general comments from the public, several residents expressed concerns about protections for long-term renters in Palo Alto who are unable to afford rising rents and are being evicted.

During the review of the calendar items, a couple residents spoke against the Wireless Ordinance that was approved on April 15. Residents are concerned about cell towers being implemented without their input, and that there are towers in close proximity to Barron Park which does not align with the council’s recommendation of a minimum distance from school zones.

Mayor Eric Filseth also made a proclamation honoring Affordable Housing Week in Palo Alto, calling upon community members to support affordable housing solutions. Sheryl Klein, a board member of Palo Alto Housing who helped spearhead the proclamation, posed for a picture with the mayor and said a few words.

“We really are in the middle of a humanitarian crisis,” she said. “Too many of our friends, neighbors and residents have been left behind in this economic boom. So I encourage you to do all that you can to help expedite the creation of more affordable housing.”

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu and Kaylee Beam at kbeam97 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Campus workers, students rally on International Workers’ Day https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/02/campus-workers-students-rally-on-international-workers-day/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/02/campus-workers-students-rally-on-international-workers-day/#respond Thu, 02 May 2019 07:03:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1154114 Stanford students rallied with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2007, the on-campus workers’ union, in honor of May Day — a holiday celebrating the international labor movement — and to support workers during their upcoming contract negotiations with Stanford University.

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Stanford students rallied with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2007, the on-campus workers’ union, in honor of May Day — a holiday celebrating the international labor movement — and to support workers during their upcoming contract negotiations with Stanford University.

Students, community members, workers and their families gathered at White Plaza on May 1. After announcements and performances by Taiko and the Stanford Band, the large group marched toward University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s office, where they presented a petition and a list of demands.

The rally follows a string of workers’ rights efforts on campus, including rallies initiated by SEIU and protests held by Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable 2035 (SCoPE 2035). 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Julian Castro ’96 and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also attended an SEIU meeting in March to show his support for workers’ rights.

At the May Day rally, union members wore purple SEIU Local 2007 t-shirts. The Campus Workers’ Rights Coalition passed out small purple felt pins for students to wear. Taiko drummers also dressed in purple t-shirts in solidarity, with one member saying, “Today we’re called Taiko Purple.”

Johannes Raatz, a full-time organizer at Local 2007, thanked students for coming out and for organizing teach-ins about workers’ rights. Raatz said that while the exact conditions of contract negotiations will not be available to the public until SEIU Local 2007 presents them to the university this summer, in general workers are demanding significant wage increases, affordable housing on campus, restrictions on temporary or contract workers that allow Stanford to avoid paying full-time workers, minimum wage floors at a liveable wage, reduced copays for healthcare and healthcare for retirees.

With regards to the upcoming negotiations, University spokesperson E.J. Miranda has previously said that the Board of Trustees “[looks] forward to collaborating with SEIU Local 2007 in positive and good faith negotiations to reach an agreement on a new contract.”

Comparative literature professor David Palumbo-Liu called for solidarity between students and campus employees and said that the issue at hand is a matter of “the erosion of the quality of life” for service workers. He spoke about the extensive daily commutes many workers make from the Sacramento area as an example of service workers’ current struggles.

Campus workers shared their stories throughout the rally. One described his experience as a college graduate and Mexican immigrant. He spoke about how his family struggles to feed themselves, and said his wife has not been able to visit a doctor in years because they lack affordable health care.

A member of the local janitorial workers’ union was also present and spoke in full support of their contract negotiations. A pastor from an East Palo Alto church added that the community in East Palo Alto has seen many people “leaving in droves” to move to the Valley in search of more affordable housing.

Students at the event led a discussion about the issues workers face, including unsafe conditions, long commutes, harassment, unaffordable housing, understaffing and job insecurity. Many campus workers are women and people of color and are at a high risk of facing discrimination.

Students from SCoPE 2035 also shared a bilingual message about the invisible labor that campus workers perform and said that Stanford must pay attention to the whole community, including service workers. Last week, the Campus Workers’ Rights Coalition held a teach-in to educate students about campus workers’ experiences and the campaigning for contract negotiations.

The group emphasized that students have the unique ability to put pressure on Stanford’s administration.

“We have a lot of privilege as students that workers do not have,” said former ASSU Undergraduate senator Jianna So ’21.  

Jose Escañuela, president of the negotiations team, said that the student’s participation in the rally shows that “we are not alone.”

“We’re fighting for a living wage, better healthcare, and job security,” wrote SEIU in a press release. “As a world class institution founded on the mission to ‘promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization,’ Stanford can lead the way in providing world class working conditions.”


Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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City Council passes resolution on wireless antenna with modifications following community pushback https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/16/city-council-passes-resolution-on-wireless-antenna-with-modifications-following-community-pushback/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/16/city-council-passes-resolution-on-wireless-antenna-with-modifications-following-community-pushback/#respond Tue, 16 Apr 2019 08:35:43 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1152813 A resolution on aesthetic standards for wireless antenna and modification of wireless ordinance standards was passed by the Palo Alto City Council on Monday evening. At first, several Palo Alto residents spoke out in opposition to the resolution, mainly because it did not specify a minimum distance for antenna from schools or residential areas, and […]

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A resolution on aesthetic standards for wireless antenna and modification of wireless ordinance standards was passed by the Palo Alto City Council on Monday evening.

At first, several Palo Alto residents spoke out in opposition to the resolution, mainly because it did not specify a minimum distance for antenna from schools or residential areas, and because of concerns that the process of wireless antenna installation would not include public hearings. Following discussion, the motion passed unanimously with amendments.

The modifications called for the council to return with explicit hierarchies of preferred zones and antenna installation type. The council was also asked to present list of city buildings for antenna, recommend distances from home and schools and review the effectiveness of the ordinance in a year.

The council hosted a study session to discuss the annual Earth Day Report.

