Stanford Open Space Alliance
P.O. Box 19742, Stanford, CA 94309 • (650) 223-3333 • www.sos-alliance.org • info@sos-alliance.org

Stanford Students to Demand
Housing and Open Space Protection

On Monday, October 16 at noon, Stanford students will gather in White Plaza (in front of the Stanford Bookstore) for a rally demanding adequate housing, open space protection and reasonable access to the foothills.

The rally, sponsored by the Green Party @ Stanford, Think! and the Stanford Open Space Alliance, aims to influence the General Use Permit (GUP) and Community Plan (CP) now before the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Speakers will include housing advocates, conservationists, members of the Stanford cross country track team and ASSU President, Seth Newton. Following the scheduled speakers, the microphone will be open to other students who wish to voice their opinions.

Students are concerned that Stanford is proposing to locate much of its new housing in controversial sites on campus, such as within the California tiger salamander management zone. This could pose a problem if and when this species, which is currently a candidate for the Endangered Species Act, is listed. The administration's refusal to embrace a "linkage" policy between housing and academic development has sent a message to students that housing might not be as high of a priority as they have been led to believe.

The rally is timed to correspond with a meeting of the Stanford Trustees (October 16 & 17) on campus, and to encourage students to attend the Santa Clara County Planning Commission hearing on the GUP and CP on Wednesday, October 18 at 6:30pm at the Palo Alto City Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Ave.

Students also are upset that they weren't invited to provide input to Stanford's new policy regarding access to the Dish. On October 4, more than 200 students climbed over a gate and hiked up to the Dish at midnight in defiance of the new 7pm curfew. The flyer stated, "Hiking, jogging, and sleeping out at the Dish are all longstanding Stanford traditions. Without student input, the University has severely impaired our connection to the beauty in our backyard, closing almost 100 trails, repaving the only remaining road, and imposing a 7pm, soon to be 5pm, curfew."

For more information on the student hike, visit: http://www.stanford.edu/group/think/foothills/index.shtml, and http://daily.stanford.edu/Daily2000-2001/10-06-2000/news/index.html For the Stanford Daily's editorial against Stanford's new Dish policy, check out: http://daily.stanford.edu/Daily2000-2001/09-27-2000/opinions/index.html