Anat Peled – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 05:31:06 +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 Anat Peled – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Resisting the authoritarian in the White House  https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/11/resisting-the-authoritarian-in-the-white-house-%ef%bb%bf/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/11/resisting-the-authoritarian-in-the-white-house-%ef%bb%bf/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2020 18:54:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163826 Resistance to Trump from within the Republican party has serious repercussions — Fox News anchor Chris Wallace hammered in on this message again and again in his interview with Senator Mitt Romney last Wednesday. “You realize this is war? Donald Trump will never forgive you for this … It’s going to get pretty lonely in […]

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Resisting the authoritarian in the White House 

Resistance to Trump from within the Republican party has serious repercussions — Fox News anchor Chris Wallace hammered in on this message again and again in his interview with Senator Mitt Romney last Wednesday. “You realize this is war? Donald Trump will never forgive you for this … It’s going to get pretty lonely in this town for you,” Wallace warned. Romney had committed an unforgivable crime against the unerring party and its great leader: He had voted to convict the president of abuse of power in the failed “putsch” attempt known as “impeachment,” and now he was going to pay. 

This kind of retribution and the expectation of supreme loyalty to a leader are not normal in a democracy. But these are not normal times. The Trump party is becoming increasingly authoritarian every day and some who question Trump are occasionally even threatened with physical violence by people who claim to be his followers. To resist, citizens who believe in democracy from the left, center and right should support brave Republican efforts to oppose the president and take back control of their party. 

Politics this week had rhetorical echoes of Arthur Koestler’s novel “Darkness at Noon,” which depicts the way an authoritarian party holds control over its people and turns perceived dissidents into public enemies, accusing them of conspiring against the party and the leader. In the novel, Rubashov, a former Communist party interrogator, is imprisoned and interrogated for his “crimes” against the party. He begins to question his complete loyalty to the party and his conscience is symbolized by a recurring toothache that he cannot ignore. Romney must have had that toothache in his mind when he spoke with Wallace. “I don’t have the capacity to ignore my conscience. I don’t have the capacity to say that what was wrong was not wrong,” he repeated again and again in different formulations to the Fox News anchor who just could not seem to comprehend the senator’s words. 

The tweets were quick to follow. On Saturday, Trump retweeted a terrifying video of Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro attacking Romney. “How dare he?” she began. “Mitt dared to do what he thought was good for him individually, not for the party, not for us, and certainly not for America.” As the video progressed, Pirro seemed to become angrier and angrier. 

“You simply despise Donald Trump. Your jealousy of this man is a constant rage burning within you because you can never rise to the heights that he has. Because guys like you fold like wusses and you don’t have any selflessness or the ability to think about others as Donald Trump has thought about making America first.”

After calling him an “embarrassment” and comparing him to a snake, she concluded: “How about you get the hell out of the United States.” On Sunday Trump had already tied the dissident senator to a deep state conspiracy against him, as evidenced by several retweets accusing Romney of trying to hide his own corruption in the Ukrainian scandal. The same day, Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump supporter, was already connecting another person who had testified against Trump, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman of the National Security Council (NSC), of taking part in a plot against the president by FBI agents, CIA agents and DOJ lawyers. 

While many will dismiss these tweets as just “Trump being Trump,” the danger is that people will be convinced by these kinds of conspiracies and resort to physical violence. This is already happening: The pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, which Trump has retweeted dozens of times and whose adherents he has even invited to the White House, was cited as an example of domestic terrorism by the FBI in August. Its followers have been arrested in at least seven episodes, including a murder in New York. 

Not everyone on the center and left was impressed with Romney’s defiance. Some, like comedian Bill Maher, dismissed it as political opportunism and saw the way that Romney became a “savior” in the eyes of Democrats as ridiculous, considering some of his extreme views. But this is no time to conduct purity tests for those who have the courage to stand up to the authoritarian in the White House. The threat is too serious. Trump’s paranoia and authoritarian tactics pose a grave threat to democracy. It’s time for America to wake up. As Trump’s approval ratings continue to improve along with the economy, and Democrats continue to squabble amongst themselves, a Democratic electoral victory in November is far from assured. 

Those opposed to Trump can resist him by supporting brave Republicans who dare to speak out. As Trump attacked the “insubordinates” Vindman and Romney, the non-profit Republicans for the Rule of Law founded by conservative commentator and vehement Trump critic, William Kristol (who is speaking on campus this Thursday), was busy preparing to run ads on Fox and Friends in defense of the patriotic dissenters. These admirable efforts should be embraced because our democracy as we know it will cease to exist in their absence.