City Council staff presented the two parts, a resolution and ordinance. The resolution outlined objective pre-approved standards for installation of new antennas for telephone companies like Verizon, AT&T and T-mobile to support 5G. The options for antenna were an underground vaulting design, a top mounted design, a minimal sunshield design or a design to hide them behind existing street signs. The ordinance modifications were meant to align the city’s protocol with the federal law.

The city was working to meet its April 15 deadline to update the Ordinance for wireless communication facilities (WCFs) to align with recently adopted Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. The regulations require that wireless broadband deployment, or the process of wireless facilities installation, be accelerated by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, according to the City Council staff report.

This law only allows for objective aesthetic standards of antenna installation architecture.

“After April 15, 2019, the City will not be able to require compliance with its subjective architectural review findings and will not be able to regulate aesthetic impacts of WCFs unless and until it adopts objective standards,” the report reads.

The federal law goes into effect on Tuesday.

“If we don’t have objective standards [on Tuesday], the council will not be able to give aesthetic review,” clarified Albert Yang, who presented the item.

Mayor Filseth added that, “As of [Tuesday], as long as we don’t have an ordinance in place,” there would not be any way to restrict the installments.

Twenty-eight people from the public spoke, with 26 arguing against passing the resolution. People expressed concerns about the noise, effects on health, effects on child development, vulnerable groups like elders and people with disabilities and wildlife. Many cited the adverse effects of radiation like fatigue, heart problems and cancer.

In particular, the public was concerned that there would be less opportunities for the public to have a say in the construction of these cell phone towers. Many spoke in favor of keeping the Architectural Review Board (ARB), a group that makes recommendations of WCF installation. An ARB representative stated that antennas “should not be in the line of pedestrian view.”

Multiple residents cited the court case, T-Mobile Wireless v. County of San Francisco as protecting the rights of local government and residents to set standards for wireless facilities.

Addressing their claims, Mayor Filseth clarified that the ARB process will not be removed nor grant any new powers to the council.

Kou asked about ongoing inspections of cell towers and their effects on the community.

“Once there’s been a final inspection, there’s no ongoing inspections,” Stump said.

Kou expressed concern about the effects near homes and schools. Staff replied that they notify residents within 600 feet of the antenna with signage and through mail. Kou moved for the council to return in six months with best practices regarding inspections of antennas. In a 4-2 vote, the amendment was passed for the council to return in a year.

DuBois recommended an approval with a motion to amend the resolution.

Kniss seconded and moved in favor of removing many of the suggestions DuBois proposed. Kou expressed concerns and disappointment at what she saw as a hasty approval without weighing the harm.

The guidelines in the resolution are recommendations for the telecom companies to consider, but the decisions to implement antenna are up to the companies per federal law.

The council approved other items, including vesting a tentative map for four residential condominium units and two office units in One Parcel.

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Town Hall addresses County’s recommendations for General Use Permit, local concerns https://stanforddaily.com/2019/03/16/town-hall-addresses-countys-recommendations-for-general-use-permit-local-concerns/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/03/16/town-hall-addresses-countys-recommendations-for-general-use-permit-local-concerns/#respond Sun, 17 Mar 2019 05:06:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1151405 anta Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian introduced the County’s Department of Planning and Development’s conditions for approval of Stanford’s 2018 General Use Permit (GUP) application at Thursday evening’s Town Hall meeting.

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Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian introduced the County’s Department of Planning and Development’s recommendations for conditions for approval of Stanford’s 2018 General Use Permit (GUP) application at Thursday evening’s Town Hall meeting.

If approved, the GUP would authorize the construction of 3,150 additional housing units and 2.275 million square feet of academic buildings over the next 17 years.

Also addressed at the meeting were concerns of Palo Alto residents on the effects of this expansion on their community, including those regarding housing development on- and off- campus, traffic, environmental impact and sustainability, affordable housing for students and workers and the impact on Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD).

For this, Simitian emphasized “full mitigation” as the best approach and a realistic goal.

“The vast majority of people want to see Stanford continue to be a world-class university, they want to see it continue to be a successful university, they want to see the continued benefit of the University that accrues to Palo Alto and the surrounding area,” he said. “They want all that to happen without the adverse consequences of additional development — [this] can be summed up by ‘full mitigation.’”

Simitian acknowledged that prior studies had underestimated the impact of Stanford’s development plans, ensuring that the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR), released Dec. 14, 2018, “has been done have been done in a rigorous way.”  

“The University itself has questioned our housing mitigation methodology,” Simitian said. “It’s one thing to be legally sufficient, it’s another thing to say, ‘no, we did our job as fully and as well we could.’”

Land expansion and traffic

A requirement preventing the rezoning of the foothills behind the University is set to expire in 2025. The county staff is recommending that this requirement for the Academic Growth Boundary be extended for a 99-year period. Simitian says that this proposal is in consideration in a sustainability study on development.

“If you could triple the density of the campus,why would you ever think of pushing outwards to the foothills?” Simitian said.

According to their proposal summary, county staff also recommends that Stanford prioritize reaching a goal of “no net new commute” traffic.

Simitian said that Stanford would use data on the three hour periods of traffic that occur both in the morning and afternoon to meet that goal before needing to take other measures to reduce worsening traffic.

Stanford workers and students

“One of the communities most impacted by these processes is East Palo Alto (EPA) which is in San Mateo County,” Marisol Zarate ’19 began. “Is the forum considering processes to involve East Palo Alto in a formal way, perhaps through a town hall or community meetings?”

Stanford’s  8,000 acres extend into six different cities in Santa Clara County. Simitian said that these six cities have meetings and have included participation from both EPA and Redwood city.

Jose Escañuela, Stanford University employee and president of the campus workers’ union SEIU Local 2007, demonstrated concern over what would be done to ensure that more workers receive affordable housing, especially given the high cost of living in the area. He shared a story about a worker who is currently living out of her car because she cannot afford rent.

