UGS addresses Caltrain passes, administrative pushback on reinstating land acknowledgement

At its Wednesday meeting, the Undergraduate Senate (UGS) pushed for initiatives to provide GoPasses for students, better support Native American communities on campus and reflect on Katie Meyer’s story after a documentary screening on Monday.

The UGS heard a presentation from political action co-chair Laila Ali ’28 and deputy chair Minji Cho ’28 on their meeting with Stanford Transportation. Ali said that the meeting aimed to address Stanford Transportation’s lack of knowledge regarding undergraduate desires, claiming its primary focus is serving employees, faculty and commuters.

One focus of the presentation was the implementation of GoPasses, which allow unlimited free travel on Caltrain. Cho stated that Stanford Transportation attempted to provide GoPasses to students last year, but was unable to follow through because the passes are financed by employee fringe benefits, which are federally prohibited from use by non-employees. 

“Legally and financially, Stanford could not extend [GoPasses] to students, and it was not because of a lack of interest. Stanford Transportation did want it to happen,” said Cho. 

Ali added that for the upcoming year, Stanford Transportation is working on solutions to provide students with GoPasses, including negotiating a revised Caltrain contract to create a separate student transit designation and explore alternative funding sources.

“The goal is to launch [GoPasses] by next fall,” Ali said. 

For next steps beyond the meeting, Ali said that Stanford Transportation will be adding undergraduate questions to its annual survey. “They’re adding questions about how often students are using CalTrain, what transportation issues they see, so that they get a better understanding of undergraduate needs,” she said.

UGS Chair David Sengthay ’26 also spoke about his meeting with Provost Jenny Martinez about reinstating the land acknowledgement at campus-wide ceremonies. Sengthay met with Martinez and Chief of Staff to the President of Stanford Michelle Bhatia alongside Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO) co-chairs Adriana Young ’27 and Pauli’i Zidek ’27.

The University removed land acknowledgements from its campus-wide ceremonies in mid-September, a decision announced only in an administrative letter. In response, the SAIO released a public statement and petition that both the UGS and Graduate Student Council (GSC) unanimously supported. 

Sengthay stated that the administration made no commitment to reinstating a land acknowledgement during the meeting. According to Sengthay, Martinez had said in their meeting that “ceremonies should reflect the research and academic mission of the University” and that “an institutional statement should avoid political signaling.”

Sengthay said he and the SAIO co-chairs proposed future actions that the University could take to support the native community in addition to reinstating the land acknowledgment. These included the expansion of Native studies, hiring more tenured Native American faculty, greater support for the Native American Cultural Center and Stanford Powwow and a scholarship for people working with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. He added that Martinez seemed supportive of the idea of exploring pathways to improve recruitment and tenure lines for Native faculty. 

Regarding the lack of commitment to reinstating the land acknowledgement, Sengthay stated that “the decision appears strategic and reputational in response to the current political climate.”

Chair of administration and rules Dan Kubota ’27, who also writes for The Daily, also gave a presentation recapping the screening of “SAVE: A Katie Meyer Story.” Kubota discussed planning the screening with director Jen Karson-Strauss, a process that began with a documentary review she wrote for The Daily. She also discussed the main objectives of the screening: raising awareness about mental health issues and rallying Stanford community members to advocate for Office of Community Standards (OCS) reform.

“People seemed to have a lot of good conversation… a lot of people were talking to people they didn’t come in with and the documentary really seemed to resonate with the audience,” Kubota said. She added that both the founder of the Student Justice Project Robert Ottilie ’77 and OCS interim director Lawrence Marshall were present at the screening.

“I think that we are at a point where we are ripe for change [in OCS policy]… I think this is something that not only advocates OCS reform, but also honors a member of our community whose life was taken too soon from us,” said Sengthay.

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