Catherine Zaw – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 03:05:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Catherine Zaw – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Thank you to our 2015 interns! https://stanforddaily.com/2015/08/18/thank-you-to-our-2015-interns/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/08/18/thank-you-to-our-2015-interns/#respond Wed, 19 Aug 2015 03:32:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102875 The Daily staff would just like to take a quick moment to thank all of our wonderful interns, who participated (read: tolerated) us for about eight weeks of their summer, writing for practically all of our sections and contributed so much time and effort to help run The Daily over the summer.

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The Daily staff would just like to take a quick moment to thank all of our wonderful interns, who participated (read: tolerated) us for about eight weeks of their summer, writing for practically all of our sections and contributed so much time and effort to help run The Daily over the summer.

These bright and wonderful high schoolers hail from all across the Bay Area and came to the office every Wednesday to join us for workshops, food, and fun. The editors and I had so much content that we honestly felt like we were running a normal paper, and we definitely had a great time mentoring you and giving you practical experience on what it was like doing collegiate journalism.

You are all going to go forth and do great things in life, and we wish you the best in your journey through the remainder of high school and throughout your life! Come back to us next summer!

If you or someone else you know is interested in participating in our future summer high school internship programs, please contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ gmail.com!

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Stanford Mausoleum ‘Angel of Grief’ statue vandalized https://stanforddaily.com/2015/08/17/stanford-mausoleum-angel-of-grief-statue-vandalized/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/08/17/stanford-mausoleum-angel-of-grief-statue-vandalized/#respond Mon, 17 Aug 2015 20:00:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102880 The "Angel of Grief" statue at the Stanford family Mausoleum was recently vandalized, according to a Stanford Department of Public Safety report received Tuesday, Aug. 11.

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The “Angel of Grief” statue at the Stanford family Mausoleum was recently vandalized, according to a Stanford Department of Public Safety report received Tuesday, Aug. 11.

The report noted that someone had broken off the left forearm of the white marble statue, which was originally commissioned by Jane Stanford in memory of her brother Henry Clay Lathrop.

The vandalized Angel of Grief statue is missing its left forearm. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)
The vandalized Angel of Grief statue is missing its left forearm. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

The sculpture was originally placed in 1901, sculpted by William Wetmore Story, before being reproduced for Stanford. Story’s full name for his piece was “The Angel of Grief Weeping Over the Dismantled Altar of Life.”

“Angel of Grief” was at first housed inside a dome, before the dome collapsed during a 1906 earthquake. The sculpture was later rebuilt in 1908. The sculpture now sits north of the mausoleum that entombs the remains of Leland and Jane Stanford, as well as their son, Leland Jr.

Stanford police seek information and/or witnesses to the vandalism of “Angel of Grief” and encourage anyone with information or knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing piece of the sculpture to call Stanford police at (650) 723-9633.

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Forbes Cafe changes food pricing system https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/24/forbes-cafe-changes-food-pricing-system/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/24/forbes-cafe-changes-food-pricing-system/#respond Wed, 24 Jun 2015 07:08:48 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102158 Last week, Forbes Family Cafe, located in the Huang Engineering Center, implemented changes to the pricing of its hot food and salad bar items. Rather than having a flat price of $7.25 for a hot food or salad plate, Forbes will be charging by weight, 57 cents per ounce for hot food and 52 cents per ounce for salad items.

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Last week, Forbes Family Cafe, located in the Huang Engineering Center, implemented changes to the pricing of its hot food and salad bar items. Rather than having a flat price of $7.25 for a hot food or salad plate, Forbes will be charging by weight, at 57 cents per ounce for hot food and 52 cents per ounce for salad items.

According to Jocelyn Breeland, director of communications for Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE), which runs Forbes, this change took place in order to maintain the financial sustainability of the cafe.

Breeland explained that the $7.25 rate was not economical for the cafe. The original flat price was previously based on market research that assumed consumers would put about 13 ounces of food into the 13-ounce bowls provided, however, consumers of Forbes were taking much more than just that.

“A random sampling conducted earlier this year indicated the average was about 25 ounces,” Breeland wrote, in an email to The Daily. “Selling nearly twice the food at the same low price was not financially sustainable for Forbes.”

Forbes’ opening during the summer hinged on the decision for a new price system, Breeland said. Forbes Cafe could only be open if a new price structure was set in place, resulting in the price change in the summer.

Since the implementation of the price-by-weight payment system, the average weight for a hot food bowl has been 12.42 ounces, for an average price of $7.02, according to sampling done by R&DE. The average weight of the salad bowl has been 11.42, for an average price of $5.94.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Language beyond words https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/12/language-beyond-words/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/12/language-beyond-words/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2015 07:53:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102081 So listen to people. The complexity of our language is one of the most unique things that we have as humans to interact with each other. I urge you to enjoy it.

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Sometimes I don’t pay attention when you talk to me.

I ask you a question, and you start answering, but I don’t really process exactly what you’re saying.

It’s not because I’m checking my email at the same time, and it’s not because I’m spacing out and paying attention to something else more interesting in the background. It’s because I’m focusing on the sounds of your vowels and consonants, the subtle intonation shift in the middle of your sentence, your body gestures, even the number of times you say “like” or “uh.”

There is so much to take away from your words than just the meaning of them.

Yes, I’m a linguist, and yes, I study language. But I hope that I’m not the only person that thinks language is the most powerful thing we’ve created.

Communication is key. That’s a lesson that I’ve learned many times over my life, and especially at Stanford. Communication resolves conflicts, empowers people, creates opportunity for growth and understanding — language is at the heart of it all. And ironically sometimes words fail to describe just how important language is to us.

So, I ask you — not as a linguist, but as a person — to live your life by the conversations that you have with people.

Listen to people. Not just the meaning of what they say, but the natural pauses they make in their sentences, their choice of words, the stress patterns of their sentences, how they’re using their hands to accentuate what they’re saying. What do they assume is common knowledge between you and them? Why do they trust you to interpret this particular meaning if their sentence is so ambiguous?

You might find that you discover so much more about their backgrounds and thoughts –- pick up on aspects that you don’t get from what’s coming out of their mouth.

And after you think you’ve figured some things out, don’t assume or suspect. Just ask.

Ask them what this word means to them. Tell them that you noticed that they hesitated before they continued talking and ask why. Tell them your side of the story and why you interpreted something the way that you did.

I promise you — you might get into a conversation more interesting than the standard small talk about struggle-busing through classes or not sleeping enough.

Listen to people. Not just in how you’re reacting to the words people say to you as an individual, but also how someone else might react to those same words. How would those same words be said to you if you looked different? If you thought differently? If you were different?

Language isn’t used equally from person to person, from relationship to relationship, from time to time. We talk in higher pitches when we’re approached by babies, we talk with higher number of syllables in academic speeches and we talk with different mannerisms when talking to family members.

We change our language according to who our audience is, almost naturally.

So when people talk to you, notice how they talk to you and how you talk to them.

Understand the specific relationship that you share. It’s unique, and it’s something that you don’t share with anyone else.

Listen to people. Not just Stanford students or the people that you respect. Even beyond the bubble, even beyond the bubbles that you’ll be in, there are more than enough conversations to remember, more people to meet, more stories to hear.

You’re not the only protagonist, and the combination of everyone’s narratives bumping and colliding makes the world that we know.

Value each one of them, and value your own.

So listen to people. The complexity of our language is one of the most unique things that we have as humans to interact with each other. I urge you to enjoy it.

Catherine Zaw

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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President John Hennessy to step down in summer 2016 https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/11/president-john-hennessy-to-step-down-in-summer-2016/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/11/president-john-hennessy-to-step-down-in-summer-2016/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2015 00:44:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102125 President John Hennessy announced plans to step down as the University's president earlier today, informing both the Board of Trustees and the Faculty Senate.

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John Hennessy announced that he plans to step down as Stanford’s president, informing both the Board of Trustees and the Faculty Senate earlier today.

Stanford president John Hennessy will step down in summer 2016. The University's 10th president, Hennessy was appointed in 2000 and has overseen major efforts in fundraising, construction and undergraduate education. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)
Stanford president John Hennessy will step down in summer 2016. The University’s 10th president, Hennessy was appointed in 2000 and has overseen major efforts in fundraising, construction and undergraduate education. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Hennessy will officially depart in summer 2016 after more than 15 years as the University’s president.

Hennessy has held major leadership roles at Stanford for more than two decades. He served as chair of the Department of Computer Science from 1994 to 1996 and became the Dean of the School of Engineering in 1996. In 1999, Hennessy was named provost, the University’s chief academic and financial officer, before being inaugurated as the University’s 10th president in October 2000.

He did not specify future plans, but has expressed interest in being involved with teaching, research and higher education.

“The time has come to return to what brought me to Stanford — teaching and research,” Hennessy told the Faculty Senate. “Maintaining and improving this University is the work of many people, and I am deeply appreciative of the dedication of so many colleagues to Stanford and its students.”

Hennessy’s pioneering work in computer architecture in the early 1980s led to two textbooks he authored in the field and MIPS Computer Systems, a RISC microprocessor company he cofounded.

Twenty-one Nobel Laureates have served as faculty during Hennessy’s 15-year tenure, including 11 who received a Nobel Prize during that span. During his presidency, interdisciplinary teaching and research has also expanded with the creation of several programs and institutes, including Bio-X, the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Chem-H, the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, the Precourt Institute for Energy, the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED) and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school).

Many major construction projects have also made headway during Hennessy’s tenure, including construction within the Arts District of campus: Bing Concert Hall, the Anderson Collection and the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art and Art History. The Science and Engineering Quad, the Knight Management for the Graduate School of Business, new facilities for the Law School and the School of Medicine, a new Stanford Stadium and multiple student residences have also been completed since 2000.

Under Hennessy, Stanford also completed the Campaign for Undergraduate Education, a five-year, $1 billion fundraising effort for improvements to undergraduate education, and The Stanford Challenge, a five-year campaign raising $6.2 billion to provide support for research initiatives, financial aid and fellowships.

The Board of Trustees will appoint a presidential search committee — consisting of members from the Board, the faculty and the Stanford community — this summer, to be led by former Board chair Isaac Stein.

This committee will conduct a national and international search, beginning in September.

According to Hennessy, Provost John Etchemendy will remain in his role for up to one year with Hennessy’s successor, but he will not be a candidate to replace Hennessy.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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CDC investigates shipment of potentially live anthrax to Stanford lab, unlikely to pose risk https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/28/cdc-investigates-shipment-of-potentially-live-anthrax-to-stanford-lab-unlikely-to-pose-risk/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/28/cdc-investigates-shipment-of-potentially-live-anthrax-to-stanford-lab-unlikely-to-pose-risk/#respond Thu, 28 May 2015 15:39:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101673 The Center for Disease Control (CDC) requested a sample of a sample vial of anthrax from the University early Tuesday morning, as part of the CDC's ongoing investigation evaluating the possibility that a number of laboratories around the country may have received small amounts of live anthrax, shipped by the U.S. Department of Defense.

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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) requested a sample from a vial of anthrax from the University early Tuesday morning, as part of the CDC’s ongoing investigation evaluating the possibility that a number of laboratories around the country may have received small amounts of the live agent, shipped by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The University, according to University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin, was informed by the CDC that the agent — which had been sent to a lab on campus in July 2014 — may not have been fully deactivated before shipment.

“Stanford University is secure, and there is absolutely no threat to the University or public,” Lapin said. She also added that the single vial, not used by the University in 10 months, has already been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for analysis.

The vial — which may have extremely small quantities of active Bacillus anthracis — is very unlikely to pose any risk, according to the CDC. To date, the CDC states there are no reports of any adverse reactions and that there is no threat to members of the public.

Upon notification from the CDC, the University launched a safety review of the laboratory where the material in question was handled by two individuals under appropriate biosafety guidelines, according to University statement released this morning. The vial was received by the lab on July 22, 2014 and last opened by the lab on July 29, 2014.

All members of the impacted lab were immediately informed of the situation, and the University is offering medical consultations for any lab employee in the affected lab who has concerns.

Stanford has not received any reports of incidents or reactions over the ten months since the material from the vial in question was last used in the laboratory, Lapin said.

The Stanford laboratory that received the at-investigation materials is studying immune system responses in order to potentially create preventative vaccines and treatments for biological threats. This research is being conducted for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“Stanford will continue to work with federal authorities as they conduct their follow up. The CDC has informed all of the impacted laboratories that risk to any individual is very unlikely and that no further action is needed,” said University statement.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Fountains to reopen during Commencement https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/27/fountains-to-reopen-during-commencement/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/27/fountains-to-reopen-during-commencement/#comments Thu, 28 May 2015 00:49:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101597 University fountains will be brought back to operation beginning June 1 in preparation for Commencement, according to the Stanford News Service.