In response, Simitian explained that the county developed a Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, which specified that 16 percent of Stanford’s housing development in their unincorporated land that is residential zoned must be affordable units. If Stanford fails to meet this, the fee would go to Santa Clara to fund new affordable housing construction.

“My hope is we never see that money because it does get built,” Simitian said.

Stanford filed a lawsuit against the County on Dec. 20, 2018, alleging that the ordinance unfairly targets the University and thus violates the Equal Protection clauses of the United States and California Constitutions.

The student group The Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable 2035 (SCoPE 2035) protested the lawsuit and held teach-ins for their cause in February, criticizing Stanford for paying to sue Santa Clara County rather than to build more affordable housing units.

“It’s a fee that doesn’t have to be paid as long as somebody creates the housing,” Simitian said. “Even though there was a clear objection from the University I feel there was a clear thing that we landed on.”

School district

Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) has been demanding contributions from Stanford. The district and parents have expressed that Stanford should fund a new high school because of all the students that will move in from increased development.

Simitian explained that there are certain things Santa Clara can and cannot do, but what they can do is identify a need for a school for the future and designate it.

He expressed hope for communication between PAUSD and Stanford.

“It’s a unique set of circumstances when it’s a self-governing private university but in unincorporated lands,” Simitian said. “Ordinarily this type of development would require annexation to a city. I say this in the most loving of ways, neither Palo Alto nor Stanford University have expressed interests being annexed into Palo Alto — that means that as the development continues in the unincorporated area, it presents a unique planning challenge and it presents some interesting governing challenges.”

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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East Palo Alto passes measure to tax large companies https://stanforddaily.com/2018/11/13/east-palo-alto-passes-measure-to-tax-large-companies/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/11/13/east-palo-alto-passes-measure-to-tax-large-companies/#respond Tue, 13 Nov 2018 08:24:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1146752 East Palo Alto (EPA) residents voted in favor of Measure HH — a tax on large corporations holding real estate in the city — during last Tuesday’s midterm elections.

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After months of campaigning by some in the community, East Palo Alto (EPA) residents voted in favor of Measure HH — a tax on large corporations holding real estate in the city — during last Tuesday’s midterm elections. The tax is projected to raise over $1.67 million for housing and job training in the low-income community. Measure HH received 77 percent approval, well over the two-thirds majority required for the measure to pass, though ballots are still being counted.

The measure will impose a tax of $2.50 per square foot on commercial office property of over 25,000 square feet. According to EPA workers’ rights attorney Scott Hochberg, the City Council is limited to spending tax revenue from Measure HH on three primary projects: building more affordable housing units, implementing job training programs in STEM fields and enforcing a policy, allegedly skirted by Amazon last year, that requires at least 30 percent of people hired at new businesses be local residents.

Amazon and the Four Seasons Hotel in EPA are the two largest holders of commercial real estate in the city, meaning they will be most affected by the tax.

Hochberg said Measure HH was created through a grassroots organizing effort, led by a group of community organizations known as the Envision-Transform-Build EPA Coalition.

“[Envision-Transform-Build] worked for months to lobby the city council to put it on the ballot, and after that for the last four months the coalition ran a campaign in East Palo Alto to educate voters about why we needed this,” Hochberg said.

“The coalition is thrilled with [the approval of the measure],” he added. “We’re just heartened that East Palo Alto could support such an innovative approach to holding tech companies accountable.”

EPA Residents said that, in the early phases of the proposal, the City Council expressed concern over the bill’s potential negative impacts on corporate developers. Proponents of the measure lobbied to communicate potential benefits the tax would bring to the community, which has been increasingly impacted by the gentrifying effects of the Silicon Valley tech industry.

“My involvement was shifting us away from a place of fear to really letting the voters decide what they wanted to happen in our community as it pertains to big development and big tech,” said EPA resident Kyra Brown, who campaigned for Measure HH online, door-to-door and in front of the City Council.

“It was a big step but a beneficial step for the community to pass HH,” Brown added. “That’s not to say the measure is perfect. Measure HH will require staying involved and making sure that there’s accountability on multiple sides.”

EPA is adjacent to Palo Alto and is home to a majority low-income Latinx population. Although EPA is one of the few places left in the Silicon Valley with affordable housing, the city has seen significant demographic shifts and development in recent years.

“Large companies should be the main ones contributing to solving some of the problems that they are exacerbating in East Palo Alto, like rising rents, gentrification and [increasing] levels of traffic,” Hochberg said.  

According to Brown, proponents of Measure HH hope to cooperate with the technology industry to find a mutually beneficial strategy that will allow companies to continue innovating while minimizing their negative impacts on the local community.

“A lot of people tend to assume that if one criticizes the tech industry and wants these companies to be socially responsible to the low-income and working-class communities that they choose to expand into, that we are somehow anti-tech — but that’s not the case,” Brown said. “My goal was to show people you can live in Silicon Valley and love technology, yet still hold big tech accountable — the two are not mutually exclusive.”

She referenced efforts to limit tech companies’ footprints in neighboring cities, such as Mountain View’s decision to curb free food at Facebook in order to support local restaurants and San Francisco’s consideration of a similar policy.  

“[These efforts] show that the problem involves EPA, but the problem is bigger than EPA,” Brown said. “That was encouraging and gave greater visibility to the struggle of what’s going on in EPA.”

According to Hochberg, Measure HH not only makes a significant statement to tech companies, but also directly impacts them financially, communicating resistance to the gentrifying effects of Silicon Valley businesses.

“Measure HH set the message to large corporations that East Palo Alto isn’t just a vacuum in which they can build their fancy corporate headquarters,” Hochberg said. “If they want to reap the benefits of locating their businesses in the heart of Silicon Valley, they’re going to have to pay their fair share towards helping the whole community thrive.”  

