Dear Stanford community, my name’s Gurchit Singh Chatha, and I’m a first-year at Stanford Law School running to represent you on the Graduate Student Council. My goal is to bring thoughtfulness, operational discipline, and an orientation toward bridge-building to the GSC.
In the few months since arriving at Stanford, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the perspective this community offers, the doors it opens, and the relationships it enables. Truly, it has been an experience of a lifetime, and having attended public school my entire life, I do not take the opportunity to be here lightly. That sense of appreciation is what motivates me to help leave this place better than I found it.
I bring eight years of professional experience that I hope will help ensure graduate student concerns are heard clearly and acted upon effectively. Through my prior work I have cultivated:
Financial Discipline as an investor at Bridgewater Associates
Operational Excellence as a national manager at a Series-C logistics technology company
A Spirit of Service as an Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves
After speaking with fellow students and reviewing existing GSU priorities, I’m committed to making the following improvements for graduate students:
→ First, we need greater transparency around graduate student fees.
Graduate students should clearly understand what we are paying for and how those decisions are made. Questions around activity fee increases, shared funding responsibilities across student organizations, and large campus initiatives can sometimes feel opaque.
My goal would be to work toward clearer communication around the logic, tradeoffs, and financial impact of these decisions, and to ensure the graduate student voice is well represented whenever new fees or funding changes are considered.
→ Second, I believe Stanford should do more to foster connection across graduate schools.
Stanford’s graduate community is incredibly diverse intellectually, but it can also feel fragmented across departments and professional schools. I would like to explore ways to encourage cross-school conversations and collaboration, whether through casual happy hours, graduate-wide forums, or events that bring students from different programs together around meaningful topics.
At a time when political polarization increasingly divides society, universities should be places where people can engage thoughtfully across perspectives while still maintaining mutual respect. I think that starts with building a stronger social tapestry which can then be leveraged for more substantial engagement.
→ Third, I care about improving food accessibility and providing healthier options for graduate students.
Many graduate students work long hours in libraries and research spaces where food options can be limited, especially late at night. I would support continued efforts to improve vending machine quality, expand healthier snack options, and ensure students can easily find late-night food resources when they need them. Small improvements here can meaningfully improve daily life for students across campus.
I know there could be many more issues you want to be heard on, so please don't hesitate to text [818-642-0983] or email me [gurchit@stanford.edu] with your ideas or to set up time to speak.
