First and foremost, we want to say thank you to everyone who came to the town hall yesterday, with a special thanks to Vice Provosts Tim Warner, John Bravman, and Greg Boardman for putting on very detailed and informational presentations. We’d also like to thank our Outreach team for taking care of logistics and putting together a very successful event; please keep an eye out for more events like this in the future!

To foster a greater discussion of the budget cut process, we’d like to introduce our new Budget Discussion website! Please use it to post questions or have discussions that pertain to the current budget cuts; we hope that the site will allow students to continue communicating with each other about what their priorities and potential solutions are during this trying time. It’s going to take the ideas and engagement of students to come up with solutions that work for everyone, and your involvement will help shape our advocacy efforts with the administration.

Also, if you’d like to engage in more specific discussions about how the ASSU and administrators can work on different policy areas like sustainability, mental health, and free speech, please consider attending the ASSU Policy Summit, which will be taking place this Sunday, May 31st, from 11:00am – 5:00pm. Feel free to come for one session or for the entire summit; the ASSU would love as much of your input as possible. The agenda is below. Please RSVP here.

Like always, please feel free to contact us with any feedback or suggestions!

Good luck during the last week of classes!

David Gobaud and Jay de la Torre
assuexec0910 at lists.stanford.edu

ASSU Policy Summit 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Nitery, Old Union

Schedule

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM = Welcome by Varun Sivaram and Jay de la Torre

11:40 AM – 12:40 PM = Policy Session #1

• Diversity, led by Senators Kelsei Wharton and Michael Cruz
• Free Speech, led by Senator Shelley Gao
• Engagement with the ASSU, led by Senator Lee Jackson

12:45 PM – 1:45 PM = Lunch (sandwiches and drinks)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM = Policy Session #2

• Wellness and Health, led by Senators Anton Zietsman and Alex Katz
• Student Life, led by Senators Steven Singleton and Zachary Johnson
• Academics, led by Senators Varun Sivaram and Brian Wanyoike

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM = Policy Session #3

• Sustainability, led by Senators Dean Young and Michael Cruz
• Social Programming, led by Senators Adam Creasman and Zachary Johnson
• Sexual Health, led by Senators Anton Zietsman and Alex Katz

4:30 PM = Open Reception (cookies and drinks)

For the last couple of months, one of the topics that have been constantly on the minds of students has been budget cuts. It’s been hard to turn anywhere and not see or hear about how budget cuts are affecting the Stanford community. Programs, majors, and group funding have been cut. Staff have been laid off.

But there is hope; through uncertainty comes opportunity. We believe that the first step towards progress begins with education and awareness. What is really going on with the budget cuts? What process do administrators engage in when making budget decisions. What are the guiding principles behind how administrators choose what and what not to cut?

In order to increase the flow of information to students and to encourage constructive dialogue, we’re holding a Town Hall on Wednesday, May 27th, from 5:00p – 6:30p in Old Union 200. Vice Provosts Tim Warner (Budget and Auxiliaries Management), Greg Boardman (Student Affairs), and John Bravman (Undergraduate Education) will all be giving presentations on the current state of the budget and its effects on specific areas in student life. After students have been informed of these developments, we will then open up the floor for questions and discussion.

We strongly encourage you to attend and learn about how budget cuts will be affecting our university this and next year so that you can be better informed, and so that you can part of the solution. It’s going to take the efforts and creativity of everyone to continue to push this university forward in a positive way. We hope you take up the challenge; make the first step and come next week.

Come join us,
David Gobaud and Jay de la Torre
assuexec0910 at lists.stanford.edu

After a week (nearly 40 hours) of interviews, we are proud to say that we’ve chosen our Executive Team for the 2009-2010 school year!

We would like to welcome the following individuals:

Co-Chiefs of Staff
Andy Parker
Bennett Hauser

Legislative Liaison
Ryan Woesner

Sustainability
Eric Knudson, Co-Chair
Eli Pollak, Co-Chair
Sonali Chopra, Deputy Chair
Ansu Sahoo, Advisor
Joel Weitzman, Advsior

Disabilities and Accessible Education
Fiona Hinze, Co-Chair
Julia Steinberg, Co-Chair

Diversity and Tolerance
Anthony Bestafka-Cruz, Co-Chair
Michael Tubbs, Co-Chair
Jesse Stutt, Deputy Chair

Service
Salone Kapur, Chair
Ali McKinney, Associate
Daniel Isaiah Ong, Associate
Jenna Nicholas, Associate
Sheila Onyiah, Associate
Laura Yu, Associate
Olivia Hu, Associate

Marketing
Deonne Castaneda, Chair
Khai Luong, Deputy Chair

Technology
Jeff Wear, Co-Chair
Ridhi Mittal, Co-Chair
Sam King, Deputy Chair
Divij Gupta, Deputy Chair

Graduate Outreach
Jon McNaughtan, Chair

Graduate Health
Jessica Tsai, Chair
Jack Cackler, Associate

Undergraduate Outreach
Britt Kovachevich, Co-Chair
Adrienne Pon, Co-Chair
Estela Go, Associate
Molly Spaeth, Associate

Undergraduate Health
Alisha Tolani, Co-Chair
Asha Luchmaya, Deputy Chair
Jen Hawkins, Associate

Undergraduate Social
Ben Laufer, Chair
Miguel Sugay, Deputy Chair
Matt Thiry, Associate

Undergraduate Life, Academics, Cost of Living, & Equality (LACE)
Amanda Mener, Chair
Jimmy Threatt, Associate
Caroline Stokes, Associate

We were so fortunate to have an amazing number of passionate and talented individuals apply to our cabinet, and we’re excited to be working with this amazing team.

We’re always looking for experienced and enthusiastic people who have great ideas about how to make Stanford better; if you’d like to get involved, let us know!

Until next time, stay classy Stanford.

David Gobaud and Jay de la Torre
assuexec0910 at lists.stanford.edu

In case you haven’t received or read the email we sent out,  we just want to say how thankful and excited we are to have been elected to the ASSU Executive and to be working for all of you! There are so many opportunities next year to do some really great things, and we can’t wait to be collaborating with all of you to come up with some great solutions to the challenges and opportunities we’ll have next year.

That being said, there’s been a question that has been posed over and over again to us since we began our campaign a month ago, and now that we’ve been installed, we’d like to take the opportunity to share our vision addressing the question.

What does “Forward Together” mean?

It was the brand, the focal point of our campaign, and will continue to be a guiding principle of our efforts this year. But what does it really mean?

It means looking to the future with optimism. It means challenging ourselves to do more than just “get by”. It means taking the gifts and privileges we have been blessed with and using them for the good of everyone. It means more than just caring; it means engaging ourselves in the change we wish to see.

There’s a line in Usher’s song “Hush” that epitomizes a campus that passively “cares”:

Everyone wants to touch the sky

But nobody wants to reach back

For the ones who are scared to fly

Corey Booker (‘91, MA ‘92), mayor of Newark, New Jersey, presented a quote with a different take on the same situation:

“When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on, or you will be sent angels who will teach you how to fly.”

If you care about sexual violence prevention, sustainability, diversity, the arts, whatever, let us know. We want to work with you to make Stanford all that it can be, budget cuts or not. Contact us and be a part of our team of leaders.

We can’t be successful without you. We need your talent, your passion, your energy if we we want to do good things in the face of uncertainty next year. You will teach this campus how to fly. Come join us.

Forward together,
David Gobaud and Jay de la Torre
assuexec0910 at lists.stanford.edu