The Four Seasons Hotel declined to comment. Amazon has not responded to the Daily’s multiple requests for comment.

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu

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East Palo Alto community members campaign for ‘tech tax’ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/10/08/east-palo-alto-community-members-campaign-for-tech-tax/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/10/08/east-palo-alto-community-members-campaign-for-tech-tax/#respond Mon, 08 Oct 2018 09:45:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1144424 Volunteers gathered inside of an East Palo Alto (EPA) youth-centered community center on Saturday morning to canvas for Measure HH, a tax on large commercial office real estate that is on the ballot Nov. 6.

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Volunteers gathered inside of an East Palo Alto (EPA) youth-centered community center on Saturday morning to canvas for Measure HH, a tax on large commercial office real estate that is on the ballot Nov. 6.

If passed, the revenue generated from the tax would be primarily earmarked for construction of new affordable housing and job training in the tech industry for members of underprivileged communities. The measure would entail an annual parcel tax of $2.50 per square foot on office property of over 25,000 square feet. It could provide up to $1.6 million annually from existing developments.

The brunt of the tax burden would be on tech companies such as Amazon, which have recently taken up office space in Palo Alto.

EPA is an anomaly in the Silicon Valley area. The small city of approximately 29,000 residents is sandwiched between the more affluent cities of Palo Alto and Menlo Park. It has long served as an affordable region for low-income households, but locals have recently voiced concerns regarding housing affordability and gentrification.

“Residents for a Just EPA for Measure HH” Volunteer Coordinator Ofelia Bello expressed support for Measure HH, describing it as an “anti-displacement” policy that responds to the intense housing pressures on EPA locals, including urban displacement, homelessness and RV evictions.

Bello, who is an EPA resident, said she also supports the job training programs that Measure HH would fund.

“[We need to] make sure that jobs are actually stable. They need to not be just minimum wage jobs that don’t pay the rent, but living wage jobs,” she said.

“It’s a grassroots effort,” added volunteer Francisca Guzman, referring to how Measure HH was developed.  

Guzman said supporters of Measure HH had been figuring out ways to raise money for issues that affect locals.

“Technology, big corporations coming into our city affect the traffic, affect our quality of life, and they leave nothing for us, and they don’t employ our community necessarily,” Guzman said.  

Other local cities are considering taxes on big tech companies in order to preserve affordability in the local community. Mountain View has proposed a “head tax” on large employers like Google. Cupertino, on the other hand, recently abandoned an effort to instate a per-worker tax on Apple.

If passed, the tax will affect only a few large businesses, including the Four Seasons Hotel and Amazon. However, the city anticipates a large amount of new development in the near future, which could facilitate even more tax revenue.

“East Palo Alto has just approved [its] planning code. There’s a lot of square feet that are going to be approved in five to 10 years of office space,”  Guzman said. “We believe the city’s going to be in a position of approving other companies coming in.”

Bello explained that tensions have been running high between big tech and East Palo Alto residents ever since the companies began eyeing and purchasing real estate in the city.

Last year, Amazon proposed a workaround for the East Palo Alto ordinance that requires companies to hire at least 30 percent of its workforce from the local community, sparking backlash from EPA residents who felt overlooked.

“Overall the community sense of Amazon and big tech is not a good one,” Bello said.

She expressed hope that improving relations with the local community could be mutually beneficial.

“[Companies] have a lot to gain from helping us stabilize our vulnerable communities because if our folks are able to stay in their homes and save some money and send their kids to college, we’re expanding the pool of diverse candidates who could work for your company and could reflect the staff numbers of the people you serve,” she said.

Measure HH needs a two-thirds vote to pass on Nov. 6. Bello said that a main impediment for supporters of the measure is the expected low voter turnout in the area, which is why the volunteers have been trying to spread the word.

“We know that the people who have historically been in East Palo Alto are well aware of the issues that plague us, and if we mobilize and reach out to them, our gut feeling is that they are in favor of the measure, but with our ‘new neighbors,’ if you will, we’re not quite sure,” Bello said. “When you’re of higher class, of higher income, it’s hard to tell how well connected you are to our community and to the issues that we face and to the solutions.”

Amazon has not responded to The Daily’s multiple requests for comment.

 

This post has been updated to clarify that Ofellia Bello is the volunteer coordinator, not the director, of “Residents for a Just EPA for Measure HH.” The Daily regrets this error.

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Palo Alto votes to allocate half a million gallons of its daily water to East Palo Alto https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/18/palo-alto-votes-to-allocate-half-a-million-gallons-of-its-daily-water-to-east-palo-alto/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/18/palo-alto-votes-to-allocate-half-a-million-gallons-of-its-daily-water-to-east-palo-alto/#respond Fri, 18 May 2018 07:04:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1142462 On May 7, the Palo Alto City Council motioned to allocate the rights of 500,000 gallons daily to the city of East Palo Alto (EPA). The motion passed in a 7-1 vote, with one council member absent.

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On May 7, the Palo Alto City Council motioned to allocate the rights of 500,000 gallons daily to the city of East Palo Alto (EPA). The motion passed in a 7-1 vote, with one council member absent.

With this transfer, EPA acquired the right to purchase water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commision (SFPUC), which was previously inaccessible to the city.  

“We have acquired the allocation of this water from Palo Alto, and ultimately it’s the SFPUC through [Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency] that ends up keeping the ‘tally sheet’ of who receives what amount of water,” said EPA council member Carlos Romero. “We will still need to purchase whatever water we use from BAWSCA and ultimately the SFPUC.”

The Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) coordinates the allocation of water and conservation projects in Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

East Palo Alto needs the water as it undergoes several construction projects, including new schools and low-income housing.

“Ostensibly, we’re trying to develop housing — in particular, affordable housing — [and] having access to this water will allow us to approve future projects,” Romero said.

