Marshall Watkins – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Thu, 08 May 2014 09:44:38 +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 Marshall Watkins – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Infusions of young blood revitalize old mice’s brain https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/08/infusions-of-young-blood-revitalize-old-mices-brain/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/08/infusions-of-young-blood-revitalize-old-mices-brain/#respond Thu, 08 May 2014 09:44:38 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085408 Researchers from the School of Medicine have found that the blood of young mice may have a restorative effect on the mental capabilities of older mice, a discovery that could open up new therapeutic approaches to treating human afflictions like Alzheimer’s disease.

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Researchers from the School of Medicine have found that the blood of young mice may have a restorative effect on the mental capabilities of older mice, a discovery that could open up new therapeutic approaches to treating human afflictions like Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers examined the performance of older mice that had received infusions of plasma from young mice against a control group on standard laboratory tests of spatial memory. While previous experiments had established a positive relationship between the transfusions and general nerve cell growth in older mice, the researchers’ more recent study identified a demonstrable improvement in various behavioral measures as well.

“It was as if these old brains were recharged by young blood,” said study senior author Tony Wyss-Coray.

The team paid particular attention to the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is critical to both humans and mice in terms of recalling and recognizing spatial patterns, which typically erodes in function with age. The hippocampi of old mice that had received transfusions produced more substances linked to learning, demonstrating an enhanced ability to strengthen connections between nerve cells.

Following the study’s findings, the researchers plan to further investigate precisely which factor or factors within the plasma influence brain function in older mice, and to assess whether a similar method might prove effective in humans.

 

Marshall Watkins

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Pi Phi fundraiser opens up culture-minded dialogue https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/07/pi-phi-fundraiser-opens-up-culture-minded-dialogue/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/07/pi-phi-fundraiser-opens-up-culture-minded-dialogue/#respond Wed, 07 May 2014 08:28:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085380 Following Monday’s protests over alleged cultural appropriations of Cinco de Mayo’s Mexican heritage, both the organizers and critics of “Pi Phiesta”—the Pi Beta Phi fundraising event that served as a flashpoint for many protestors—have expressed optimism that a recent dialogue may have set the tone for more appropriate celebrations of the day in the future.

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Following Monday’s protests over alleged cultural appropriations of Cinco de Mayo’s Mexican heritage, both the organizers and critics of “Pi Phiesta”—the Pi Beta Phi fundraising event that served as a flashpoint for many protestors—have expressed optimism that a recent dialogue may have set the tone for more appropriate celebrations of the day in the future.

Concerned students initially sought to meet with members of Pi Beta Phi and University administrators last week, after becoming aware of the event’s theme and programming.

“We voiced our concerns about the event and how we were worried [that] if the event…[was] run a certain way, it might be culturally insensitive,” said Brenda Munoz ’14. “[It’s] typical of things that go on during Cinco de Mayo.”

Munoz framed the decision to broach the issue of cultural appropriations of Cinco de Mayo’s heritage this year as reflective of a broader national trend.

“People have been speaking up all over the country,” Munoz said, noting that similar events have elicited controversy at Dartmouth and UC-Berkeley. “We felt this was a good moment to speak up.”

Pi Beta Phi president Raena Sumiyoshi ’15 emphasized that the event has taken place annually for a number of years.

“It’s our biggest fundraiser, where all of our donations go to your national philanthropy,” she said. “[Our] chef works with us to provide all the food—typically Mexican-themed food—and we invite the whole Stanford community.”

Sumiyoshi framed the meeting between the event’s organizers and concerned students as constructive.

“I first started offering an explanation of where we were coming from—the history of the event and our fundraiser—and they all had the opportunity to speak about their specific concerns,” she recalled. “We [then] brainstormed ideas about solutions.”

Following the meeting, the event’s organizers changed the theme to “Pi Beta Paradise.”

Munoz expressed optimism that this year’s dialogue may prompt a more lasting move away from programming that could be construed as culturally appropriative.

“If we bring up these issues now, we can institutionalize it so that it doesn’t happen [again],” she said.

Sumiyoshi struck a similar tone, noting that her sorority internally discussed the potential issues behind the original theme as well.

“We’re learning a lot right now and we will never be going back to [Pi Phiesta],” she said. “[We] will probably still have a fundraiser every quarter but it will be a new theme to stick with…This is a greater stepping stone for broader conversation in the future.”

 

Catherine Zaw contributed to this report.

 

Contact Marshall Watkins at mtwakins ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu. 

 

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Ike’s Place to close, R&DE outlet to replace it https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/28/ikes-place-to-close-after-june-15-rde-outlet-to-replace/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/28/ikes-place-to-close-after-june-15-rde-outlet-to-replace/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2014 09:35:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1084949 Ike’s Place, the popular sandwich eatery located in the Huang Engineering Center, will leave campus at the end of this academic year at the expiration of its current contract.

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NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily
NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily

Ike’s Place, the popular sandwich eatery located in the Huang Engineering Center, will leave campus at the end of this academic year at the expiration of its current contract.

Ike’s will be replaced in the Forbes Family Café space by a food outlet operated by Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE). The new outlet, whose format has yet to be finalized, will open on September 2, 2014.

A committee of students and staff from the Engineering Quad voted unanimously in favor of R&DE’s proposal, reaching their decision following the assessment of competing proposals against criteria like the potential partner’s commitment to green practices and the conclusion of a survey of Engineering Quad community members.

Engineering Quad community members surveyed identified their priorities for Ike’s replacement as the quality of food, value for money, convenience and the availability of healthy options and varied or seasonal offerings. Those surveyed supported food prices between $5.00 and $7.50 and wait times of less than 10 minutes.

Students protested against the plan on Saturday afternoon in White Plaza, with some in attendance suggesting that the establishment of another R&DE outlet on campus would create an uneven playing field for interested outside vendors.

Ike’s will remain open through Commencement Sunday — June 15.

 

Contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Woodson/Richard elected as ASSU Executive https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/14/woodsonrichard-elected-as-assu-executive/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/14/woodsonrichard-elected-as-assu-executive/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2014 09:20:18 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1084370 Elizabeth Woodson '15 and Logan Richard '15 have been elected as the 2014-15 ASSU Executive with 66 percent of the vote after two rounds of balloting, beating out Lauren Miller '15 and Geo Saba '15.

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Elizabeth Woodson ‘15 and Logan Richard ‘15 have been elected as the 2014-15 ASSU Executive with 66 percent of the vote after two rounds of balloting, beating out Lauren Miller ‘15 and Geo Saba ‘15.

Woodson/Richard garnered 2698 votes in the second round, a significant increase over last year’s winning total of 1,929. Miller/Saba received 1,366 votes in the second round, while The Stanford Chaparral’s slate of Garrett Taylor ‘15 and Colton Dempsey ‘16 were eliminated after the first round having received 331 votes.

Elsewhere on the ballot, a resolution calling on Stanford to divest from fossil fuels passed with overwhelming support. SAFE Reform — a constitutional amendment that sought to reform the student activities funding process — received the support of 51 percent of voters but fell short of the two-thirds threshold needed to secure passage.

John-Lancaster Finley ‘16, Ben Holston ’15 — both of whom are incumbents — and Victoria Kalumbi ‘15 won election to the 16th ASSU Undergraduate Senate through the three “upperclass district” seats outlined in recent changes to Senate rules. They will be joined in the 2014-15 Senate by Andrew Aude ‘16, Jackson Hart Beard ‘17, Amartya Das ‘17, Mohamed Elmalik ‘17, Luka Fatuesi ‘17, Anthony Ghosn ‘16, Malcolm Lizzappi ‘17, Ana Ordoñez ‘17, Rachel Samuels ‘17, Kenneth Tea ‘17, Eric Theis ‘16 and David Wintermeyer ‘17.

Fourteen graduate students — the entire field of contestants — won election to the Graduate Student Council. Connect4 won election as sophomore class presidents, The Fellowship as junior class presidents and The League as senior class presidents. Every special fees request on the ballot but two — those of Stanford Quidditch and the Stanford African Students Association — won approval from the student body.

Total voter turnout rose 13 percent from last year, with 5,039 votes received from this student body this year compared to 4,464 from the 2013-14 year. According to Elections Commissioner Hunter Kodama ‘14, 3,678 undergraduates, 1,124 graduate students and 237 co-terminal students partook in the ASSU elections this year.

Contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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62 slates declare for ASSU elections https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/10/62-slates-declare-for-assu-elections/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/10/62-slates-declare-for-assu-elections/#respond Mon, 10 Mar 2014 08:53:28 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1083207 Sixty-two slates have declared their intent to seek various elected offices within the ASSU through this year's spring ballot. The deadline for declaring candidacies and gathering petition signatures passed Sunday evening.

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Sixty-two slates have declared their intent to seek various elected offices within the ASSU through this year’s spring ballot. The deadline for declaring candidacies and gathering petition signatures passed Sunday evening.

Two of the three declared Executive slates easily passed the 200 signatures required for placement on the spring ballot solely through the online portal. Elizabeth Woodson ’15 and Logan Richard ’15 collected 636 signatures online — the most of any slate — while Lauren Miller ’15 and Geo Saba ’15 collected 363.

Garrett Taylor ’15 and Colton Dempsey ’16, representing the Stanford Chaparral, garnered 88 signatures online. According to Taylor, the slate garnered most of their signatures in physical form.

Of the 31 candidates who declared for the ASSU Undergraduate Senate, 28 received the required 100 signatures online. Eight non-freshman candidates met the requirement, an increase over last year’s two non-freshman candidates and potentially reflective of steps taken by the current Senate — including the removal of the ban on senators studying abroad and the conditional allocation of three Senate seats for upperclassmen — intended to increase the body’s appeal to a more diverse group of candidates.

“I feel like a bunch of sophomores don’t actually represent the entire student body,” said Senate candidate Eric Theis ’16. “[Current Senator] Anna Breed ‘16 has done a wonderful job making sure that reform [to encourage upperclassmen to run] is known. The ability to study abroad makes all the difference to a junior or senior who might not have had the opportunity.”

“I would have run regardless of the amendment,” wrote Senate candidate Victoria Kalumbi ’15 in a statement.  “However, I applaud the Senate’s efforts to encourage upperclassmen to run and get involved with the Senate. I think it is important that the composition of Senators reflect the undergraduate population and the experiences and perspectives of students of all classes.”

Two current Senators — Ben Holston ’15 and John-Lancaster Finley ’16 — will seek re-election on the spring ballot. No Senators ran for re-election last year.

 Elsewhere on the ballot, 15 graduate students declared their candidacies for the Graduate Student Council. Two of the three declared Senior Class President slates garnered more than the 100 signatures required for placement on the ballot, as did three of the six Junior Class President slates and all four of the Sophomore Class President slates.

This year’s ASSU elections will take place on April 10 and 11.

Andrew Vogeley contributed to this report.

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Drug-centered event prompts Slav staff turnover https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/04/drug-centered-event-prompts-slav-staff-turnover/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/04/drug-centered-event-prompts-slav-staff-turnover/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:46:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082941 A Slavianskii Dom staff member was fired and the house’s resident assistant (RA) driven to resignation last week, following fallout from a drug-centered event hosted at the house.

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

A Slavianskii Dom staff member was fired and the house’s resident assistant (RA) driven to resignation last week, following fallout from a drug-centered event held at the house.

According to house residents, the Feb. 22 event—which was hosted privately by the house’s community manager—featured a large amount of pot in various edible forms. In an open email to the house mailing list, the RA argued that the lack of warning given and the risk of inadvertent or excessive consumption by residents obliged her to consult the Row’s residence dean (RD), who subsequently instructed her to shut the event down.

“I called the RD because it was my job, and also because I wanted to do right by you, and because I was worried for your safety,” she wrote in the email.

Following meetings between University administrators and house staff, the community manager was fired last week and barred from returning to the house.

The decision to report the event and implicate a fellow staff member to the residence dean received extensive criticism from Slav residents. House members argued that the community manager should not have been reported by a fellow staff member without prior warning or consultation among the staff, and more than 30 residents authored character references for the community manager prior to his dismissal.

In her email to the house, the resident assistant framed the hostile reception to her decision as making her continued role in the house untenable. She resigned Tuesday evening.

“I stand by my decision 100% to pick up the phone and ask the RD for help on Saturday,” she wrote. “I have not been able to sleep for days because this has been unbelievably stressful, but in a few weeks, I know that I will rest easy knowing that I did the right thing by all of you.”

“I assure you that your efforts to make me feel unwelcome in a community I have put so much effort, care, and love into were the absolute LAST things I needed yesterday,” she added, addressing residents who had expressed criticism. “You have made this a toxic environment for me and are the reason I am choosing to leave it.”

Slav residents portrayed the incident as reflective of longstanding issues with this year’s staff, in terms of both intra-staff communication and engagement with residents. Residents also critiqued an alleged lack of engagement by University administrators, noting that they had received no official communications until Tuesday.

Residential Education Associate Dean Nate Boswell ’99 M.A. ’09 emphasized the challenges of replacing two staff members from the same house at the same time.

“The removal of a staff member for any reason generally reveals a whole bunch of other things that might have been going on within the community,” Boswell said. “Those houses are often a very intimate community for people so any transition can be pretty disruptive.”

‘“Most of the time, generally speaking, these situations are complicated,” he added. “Those choices can impact the health of the house…so especially when there’s an incident or a set of concerns that trigger an action like this, subsequently there are a lot of conversations to have…to figure out the best course of action.”

According to Boswell, Slav staff members and staff from other Row houses collaborated to compensate for the two lost staff members over the past week. Slav’s resident computer consultant has since been named as the dorm’s new resident assistant, while the search for another community manager and resident computer consultant continues. Boswell said that replacement staff would likely be drawn from current residents.

“Because the house, by this time of the year, tends to be quite close…it’s least disruptive to solicit existing staff members or existing residents,” he explained. “That said, it’s not unheard of to solicit students from outside the house and depending on the circumstances that’s sometimes actually to the benefit.”

Contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu

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Q+A: Andrew Ross Sorkin https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/03/qa-andrew-ross-sorkin/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/03/qa-andrew-ross-sorkin/#respond Mon, 03 Mar 2014 08:46:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082861 The Daily sat down with Sorkin to discuss his background, the challenges of covering Wall Street and what we can expect from the financial sector in the years to come.