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University fountains will be momentarily brought back to operation beginning June 1 in preparation for Commencement, according to the Stanford News Service.

The fountains will be opened slowly, beginning with Tanner Fountain in front of Memorial Auditorium and the Serra Fountain in front of Hewlett Teaching Center on June 1. On June 4, the Claw and White Memorial Fountain in White Plaza will be running water.

All fountains are expected to be operating by June 9. However, after Commencement weekend on June 15, all 18 affected fountains will be shut down. Fountains on campus that are overseen by Residential & Dining Enterprises will remain shut off.

“I think we all realized during the past year that a traditional celebration like Commencement is enhanced by having the fountains on,” Jack Cleary, associate vice president of Land, Buildings & Real Estate, told the Stanford News Service. “The fountains make our campus even more beautiful, and we know that makes a big difference for graduates and their families during a very special time in their lives.”

According Cleary, the fountains will collectively require about 60,000 gallons of water to open. Upon shut down of the fountains after Commencement Weekend, this water will be stored and reused through the summer for tree irrigation.

The reopening of the fountains will also concurrently allow grounds crew to perform maintenance on fountains, in particular leak detection.

All 21 University fountains have been closed for over a year as part of Stanford’s efforts to cut water use. Although Stanford was not mandated to turn its fountains off, the University choose to reduce water use from non-essential uses, such as in running fountains.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Hennessy to moderate 2015 Three Books reading program https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/26/hennessy-to-moderate-2015-three-books-reading-program/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/26/hennessy-to-moderate-2015-three-books-reading-program/#comments Wed, 27 May 2015 06:08:07 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101508 In a letter addressed to the incoming Class of 2019 and transfers, President John Hennessy announced the three books for the Three Books reading program this coming academic year: "The Innovators" by Walter Isaacson, "This Boy's Life" by Tobias Wolff and "Cane River" by Lalita Tademy.

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University President John Hennessy will be moderating the Three Books discussion. (SEAN CHRISTESON/The Stanford Daily).
University President John Hennessy will be moderating the Three Books reading program for the Class of 2019. (SEAN CHRISTOFFERSON/The Stanford Daily).

In a letter addressed to the incoming Class of 2019 and transfers, President John Hennessy announced the three books for the Three Books reading program this coming academic year: “The Innovators,” by Walter Isaacson, “This Boy’s Life,” by Tobias Wolff and “Cane River,” by Lalita Tademy.

Hennessy was invited to be the faculty moderator for Three Books 2015 by the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education — according to Robert Urstein, dean of freshmen — an offer which Hennessy accepted.

“The Class of 2019 will be entering in the 125th year of the University, so we thought it was an appropriate opportunity to invite President Hennessy to lead the program this year,” Urstein said in an email to The Daily.

Hennessy, in his letter addressed to the incoming students, admitted the difficulties of choosing the books for the program before settling on his final decision.

“I spent a long time pondering what sort of books to choose when I was asked to lead the program this year, and I chose three books about people: a biography (actually a collection of short biographies), a memoir, and what we might call a book of biographical fiction,” Hennessy wrote. “They are stories about people, the challenges they face, and how they deal with adversity.”

Walter Isaacson’s “The Innovators” is a collection of short biographies of the various “hackers, geniuses and geeks” that helped shape the modern information age. Isaacson explores the stories of Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Vint Cerf, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other figures that contributed to the “Digital Revolution.” Isaacson is also well-known for his biography on Steve Jobs, titled “Steve Jobs.”

“This Boy’s Life” is a memoir of Tobias Wolff, who is currently a professor in the English Department at Stanford. Wolff describes his adolescence traveling with his mother across the continental United States.

“It is about the choices we make — good and bad — and about resiliency,” Hennessy wrote, of the book. “I love his writing for its honesty and Toby’s ability to let us get inside his head as he faces both crisis and difficult decisions.”

“Cane River,” an epic spanning four generations of African-American women, is based on author Lalita Tedemy’s ancestors. The story begins in the antebellum days of slavery and ends decades later, providing a story about the lives of Tedemy’s ancestors rather than just numbers and statistics surrounding slavery. “Cane River” was not only a New York Times bestseller but also an Oprah’s Book Club Pick.

Hennessy also mentioned that this year, there will be a website dedicated to the books and their authors’ information, where incoming students would also be able to find the online space to discuss about their readings among each other as well as other Stanford faculty. This will be done using the Stanford In Your Class platform.

A previous edition of this article stated that the website for the Three Books program will be done in collaboration with Stanford Online, however, Stanford Online was used in the previous two years whereas this year, the platform Stanford In Your Class is being used. The Daily regrets this error.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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SAE loses housing indefinitely after second investigation https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/19/sae-loses-housing-indefinitely/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/19/sae-loses-housing-indefinitely/#comments Wed, 20 May 2015 01:56:22 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101215 According to a statement released earlier today, the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) has now indefinitely lost its on-campus house -- among other privileges -- due to another investigation related to the fraternity’s compliance with its current alcohol and social suspension.

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According to a statement released earlier today, the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) has now indefinitely lost its on-campus house — among other privileges — due to another investigation that began in March related to the fraternity’s compliance with its current alcohol and social suspension.

The investigation — which was conducted jointly by the Title IX Office and the Office of Community Standards — involved two separate occasions in recent months, both in violation of the University policy. The first involved an incident in which SAE members deterred a female student from reporting a potential Title IX concern involving SAE, while the second involved intimidating and retaliatory conduct — including acts of cyberbullying — directed at another student based on a false belief that the student had reported Title IX concerns about SAE.

The March investigation also discovered that members of the fraternity held social events at the house with non-members and had alcohol in common areas of the house on several occasions in recent months, in violation of previous sanctions imposed by the University in February.

Aside from the indefinite loss of its on-campus housing, SAE will be on a probationary status for three academic years in which the chapter will continue to be recognized as a student organization but not be considered to be one in good standing. SAE will also not be allowed to have alcohol in the current house or in the surrounding property and is not permitted to have non-member guests in the house or sponsor any social events.

SAE will have the opportunity to appeal the decision to Provost John Etchemendy.

Furthermore, representatives from the SAE national headquarters and alumni — in partnership with Stanford — will conduct a full review of the current chapter members, which is to be completed by the end of the fall 2015 academic quarter. This review is to determine whether individual members are living up to the standards and ideals of the fraternity, and if found otherwise, SAE will be expected to dismiss any such member.

A previous University investigation into SAE resulted in the loss of its housing privileges for a two-year period. The earlier investigation, which concluded in December 2014, was undertaken by the University due to sexual harassment concerns.

This previous investigation reported that an SAE event last spring had created a hostile environment for female students and that the fraternity had not provided a sufficient response to concerns about the event, violating the University’s sexual harassment policy. The investigation, spearheaded by the Title IX office, stated that the removal of housing was a “Title IX remedy to ensure a safe, non-hostile environment for students.”

Following this, SAE lost an appeal to keep its house in March of this year, and the house appeared as non-themed row house “1047 Campus Drive” on the 2015-16 housing draw.

SAE representatives declined to comment.

 

This article will be updated.

 

Nitish Kulkarni and Andrew Vogeley contributed reporting to this article.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Asian American Awards presented to faculty, staff, students https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/12/asian-american-awards-presented-to-faculty-staff-students/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/12/asian-american-awards-presented-to-faculty-staff-students/#respond Wed, 13 May 2015 02:57:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1100841 Last Thursday, the 16th annual Stanford Asian American Awards were presented to 13 recipients -- which included faculty, staff, alumni and students -- during a ceremony at Paul Brest Hall in Munger.

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Last Thursday, the 16th annual Stanford Asian American Awards were presented to 13 recipients — which included faculty, staff, alumni and students — during a ceremony at Paul Brest Hall in Munger. The ceremony included not only speeches from the award recipients but also performances from various organizations of Asian/Pacific Islander (API)-identified groups.

The Stanford Asian American Awards are given to individuals every year to recognize award recipients for their service, achievement and dedication. These recipients are nominated through various means throughout the Stanford community and are finally selected by members of an advisory board.

The 2015 faculty and staff awards were given to Mindie Nguyen, associate professor of medicine and the director of the hepatology clerkship in the Department of Medicine, Cherry Cachero, a senior assistant director of admission at the Office of Undergraduate Admission and Manju Smith, financial management analyst at Stanford and a board member of the Asian Staff Forum.

This year’s alumni award was presented to Gary Mukai M.A. ’81, director of the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE).

Three graduate students — Yanwen Wu M.S. ’15, Chris Suh, fifth-year student in the Department of History and Alyssa Fu Ph.D. ’15 — and six undergraduate students — Katherine Nasol ’15, Sunli Kim ’15, Garima Sharma ’15,  Asia Chiao ’15, Tony Tran ’15 and James Huynh ’15 — were awarded and their specific achievements were recognized during the ceremony.

Performances this year included a musical score from The Asian American Theater Project, a dance from Kayumanggi and a piece from The Stanford Chinese Music Ensemble.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Spring quarter’s Beijing study abroad program suspended https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/21/spring-quarters-beijing-study-abroad-program-suspended/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/21/spring-quarters-beijing-study-abroad-program-suspended/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2015 10:19:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097678 The Stanford Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) Beijing Center program for spring quarter has been suspended, Ramón Saldívar, director of BOSP, announced last week.

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The Stanford Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) Beijing Center program for spring quarter has been suspended, Ramón Saldívar, director of BOSP, announced last week.

As a result of the director in Beijing choosing not to renew her contract with BOSP, the academic program was left without administrative leadership in Beijing and therefore unable to put together an adequate program before the next group of students would have arrived this spring.

The five students that had been selected to attend the program are no longer going to Beijing next quarter. However, students were offered the opportunity to join other existing study abroad programs with BOSP.

Two of these students have decided to defer their study abroad at the Beijing Center until fall quarter 2015, and two others have also decided to remain on campus. One of the students has decided to attend another BOSP overseas program this spring. Saldívar explained that housing for the students has been resolved.

Other accommodations that BOSP is making for the students include reimbursing them for their visa expenses and paying for their flight change fees. To accommodate students traveling abroad for academic requirements, BOSP will provide confirmation to the relevant departments that the Beijing Center spring quarter program was cancelled for administrative reasons.

While they understood why the study abroad program had to be suspended, several students were still upset about the abruptness of the cancellation and felt that BOSP could have made additional preferred accommodations.

“BOSP is working to ensure that in the future we can take advantage of the opportunities for an excellent study abroad program in China,” Saldívar wrote.

According to Saldívar, the small enrollment in the Beijing program had nothing to do with its cancellation.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford neurosurgeon and writer Paul Kalanithi dies at 37 https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/21/stanford-neurosurgeon-and-writer-paul-kalanithi-dies-at-37/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/21/stanford-neurosurgeon-and-writer-paul-kalanithi-dies-at-37/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2015 09:36:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097679 Stanford neurosurgeon and writer Paul Kalanithi '99 '00 died of lung cancer March 9 at the age of 37.

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Stanford neurosurgeon and writer Paul Kalanithi ’99 M.A. ’00 died of lung cancer on March 9 at the age of 37.

Kalanithi was well known for his essays published in the New York Times, The Paris Review and Stanford Medicine, which shared his insights on mortality in the face of his illness.

Kalanithi had recently completed his neurosurgery residency at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was an instructor in the Department of Neurosurgery and a fellow at the Stanford Neurosciences Institute. During his time here, he had authored more than 20 scientific publications and received the American Academy of Neurological Surgery’s highest award for research.

“We are all devastated by the tragedy of his sudden illness and untimely demise,” said Gary Steinberg, professor and chair of neurosurgery, in a press release. “Paul spent seven years with us. He’s very much part of our neurosurgical family. It affects us like a death in a closely knit family.”

During the last months of his life, Kalanithi worked on a teaching module with VJ Periyakoil, the director of Stanford’s palliative care education and training program.

Periyakoil described the module as teaching the lessons Kalanithi learned from being on both the doctor and the patient sides.

“His ‘dual citizenship’ as a doctor and as a seriously ill patient had taught him that respectful communication is the bedrock of all medicine,” Periyakoil said, in a press release. “We talked about the design of the module and how we could tailor it to make our medical students understand that the so-called soft skills of medicine are the truly hard skills to teach and to learn.”