Palo Alto authorized the SFPUC to permanently transfer the water rights, reducing Palo Alto’s supply from 17.1 million gallons a day to 16.6 million, The Mercury News reported last week.

“My main concern was really whether Palo Alto would need this water in the case of a severe drought.” said Tom DuBois, a Palo Alto council member who helped first proposed this project two years ago. “This is water that we will probably never ever need. We’ve never gotten close to this allocation.”

Despite its similar name and its nearby proximity to Palo Alto, East Palo Alto belongs to a different county and has both structural and demographic differences from Palo Alto. While Palo Alto is part of Santa Clara County, East Palo Alto is in San Mateo County.

The decision, according to DuBois, comes as an effort to address the structural inequalities between the two neighboring cities.

“East Palo Alto became a city much later and got a much smaller allocation [of water], and they were preparing to drill a lot of ground wells, and our groundwater’s all interconnected, so it just seemed like it made a lot more sense to give [the city] some high quality water in an allocation that [Palo Alto] is never going to use,” DuBois said.

Greg Tanaka, who voted against the motion, expressed his concerns about Palo Alto’s spending.

“Palo Alto is in its second year at a deficit,” Tanaka said, emphasizing the need for Palo Alto to “balance its budget” at a point of economic growth.“We need to sell assets, and one way to do that is to sell water rights.”

Tanaka also expressed concern over the needs of his own constituents in Palo Alto.

“There is this perception that everyone in Palo Alto is a billionaire, and it is just not true,” Tanaka said, citing examples of retired individuals and working-class families who are trying to put their kids through “good schools.”

Tanaka added his belief that Palo Alto should be “making sure [it] gets value for [its] assets.”

“A lot of people want to live in Palo Alto for the great schools — and they will do whatever it takes, even if it means spending most of their income on housing,” Tanaka said. “I personally believe that if you want to help out the less fortunate as much as possible, that should be an individual decision.”

EPA is also currently receiving water from nearby city Mountain View. Mountain View traditionally receives water from Santa Clara County and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but the city pays a fee regardless of whether or not it uses water from Hetch Hetchy. Per the agreement, EPA pays the fee that Mountain View would otherwise have paid for the water use.

“Mountain View didn’t make money on the deal, and these aren’t really rights you can buy or sell, that you can profit off of,” DuBois said. “To keep [its] Hetch Hetchy water, [Mountain View] has to take a fee whether [it] takes that water or not. Palo Alto doesn’t have to pay a fee.”

As a result, Romero claims that Mountain View has a financial incentive to pass along water allocations to EPA, so that EPA pays the water fee that Mountain View would otherwise pay.

“In the case of Palo Alto, it really was a neighbor-to-neighbor equity transaction,” Romero said.

DuBois also described other ways nearby cities are working together to conserve water, including a water recycling plant run by Palo Alto. This plant serves several surrounding cities including EPA, Mountain View, Stanford and Los Altos, he said.

“We run the plant for those cities, and we’ve been working to get East Palo Alto [a] better supply of recycled water. If you can use recycled water for watering your grass or plants, then you need to use less of the drinkable water, which also helps their allocation.”

DuBois said that Palo Alto’s decision to conduct the water transfer was influenced in part by California’s history of water allocation issues.

“The history of water allocation and water rights, it’s part of the history of California, it’s something people feel strongly about,” he added. “This was the case of social justice and, again, helping a city that’s right next to [Palo Alto], shares the same name and completely got screwed in terms of allocations of water.”

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies department holds forum to discuss renaming https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/10/chicanao-latinao-studies-department-holds-forum-to-discuss-renaming/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/10/chicanao-latinao-studies-department-holds-forum-to-discuss-renaming/#respond Thu, 10 May 2018 09:43:02 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140860 As the Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies department considers renaming itself Chicanx/Latinx Studies, the department hosted an open forum with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (CCSRE) to discuss the merits of the “x” in the term “Latinx.”

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As the Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies department considers renaming itself Chicanx/Latinx Studies, the department hosted an open forum with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (CSRE) to discuss the merits of the “x” in the term “Latinx.”  

The forum featured ethnic studies professors from other universities and was moderated by Rigoberto Marquéz, director of community engaged learning of CSRE.

Marquéz began the discussion with a brief introduction of the term “Latinx” and its rising popularity, as well as an introduction of the guest speakers. Each speaker came up to the podium to explain their own perspective on the “x.”

According to Marquéz, “Latinx” is a term that came from Latina/Latino/non-gender conforming queer feminists who envisioned the “x” as inclusive of all genders without the masculine connotations that are present in Spanish.

“Latinx … seeks to decentralize heteronormative scope and representations of Latinas and Latinos in mainstream society by utilizing an ‘x’ instead of the masculine and feminine ‘o’ and ‘a’,” Rigoberto said.

Anita Tijerina Revilla, associate professor and chair of gender and ethnic studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, described her experience with undergraduates discussing feminism and queerness. She explained how students would adopt the “x” in terms such as “muxerista” and “Xeer” to denote unique experience informed by both gender and ethnicity.

Juana María Rodríguez, professor of comparative ethnic studies at UC Berkeley, expressed concerns over how “Latinx” may disregard the gender of someone who feels it is integral to their identity. She stated that “Latinx” is a term that is appropriate for addressing multiple people and expressed the need for a neutral third gender in language that is not associated with masculinity.

Rodriquez talked about her experience with the term “Latin@,” used to denote both genders. ”Latin@” is often read as “Latina, Latino,” “Latino-arroba,” or “Latino-at.” Although she used the term in her latest book, Rodriguez said that it tends to exclude non-binary gender. The term has phased out of popularity with the rise of “Latinx.”