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Andrew Ross Sorkin is a financial columnist at The New York Times and the author of the bestselling book “Too Big to Fail.” Following a speaker event on Saturday, The Daily sat down with Sorkin to discuss his background, the challenges of covering Wall Street and what we can expect from the financial sector in the years to come.

 

The Stanford Daily (TSD): You started at The New York Times when you were 18. What drove your initial interest in journalism, and how has the nature of the work — and the appeal of it — changed over time? How has social media changed it?

Andrew Ross Sorkin (AS): When I started, I was fascinated by media — the world of media. I was actually very interested in advertising, actually. My first job was to work for Stuart Elliott, who’s the advertising columnist, and I was probably more interested in the topic of what he wrote about and the media business than I was in the reporting part. It was really only once I got in the newsroom that I fell in love with storytelling and the adventure every day of learning a new thing and meeting a new person and getting people to say things they weren’t supposed to say.

Has it evolved? I never thought I would have all the opportunities I’ve had over the past [15 years]…So much has changed. Everything has changed. When I first started, they were just implementing email. Even a couple of years ago, the coin of the realm was still to get a big scoop that was going to run on the front page of the paper the next morning so that when you went to the newsstand it was on the cover of the New York Times, but when you looked over at the Journal or the FT…they had nothing. Now, you post your scoop at 4:31 and the competitor has it at 4:34 and the other guy has it at 4:38. Context matters a lot more, analysis matters a lot more than it used to. Of course, speed — just the rapidity of it all — [matters as well.]

Also, the instant feedback [is new]. Used to be you’d go to the mailbox and get letters…you’d get letters from readers, you’d get letters from people in prison. Now I’ve even gotten emails from people in prison. That shift in terms of knowing instantaneously what the reader thinks [is distinctive].

Twitter has become my news feed. It used to be that you’d rely on Reuters or Dow Jones or Bloomberg as your news wires — now, my wire is Twitter. It’s who I’m following and not only the link they’re providing to highlight a particular news issue, but oftentimes they’re picking out that great nugget in it.

 

TSD: As a financial journalist, how have you found the challenge of reporting on a close-knit community like Wall Street? At this point, would you consider yourself an insider?

AS: It’s funny. By default, as a journalist, I’m clearly an outsider to this world. Over the years, I’ve covered it for a long time…but in the book, part of the challenge was trying to get inside, trying to get the reader inside the room so he could see what’s being said.

It’s much harder than it used to be. As a reporter…this has been a major shift. When I started, there wasn’t  this industrial complex around protecting all these people from the press. It used to be you could call somebody up and understand what’s happening, get a little of the inside scoop or try and get some context for what’s happening…Now, there’s an army of lawyers, there’s an army of PR people, there’s a battalion of people whose entire job is to keep you as far away from the building as humanly possible. That has made, I would argue, reporting much more challenging in terms of really providing the sort of deep reporting and analysis…and it’s only gotten worse post-financial crisis.   Given so many of the rules have changed, we’re all getting the information at the same time, and there’s a lot more of it. The bad news is that for the kind of deep reporting that tries to really bring you inside what’s going on, that’s harder than ever, sadly.

 

TSD: “Too Big to Fail” was published in 2009. Looking back on the crisis, have the additional years of hindsight changed anything?

AS: Not that much. I like to think it’s actually stood up. When you go back and look at what’s in the book, and given all of the materials that have since been published…I don’t think there was something out there that really shifted the narrative from the central reporting line of the book. Happily — one of the things you worry about is that one day something would, but I tried to approach it as honestly as I could the first time around and I think we got pretty close to what happened.

My hope still is that history and historians needed a reference point as to what happened. Following anything, it’s very easy to have your views about what should and shouldn’t have happened and what options people should and shouldn’t have taken, but I think the most important thing is appreciating what the actual options on the table are. Oftentimes — and it has clearly happened post-crisis — there’s not a rewriting of it, but everyone has a view. So I like to think that this is the baseline first draft or second draft of history, so that when historians do try and put this in perspective…It’s too early to have kind of real perspective here.

We won’t know whether all of these decisions that were made were right or wrong probably for 10, 20, 30 years. We have to see what happens to the banks, we have to see what happens to the economy…we saved GM, but if GM has a problem five or 10 years from now you’d say it was a mistake to save it the first time.

 

TSD: Have bankers and regulators internalized the lessons of the 2008 crisis?

AS: I have a very mixed answer. There are certain individuals who appreciate what took place during the crisis and have internalized it. Some of those that did internalize it are no longer there any more, so that worries me. I’m anxious that there’s a new generation of people that are stepping onto Wall Street that don’t have the perspective and context [as] to what took place. Some of those people might be very good — they have perspective on this as an outsider and they’re coming in to make it better — but I’m also worried about anyone coming in that adds risk to the system.

The system can’t be riskless either…We all want to eradicate “too big to fail” and eradicate the idea that there could ever be a boom and a bust. Invariably, life is such, for better or worse, that our goals should be to mitigate the booms and busts. But the idea that the Holy Grail is ensuring that this never happens may be sort of a myth. I hope it isn’t, but I’m anxious it would be.

 

TSD: Some recently published books, like Kevin Roose’s “Young Money,” allude to something of a cultural issue on Wall Street. Is that a valid point?

AS: I continue to believe there’s a cultural problem or challenge on Wall Street…There remains a cultural question mark around the ethos of greed.

 

TSD: What did you make of the HBO production of “Too Big to Fail?”

AS: I was a co-producer, actually, so I endorse it…It’s very interesting to see…you write a 600-page book and you have to find a way to dramatize it in two hours. I give Curtis Hanson, who directed the film, and Peter Gould, who wrote it, an enormous amount of credit. As a writer, one of the things you’re worried about is that they’re going to distort it or add a girlfriend and a sex scene or something that is just so [gratuitous]. I think they did a tremendous job of keeping the story suspenseful — and you knew the ending — without tarting it up. I think it was as true to the book as I think anyone could ask.

 

TSD: Wall Street has historically been a major draw for graduates of universities like Stanford. Is it still the place for the best and the brightest?

AS: The question is whether the best and the brightest go there now. You could argue that the best and the brightest right now are trying to find their way here, to Silicon Valley. I wouldn’t dissuade someone from going to work on Wall Street. The question is what is their motivation for going to work on Wall Street? My hope is that the people who go to work in Silicon Valley go because they love engineering and they love to create greater consumer experiences and all that, and I would hope that the people who are going to Wall Street are doing it because they have a passion for finance and because they want to find ways to power the economy.

The financial incentives that come with both going to the Valley and going to Wall Street, I would hope would be secondary. If you have a true passion for it, that’s a great thing. Obviously the money is a draw for everybody, so it’s sort of a matter of why you’re going.

 

TSD: Much of the political dialogue in recent years — from Occupy Wall Street to the Tea Party — seems to be based on a flawed understanding of how the financial system actually works. Do we collectively need greater awareness?

AS: The good news is that there’s probably greater financial literacy today than there ever was, partially as a result of the crisis — I guess you could call that a backwards silver lining. But there’s so much more work to be done. I don’t think that most people understand how it works, why it works, what all these decisions actually mean. One of my great worries is that the crisis has divided the country more than ever. Tim Geithner was just quoted — he had a great line — saying, “we saved the economy, but we lost the country.” To some degree, he’s probably right. The economy didn’t collapse completely, but in the process we created a real schism about us as Americans and equality and inequality and how we should be dealing with it.

 

TSD: Let’s turn to the next crisis. What form is it going to take, and when might it happen?

AS: If I knew, I wouldn’t be a journalist…There’s a big question mark about the commodities market. There are a number of big, private companies and we have no idea what’s going on. The great challenge of calling the next crisis is that you can say there’ll be a crisis but you’ll never know [exactly] what it’ll actually be.

I worry that we as a country and other countries — especially countries in some parts of Europe — could really be overleveraged. The thing I think we all really learned [in 2008] is that crisis doesn’t happen in years and months. It happens in hours and minutes and seconds. All that has to happen is that we’re no longer good for the money and everything changes.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Please find coverage of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s speaker event here.

Please contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins “at” stanford “dot” edu.

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‘Too Big to Fail’ author discusses financial crisis https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/02/too-big-to-fail-author-discusses-financial-crisis/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/03/02/too-big-to-fail-author-discusses-financial-crisis/#respond Sun, 02 Mar 2014 18:12:57 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082862 “We often forget...what the other side of the cliff looked like [in 2008],” said financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin to a packed Cubberley Auditorium on Saturday afternoon. “[We forget] how bad it was...and how far we were about to fall.”

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“We often forget…what the other side of the cliff looked like [in 2008],” said financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin to a packed Cubberley Auditorium on Saturday afternoon. “[We forget] how bad it was…and how far we were about to fall.”

Sorkin, who authored the bestselling book Too Big to Fail and who currently serves as a financial columnist at The New York Times and as a co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box, addressed the origins, events and legacy of the 2008 financial crisis in his speech, focusing in particular on the broader lessons available.

His account started at 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2008 — shortly after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and Bank of America agreed to purchase Merrill Lynch and just before the U.S. government took control of AIG.

“That was the most crucial time in my entire career,” Sorkin said. “I had never lived through a weekend like that.”

Sorkin emphasized the potentially catastrophic — and, at the time, underappreciated — risk of Morgan Stanley entering bankruptcy shortly after AIG and inducing a domino effect that may have brought down Goldman Sachs and potentially even General Electric.

He recounted receiving a call from an employee of the New York Federal Reserve shortly after the release of Too Big to Fail, who subsequently shared with Sorkin a model estimating unemployment levels in the absence of counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary measures.

“If you looked at the spreadsheet, 12 months out, the number on the right column that they were estimating [for unemployment] was 24.6 percent,” Sorkin said.

Sorkin also emphasized the interconnected nature of the crisis, as instability on Wall Street impacted smaller businesses through lending contractions and other mechanisms — and the government’s failure to better explain the potential severity of the situation to the broader public.

“If we had actually told the public what we actually knew at the time, we wouldn’t have made the situation better,” Sorkin said. “We would have made it worse…our economy is based on nothing more than confidence. When we believe, it works. When we don’t believe, it doesn’t.”

Turning briefly to the process of writing Too Big to Fail, Sorkin acknowledged the challenges of sourcing content from a mix of willing interviewees, interviewees who sought to spin the narrative for their own ends and interviewees who only opened up to Sorkin once he had obtained extensive input from other sources.

“I’ve learned…that’s apparently how it happens,” he said. “It requires some luck…in getting some people, early on, to play ball.”

Returning to legislative measures taken during and after the crisis, Sorkin downplayed their impact, noting that legislation like Dodd-Frank has served only to prevent a direct recurrence while elevating the implicit risk in vehicles like hedge funds.

“It effectively has done one thing,” Sorkin emphasized. “It has moved that risk we had in the system off of Wall Street and into the shadow banking system.”

Measures like elevated capital requirements for banks, meanwhile, may have offered mixed benefits, according to Sorkin, by increasing stability but also by limiting credit available to spur growth.

Sorkin also framed efforts to adjust compensation structures for financiers as inadequate given the prior accumulation of wealth common among top bankers.

“[For leaders] it’s not about money at all,” he said. “It’s about pride and it’s about power.”

Sorkin suggested that massive government intervention in the economy — in the form of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — had been necessary to preventing further damage.

“[TARP] was one of the great masterstrokes of our time,” he said. “It’s very hard to argue that we didn’t get to a better place.”

He acknowledged, however, that preventative measures only have so much impact.

“Crisis is always a function of leverage and debt in the system,” he said. “You can have all the bad actors you want on the stage — credit agencies, regulators, greedy bankers — but if there’s not enough leverage and debt in the system [to prompt a crisis], it doesn’t matter.”

Towards the end of his speech, Sorkin acknowledged that the idealized “American Dream” — or at least the version that represented a natural progression between milestones, as opposed to a singular and spontaneous moment of innovation — has suffered in recent years largely due to globalization.

I’m not sure it was ever a reality…but that dream is the challenged dream today,” he said, adding later that “for us to get back to where we want to be…it’s going to require us to do some things that are very unpopular.

Questions from the audience focused on ways that the 2008 crisis may have been averted, as well as how future incidents might be prevented.

Referring back to 2008, Sorkin emphasized the value of establishing a clear, confident message for the markets.

“I’m a believer [that] we should have saved Lehman Brothers…not because Lehman deserved to be saved, but because of the collateral damage,” he said.

Citing the recent $16 billion purchase of WhatsApp by Facebook, Sorkin noted that another bubble might already have formed.

“It’s one thing to say there’s a bubble,” he acknowledged. “It’s another to have it pop.”

The event was sponsored by the Stanford Speakers Bureau.

 

Please find a separate interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin here.

Please contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins “at” stanford “dot” edu.

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Study abroad program in Moscow suspended pending further review https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/10/study-abroad-program-in-moscow-suspended-pending-further-review/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/10/study-abroad-program-in-moscow-suspended-pending-further-review/#respond Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:19:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082204 The Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) in Moscow has been indefinitely suspended pending a review of the program's practices and objectives.

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

The Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) in Moscow has been indefinitely suspended pending a review of the program’s practices and objectives.

According to BOSP Director Ramon Saldivar, the suspension will last through at least the 2014-15 academic year. He framed the planned faculty review as a continuation of the decision to reschedule next year’s Moscow program from fall quarter to spring in order to better serve student interests.

“Given all of [the proposed changes] and the fact that we were already deferring the program those two quarters, I decided that it would be better to reconceive the program and not just reschedule it — to wipe the slate clean and say if we were to start over, what kind of program would we like to have in Russia?” Saldivar said.

“It’s conceivable that we’ll have something in place for 2015-16,” he added. “That’s the earliest we would have a really finalized plan.”

Saldivar identified a more diverse and extensive set of course offerings, greater integration of student internships into the program and the incorporation of more than one geographic site as potential areas for discussion. He emphasized, however, that the historically limited interest in the Moscow program hadn’t played a major role in the decision.

