Sabrina Medler – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Wed, 04 May 2022 06:54:52 +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 Sabrina Medler – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Jill Thomas resigns as Title IX Coordinator, Cathy Glaze appointed interim https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/30/jill-thomas-resigns-as-title-ix-coordinator-cathy-glaze-appointed-interim/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/30/jill-thomas-resigns-as-title-ix-coordinator-cathy-glaze-appointed-interim/#respond Thu, 31 Oct 2019 03:06:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1159534 Former Title IX Coordinator Jill Thomas resigned from her position Friday, according to a staff member in the Title IX office.

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Former Title IX Coordinator and Director of Equity Investigations Jill Thomas resigned from her position Friday, according to Lauren Schoenthaler, Senior Associate Vice Provost of Institutional Equity and Access. 

Cathy Glaze, who held the position before Thomas was selected in September 2018, will serve as interim coordinator for six months, Schoenthaler said. The Title IX Coordinator meets with students regarding complaints related to gender-based discrimination, including sexual misconduct. 

University spokesperson E.J. Miranda wrote that Thomas, who previously served as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Air Force, left the University “to return to practicing law or to pursue other opportunities.” Thomas could not be immediately reached for comment. 

Before hiring a permanent replacement, the Title IX Office will “relook at how [it] want[s] to post the role,” Schoenthaler said. Thomas was selected as Title IX Coordinator following an extensive selection process that prioritized student input, an unprecedented move by the University in the hiring process for the position. Students will be incorporated in the process of hiring Thomas’s replacement, according to Miranda. 

Thomas’s mid-quarter departure comes amid heightened scrutiny of Stanford’s Title IX Office, with the results of a recent campus climate survey revealing a lack of confidence in University resources to address issues of sexual violence. Meanwhile, students and faculty are placing increased pressure on administrators to place a quote chosen by Chanel Miller — rape victim of former Stanford swimmer and convicted felon Brock Turner — on a plaque in a contemplative garden at the site of her assault.

Thomas was working in consultation with Emma Tsurkov, a fourth-year sociology graduate student and Associated Students of Stanford University co-director of sexual violence prevention, to provide more consistent messaging to students from the Title IX Office, the Sexual Harassment Policy Office and the Confidential Support Team regarding the process of reporting faculty harassment.

“It sounds weird that she would leave so suddenly,” Tsurkov said. “She was in the middle of doing things — I had a project with her … and then she just fell off the face of the Earth.” 

Miranda praised Thomas’ work. 

“Stanford supports Jill’s decision,” Miranda wrote in an email to The Daily. “We thank Jill for her work overseeing our Title IX process during the past year, and we wish her all the best in her next endeavor.”

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu and Leily Rezvani at lrezvani ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Students recover 1,000 pounds of leftover food from Stanford Stadium concessions https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/14/students-recover-1000-pounds-of-leftover-food-from-stanford-stadium-concessions/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/14/students-recover-1000-pounds-of-leftover-food-from-stanford-stadium-concessions/#respond Tue, 15 Oct 2019 06:35:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1158612 Stanford’s football team wasn’t the only group to take home a win Saturday, Oct. 5 — Stanford Food Recovery (SFR) held up its own victory by recovering more than 1,000 pounds of unsold food items from the stadium thanks to a handful of volunteers.

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Stanford’s football team wasn’t the only group to take home a win on Oct. 5 — Stanford Food Recovery (SFR) held up its own victory by recovering more than 1,000 pounds of unsold food items from the stadium thanks to a handful of volunteers.

Right after the game, roughly 10 SFR members helped bring the 800-meals-worth of food to a delivery truck, which then carried meals to the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto.

“I don’t think anyone is thinking about waste when they watch the game,” said SFR member Allan Lopez ’23. “And it’s not their fault — it’s kind of hidden. I was really in shock of how much food there was left over.” 

But the food waste extends beyond football games here at Stanford, according to SFR co-president Kana Cummings ’21. SFR — which began at the University as the Stanford Project On Hunger (SPOON) in the ’70s but has been rebranded and revitalized recently — also does food pickups at other athletic matches and at large campus events like Stanford Splash! and the First-Generation Low Income (FLI) Conference. 

The group is working toward developing a system, potentially through the CardinalSync registration process, where individual student organizations can alert SFR ahead of an event so that members can recover leftovers at the event’s completion. Cummings hopes that this process will allow more students to be involved in food sustainability at Stanford.

“A lot of students are aware of the issues, but they don’t know the next steps,” Cummings said. “They don’t know where to start.”

Student involvement has expanded thanks to partnerships with local organizations, according to co-president Ryan Treves ’21. One of these organizations, A La Carte, launched last year as a pilot program between Stanford and Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a local nonprofit which analyzes the impact of local public- and private-sector projects. The goal of the pilot was to develop a protocol for food recovery, salvaging food from campus that has been held at appropriate temperatures. To accomplish this, A La Carte developed a refrigerated food truck that takes leftover, safe food from venues and delivers it directly to neighborhoods in need. 

“SFR had been working at a few locations and doing the best they could, as students, but it’s a daunting task and there are a lot of logistics,” said Silicon Valley Food Rescue Initiative (through Joint Venture) Executive Director Robin Martin. “We had the infrastructure to help amplify what they were trying to do.” 

The truck delivers to high-poverty impact zones in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, including community centers, senior centers and elementary schools. Hungry clients can approach the truck window and order from a list of healthy options. 