While at Stanford for his undergraduate years, Kalanithi wrote for The Daily and played for the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band, graduating in 2000 after double majoring in English literature and human biology.

Kalanithi is survived by his wife, Lucy Goddard Kalanithi, a clinical instructor in medicine at Stanford; daughter, Cady; parents, Sujatha Kalanithi and A. Paul Kalanithi; brothers, Suman Kalanithi and Jeevan Kalanithi; and Jeevan’s wife, Emily Kalanithi, as well as their children, Eve and James.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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SAE house to become non-themed row house https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/10/sae-house-to-become-non-themed-row-house/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/10/sae-house-to-become-non-themed-row-house/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2015 06:37:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097478 The Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) house will convert to a non-themed row house next year, with the address of the house, 1047 Campus Drive, serving as the name, according to University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin.

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The Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) house will convert to a non-themed row house next year, with the address of the house, 1047 Campus Drive, serving as the name, according to University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin.

The house will be a self-op, and the residents living there next year will be purely based on housing draw. However, no SAE member will be eligible to draw into 1047 Campus Drive.

This decision followed the consideration of an appeal filed by the fraternity against the University’s suspension of its on-campus housing privileges, as a result of an investigation undertaken by the University regarding sexual harassment concerns. In late February, the University announced that it would uphold the fraternity’s two-year suspension.

The first phase of renovations to the house will be done over the summer, according to Lapin.

SAE will be eligible to reoccupy 1047 Campus Drive in fall 2017 after completing steps that include the development of a plan, which will be reviewed by University officials, for successful chapter and house management. If SAE’s plan is accepted, the fraternity will reoccupy the house.

However, the University does not have a final decision about the future of the house if SAE’s plan is not accepted.

“[I]f the plan is not accepted, no final decision has yet been made if 1047 Campus Drive will remain as a self-op, or be open to a theme or made available to other organizations,” Lapin wrote in an email to The Daily.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Pediatric surgeon Dennis Lund to become Stanford Children’s Health chief medical officer https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/10/pediatric-surgeon-dennis-lund-to-become-stanford-childrens-health-chief-medical-officer/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/10/pediatric-surgeon-dennis-lund-to-become-stanford-childrens-health-chief-medical-officer/#respond Tue, 10 Mar 2015 09:01:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097348 Starting March 16, pediatric surgeon Dennis Lund will join Stanford Children's Health and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford as the new chief medical officer. Lund will also serve as the associate dean for material and child health at the School of Medicine.

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Starting March 16, pediatric surgeon Dennis Lund will join Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford as the new chief medical officer. Lund will also serve as the associate dean for material and child health at the School of Medicine.

Lund succeeds Kenneth Cox, a professor of pediatrics, who is retiring from his role as chief medical officer. Cox will continue to serve as chief of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at the hospital, as well as medical director of the pediatric liver transplant program.

In his new position, Lund will partner with Kim Roberts, the chief administrative officer and physician CEO of Packard Children’s Health Alliance.

Lund started his over-30-year career in medicine after graduating from Harvard Medical School and began his career as a pediatric trauma and transplant surgeon at Boston Children’s Hospital. There, he developed a level-1 trauma program and began an intestinal transplant program.

He later became a professor of surgery and surgeon-in-chief at the University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital and in 2001 was appointed chair of the university’s Division of General Surgery. He played a key role in the creation of the American Family Children’s Hospital, which opened in 2007.

Before coming to Stanford, he served as executive vice president of Phoenix Children’s Medical Group and surgeon-in-chief at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

“I’m very excited to be coming to Stanford,” Lund said to the Stanford Medicine News Service. “There are a lot of challenges ahead for academic medical centers because of what’s happening in health care in the United States. Being at Stanford will really allow me to have a role in shaping the solution.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford under federal investigation for handling of sexual assault case https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/04/stanford-under-federal-investigation-for-handling-of-sexual-assault-case/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/04/stanford-under-federal-investigation-for-handling-of-sexual-assault-case/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2015 06:56:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097021 According to a government release earlier today, Stanford University was one of the four universities added to the list of schools under review for the handling of sexual assault cases by the Office of Civil Rights (OCS).

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The Office of Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Stanford's handling of sexual assault cases after Leah Francis filed a complaint (CALEB SMITH/The Stanford Daily).
The Office of Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Stanford’s handling of sexual assault cases after Leah Francis filed a complaint (CALEB SMITH/The Stanford Daily).

The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has added Stanford to its list of schools under review for the handling of sexual assault cases, the office announced on Wednesday.

The federal Title IX investigation stems from a complaint filed by Leah Francis ‘14, who sparked student protests last June in response to Stanford’s decision on a sexual assault case she brought against another student in January 2014.

According to Francis, the complaint to the OCR was filed on Dec. 5. The OCR officially opened the investigation on Feb. 26.

“I came to the decision to file a complaint, because although most of Stanford’s policies might be in compliance, their implementation is not in compliance with federal law,” Francis said.

Francis hopes that there will be motivations for Stanford to change given the government’s investigation.

“I’m hoping that the OCR can look at not only my complaint and my story, but all of the other cases of survivors who I know about that have occurred through the last three years, and ensure that in the future the law is followed,” she said. “I’m not the only one who has had a really intensely mishandled case. In fact, I think that mine is one of the milder [ones], and that’s saying something.”

Stanford spokeswoman Lisa Lapin told The Daily in an email that the University cannot comment on the complaint that prompted the OCR review, due to privacy restrictions.

“Stanford is aware of the Office for Civil Rights investigation and will cooperate fully,” Lapin wrote. “Our policies for investigating and adjudicating sexual misconduct claims are in compliance with both the letter and spirit of Title IX, and we look forward to sharing them with the office.”

Last spring, Stanford found Francis’ assailant responsible for sexual assault, and later ruled on appeal to withhold his degree for two years but not to suspend or expel him. He is eligible to return to Stanford for graduate school in fall 2016.

In August, an Alaska district attorney decided not to press charges against the assailant due to insufficient evidence.

Currently, the official OCR list stands at 101 colleges and universities. Other than Stanford, three other universities — Washington and Lee University in Virginia, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Point Park University in Pennsylvania — were recently added to the list.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Dean’s Medal awarded to three Stanford alumni https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/01/deans-medal-awarded-to-three-stanford-alumni/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/01/deans-medal-awarded-to-three-stanford-alumni/#respond Mon, 02 Mar 2015 04:30:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1096742 On Feb. 28, three Stanford alumni were honored with the Dean's Medal, one of the highest honors bestowed by the School of Medicine, which recognizes individuals whose scientific, medical, humanitarian or other contributions have significantly advanced the mission of Stanford Medicine.

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On Feb. 28, three Stanford alumni were honored with the Dean’s Medal, one of the highest honors bestowed by the School of Medicine, which recognizes individuals whose scientific, medical, humanitarian or other contributions have significantly advanced the mission of Stanford Medicine.

The 2015 recipients of the Dean’s Medal are Mariann Byerwalter ’82, William Brody M.D. ’70 Ph.D. ’72 and John Scully MBA ’68.

“Mariann Byerwalter is a visionary individual who has worked tirelessly on behalf of Stanford Medicine, helping provide financial stability and recruit new faculty to lead the enterprise,” said Dean of Stanford Medical School Lloyd Minor to the Stanford Medicine News. “Bill Brody is a remarkable innovator in the field of imaging and has made significant contributions to advancing academic medicine and supporting research, education and patient care. John Scully has brought his natural leadership, passion for cutting-edge science and personal resources to bear in significantly advancing the field of stem cell medicine and helping to expand the possibilities of what we can accomplish at Stanford Medicine.”

Byerwalter is currently on the board of directors of Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and chairs the board of directors of SRI International Inc., continuing her over 30 years of service to the University.

As a Stanford senior, she received the Wallace Sterling Award for outstanding academic achievement. She was elected to the University’s Board of Trustees in the early 90s and joined the board of the children’s hospital afterwards. In 1996, Byerwalter served as the University’s chief financial officer and vice president for business affairs, a position she held for six years.

Brody, a former Stanford faculty member who is now president of the Salk Institute of Biological Studies, combined his interest in medicine and engineering while at Stanford. For his electrical engineering Ph.D. project, he worked with heart surgeon Norman Shumway and director of Stanford’s Integrated Circuits Laboratory James Meindl to work on a method that used ultrasound to measure blood flow during heart rejection.

He later did his fellowship and residency in cardiac surgery at Stanford and joined the faculty in diagnostic radiology. During his time here, Brody also came up with the innovation for one of the first open MRI machines.

Brody then left Stanford to become the chair of radiology at Johns Hopkins University and became president of John Hopkins in 1996, a position he held for 12 years.

Scully, a board member of Stanford Health Care and the managing director of the investment firm SPO Partners & Co., attended Princeton University as an undergraduate and later came to the Graduate School of Business to earn an MBA.

Scully began his own investment banking firm at age 26 and became involved in many philanthropic ventures. He joined the Board of Trustees in 2000, serving for 10 years that included four years as vice chair, before becoming a board member for Stanford Health Care. Scully, together with his wife Regina, has been a major contributor to the stem cell program at Stanford Medicine.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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SAE loses housing suspension appeal, will remain on campus through spring https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/27/sae-loses-housing-suspension-appeal-will-remain-on-campus-through-spring/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/27/sae-loses-housing-suspension-appeal-will-remain-on-campus-through-spring/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2015 19:07:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1096729 After considering an appeal filed by the fraternity, Stanford University upheld the suspension of on-campus housing privileges for Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) during the next two academic years, according to a statement from the University released this morning.

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After considering an appeal filed by the fraternity, Stanford University upheld the suspension of on-campus housing privileges for Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) during the next two academic years.

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SAE lost its housing suspension appeal, the University said in a statement on Friday morning. (JOSEPH BEYDA/The Stanford Daily)

The fraternity can remain in its current house through spring quarter, the University said in a statement released Friday morning. The initial suspension had required that the fraternity members move out after winter quarter.

According to the case’s appeal officer, Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman, “no grounds for overturning the findings of a sexual harassment investigation involving the fraternity” was found. However, Boardman also noted that a separate Organization Conduct Board review found the fraternity responsible for alcohol and hazing policy violations.

Although SAE will not have on-campus housing for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years, the fraternity can remain in its current house through spring quarter.

“The extension of time in the house is being provided in recognition of the disruptions involved in mid-year re-housing of all the fraternity’s members, the absence of misconduct complaints against the fraternity this academic year, and positive steps the fraternity is taking to demonstrate leadership as an organization,” according to the University statement.

During this housing extension, SAE will still be under an alcohol suspension as well as a social suspension that prohibits social events in the residence with guests.

SAE will be eligible to apply to re-occupy the current house starting in fall 2017 after completing certain steps, to be reviewed by University officials, that include the development of a plan for successful chapter and house management.

SAE declined to comment.

This post will be updated.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford Ph.D. pleads no contest to domestic violence charges https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/08/stanford-ph-d-pleads-no-contest-to-domestic-violence-charges/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/08/stanford-ph-d-pleads-no-contest-to-domestic-violence-charges/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2015 05:46:41 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1095264 Stanford Ph.D. student in electrical engineering Yishun Dong pleaded no contest this week to multiple counts of domestic violence and assault and battery charges after he allegedly beat his former girlfriend last year in July.

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Stanford Ph.D. student in electrical engineering Yishun Dong pleaded no contest last week to multiple counts of domestic violence and assault and battery charges after he allegedly beat his former girlfriend last year in July.

For not contesting the felony charges, Dong will avoid state prison and face no more than 364 days in county jail, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

On July 19, Dong is alleged to have gone over to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Menlo Park and assaulted her, striking her six to seven times violently. The two of them had dated for a year but broke up a month before the assault, according to prosecutors. The victim is also a doctoral student at Stanford University.

The victim was hospitalized and had to have surgery for a fracture around the eye. She had initially denied her ex-boyfriend was responsible for the attack but eventually reported the incident to the police.

In October, Dong pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, last Monday at a pretrial conference, he admitted to charges of felony, domestic violence and an enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury.

Dong is out of custody on a $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Applications close for first Stanford in New York quarter https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/28/applications-close-for-first-stanford-in-new-york-quarter/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/28/applications-close-for-first-stanford-in-new-york-quarter/#respond Thu, 29 Jan 2015 07:55:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1094531 This Sunday, the University closed the application process for its inaugural program of Stanford in New York City (SiNYC) in the 2016-17 academic year.