Richard T. Rodriguez, associate professor of media and cultural studies and English at UC Riverside, said that all Latino/a/x identifying persons should use Latinx even if they do not identify with it explicitly in terms of queer feminism because they are all informed by this identity in some way. He shared examples of authors, students and literature in which people did not agree with a label but nonetheless were influenced by that label.

After each speaker presented their views, Marquéz asked them about their own struggles in activism and academia as well as their views on the unity of Latinx peoples and what changes are easier to accomplish on university campuses.

“Sometimes there’s low hanging fruit,” Juana María said.  “Club names, that’s easy. Department names, that’s not so easy.”

Revilla addressed the disconnect between activists and academics and argued that the two have to sympathize with one another better rather than policing each other.

“You have to create spaces for people who are at different levels of consciousness,” Revilla said. “You have to be generous.”

Finally, Marquéz opened the discussion to questions from the audience.

One student asked whether any other institutional changes, such as the hiring of new professors or the development of new courses, could be brought beyond just the adoption of a queer “latinidad” in name. Richard Rodriguez responded by noting that the change from Chicano to Chicano/Latino Studies does not necessarily translate to curriculum that remains focused on Chicano literature.

The discussion and renaming process is guaranteed to continue for at least a year, according to Marquéz.

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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SCoPE 2035 hosts town hall, drafts demands for workers’ rights https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/01/scope-2035-hosts-town-hall-drafts-demands-for-workers-rights/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/01/scope-2035-hosts-town-hall-drafts-demands-for-workers-rights/#respond Tue, 01 May 2018 08:08:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140353 Housing, workers’ rights, sustainability and transportation were among the key issues discussed at the Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable 2035 (SCoPE 2035) Town Hall on Monday.

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Housing, workers’ rights, sustainability and transportation were among the key issues discussed at the Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable 2035 (SCoPE 2035) Town Hall on Monday.

“At the Town Hall, we will be visioning together about how Stanford can help end the housing crisis and guarantee justice for workers,” SCoPE wrote in an email advertising the event. “We will be soliciting your feedback on a rough draft of SCoPE policy proposals regarding workers rights, affordable housing and sustainability.”

The meeting began with an introduction from SCoPE member John Zhao ’18 about the organization and its current work in developing demands to be included in the new GUP. Courtney Pal ‘18, John Zhao ’18 and Eva Reyes ’19 led the meeting.

“We have created a basic list of issues that we’ve identified on campus,” said Courtney Pal ’18, a SCoPE member who led the Town Hall. “From that list – we’re calling these our ‘Demand Themes’ – we started to research each of these issues a little bit more and come up with a rationale for why this is something that is really important and why we should change or improve this problem on campus.”

SCoPE members outlined four key themes on which to focus demands – greenhouse gas emissions, housing, transportation and transparency. The number of Demand Themes ranged from two proposals in the Transparency and Accountability category to over 20 in Housing and Transportation. Each Demand Theme consisted of a demand, rationale, options and indicators of whether the demand could be enforced by Santa Clara County, or a voluntary move by the University.

The first three demands pertain to the anticipated population increase due to Stanford’s expected expansion over the next 17 years according to the GUP. As a result, SCoPE hopes that Stanford will establish a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from increased traffic, as well as provide affordable housing to mitigate the anticipated demand for 2,425 more off-campus housing units.

SCoPE hopes that Stanford will give community members outside the University access to its Long-Range Planning white papers, as well as a chance to comment on its contents. Currently, the white papers are only accessible to Stanford affiliates with login access.

Following a short brainstorming activity, students at the Town Hall also raised concerns about worker job security and mobility, and suggested that the University offer additional classes and training programs for Stanford employees. They also voiced concerns that workers at Stanford do not feel secure in expressing their issues because they do not want to lose their jobs.

Other students at the event said they feel it is unfair that only custodians are unionized, while janitorial workers are contracted and ineligible to join a union if they work fewer than 20 hours per week. Custodians clean in a building or property at any given time of the day, whereas janitors clean at a set time of the day.

Along with workers’ rights, students said they were concerned about the lack of available on-campus housing for University workers.  

Pal further explained how housing, transportation and greenhouse gas emissions are interrelated issues. Because most Stanford workers cannot afford on-campus housing, they have long commutes to work, which is both expensive and creates smog. Stanford offers several transportation services such as the Commute Club, an environmentally conscious rideshare group, and Caltrain passes, but such services are not necessarily available to workers.

SCoPE 2035 is mainly concerned with the impact Stanford’s 2018 application for a new General Use Permit (GUP) will have on Stanford workers and the surrounding community. Currently, Stanford has analyzed and documented its predicted impact in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The DEIR is currently under review, and community comments are being taken into consideration in the GUP application process.

SCoPE will be holding a Town Hall meeting for community members on May 8 at 6:00 p.m. at the East Palo Alto City Hall.

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford Athletics-sponsored Branner breakfast, open to all, proves costly for those not in program https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/27/stanford-athletics-sponsored-branner-breakfast-open-to-all-proves-costly-for-those-not-in-program/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/27/stanford-athletics-sponsored-branner-breakfast-open-to-all-proves-costly-for-those-not-in-program/#respond Fri, 27 Apr 2018 07:54:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140188 The Residential & Dining Enterprises-sponsored High Performance and Education (HPE) dinner, offered to all students at Ricker, Branner and Lagunita dining halls, but originally known as “athlete dinner,” has been the subject of much campus discourse this year.

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The Residential & Dining Enterprises-sponsored High Performance and Education (HPE) dinner — originally known among students as “athlete dinner” — sparked a Twitter debate in December, but less well-known is the “athlete’s breakfast” in Branner Hall, available on weekdays from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.

“Branner Dining hosts a supplemental morning meal for athletes, consistent with their training needs and schedules and in accordance with NCAA guidelines,” wrote Jocelyn Breeland, R&DE’s director of communications, in an email to The Daily.