This June, the successful pilot project was integrated as a program under Loaves and Fishes, a Bay Area organization that has been working to serve those in need for nearly four decades. Now, A La Carte has several trucks collecting prepared food from corporate and university campuses. 

“We were happy to be a part of this effort to connect, not only the dots, but the relationships between the university, the community, Joint Venture and Loaves and Fishes — all sharing the common goal of making sure our neighbors in need are being taken care of,” said Loaves and Fishes CEO Gisela Bushey.

Since acquiring A La Carte, Loaves and Fishes’ meal services have doubled, now serving 100,000 meals per month, according to Bushey. The organization predicts it will provide over 1 million meals by the end of the year. 

The partnership with Loaves and Fishes is especially important as it delivers high-quality, nutritious meals in areas that often can’t afford to eat healthy, Martin said. According to Bushey, one-third of the clientele are children.

“I could cite all day the impact [of] not having a consistent source of healthy nutrition on learning, concentration, productivity and overall mental and physical health,” Bushey said. “But here’s the reality: For the vast majority of the people we serve, the meal they get from us is the only meal they’re getting that day. If we weren’t able to provide this food, these folks would go to bed not knowing where their next meal is coming from.”

The A La Carte food truck also partners with Stanford’s Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) Sustainable Food Program to recover leftover prepared food from dining halls. The truck visits campus six days per week, according to Bushey. 

SFR members Treves and Lopez cited dining halls as a primary problem area when it comes to food waste on campus because students generally take more than they need. To curb this dining hall waste, R&DE promotes sustainable operations including trayless dining, composting and food donation. Stanford aims to reach its zero-waste goal by 2030. 

R&DE did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment in time for publication.

Part of the problem, Treves continued, is the disconnect between life at Stanford and the issue of food waste as a whole. He said students learn about the issues in classes and at events but don’t apply them to their everyday life. 

“There’s this idea that ‘I’m just getting something at TAP and that’s not connected,’” Treves said. “When in reality, Stanford is within the mesh of our local community, and there are people on campus, and right off campus, who aren’t food secure.” 

As Treves points out, food insecurity is also impacting students on campus, but a pilot program in collaboration with R&DE, the Graduate Student Council (GSC), Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) and Stanford Solidarity Network (SSN) aims to combat this. The program, called the Second Harvest of Silicon Valley food bank, allows self-identifying food-insecure students the opportunity to receive food. 

Though the issue of food waste may seem all-encompassing, Lopez is hopeful that student engagement can bolster change. 

“This is something so simple to do and there’s a tangible effect,” he said. “This could literally feed families — just because I can’t see them doesn’t mean it’s not as important.”

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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I stand with Chanel Miller: A survivor’s take on Stanford’s failure to support victims of sexual assault https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/23/i-stand-with-chanel-miller-a-survivors-take-on-stanfords-failure-to-support-victims-of-sexual-assault/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/23/i-stand-with-chanel-miller-a-survivors-take-on-stanfords-failure-to-support-victims-of-sexual-assault/#respond Tue, 24 Sep 2019 05:06:42 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157569 Exactly three years ago I started at Stanford. Still on that NSO high of fountain hopping and Band Run, I was beaming with Stanford pride, much like many of the dorm-t-shirt-lanyard-wearing freshmen I’ve seen the last few days. But despite the for-the-most-part successful attempts of the administration to make me feel welcome and included as […]

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Exactly three years ago I started at Stanford. Still on that NSO high of fountain hopping and Band Run, I was beaming with Stanford pride, much like many of the dorm-t-shirt-lanyard-wearing freshmen I’ve seen the last few days. But despite the for-the-most-part successful attempts of the administration to make me feel welcome and included as a freshman, there was still something gnawing at the back of my mind that didn’t quite fit with this cookie-cutter image of Stanford: How would I thrive at a university that treated “Emily Doe” so poorly?

The news of Brock Turner’s sexual assault of “Emily Doe,” who has now publicly come forward as Chanel Miller, garnered national attention June 3, 2016 when Miller’s victim statement was published. I was picking out my frosh dorm room comforter when I saw the headline: “Stanford swimmer sentenced to six months jail for sexual assault. Read the victim’s letter to her attacker.” 

I’d been sexually assaulted not long before this news broke. I was confused and ashamed and I didn’t know how to articulate these really intense emotions. And so, without the tools or language to express my trauma, my solution was to push all of these feelings down and get excited about college — but it’s kind of tricky to do that when your university is at the center of a nationwide debate about sexual assault. An issue that I wanted to completely forget about seemed to come up every time I mentioned where I was going to college around my hometown. “Hopefully Brock Turner won’t be in your dorm,” I remember one of my high school classmates joking. After being reminded of sexual violence left and right, I begrudgingly decided to start addressing my own trauma that had been bubbling for months by finally reading Miller’s statement

But when I read Chanel Miller’s words, I was strangely at peace. Her words were the first that I felt like I identified with. It was as though she articulated everything that I hadn’t figured out how to process. I came to realize what had happened to me in a way that I didn’t understand before, and I, like many others, felt a connection to her story. In the months leading up to Stanford I felt more empowered, but less and less excited about coming to an institution that had so greatly failed a girl not so different from myself. “Emily Doe” was anonymous at the time, but I saw myself in her. 