Anat Peled ’20

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu

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Gadfly, Midwife, Electric Ray https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/27/gadfly-midwife-electric-ray/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/27/gadfly-midwife-electric-ray/#respond Fri, 27 Sep 2019 07:38:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157724 All three metaphors imply a certain degree of pain for the student – a bite, a sting, a contraction. This stands in contrast to how the humanities are perceived at Stanford, as “easy” majors which are not useful for the job market.

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This university faces a “crisis in liberal education,” as a recent report on undergraduate education put it. Students are racing towards STEM departments at high speed, hopping over the hurdles of humanities and arts requirements on their way to the finish line. Freshmen, you will soon discover the “easy A” phenomenon, in which Stanford students choose courses to fulfill humanities WAYS requirements such as Aesthetic and Interpretive Inquiry (AII) and Creative Expression (CE) based on grading curves available on Carta. Many are not looking to be challenged or unsettled. They want a low work to high grade ratio. This is unfortunate since Stanford has some of the best humanities teachers in the world. The professors I have met here have challenged and changed the way I think about politics, culture and history. 

Great teachers force you to unlearn, to mess up the neatness of the different conceptual boxes through which we categorize and understand the world. Hannah Arendt once described the great teacher and ancient Greek philosopher Socrates using three words: gadfly, midwife and electric ray. Socrates was a gadfly because he knew how to arouse the citizens and wake them up. Without his guidance they would stay undisturbed. He was a midwife because according to the Greeks, the midwife had the function of deciding whether the child was fit to live or was a mere “windegg” of which the bearer must be cleansed. Like the midwife, Socrates purged people of their “opinions,” those unexamined prejudgments which prevent thinking. Finally, he was an electric ray because he paralyzed whomever he came into contact with.

All three metaphors imply a certain degree of pain for the student — a bite, a sting, a contraction. This stands in contrast to how the humanities are perceived at Stanford, as “easy” majors which are not useful for the job market. Stanford is well aware of this problem and is trying to fix it, as it explained in its report on the First-Year Shared Intellectual Experience and Exploration. “It would be a mistake,” argued the report, “to view student satisfaction as the only relevant criterion for judging the success of a general education program.” 

Education is not always supposed to be pleasant. At its best it will be uncomfortable and scary. It’s those moments, when you experience what you thought was firm ground shaking under your feet, that help you grow intellectually.

The gadflies will not be handed to you on a silver platter at Stanford. I was lucky enough to meet one, a retired historian, during my freshman year. I signed up for a directed reading with him (a one-on-one class with a professor which any undergraduate can arrange) winter quarter of my freshman year. He shocked me into reading Marx, Camus, Levi-Strauss, Freud, Koestler and Harari, and these writers have become foundational to my thinking. I remember the earth-shaking experience of reading Yuval Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and realizing that the things that I considered firm truths such as religion, borders and the market were fictions that we share. I remember the discomfort after watching the movie Rashomon (1950) and understanding that we inhabit different truth worlds which are not compatible with each other. It sounds silly. But I never thought about these things before. 

Don’t know where to start? Here are four classes with great professors from four different disciplines.

HISTORY 237D: The French Revolution and the Birth of Modern Politics (Keith Baker) – Or anything else that Professor Baker is teaching. He will change how you think about the connection between politics, ideas and history.

POLISCI 22SC: The Face of Battle (Scott Sagan and Allen Weiner) – I am biased here since I took the class and was TA as well. But this is an amazing opportunity to develop empathy for both sides fighting in a war. Did I ever think that I would give a speech as Robert E. Lee on the second day of Gettysburg—at the battlefield itself—defending my decision to go forward with my attack after the slaughter of the first day? No. But there’s Stanford for you.

ANTHRO 1: Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology (Jim Ferguson) – Although there is a no-question-during-class policy, Professor Ferguson’s lectures and the readings are mind-blowing. They will make you think about culture and the way it frames language, power and politics. 

MUSIC 17N: The Operas of Mozart (Karol Berger)– No music background required. I am not a music person and had never been very into operas. But Professor Berger’s freshman seminar made me look at Mozart’s operas as part of the intellectual, social and political product of its times. Can opera start revolution? In some cases, yes

There are so many more! Ask your advisors, RAs and TAs. Keep a list and see what names keep popping up. Shop classes! Take it from a proud history major — do not be deceived by articles like the one in New York Magazine which presented Stanford as a networking and fundraising school. Yes, this is a tech-dominated campus. But as alums Alina Utrata and Ibrahim Bharmal pointed out, Stanford is what you make of it. And while you are probably beginning to stress about major requirements, this column is a reminder to seek out the amazing teachers this university has to offer. Don’t be intimidated by them. Go to their office hours. You may just be lucky enough to experience a bite, a sting, a contraction.