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This Sunday, the University closed the application process for its inaugural program of Stanford in New York City (SiNYC) in the 2016-17 academic year. SiNYC is an off-campus program in New York City that is meant to combine internship experience – ranging in work from cultural institutions to not-for-profit organizations – with coursework in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

“The initial vision was to offer one quarter with a focus on the arts, architecture, design and urban studies in the first year, with a plan to add more quarters with potentially different foci in subsequent years of the pilot,” said Shari Palmer, associate vice provost of undergraduate education, in an email to The Daily.

SiNYC is offered by the Office of Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education (VPUE), as are all the Bing Overseas Studies programs. Palmer stated that SiNYC’s uniqueness is in that it would offer opportunities and engagement that could only happen in New York, in the same way that the other off-campus programs have special connections with the communities that they operate in.

“We’ve also consulted extensively with the Stanford in Washington program, whose model of in-depth internships combined with coursework is probably the closest analogue to this program,” Palmer added.

Students will be taking a core set of classes and electives while working in various internships set up by the time that they arrive to the city.

“There’s a lot of intentionality in shaping the internship experience,” said Eric David Van Danen, communications director of VPUE. “We’re providing students with internship experience that places them in a role with real world experience but also allows them to learn and grow developmentally.”

According to Van Danen, students of the program will be living in vicinity of each other in Brooklyn Heights and may have the opportunity to interact along other students from other parts of the country and even the world.

Students will also have a faculty member in residence living near them.

Doug McAdam, the Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, was selected to be SIiNYC’s faculty member in residence for the upcoming fall quarter.

According to Palmer, McAdam was chosen because he not only consulted in the design of the fall quarter program, but also because his teaching and research interests fit the focus of the SiNYC program well.

“He is a renowned teacher and mentor to undergraduates, and he has extensive recent experience in New York,” Palmer said.

McAdam will also teach two elective courses through the program.

The University plans to expand the program in following years by adding course offerings with potentially different foci. Over the course of this year, the overall SiNYC plan developed to include a program focus on media and finance in the winter quarter of 2016-17. The focus for a spring quarter offering, which would not be added until 2017-18, has yet to be determined.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Trustees approve development of Stanford in Redwood City campus https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/07/trustees-approve-development-of-stanford-in-redwood-city-campus/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/07/trustees-approve-development-of-stanford-in-redwood-city-campus/#comments Thu, 08 Jan 2015 05:27:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1093467 During a meeting last month, the Stanford University Board of Trustees gave preliminary approval for the first phase of an administrative campus in Redwood City, located seven miles from Stanford’s campus just off Highway 101.

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During a meeting last month, the Stanford University Board of Trustees gave preliminary approval for the first phase of an administrative campus in Redwood City, located seven miles from Stanford’s campus just off Highway 101.

The project will include resources for more than 2,000 Stanford employees, such as office buildings, cafes, a fitness/recreation facility, parking facilities, space for conferences and a child care center for Stanford families.

The trustees’ proposal represents the first phase of construction under the Stanford in Redwood City Precise Plan, the first significant expansion outside its main campus. Under this 30-year developmental plan for the 35-acre site, the University may develop up to 1.5 million square feet.

The first phase of the project will develop 21 of the 35 acres on site. Office space will take up about 560,000 of the total 650,000 square feet. The campus was planned with the desire for the site to have a campus feel, complete with landscapes, courtyards, gateways and public spaces. The University plans to incorporate urban, open space and maintain a commitment to sustainability while developing the site.

The Redwood City City Council approved the Precise Plan, as well as the environmental impact report and development agreement in September 2013.

The University had initially purchased the property in Redwood City in February 2005 and according to Steven A. Denning, chair of the Board of Trustees, Stanford made an astute move when buying the land nearly 10 years ago.

“When we bought the property, Silicon Valley was going through one of its corrective phases and real estate prices were much lower than today,” he said, to the Stanford News Service.

The site is intended to become the new home for approximately 2,200 personnel from the Stanford Research Park and from various departments located on the main campus such as Land, Buildings & Real Estate (LBRE), Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) and University Human Resources.

By relocating administrative staff, Stanford would be able to preserve the main campus for the University’s academic priorities and needs. Additionally, the move would ultimately free space in the Research Park, which will be leased as a source of funds for the University.

The location already houses Stanford Health Care outpatient clinics as well as Stanford Libraries Services, HighWire, an ePublishing platform affiliated with Stanford, and Stanford University Press. The University is also leasing space to several companies at the moment.

Construction is planned to begin in 2016 and the first move-ins are projected for late 2019.

Other planned programs includes starting a commute program in which the University would provide a shuttle bus open to the public that will travel to the Redwood site, main campus and the Caltrain station.

Kylie Jue also contributed to this report.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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​​Students informed of senior Jalen Paukan’s death https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/06/students-informed-of-senior-jalen-paukans-death/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/06/students-informed-of-senior-jalen-paukans-death/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2015 06:52:10 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1093388 In an email sent out to the Stanford community this afternoon, Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman announced that Jalen Paukan '15 died yesterday.

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Students gathered for a grief session mourning the loss of Jalen Paukan at the Native American Cultural Center earlier tonight. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)
Students gathered for a grief session mourning the loss of Jalen Paukan at the Native American Cultural Center earlier tonight. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

In an email sent out to the Stanford community this afternoon, Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman announced that Jalen Paukan ’15 died yesterday.

A senior from St. Mary’s, Alaska, Paukan was a resident of Mirrielees and an active member of the Native American Cultural Center. He was a psychology major and had also studied abroad in Florence last spring.

“Police are investigating the details surrounding Jalen’s death, and as a result there is limited information to share at this time,” wrote Boardman in his email.

“We know that many students are devastated, as are many staff who knew Jalen well,” said associate vice president for University communications Lisa Lapin in an email to The Daily. “He was a bright light from a very small village in rural Alaska, and someone full of promise and great potential.  He had been very active in organizing events at the Native American Cultural Center and was part of that community. Everyone is incredibly, incredibly sad.”

If anyone would like to share thoughts or memories of Jalen, please contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13@stanford.edu. 

 

 

 

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SAE housing suspended for two years due to sexual harassment concerns https://stanforddaily.com/2014/12/12/sae-housing-suspended-for-two-years-due-to-sexual-harassment-concerns/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/12/12/sae-housing-suspended-for-two-years-due-to-sexual-harassment-concerns/#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2014 00:19:33 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1093095 According to a University statement made earlier today, Stanford has suspended the on-campus housing privileges of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity for the next two academic years, effective spring quarter this year, as a result of an investigation undertaken by the University regarding sexual harassment concerns.

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According to a University statement made earlier today, Stanford has suspended the on-campus housing privileges of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity for the next two academic years, effective spring quarter this year, as a result of an investigation undertaken by the University regarding sexual harassment concerns.

The University reported that an SAE event last spring had created a hostile environment for female students and that the fraternity had not provided a sufficient response to concerns about the event, violating the University’s sexual harassment policy.

Although SAE will continue to be a recognized fraternity at Stanford, the fraternity will no longer have the privilege and responsibility of having a dedicated on-campus house.

The University clarified that SAE’s loss of housing privileges is not specifically due to the new policy that was announced earlier this year, which removes a Greek organization’s eligibility for on-campus housing indefinitely following one major or three minor violations of University policy or law, but as a “Title IX remedy to ensure a safe, non-hostile environment for students.”

“This action is not a reflection on any individual in the house, as many of the members are positive contributors to the Stanford community. But it is a necessary step given continuing concerns about behaviors in the house as a whole,” the statement read.

The University’s investigation was conducted by outside counsel and involved interviews with more than 30 individuals. The investigation revealed that members of a campus sorority that had attended the event in May were subjected to offensive material during the event, which reportedly included graphic sexual content and offensive commentary regarding domestic physical abuse of women. Additionally, the investigation also found that the leadership of the house did not appropriately respond to concerns about the event that had been raised in advance based on a similar SAE event from the previous year.

“Stanford deeply values free speech,” the statement continued. “The case in question, however, is about behavior that infringed upon the rights of others in a discriminatory manner. Stanford has an obligation to ensure an academic and living environment free of harassment or intimidation and in full compliance with the requirements of Title IX.”

The investigation also noted a series of other concerns about the fraternity. In 2009, after a previous investigation of concerns at the house, social restrictions were placed on the fraternity and members were also required to take training regarding sexual harassment, sexual assault and responsible alcohol use.

Additionally, during the 2013-14 academic year, the University became aware of potential instances of drugged drinks and other misconduct at the SAE house, and although those reports could not be substantiated because witnesses were unwilling to participate in the investigation or were unable to identify individuals involved, the University wrote that “[the concerns’] number and nature add to the University’s concern for ensuring the safety of Stanford students.”

The University is giving SAE an opportunity to appeal the loss of housing to the Vice Provost of Student Affairs. However, if the suspension is upheld, the University will work with individual SAE members to find alternate housing options for spring quarter. During winter quarter, SAE will be prohibited from holding social events involving alcohol or non-member guests.

SAE will be able to re-apply for on-campus housing for the 2017-18 academic year, but will need to also complete a series of educational and other remedial activities.

When reached for comment, SAE representatives said they had no comment at this time.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Ike’s places bid on Lathrop Library cafe space https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/14/ikes-places-bid-on-lathrop-library-cafe-space/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/14/ikes-places-bid-on-lathrop-library-cafe-space/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2014 03:58:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1089749 In a public tweet earlier this week, Ike Shehadeh, owner of sandwich shop Ike's Place, announced that he had placed a bid for his eatery on the Lathrop Library cafe space.

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In a public tweet earlier this week, Ike Shehadeh, owner of sandwich franchise Ike’s, announced that he had placed a bid for his eatery on the Lathrop Library cafe space.

“I’d like to be on campus again,” Shehadeh said. “The students showed their support.”

The cafe space is in the basement of the library, and according to Shehadeh, one of the challenges that other bidders may find with the space is its lack of ventilation, as businesses that may plan to be there will be restricted from cooking. However, Shehadeh doesn’t expect that his sandwich business will be impacted because the equipment his business uses on a day-to-day basis, including the sandwich oven, doesn’t require open air.

“I can make most of my sandwiches there,” Shehadeh said. “I won’t be able to make some of them but I’ll be able to make most of them, maybe 90 percent of them.”

Ike’s Sandwiches had previously been on campus in Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center before closing earlier this year in June to be replaced by Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE)-owned Forbes Family Cafe.

This article will be updated.

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No earthquake damage reported on Stanford campus https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/25/no-earthquake-damage-reported-on-stanford-campus/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/25/no-earthquake-damage-reported-on-stanford-campus/#respond Tue, 26 Aug 2014 02:09:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087654 A 6.0 earthquake that was centered near South Napa was recorded at 3:20 a.m. early Sunday morning, its epicenter about four miles northwest of American Canyon and six miles southwest of Napa, according to the Menlo Park-based United States Geological Survey (USGS).

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A 6.0 earthquake that was centered near South Napa was recorded at 3:20 a.m. early Sunday morning, its epicenter about four miles northwest of American Canyon and six miles southwest of Napa, according to the Menlo Park-based United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake — said to be the largest to hit the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta Earthquake nearly 25 years ago — lies within the San Andreas Fault system that forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates.

USGS officials also reported 2.5 and 3.6 magnitude aftershocks about four miles southwest of Napa at 5:01 a.m. and 5:47 a.m., respectively, although up to 60 aftershocks were reported throughout Sunday. Officials have also said 30 to 70 small aftershocks could hit the area during the next week, though none will be as strong as the initial earthquake.

No damage was reported at Stanford, according to Brad Hayward, a University spokesperson, although several students on campus reported mild shaking and tremors.

 

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Meyer Library closes permanently, relocating services to Lathrop https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/25/meyer-library-closes-permanently-relocating-services-to-lathrop/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/25/meyer-library-closes-permanently-relocating-services-to-lathrop/#respond Tue, 26 Aug 2014 01:46:07 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087653 Last Friday at 4 p.m., Meyer Library closed its doors permanently, its services relocated to the new Lathrop Library, which was renovated from the former Graduate School of Business (GSB) South Building over the summer.

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Stanford Daily File Photo
Stanford Daily File Photo

Last Friday at 4 p.m., Meyer Library closed its doors permanently, its services relocated to the new Lathrop Library, which was renovated from the former Graduate School of Business (GSB) South Building over the summer.