NSO helped give me that hefty dose of school spirit, but when the balloons came down and the rally costumes came off, I couldn’t help but notice the University’s hypocrisy. Ever since, I’ve only come to learn more about Stanford’s disappointing treatment of sexual assault survivors. For starters, the University refuses to admit the issue of sexual assault on campus — past Stanford press releases have promoted a dangerously low incidence (2 percent of the student body) of sexual assault. Even more, once students are assaulted, their pathways to justice are undermined by a complicated and rarely consequential Title IX process. 

In addition, Stanford has refused to do justice to Chanel Miller’s case during my time here. The site of Miller’s assault was re-landscaped into a contemplative garden in 2018. Stanford promised her it would install a plaque at the site with a quote of her choosing from her victim impact statement. However, the University rejected the chosen quotes and proposed alternative quotes that provoked controversy, including “I’m okay, everything’s okay.” As a survivor who has visited Miller’s garden many times during my low points at Stanford, these words are an insult. 

While Stanford University has taken many positive steps to address sexual assault on our campus, it has too often failed to follow through in its promises to support survivors of sexual assault. It is time for the university to uphold its commitment to both Chanel Miller and the Stanford community in the fight against sexual violence. We must ensure that no survivor is silenced on our campus.

Chanel Miller and I have never met, but her story has run parallel with mine in many ways in the last three years. When I was a confused freshman, she comforted me. When I was an angry sophomore navigating the University’s flaws, she motivated me. When I was a healing junior still attending to my scars, she offered clarity. And now that I’m starting my senior year at the same time as she releases her book, she inspires me. 

When Chanel Miller announced her identity last month I was brought to tears — not tears of sadness like three years ago when I read her victim statement. No, these were tears of gratitude. I owe so much of my strength to hers, and to the strength of all survivors. And so, as she finally gets to take back her story today, I will begin to take back mine. 

To support Miller and survivors, you can buy her book “Know My Name” now, and sign this petition asking that Stanford: 

  1. Publicly acknowledge and apologize for not upholding their agreement to use a quote chosen by Chanel Miller. 
  2. Immediately install the memorial plaque with the quote originally chosen by the survivor.

In addition, you can attend an augmented reality experience at the site of Miller’s assault on Friday, Sept. 27 from 1-4 p.m. that puts Chanel Miller’s words on a plaque in the garden, centering her voice in the space as was originally intended.

Words matter greatly, and it’s time we listen to survivors’.

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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The 2018 Sundance Film Festival, part 1 https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/30/the-2018-sundance-film-festival-part-1/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/30/the-2018-sundance-film-festival-part-1/#respond Tue, 30 Jan 2018 22:30:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1135735 This is one article in a series of Sundance coverage – follow The Daily’s reviews of select Sundance films every day this week, extending into next week. At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, it’s often hard to watch a bad film. The showcase, which I attended from January 19 through January […]

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The 2018 Sundance Film Festival, part 1
SCOTT ROTH/Shutterstock

This is one article in a series of Sundance coverage – follow The Daily’s reviews of select Sundance films every day this week, extending into next week.

At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, it’s often hard to watch a bad film. The showcase, which I attended from January 19 through January 22, features some of the most impressive submissions by American and international independent filmmakers. Despite a few duds – like the bizarre, cult comedy of “An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn” and the snoozefest that was “I Think We’re Alone Now” – I saw some incredibly moving documentaries, expertly crafted dramas and creatively scripted comedies. Here are some of my favorites.

 

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival, part 1
Courtesy of The Orchard

“American Animals” – directed by Bart Layton; starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner and Jared Abrahamson

What do you get when you combine two extremely rare and expensive books, guarded only by a feeble librarian, with four college kids looking for a thrill? The grounds for an incredible heist – at least if you had asked Spencer (Barry Keoghan), Warren (Evan Peters), Chas (Blake Jenner) and Eric (Jared Abrahamson) in 2003.

“American Animals” intrigues audiences right out of the gate. The title sequence reads, “This is not based on a true story,” before the words “not based on” dissolve from the slide, leaving only, “This is a true story.” In fact, “American Animals” follows the absolutely true tale of Spencer and Warren who attend Transylvania University: On a class field trip, Spencer observes the library’s prized possessions, John James Audubon’s “Bird of America” and one of Darwin’s original volumes. The boys dream up the idea of stealing and selling the books, but over time, this far-fetched “what-if” becomes a reality. After enlisting fellow students Chas and Eric to help, the boys attempt the heist and, sure enough, everything that could go wrong does.

Beyond the excitement and stress-inducing plot, Layton’s unique format of storytelling adds another layer to the film. Within the narrative, Layton splices interviews from the real-life thieves, 14 years after scheming and serving jail time. The interaction between the boys’ retelling of the crime – after having had time to reflect (and forget some of the details) – adds an entirely new dimension to the already action-packed plot. The unreliability of memory also casts a shadow of doubt onto the story, leaving the viewer with more questions than answers.

 

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival, part 1
Co-producer April Hayes, director Rudy Valdez, editor Viridiana Lieberman and producer Sam Bisbee attend “The Sentence” Premiere at The Ray during 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018 in Park City, Utah. (TIBINA HODSON/Getty Images)

“The Sentence” – directed by Rudy Valdez (Audience Award, U.S. Documentary Competition)

Rarely can a film make viewers cry or laugh for their full length, but “The Sentence” does just this. Director Rudy Valdez documents the aftermath of his sister Cindy’s 15-year jail sentence for conspiracy in relation to her ex-boyfriend’s drug dealing crimes, a phenomenon known as “the girlfriend problem.” Rudy Valdez paints an intimate and vulnerable story with themes of activism against unjust systems and unrelenting love within a family in crisis.

