Governor’s Corner (GovCo) consists of three different types of housing - residence halls, suites, and independent houses. Each group of houses, plus the Elliott Program Center, opened for students in the early eighties. In the residence halls and independent houses, there are four special residential programs in which students can participate in academic, language, and cultural activities and events: Freshman-Sophomore College, East-Asian Studies, Spanish Language/Academic, and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE).

Sterling Quadrangle (also known as Quad) consists of four connected residences and hosts Freshman/Sophomore College (FroSoCo) in two residence halls called Adams and Schiff. Together Adams and Schiff are home to about 90 freshmen and 90 sophomores who are interested in broad intellectual exploration of the liberal arts and sciences. Potter House and Robinson House, the third and fourth halls, are upperclass residences, and, though each residence in Quad functions as a separate community, they all come together for meals in Ricker Dining or at the Elliott Program Center.

Mail is delivered to students’ Post Office boxes, assigned in early September.  Please note that the Post Office does not deliver student mail to the residences, only to the Post Office.  The Housing Front Desk cannot accept mail or packages for students. 

Here is a sample P.O. Box address.  Insert your unique P.O. Box number.

Jane Student
P.O. Box  12345
Stanford, CA 94309-2345

If you are having something shipped which requires a street address, please ship it to yourself, at your residence.

The first university facility of its kind in the nation, Ricker Dining is Stanford's highly lauded peanut-sensitive dining environment. In recognition of the growing number of students with peanut allergies, we've taken the steps necessary to provide a safe, full-featured facility in which peanut-sensitive and non-peanut-sensitive diners alike can enjoy the best of what Stanford Dining has to offer. With its beautiful dining location on the west side of campus complete with a state-of-the art meeting room, lounge areas and trellised patio, it's best to enjoy your meal al fresco.

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident Fellows:

Special Residential
Program :

Freshmen & Sophomores
Co-ed on each floor
Shari Palmer and Andy Dimock

Freshman/Sophomore College facilitates broad intellectual exploration of the liberal arts and sciences. Freshmen have the option of living for two consecutive years in the College. As the residential complement of Stanford Introductory Studies (SIS), the College connects residential life with the mentoring and academic activities offered through SIS courses. SIS courses include Introduction to the Humanities, Freshman and Sophomore Seminars, the Science Mathematics and Engineering Core, and Writing and Critical Thinking. If you are interested, please read important pre-assignment and regular assignment information below.

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident Fellows:

Special Residential
Program :

Freshmen & Sophomores
Co-ed on each floor
Beth Fox and Mike Riley

Freshman/Sophomore College facilitates broad intellectual exploration of the liberal arts and sciences. Freshmen have the option of living for two consecutive years in the College. As the residential complement of Stanford Introductory Studies (SIS), the College connects residential life with the mentoring and academic activities offered through SIS courses. SIS courses include Introduction to the Humanities, Freshman and Sophomore Seminars, the Science Mathematics and Engineering Core, and Writing and Critical Thinking. If you are interested, please read important pre-assignment and regular assignment information below.

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident Fellow:

Upperclass house
Co-ed on each floor
Christina Mesa

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident Fellows:

Upperclass house
Co-ed on each floor
Philippe Buc and Kathryn Miller

*Important Assignment Information

1. Beginning 2009-2010, Residential Education is offering a pre-assignment system for Ethnic/Academic Theme and Focus Houses.
2. If you intend to apply for pre-assignment to a participating Theme or Focus house (ie. FroSoCo), you must understand that if you are granted pre-assignment, you automatically accept the pre-assignment and therefore are not eligible for the 2009 Housing Draw or other housing application periods.
3. Eligibility for pre-assignment is determined according to publicized, objective criteria for each residence. See Residential Education for details or contact their office at 650-725-2800.
4. Draw Assignment—Students may apply without pre-assignment. Through the Draw you can list on your application a special program house for which you are interested. When you apply you are
1. agreeing to meet the pre-requisites,  
2. expected to fulfill house requirements, and
3. also indicating that you understand if you do not meet the pre-requisites for the house, your assignment can be cancelled when you reach the in-house draw, or you will be reassigned out of the house.
5. Draw Assignment (for students applying to the non-focus portion of a Focus House): Students in the Draw – who are not interested in the special program and apply to the non-focus portion of a Focus House – you may obtain an assignment but are not required to participate in focus programs. These students may take part in other traditional dorm activities, such as trips to the City, movie nights, IMs, and study breaks.