“I’d rather have a small, really high quality program than a large program that [offers] less quality,” he said. “The numbers always fluctuate within a totally acceptable range — 10-15, 15-20…Those numbers are totally acceptable as long as the program is producing the kind of outcomes that we want it to.”

Miguel Boluda ’14, a peer advisor for the Moscow program, noted that a meeting last week between Saldivar and students who took part in the Moscow program last quarter struck a largely positive tone.

“The general consensus was that everyone had really terrific times,” Boluda said. “Some of the homestays didn’t match up, which is something that could happen with any BOSP program.”

Saldivar framed last week’s meeting as another component of ongoing efforts to solicit student input with regards to how BOSP programs meet student needs.

“Some of the issues that led to the changing of the program from fall quarter to spring quarter were a direct result of that input,” he noted.

While Saldivar and Boluda both expressed their expectation that the Moscow program would return eventually, Saldivar acknowledged that the form that it could take remains somewhat uncertain.

“The faculty community are the ones who have to weigh in on that,” he said. “My guess is that people are going to say yes [to the program’s continuation], but maybe they’ll want something more dynamic, more flexible…Historically, BOSP has been a dynamic institution. It’s not set in stone that just because we have been somewhere, we’ll always be there.”

In the interim, according to Saldivar, BOSP will attempt to maintain the opportunity for exposure to Russia by developing other study-abroad initiatives — like Overseas Seminars or the recently announced partnership program in Istanbul — with a view towards implementing a long-term solution.

“We certainly have student interest, and we certainly have faculty…who are willing to put in their work to make it happen,” Saldivar said. “The issue is how best to do it.”

Contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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McFaul to step down from Russian ambassadorship https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/04/mcfaul-to-step-down-from-russian-ambassadorship/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/04/mcfaul-to-step-down-from-russian-ambassadorship/#respond Wed, 05 Feb 2014 07:58:02 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082031 McFaul added that Stanford will be his “base of operations” for “the immediate future,” though he plans to remain involved with some specific Obama administration projects as well.

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U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul ’86 M.A. ’86 will step down from his current position and return to Stanford at the end of the month following the conclusion of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, according to an announcement made Tuesday morning.

LINDA A. CICERO/Stanford News Service
LINDA A. CICERO/Stanford News Service

McFaul, who worked at Stanford as a professor of political science and as a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) before assuming his post in Moscow in 2012, cited a desire to reunite with his family — who returned to California last summer as the principal reason for his departure.

“We tried to make a 9,000 kilometer commute work for our family,” McFaul wrote in a blog post. “But after seven months of separation, I simply need to be with my family again…It’s time for us to be reunited.”

McFaul added that Stanford would be his “base of operations” for “the immediate future,” though he plans to remain involved with some specific Obama administration projects as well. According to FSI spokesman Adam Gorlick, McFaul will continue as an FSI senior fellow.

“Ambassador McFaul’s return is a sterling opportunity for Stanford and FSI,” said FSI Director Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar M.A. ’96 Ph.D. ’00 in a statement. “We hope to engage him in the Institute’s work on governance, technology and security. His unique experience as a diplomat and a leading scholar are enormous assets to our centers and educational programs, and to the entire university.”

McFaul’s tenure in Moscow, which continued an affiliation with the Obama administration dating back to the 2008 presidential campaign, has been a tumultuous one. His meetings with opposition politicians during a cycle of anti-government protests shortly after his arrival elicited extensive criticism from the Kremlin, and U.S.-Russia relations reached a nadir last year with Russia’s granting of asylum to Edward Snowden and the subsequent cancellation of a summit meeting between the two country’s leaders.

Nevertheless, McFaul — often credited as the architect of the “reset” in relations between Washington and Moscow — also played an integral role in major achievements by the Obama administration with regards to Russia, such as the New START Treaty, Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, negotiations with Iran and efforts to facilitate the resupply of troops in Afghanistan.

“President Obama is deeply grateful for Ambassador McFaul’s extraordinary service over the last five years,” said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes in a statement. “Mike has been tireless in advocating for the universal values that America stands for around the world, reaching out to civil society and recognizing the right of every voice to be heard.”

Contact Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford network hacked over summer break https://stanforddaily.com/2013/09/23/online-security-breach-prompts-further-security-measures-amidst-uncertain-details/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/09/23/online-security-breach-prompts-further-security-measures-amidst-uncertain-details/#respond Mon, 23 Sep 2013 07:20:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1078315 Investigations on the full extent and severity of an “apparent breach” on Stanford’s information systems infrastructure over the summer continue this fall.

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Investigations on the full extent and severity of an “apparent breach” on Stanford’s information systems infrastructure over the summer continue this fall.  All SUNet ID holders were compelled to change their account passwords after the discovery and were advised to remain vigilant across all devices and to adopt a number of enhanced precautionary measures while online.

The breach was launched from overseas according to an email addressed to the entire Stanford community from Vice President for Business Affairs and Chief Financial Officer Randy Livingston. The attackers were believed to have gained access to all Stanford SUNet ID account usernames and a “hashed,” or disguised, version of the passwords.

While SUNet ID accounts do not provide access to personal information such as social security numbers, the full extent of the information accessed by the attackers remains unknown, according to University chief spokesperson Lisa Lapin.

“We don’t believe they’ve accessed personal information, but it’s not entirely possible to see what they’ve accessed,” Lapin said.

The advice to change account passwords was solely a “precautionary measure,” Livingston wrote in a statement to The Daily. Livingston added that the attack resembled other recent online intrusions against American companies and universities.

In order to prevent similar incidences in the future, the University has adopted new security measures. One of the first is a two-step authentication. For “critical applications” such as Axess or Oracle, users will be required to input a second means of identification in addition to their usernames and passwords.

By Aug. 19, over 3,000 SUNet account holders began using this security feature, Livingston stated in a campus-wide email written to the Stanford community. This two-step authentication is currently voluntarily but is expected to become mandatory soon.

In a statement to The Daily, Livingston did not note any additional updates since the Aug. 19 letter.

The University is still moving forward with further investigatory work—systems diagnostics, intensive activity monitoring and working with law enforcement and other experts.

Livingston calls for cooperation from users, who will be expected to take more personal responsibility for security of user devices and confidential information as outlined in his campus-wide email.

“It is important to recognize that the hackers of today are very sophisticated,” Livingston wrote in a statement to The Daily. “We cannot assume that new procedures, passwords and security enhancements fully eliminate their continued presence.”

“It may take several iterations of security improvements over some period of time to regain confidence in the security of the network,” she added.

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Weinstein tapped as chief of staff to UN ambassador https://stanforddaily.com/2013/09/05/weinstein-tapped-as-chief-of-staff-to-un-ambassador/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/09/05/weinstein-tapped-as-chief-of-staff-to-un-ambassador/#respond Thu, 05 Sep 2013 09:07:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1078457 Associate Professor of Political Science Jeremy Weinstein has been named chief of staff to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, marking a return to government service for the former National Security Council staffer.

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Associate Professor of Political Science Jeremy Weinstein has been named chief of staff to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, marking a return to government service for the former National Security Council staffer.

Weinstein will take a public service leave from Stanford to assume his new position, in which capacity he will advise Power on policy and advancing U.S. interests while also helping to manage the mission’s staff.

“Recent world events pose critical challenges to the United Nations, a global institution that reflects our shared commitment to promoting peace, security and human dignity,” Weinstein said. “I am honored to join Ambassador Power’s excellent team at this important moment for the United States and the world.”

Weinstein previously worked with Power from 2009 to 2011 on the National Security Council, where she served as senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights and he worked as director of development and democracy.

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University to replace recently issued diplomas https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/25/university-to-replace-recently-issued-diplomas/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/25/university-to-replace-recently-issued-diplomas/#comments Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:09:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1078172 Stanford will replace all diplomas issued over the past four quarters in order to correct an outdated signature, according to an email sent Thursday morning by the Office of the Registrar.

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Stanford will replace all diplomas issued over the past four quarters in order to correct an outdated signature, according to an email sent Thursday morning by the Office of the Registrar.

Diplomas issued for last summer quarter  and this academic year’s autumn, winter and spring quarters bore the signature of former Board of Trustees chair Leslie Hume M.A. ’71 Ph.D. ’79 rather than current Board chair Steven Denning MBA ’78. Denning began his two-year term in July 2012.

“This error does not affect your graduation status, but the University will replace your diploma with a corrected version,” the email read.

While the diploma serves as a commemoration of achievement, official certification of degrees is made only through official transcripts or through the National Student Clearinghouse.

Graduates affected by the error have been asked to fill out an online form to allow the University to mail a corrected diploma.

This post will be updated.

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SUNet ID holders advised to change passwords following IT breach https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/24/sunet-id-holders-advised-to-change-passwords-following-it-breach/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/24/sunet-id-holders-advised-to-change-passwords-following-it-breach/#comments Thu, 25 Jul 2013 04:10:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1078161 All SUNet ID holders have been advised to change their account passwords as a result of “an apparent breach” in Stanford’s information technology infrastructure, according to an email sent to the Stanford community on Wednesday evening.

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All SUNet ID holders have been advised to change their account passwords as a result of “an apparent breach” in Stanford’s information technology infrastructure, according to an email sent to the Stanford community on Wednesday evening.

In the email, Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Livingston wrote that the breach had taken a similar form to other recent online intrusions against American companies and universities.

“In recent months, a range of large organizations have reported attacks involving their information systems,” Livingston wrote. “Preliminary indications are that the breach at Stanford bears many similarities to these incidents.”

Livingston framed the advice to change account passwords as solely a “precautionary measure,” adding that the University is not currently aware of any personal health or financial information being compromised in the incident.

“We do not yet know the scope of the intrusion, but we are working closely with information security consultants and law enforcement to determine its source and impact,” Livingston wrote.

In the email, Livingston also drew attention to the relative scarcity of such incidents despite ongoing efforts to compromise University systems.

“Stanford treats information security with the utmost seriousness and is continually upgrading its defenses against cyberattacks,” Livingston wrote. “Like many institutions, it repels millions of attempted attacks on its information systems each day.”

This post will be updated.

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Philippe M.A. ’85 sworn in as Belgian king https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/22/belgium/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/22/belgium/#respond Tue, 23 Jul 2013 06:45:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1078097 Crown Prince Philippe M.A. '85 has been sworn in as the new King of the Belgians, ascending the throne on Sunday following the abdication of his father, King Albert II.

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Crown Prince Philippe  M.A. ’85 has been sworn in as the new King of the Belgians, ascending the throne in a ceremony on Sunday following the abdication of his father, King Albert II.

The Oxford- and Stanford-educated monarch, whose role is largely ceremonial, will nevertheless face a challenging task in mediating ongoing tensions between Belgium’s Dutch-speaking and French communities, which left the country without a government for 541 days in 2010-11 following inconclusive parliamentary elections.

His ascension to the throne, however, was a more celebratory occasion, marked by fireworks and cannon-fire as he took his oath in Belgium’s three official languages — Dutch, French and German.

“You have all the emotional and intellectual qualities to serve our country well,” Albert noted of Philippe in the abdication ceremony.

Philippe visited Stanford last month — as part of a weeklong economic mission to California — and reflected fondly on his time on the Farm.

“It was two of the best years of my life,” he said. “I enjoyed it so much. The spirit that lives here at Stanford opened my mind and gave me so much confidence in myself. This was a cornerstone of my life, and I am very grateful for what I got here.”

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Coursera raises $43 million towards further expansion https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/11/coursera-raises-43-million-towards-further-expansion/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/11/coursera-raises-43-million-towards-further-expansion/#respond Thu, 11 Jul 2013 08:50:59 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1078025 Coursera, the online learning platform founded by Stanford computer science professors Daphne Koller Ph.D. ’94 and Andrew Ng, recently raised $43 million in venture capital funding, as the firm prepares to double its employees and expand into international and mobile markets. Coursera, which has attracted more than 4 million student signups in less than two […]

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Coursera, the online learning platform founded by Stanford computer science professors Daphne Koller Ph.D. ’94 and Andrew Ng, recently raised $43 million in venture capital funding, as the firm prepares to double its employees and expand into international and mobile markets.

Coursera, which has attracted more than 4 million student signups in less than two years, gained funding principally from specialized education technology venture capital firms,  while also receiving backing from entities like the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.

“We hope it’s enough money to get us to profitability,” Koller told The New York Times. “We haven’t really focused yet on when that might be.”

While Coursera has enjoyed exceptional popularity and growth during its short life, expanding from four university partners in April 2012 to 83 educational institutions across four continents today, its rise — and that of other massive open online course (MOOC) platforms — has also prompted concerns about the potential loss of classroom interaction and MOOC platforms’ disruptive impact on the traditional model of higher education.

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John Arrillaga ’60 donates $151 million to Stanford https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/01/john-arrillaga-60-donates-151-million-to-stanford/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/07/01/john-arrillaga-60-donates-151-million-to-stanford/#comments Tue, 02 Jul 2013 06:59:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077855 Philanthropist John Arrillaga '60 made a $151 million gift to Stanford last week, in the largest single gift by a living donor to the University.

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Philanthropist John Arrillaga ’60 made a $151 million gift to Stanford last week, in the largest single gift from a living donor in University history.

The donation will be directed towards supporting a variety of University projects over time, according to the Stanford News Service.

Arrillaga had previously given extensively to Stanford, including making a $100 million donation in 2006 that at the time exceeded that of any other living donors, backing the construction of a number of campus buildings — including the renovation of Stanford Stadium in 2005-06 — and supporting nearly 50 students each year through endowed fellowships.

“John is a true friend to Stanford, combining extraordinary generosity with unwavering service,” said President John Hennessy to the Stanford News Service. “He brings his professional expertise to each project, and our entire community has benefited from his vision, attention to detail and passion for Stanford University.”

A $150 million gift to the Graduate School of Business in 2011 from Robert King ’60 and his wife Dorothy King had previously stood as the largest gift by living donors. Arrillaga’s gift is eclipsed in turn, however, by a $400 million commitment made by the Hewlett Foundation to Stanford in 2001, the largest gift of any kind in University history.

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Startup aims to revolutionize website creation https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/27/startup-aims-to-revolutionize-website-creation/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/27/startup-aims-to-revolutionize-website-creation/#comments Fri, 28 Jun 2013 03:55:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077850 Strikingly, a mobile-friendly website creation service, has taken a circuitous but ultimately promising route to defining itself within the market, aiming – in the words of one previous slogan – to “conquer the world with one page.”