Although the drug-dealing charge was originally abandoned, authorities came knocking on Cindy’s door six years after the incident. By this point, she had started a new life with a respectable husband and had three adorable little daughters. Her harsh sentence is attributed to the mandatory minimum laws that force judges to give a certain number of years despite individual circumstances like Cindy’s. Before she knew it, Cindy was swept away to prison where she would miss every milestone, from her youngest’s first steps to her oldest’s dance recitals.

What began as a way for Valdez to catalog these moments for his sister upon her release turned into much more. With hundreds of hours of footage, Valdez realized the importance of sharing Cindy’s story with the world in this incredibly moving documentary. The motivation to fight Cindy’s incarceration leads Valdez and the family to embark on a long and complicated appeals process and eventually receive clemency for Cindy in the final months of the Obama administration. Between candid interviews with Cindy’s parents, phone calls between Cindy and her daughters who miss her greatly and family visits to Cindy that are all too short and infrequent, Valdez crafts a piece that makes viewers feel hopeless, frustrated and overwhelmed – but arguably in a good way.

 

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival, part 1
Courtesy of Smudge Films

“Clara’s Ghost” – directed by Bridey Elliott; starring Chris Elliott, Paula Elliott, Abby Elliott and Bridey Elliott

One of the more exceptional features of seeing a film at Sundance is the ability to see and interact with the cast and crew in a Q&A session after the screening. Sometimes I was shocked at the contrast between actors’ characters on screen and their real-life appearance and personality. Seeing the cast of “Clara’s Ghost” shocked me in a different way.

As a daughter and sister of well-known actors, director Bridey Elliott presents a hilarious dark comedy seemingly based largely off her own life and family dynamic. Bridey, who stars in the film herself, casts her actual parents to play Ted Reynolds (Chris Elliott) and Clara (Paula Elliott), a famous actor and a homemaker, respectively. The couple’s daughters and former child stars, Julie (Abby Elliott) and Riley (Bridey Elliott), arrive back at home for the celebration of the family dog’s birthday.

The family dynamic is what Bridey captures so expertly – and she should, given that these are essentially exaggerated versions of the people she knows so well. Ted is peeved that he’s becoming a has-been actor, Julie is self-obsessed and vapid but succeeding in the acting business ,and Riley’s lack of success is forcing her to a lifetime of “Where Are They Now?” tours to pay the rent. Clara is a stark contrast to the attention-seeking, wildly crude, loquacious threesome of celebrities.

Like in “Clara’s Ghost,” the interaction between the actors in the Q&A completely demonstrates Bridey’s keen eye for characters. The foursome mock each other to a level of discomfort, each letting their character’s idiosyncrasies shine through. Bridey’s honest, hilarious and haunting film depicts a dysfunctional family with uncanny precision.

 

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival, part 1
Courtesy of EPIX

“This Is Home” – directed by Alexandra Shiva (Audience Award, World Cinema Documentary Competition)

In the wake of threats to our country’s treatment of immigrants, even as recently as two weeks ago with Trump’s most recent comments regarding those from “shithole countries,” “This Is Home” makes an already inspiring and and informative film all the more relevant. Alexandra Shiva effectively conveys the inherent virtue of refugees in need of assistance in a nation diminishing in empathy.

The documentary follows the lives of four Syrian refugee families from the time they arrive in Baltimore to the time that they’re supposed to be fully self-sufficient – eight months later. In this period, the International Rescue Committee will help the families find jobs, learn English and provide translators, among other duties. But after that, they’re on their own. To make matters worse, Trump’s travel ban announcement exacerbates the already tense lives of the refugees as they contemplate their safety as well as the safety of their loved ones in Syria.

The eight-month period sets the structure of the film, with viewers getting more and more nervous as the clock ticks away their access to governmental assistance. Though the cinematic work is pretty simple – no bells or whistles in that department – the raw storytelling of the interesting subject matter makes the 91-minute production fly by.

 

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Uncommon origins: Lessons learned from my adopted siblings https://stanforddaily.com/2017/06/15/uncommon-origins-lessons-learned-from-my-adopted-siblings/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/06/15/uncommon-origins-lessons-learned-from-my-adopted-siblings/#respond Thu, 15 Jun 2017 09:42:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1129049 This past weekend my parents took Wendi back to Guatemala to meet her birth mother and learn about her life before she was adopted, prompting me to reflect on some of the valuable lessons she’s taught me.

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“So do you guys go to school together?” our Uber driver asks us, trying to make harmless small talk.

“We’re sisters,” I reply, awaiting the inevitable perplexed look on his face. He pulls up to a stoplight and then turns back to get another look at us.

“Oh wow. You guys don’t really look alike…” he trails off as I roll my eyes.

This is how just about every introduction of my sisters goes. My older sister, Natasha, is adopted from Vladivostok, Russia and my younger sister, Wendi, is adopted from Patzún, Guatemala, which is about one hour west of Guatemala City. This past weekend my parents took Wendi back to Guatemala to meet her birth mother and learn about her life before she was adopted, prompting me to reflect on some of the valuable lessons she’s taught me.

Laughter is universal.

Natasha was adopted as a baby, before I was born, but Wendi was adopted at the age of four, so I actually remember her “‘Gotcha Day,” a common phrase in the adoption world for the anniversary of the day she officially joined our family.