According to a press release from Gabrielle Karampelas, director of communications for Stanford University Libraries, the decision to relocate the services currently housed in Meyer was made in 2007 when a seismic safety evaluation found that costs of bringing Meyer into compliance with current safety standards would exceed the cost of renovating another existing space on campus.

Lathrop Library will now host the 24-hour study space, the East Asia Library, the Digital Language Lab, the Flexible Class Lab, large format printing, multimedia equipment rental and other services provided by the Libraries’ Academic Computing Services Team.

In order to commemorate the 48-year-old building, Stanford University Libraries is encouraging the Stanford community to share their memories of Meyer on Twitter using the hashtag #ByeMeyer.

All services offered by the Academic Computing Services Team will be available on the first floor of Lathrop Library beginning Sept. 2 for September Studies students, while the East Asia Library will occupy the second and third floors and be open starting Sept. 15. An opening celebration for the East Asia Library will also take place the following month on Oct. 1.

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Stand with Leah activists unsatisfied after discussing sexual assault with Hennessy https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/18/stand-with-leah-activists-unsatisfied-after-discussing-sexual-assault-with-hennessy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/18/stand-with-leah-activists-unsatisfied-after-discussing-sexual-assault-with-hennessy/#comments Sat, 19 Jul 2014 04:07:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086885 Stand with Leah supporters met with University President John Hennessy on Thursday and left the discussion disappointed, citing the administrators' position on how Leah Francis '14's case was handled and recent appointments to the new faculty-student committee tasked with studying the University’s disciplinary processes for reported cases.

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Stand with Leah activists met with President John Hennessy, Senior University Counsel Lauren Schoenthaler and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Stephanie Kalfayan on Thursday to speak about sexual assault at Stanford.

Stand with Leah activists are unhappy with a discussion with University President John Hennessy about the handling of the sexual assault case involving Leah Francis '14 (above) and her assailant, another student at the time. (CALEB SMITH/The Stanford Daily)
Stand with Leah activists are disappointed with a discussion they had on Thursday with University President John Hennessy, including administrators’ position on the handling of the sexual assault case involving Leah Francis ’14 (above) and her assailant, another student. (CALEB SMITH/The Stanford Daily)

The meeting with the President had been requested “in order to discuss [Leah Francis ’14’s] demands” as well as to understand why Francis, Stand with Leah activists and their faculty supporters were “being excluded from committee membership,” according to a post on the Stand with Leah Facebook page.

The group made it clear in its Facebook post that it was unsatisfied with the administrators’ position on certain elements of Francis’ case: namely, the decision to defer Francis’ assailant’s suspension until after his graduation and the time it took for the University to make a ruling and remove the student from campus.

“The President stated that he was sorry that Leah had been sexually assaulted,” the group wrote, “but denied that Stanford had violated Title IX, or indeed, that any mistakes had been made in her case.”

“President Hennessy welcomes input from all members of the campus community,” wrote Brad Hayward, a Stanford spokesperson, in an email to The Daily, “and welcomed the opportunity to hear from this group of students.”

On Thursday, the Stand with Leah activists also expressed their concern with the appointments to the Provost’s new faculty-student committee, which was formed last month.

The committee will be tasked with improving educational efforts surrounding sexual assault and harassment, as well as studying the University’s disciplinary processes for reported cases. According to activists, the committee included neither sexual assault survivors nor faculty with expertise in the area.

“We were particularly hopeful that law professor Michele Dauber, who formerly was faculty co-chair of the Board on Judicial Affairs and was one of the primary authors of current university policy would be appointed,” the Stand with Leah Facebook post stated. “We were told that Professor Dauber, who assisted Leah in her appeals and was highly critical of Stanford’s handling of Leah’s case in the media ‘just wasn’t going to happen.’”

The full membership of the committee is not yet known, aside from its co-chairs, Dean of the Law School M. Elizabeth Magill and ASSU President Elizabeth Woodson ’15. However, Hayward said that the other members would be announced shortly.

The University expects the committee to solicit input from the Stanford community about ARP reform and handling of sexual assault cases at Stanford. This point was criticized by Stand with Leah supporters as well.

“University officials seemed to think that survivors would approach committee members and ‘be happy to tell their story,’” the group’s Facebook post continued. “They seemed completely baffled by the idea that survivors would feel hesitant or unsafe telling their stories of staff incompetence, mishandling, and lack of legal compliance to the committee.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

 

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University begins efforts to reexamine policies for handling sexual assault cases https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/29/university-begins-efforts-to-reexamine-policies-for-handling-sexual-assault-cases/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/29/university-begins-efforts-to-reexamine-policies-for-handling-sexual-assault-cases/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2014 18:00:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086585 Stanford has begun reexamining its policies for handling sexual assault cases in the wake of protests and calls for change by a sexual assault survivor earlier this month.

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Stanford has begun reexamining its policies for handling sexual assault cases in the wake of protests and calls for change by a sexual assault survivor earlier this month.

During the June 12 Faculty Senate meeting, University Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ‘82 announced the creation of a new faculty-student committee tasked with improving educational efforts surrounding sexual assault and harassment, as well as studying the University’s disciplinary processes for reported cases.

Dean of the Law School M. Elizabeth Magill and ASSU President Elizabeth Woodson ‘15 will chair the committee, which will begin work this summer. The creation of the committee has been well received among student and faculty.

“I think that [the formation of the committee] is a great first step from the administration. It shows dedication to action,” Woodson said. “The goal that Magill and I share is a vision that no student at Stanford is sexually assaulted. If that does happen, then justice is delivered swiftly and effectively, and the survivor is thoroughly supported in the aftermath.”

“I am very glad that the Provost is taking [the problem of sexual assault] very seriously,” said David Palumbo-Liu, a faculty member that hopes to join the new faculty-student committee. “They can affect change that can close loopholes or address things that the initial ARP [Alternate Review Process] couldn’t.”

Stanford currently uses the ARP to adjudicate reported cases of sexual assault and harassment. A revised ARP was approved by the ASSU and the Faculty Senate in May 2013 following a three-year pilot program.

In his presentation to the Faculty Senate, Etchemendy said that the newly established committee will be asked to consider, among other issues, whether the University’s disciplinary process should use expulsion as the “presumptive” outcome in cases where students are found responsible for sexual assault.

This conversation was sparked on June 3, when student Leah Francis ‘14 sent an email to the student body detailing her story as a survivor of sexual assault. Francis criticized the University’s handling of the case — most significantly, that it did not expel her assailant, a senior, despite finding him responsible for sexual assault, sexual misconduct and violating the Fundamental Standard.

Through the ARP, her assailant was originally suspended for five quarters beginning summer 2014, but he was allowed to graduate and return for graduate school in fall 2015. Following Francis’ appeal for expulsion, the University reportedly made a final decision to withhold the assailant’s degree for two years, no longer suspending the student and not expelling him either.

After the initial rally in White Plaza on June 5, students, faculty and staff also protested outside the June 12 Faculty Senate Meeting and have been using the hashtag #standwithleah to raise awareness on social media.

“It really hits home,” Palumbo-Liu said of the emotionally-charged protests. “It’s a civil rights issue. You should be able to go out of your dorm without feeling threatened and you should have full access to your education.”

Despite the outcry to change the punitive aspects of the ARP, some criticize the implementation of the original policies surrounding the system.

Michele Dauber, the faculty chair of the Board on Judicial Affairs from 2011 to 2013 and one of the primary authors of the ARP, noted in particular the amount of time it took for the case to get settled and the reportedly reduced punishment of the assailant.

“They, in my opinion, appear to have manufactured mitigating factors that do not exist anywhere in the penalty code and essentially, in my opinion, mitigated his punishment based on the fact that [the assailant and victim] had a dating relationship in the past,” Dauber said. “I feel like my time drafting the ARP was wasted by the University because they hadn’t implemented the policy that they have, so I don’t feel very optimistic about [revising the] policy.”

Woodson also addressed those challenges.

“[Problems of implementation] are definitely within the awareness of faculty administrators that I’ve spoken to, and that is very important to us,” Woodson said. “[The sexual assault committee’s] job is to deflate that, and make sure that concerns around not stopping at a policy change or even in reviewing the policy are taken.”

Additionally, according to Woodson, there are plans to develop an educational campaign about “affirmative consent.” During the Faculty Senate meeting, Etchemendy announced that all incoming students will be required to participate in online training related to the matter before arriving on campus next fall.

The ASSU also plans to form a proposal — compiling both outside research and interviews within the Stanford community — to address the state of sexual assault resources at Stanford right now and to present to administrators.

“Another thing we’re working on is continuing conversations that we started in the spring,” Woodson said. “Empathy is critical, especially in this topic, understanding the different pinpoints and why people are confused and why people are scared.”

Woodson emphasized the importance of ensuring that as much input from the student body reached the ASSU, collaborating with individual student body efforts for joining the reform conversation.

One of these is led by Taylor Brown ’16 and Brandon Camhi ‘16, who hope that the reforms not only include harsher punishments and stricter enforcement of sanctions through the ARP, but also education and survivor resources.

“Currently, the resources are limited,” Brown said. “[Counseling and Psychological Services] does not have the capacity for long-term counseling — which is what sexual assault victims typically need. If a Stanford student needs long-term counseling they must go off campus using private insurance. There is also no academic support specific to survivors.

“Another overarching issue is that although there may be many resources, they are not streamlined,” Brown added. “It is extremely unhelpful to survivors when they are simply handed a stack of pamphlets. There needs to be more professional support and guidance.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Bill and Melinda Gates deliver 2014 Commencement, addressing innovation, optimism, empathy https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/15/bill-and-melinda-gates-delivers-2014-commencement-addressing-innovation-optimism-empathy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/15/bill-and-melinda-gates-delivers-2014-commencement-addressing-innovation-optimism-empathy/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2014 01:57:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086455 Bill and Melinda Gates shared the podium during Stanford’s first joint Commencement speech — touching upon innovation, optimism and empathy — to the Class of 2014 at Stanford’s 123rd Commencement ceremony.

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The Gates pridefully donned nerd glasses during their Commencement speech to the Class of 2014. (Frances Guo/The Stanford Daily)
The Gates pridefully donned Nerd Nation glasses during their Commencement speech to the Class of 2014. (Frances Guo/The Stanford Daily)

Bill and Melinda Gates shared the podium during Stanford’s first joint Commencement speech — touching upon innovation, optimism and empathy — to the Class of 2014 at Stanford’s 123rd Commencement ceremony.

But before the Gates went into their speech, they first donned what the Stanford community has adopted as a symbol of pride: Nerd Nation glasses.

“Some people call you all nerds, and we hear that you claim that label with pride,” Melinda said.

“Stanford is known for its creative and entrepreneurial spirit, and from its founding we have encouraged our students to use their education to promote the public good,” said University president John Hennessy. “Today’s speakers exemplify both these characteristics. Optimistic, bold, collaborative, focused, Bill and Melinda Gates believe every life has value, and over the past 14 years, through their foundation, they have been tackling society’s most complex problems.”

The Gates recounted their individual experiences when seeing suffering in less privileged communities across the globe.

Bill first emphasized the risk of worsening the digital divide with technological innovation, stating that the power technology provides should benefit everyone and that it should be equally accessible to all people.

Bill also spoke of his first trip to South Africa in 1997 when he had visited Soweto, a city just south of Johannesburg.

“I had seen statistics on poverty but I had never seen poverty,” Bill admitted, describing the destitute situation of the poor in Soweto. He recalled questioning his belief that innovation was the solution to tough global problems.

Bill gave the example of the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) situation when he returned to Soweto a number of years after his first visit to South Africa.

“Seeing this hell didn’t reduce my optimism,” he said. “It channeled it. I got into the car as I left and told the doctor we were working with, ‘I know MDR-TB is hard to cure, but we must do something for these people.’”

He cited improvements of the TB drug regime in the years since, resulting in an 80 percent cure rate after six months for under $100, compared to the previous 50 percent cure rate after 18 months of treatment that cost $2,000.

Melinda then spoke of her experiences when traveling in India 10 years ago, remembering the last day of her trip when she met with a group of prostitutes.

“I expected them to talk about the risk of AIDS that they were facing, but what they wanted to talk to me about was stigma,” Melinda said, describing that the sex workers were abandoned and not cared about by society.

Later that same day, Melinda encountered another example of the negative impact of societal stigma, when she visited a “home for the dying.” She had noticed one bed in the far off corner that wasn’t being attended to and went to comfort the 30-year-old patient that lay in it.

“And I could tell that [the patient] had AIDS, both in the way she looked and in the fact that she was off in this corner alone,” Melinda said.