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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The lies that uphold the system: Operation Varsity Blues https://stanforddaily.com/2019/06/16/the-lies-that-uphold-the-system-operation-varsity-blues/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/06/16/the-lies-that-uphold-the-system-operation-varsity-blues/#respond Sun, 16 Jun 2019 17:07:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1156184 On Wednesday, former Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer was sentenced to one day in prison and six months of home confinement for his role in the recent college admissions scandal. Judging by the headlines, there is outrage in America over this “slap on the wrist.” “Stanford Coach Avoids Prison in Admissions Scandal,” announced The New […]

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On Wednesday, former Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer was sentenced to one day in prison and six months of home confinement for his role in the recent college admissions scandal. Judging by the headlines, there is outrage in America over this “slap on the wrist.” “Stanford Coach Avoids Prison in Admissions Scandal,” announced The New York Times. Other papers, from both the right and the left, carried similar sounding titles. Finally, bipartisan agreement.

Just to recap, on March 12, 2019, it was revealed that Vandemoer, along with more than 50 others including celebrities such as Felicity Huffman, were found to be involved in a scandal called “Operation Varsity Blues.” Essentially, parents paid over $25 million to the scheme’s head, William Singer, who bribed coaches like Vandemoer to secure athletic spots at top universities for children who were not real athletes. Vandemoer is guilty of accepting a bribe of $610,000. He was the first to be tried from the group.

When you get into Stanford, you are told that you deserve to be here. But in the majority of cases, the truth is not so simple. It is more accurate to say that you were lucky to be born into the right family from the right socioeconomic background which enabled you to attend good schools, hire tutors, etc. Research has shown that, in the past decades, there is a growing correlation between parental income and SAT scores. 

But there is a certain tendency for the elites in America to be in denial about the fact that they are elites. “America is a classless society” goes the narrative. You get ahead through perseverance and hard work. America, in the conventional wisdom, is a meritocracy.

Charles Murray’s delves into this in Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 (2013). Since he doesn’t believe elites will be able to identify themselves honestly, he provides a quiz about the kind of experiences and cultural products you have consumed over your life which will give you a score of your “eliteness.” The lower the score the more elite. Needless to say, when some of my Stanford peers took it in a class this year, we got very low scores.

Given this reality, the outrage over the current admissions scandal seems feigned. Instead of the classic form of admissions bribery such as donating a building, this scheme was more creative (photoshopping the heads of the students onto pictures of real athletes) and involved celebrities to boot. It was colorful and drew attention.

But the dissatisfaction with the sentence is revealing. How much time would Vandemoer have to do for it to be considered “justice”?

There is an eerie show trial aspect to the recent court verdict of Vandemoer. In the 1930s, Stalin organized show trials to get rid of his enemies for imaginary crimes against the Party. One of the mysteries was why the accused admitted to the crimes. Was it due to torture? It later came to be understood that the accused admitted to their crimes because they were true believers. By telling the truth and admitting that they were innocent, they would be rejecting the party and everything it stood for. It was their last duty as loyal party members. This interpretation was made famous in books such as Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon.

I am not suggesting that the Vandemoer trial compares in any way to the violence of the show trials which happened under a totalitarian regime. I am only trying to suggest one similarity – Vandemoer appears to be a true believer in the meritocratic higher education system. “I deserve all of this — I caused it — and for that I’m deeply ashamed,” he said in an apology statement. But it is questionable whether he is really “guilty” of a horrendous crime. According to U.S. District Judge Zobel, Vandemoer was “probably the least culpable” of the 50 or so charged with the Varsity Blues scandal. This is because he didn’t even pocket the bribe money – he put it into his sailing program instead to buy uniforms and sports gear. In addition, most of the students never ended up attending Stanford. 

But his very actions have offended the idea of a meritocratic American society. He has undermined the holy of holies of the American imagination. And for this he must be punished.

Stanford has accordingly gone into damage-control mode. It fired the untouchable the same day he was indicted. It is running an external review of the admissions process. Even the ill-conceived money must be rid of immediately. Stanford plans to donate it to a worthy cause yet to be determined. It must purge itself in order to ensure the purity of its meritocratic admissions process.

I just finished watching the new mini-series Chernobyl about the infamous nuclear disaster and the Soviet union’s attempt to hide from the world the extent of the disaster. In the final episode of the series, the brave scientist Valery Legasov, confronts the lies of the Soviet Union at a show trial and reveals the structural problems of nuclear reactors in the communist state. This comes at a high personal cost; he loses his job and two years later he takes his own life. As a result of his death, the Soviet scientific community could no longer ignore the truth. At the end they fixed the reactors.

What would an equivalent “truth telling” moment look like at Vandemoer’s trial? Just like the scientists in Chernobyl, he knows that he bears part of the blame. However, the bribes took place inside an extremely unmeritocratic system in which many of the wealthy have bribed their way into admissions.