We awaited Wendi’s arrival at the airport, decked out in red, white and blue holding personalized, hand-made signs. Our parents suggested we each bring one of our toys to give to Wendi, but I was so excited to have another sister that I essentially packed up two full gift-bags of toys and stuffed animals for my brand new best friend.

Though we couldn’t communicate — Wendi only spoke Spanish and Kaqchikel, the language of her Mayan Indian tribe — we instantly clicked. We all went to Casa Gallardo for dinner and Natasha, Wendi and I spent the whole dinner giggling about making funny faces and silly noises.

Blood may be thick, but it’s not determinate.

I always get the question “Is it weird because they’re not your real sisters?” and I simply do not understand it. Natasha and Wendi are my real sisters – there is simply no other way I could think of them. Besides, of course, as karaoke confidants, carpool buddies, future bridesmaids and lastly, best friends.

Our squad officially came together when we adopted Wendi just before Christmas in 2002 and, as a family, went to pick out a Christmas tree. On the drive back, a magical moment happened. “Feliz Navidad” came on the radio and Wendi lit up, recognizing it because she’d heard it in Guatemala. All eight of us sang off-tune at the top of our lungs, hugging our baby sister, as my parents cried tears of joy.

I’ll have some things to teach her, but she’ll have much more to teach me.

We had a White Christmas that year, much to the surprise of Wendi who’d never seen snow before. That afternoon, Wendi and I ran to our backyard as I taught her how to make snow angels.

The day before my parents had told Wendi about Santa Claus and how every year he leaves presents for good boys and girls. As a firm believer in Kris Kringle I was surprised when Wendi confessed that she didn’t buy any of it. She grew up in an adobe hut with dirt floors and a metal corrugated roof in an impoverished community in the mountains, and apparently Santa Claus hadn’t made a lot of visits there. I had never considered someone not getting presents on Christmas.

Since then, both Wendi and Natasha have made me rethink the way I see the world time and time again. I have noticed our differences, but realized that these differences are assets to our family. Natasha has the voice of an angel, while the rest of the family can’t sing to save our lives; Wendi’s calm and kind presence is a nice contrast to our otherwise obnoxiously loquacious group; Natasha’s silly personality can break the tension in any room and Wendi’s art beats my stick figures any day. Both of them bring something unique to the table.

When it comes to people who love you, the more the merrier.

Through a private investigator, my parents were able to track down Wendi’s birth mother for the adventure of a lifetime this past week. On this trip, Wendi learned so much about her first four years of life. She reunited with her two teenage foster sisters and learned that they had been the ones to introduce her to her now-favorite hobby, dance; she discovered that she has a biological brother and got to meet him; she learned that she had pet chickens as a child; she even met Isabele, her birth mother, again who passed down a traditional, hand-made “huipil,” which she had worn herself and has huge sentimental value.

The best part of their trip, however, was when they went to visit Wendi’s birth place and were met with a gaggle of twenty or so people standing in the driveway, ranging from an infant of several months to an 80-year-old. Much to Wendi’s surprise, Isabele’s entire family had thrown together a huge celebration for her return complete with fireworks, a giant banner and a home-cooked feast.

These people expended a considerable amount of their slim earnings to give my parents and sister a grand greeting. My mom remarked on how warm, caring and loving Wendi is, and noted to her biological family that it is obvious where she got such character traits. Though I, myself, did not meet them, I’m sure of their incredible kindness because they’re related to Wendi, who is the kindest person I’ve ever known.

An emotional night for all, everyone shared how much they loved Wendi, and they couldn’t be more right. I feel so lucky to have both Wendi and Natasha as sisters, and knowing that there are so many other people who hold my sisters in their hearts humbles me.

Though my family is unique in its own way, the bonds that we share are akin to those of any other family. We still bicker in the car on long road trips, embarrass each other in front of significant others and have each other’s backs in times of trouble, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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It’s not over ’til the crazy lady speaks https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/02/its-not-over-til-the-crazy-lady-speaks/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/02/its-not-over-til-the-crazy-lady-speaks/#respond Tue, 02 May 2017 07:27:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1126870 Though I obviously don’t agree with any of Coulter's statements, I still believe she should have the right to speak and share her ideas.

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“We’re not voting for a Sunday School teacher.” I cringed. An hour and a half into my political science lecture series, Understanding the 2016 Campaign from Start to Finish, I sat up straight in my chair and eyed the guest speaker, interested in his claim. Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, continued to answer the first-gen, immigrant, Muslim student who had asked if Lewandowski can genuinely support Trump’s problematic rhetoric. He went on, sans condemnation of Trump’s racist, sexist, islamophobic remarks, arguing that Trump knew how to control the news cycle and played this to his advantage.

As a Hillary supporter, I’d marked this day as a must-attend-at-all-costs lecture when I saw Lewandowski’s name on the syllabus. Don’t get me wrong, I was pretty excited when Robby Mook, manager of Hillary Clinton for President, came but I recognized the gravitas of listening to the expert that helped “a mutant from a carrot juicing accident” obtain the highest office in the country. Clearly, this man, flawed as he may be, would have political insight invaluable to my future in political science. This experience of listening and learning, and agreeing and disagreeing, with such a prominent political figure not only piqued my interest in the field, but also challenged me by forcing me to reevaluate my preconceptions about the Trump campaign.