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In Silicon Valley, a entrepreneurial hotbed defined largely by elegance and simplicity, Strikingly, a mobile-friendly website creation service, has taken a circuitous but ultimately promising route to defining itself within the market, aiming – in the words of one previous slogan – to “conquer the world with one page.”

Originally conceived of as a Kickstarter-like crowd-funding platform, the startup pivoted in focus as its founders encountered a relative shortcoming in projects’ ability to showcase their initiatives online. The team subsequently coalesced around the idea of enabling effective and simple online presentations, responding to a shared desire among their prior users.

“Right around this time, the one-page style was taking off, as mobile devices started to become the main browsing channel,” noted David Chen, Strikingly’s CEO. “We got inspired by the simplicity of the one-page design, and saw an opportunity to build the simplest website builder and actually solve the most fundamental problem on the Internet: how to build a website.”

Strikingly’s product, a single web page, which users can scroll through as if moving through a presentation, targets organizations, generally small businesses, that currently lack a web presence and that would benefit from simple and mobile-optimized outreach to potential customers.

The startup has enjoyed success in both fundraising and expanding its user base, graduating from the Winter 2013 Y Combinator Class while raising a $1.5 million seed round and witnessing growth of more than 40 percent in revenues and users over the past seven months.

“It was certainly unexpected, especially given that we haven’t done any marketing,” Chen conceded. “We were focusing on products and users exclusively starting from day one and the growth has been pure word of mouth.”

Chen emphasized that, despite the startup’s mobile-first approach, few features have been omitted from the desktop or tablet experience.

“Although the mobile-first approach simplifies website format itself, it leaves enough room to incorporate most of the features a regular user would need,” Chen said. “It has not been a problem for us so far.”

Looking toward the future, Chen said that the Strikingly team plans to integrate a payment processor into the site, as well as encouraging user-driven developments through an app store and, internally, expanding the firm’s staff.

Check back in the weeks to come as The Daily looks into more of Silicon Valley’s most exciting startups.

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Michael Bloomberg delivers 2013 Commencement address https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/16/michael-bloomberg-delivers-2013-commencement-address/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/16/michael-bloomberg-delivers-2013-commencement-address/#comments Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:43:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077747 Addressing entrepreneurship, immigration reform and the American Dream, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered a keynote address to the Class of 2013 during Stanford's 122nd Commencement ceremony on Sunday.

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“The wind of freedom has always blown strongly here at Stanford,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his keynote address — which touched on entrepreneurship, immigration reform and  the American Dream — to the Class of 2013 at Stanford’s 122nd Commencement ceremony. “No other university in the world has so profoundly shaped our modern age.”

(LARRY GE/The Stanford Daily)
(LARRY GE/The Stanford Daily)

“Stanford is known for its bold entrepreneurial spirit,” said President John Hennessy in welcoming Bloomberg, describing the New York City Mayor as sharing that trait.

“As a young boy, Mike Bloomberg learned the importance of service and giving back,” Hennessy went on to note. “Over the past 12 years, he has been the city’s champion…One of the things I most admire about Mayor Bloomberg is his willingness to take a stand, especially on issues that are divisive.”

“Really I just came to try and get Stepfan Taylor [’13]’s autograph,” Bloomberg jested in opening, before later noting that “I did see the guy dressed up [for the Wacky Walk] as the Big Gulp. Very funny.”

Bloomberg briefly touched on distinct aspects of Stanford culture, from Full Moon on the Quad to the abbreviations of campus locations, but noted that he felt “right at home” on campus given the quality of higher education and Stanford’s entrepreneurial spirit.

He subsequently touched on Stanford’s historic role in driving Silicon Valley’s growth, before briefly addressing the University’s failed bid for a New York City campus.

“No hard feelings,” he said. “It didn’t work out, but I think, in the end, it will.”

Bloomberg suggested that Stanford graduates interested in entrepreneurship may eventually make their way across the country to New York’s “Silicon Alley” — in part because “there’s more to do on a Friday night than go to the Pizza Hut in Sunnyvale” –before he turned back to the present and encouraged graduates to seek their own path in the world.

“Stanford is more than a world-class university,” he said. “It attracts people who are trying to discover and shape the future…You leave [Stanford] with the wind of freedom at your back and a world of possibility at your feet.”

“Those who do what they love often find more riches than they ever imagined possible,” he added.

Bloomberg recounted his own employment experience, singling out being laid off from Salomon Brothers — after attempting to reform the firm’s use of financial information — as a turning point in his career and one that ultimately enabled — despite the fear of starting anew — his later success in business.

“The idea that you can find a way to do something better, faster and cheaper has driven American innovation for centuries,” he noted. “I had a dream that I believed in, and thankfully I had the courage to follow it.”

“If you won’t risk failure, you won’t fulfill your potential,” Bloomberg added. “You’ve got that opportunity, and it’s the most valuable thing you’ll own in your life. Don’t waste it.”

Bloomberg reiterated that sentiment in encouraging graduating students to challenge themselves and fulfill their potential no matter what field they plan to enter.

“Roll up your sleeves every day and get down to work,” he emphasized. “The secret of success isn’t much of a secret…The American Dream has no shortcuts and no endpoint…It is up to you to embrace that opportunity for yourself.”

Turning to a more national issue, Bloomberg castigated the United States’ current immigration laws, calling them nonsensical and suggesting that “every STEM student should have a green card stapled to their diploma.”

“If those in Washington [D.C.] had any sense at all, they’d be begging you to stay in the United States,” he told graduating international students. “It’s the most backwards economic policy you could possibly come up with.”

He struck an optimistic tone, however, when reviewing the progress of efforts to bring about comprehensive immigration reform, noting that one such attempt is currently under serious consideration in Congress.

“We have a real chance of passing sensible, comprehensive immigration reform this year,” he said. “If we are going to win the future, we’ve got to keep the future here.”

Bloomberg also cited the efforts of two Stanford faculty members — Professors of Law Pam Karlan and Jeff Fisher — in advancing another civil rights issue by arguing for same-sex marriage in front of the Supreme Court.

“In the whole history of the United States, no law limiting the rights of a particular class of people has ever stood the test of time, and neither will [laws like the Defense of Marriage Act],” he said. “Marriage equality is the civil rights issue of our time.”

Framing American history as a series of struggles to live up to the ideals enshrined in the nation’s founding documents, Bloomberg called on graduating students to continue the fight.

“Today, that struggles continues,” he said. “It’s your turn to lead it…Go out and pursue your American Dream and help make it a reality for others.”

According to Hennessy, the University conferred 1,701 bachelor’s degrees, 2,325 master’s degrees and 1,055 doctoral degrees.

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Board of Trustees approves University budget, new housing https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/13/board-of-trustees-approves-university-budget-new-housing/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/13/board-of-trustees-approves-university-budget-new-housing/#respond Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:55:48 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077739 The Stanford Board of Trustees heard a report from new School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor and approved the University’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year at its June meeting.

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The Stanford Board of Trustees heard a report from new School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor and approved the University’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year at its June meeting.

Board Chair Steven Denning MBA ’78 framed the University’s fiscal status in positive terms, noting a projected growth of 7 percent in revenues over this year’s total.

“The good news is we’re running a surplus both at the aggregate level and at the general funds level,” Denning said.

Denning singled out an increase in the amount allocated for undergraduate financial aid as particularly significant.

“This University has a strong commitment to financial aid and maintaining that financial aid so that we can keep net tuition increases basically flat,” Denning said.

Direct financial aid for students will total $254 million next year.

Turning to the capital budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which will total $658 million, Denning drew attention to the planned renovation of the historic Old Chemistry Building, which will incorporate seismic safety and other structural improvements.

“It’s really [a renovation] that is oriented towards adding classrooms and teaching facilities…for a number of the sciences [and] not just chemistry,” Denning emphasized.

Planned construction will also include the expansion of undergraduate housing through new facilities in Manzanita Park, which will add 128 beds, and Lagunita Court, which will add 216 beds. Denning described the developments, which are scheduled for completion in 2015, as intended to address recent “packing” of undergraduate residences rather than accommodate any planned expansion of the undergraduate population.

“That’s the first time we’ve really addressed undergraduate housing in some significant period of time,” Denning said. “It’s a significant increase.”

“[The population increase] is something the administration is seriously exploring,” he added later. “It’s something the Board endorses.”

Other planned or ongoing construction projects include the construction of 180 housing units on Mayfield Avenue and the addition of a contemplation center and the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art and Art History to campus.

“I’m looking forward to going up there [to the contemplation center],” Denning said.

Turning to Minor’s presentation, Denning framed it as intended to offer a contextualized sense of Minor’s vision and priorities, especially given the financial importance of University hospitals and the School of Medicine to Stanford as a whole, and to inform the Board.

“You’re dealing with two hospitals that are very significant in terms of their revenue,” Denning emphasized. “They operate on clearly a different business model…than the University does.”

“It’s the beginning of a dialogue [and] not the end of one with regards to discussing those kind of issues,” Denning added.

Revisiting a report from Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam to the Faculty Senate earlier in the day, Denning remarked on the scale of the reforms made to the undergraduate experience.

“I commend…the innovation and forward-thinking thought to implement the elements of the [Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford report] in an extremely creative way,” he said. “I thought what they were doing, frankly, is fantastic and really quite expansionary.”

“It was surprising to me in terms of the breadth of the activities that we’re forging ahead on,” Denning added. “It’s one [area] where the planning that has gone into redesigning what we’re offering our students is really conceptually very strong and something that as an institution we should be extremely proud of.”

Denning also noted the interest in the University’s judicial process after the emergence of a critical case study, but downplayed the Board’s involvement in rectifying issues raised therein.

“We’ve been apprised, but it’s not one we’re getting into in any specific way other than endorsing the actions that are moving forward today with the Office of Community Standards,” Denning said.

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Faculty Senate hears report on undergraduate education https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/13/faculty-senate-hears-report-on-undergraduate-education/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/13/faculty-senate-hears-report-on-undergraduate-education/#respond Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:50:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077738 The Faculty Senate heard reports from both Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Harry Elam and the Emeriti Council on Thursday afternoon, in the body’s final meeting of the academic year.

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The Faculty Senate heard reports from both Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Harry Elam and the Emeriti Council on Thursday afternoon, in the body’s final meeting of the academic year.

Senate Chair Raymond Levitt M.S. ’73 Ph.D. ’75 opened the meeting by thanking members of the outgoing Senate for their work throughout the year, a sentiment that was subsequently reciprocated by the Senate’s Steering Committee.

President John Hennessy briefly drew attention to the recent accomplishments of Stanford’s female student-athletes, citing both Kori Carter ’14’s record-setting performance in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships and the women’s tennis team’s victory in their own NCAA Championship.

“That was a close call,” Hennessy noted. “It would have been the first time in 37 years we hadn’t won an NCAA championship.”

Emeriti Council President David Abernethy, professor emeritus of political science, briefly reviewed the council’s work, singling out the offering of a quarterly lecture series entitled “Autobiographical Reflections” that has to date featured speakers such as Professor Emeritus of Management Science and Engineering William Perry ’49 M.S. ’50, Professor Emerita of English Nancy Packer and Professor Emeritus of the Graduate School of Business William Miller.

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam subsequently reported on the success of various changes to the undergraduate academic experience made in recent years.

Elam framed the introduction of the Thinking Matters requirement as allowing students to access a broad range of perspectives from across the University in a quarter of their choosing. According to Elam, 90 percent of freshmen were admitted to either their first or second choice Thinking Matters course.

Elam also drew attention to student interest in Education as Self-Fashioning (ESF) seminars, which satisfy both Thinking Matters and Program in Writing and Rhetoric freshman requirements. 123 students enrolled in 5 ESF seminars over the course of the year.

“It made [students] think deeply and differently about what they were going to do at Stanford,” Elam noted.

For the 2013-14 academic year, nine fewer Thinking Matters courses will be offered, due to insufficient student interest in some courses.

Turning to Introductory Seminars (IntroSems), Elam noted that the removal of the three-quarter Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM) program had naturally led to more scheduling room in which freshmen could enroll in IntroSems, inducing a slight increase in the proportion of freshmen taking at least one IntroSem.

Reviewing other academic programming reforms, Elam pointed to the creation of two new residential learning programs – “Immersion in the Arts: Living in Culture” and “Science in the Making: Integrated Learning Environment” — in Burbank next year and the embedding of writing specialists from the Program in Writing and Rhetoric into specific departments.

“It’s worked successfully,” Elam said, referencing trials with the history and human biology departments and the public policy program. “It’s something we’ll look to expand.”

According to Elam, academic departments have made great strides towards registering their classes under the new Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing requirement, which will take effect next year.

Elam also singled out wholly new initiatives undertaken by the University, including the creation of a Stanford Leadership Institute and a Stanford in New York City program. The latter would follow a similar format to that of the Stanford in Washington program, with daytime internships in arts, urban studies or finance followed by classes focused around creative entrepreneurship.

“We’re looking to have a pilot of this in the spring or summer of 2015,” Elam said.

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Susan Rice ’86 tapped for national security advisor https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/04/susan-rice-86-tapped-for-national-security-advisor/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/06/04/susan-rice-86-tapped-for-national-security-advisor/#respond Wed, 05 Jun 2013 06:58:28 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077702 Susan Rice '86, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has been tapped as the next national security advisor to President Barack Obama.

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Susan Rice ’86, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has been tapped as the next national security advisor to President Barack Obama.

Rice will replace Tom Donilon, who is expected to step down in early July, in the post. She will become, after Condoleezza Rice, the second Stanford-affiliated African-American woman to serve as national security advisor.

Rice, who graduated from Stanford with Phi Beta Kappa honors, received serious consideration as a replacement for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year — a position for which she was widely reported to be Obama’s first choice — but withdrew her name from consideration in December in the face of strong Republican opposition and a potentially contentious and lengthy confirmation process.

Republican criticism focused on Rice’s public statements in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2011, Benghazi terrorist attack, in which four Americans — including Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya — were killed. Five days after the attack, Rice claimed on several Sunday news shows that the attack was a spontaneous incident prompted by an amateur anti-Muslim video.