What would he have to say to wake Americans up? Would we even be able to recognize such a moment if we saw it?

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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The Lonely American Dream https://stanforddaily.com/2019/06/12/the-lonely-american-dream/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/06/12/the-lonely-american-dream/#respond Wed, 12 Jun 2019 23:36:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1156143 Last week an article in The Economist described the worst punishment our society has ever been able to conceive of – solitary confinement. It described a prison in Texas in which Tony Medina, “spends 23 hours inside a concrete box measuring 7 feet by 11 feet.” He is forbidden any human contact. Guards pass trays […]

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Last week an article in The Economist described the worst punishment our society has ever been able to conceive of – solitary confinement. It described a prison in Texas in which Tony Medina, “spends 23 hours inside a concrete box measuring 7 feet by 11 feet.” He is forbidden any human contact. Guards pass trays of food through a slat in a door. The article ended with a quote by Medina. “Human beings are not meant to be isolated in this way.”

However, it increasingly seems that American society does not need physical brick walls to enact its own solitary way of being. Loneliness, which has been shown to have the same effect on health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, is on the rise. A 2015 paper by two Princeton economists found that “deaths of despair” which include death by drugs, alcohol and suicide are increasing across America with each successive birth cohort at higher risk.

What is the relationship between loneliness, individualism and community? From the very beginning, the American narrative has involved the story of the lone frontiersman. Rugged individuals who were to settle the West in wood cabins. This image has left a strong imprint on American consciousness. American society strongly emphasizes the role of the individual in determining his or her own fate.

While community also had a strong role in America, its role has been declining. In the documentary American Creed (2018), Stanford professors David Kennedy and Condoleezza Rice ask what, if anything, unifies Americans. In their telling, the American creed or civic religion is made up of two parts – an individual drive (it doesn’t matter where you come from only where you are going) and a collective enterprise or community. They fear that we have lost the second part. Bowling Alone, the seminal book by Robert Putnam, chronicles how social capital or the fabric of our connection to others, has been declining in America since 1950. 

So America today is characterized mainly by rampant individualism no longer held in check by communal ties. Already in 1832, the famous Frenchman Alexis De Tocqueville saw the dark side of the American enterprising and get-go spirit. He observed an obsession with money and coined the word “individualism” to describe Americans. He worried that increasing material comfort would cause individuals to lose interest in their ancestors, descendants and contemporaries. In short, he worried that each man would be “shut up in the solitude of his own heart.”

Yet Americans are quick to dismiss the dark side of their national character. Instead, the myth of the self-made man lives on. Rugged individualism. Bring yourself up by your bootstraps.

But without the protective bonds of community, unchecked individualism in an increasingly technological, industrialized society can be lethal. Already in 1897, French sociologist Emile Durkheim found that anomie and egoism in industrial society where communal bonds were weak contributed to higher rates of suicide.  

Isolation and the idea of being self-made are connected concepts. As David Kennedy explains in the documentary, the American psychological mindset involves a characteristic hesitancy to blame any factors beyond ourselves for the failures that we inevitably encounter. For example, during the Great Depression, when 13 million people were unemployed, the universal psychological response was to feel personal guilt and shame for the situation. Instead of solidarity, people withdrew into their own worlds.

The pressures to meet this demanding self-made dream start early. They can also have deadly consequences as seen by the suicide cluster at Gunn High School in Palo Alto from 2009-2015. Intense academic pressure drove adolescents to kill themselves by jumping onto subway tracks. Is this the kind of society that Americans want to live in? 

As Robert Bellah argued in Habits of the Heart, a famous book that delved into American loneliness, the private American dream of being the star who stands out from the crowd has a problem. “Since we have believed in that dream for a long time and worked very hard to make it come true, it is hard for us to give it up, even though it contradicts another dream that we have — that of living in a society that would be really worth living in.” 

The American dream of individual, independent happiness has increasingly become a lonesome and tragic one, and technology has only exacerbated the problem. Medina is right when he says that this isolation is unnatural for human beings. But thick walls are still being built all the same. Americans need to take a good and hard look at whether hyper-individualism is compatible with their communal enterprise. For one without the other leads to an increasingly alienated society.

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Smith challenges GSC’s move to closed session in transparency dispute https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/17/smith-challenges-gscs-move-to-closed-session-in-transparency-dispute/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/17/smith-challenges-gscs-move-to-closed-session-in-transparency-dispute/#respond Thu, 17 May 2018 08:00:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141207 The Graduate Student Council (GSC) started off its weekly meeting Wednesday with routine updates, but when co-chair Yiqing Ding, a second-year M.S. student in aeronautics and astronautics, announced that it was time to move into a closed session, newly elected council member Caleb Smith ’17 M.A. ’18 objected on constitutional grounds.