This anecdote came to mind in response to the controversy at UC Berkeley regarding its discriminatory application of a policy to restrict an on-campus speech from ultra-conservative political commentator, Ann Coulter. Berkeley College Republicans had planned the speech for Thursday April 27, but it was cancelled the day before due to security concerns. Since that time, the administration has reinstated the speech, adhering to the specifications of a recently adopted and unpublished policy that allows University officials to restrict the time, place and manner of any event involving “high-profile speakers,” a vague term open to interpretation.

Of course, these two scenarios are not entirely comparable. Lewandowski has had his share of controversy and maybe he’s condoned Trump’s problematic remarks through a lack of condemnation of them, but Coulter is a different degree of crazy-town. She’s been quoted saying that stripping women of the right to vote would be “a personal fantasy” of hers; the murder of a Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller would be less like murder and more like “terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester”; and widows of 9/11 victims are “self-obsessed,” “witches” and “harpies.” Nevertheless, though I obviously don’t agree with any of her statements, I still believe she should have the right to speak and share her ideas.

I would like to preface this by stating that I’m writing this from a place of privilege. I’m an upper-class, white, straight woman and clearly, a lot of Coulter’s comments don’t affect me personally. I’m not directly targeted or alienated by much of her rhetoric, and therefore perhaps I cannot understand the degree to which her speaking on a college campus could be potentially harmful to a student’s well-being. Still, the fact of the matter is that refusing to let her speak or restricting her speaking times to an extensive degree, violates her rights.

University officials rescheduled her speech to May 2, an unideal time considering that many students will be studying for finals, which are just a week out. In addition, they demanded the event be held before 3 p.m., a time frame when most students are in class and cannot attend. Even more, just a few weeks prior, the Berkeley College Republicans ended up cancelling an event with acclaimed conservative writer David Horowitz after the university used the same policy to restrict the event with similar time constraints at a venue over a mile from the main campus center. It’s worth pointing out that in the month of April, UC Berkeley did not restrict appearances from liberal figures on campus such as an event with Maria Echaveste, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton. While I genuinely believe that the event was cancelled due to concerns over the safety of both the students and Coulter, especially after the violence that ensued in February when right-wing author Milo Yiannopoulos visited, I still don’t believe that silencing the conservative viewpoint on campus is the way to go. Under established First Amendment doctrine called the “heckler’s veto,” it is illegal for a public entity to restrict the speech of someone based solely upon the fear of a violent reaction from the listening crowd.

Berkeley College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation, a conservative youth organization, filed a lawsuit March 24 against the UC Berkeley administration. The plaintiffs argue that the defendants violated both their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The irony in it all is that UC Berkeley is deemed “the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement.” Of course, free speech, like a double-edged sword, can make way for hate speech. But this is why the actions taken by UC Berkeley are really setting up a dangerous precedent for sliding down the slippery slope of censorship. If students at a liberal university declare Ann Coulter’s words hate speech, what’s to stop students at a more conservative school from improperly deeming the Black Lives Matter movement as hate speech?

Harmeet Dhillon, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys for the lawsuit, spoke with me about the need for unfiltered dialogue and the important impact this precedent could set for people all over the country. “This is not an issue that we’re litigating here about conservatives or liberals on campus,” she said.  “It’s an issue about equal access to government facilities, regardless of your viewpoint. That is a principle that applies across the board to all Americans, to all students on all campuses.”

In addition to setting a dangerous precedent, the actions of Berkeley officials are limiting students’ capacity to grow. Prominent Democrat Van Jones said it best when he advised college students to “be offended every single day” on campus. In Jones’ words, “I want you to be deeply aggrieved and offended and upset, and then to learn how to speak back. Because that is what we need from you.”

Ironically, the biggest effect of this controversy has been the increase in screen time for Coulter. Berkeley is notoriously known as one of the most liberal schools in the country and any outspoken, right-wing figure who agrees to speak at a school like Berkeley is likely looking for publicity. Coulter probably wanted UC Berkeley to cancel her event and the school played right into her hands. Think about it — since last week she’s been all over the media blabbering about how the liberal snowflakes are too close-minded to let her speak, allowing her to further her anti-liberal agenda. She gets to appear as the defeated victim and then has an even bigger platform to spew her nonsensical views. As late-night comedian Trevor Noah put it, “She doesn’t actually want to speak, she wants to be stopped from speaking. It’s like your friend in a fight who’s like ‘HOLD ME BACK, HOLD ME BACK — no seriously hold me back I’m gonna get my ass kicked.’” Even when school officials agreed to let her speak on May 2, all of the restrictions still let her rightfully get away with being the victim of limited free speech. If the University would have let Coulter speak at the original planned event, opposing students could have boycotted, protested or even attended and challenged her.

The whole controversy has sparked urgent concern. The actions taken by the University play directly into critiques from ultra-conservative Americans, coddle intelligent students and limit their educational experiences, and pose a dire threat to the freedom of speech. Paradoxically, in order to protect democracy, we must protect the bigots.

 

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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On “closing the yearbook” https://stanforddaily.com/2017/03/07/on-closing-the-yearbook/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/03/07/on-closing-the-yearbook/#respond Tue, 07 Mar 2017 08:09:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1124515 Since the moment I flung my cap into the air at my high school graduation, I’ve tried my best not to look back.