“She has proven that she either doesn’t understand or is not willing to accept evidence on its face,” said Senator John McCain on “Fox and Friends,” in opposing Rice’s potential nomination.

Obama sustained a robust defense of his potential pick before ultimately accepting her withdrawal from consideration and successfully nominating Senator John Kerry for the post.

“The American people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character representing our country,” Obama said in a statement at the time.

Despite the extensive influence over foreign policy afforded the national security advisor, Rice will not be required to undergo a Senate confirmation process.

Former Obama aide Samantha Power will likely succeed Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

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Student falsely linked to anti-Arab campaign https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/22/student-falsely-linked-to-anti-arab-campaign/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/22/student-falsely-linked-to-anti-arab-campaign/#respond Thu, 23 May 2013 05:00:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077381 A Stanford junior and several other individuals have been falsely depicted, by a fake news release as leaders of a campaign to boycott Iran and other Middle Eastern nations.

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A Stanford junior and several other individuals have been falsely depicted, by a fake news release as leaders of a campaign to boycott Iran and other Middle Eastern nations.

Josh Schott ’14, co-president of Students for Palestinian Equal Rights, is quoted by the news release– nominally released by a non-existent boycott campaign– as advocating for Israeli military intervention in Iran and Syria. The news release also identified a number of activists and organizations previously critical of Israel as supposedly supportive of the boycott campaign.

The release has since been reprinted and characterized as accurate by several sources, among them the Palestinian News Network.

Schott told The Chronicle of Higher Education that the potential for the release’s broad dissemination had concerned him.

“I don’t want people thinking I actually said or did those things,” Schott emphasized.

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CISAC receives $5 million grant for nuclear studies faculty position https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/21/cisac-receives-5-million-grant-for-nuclear-studies-faculty-position/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/21/cisac-receives-5-million-grant-for-nuclear-studies-faculty-position/#respond Wed, 22 May 2013 06:54:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077361 The Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) has received a $5 million gift from the Stanton Foundation to establish a faculty position in nuclear studies.

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The Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) has received a $5 million gift from the Stanton Foundation to establish a faculty position in nuclear studies.

The Frank Stanton Professorship in Nuclear Security is intended to attract an internationally recognized scholar to conduct research into nuclear security and energy and to teach a CISAC course related to nuclear security issues.

“The Stanton chair will help CISAC, the Freeman Spogli Institute and Stanford continue a tradition going back three decades of being at the forefront in global efforts to understand nuclear energy and its enormous consequences for civilization,” said Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar M.A. ’96 Ph.D. ’00, CISAC’s co-director.

The Stanton Foundation, founded by former CBS president Frank Stanton, also funds CISAC’s Stanton Nuclear Security Fellowships, which supports the study of policy-relevant issues around nuclear security by pre- and post-doctoral students and junior faculty.

“This gift from Stanton will ensure that CISAC’s important role in policy-relevant research on nuclear issues will continue in perpetuity,” said Scott Sagan, a CISAC senior fellow.

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Case study finds flawed, slanted judicial process https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/13/case-study-finds-flawed-slanted-university-judicial-process/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/13/case-study-finds-flawed-slanted-university-judicial-process/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 05:45:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1077177 Students subject to the University's judicial process may be exposed to a system implicitly slanted towards finding respondents guilty and willfully indifferent to rights enshrined in the Student Judicial Charter of 1997, according to a case study of a 2011 judicial proceeding.

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Students subject to the University’s judicial process may be exposed to a system implicitly slanted towards finding respondents guilty and willfully indifferent to rights enshrined in the Student Judicial Charter of 1997, according to a case study of a 2011 judicial proceeding. The study was undertaken by the three students acquitted of plagiarism charges in the 2011 case and their alumni representatives.

“Unless it’s entirely clear that you’re innocent, you’re pretty much [presumed] guilty,” reflected one of the acquitted students, a current senior. “They’ll go after you to get a conviction.”

University administrators, meanwhile, acknowledged flaws within the process but emphasized efforts to correct those shortcomings while depicting the case in question as an outlier.

 

Extensive judicial abuses

The case study references the experiences of three students charged with plagiarism in a June 2011 human biology final. All three students were eventually acquitted—though two of the three were only one vote removed from a guilty finding—in November 2011, but only after undergoing a process that, according to Bob Ottilie ’77, who represented one of the students, showed extensive misconduct by the University.

“We have absolute proof that there were gross, continuous [and] serial violations of the [Judicial] Charter,” Ottilie emphasized. “At a minimum, you have to stop this process until you can assure [participants] that you’ve stopped the violations.”

Such violations of the Judicial Charter, as alleged by the study, include efforts to discourage students from calling witnesses on their behalf or from cross-examining incriminatory witnesses; the selection of an untrained and biased set of panelists; the presentation of inadmissible evidence; efforts by a nominally impartial Judicial Officer to pursue a guilty finding by the selective admission and exclusion of evidence and witnesses; and the bringing of charges without the participation of the original student complainant and without—for one student—any evidence at all.

“The presumption of guilt permeated this entire process,” Ottilie said. “Everything that was done could only have been done with a presumption of guilt…The Charter was being violated at every step of the process.”

Both Rick Yuen and Morris Graves, the case’s Judicial Officer and Judicial Advisor respectively, declined to comment for this article.

Ottilie expressed concern that similar misconduct had taken place in other cases brought by the Office of Judicial Affairs, which has since been renamed the Office of Community Standards.

“This isn’t one or two people,” he asserted. “This was an office that was out of control at the time.”

Describing the Office of Community Standard’s conviction rate as artificially high, Ottilie suggested that past cases in which anonymity had been granted to the complaining party—denying the respondent the opportunity to cross-examine the complainant—should be reviewed and, if appropriate, their verdicts set aside.

“John [Martin ’80, a lawyer who represented another student in the case] and I agree that there’ve been scores—or even more—of students who have been convicted in hearing processes in which their fundamental rights were violated,” Ottilie said.

During the 2010-11 academic year, the Office of Community Standards obtained guilty findings in 87 percent of Fundamental Standard and Honor Code cases that went to a hearing for determination of guilt.

The student against whom there had been no initial complaint—and who still received three votes, or two fewer than necessary, in favor of a guilty finding from the six-member panel—expressed certainty that he would have been found guilty in the absence of legal representation.

“There’s no doubt we would have lost [without counsel],” he said. “[The judicial officers] were aggressive, they intimidated witnesses, they didn’t allow fair process…It was in all senses a shitshow.”

The student singled out Morris Graves as particularly negligent in upholding student rights.

“It’s his duty to protect student rights,” the student complained. “He was absolutely spineless there.”

“People in the Office of Judicial Affairs jumped with both feet on the scales of justice,” Ottilie added. “Had those three not been represented, they would have been convicted.”

ASSU Executive Billy Gallagher ’14 expressed concern about the case study’s findings and noted that he had personally encountered students with other negative accounts of the University’s judicial process.

“It’s disturbing…It just doesn’t seem like the Stanford we all know and love,” Gallagher said. “It’s just scary to see the system work that badly.”

 

Changes undertaken

Dean of Student Life Chris Griffith framed the case cited in the study as an outlier, citing the generally positive nature of feedback solicited from students who have gone through the judicial process.

“We’ve gotten really good feedback from the students who’ve come through our process,” Griffith affirmed, describing criticisms of administrators’ impartiality as unusual.

“The Office is very conscious of rules and protections,” added Jonathan York ’13, student co-chair of the Board on Judicial Affairs. “I’ve heard more students be grateful and express appreciation for what they do than criticism.”

York and Griffith noted that several of the suggestions raised by the case study—such as creating specific training for student panel chairs and devising a formal procedure for determining evidentiary standards and admissibility—had been identified in both an internal review process undertaken by the Vice Provost for Student Affairs—the Charter’s first since 1997—and in a report by an external consultant.

“A lot of the things in the case study we’re currently reviewing in subcommittees,” York noted. “We’ve addressed so many of those things…the Internal Review Panel was really, really comprehensive…[Ottilie] gave us a little bit of a different perspective, but he didn’t teach us anything new.”

Griffith noted, however, that revising certain aspects of the process might produce inadvertent side effects. For example, she said that by omitting the previously supplied warning to student respondents to not contact witnesses, student respondents might be more likely to do so. Griffith added that this could put student respondents at a greater risk of being perceived as intimidating witnesses—itself a violation of the Fundamental Standard. The revised notification currently contains a disclaimer to that effect.

York disputed the need for any delay in hearing cases while improvements were implemented.

“A lot of the things in [the case study] are concerning,” he acknowledged. “I don’t think this is a systemwide problem…but there is room for systemwide improvement. We’ve taken steps in the right direction.”

“We don’t see these as radical changes to the process, because the [Internal Review Panel] said this process isn’t broken,” added Koren Bakkegard, director of the Office of Community Standards. “We’re always looking for opportunities to improve and refine…I don’t see it as something that would change outcomes but [rather as] something that would improve the process for the future.”

David Hsu, a graduate student who previously served on judicial panels, noted that, in his experience, the training offered to panelists was sufficiently comprehensive given the absence of exposure to a real hearing. Hsu also defended the high percentage of guilty findings in cases brought by the Office of Community Standards.

“I’ve never been in a case where the outcome was guilty and I…felt any discomfort,” Hsu emphasized. “They may turn out mostly guilty…but it’s because the evidence is very heavily against the person.”

Ottilie alleged, however, a lack of responsiveness by University administrators and argued that more explicit leadership from senior University leaders—including President John Hennessy—is required to ensure improvements are made permanent and that sufficient oversight is exercised.

“The University has to ultimately make certain that any fixes are institutionalized,” he said. “There are already rules there. The issue is making sure that people are enforcing their rules.”

“I cannot allow any client to have a case heard by either [Yuen or Graves], knowing what’s in this report,” Ottilie added. “You just can’t fix that…We have the best Charter. It’s just not enforced.”

Gallagher said that he and fellow ASSU Executive Dan Ashton ’14 plan to attend an Office of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs staff meeting today to better understand the issue before working with administrators on solutions.

“This is what Dan and I meant [during the election] when we said that things will come up that we haven’t planned for,” Gallagher noted. “We have to see how things unfold.”

 

Discipline and education

According to Ottilie, conversations with University administrators regarding the case repeatedly referenced a “discipline system,” a characterization that Griffith and Bakkegard contested in favor of defining the process as educational.

“It really is a conversation,” Bakkegard said. “I’m sure [that] for the responding student…it’s a difficult one to have. But the idea is not to prosecute the student, but to have a conversation about what occurred.”

“One of the most powerful statements made [in the internal review]…was to say we need to remain an educational process and resist the temptation to become legalistic,” Griffith added. “I believe that.”

York echoed the inclination to distance the process from “legalistic” practices, describing the student-run process as conveying both responsibilities and privileges.

“You appear before your peers [and] you have the opportunity to present your case,” he emphasized. “If you’re found responsible, you do face the consequences, but the punishments aren’t meant to be debilitating…This is [primarily] a learning process.”

Ottilie insisted, however, on the value of both educating students—so that they might make full use of that opportunity—and approaching the judicial process in a more structured and legally-inclined manner.

“All these procedural protections…are designed to enhance the quality of evidence that comes in,” he said. “You [then] have the highest possible chance of getting the right result.”

As an example, Ottilie cited another case in which a student was evicted from Row housing as a result of an altercation, after a process in which the Residence Dean handling the case precluded the student from speaking to exculpatory witnesses and declined to interview those witnesses herself. Once counseled to the contrary by a private attorney, the student overturned the decision with declarations from over 60 witnesses.

Bakkegard estimated that only a minority of students charged through the judicial process actually contest the allegations, instead choosing to take advantage of an “early resolution option” program that involves just a sentencing hearing after the admission of culpability.

While Ottilie noted that such a program might implicitly suggest more lenient punishments and thus encourage false admissions of guilt, Bakkegard and Assistant Dean of the Office of Community Standards Jamie Pontius-Hogan noted that penalties largely conformed to standard sanctions that would otherwise be levied.

Turning to the broader picture, Ottilie framed effectively strengthening the judicial process as potentially allowing the University to set a precedent on an issue—student rights in judicial processes, from plagiarism to sexual assault—that has increasingly become a national one.

“This is going on elsewhere,” he noted. “This is a crisis for Stanford—are we going to be judged by the crisis or by our response to it?”

Griffith acknowledged the value of greater student participation in creating and sustaining an optimal judicial process.

“This is a process that demands consistent input and feedback from students,” she emphasized. “It’s a student-centered process.”

“There can be kinks when you have a student-run process,” York acknowledged. “In the long run, the benefits of having a student-run process are immense. If that means we have to keep working at it, so be it.”

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Penny Pritzker MBA ’85 J.D. ’85 nominated for Commerce Secretary https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/02/penny-pritzker-mba-85-j-d-85-nominated-as-commerce-secretary/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/05/02/penny-pritzker-mba-85-j-d-85-nominated-as-commerce-secretary/#respond Thu, 02 May 2013 19:06:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1076911 Penny Pritzker MBA '85 J.D. '85 has been nominated as the next U.S. Secretary of Commerce, in an announcement by President Barack Obama on Thursday morning.

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Penny Pritzker MBA ’85 J.D. ’85 has been nominated as the next U.S. Secretary of Commerce, in an announcement by President Barack Obama on Thursday morning.

Pending confirmation by the Senate, Pritzker will assume a post that has been empty since last June, when former Secretary John Bryson resigned.

In his announcement, Obama described Pritzker as “one of our country’s most distinguished business leaders” and an”extraordinary civic leader.”

Pritzker, a longtime Obama supporter and fundraiser, had initially been touted as a potential Commerce Secretary in Obama’s first term, before she withdrew from consideration. In her new post, she will manage responsibilities including federal business programs, tourism and oceans policy, as well as leading the administration’s outreach to donors and the business community.

This post will be updated.

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Exec slate drops Review endorsement after controversial column https://stanforddaily.com/2013/04/12/exec-slate-drops-review-endorsement-after-controversial-column/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/04/12/exec-slate-drops-review-endorsement-after-controversial-column/#comments Sat, 13 Apr 2013 06:30:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1076423 As voting in the 2013 ASSU elections nears an end, the Executive slate of Dan Ashton '14 and Billy Gallagher '14 have distanced themselves from an endorsement by The Stanford Review, after the publication of a controversial opinions piece critical of the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC).