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The Graduate Student Council (GSC) started off its weekly meeting Wednesday with routine updates. But when co-chair Yiqing Ding, a second-year M.S. student in aeronautics and astronautics, announced that it was time to move into a closed session, newly elected council member Caleb Smith ’17 M.A. ’18 objected on student government constitutional grounds.

While the closed session and the reason for its closure — ”scheduled discussion on proprietary knowledge about SSE operations” — was publicly announced more than 72 hours in advance as required by the ASSU constitution, Smith thought the session violated the first clause of the constitution’s freedom of information section.

According to the constitution, “all records of any Association entity must be available for scrutiny by the public,” the only exceptions being “proprietary business information of Association businesses, financial records for non-funded accounts of organizations banking with the Association, Legal Counseling records, and personnel records of employees.”

According to Smith, who is also a Daily staffer, none of these applied to the closed session held by the GSC.

Smith asked Jelani Munroe ’16, ASSU financial manager, why the session had to be closed.

“Typically, we do budget discussions in closed session,” Munroe said. “The reason we do that really is based on the range of questions that may come up. There’s always ultimately reporting that happens publicly … particularly because the biggest thing that comes out of our fee discussion is the student fee, which you can’t have because it goes on student bills … So yeah, it’s closed by nature.”

Munroe added that he was happy to talk and meet with any students who had budget related questions. He declined to comment on the closed session.

Smith remained unconvinced and motioned that the GSC open the budget discussion to the public as an open session. However, no other council member seconded his motion, and the session remained closed.

After the session, Smith told The Daily that he did not think that anything discussed in the closed session qualified as proprietary information that should not be disclosed to the student body. According to Smith, the session included information on what the ASSU proposes to spend money on next year, such as annual grants, stipends for GSC members and administration costs. He said the discussion was mostly a presentation of summary statistics.

Smith’s objection follows other recent closed meetings held by student government that The Daily has reported on as potential violations of the ASSU constitution. A secret morning meeting earlier this month was not disclosed beforehand, while Tuesday’s Senate meeting included a private session on the budget that senators defended as traditionally closed. These closed meetings worry Smith.

“I think that this just goes to underline the need for clearer freedom of information provisions in the ASSU constitution,” he said. “I think that everyone is acting with good intentions; however, when we have such vague constitutional language I think that it can lead to those good intentions conflicting on occasion.”

This “can sometimes undermine transparency for the student body,” Smith added.

Smith hopes to reform the ASSU constitution. However, disagreements about how to revise the document arose during the open session. When Smith’s reform bill was brought up for discussion, Melanie Malinas, a fourth-year graduate student in biophysics, said that although Smith identified some problems with funding, she did not understand how he proposed to improve the current system.

Smith said that he aims to decrease the large number of undergraduate student groups on the ballot for special fees, arguing that an abundance of organizations makes scrutinizing individual groups harder and increases the difficulties some deserving groups face in winning funding. He explained that, in his opinion, some groups that seek special fees for budgets of more than $6,000 may not always be beneficial to the entire student body and instead provide value to a certain portion of the student body.

Smith is the general manager of campus radio station KZSU, which almost lost some of its requested special fees after failing to receive enough graduate student votes this spring.

Malina called Smith’s suggestions “anti-democratic,” explaining that groups are not entitled to funding without campaigning.

This was the first meeting for newly elected co-chairs Ding and Amy Tarangelo, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in cancer biology. The two would not comment on the closed session. However, Tarangelo said that she was still learning the ropes and would comment after had further looked into the matter.

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Prize-winning novelist Walter Mosley talks black science fiction, capitalism https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/16/prize-winning-novelist-walter-mosley-talks-black-science-fiction-capitalism/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/16/prize-winning-novelist-walter-mosley-talks-black-science-fiction-capitalism/#respond Wed, 16 May 2018 08:03:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141145 On Tuesday evening, award-winning novelist Walter Mosley spoke with political activist Mia Birdsong about black science fiction, capitalism and technology. The event was sponsored by McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Continuing Studies, Stanford Storytelling Project and the Creative Writing Program.

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On Tuesday evening, award-winning novelist Walter Mosley spoke with political activist Mia Birdsong about black science fiction, capitalism and technology. The event was sponsored by McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Continuing Studies, Stanford Storytelling Project and the Creative Writing Program.

Mosley, who commits to writing at least two or three hours every day, has published 56 books, the most well-known being his “Easy Rawlins” series about an army veteran turned private investigator.

Mosley has published a diverse portfolio of detective mysteries, plays, young adult, nonfiction and political essays. However, a common thread that runs through his writing, including his latest book “Down the River unto the Sea,” is the story of the black man’s life in America.

