As a Stanford postdoc, I contacted the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for help with an urgent housing situation. I had been on the postdoc housing waitlist since December, roughly eight months, with no result, and my temporary graduate housing was ending, leaving me at risk of having nowhere to live.
I first raised this in May, three months before the deadline. Instead of help, I was told housing was not their office and was pointed to outside resources. When I followed up with the housing offices directly, by email and phone, I received only generic replies and no clear answer about my options or who could actually help. Months later, with the problem now an emergency, nothing had changed.
The problems have not been limited to housing. I have also been unable to get an MD appointment through Stanford Health, facing a long wait despite being a postdoc who is supposed to have access to these benefits. This is another basic resource I was promised and cannot actually use.
OPA exists to support postdocs and to ensure we can access the benefits and resources we are promised. Housing and healthcare are core parts of what makes coming to Stanford as a postdoc viable. Being repeatedly redirected, with no one taking ownership of serious and time-sensitive problems, falls short of that responsibility. I would urge OPA to remember that supporting postdocs and safeguarding our benefits is their core duty, not something to pass along to another office.