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As voting in the 2013 ASSU elections nears an end, the Executive slate of Dan Ashton ’14 and Billy Gallagher ’14 have distanced themselves from an endorsement by The Stanford Review, after the publication of a controversial opinions piece critical of the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC).

The piece, which was written by Jason Lupatkin ’13 and entitled “Why You Cannot Vote for SOCC,” was published on Friday. The article was briefly removed from The Review’s website, before being restored with some changes in wording.

In the piece, Lupatkin accuses SOCC of exploiting ASSU funding for narrowly beneficial events and of pursuing “the funding and furthering of a radical political agenda” detached from broader student interests. He also criticized the group’s endorsement of Najla Gomez ’14 and Elizabeth Patino ’14 for Executive, describing them as “bland and unqualified candidates.”

As criticism of the piece circulated on University mailing lists, Ashton, a former SOCC-endorsed Senator, emphasized his slate’s dissent from the piece, noting that he had initially prevailed on The Review to remove the article. After The Review restored the article — without a disclaimer sought by Ashton and Gallagher distancing the slate from the piece — Ashton announced that the slate had dropped the endorsement.

“We sought the Review endorsement as the endorsement of a student newspaper,” he wrote in an email to the diaspora listserv. “We wanted to represent all of campus. We still do, which is why we’re dropping the endorsement.”

Whilst feedback on the mailing list to Ashton’s announcement was largely positive, members called for a more public distancing from The Review’s endorsement.

“Telling [the] Diaspora alone seems like trying to have your cake and eat it too,” wrote Kaz Adewuyi ’13 in an email to the list. “A full University email would look more convincing.”

Voting in the ASSU elections closes on Saturday at 12:09 a.m.

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2013 ASSU Exec candidates discuss campus issues https://stanforddaily.com/2013/04/10/2013-assu-exec-candidates-discuss-campus-issues/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/04/10/2013-assu-exec-candidates-discuss-campus-issues/#respond Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:16:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1076293 As voting for the 2013 ASSU elections approaches, The Daily sat down with the three ASSU Executive slates to discuss their motivations for seeking office and what they hope to accomplish if elected.

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As voting for the 2013 ASSU elections approaches, The Daily sat down with the three ASSU Executive slates to discuss their motivations for seeking office and what they hope to accomplish if elected.

 

Ashton/Gallagher”: Dan Ashton and Billy Gallagher

Ashton and Gallagher: Dan Ashton and Billy Gallagher. (The Stanford Daily/MADDY SIDES)
Ashton-Gallagher: Dan Ashton and Billy Gallagher. (MADDY SIDES/The Stanford Daily)

Dan Ashton ’14 and Billy Gallagher ’14 have campaigned on the message that their collective experience in the ASSU and in student organizations has prepared them to govern the ASSU.

“The experience is a [requirement] for the role,” Ashton, deputy chair of last year’s ASSU Undergraduate Senate, said. “Our experience is very strong, and shows that we would be very capable of doing this job…We’ve seen an amazing breadth of campus. All of the things we’ve talked about [reflect that] we have viscerally felt these things.”

“I know how the school should work in theory and how things work in reality,” Gallagher, a former Daily editor in chief and president of Kappa Sigma, added. “Seeing the magnitude of response [to my editorial farewell] was awesome, and it gave me a new wind to do something.”

Ashton pointed to his own experience within student government as allowing the slate to effectively reform the ASSU and take advantage of opportunities — such as meeting with student representatives on University committees — neglected by previous ASSU Executives.

“We’ve seen how that broke down with the 8:30 a.m. classes,” Ashton, who is a member of The Daily’s board of directors, noted. “There are some very smart changes that can be made.”

While the slate’s platform nods briefly to advocating on behalf of students in recently contentious issues — such as a University proposal to terminate Suites Dining’s student management — Gallagher and Ashton emphasized their intent to leave a more substantial legacy through offering a more robust mechanism for students to make their voices heard and by making the ASSU more financially accountable to students.

“The majority [of students] would say that they’re not represented well by the ASSU,” Gallagher said. “It’s about empowering people to get stuff done.”

“The ASSU has been proactive in the past,” Ashton added. “It has the means to be proactive now.”

The slate also highlighted their ability to build off existing relationships with administrators and reflect the issues affecting historically underrepresented groups — such as athletes and members of the Greek community — in making the ASSU more responsive to student needs.

“I’ve been very involved in the communities of color,” Ashton, a member of Los Hermanos, noted. “There’s traditionally been a pseudo-divide between [endorsing and non-endorsing] communities.… We represent that bridge. That’s something that the other candidates can’t [do].”

 

”Gomez-Patiño”: Najla Gomez and Elizabeth Patiño

Gomez-Patiño: Najla Gomez and Elizabeth Patiño. (The Stanford Daily/MADDY SIDES)
Gomez-Patiño: Najla Gomez and Elizabeth Patiño. (MADDY SIDES/The Stanford Daily)

In their interview with The Daily, Najla Gomez ’14 and Elizabeth Patiño ’14 expressed a similar desire for a more engaged and influential ASSU Executive.

“It is not enough to do advocacy through [student groups],” Gomez said. “We would like to see the ASSU take on a larger role in this advocacy group… It will be our job to ensure the ASSU is seen as a place for people to come with their ideas or their concerns.”

The slate emphasized their commitment to strengthening the ASSU’s influence by demanding greater accountability and performance from student representatives on University committees by creating a new student advisory board within Residential & Dining Enterprises and by training student representatives better.

“We want to make it a consistent system where students are always engaged and always bringing forward their own agenda items,” Gomez said.

“The thing we’ve noticed is that sometimes administrators care, but they have all these other things they feel are more important,” Patiño added. “Making [student issues] jump to the top is a priority.”

The two candidates also proposed additional initiatives to address issues like mental health and sexual assault on campus, boost funding to community centers and advocate greater diversity among students and faculty members.

Gomez and Patiño added that a main focus would be the potential to create a lasting template for more effective student representation, and said that they did not think that their relatively similar backgrounds would hinder their ability to govern.

“There’s no one student who can represent all the communities on campus,” Gomez emphasized, noting the slate’s collection of several endorsements — including those of the Stanford Student Freedom Project and the Students of Color Coalition — to date. “[Those endorsing groups] have a lot of agenda items they plan to help us with.… Ideally, we’ll have an agenda from everyone, but we’ll have something to start off with.”

“We’d pass that knowledge [of ASSU due process] on so the next ASSU Executive can know what they’re taking on,” she added. “It’s a continuous process.”

Gomez and Patiño also noted that they envisioned distinct roles within the Executive if elected, compared to Ashton and Gallagher’s concept of two “co-presidents.”

“The president is here to say, ‘these are the issues we really care about,” Patiño said. “The vice president is [there] to follow through.…We’re holding each other accountable.”

 

”A Pedagogy of Self-Discovery”: Anthony So and Ryan De Taboada

"A Pedagogy of Self-Discovery:" Anthony So and Ryan De Taboada. (The Stanford Daily/MADDY SIDES)
“A Pedagogy of Self-Discovery:” Ryan De Taboada and Anthony So. (MADDY SIDES/The Stanford Daily)

For Anthony So ’14 and Ryan De Taboada ’14, the revolution is inevitable — and you may even be a part of it too.

This year’s Stanford Chaparral slate has taken a futuristic approach to contesting the upcoming ASSU elections, featuring, in So, a robot presidential candidate and, in De Taboada, a portable battery pack.

“We’re all robots and we’d like everyone else to know they’re robots too,” So said.

So and De Taboada downplayed the significance of issues like a controversial class scheduling proposal, noting that the existence of a shared consciousness among Stanford students offered the opportunity to dissolve redundant power structures like the ASSU.

“We’re abolishing all government, so nothing bad can happen,” So said.

“We’d still allocate money to clubs,” De Taboada added. “There’d only be one club.”

Meanwhile, the slate also put forward an ambitious capital plan for implementation during their time in office.

“We need more outlets… [and] we need a monorail,” So said.

Acknowledging the slate’s distant chance of being elected, So said he might focus his attention instead on persuading his fellow students — and rival Executive slates — of their true robotic nature, as concealed beneath superficially distinct human forms.

“I guarantee you that if you just gutted any number of those minority people, they’d all look the same on the inside,” So claimed.

“We should be focusing more on convincing Dan [Ashton] and Billy [Gallagher] that they’re robots,” De Taboada added.

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Senators reflect on Students of Color Coalition https://stanforddaily.com/2013/04/10/students-of-color-coalition-reflects-on-influential-hand-in-assu-elections/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/04/10/students-of-color-coalition-reflects-on-influential-hand-in-assu-elections/#comments Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:15:42 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1076314 With ASSU elections set to take place at the end of this week, many campus groups have already issued endorsements for candidates who best share their values. In recent years, no such group has been as influential or successful as the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC).

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With ASSU elections set to take place at the end of this week, many campus groups have already issued endorsements for candidates who best share their values. In recent years, no such group has been as influential or successful as the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC).

The last four Executive slates endorsed by SOCC were victorious, while all 12 senators supported by SOCC last year were elected. In 2011, 12 of 15 SOCC-endorsed Senate candidates attained ASSU office.

The Daily sat down with current and prospective senators to discuss the significance of a SOCC endorsement on their campaigns and on the ASSU as a whole.

 

Game-changing electoral impact

SOCC is a coalition of six student organizations: the Asian American Students’ Association (AASA), the Black Student Union (BSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), the Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO).

This year, SOCC has endorsed Najla Gomez ’14 and Elizabeth Patiño ’14 for Executive, and Abby Dow ’16, Angela Zhang ’16, Annalis Breed ’16, Avery Haskell ’16, Brandon Caruso ’16, Eilaf Osman ’16, Hisham Al-Falih ’16, John-Lancaster Finley ’16, Natasha Patel ’16, Ryan Matsumoto ’16 and Zane Hellmann ’16 for Senate.

Senator Viraj Bindra ’15 sought a SOCC endorsement, unsuccessfully, last year. While Bindra was ultimately elected, he described a SOCC endorsement as an invaluable asset for prospective student government representatives due to SOCC’s extensive and motivated student network and vast campaign experience.

“It’s not absolutely necessary, but it would take a much stronger ground campaign and pursuit of other endorsements to get the same result,” Bindra noted.

“A SOCC candidate has a good few hundred [people in] backing,” noted a current SOCC-endorsed senator. “The numbers can’t really lie.”

Bindra asserted that the popular recognition of SOCC’s electoral value might lead to a diminished candidate pool, with prospective representatives dropping out or being electorally marginalized without a SOCC endorsement.

“It’s ridiculous that someone could win against someone else more qualified simply because of the SOCC vote,” Bindra said. “There’s a lot of potential for that to happen.”

“SOCC really weeded down the pool [last year],” the SOCC-endorsed senator recalled. “The toughest part was getting the SOCC endorsement.”

That senator noted that obtaining a SOCC endorsement may be as much a reflection of prior involvement with the coalition’s constituent groups — similar to many other endorsing bodies — as senatorial qualities or a superior platform.

“What SOCC is supposed to do is not only gauge them as just in [SOCC’s] interests, but also if they’re going to be a great senator,” the senator said. “As a whole, you have a better shot getting it if you have been involved with one of the SOCC groups.”

Senator Lauren Miller ’15 emphasized the value of the endorsement system as a whole, noting that endorsements offer students the chance to become more politically active and influential in student government.

“It makes a lot of students more politically active than they otherwise would be,” she said. “There are definitely flaws — when people just vote down the emailed lists.”

Miller emphasized that the onus is on other student groups to exert similar influence on the ASSU through mobilizing their own members.

“There’s definitely more groups that could be more active,” she noted.

“Endorsements are a really positive way of candidates being able to tell people what they stand for in a few words,” Bindra added. “The main issue is the lack of balance and the lack of diversity in the process.”

The SOCC-endorsed senator described SOCC’s influence as a natural step for the group, given the coalition’s constituent communities’ inability to effectively mobilize against severe cuts to community center funding in 2008.

“SOCC doesn’t want history to repeat itself,” the senator observed. “That was a really difficult time.”

Caruso said that he sought the SOCC endorsement because of similar values.

“It just really helped that I understood their issues, understood their history and understood what they are currently dealing with,” Caruso said. “I think they saw the candidates they did give the endorsement to… would work for the SOCC issues because those SOCC issues were genuinely important to those candidates.”

 

Diminished influence on ASSU agenda

As this year’s senators approach the end of their term, they noted that SOCC’s influence on the Senate’s agenda may be diminished compared to previous years.

“Just based on my initial experience with endorsing organizations, I would have thought they would have a much more obvious presence in Senate,” Bindra commented.

As the Senate grappled with and eventually rejected a contentious measure on divestment, an email from former ASSU Executive Michael Cruz ’12 to the Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER) mailing list claimed that the decision showed that “SOCC has lost its radical core.”

Miller disputed the concept that SOCC endorsements influenced senators one way or the other on such issues.

“Senators stayed true to their own personal beliefs and opinions,” she recalled, a perspective echoed by the SOCC-endorsed senator. “They weighed the considerations very seriously, and ultimately had to make a personal decision.”

“Most of the substantial issues we’ve done haven’t been a result of endorsements,” Bindra confirmed.

Bindra pointed to the selection of Senate leadership as one area where SOCC’s influence may have been felt.

“It can definitely create a majority that is unfavorable to [the non-SOCC-endorsed minority],” the SOCC-endorsed senator conceded, pointing to the frequency with which SOCC-endorsed candidates campaign together before taking office.

While SOCC-endorsed candidates sign a document pledging to maintain values put forward in their SOCC interview, Miller said that the commitment once in office is entirely determined by the individual senator.

“Endorsements can be really effective if you work with them throughout the year,” she said. “[SOCC] got me to know a lot of the people we’d be serving with before we started. I went in with strong bonds with people… which was great.”

She also pointed to SOCC’s value in tempering the ambitions of prospective senators and guiding them towards potentially more fruitful legislative areas.