Breeland said that the meal has been offered for a number of years and is funded by the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER). This is programmatically separate from the HPE meals, which are provided by R&DE.

A Nov. 27, 2017 email sent to Branner residents by Branner Resident Fellow Mary Esther Schnaubelt announced that the special breakfast had been opened to all students. Previously, it had only been available to athletes on certain sports teams.

Schnaubelt wrote that the total cost of the breakfast is $15.30. Non-athletes and student athletes whose teams are not in the athlete breakfast program can use their breakfast meal swipe — valued at $6.89 — and then pay the remaining $8.41 with meal dollars, a credit/debit card or meal plan dollars.

“It is more elaborate than other breakfast offerings on campus and more expensive,” she wrote.

A female soccer player added that she, as a member of a team assigned to the breakfast program, does not pay for the breakfast at all. Though she swipes her Student ID card to get into the facility to eat, she does not have a meal plan this year.

The cost of breakfast at Branner, however, sometimes dissuades students from eating this breakfast.

“I don’t go to [Branner athlete breakfasts] because I can’t use my money on that when I already have a meal swipe to get breakfast somewhere else,” said Karla Villanueva, ’20, a Branner resident.

Breeland noted that on average, 80 percent of HPE diners are not varsity athletes. Villanueva said that she doesn’t know any non-athlete Branner residents who go to the athlete breakfast.

“The few people I’ve talked to in Branner are of that same mindset that we can’t afford to spend almost $9 a day on breakfast when it’s less costly to go eat breakfast at a different dining hall,” Villanueva said.

Breeland confirmed that fewer non-athletes frequent the breakfast.

“We are not aware of an instance where a student who was not an athlete has participated in the supplemental morning meal,” Breeland wrote.

One Branner resident who attends this breakfast agreed with Breeland’s statement.

“I don’t even think any of the other Branner residents go there,” said Talbot Morris-Downing ’18, a Branner resident and non-athlete who eats the breakfast three times a week. “I think I might be the only one I’ve ever seen who is clearly not an athlete.”

Morris-Downing emphasized three elements of the Branner athlete’s breakfast that he found particularly alluring.

“The convenience, the orange juice machine and the fact that they generally serve bacon, which I really appreciate,” he said.

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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BOSP looks to China, Russia, India for future campuses https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/31/bosp-looks-to-china-russia-india-for-future-campuses/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/31/bosp-looks-to-china-russia-india-for-future-campuses/#respond Wed, 31 Jan 2018 08:39:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1135825 Although Stanford closed its center in Beijing at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year, the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) is actively seeking to expand its current abroad offerings in the future.

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Although Stanford closed its center in Beijing at the end of the 2016-17 academic year, the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) is actively seeking to expand its current abroad offerings in the future.

Burke Family Director of the Bing Overseas Studies Program Ramón Saldívar said that BOSP is looking for a new site in China as well as exploring new possibilities in Russia and India.

“When the program in Beijing was created 10 years ago, the belief was that Beijing was the best place for us to be, and it probably was,” Saldívar said. “But times have changed, and Stanford students today and Stanford faculty were not finding Beijing the best place for them to be in China.”

Julia Duncan ’18, a lead student ambassador for BOSP, explained that the amount of student interest can impact the success of a center.

“They closed it [Beijing] because there wasn’t enough demonstrated student interest in it.”

BOSP decided to cancel the Beijing program in 2017 due to low enrollment numbers, and spring 2017 was the program’s final quarter.

The closure of BOSP’s only center in China came amid student concerns about academic diversity at Stanford, including the range of overseas campuses in the past. The year before Beijing was cancelled, the group Who’s Teaching Us demanded that Stanford expand its abroad offerings to include five additional non-Western campuses.

However, BOSP does intend to open a new center in China or a Chinese-speaking city. According to Saldívar, BOSP is particularly interested in either Shanghai or Hong Kong as new centers for a Stanford study abroad program.

“[BOSP is] trying to establish new relations with different universities,” Duncan said. “It strengthens the program if you have a base university.”

Beijing is not the only program that has faced reduced enrollment. According to Zane Zook ’17, a student ambassador for the Kyoto program, BOSP cancelled the winter quarter option for Kyoto due to a lack of interest from students, although the spring program in Kyoto remains popular.

Stanford has also suspended other campuses recently. The center in Istanbul has remained closed since 2015 due to the U.S. travel warning for Turkey. Just last week, BOSP cancelled the spring 2018 program in Cape Town due to a water crisis in the city.

To expand the range of study abroad options, BOSP is also exploring reviving new opportunities in Russia after the Moscow program was suspended following its last offering in fall 2013. Gabriella Safran, professor in the department of Slavic language literatures and leader of this summer’s overseas seminar in St. Petersburg, said that a partner university has been identified.

“We have been running pilot programs for the past four years with the goal of establishing a new center — permanent, quarter-length center in Russia — this time in St. Petersburg,” Saldívar said.  

But Saldívar added that he is unsure whether a center in Russia in the near future is possible.

“The fact of the matter is that Russia remains a politically complicated society, and it may not be the most welcoming place for American citizens right now,” Saldívar explained. “In particular, the turmoil within Russian society and Russian political structures also makes it necessary for BOSP to be very careful and very deliberate in its attempt to seek out a new place for a new center in Russia.”  

According to Safran, the center in Moscow closed for administrative rather than political reasons. The process of starting a new program has been complicated, she said, but she added she was “confident” that a new Russia program would be ready in the next two or three years.

According to Safran, the summer 2018 overseas seminar in St. Petersburg has been very popular with students; the program received 70 applications for 15 spots.

“It was really encouraging in terms of making us think that, when we do get to open a quarter-long program, there’s going to be student interest because Russia remains fascinating as well as complicated,” Safran said.

Aside from China and Russia, Saldívar said that he has seen demand for a BOSP campus in India from both students and faculty, although he said establishing a program there is more of a “longer range” project.