Melinda then told the Commencement audience that even though she was unable to either cure the patient’s disease or alleviate the stigma that left the patient uncared for, she was able to fulfill the patient’s wish to see the sunset, taking her up to to the rooftop to face west by dusk.

Melinda described how for the past 10 years, the Gates Foundation has been helping sex workers build support groups. She commended how the women of these groups — although seen as the lowest in their communities — have initiated a change from the bottom up, noting that one factor that may have limited the AIDS epidemic in India was the self-empowerment of these women to ask clients to use condoms.

The Gates then addressed a paradox: that innovation could be seen as opening up new potential and making the world better, or that it could make inequality larger and decrease the next generation’s opportunities.

“If innovation is purely market-driven, and we don’t focus on the big inequities, then we could have amazing advances in inventions that leave the world even more divided,” Bill said. If our optimism doesn’t address the problems that affect so many of our fellow human beings, then our optimism needs more empathy.”

Bill commended the Class of 2014 graduates, stating that he believed that the audience before him had a better sense of the world than he did when he was graduating college.

“Over the next generation, you Stanford graduates will lead the new wave of innovation,” Bill said. “If your world is wide, you can create the future we all want. If your world is narrow, you may create the future the pessimists fear.”

Melinda then spoke of how luck — where someone is born, when someone is born and what opportunities they are given — play such a large role in success.

“When we strip away our luck and privilege, and we consider where we’d be without them, it becomes much easier to see someone who’s poor and say, ‘That could be me.’ And that’s empathy,” Melinda said. “Empathy tears down barriers and opens up a whole new frontier for optimism.”

The Gates concluded their address to the Stanford graduates with uplifting final words of encouragement.

“As you leave Stanford, take all your genius and your optimism and your empathy, and go change the world in ways that will make millions of people optimistic,” Melinda said. “In the course of your lives, perhaps without any plan on your part, you’ll see suffering that’s going to break your heart. When it happens, don’t turn away from it. That’s the moment when change is born.”

George Chen contributed to this report.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Membership selectivity for VSOs raise concerns https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/03/sal-analyzes-membership-policies-of-student-groups/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/03/sal-analyzes-membership-policies-of-student-groups/#respond Tue, 03 Jun 2014 11:25:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086284 In response to the concern that some of Stanford’s student organizations have become too selective, SAL assessed the membership policies of student organizations with a survey that went out to the student body.

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(VICTOR XU/The Stanford Daily)
(VICTOR XU/The Stanford Daily)

In response to the concern that some of Stanford’s Voluntary Student Organizations (VSOs) have become too selective, the offices of Student Activities and Leadership (SAL), Residential Education, the Haas Center and the Office of Religious Life brought together a working group of staff in order to assess the membership policies of student organizations.

“There were issues about selectivity and how hard it is to join some groups,” said Snehal Naik, assistant dean and associate director of SAL. “We were having some discussions and over time we have had concerns and complaints to come to us around particular organizations that students are not able to join as a member.”

In order to learn more about the problems students were experiencing, SAL administered a survey via Qualtrics to a random sample of 1,500 undergraduates and 1,200 graduate students between Feb. 27 and March 7 earlier this year, asking questions about the student organization community on campus, particularly if organizations practice offering students open and easy access to joining VSOs.

Of the random sampling, 491 undergraduates and 418 graduate students responded, a total of 909 unique responses.

Naik reported differences in the results of the survey between the undergraduate and graduate student populations, namely that 75 percent of undergraduates reported being involved in a registered student organization compared to 60 percent of graduate students.

Additionally, the two groups of students provided different reasons for difficulties in joining student organizations. While graduate students mentioned having a hard time figuring how to join organizations or even what organizations existed, undergraduates found difficulties in joining for various other reasons.

“In a qualitative analysis of student comments, we found that 44 percent of undergraduates felt that it was difficult to get involved in the first place, 36 percent because of selectivity before joining the groups — particularly in pre-professional, club sport or performing arts groups — 11 percent felt intimidated to join and nine percent didn’t have time to join,” Naik said.

SAL estimates that 20 to 30 percent of student groups require students to go through “strict application processes,” asking for interviews, resumes and transcripts, among other things. However, the office does not encourage this selectivity.

In an interview with The Daily last year, Nanci Howe, associate dean and director of SAL, said that although some group’s selective procedures are acceptable, others violate the mission of VSOs.

“The criteria for selecting members should be objective and is critical to the operation of the group,” Howe said. “For example, a cappella groups have auditions and everyone has the opportunity to audition. As long as those auditions are open to everyone and there is a fair and non-discriminatory process for choosing who can participate and be selected, then we would consider that within the guidelines of objective criteria.”

While SAL understands that certain activities and the lack of particular resources — like one-on-one mentoring opportunities — might limit the number of members that organizations can take in, SAL plans to work with student groups in order to find the happy medium and ensure that all students continue to have open and easy access to student organizations.

Because the University is an educational institution, Naik said, student organizations should provide students with learning opportunities, as opposed to preventing them from joining.

“More conversations will lead to working with more groups how we can best support the student leaders and student organizations and the students that are interested [in those groups],” Naik said. “Some of these practices may have been going on for years and we could have discussions with student organizations to see how they can be more broadly open to students that demonstrate interest.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ Stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Students respond to alleged human rights abuses of Gates Foundation company https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/30/students-respond-to-alleged-human-rights-abuses-of-gates-foundation-company/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/30/students-respond-to-alleged-human-rights-abuses-of-gates-foundation-company/#comments Fri, 30 May 2014 08:37:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086191 Following the announcement of Bill and Melinda Gates as Commencement speakers for the upcoming Class of 2014 graduation this year, students began forming a movement requesting the Gates Foundation to divest from company G4S. As of yesterday, 1100 people had signed a petition calling for divestment due to a “litany of human rights abuse and concerns” that the statement claimed G4S was complicit in.

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Following the announcement of Bill and Melinda Gates as Commencement speakers for the upcoming Class of 2014 graduation this year, students began forming a movement requesting the Gates Foundation to divest from company G4S. As of yesterday, 1100 people had signed a petition calling for divestment due to a “litany of human rights abuse and concerns” that the statement claimed G4S was complicit in.

On Wednesday, a stock exchange filing showed that Gates had sold down his stake in G4S to below three percent. It is unclear exactly how much stock Gates still holds because three percent is the lowest threshold at which investors must declare.

“It’s not about being against the Gates, it’s about trying to make the Gates Foundation hold true to its principle because it does so much good and is an amazing entity,” said Clayton Evans, a student organizer. (CATHERINE ZAW/The Stanford Daily)
“It’s not about being against the Gates, it’s about trying to make the Gates Foundation hold true to its principle because it does so much good and is an amazing entity,” said Clayton Evans, a student organizer. (CATHERINE ZAW/The Stanford Daily)

The student group organizing the protest released a statement applauding Gates’ decision to sell down his shares.

“We have been in direct communication with representatives of the Foundation and indirect contact with representatives of the Asset Trust that runs the foundation’s endowment since May 13 and as recently as May 28,” the press release stated. “We view Gates’ decision as a victory for our campaign and the many others around the globe that have been working tirelessly against G4S’ human rights abuses and the Gates Foundation’s investments in them.”

According to Clayton Evans ’15, another student organizer, there are about 40 active members in the coalition, which officially began its push for student mobilization of the campus about a month ago. The student coalition also includes representatives from a wide array of student groups including Fossil Free Stanford, the Student Labor Alliance, the Stanford Asian American Activism Committee, Stanford STAND and Students for Justice in Palestine.

“[G4S] is involved in a huge plethora and wide array of human rights abuses in almost every geopolitical and social context in Central America, the Middle East and South Africa,” said Joshua Schott ’14, student organizer. “In having the Gates Foundation invested in a corporation that does all these things that kills and marginalizes the communities that the Gates Foundation tries to help is somewhat hypocritical and contradictory to what they’re doing.”

“It’s not about being against the Gates, it’s about trying to make the Gates Foundation hold true to its principle because it does so much good and is an amazing entity,” Evans said.

In its press release following the divestment, the Stanford campaign said that it would continue to call for broader action than selling shares from G4S. The group said that it is still asking for the Gates Foundation and its Asset Trust to complete divest from G4S, reevaluate its investments in companies under investigation for human rights abuses and to publicize its policy of socially responsible investment.

“Having the Gates Foundation [completely] divest from [G4S] is the ultimate goal but we’re realistic and know that there’s a slim chance from doing that, but we want a public engagement around these issues,” Schott said. “And so this would be really crucial, and I think we’ve already succeeded a lot of ways in sparking discussion on campus.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Students propose creation of new outdoor theme house https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/29/student-propose-creation-of-new-outdoor-theme-house/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/29/student-propose-creation-of-new-outdoor-theme-house/#respond Thu, 29 May 2014 07:59:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086137 To address a perceived need for an outdoor and recreational community at Stanford, undergraduate students have raised the idea of creating an outdoors-themed house.

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Feeling the lack of an outdoor recreational community, students initiated the creation of an outdoor-themed house. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)
Feeling the lack of an outdoor recreational community, students initiated the creation of an outdoor-themed house. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

To address a perceived need for an outdoor and recreational community at Stanford, undergraduate students have raised the idea of creating an outdoors-themed house, evaluating the student body’s interest in such a community and taking the initial steps to propose such a theme to Residential Education.

“It would be an outdoor action sports theme,” said Natasha Berk ‘16, one of the students heading the initiative. “It’d be for people who like to go out and do fun stuff outdoors — hiking, climbing, backpacking, mountaineering, all that kind of stuff — but also have a fun community to live with. And you don’t have to be an intense hiker or an expert skier or anything.”

Berk estimates that up to 200 students are interested in such a community.

“Twenty people are actually actively working on it,” Berk said. “But I’ve also had a lot of people email saying that they were interested. There’s a small number of people that are interested in helping out with the actual paperwork, but what I think is more important is that there’s a larger community of people that would be interested in living in the house.”

The outdoor interest group hopes to host the new community in a house as opposed to in a dorm, as this would provide more space to store equipment and would better foster outdoor activities.

“We think a house would be really important to building the lasting community that we’re envisioning,” Berk said. “All the [existing] houses have unique personalities and they are very well associated with the community the house represents. We would want gear storage, and since we’re outdoor themed, it would be awesome if we could have a garden.”

The initiative to pull together an outdoor community is not only headed by students, but also backed by support from Stanford Outdoor Education, specifically from associate director Christopher Pelchat.

“I’ve worked at Eastern Washington University and Ithaca College before coming to Stanford, and both of those campuses had outdoor communities,” Pelchat said. “I was surprised that there was [an outdoor educational] program of this size here and we didn’t have [an outdoor community] in our residential education.”

The themed house plans to collaborate heavily with Stanford Outdoor Education, which can provide recreational equipment and training protocols for the various outdoor activities.

“If they have folks in the house that want to be trained, they can run those programs specifically for their house,” Pelchat said. “There’s also general programming [from Outdoor Education] that they can add to their house activities and funding opportunities if they want to bring a speaker or need space to host them.”

Currently, the students are working on the proposal for the themed house and are meeting on a regular basis, as well as brainstorming ideas for the standards of the proposed house. These standards would include how responsibilities would be managed in the house, as well as specific learning outcomes that are associated with the outdoor education focus of the community.

Zach Chase ‘16, another student actively working on the proposal, is collecting student feedback from current themed houses in order to help shape these requirements.

“It’s a good idea to go out and talk to people in the houses and ask them what they like about their houses,” Chase said. “For example, one question we have is what the requirements for living in an outdoor theme house should be … feedback would be helpful in informing some of our decisions.”

The students hope to put together a solid proposal during the next academic year, hoping to unfold their themed house in fall quarter of 2015.

“This is much more about making a fun living community with a tight-knit community,” Berk said. “It’s not so academic. It’s just about doing fun things in the outdoors. A lot of people feel like it’s a niche on campus that needs to be filled.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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‘Science and scientists’ announced as the theme for Class of 2018’s three books https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/28/science-and-scientists-the-theme-for-class-of-2018s-three-books/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/28/science-and-scientists-the-theme-for-class-of-2018s-three-books/#respond Wed, 28 May 2014 09:10:04 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086095 The three books for the 2014 Three Books reading program were recently announced: “Radioactive” by Lauren Redniss, “My Year of Meats” by Ruth Ozeki and “Physics for Future Presidents” by Richard A. Muller.