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Since the moment I flung my cap into the air at graduation, I’ve tried my best not to look back. Don’t get me wrong, high school gave me just about everything I could have asked for — lifelong friendships, a first love, unforgettable memories and hell, maybe even a little knowledge too. But since I received that diploma, my first instinct was to look to the future, to the bigger and better things to come. Throughout the summer, my friends and I joked that some of our classmates really needed to “close the yearbook” and leave high school behind. As summer turned to fall and my classmates departed for college, I recognized the bittersweet ending in this part of my life but also eagerly awaited my future at Stanford.

Fast-forward to Week 8 of winter quarter. Between staying up until 5 a.m., struggling to finish my CS 106A assignments (damn you Yahtzee), and being rejected from quite a few opportunities that I really wanted, you could say Stanford was getting the best of me. As it turns out, the accolades that I received in high school actually did me a disservice, making me ill prepared to face defeat. Luckily, I thought I had just the inspiration to turn myself around this past weekend — a trip to Nationals with my high school dance team, the defending champions of last year’s hip hop category.

The competition represents the culmination of the girls’ intense practices, from learning the routine in early August all the way to just before boarding the plane to Orlando, Florida in early March. Similar to my other trips to Nationals, this weekend was filled with plenty of laughter, pride, positivity and of course, glitter. However, this trip to Nationals felt surprisingly different to me.

On the plane ride to Orlando, I started getting flashbacks from last year’s competition. I remembered what it felt like to be part of a team with girls who would do anything for each other. I recalled sitting at awards and squeezing my co-captain’s hands so hard that her skin turned white, eager and nervous to hear our placement. I replayed what it felt like to hear “Your national champions… Ladue!” and I remembered bursting with excitement, smacking the floor as hard as I could and picking up whomever I could find. This was one memory that I simply could never “close the yearbook” on.

Excited to get the chance to experience this memory all over again but this time from a coaching perspective, I reunited with my teammates Thursday night with high expectations for the weekend. However, things didn’t exactly go as everyone hoped. Though their routines were flawless, the girls didn’t walk home with the first place trophy this year. While I was disappointed in their ranking, I was also extremely impressed with the girls’ response. I was humbled to see that each and every girl felt proud of herself and her team. Even more, from the moment they walked off with their sixth place trophy (which by the way, is a huge accomplishment in itself), I could sense a fire lit within the girls to come back even harder next year.

Going into this trip, I expected a quick pick-me-up. Perhaps I thought that seeing my teammates win would remind me what it was like to be the over-achiever I was in high school and allow me to reminisce on the glory days. However, as it turns out, what I gained from this weekend was much more valuable. Getting to see my friends face the results with such grace made me realize how to cope when things don’t go my way in my life. Seeing the girls handle themselves this weekend with such poise was truly helpful for me.

It got me thinking about my own high school experience. After this weekend, I took a look at past photos, called an old friend or two and even read some of my old work. Getting to look at these things with a fresh eye showed me times when I changed, times when I failed, times when I determined what my values were and times when I really betrayed those values. These insights made me contemplate so much about myself and who I want to be.

Though I agree that “closing the yearbook,” to some extent, is vital to succeeding post-high school, I also now see the benefits of reflecting on moments from high school. Taking the time to consider the past can make you think about it differently. Perhaps this new perspective can help you realize things you never understood before and provide you a new lens to use in the future. Cracking open that yearbook from time to time may not be so bad after all.

 

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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On the sexual double standard https://stanforddaily.com/2017/02/21/boys-will-be-boys-and-girls-will-be-sluts/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/02/21/boys-will-be-boys-and-girls-will-be-sluts/#respond Tue, 21 Feb 2017 08:13:33 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1123332 Something about female sexuality just seems more taboo.

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Stanford frosh are constantly advised to experience the quirkiness that reverberates throughout campus in full-throttle. Most upperclassmen will tell you the best parts of their freshmen year were when they went all out — getting a tattoo during their San Francisco dorm scavenger hunts, completing Bingo boards during Full Moon on the Quad or perhaps finding the perfect contenders for Screw Your Roo(mmate). As a freshman, I have had the pleasure of participating in all of these wacky traditions and more. However, another tradition that I recently experienced — Secret Snowflake — exposed some real issues regarding gender dynamics, despite being completely hilarious at first glance.

The game Secret Snowflake allows players to pick which “tier” — one, two or three — that they would like to receive a dare for. Tier one dares typically fall on the softer side — like speaking in a British accent for the remainder of the night — while tier three dares almost always involve borderline nudity or extremely obscene acts.  

When it came time for our dorm’s event, I was taken aback by the blunt categorical differences. Out of the approximately 40 people who participated, approximately 10 vouched for tier one, about 20 for tier two and another 10 for tier three. On the surface, this doesn’t seem too surprising — it makes sense that most people fall in the middle ground. However, upon closer examination, I realized that every member of tier one was female while every member of tier three was male.  

At first, this was upsetting. Of course I wanted to see more girl-power in the risky category. However, when it came down to observing the dares that were assigned, I realized why these categorical differences were so stark. Every male in the tier three category had an overtly sexual dare — wrestling in only boxer briefs while covered in caramel, donning solely one sock (to be worn wherever most advantageous) while performing lengthy lap dances or even re-enacting both sides of a porn scene. Although these images will most definitely never leave my scarred mind, I can’t deny that they were inherently comical. Regardless of how crazy the dares were, the entire room constantly erupted with laughter during the tier three round.  