Back to The Residences

Each residence has its own outdoor recreational area, living room, study, kitchenette, computer room, laundry room, and other common areas.

Planning for Governor’s Corner began in 1978 as an answer to a housing need for 800 new students. Sterling Quadrangle was the final structure completed in a phase from 1982-1983 after the opening of the Independent Houses, Suites and Dining societies, and the Elliott Program Center.

Sterling Quadrangle is named after former President of Stanford University, Wallace Sterling, and his wife, Anne. At Freshmen-Sophomore College – Adams was named for Ephraim Douglass Adams, history professor and first chairman of the Hoover Library; a physics professor, Leonard Isaac Schiff, and first chair of the Faculty Senate is the namesake for Schiff. Two more history professors, Davis Morris Potter and Edgar Eugene Robinson, join the group to name Potter House and Robinson House; Potter, also a nationally known expert on the Southern secession, and Robinson was the chair of the Committee on the Independent Study Plan, the precursor of departmental honors program.

Ricker Dining and Performance Center is named after Christine Ricker, Manager of University Food Service in the 1940s and 50s. She helped feed the campus through the rationing of World War II.

Back to Contents

The Suites are composed of four apartment-style houses that are home to 266 upperclass residents. Each house—Anderson, Marx, Griffin, and Jenkins—offer living space in four- six- and eight-bedroom suites with a bathroom and living room. On the 1st floor of each building, there is a laundry room and kitchenette. A newly-selected residence for the Gender-neutral housing program, Suites provides housing for groups of four or eight students who receive automatic priority to live in the four- or eight-person suites. Groups of six will get an automatic priority for six-person suites. Regarding meals, the residents in Suites are required to eat in one of four student-run Dining Societies.

Mail is delivered to students’ Post Office boxes, assigned in early September.  Please note that the Post Office does not deliver student mail to the residences, only to the Post Office.  The Housing Front Desk cannot accept mail or packages for students. 

Here is a sample P.O. Box address.  Insert your unique P.O. Box number.

Jane Student
P.O. Box  12345
Stanford, CA 94309-2345

If you are having something shipped which requires a street address, please ship it to yourself, at your residence.

Dining Societies - Students living in the Suites are required to join one of four Dining Societies—Avanti, Bollard, Beefeaters, and Middle Earth. (There are no exceptions to this requirement.)

Configuration:
Co-ed type:

Upperclass
Co-ed on each floor

Configuration:
Co-ed type:

Upperclass
Co-ed on each floor

Configuration:
Co-ed type:

Upperclass
Co-ed on each floor

Configuration:
Co-ed type:

Upperclass
Co-ed on each floor

There is a laundry room and kitchenette on the 1st floor of Marx, Griffin, Jenkins, and Anderson.

Suites (and Dining Societies) in Governor’s Corner opened for students in the winter of 1982 after extensive planning for various buildings began in 1978. This was an answer to a housing need for 800 new students. 1979 saw a committee form, made up of students, staff, and faculty, to write a program describing what would go into the new spaces. In phases from 1982-1983, Stanford opened several structures—Independent Houses, Suites and Dining societies, the Elliott Program Center, and Sterling Quadrangle.

Within Suites, four residences are named after former Stanford academic leaders and faculty members: Melville Best Anderson, first head of English department; James Owen Griffin, invited by President Jordan to form the first faculty; Oliver Peebles Jenkins, first professor of Physiology, Zoology, and decided location for Hopkins Seaside lab; and Charles David Marx, first faculty in Civil Engineering, and also a Stanford University Vice President.

Back to Suites Contents

There are three residences in this part of Governor’s Corner – EAST House (also known as Treat), Murray House, and Yost House. Each house is small and autonomous and home to approximately 60 students. Another standout is that they each incorporate into their day-to-day living a special residential program: East Asian theme program in EAST House, Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE) in Murray House, and the Spanish Language and Culture theme program in Yost House.

Students who live in a small-group house feel a strong sense of self-reliance, and residents share responsibilities for planning house activities, both social and educational. Resident Assistants in each house guide students to see that the house runs smoothly, that problems get solved, and that house activities reflect the social and educational interests and needs of residents.