“You just don’t know the full realities of the ASSU until you get in there,” Miller conceded. “We had a lot of broad sweeping agendas, which were really idealistic and great, but once we got into Senate, reality sunk in.”

 

Justine Moore contributed to this report.

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Class of 2017 admit rate marks record low at 5.7 percent https://stanforddaily.com/2013/03/31/class-of-2017-admit-rate-marks-record-low/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/03/31/class-of-2017-admit-rate-marks-record-low/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:59:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1075984 Stanford offered admission to 2,210 students via electronic notification today, producing – at 5.69 percent – the lowest admit rate in University history.

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Stanford offered admission to 2,210 students via electronic notification on Friday, producing – at 5.69 percent – the lowest admit rate in University history.

Courtesy of Stanford Photo
Montag Hall, headquarters of the Office of Undergraduate Admission (Courtesy of Stanford Photo)

The University received a total of 38,828 applications this year, a record total and a 6 percent increase over last year’s figure of 36,631. Stanford accepted 725 students in December through the Office of Undergraduate Admission’s restrictive early action program and extended offers to 1,485 more applicants on Friday. A further 813 students have been placed on the waitlist.

“The most exciting part of our review is the opportunity to consider the world’s most exceptional students,” wrote Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Richard Shaw in a press release. “The most daunting challenge is to select a relatively small number from among a most competitive and exceptional group of candidates. We are honored by the vast abilities and potential of those we admitted and those who, in the end, we could not accommodate.”

The record low admit rate reflects a continued trend of increasing selectivity for Stanford. The University admitted 6.6 percent of applicants in 2012, 7.1 percent in 2011 and 7.2 percent in 2010.

At the same time, the size of the matriculating freshman class has grown over the past three years, from 1,675 for the Class of 2014 to 1,768 for the Class of 2016. The increased yield rate has prompted academic and residential adjustments for incoming classes, as well as – for the Class of 2016 – the release of all waitlisted students.

On Thursday, several peer institutions also reported historically low admit rates. Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton admitted 5.8, 6.72, 6.89 and 7.29 percent of applicants respectively.

Accepted students have until May 1 to accept the University’s offer.

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Faculty Senate pushes back decision on schedule change, talks grad resources https://stanforddaily.com/2013/03/07/faculty-senate-pushes-back-decision-on-schedule-change-talks-grad-resources/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/03/07/faculty-senate-pushes-back-decision-on-schedule-change-talks-grad-resources/#respond Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:54:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1075687 The Faculty Senate heard reports from Vice Provost for Graduate Education Patricia Gumport M.A. '82 M.A. '86 Ph.D. '87 and Dean of the Graduate School of Education Claude Steele at its meeting Thursday.

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Courtesy Linda A. Cicero
Courtesy Linda A. Cicero

The Faculty Senate heard reports from Vice Provost for Graduate Education Patricia Gumport M.A. ’82 M.A. ’86 Ph.D. ’87 and Dean of the Graduate School of Education Claude Steele at its meeting Thursday.

Senate Chair Raymond Levitt, professor of civil and environmental engineering, opened the meeting by noting that Senate discussion of a proposal to substantially adjust course scheduling and class starting times would be postponed until May in an effort to promote further discussion of the contentious changes.

That delay will mean that the proposed changes, if approved by the Faculty Senate, would not be implemented until the 2014-15 academic year.

Gumport opened her presentation by identifying three significant challenges for the University as a whole—graduate student funding, graduate population diversity and preparing doctoral students for a range of career paths—and acknowledging the inherent limitations of the Office of the Vice Provost of Graduate Education’s efforts to address those issues.

“We are really decentralized,” Gumport said. “It’s difficult to resolve challenges that transcend departments. Some of the challenges we face are exacerbated by our decentralized structure.”

Reviewing the funding sources available to graduate students, Gumport acknowledged the potential for current and prospective reductions in federal spending to cut into student support through mediums like research assistantships.

“At all levels of the University, we’re feeling some stress and anxiety [about federal funding],” Gumport said, later emphasizing that “our top priority is to meet our current funding commitment to students.”

She emphasized, however, the diminished significance of external funding for graduate students as a whole. While external grants and contracts provided 37 percent of a total of $143.4 million in graduate student funding in fiscal year 1998, that proportion has fallen to 30 percent of a total of $309.2 million for the current fiscal year. The proportion provided by the University’s designated and restricted funds rose from 23 percent to 43 percent of the total over that same period.

“It reduces the vulnerability of graduate student funding to fluctuations in outside sources,” Gumport said. “We were relieved to see that.”

Gumport also announced a recent decision by Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ’82 to increase the proportion of graduate student research assistants’ support that comes from University general funds from 35 to 40 percent, framing the move as a means of alleviating pressure on faculty to find funding sources.

Turning to the challenge of fostering diversity within the graduate student population, Gumport emphasized the University’s focus on increasing diversity within specific academic departments rather than necessarily within the population as a whole.

While she cited increases in gender equality and in international graduate student numbers as substantial accomplishments for the University, Gumport acknowledged that progress for other groups—such as under-represented minorities (URM)—has lagged behind. While the absolute number of URM graduate students increased from 1995 to 2012, the proportion of the student body composed of URM students fell from 10.7 to 9.3 percent over the same period.

Gumport highlighted diversity initiatives currently under way but also encouraged faculty to assume a prominent and extensive role in opportunities like mentoring students.

“This isn’t just for students who might be URM or women,” Gumport said. “These are great practices for all students…There’s a lot we can do as faculty…This is really a time for us to step up.”

In his report, Steele focused on the Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) broader impact, drawing attention to the importance of education to the broader economy and the current struggles within the American education system.

“We can make education smarter, in all of its aspects,” Steele asserted.

Steele emphasized the ability of the GSE—whose faculty has consistently been ranked first in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report—to leverage technology and data-driven research to make substantial advances through means like video game-based learning.

“They provide a huge opportunity to make education smarter,” Steele reiterated.

Steele also drew attention to the GSE’s burgeoning partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, which he hopes to apply to other cities like Oakland or San Jose.

“We have some encouraging indications that this kind of partnership…can have an effect on the overall system,” Steele said.

Reviewing the years ahead, Steele focused on the GSE’s conceptual plan for an education clinic and the broader objectives of advancing education technology, expanding the amount of quality education offered to low-income students and developing a new platform to advance and disseminate education research and training.

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Elam, students meet to discuss course scheduling https://stanforddaily.com/2013/03/01/elam-students-meet-to-discuss-course-scheduling/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/03/01/elam-students-meet-to-discuss-course-scheduling/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:05:37 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1075445 Amidst student discontent over proposed changes to class scheduling, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam met with ASSU representatives and concerned students Thursday evening in a session that eventually prompted a consensus toward fostering greater student involvement in University decision-making processes.

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Amidst student discontent over proposed changes to class scheduling, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam met with ASSU representatives and concerned students Thursday evening in a session that eventually prompted a consensus toward fostering greater student involvement in University decision-making processes.

The meeting, which had been scheduled by the ASSU Undergraduate Senate’s Academic Affairs committee, was initially framed as an opportunity to engage in discussion with Elam on subjects ranging from advising to freshman academic requirements. Questioning from the 20 students present focused exclusively, however, on prospective scheduling changes that would, among other aspects, situate popular and required classes at early morning times and preclude students from scheduling overlapping classes.

Senator Shahab Fadavi ’15, chair of the Academic Affairs committee, opened the agenda by welcoming Elam’s presence at the meeting and willingness to interact with students.

“He has been one of the most responsive and engaged [administrators] with students,” Fadavi noted.

Elam sought to alleviate student concerns about the proposed reforms, emphasizing that a more streamlined class schedule — and a greater effort to inform departments of potential clashes — would limit the number of conflicts students might experience, while also easing issues with classroom scheduling.

“[Clashes are] going to be the exception rather than the rule,” Elam said.

While Elam noted that neither he nor Registrar Tom Black, who has developed the proposed reforms, would be able to tell departments when to schedule classes, he said that he would instead advise them to take advantage of earlier starting times for popular courses.

In a recent Faculty Senate meeting, Richard Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, noted that human biology — the second-most popular major among undergraduates — would likely shift core courses to 8:30 a.m. starting times. Elam cited language courses as another group of classes that would likely be moved to earlier times.

William Dement, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences who teaches the popular Sleep and Dreams class, argued that the proposed scheduling changes would exacerbate an already prominent issue among Stanford students — that of sleep deprivation.

“It fails to recognize the basic physiology of college students,” Dement argued, noting that the average bedtime of Stanford students is 2:30 a.m.

Ilya Mouzykantskii ’16, who composed a petition protesting the proposed changes that gathered over 1,500 signatures in less than a day, argued that the lack of student consultation was concerning given the evident relevance to the student body as a whole. Black and Elam had consulted 12 undergraduates in the course of finalizing their proposal.

“It seems like yet another example of top-down implementation that makes student life worse,” Mouzykantskii said.

Elam acknowledged the existence of discontent among faculty members as well as students, but framed the changes as necessary.

“[Informing students] is something we have to do better,” Elam conceded.

Dement argued that the revised scheduling could eventually prompt more dire consequences, such as Stanford’s liability for injuries sustained by students through a lack of sleep.

A meeting attendee expressed concern that the change, while beneficial to student-athletes who might otherwise be unable to access classes like Introductory Seminars, failed to take into account the much larger remainder of the student body that does work and extracurricular activities at night.

“All of these other constituencies… we have a vested interest in being able to sleep late at night and later into the morning,” he said. “I feel like you aren’t taking into consideration the less visible groups on campus that this would severely impact.”

Senator Daniela Olivos ’15 expressed support for Black and Elam’s efforts to accommodate varying interests in putting forward their proposal, but acknowledged the need for greater collaboration between the University and the student body as a whole.

“We nominate students to be in committees, but there’s a big gap in what happens in committees and what information is given to the larger student body,” Olivos said.

Elam concluded the meeting after an hour, applauding the constructive nature of the student dialogue and encouraging students to attend the Faculty Senate meeting on March 7, at which Black’s proposal will be further debated.

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Michael Bloomberg named 2013 Commencement speaker https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/24/michael-bloomberg-named-2013-commencement-speaker/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/24/michael-bloomberg-named-2013-commencement-speaker/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:50:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1075259 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be the 2013 Commencement speaker, the senior class presidents announced Sunday evening.

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New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be the 2013 Commencement speaker, the senior class presidents announced Sunday evening.

(Takaaki Iwabu/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
(Takaaki Iwabu/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

This year’s Commencement weekend will also feature a Class Day lecture by Mehran Sahami ’92 M.S. ’93 Ph.D. ’99, associate professor of computer science, and a baccalaureate address by Valarie Kaur ‘03, a filmmaker and civil rights advocate. Kaur spoke as a senior at her own baccalaureate celebration.

Bloomberg, who has served as New York’s mayor since 2001, is the founder of technology company Bloomberg LP and, according to Forbes, is the 10th richest person in the United States. During his time in office, Bloomberg has played an influential role in national politics on issues like gun control and has been the subject of extensive speculation regarding potential gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. He also supervised New York’s competition for an applied sciences and engineering campus, for which Stanford initially bid before withdrawing.

“We are incredibly excited about the speakers,” the senior class presidents wrote in an email to the Class of 2013. “These people have served as role models and mentors, directly or indirectly, to many of us during our years at Stanford.”

The 122nd Commencement weekend is set for June 14-16.

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Energy Secretary Steven Chu to return to Stanford https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/22/energy-secretary-steven-chu-to-return-to-stanford/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/22/energy-secretary-steven-chu-to-return-to-stanford/#comments Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:25:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1075218 Chu’s appointment will mark his second stint at the University, where he had previously worked as a professor of physics and applied physics from 1987 to 2008.

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U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will return to Stanford this spring as a faculty member following the conclusion of his four years in office. Chu’s appointment will mark his second stint at the University, where he had previously worked as a professor of physics and applied physics from 1987 to 2008.

Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy
Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy

Upon his return, Chu will be the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Humanities and Sciences, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Physics and the School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. The exact date of his departure from the Department of Energy is currently unknown and likely dependent on the process of nominating his successor.

“We’re very excited,” said Steven Kahn, chair of the Physics Department. “It’s fantastic that he’s back… Many of us know Steve from when he was here before, [and] we strongly value him as a colleague.”

Chu framed his decision to return to Stanford as a natural move for someone who viewed his time in office mostly as a break from academia.

“The highest point in my career was when I became a professor in [such] a great institution,” Chu said.

At Stanford, Chu will focus on issues surrounding energy efficiency and policy, in addition to launching an initiative in advanced bio-imaging and pursuing other interdisciplinary projects.

“I want to return to… the marriage of physics, biology and biomedicine,” Chu said. “That is a very exciting frontier.”

Despite Chu’s evident comfort with academia, he cited his time as Secretary of Energy as invaluable in broadening his approach to the issues he’ll address upon his return and providing perspective on academia’s role in driving progress.

“[As Secretary of Energy], you get a much more complete view of issues that go so much deeper,” Chu said. “You see a lot of the things that it takes to go from discovery to invention to… getting it out into the marketplace.”

“Using technology to drive down the cost of cleaner forms of energy is only part of it,” Chu added. “There are a lot of things having to do with education and public awareness… [Some think that] if you build a better mousetrap, they will come. You have to build a better mousetrap, and people have to be aware that it’s a better mousetrap.”

As part of that emphasis on education, Chu said that he looks forward to teaching and interacting with undergraduate as well as graduate students.

“[Teaching] a freshman seminar was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had,” he noted.

Born in St. Louis in 1948, Chu studied as an undergraduate at the University of Rochester before obtaining a Ph.D. in 1976 from the University of California, Berkeley.

After a stint in the private sector at AT&T and Bell Laboratories, where he performed the work developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light that ultimately earned him the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, he joined Stanford in 1987. He worked as a professor of physics and applied physics for 21 years, including stints as chair of the physics department from 1990-1993 and 1999-2001, before he was nominated by President Barack Obama as Secretary of Energy and subsequently confirmed.

After a four-year tenure marked by historic expansions in spending on green energy, Chu wrote in a letter to Energy Department employees that many major energy challenges– from a reliance on imported oil to lagging investment in green energy and a lack of action on climate change– still lie ahead. He emphasized, however, his intent to further his accomplishments as Secretary of Energy even after leaving office.