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The three books chosen for Class of 2018 were selected by Persis Drell, professor of physics. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)
The three books chosen for Class of 2018 were selected by Persis Drell, professor of physics. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

The three books for the 2014 Three Books reading program were recently announced: “Radioactive” by Lauren Redniss, “My Year of Meats” by Ruth Ozeki and “Physics for Future Presidents” by Richard A. Muller.

Themed around “science and scientists,” the books were selected by Physics Professor Persis Drell, who was also SLAC National Accelerator’s director from 2007 to October 2012. The books encompass a range of writing styles and topics, from an artistic rendition of Marie Curie’s love story to a self-help book explaining current issues related to science to a novel expose of the meat industry.

“We live in a society dominated by technology where scientific discoveries are finding their way with remarkable speed into our culture,” Drell wrote in a letter addressed to the Class of 2018 to be sent to the students over the summer. “[In] almost all aspects of our daily lives … no matter what life path you choose, being aware of how science and scientists interact with society will be important to you.”

Interestingly, Drell is also the first scientist since the program’s inauguration to be offered the opportunity to choose the three books for the program.

“A considerable portion of our students are interested in the sciences and it’s about time,” said Robert Urstein, dean of freshmen. “And I think it’s great for students to see that we might be focusing our attention on what we do. But there are other parts of our lives that are equally meaningful and rich, and part of that includes story and narrative, and you can find that in literature and science and philosophy.”

According to Drell, she was contacted by Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Harry Elam in late July to select the books, and she noted that it was a tremendous responsibility as well as an honor.

“In October, November, I was struggling with what would be the right three books, what books students would be attracted to and tempted to read,” Drell said. “Even if they aren’t going to read it cover to cover, at least they would be interested in reading one or two books cover to cover and grazing the third.”

Drell knew from the beginning that she wanted science to be the theme but had difficulty gauging what would be both fun and attractive for a diverse group of students. In order to better understand how incoming students would react to her choices, Drell called for student feedback in mid-November by asking Twain residents about their experiences with the three books for their year.

“What stuck out in their comments and considerations was that they liked ‘Physics for Future Presidents,’” Drell said. “And when I presented ‘Radioactive,’ they wanted a novel, and through the comments it looked like a coming of age book was important for the students … a novel that described someone maybe close enough to their age or where they are in their lives and dealing with some of the issues that they’re dealing with.”

Drell hopes that students from all backgrounds and fields of interest will find significance in the various types of science communication these books provide.

“For the students who don’t come in with a particular interest in science, I would hope they would take away a sense of how science and technology are important in their lives and part of being educated is being engaged with important issues,” she said. “And for the scientists, [I hope] they would take away a strong sense of the importance of being responsible about your science and communicating about your science, both the tremendous it brings to society but also the associated risks it brings to society.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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New center for women’s leadership aims to empower voices of women in the workplace https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/28/new-center-for-womens-leadership-aims-to-empower-voices-of-women-in-the-workplace/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/28/new-center-for-womens-leadership-aims-to-empower-voices-of-women-in-the-workplace/#respond Wed, 28 May 2014 08:51:22 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086090 The Clayman Institute for Gender Research opened its new Women’s Leadership Center last Wednesday.

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The Clayman Institute for Gender Research opened its new Women’s Leadership Center last Wednesday. The new center, led by Shelley Correll, Stanford professor in sociology and director of the Clayman Institute, aims to empower the underrepresented voices of women in the workplace and promote women’s leadership in business, government and education.

The Daily sat down with Correll to discuss the ongoing and future projects of the new leadership center as well as her personal aspirations and goals with the center’s launch.

 

Shelley Correll, professor of sociology and director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, is leading the institutes new Women's Leadership Center. (Courtesy of Shelley Correll)
Shelley Correll, professor of sociology and director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, is leading the institutes new Women’s Leadership Center. (Courtesy of Shelley Correll)

The Stanford Daily (TSD): [Could you] provide a more concrete idea of what the center is meant to do, whether that involves connecting women to opportunities or advocating for female representation in the workplace?

Shelley Correll (SC): The number-one goal is to increase representation of women in leadership. Our way of achieving that [is] working on three core things. One is empowering women. We run quite a few leadership programs in order to do so already. The second thing we’re doing is recruiting men. What you see in the corporate world more and more is that men want to play a role in empowering women. And the third thing that we’re doing is figuring out what workspaces or universities can do to increase the involvement of women and men in these issues.

 

TSD: The Corporate Partnership Program is going to involve recruiting various companies to partner with the center. How is a collaboration with these corporations going to make a difference?

SC: One of the really important goals of the center is to bridge the gap between academic scholarship and actual workplace practices. We have very good scholarship on women’s leadership on diversity and exclusion — actually a lot of which was developed at Stanford — and we have a lot of corporations with that goal in mind but [these two sides] haven’t really been talking much. So the idea is: Let’s brings these two groups together — the academics and the workplaces — and really try to bridge the gap between them.

 

TSD: How large a role will the University play with the center’s projects?

SC: The Stanford community is certainly a part of the academic side of bridging that gap. We have several faculty members on the advisory board for the center, and we have post-doctoral fellows working at the center as well, and so there’s a lot of the Stanford representation. The other thing I’ll say is that we’ve been doing a lot of work on how we can improve women’s leadership on campus as well. A lot of the things that we’re learning are how to make diversity and exclusion work better, which can also be lessons that we can bring to the Stanford community as well. Stanford does a wonderful job getting a diverse undergraduate student population, but [we] can do more when it comes to faculty.

 

TSD: With the official launch [having happened on Wednesday], what are the next steps that the center will be taking to forward your goals?

SC: We have [several] research projects where we’re trying to better understand what works in terms of advancing women leaders and creating active organizations. We’re also expanding the kinds of training that we have available and the audience to which those [programs] are directed. We’re really just trying to expand [our] curriculum to reach as many people as possible and evaluating if people are learning and applying it.

 

TSD: Do you have any personal goals for the center, and if so, what are they?

SC: Yeah I do actually. I have been a professor here since 2001, for 13 years. My research over that time has focused a lot on the barriers of women’s advancement. I’ve learned a lot about what puts them down. When I became a professor, women occupied about 14 percent of leadership positions, and now it’s about 15 [or] 17 percent. With that rate of change, we’re not getting there any time soon. I’m no longer patient enough to deal with that slow rate of change. For me personally, it’s about moving on that knowledge, collaborating with other scholars and incorporating folks to work on these issues.

It’s an academic goal for me but it’s also something that I’m looking forward to in my career — this is where I want to make a mark.

 

TSD: Is the Center addressing the queer population at all?

SC: We actually are. Even though it’s a center directed towards women leadership, what you find when you start uncovering obstacles is that we start finding all kinds of obstacles for all kinds of groups and all different kinds of women. The issues that affect a heterosexual woman with three kids are not going to be the same issues that a young lesbian will face as she starts her first job. So we need to understand both [how] the things that commonly help people fit into work [operate] and also understand the way that diversity works differently across different groups.

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Rinconada family cat killed by car https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/23/rinconada-family-cat-killed-in-hit-and-run/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/23/rinconada-family-cat-killed-in-hit-and-run/#comments Fri, 23 May 2014 09:16:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085973 Finnegan, the Rinconada Residential Fellow (RF) family cat, was hit by a car Thursday morning on Campus Drive and did not survive the trauma. He was 7.

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[justified_image_grid ids=1085927,1085930,1085928,1085929 row_height=400]

Finnegan, the Rinconada Residential Fellow (RF) family cat, was hit by a car Thursday morning on Campus Drive and did not survive the trauma. He was 7.

Perpetually seen wandering East Campus, Finn was a well-recognized member of the Stanford community.

“He loves to wander around, and [my wife and I] get reports all the time of him being in different dorms,” said owner Dan Klein. “Sometimes we would get a phone call from a dorm and then 10 minutes later he would be back at our house.”

According to Klein, Finn has been seen in dormitories throughout Escondido Road including Lantana, Branner, Kimball and Crothers. However, the adventurous cat has also been seen in Pi Phi, Munger, Roble and White Plaza, and has even been picked up by one of the Hennessys.

“We tried to keep him in the house sometimes, but he just wouldn’t have it,” Klein said. “If he wasn’t let out, he would just pee all over things in the house. If we let him out, he would go and then he’d come back. And sometimes he would go for an extended time if he found somebody who was feeding him. Not long ago he came back smelling like perfume. We wanted to put a GoPro camera on him or at least a GPS real-time tracking device.”

News of Finn’s death spread quickly on campus, with many students reaching out with condolences to the family.

“It’s been an incredible outpouring of support on Facebook and on the RF email list,” Klein said. “People have been at the door and saying how much he meant to them. It’s been amazing. It’s hard and sad, but we’re also remembering the adorable and funny things he did. We’re imagining that he’s off to his next adventure. Any creatures — people or animals — that we know that were out for an adventure, it was him.”

Klein and Michelle Darby plan to have a memorial service for Finn. The date has yet to be determined.

George Chen contributed to this report.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Students call for better awareness about media coverage of Boko Haram in Nigera https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/22/students-hold-event-addressing-boko-haram-tragedy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/22/students-hold-event-addressing-boko-haram-tragedy/#comments Thu, 22 May 2014 10:22:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085917 In the light of the kidnapping of over 200 young women by militant group Boko Haram from a school in northern Nigeria in mid-April, the Stanford Students in Support of the Nigerian People hosted an informative event last week to address the tragedy.

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In the light of the kidnapping of over 200 young women by militant group Boko Haram from a school in northern Nigeria in mid-April, the Stanford Students in Support of the Nigerian People hosted an informative event last week to address the tragedy.

The event aimed to not only provide a space for students to show support of the Nigerian people, but to also bring the Stanford community up to speed with what has been happening in the region affected by Boko Haram. A panel – including Associate Professor of African History Sean Hanretta, second-year graduate student Nisrin Elamin and Musila Munuve ’17 – introduced the history of Nigeria as well as a the international coverage of the story.

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Stanford Students in Support of the Nigerian People held a candle vigil last Thursday in solidarity. (Courtesy of Lennon Chimbumu)

The panelists encouraged students to be careful about gauging the information that the media was presenting, especially social media campaigns like #bringbackourgirls, which have been particularly controversial.

“As a social media campaign begun by Nigerians in Nigeria, [#bringbackourgirls] did indeed provide a way to draw the attention of many outside the country, particularly in the United States, to the tragedy,” Hanretta said. “Yet it also quickly became appropriated by U.S. media figures for their own distinct purposes. This shows clearly some of the possible limits of this kind of activism.”

Uchechukwuka Monu, a Ph.D. student who helped organize of the event, echoed Hanretta’s warning.

“The social media campaign #bringbackourgirls has brought back awareness and it has brought the international community to their feet,” Monu said. “But at lot of times I feel like we have to be aware of what [the campaign] is asking of the government and see what Nigerian people want. When we support a campaign like that, we need to check what these activists are doing on the ground. “

The debriefing was followed by stories from three Nigerian students. Second-year MBA student Ope Aladekomo, Kemi Lijadu ’16, and Muzzammil Shittu ’17 discussed their personal perspectives on the series of events in their home country.

“For me, I can just imagine myself in that situation,” Aladekomo said. “The young women are probably people just like me 10 years ago. I was also in a secondary government school, lived in a dorm house like them…it’s depressing to hear about how it happened and wonder why [no one did] anything until international press picked it up.”

Students later held a quick candle-lit vigil and photo campaign in solidarity of the Nigerian people.

Ultimately, the student organizers hope the Stanford community grows more wary of the international media coverage of recent events, and that students take the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about the crisis.

“We need to make sure we harness the energy of the response to the kidnapping in the best way possible,” Shittu said. “We should make sure that all of the girls are returned to their families and also work towards finding solutions to the myriad mix of problems that the kidnapping brought to light. People smuggling, women’s education and chronic insecurity are long-established facts in much of northern Nigeria and the Sahel region of West Africa in general. Effort needs to be directed at the long-term resolution of these problems.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Freeman Spogli Institute to establish nuclear security professorship with $5 million https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/14/freeman-spogli-institute-to-establish-nuclear-security-professorship-with-5-million/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/14/freeman-spogli-institute-to-establish-nuclear-security-professorship-with-5-million/#respond Wed, 14 May 2014 07:50:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085553 Last month, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) accepted an endowment gift of $5 million from the Stanton Foundation for establishing a professorship in nuclear security.

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Last month, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) accepted an endowment gift of $5 million from the Stanton Foundation for establishing a professorship in nuclear security. Centered in FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), the professorship will allow Stanford to recruit a renowned scholar for a joint appointment at FSI and one of the University’s seven schools.

