On behalf of the Stanford Daily Vol. 236 Editorial Board, I would like to welcome the Stanford community back to campus for the start of the winter quarter, and the beginning of a brand new decade. In September, at the onset of the volume, the current Edit Board had yet to be assembled; we were hitting the ground running from the first week on, unsure of how the quarter would unfold. Now, as a new quarter begins and a new volume lies just over a month away, I can say in earnest that I am thrilled to be rejoined with my colleagues on the Board and at The Daily for the first volume of the second decade of the century.

At the closing of the decade of the “zeros,” “aughts” or “thousands,” the feeling across America was an understandable mixture of relief and anxiety–relief that one of the most disappointing decades in its history was finally at an end, and anxiety over what the future may hold. While its body is not even cold in the ground, journalists have already begun labeling the past 10 years as a lost decade. And it is not hard to see why–with the shock of September 11 on one end and the collapse of our financial and economic security on the other, the decade’s entrance and exit were both defined by panic, fear and uncertainty. In between these two major shocks, the country waged two wars in the Middle East, at least one of which still threatens to lumber on well into the new decade. Less discussed in the media was the plight of the American working people, whose average salaries and range of opportunities stagnated throughout the decade while CEOs made billions, culminating in the first decade in 70 years during which there was no overall job growth in America.

Here at Stanford, 10 classes of students have graduated since the start of the century, with the Class of ’10 being the first of the new decade. Since we arrived on campus in 2006 or earlier, some of the major events we have seen have been, as is often case, a combination or synthesis of local happenings here on campus and the larger goings on of the wider world. In November of 2008, the world witnessed two major events on the same day that affected many people on campus differently: the election of Barack Obama and the passage of Proposition 8. More recently, the troubles of the global economy touched Stanford’s endowment, leading to cuts in budget expenses and staff positions. For the individual gay or lesbian student on campus, or the individual staff member who lost his or her job, the boundary between the nice and private world they enjoyed on campus and the rhythms of the larger world suddenly fell away. These examples serve as cold reminders that, even amid the sunny glow of the Stanford bubble, we all are, as individuals, touched by the larger world.

This lesson–applicable for both Stanford and America as a whole–may go down in history as the great lesson of the last decade. Here on the Editorial Board, we have committed ourselves to reaching a balance between addressing the issues of the day here on campus–from scheduling policies to Full Moon on the Quad–and greater issues of the world at large. Coming into the new quarter, we will remain committed to looking beyond our own daily worldview to the policies and practices that touch us all, not just as members of the Stanford community, but as citizens of the world.

Andrew Valencia

Editorial Board Chair