However, in a much-needed Secret Snowflake debrief, some residents and I considered how the dorm would have reacted if the said tier three members were female. Imagine a scantily-clad girl lying on the ground, reenacting the aggressive moans from a porno. Any way you spin that, that is still an X-rated image, considerably less funny than a similar act from a male counterpart. Over and over, we evaluated the outcomes of each of the tier three dares had they been completed by women. Still, something about female sexuality just seemed more taboo.

Nevertheless, tracing this specific example to contemporary ways of thinking regarding female sexuality helps explain the disparity. The fact is that if a girl participated in a traditional tier three dare, she’s likely to be deemed a “slut.” Slut-shaming refers to stigmatizing a woman for engaging in promiscuous behavior. Because women are conditioned to believe that their sexuality is not to be embraced through concepts as outdated as purity certificates and as pervasive as terms like the “Walk of Shame,” they may not be as willing to put themselves out there at the risk of unfair judgement. Yet, paradoxically, women are constantly encouraged to be sexy in order to be perceived positively from men. Therefore, grappling the fine line between sexy and slutty proves to be an impossible balancing act. As Leora Tanenbaum, author of “I Am Not A Slut,” wrote, “This is the essence of the sexual double standard: Boys will be boys, and girls will be sluts.”  

This double standard is visible across multiple sectors. Consider the event that’s happening tonight, Dancing with The Card, where freshman athletes of each team must choreograph a three-minute dance to perform. A female athlete confided in me that she felt the applications of the double standard when helping to choreograph her pieces. She noted that most of the memorable boys’ pieces of the night will likely include some level of shirtless-ness while the girls’ pieces have to rely on other aspects of their performance in order to be perceived comedically.

Of course this problem pervades a far more serious realm than frivolous “Truth-or-Dare”-esque entertainment and dance competitions in good fun. When girls are constantly shamed for engaging with their sexuality in measures that don’t line up with conventional standards, they are more likely to regard sexual desires and experiences as wrong. As long as this stigma exists, it’s difficult for women to develop healthy relationships with sex. If we want to live in a world where victims are not blamed for rape, where women can make sound personal choices regarding their reproductive rights and where girls can learn comprehensive sexual education, we need to recognize the subtle instances of double standards — like the Secret Snowflake predicament — and address them from an analytical and reflective perspective.

 

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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New bill proposes joint committee on sexual assault https://stanforddaily.com/2016/10/17/new-bill-proposes-joint-committee-on-sexual-assault/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/10/17/new-bill-proposes-joint-committee-on-sexual-assault/#respond Mon, 17 Oct 2016 08:17:37 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1118057 The Graduate Student Council and Undergraduate Senate are considering a joint committee on sexual assault.

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The Graduate Student Council (GSC) and Undergraduate Senate may combine forces under a new bill to create a joint legislative committee on sexual violence.

The bill proposing the committee was first heard in the Undergraduate Senate on Oct. 11 and in the GSC on Oct. 12, and both bodies will vote on it this coming week. According to the bill, one of the missions of the joint committee is to “review and educate the [ASSU] on the current status of sexual violence at Stanford University.” If the bill passes, the committee plans to meet at least once a month for the rest of the year.

“We thought it would be good for us to have a unified force and create a committee to talk about these issues with a common opinion,” GSC Co-Chair and co-sponsor of the bill Pau Guinart Ph.D. ’18 said. “One of the best things we can do is work more towards education – asking how we can raise awareness and make people more informed.”

The joint committee is the brainchild of Senate Chair and author of the bill Shanta Katipamula ’19. According to Katipamula, the committee has the potential to serve the student body in a variety of ways.

“To provide that advisory role [about university policy] and make sure all the details are fleshed out would be really paramount to what this committee would be doing,” Katipamula said. “[The committee will address] anything else that potentially falls under this umbrella of sexual violence at Stanford – whether it’s having meetings, lobbying administration to make a change or working on projects. It’s not set in stone.”

One of the unique aspects of the bill is that it involves both the Undergraduate Senate and the GSC. Katipamula describes the importance of this cooperation within the ASSU.

“I think it’s really important to make sure we’re all on the same page across the association … so that we can all sit down together and find out what each body is doing to address the issue of sexual violence at Stanford, and then make sure that we’re supporting each other,” Katipamula said. “Anything we try to do is a lot stronger if we all have each other’s backs and are able to collaborate.”

Matthew Baiza ’18, the founder of the Stanford Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention,  believes the committee has potential to make a change.

“I’m really excited to see what the committee does,” Baiza said. “This shows that there’s a student consensus at least in the undergraduate and graduate bodies that they want to work on this issue, and they want to work on it comprehensively and in a unified manner. That’s a good sign that students are wanting to take up the issue and really be leaders on it.”

Another mission of the committee described in the bill is to “develop strategies and action plans for recommending changes to the current Title IX reporting processes.” Katipamula describes how it’s not only important to work on preventing sexual assault, but also work on education regarding what to do when sexual assault occurs.

“We talk about preventing sexual assault, but the truth is sexual assault happens here at Stanford, and we need to make sure people know what to do in those situations,” Katipamula said. “Unfortunately, chances are someone you know will go through that and you want to be there for them and support them.”

According to Katipamula, this cause requires the participation of the entire community.

“To carry this movement forward, this shouldn’t be an issue that just survivors speak about, in the same way that we don’t expect minority groups to educate everyone on issues of racism,” Katipamula said. “That’s an unfair expectation and it’s something that we’ve moved away from as a society, and that similarly needs to happen in this arena. Everyone else needs to step up and work towards bettering this cause.”

 

Contact Sabrina Medler at smedler ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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