Mosley focused his talk on his science fiction works.

“I wanted to explore the notion of the soul, and … mystery is not going to do that, so I wrote ‘Blue Light,’” said Mosley, referring to his turn from mystery novels to science fiction.

He explained that while many readers view the genre as an escape, it is in fact “one of the foundational building blocks in the creation of the future.”

“If you don’t write science fiction that includes black people in America and elsewhere, then we don’t have a future,” he said. “The future that gets created is one we don’t live in and we don’t imagine and don’t create.”

Associate Director of Sophomore College and Introductory Seminars Dayo Mitchell, who attended the event, said that she was surprised by how funny Mosley was.

Event attendee Hannah Feinstein echoed Mitchell’s sentiments.

“He doesn’t really hold back, he just says what he thinks,” she said. “And I really like that.”

A recurring theme throughout the talk was critique of capitalism. When Birdsong asked Mosley what makes the perspective of a black science fiction writer different from that of a white writer, Mosley responded that it was the experience of slavery.

“[Black people] are the first modern property of capitalism,” he said.

He went on to say that that the experience of having one’s body, life and child belong to someone else made black people understand how certain nations felt when America embarked on military operations abroad in the name of freedom.

When asked which inventor or technology he would eliminate and why, Mosely responded with Edison for his “incredibly capitalistic approach to invention.”

“He made the beauty of scientific discovery into property,” Mosley said. “And that’s how we’re living with it today.”

Mosley also reflected on the connection between capitalism and technology.

He questioned what would happen if people started ”to judge technology not on how much money it makes — which is mostly how we do it — but what kind of human beings it’s making,” adding that humanity changes with every technological advance.

So, what’s next for the prolific writer? It seems that the conceiver of future worlds will be taking a look toward the past. Mosley’s newest book, “John Woman,” is about a deconstructionist historian and the idea that history is changing and being reinterpreted every day. It is scheduled for release in September.

Upon getting her book signed, Mitchell, who is currently teaching a class on slavery in the Caribbean, thanked Mosley for talking so much about history.

“Well,” he responded, “the only way to understand the future is to engage with the past.”

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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GSC swears in newly-elected members https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/03/gsc-swears-in-newly-elected-members/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/03/gsc-swears-in-newly-elected-members/#respond Thu, 03 May 2018 08:00:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140454 On Wednesday night, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) swore in newly elected members, held a closed session on the budget and ASSU, and discussed officer positions.

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On Wednesday night, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) swore in newly elected members, held a closed session on the budget and ASSU and discussed officer positions.

During the meeting, the 15 GSC members for 2018-19 were sworn in, five returning and 10 new. Council member Aditya Ranjan M.B.A. ’19 was also elected as financial officer. The GSC will determine its co-chairs and other elected officers in next week’s meeting.

Council members Amy Tarangelo, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in biology; Yiqing Ding, a master’s candidate in aeronautical engineering and Rui Liu, a third-year Ph.D. student in civil and environmental engineering are all running for co-chairs.

“This is the first time in a long while that there has been a seriously contested chair election,” said ASSU Executive and former co-chair Rosie Nelson.

The council also agreed to spend $14,591 for Fire on Fire, an annual international barbecue including twelve student organizations. The event will take place on May 12 and 1,600 people are expected to attend.

“This and Chinese New Year are the most expensive events that we put on,” said Melanie Malinas, fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in biophysics.

In the meeting, Nelson also referred to the publication of the Graduate Student Life Survey final report earlier this month as the GSC’s “biggest accomplishment.”

Graduate student formal will also take place this Friday. Ph.D. student Gabby Badica, social chair, reminded members that the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education changed its sober monitor policies in 2017 to require one monitor for every 25 guests instead of one monitor for every 50 guests. According to Badica, there will be 42 volunteer monitors at the event, and each will receive a complimentary ticket in exchange for their willingness to monitor.  

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Tech panel addresses campus divide between so-called ‘techies’ and ‘fuzzies’ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/01/tech-panel-addresses-campus-divide-between-so-called-techies-and-fuzzies/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/01/tech-panel-addresses-campus-divide-between-so-called-techies-and-fuzzies/#respond Tue, 01 May 2018 07:51:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140350 Sponsored by both the School of Engineering and School of Humanities and Sciences, as well as Undergraduate Advising and Research, BEAM and Stanford Alumni Association, the talk drew many technical students who were curious to hear how the panelists approached the visible divide on campus.

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On Monday night, entrepreneur Tracy Chou ’09 M.S. ’09, venture capitalist Scott Hartley ’05 and former Yahoo president Marissa Mayer ’97 M.S. ’99 discussed the divide between so-called “fuzzies” and “techies,” and how this divide plays out in hiring, salaries and work culture.

