Trustees discuss commercial land on the Farm

The Board of Trustees recently held a retreat that aimed to do away with business as usual, focusing on several issues of strategic importance. The three topics they discussed this year were Stanford’s land use over the next 25 years, the value of the 350-plus centers on the Farm and the potential New York City campus.

The retreat is an annual tradition that allows the Board to break from its traditional meetings and think about big issues regarding the future of the University. The first issue discussed was Stanford’s long-term land use over the coming decades.

“Over the past few years, an area the Trustees have spent the least amount of time talking about is Stanford commercial land,” said Leslie Hume, president of the Board of Trustees, in a phone conference. Though there were no decisions made at the meeting, Hume said the Board members discussed the tradeoffs between developing commercial land for long-term income generation and the impact it may have on academic development and the local community.

“The land use policy that is in place was adopted by the Board almost 22 years ago,” Hume said.

She noted that the result of the Board’s discussion might “suggest modification to the land use plan, and help frame future agendas” for the University Committee on Land & Building Development.

The Board also focused on the various centers housed at Stanford; Hume said she and her peers mainly focused on the 17 centers that report directly to the Dean of Research. These centers, which include the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, Bio-X and the Clayman Institute, were examined in terms of how well they meet the challenge of initiating multi-disciplinary study.

“We wanted to really learn more about these centers and the risks and opportunities they pose,” Hume said.

She described the discussion as “very informative and candid.”

In addition to examining the centers, the Board also participated in a moderated panel discussion with directors of various centers on campus. Many of the Trustees have been engaged with the centers and Hume herself was an advisor at the Clayman Institute before becoming chair of the Board of Trustees.

The final topic of note was the potential New York City campus. According to Hume, the Board received a thorough presentation about the project and “was pleased with the quality of the proposal.”

“I think the conversation John Hennessy will have next week with the Academic Council will give you a sense of the conversations he had with the Trustees,” Hume said.

The Board also received a preview of the site plan and the deans of both the Business and Engineering schools gave presentations about their curricular ambitions for the NYC campus. Hume said the Board was able to talk over some of their concerns with Hennessy, ranging from the proposed site of the project to financial estimates and navigating the politics of New York City.

When asked about the new Manzanita Park dormitories for upperclassman, Hume said no action was taken at the recent Board meeting regarding the issue. According to the University’s timeline, project approval should have taken place in February of this year. However, no action has been taken since the original concept was proposed last year.