“I would like to return to an academic life of teaching and research, but will still work to advance the missions that we have been working on together for the last four years,” Chu wrote.

Even as he approaches a return to academia after his time in office, however, Chu acknowledged that choosing between Stanford and Berkeley– where he completed his postdoctoral studies and where he served as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2004 to 2008 — was a difficult decision. Ultimately, however, the presence of four of Chu’s grandchildren in Palo Alto proved to be a critical factor.

“They’re both great universities, but I’m very happy to be coming back to Stanford,” Chu concluded.

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Faculty Senate hears reports on federal budget cuts to research https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/21/faculty-senate-hears-reports-on-federal-budget-cuts-to-research/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/21/faculty-senate-hears-reports-on-federal-budget-cuts-to-research/#respond Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:55:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1075199 The Faculty Senate heard reports on the impact of potential federal budget cuts on research at Stanford at its Thursday meeting.

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The Faculty Senate heard reports on the impact of potential federal budget cuts on research at Stanford at its Thursday meeting.

Senate Chair Raymond Levitt, professor of civil and environmental engineering, opened the meeting by applauding the election of Susanna Loeb ’88, professor of education, to the National Academy of Education and the selection of two Stanford graduates as Gates Cambridge Scholars.

Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News Service
Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News Service

Peter Michelson M.S. ’76 Ph.D. ’80, professor of physics and chair of the Academic Council’s Committee on Research, opened the meeting’s agenda by providing the Senate with some background information on the potential cuts in federal research spending.

According to Michelson, federal funding constitutes 17 percent of Stanford’s total consolidated revenues and supports 80 percent of all research conducted at the University outside of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Under existing legislation, a failure by Congress to agree to sufficiently large deficit reduction measures by March 1 will prompt substantial cuts to all discretionary spending, including Stanford’s extensive research funding.

Ryan Adesnik, director of federal relations, emphasized the difficulty of making a case for protecting federal research funding to a Congress fixated on fiscal responsibility.

“Every piece of legislation that comes to the floor of Congress is viewed” in terms of costs and deficits incurred, Adesnik said. “There are no more free rides.”

Adesnik expressed doubt that Congress would avert the sequester– and the corresponding spending cuts– by March 1. He offered a more optimistic view, however, of the likelihood of Congress averting a March 27 government shutdown by making temporary and incremental budgetary adjustments.

“It’s unlikely [that], in the next week, you’re going to get a deal,” Adesnik said.

While the sequester cuts will likely apply to all eligible programs equally, Adesnik noted that research funding might be protected from the worst of the cuts. Over the last three years, the amount of funding offered by research agencies like the National Institutes of Health has remained relatively constant or even grown while associated departments have cut overall spending.

“Science accounts are outperforming the rest of the accounts in the budget,” Adesnik said. “This is happening in a bipartisan way.”

Reviewing the long-term future of federal research funding, Adesnik struck a largely cautious tone.

“Deficit reduction is here to stay,” Adesnik acknowledged. “[However], we’re going to get continued strong support for scientific research<\p>…<\p>We’ve really won the argument that we’re a priority.

“We’re going to keep advocating hard for getting these things [funding levels] back to where they should be,” he added.

Dean of Research Ann Arvin opened her presentation by emphasizing the diminishing relative significance of research funding to University operations, even as research funds received grow in absolute value.

Arvin noted that the projected sequester cut of eight percent would reduce the University’s projected research revenues of $685 million in 2013 by just $51 million, out of a $4.5 billion total for the University as a whole. Moreover, from 1998 to 2011, the proportion of research supported by external grants fell from 40 to 28 percent.

Arvin acknowledged, however, the potential for funding cuts to be more acutely felt in certain areas of the University compared to others, citing as an example the prominent role played by research funding in supporting graduate students in non-medical fields.

Faculty discussion and questioning focused largely on the manner in which cuts might be implemented as well as on the University’s ability to mitigate the cuts’ impact.

Glenn Chertow, professor of medicine, voiced his concern that funding reductions may come at the expense of School of Medicine students, whose clinical teaching presents faculty members with a significant time commitment and no immediate fiscal upside.

“My concern is that the first casualties will be the students,” Chertow emphasized.

While some faculty members expressed concern about statements made by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that argued for even more extensive cuts in research funding, Adesnik dismissed this rhetoric as political posturing. After being reminded by Levitt that Faculty Senate transcripts are available to the public, however, Adesnik quickly reversed course.

“Eric Cantor’s a great American,” Adesnik jestingly clarified.

Arvin concluded the meeting by offering the Senate a preview of online resources currently under development that aim to consolidate relevant information about obtaining research grants for faculty consumption.

The Senate will hear the annual reports of Vice Provost for Graduate Education Patricia Gumport M.A. ’82 M.A. ’86 Ph.D. ’87 and Dean of the Graduate School of Education Claude Steele at its next meeting on March 7.

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Businessweek rates Stanford GSB third in nation for coverage of information technology https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/13/businessweek-rates-stanford-gsb-third-in-nation-for-coverage-of-information-technology/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/13/businessweek-rates-stanford-gsb-third-in-nation-for-coverage-of-information-technology/#respond Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:59:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1074934 Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) has been ranked third in the nation for its coverage of information technology within the MBA curriculum, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and MIT’s Sloan School of Management were ranked in first and second place respectively. Bloomberg Businessweek’s rankings were compiled by soliciting responses […]

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Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) has been ranked third in the nation for its coverage of information technology within the MBA curriculum, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and MIT’s Sloan School of Management were ranked in first and second place respectively.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s rankings were compiled by soliciting responses to an online survey from graduating MBA students, with respondents asked to assess their program’s coverage of a range of fields. The average IT score for the 82 schools surveyed was 4.02, out of a possible 6; Stanford recorded a score of 5.11.

Overall, the GSB moved up one spot in the rankings compared to 2010, shifting from fifth to fourth even as some aspects of the MBA experience — like the quality of teaching — were panned relative to peer institutions. The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, the Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School led the rankings in a replication of 2010’s leaderboard.

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CS majors discover “reply-all” function https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/12/stanford-cs-majors-discover-reply-all-function/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/12/stanford-cs-majors-discover-reply-all-function/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:58:31 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1074887 Job offers, memes, shock sites and spam. That’s what happens when you give Stanford’s computer science majors – the tech-savvy undergraduates of Stanford’s most popular department – unrestricted access to a departmental mailing list.

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Job offers, memes, shock sites and spam. That’s what happens when you give Stanford’s computer science majors – the tech-savvy undergraduates of Stanford’s most popular department – unrestricted access to a departmental mailing list.

In a flaw apparently discovered by a spambot and subsequently exploited by students, any email sent to the e-mail address students@cs.stanford.edu was disseminated to every computer science undergraduate from approximately 1:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The issue has since been resolved.

Students used the listserv to do anything from offering start-up jobs to their peers to embedding deceptively innocuous links to shock sites like Meatspin in emails purportedly meant to help viewers unsubscribe.

“Of course Stanford CS means startups,” one participant complained.

A similar issue struck campus two years ago, when Student Housing inadvertently allowed all undergraduates to post to a shared mailing list, much to the University’s chagrin.

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Tuition rises 3.5 percent for 2013-14 academic year https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/12/tuition-rises-3-5-percent-for-2013-14-academic-year/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/12/tuition-rises-3-5-percent-for-2013-14-academic-year/#respond Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:50:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1074857 The Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent tuition increase for the 2013-14 academic year on Monday. The increase will affect all Stanford students equally, with the exception of those at the Graduate School of Business, whose tuition will rise by 3.9 percent.

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The Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent tuition increase for the 2013-14 academic year on Monday. The increase will affect all Stanford students equally, with the exception of those at the Graduate School of Business, whose tuition will rise by 3.9 percent.

Under the new plan, the cost of undergraduate and graduate tuition will rise from $41,250 to $42,690. The cost of room and board will also increase, from $12,751 to $13,166.

The Board of Trustees has consistently approved similar increases in tuition in recent years. Undergraduate tuition increased by 3 percent last year after having risen by 3.5 percent for the four preceding years.

As the cost of attending Stanford rises, the University has also increased funding for its financial aid program. The total expenditure projected for financial aid during the 2012-13 academic year totaled $250 million, an increase of 3.4 percent over the previous year.

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Harry Press, Daily alum and longtime managing director of Knight Fellowship Program, dies at 93 https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/08/harry-press-daily-alum-longtime-managing-director-knight-fellowship-program-dies-at-93/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/08/harry-press-daily-alum-longtime-managing-director-knight-fellowship-program-dies-at-93/#respond Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:17:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1074754 Harry Press ‘39, a former Daily managing editor, journalist and longtime managing director of the Knight Journalism Fellowship Program, died Wednesday morning. He was 93.

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Harry Press ‘39, a former Daily managing editor, journalist and longtime managing director of the Knight Journalism Fellowship Program, died Wednesday morning. He was 93.

“[Harry] was indefatigable, and his optimism and joie de vivre were legendary,” wrote Jim Bettinger, current director of the program, in an email to a program mailing list. “Nobody who ever met Harry forgot him.”

Born in Santa Monica, Press arrived at Stanford in 1935 and served as a staffer at The Daily for all four of his undergraduate years, including a stint as managing editor during his senior year. A Daily scholarship, entitled the Harry Press Award, has since been endowed by fellow Daily alumnus Lorry Lokey ‘49.

After graduating, Press spent 25 years at California publications—including the Palo Alto Times and the San Francisco News—and a year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard before returning to the Farm in 1966 as the founding editor of the alumni newspaper, The Stanford Observer.

“He was one of the most ebullient individuals I’ve ever known,” said Marion Lewenstein, professor emeritus of communication, who first met Press shortly before he returned to Stanford. “He was unendingly upbeat, cheerful and out to improve the world by being nice to every individual he encountered.”

Soon after founding the alumni newspaper, Press joined the Knight Journalism Fellowship program, for which he served as managing editor from 1967 to 1989.

“He was extremely easy to work with—helpful, cheerful, efficient,” Lewenstein reflected.

Beyond his work in journalism, Press was known as a passionate Stanford sports fan and an avid supporter of The Daily, interests he continued in retirement. When his daughter Lindi ‘67 MLA ‘03 passed away last month, Press welcomed the opportunity to see out-of-town relatives one more time at Stanford.

“”He was funny and positive, but super tired,” Bettinger quoted Press’ son Tony as saying of his father’s last day. “It was just time.”

While arrangements for Press’ memorial service have yet to be set, he expressed his preference in an advance obituary that they be held at Sunken Diamond.

“All sorts of plaudits are coming in from people who were in the program,” Lewenstein said. “He changed their life, he made life so simple for them here at Stanford, if they were foreigners he made them feel good about being in America. He was just helpful in every way.”

 

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, The Daily incorrectly stated that Harry Press died on Thursday, February 7th. In fact, Press died on Wednesday, February 6th. The Daily regrets the error.

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Athletics Director Muir reports to Faculty Senate https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/08/faculty-senate-discuss-althetics-review-process-of-majors/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/02/08/faculty-senate-discuss-althetics-review-process-of-majors/#respond Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:04:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1074728 The Faculty Senate heard reports on the University’s athletics program and the review process for undergraduate majors at its Thursday meeting.

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The Faculty Senate heard reports on the University’s athletics program and the review process for undergraduate majors at its Thursday meeting.

Director of Athletics Bernard Muir opened the session’s agenda by reviewing the first quarter of his tenure at the Department of Athletics, jesting that the process of integrating himself fully into the role was still ongoing.

“I feel like some of our freshman athletes,” Muir said. “I’m not quite sure where to turn.”

After recounting his own experience in collegiate athletics, including stints at Notre Dame, Butler, Auburn and the University of Delaware, Muir turned his attention to the current state of the athletics program and acknowledged the pressure on Stanford athletes and coaches to maintain consistent success.

“At Stanford, the expectations are high,” Muir said. “Part of the job, as an athletics director, is to manage those expectations.”

Muir framed the direction of the athletics program as overwhelmingly positive, citing the ongoing streak of 18 straight Directors’ Cups—awarded to the top all-around collegiate athletics program—as an enduring facet of Stanford athletics.

“Coming out of the fall standings, we are ranked No. 1…I’m thrilled we have the opportunity to go after [No.] 19,” Muir said.

An increasing number of accolades will also be matched by an increased number of sports next quarter, according to Muir, as sand volleyball becomes the University’s 36th varsity sport.

Muir also emphasized the academic accomplishments of student-athletes, noting that Stanford’s athlete graduation rate has historically tracked closely to that of the Stanford student body and remained far above that of rival institutions. He acknowledged, however, that student-athletes occasionally struggle to integrate themselves fully into certain aspects of academic life such as introductory seminars.

“We would love for our student-athletes to get more involved,” Muir said. “We are trying to promote that as best we can, but it does continue to be a challenge.”

Muir identified a range of concerns facing the athletics program in the future such as the high growth rate of the program’s costs and the impact of media contracts on event scheduling. He also noted the challenge of recruiting athletes given Stanford’s academic requirements and recruits’ tendencies to commit to schools at earlier ages.

Faculty questions focused on the role played by the athletics program within the University as a whole and the significance of Stanford’s athletic success for the University’s national profile.

Tom Wasow, professor of linguistics, expressed concern about the broader professionalization of college sports, citing the rapid growth of athletics programs’ budgets and calling for increased transparency in athletic expenses.

“[Professionalization] has led to an arms race in facilities and coaches’ salaries,” Wasow said.

“We think there should be greater transparency,” Muir agreed. “This is something that other institutions are facing…that there should be a dialogue on where we’re investing.”

Rob Reich M.A. ’98 Ph.D. ’98 emphasized the potential for the University to leverage the success of Stanford student-athletes into a national platform for advocating similar accomplishments.

“We have a hell of a story,” Reich said.

Following the discussion period, Wasow—who chairs the Committee on Committees—put forward minor changes to the responsibilities of the Committee on Review of Undergraduate Majors, including increased reliance on individual departments and schools to internally review majors offered.

The Senate adopted the revised charter by voice vote after little discussion.

The Senate will hear a report on the future of federal research support at Stanford at its next meeting on Feb. 21.

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