Professor and Associate Chair for Education in the Computer Science department Mehran Sahami ’92 M.S. ’93 Ph.D. ’99 moderated the conversation.

Sponsored by both the School of Engineering and the School of Humanities and Sciences, as well as Undergraduate Advising and Research, BEAM and Stanford Alumni Association, the talk drew many technical students who were curious to hear how the panelists approached the visible divide on campus.

“Apple always talks about standing at the intersection of humanities and tech, and … I’m not really sure what that means,” symbolic systems student and event attendee Kadar Qian ’20 said.

In a follow-up statement to The Daily, Qian clarified that as a Symbolic Systems major, he continues to seek definitional clarity on this crucial intersection.

“CS, while a powerful tool, only solves a sliver of the problems facing…industries,” he wrote. “It takes the marriage of these two fields to create a harmonious and elegant solution.”

“Really, I think for me this notion is a false duality,” began Hartley, author of “The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World.

Hartley explained that launching engineering products involves “fuzzy” aspects such as anthropological research, while work in fields such as political science can involve statistical software and other “harder” skills.

“It’s really not one versus the other, but how we bring these two things together,” Hartley said.

Overall,  the panel expressed optimism about bridging the divide between “techies” and “fuzzies,” but some felt that the panel itself was emblematic of how humanities are treated at Stanford.

After the lecture, computer science students Diego Hernandez ’17 M.S. ’18 and Amy Liu ’18 M.S. ’18 said they were surprised that no humanities-focused individuals were present on the panel. According to Liu, the humanities receive second-rate treatment and are only used as a supplement to help STEM fields.

“It’s clear that he was talking to a particular group of people in there,” Hernandez said.

Chou, who studied electrical engineering, said that she regrets the condescending attitude she held toward the humanities while she was at Stanford. She explained that while working at Quora, a questions-and-answers site, she and her team had to think about philosophical questions about human nature and community design.

“Realizing how much we as engineers who write code were imposing our view of the world on our product and our users made me realize how little I was equipped to do that well,” Chou said.

Both Mayer and Hartley were optimistic about humanities students’ capacity for success in the tech industry. Hartley gave the example of Flickr and Slack founder Stewart Butterfield, who earned two philosophy degrees. According to Mayer, some of her most effective employees work at the intersection between the two worlds.

However, Chou was more skeptical.

“I do think it is undeniable that there is a huge gap in compensation,” Chou said. “If you study computer science or some technical field, it’s a lot easier to get a job because there is a straight line between the degree and the end roles that need to be filled.”

Chou was also more hesitant when it came to ethics. The panelists discussed the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal and its implications for the future of the industry.

“I think it’s very hard to expect that in a world that is so capitalistic, that companies will necessarily just move in the most ethical directions,” Chou added.

Mayer disagreed with Chou and Hartley, arguing that the scandal did not signify an ethical lapse, but rather showed an example of people being less versed in the complex systems which involved personal data. She said she believes that companies will improve with more experience.

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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GSC discusses low funds for VSO events https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/26/gsc-discusses-low-funds-for-vso-events/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/26/gsc-discusses-low-funds-for-vso-events/#respond Thu, 26 Apr 2018 07:34:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140091 VSOs usually attend GSC meetings each week to request funds for special events. This week however, Melanie Malinas, a fifth year graduate student in biophysics, announced that the GSC was running low on funds for VSOs.

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On Wednesday night, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) discussed low funds for Voluntary Student Organization (VSO) events and held a closed session on its budget during the second half of the meeting.

The open session began with an update from Kari Barclay, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in theater and performance studies. He said that as a follow up to the GSC survey released a few weeks ago, Vice Provost for Graduate Education Patricia Gumport and Provost Persis Drell will likely attend a GSC meeting once the group swears in its new members next week.

“It seems like a lot of stuff is happening backstage just in terms of plugging us in to the long range planning process and to the provost agenda,” Barclay said.

VSOs typically attend GSC meetings each week to request funds for special events. This week however, Melanie Malinas, a fifth-year graduate student in biophysics, announced that the GSC was running low on funds for VSOs. 

She explained that they had allocated about $157,000 of $180,000 allotted for VSO-related events, and that they still had not allocated for “Fire on Fire,” a multinational Spring barbecue, that would cost $15,000.

This expense would leave only $8,000 for other VSO requests.

GSC members also pointed out that many student groups are likely to host end-of-year events.

“We’re going to have to start turning VSOs away,” said Malinas.

Although earlier, GSC members discussed allocating funds to buy gear, such as sweatshirts, Melanie’s announcement caused some members to rethink their desire to invest in apparel for the group.

“If the decision is between turning people away and getting jackets, let’s avoid turning people away, although I would like some jackets,” said one Council member.