Mail is delivered to students’ Post Office boxes, assigned in early September.  Please note that the Post Office does not deliver student mail to the residences, only to the Post Office.  The Housing Front Desk cannot accept mail or packages for students. 

Here is a sample P.O. Box address.  Insert your unique P.O. Box number.

Jane Student
P.O. Box  12345
Stanford, CA 94309-2345

If you are having something shipped which requires a street address, please ship it to yourself, at your residence.

Dining in Yost and Murray is run by Stanford Dining and includes both a meal plan and an open kitchen.  EAST house is a self-operated house with a student-managed kitchen.

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident
Fellows:

Focus:

Upperclass
Co-ed on each floor

Anthony Antonio and Christine Wotipka

East-Asian Studies
EAST House, also known as Treat (after its namesake, Payson Jackson Treat), offers a special program that features lectures, receptions, film series, recitals, in-house seminars, special projects, and language tables, among other activities. Through the program, EAST House residents promote the East-Asian culture and sponsors special activities intended to draw in the wider campus community, such as the annual EASTFest every fall. If you are interested, please read important pre-assignment and regular assignment information below.

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident
Fellows:

Theme:

Upperclass
Co-ed on each floor

Michael and Julie Wilcox

Comparative Studies in Race
and Ethnicity (CSRE)
CSRE is a comprehensive curriculum centered on the study of race and ethnicity in a comparative perspective, nationally and internationally. Programs are developed with the guidance of CSRE faculty, to increase the understanding of issues of race and ethnicity among its residents through seminars, social events and discussions. If you are interested, please read important pre-assignment and regular assignment information below.

Configuration:
Co-ed type:
Resident
Fellow:

Theme:

Upperclass house
Co-ed on each floor

Daniel Madison

Spanish Language Academic Theme
Yost offers a special program that features lectures, receptions, film series, recitals, in-house seminars, special projects, and language tables, among other activities. Activity courses at Yost are student-taught for one unit CR/NC throughout the year. Also, for students preparing for or returning from overseas study, the language emphasis of the house can provide opportunities to use it on a daily basis. Residents of Yost may take a class related to the theme and organize a theme project. If you are interested, please read important pre-assignment and regular assignment information below.

*Important Assignment Information

1. Beginning 2009-2010, Residential Education is offering a pre-assignment system for Ethnic/Academic Theme and Focus Houses.
2. If you intend to apply for pre-assignment to a participating Theme or Focus house (ie. EAST, Murray, or Yost), you must understand that if you are granted pre-assignment, you automatically accept the pre-assignment and therefore are not eligible for the 2009 Housing Draw or other housing application periods.
3. Eligibility for pre-assignment is determined according to publicized, objective criteria for each residence. See Residential Education for details or contact their office at 650-725-2800.
4. Draw Assignment—Students may apply without pre-assignment. Through the Draw you can list on your application a special program house for which you are interested. When you apply you are
1. agreeing to meet the pre-requisites,  
2. expected to fulfill house requirements, and
3. also indicating that you understand if you do not meet the pre-requisites for the house, your assignment can be cancelled when you reach the in-house draw, or you will be reassigned out of the house.
5. Draw Assignment (for students applying to the non-focus portion of a Focus House): Students in the Draw – who are not interested in the special program and apply to the non-focus portion of a Focus House – you may obtain an assignment but are not required to participate in focus programs. These students may take part in other traditional dorm activities, such as trips to the City, movie nights, IMs, and study breaks.

Back to Independent Houses Contents

Treat/East House enjoys a lobby and lounge, computer cluster, laundry room, kitchen and kitchenette, dining room, two balconies and a deck, and outside barbecue grill.

Murray has a lobby, lounge, dining room, kitchenette, servery, computer room, laundry room, and a deck and outside barbecue grill.

The independent houses in Governor’s Corner opened for student residents in 1982. Named for Payson Jackson Treat, first Ph.D in history (East Asian studies), Augustus Taber Murray, classicist (Greek), Quaker, athlete and spiritual leader, and Mary Yost, Dean of Women and Associate Professor of English, the independent houses, today, establish awareness and experience in various cultures, languages, and global issues.

Back to Top