BOSP’s overseas seminars serve as another entry point for new programs and locations.

“New opportunities, new locations, new sites in Western Europe — in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia — are also opportunities for students to study overseas in a really exciting context that may change from year to year,” Saldívar said. “And those are entirely always developed by Stanford faculty. So we have a great deal of control over the quality of those programs because basically they are run by the professors here on campus.”

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cardinal Service, two years old, shapes public service at Stanford https://stanforddaily.com/2017/10/30/cardinal-service-two-years-old-shapes-public-service-at-stanford/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/10/30/cardinal-service-two-years-old-shapes-public-service-at-stanford/#respond Mon, 30 Oct 2017 07:40:24 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1132087 The Haas Center for Public Service’s Cardinal Service program has created have given students new ways to participate in public service at Stanford, although it is unclear if Cardinal Service has led to an increase in service among the student body.

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The Haas Center for Public Service’s Cardinal Service program has now been in place for two years, after being introduced at the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year. The programs it created have given students new ways to participate in public service at Stanford, although it is unclear if Cardinal Service has led to an increase in service among the student body.

“We…heard from students in the years leading up to 2015 that there was this desire to really elevate that [public service] campus-wide,” said Kelly Beck, director of programs at the Haas Center. “To be able to say, as Stanford students, yes we’re about research, yes we’re about amazing start-up organizations, yes we’re about the Silicon Valley, but we’re also about doing service and looking to the Haas Center to take the lead.”

The Cardinal Service programs offered by the Haas Center consist of four different categories: Cardinal Quarter, Cardinal Commitment, Cardinal Courses and Cardinal Careers. Cardinal Quarter consists of a quarter-long service fellowship, while Cardinal Commitment refers to involvement in one volunteering activity for three or more quarters. Cardinal Courses are classes that combine an academic curriculum with a service project, and Cardinal Careers refer to service fellowships after graduation as well as a pledge to incorporate service into any career.

Participation in Cardinal Quarter, Cardinal Commitment or Cardinal Courses programs qualifies students for a Cardinal Service Transcript Notation, which appears on students’ official transcripts.

Cardinal Service 2020, a report produced by the Haas Center, set out as one of its goals to have 500 students participating in Cardinal Quarter each year by 2020. This past summer, 486 students did a Cardinal Quarter, indicating that Cardinal Service is closing in on its intended reach. In the report, Haas also aimed to have 200 courses qualify for Cardinal Courses by 2020; this year, Stanford offers 160 service-learning classes, compared to 45 when Cardinal Service was initiated in 2015.

Luis Ornelas ’18, a senior who has been involved with public service on and off of Stanford’s campus, appreciates Cardinal Service for the “flexibility” of its programs and opportunities. Ornelas participated in Cardinal Quarter.

“It was one of those things where I saw a lot of my friends looking for summer opportunities…There’s this culture of ‘you have to have an internship,’” Ornelas said. “But for me, I just really wanted to do something meaningful that was related to what I care about.”

For Ornelas, Cardinal Quarter challenges a culture that emphasizes obtaining competitive internships by offering students a fellowship that gives prestige to a public service project.

In addition, Ornelas said the Haas Center has helped him develop a critical perspective on public service.

“In order to do good, high quality service it’s really important to constantly be questioning yourself,” Ornelas said. “Like, ‘What is my place in this service? What sort of privileges do I sort of have going into this work? What are the power dynamics that are going on?’”

He views service as an essential part of a Stanford education.

“You’re receiving a phenomenal education here at Stanford, then the service gives you an opportunity to really be able to apply it and grow, not only as a student but as a person, as a citizen of the world who is interacting with others on a day to day basis,” he said.

In many ways, Haas intended Cardinal Service to support a tradition of service that already existed, both at the Haas Center and Stanford as a whole, rather than build an entirely new infrastructure.

“A lot of programs that exist within Cardinal Courses and Quarter and Commitment and Careers are programs that we’ve been developing and building upon for decades,” Beck explained.

Ornelas agreed that Cardinal Service’s main function has been to consolidate and organize service at Stanford, rather than to drastically change how it operates. Ornelas recalled that he did not see any big shift on campus when Cardinal Service was introduced, but rather sees Cardinal Service as providing a formal structure for students to participate in public service.

“When Cardinal Service came around, it was more about, ‘Now there’s this support system around [service], and there are even more opportunities, and they are solidified,’” Ornelas said.

Some students believe that not enough is being done to attract students to public service. Alexis Kallen ’18, chair of Stanford in Government, argued that participation in public service is more common in certain segments of the Stanford community than in others.

“While there are a large number of students involved with the Haas Center, Stanford puts a huge emphasis on the STEM fields,” Kallen said, adding that Stanford “should make more of an effort to involve [STEM fields] in public service.”

Kallen says that Stanford can do a better job of promoting service opportunities to students in fields that track largely into for-profit jobs such as tech and finance.

“There should be Cardinal Courses in way more majors and [the University should] engage Stanford students more intimately in solving global issues with our leading technology and research,” Kallen said.

Beck, however, says that in her experience, “it’s students in every major and discipline, students from every background” who engage in service at Stanford.

Beck also made clear that the Haas Center’s primary goal is not to simply track and increase the number of students involved in public service at Stanford.

“We like to focus on the quality of the service that we’re doing, rather than spending a mass amount of effort counting, quantifying,” Beck said. “We do some of that, but we’re really looking at improving the quality of opportunity for students to engage in service.”

Kallen attested to the value of public service in her own time at Stanford.

“Public service has been a crucial part of my Stanford career, and becoming a leader of policy as public service at Stanford really helped me form my life path and goals,” Kallen said. “No matter what you’re studying or interested in, every Stanford student should engage in public service here at some point to understand how their field can be used to help others.”

 

Contact Nohemi Davila at nohemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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