“This endowed position enables us to deepen our expertise and broaden our reach in all three areas [of our three-part mission: research, policy impact and teaching],” said Amy Zegart M.A. ’93 Ph.D. ’96, co-director of CISAC. “We’ll be able to offer more courses related to nuclear security and do more research across disciplines at nuclear-related matters, and those two activities will in turn give us even more impact in policy as well.”

This endowment is the second of such funds from the Stanton Foundation to FSI. Neil Penick, associate director for development and external relations at FSI, attributed the support from Stanton as part of an established relationship between the foundation and the Institute.

“We’ve had a very long relationship,” Penick said. “In fact, the Stanton Foundation has supported post-doctoral fellowships for Ph.D. students or recent graduates who have focused on nuclear security in an effort to train the next generation of nuclear specialists. I think what the foundation came to conclude was that they not only needed to focus on the next generation but needed to fund more senior faculty to do the training and mentoring of those young scholars.”

The previous endowment last year had allowed Rodney Ewing ’72 Ph.D. ’74, a leading researcher of nuclear waste from the University of Michigan, to join the School of Earth Sciences and FSI, and, like the first endowment, the second round of funding will be used to bring an additional scholar to the University.

While FSI has not formally opened a search, the Institute has begun conversations about how to conduct the search and about potential candidates. The official search is planned to begin in fall of this year, and Zegart hopes that a chair for the Stanton Foundation Professorship in Nuclear Security will be found by the end of the 2014-15 academic year.

“We’re open with respect to the search,” Zegart said. “There’s a broad range of candidates that we’ll look at and we don’t have any preconceived notions about what disciplines that we’re going to [recruit from].”

Ultimately, administrators believe that the endowment will have beneficial effects to the research environment and beyond on the Stanford campus and in international policy.

“This partnership with the Stanton Foundation really cements CISAC and Stanford and FSI as one of the leading research institutes focused on international security issues,” Penick said. “It’s something we really value and treasure, and we’re grateful for the foundation and their support. We’re very much looking forward to finding the right person to join the team.”

“One of the exciting things about a gift like this is that an endowment has ripple effects across the University and even the country,” Zegart said. “To bring one renowned scholar has exponential benefits for our students who take classes over time, to graduates who will be mentors, to our faculty who will collaborate with them and to international leaders who will be affected by the research that this Stanton chair will generate. There’s potential to impact so many people across a long period of time.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Petition for book delivery service racks up signatures from faculty and students https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/07/petition-for-book-delivery-service-racks-up-signatures-from-faculty-and-students/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/07/petition-for-book-delivery-service-racks-up-signatures-from-faculty-and-students/#respond Wed, 07 May 2014 08:29:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085384 A petition calling on the University to develop and implement a book and document delivery service has gained 110 signatures from faculty and graduate students in a month, with many signatories arguing that such a service is a basic need for many researchers in the humanities and social sciences.

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Zetong Li/THE STANFORD DAILY
Zetong Li/THE STANFORD DAILY

A petition calling on the University to develop and implement a book and document delivery service has gained 110 signatures from faculty and graduate students in a month, with many signatories arguing that such a service is a basic need for many researchers in the humanities and social sciences.

According to Assistant Professor of History Jennifer Burns, such a service — which would deliver a requested book from the library directly to a departmental office — would save time and money for researchers who rely heavily on books for information.

“I’m just buying them on Amazon because they’ll deliver in two days to my door or I’m asking a research assistant, paying a student to do work, [when] I prefer to pay them to do something more intellectual stimulating, but [retrieving books is] my most immediate need,” Burns said, adding that obtaining books could take up to 45 minutes each.

In December 2012, Stanford University Libraries had sent out an evaluation survey asking faculty for evaluations of the facilities, including any suggestions of what services could be added to improve faculty experience using the libraries. Although book retrieval and document delivery was promised for implementation earlier this year, according to Burns, in winter quarter she was told by library representatives that installing the service was no longer possible due to a lack of funding.

Following that change in plans, Burns and Assistant Professor of History Mikael Wolfe wrote the petition in order to raise awareness about the request and ensure that faculty members’ voices were heard.

“We’re petitioning to jumpstart a conversation about this and make it a matter of urgency, not just one that can be tabled,” Wolfe said.

Karen Wigen, chair of the Department of History and a petition signatory, supported the University’s investment in a book delivery service.

“If the administration truly wants to support the productivity of Stanford’s world-class faculty, creating a book retrieval service is a smart investment,” Wigen wrote in a statement to The Daily. “I am sure it will be especially valuable for junior faculty who often have precious little time to browse in the library stacks given all the other demands on their time.”

Burns also pointed out that a number of peer institutions in the Ivy League — namely Harvard, Yale and MIT — and even several more humbly endowed institutions — such as the University of Central Florida — have some form of book and document retrieval system.

“I cannot imagine it is not within the budgetary and technical capability of Stanford Library,” Wolfe said. “Which is why it really struck us that the service didn’t already exist.”

According to Gabrielle Karampelas, director of communications for Stanford University Libraries, the development of a book retrieval system requires more resources than might be expected, including hiring more staff, updating the online catalog and maintaining tracking materials.

“It’s more than a bike and dropping off a book,” Karampelas said.

Karampelas explained that requests related to the library system are overseen by the Committee on Libraries (C-LIB), a subcommittee of the Faculty Senate that meets six times a year and determines which requests will be carried through.

Approval for a request, according to Karampelas, depends on the scope and the size of the request, as well as the current needs of the University.

“Our budget is not a steady state,” Karampelas said. “We have to be fluid so that we support the greater Stanford scholarship needs.”

Beyond the petition, Burns and Wolfe have been invited to a meeting with C-LIB for May 14, in which they hope to express their concerns in person.

“I think [the library is] committed absolutely [to serving the community]. I feel well supported and do appreciate what the library offers,” Wolfe said. “I don’t want there to be misunderstandings — we’re not dissatisfied. We’re thinking this service could greatly enhance the services the library already provides.”

“The library is responsive and is really good about having the resources to help my teaching and research,” Burns said. “And maybe this is why [the lack of a book retrieval service is] so glaring because it’s really basic and fundamental.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

 

In a previous version of this article, it was stated that Burns and Wolfe had organized for a meeting with the Committee on Libraries (C-LIB), however Burns and Wolfe had been invited to the C-LIB meeting on May 14. The Daily regrets this error.

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University expands psychological services for faculty and staff https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/06/stanford-expands-psychological-services-for-faculty-and-staff/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/06/stanford-expands-psychological-services-for-faculty-and-staff/#respond Tue, 06 May 2014 08:47:54 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085319 The Faculty Staff Help Center, which offers faculty, staff and their families professional and confidential counseling and consultation, recently opened a new satellite campus off Porter Drive in an effort to better serve the growing Stanford community in that area.

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The Faculty Staff Help Center, which offers faculty, staff and their families professional and confidential counseling and consultation, recently opened a new satellite campus off Porter Drive in an effort to better serve the growing Stanford community in that area.

“We’re trying to make it easier for people to come see us,” explained Rosan Gomperts, director of the Help Center. “People could use the service there since it’s hard to get to campus.”

According to Gomperts, the satellite office will offer the same clinicians and services as the other two Faculty Staff Help Center satellite offices, which are located at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and in San Jose. Those services—including counseling services and departmental consultation and training—are free of charge to Stanford staff and faculty for up to 10 counseling sessions per situation for each employee and eligible dependent.

The Porter Drive office currently opens for two hours on Thursday mornings and is staffed by one professional staffer. Counselor Vinutha Mohan described the clinic as busy and well-utilized.

“We are very full,” Mohan said. “If I’m there for the entire two hours, I’d see about six clients.”

Mohan stated that the most common reason for client visits is the loss of a relationship or work-related issues.

“People come for individual relationships and couple counseling across all ages,” Mohan said. “We also have work-related problems, for example if a co-worker can’t get along with others. We also have people that come for parenting issues, dealing with children of any age, especially teenagers. Sometimes we have more difficult cases, depression or anxiety.”

Gomperts said that the Porter Drive satellite office’s hours and staffing might increase in the future should additional demand materialize.

“The new office has limited office time, just Thursday mornings, so if we run up against more people wanting to book times there, we’d have to look into expanding the hours,” Gomperts said. “But we haven’t run across that [problem] yet.”

 

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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d.school presents the future of higher education https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/02/d-school-presents-the-future-of-higher-education/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/02/d-school-presents-the-future-of-higher-education/#respond Fri, 02 May 2014 09:30:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085223 Thursday evening, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) hosted “Stanford 2025: A Retrospective of Learning and Living on Campus,” an experiential exhibit featuring student and faculty member projects that showcased different concepts of the future of higher education in a culmination of the d.school’s @Stanford project.

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Courtesy of Ian Terpin.Yesterday evening, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) hosted “Stanford 2025: A Retrospective of Learning and Living on Campus,” an experiential exhibit featuring student and faculty member projects that showcased different concepts of the future of higher education in a culmination of the d.school’s @Stanford project.

Although much  of the current discussion on the future education has focused on the emerging role of technology and online learning, the d.school decided to explore the future of the on-campus experience for students. For the past year, the @Stanford project has offered a series of classes and experiments exploring themes relating to this topic, according to d.school communication director Debbe Stern.

Stern added that the interdisciplinary @Stanford team comprised professors, designers, approximately 200 students and 60 to 75 administrators.

Event attendees were first invited to a reception outside the d.school, which featured bulletin boards on students’ individual projects. David Kelley ’77, founder of the d.school, introduced the event, emphasizing that the ideas featured were solely conceptual.

“What you’re about to see are just provocations,” Kelley said. “We’re not saying these are the best ideas or these are the only ideas. There will be big ideas, there will be small ones. There will be rough ideas, there will be refined ones. We’re not attached to any of them. But what we do believe we have uncovered is our needs, the non-obvious needs we need to solve in order to make this a special place. They’re provocations; they’re exploratory.”

Attendees were given informational packets attached to a tube that later was revealed to hold polarized sunglasses before being led into the d.school atrium, which were split into a number of different stations that exhibited various ideas of what learning might look like at Stanford in a little over 10 years.

The stations included “Paced Education,” “Axis Flip,” “Purpose Learning” and “Open Loop University,” and each encouraged event attendees to ask questions of what the future of education would look like.

For example, the “Open Loop University” station explored challenging the current structures of learning, namely the timing of when someone would pursue higher-level education.

“One of the main things was asking the question, ‘When over a person’s lifetime does it make sense and is it useful to have an academic experience?’” said Sarah Stein Greenberg MBA ’06, managing director at the d.school and part of the @Stanford project team.

“Our current paradigm is that you go to college in your early adulthood…and if you think about learning as a biological opportunity, it’s weird that we package it all in the beginning and say that you’re ready to go out in the world where in the real world people are moving constantly and new industries are being created all the time,” she added.

At the end of the exhibition, the @Stanford team expressed hope that the event will help students rethink and potentially reshape their academic experience.

“We hope you’ll start your own experience, that these provocations, that these ideas you see here will cause you to go back to your different departments and different organizations and really start to experiment,” Kelley said. “We really believe that if we start a bunch of small brushfires around the University, then eventually they’ll grow together and we’ll have this big improvement.”

Contact Catherine Zaw at zaw13 ‘at’ Stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Pre-assignment numbers rise by over 10 percent https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/01/pre-assignment-numbers-rise-by-over-10-percent/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/01/pre-assignment-numbers-rise-by-over-10-percent/#respond Thu, 01 May 2014 08:57:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085155 Over 950 students submitted pre-assignment applications for the 2014-15 academic year, according to Residential Education (ResEd) Assistant Director Zac Sargeant.

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Over 950 students submitted pre-assignment applications for the 2014-15 academic year, according to Residential Education (ResEd) Assistant Director Zac Sargeant.

SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily
SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily

This year’s number marks an increase of more than 10 percent over last year’s figure of 876, which Sargeant framed as a positive indication of the experience students are having across Stanford’s 23 themed residences.

On Tuesday, however, ResEd encountered an email communication challenge in informing students of their pre-assignment results. Some applicants reported receiving up to three emails pertaining to their results, often with conflicting information.

“Of course we were concerned when we began to hear that there were errors with that mail merge that resulted in students receiving erroneous information about their pre-assignment,” Sargeant said. “As soon as we recognized the error, we corrected it via email.”

“At this time, all applicants have received the correct information from our pre-assignment team,” Sargeant said.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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