However, Luka Fatuesi ’17, ASSU Assistant Financial Manager, clarified that they were discussing two separate funding pools: discretionary expenses, which are not raised from student fees but come from the operating budget; and programming expenses. If the council goes over budget on programing expenses, they are able to draw from a reserve pool.

“We’re not in a financial crisis,” said GSC social chair Gabby Badica, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Latin American cultures. Badica also said the group should not spend a lot of its reserve funds.

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Regulating tech giants poses major international and local challenges, say Persily and Cihak https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/25/regulating-tech-giants-poses-major-international-and-local-challenges-say-persily-and-cihak/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/25/regulating-tech-giants-poses-major-international-and-local-challenges-say-persily-and-cihak/#respond Wed, 25 Apr 2018 10:07:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140009 On Tuesday, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and the Stanford Cyber Initiative hosted a discussion on the governmental consequences of technological developments with two CASBS fellows, Stanford Law Professor Nate Persily and Carrie Cihak, Chief of Policy in King County, Washington. A recurring theme throughout the lecture was the difficulty […]

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On Tuesday, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and the Stanford Cyber Initiative hosted a discussion on the governmental consequences of technological developments with two CASBS fellows, Stanford Law Professor Nate Persily and Carrie Cihak, Chief of Policy in King County, Washington.

A recurring theme throughout the lecture was the difficulty of regulating increasingly powerful technology companies like Facebook and Google at both the local and international level.

Pesily focused on the international side of that regulation.

“Social media companies are seen as exporters of American culture as well as [of] our particular view of speech,” he said, emphasizing the importance of this phenomenon in the context of competition between America, Europe and China to control the future of the internet.

According to Persily, each region and country has a different model for how the internet should be structured. The U.S, for instance, represents one end of the spectrum in terms of government regulation and free speech.

“There is no other country in the world that’s comparable to the United States in our libertarianism when it comes to speech,” Persily explained.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former president of Estonia and a leader of Estonian digitization initiatives, shared his views on free speech and the European model internet norms.

“In Europe, the real issue is data protection and the massive use of data, and this is something that hasn’t been discussed here at all,” Ilves said. “That is where the regulation is going to hit [technology companies] and [hit] their economic model.”

Persily also brought up the subject of the growing power of the corporate technology giants. According to him, these companies do not function democratically.

For example, because Facebook did not give every user a share of investment when it went public, Persily labeled the company as “effectively a monarchy.”  

However, he also acknowledged that there are ways to curb social media giants.

“[The] scandal with Cambridge Analytica cost [Facebook] $50 billion in the space of three weeks,” he said. “So there are checks on them.”

Cihak talked extensively about local government’s regulatory role in the “platform economy,” which refers to the social and economic activity facilitated by digital platforms such as Uber and Airbnb.

According to Cihak, people are willing to participate in the platform economy — for instance, by renting out their home or riding cars with complete strangers — because they have the expectation that the service will be safe and that, behind it all, there is a system looking out for them as consumers.

She added that much of this trust is based on government regulation, but that such regulation is being challenged by the speed of the platform economy.

Cihak also discussed the ways in which technology can exacerbate existing inequalities in physical communities.

“Tech is only going to become that great equalizer if we actually equalize access to technology,” she said. “And in the United States and in many of our communities, we’re not doing such a hot job with that.”

In her home state of Washington, which has the highest in-home broadband adoption rate in the country, Cihak said that one in five households still lack broadband access.

She also said that this inequality is unequally distributed. Low-income households — which are also disproportionately households of color — are five times less likely to have broadband access at home.

When asked about how Stanford students can engage more deeply with issues related to technology and governance, Persily highlighted the importance of thinking about the intersection between law, technology and ethics. In an interview with The Daily, he stressed the need for technology-oriented students to think about complex issues concerning law and ethics.

However, Persily added that many students who study STEM-related subjects feel that they are not at Stanford to think about the ethics of technology.

Persily recommended that those students consider taking classes that engage with those issues directly, such as a new course on ethics co-taught by Rob Reich and Mehran Sahami, or get involved with initiatives like his new research project that focuses on data sharing and privacy.

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu

 

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KZSU, Speakers Bureau, Viennese Ball, Martial Arts secure special fees after coming up short https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/19/kzsu-speakers-bureau-viennese-ball-martial-arts-secure-special-fees-after-coming-up-short/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/19/kzsu-speakers-bureau-viennese-ball-martial-arts-secure-special-fees-after-coming-up-short/#respond Thu, 19 Apr 2018 09:37:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1139658 Four student groups that initially failed to secure enough votes for special fees in last week’s ASSU elections will in fact get their requested funding due to a reinterpretation of policies.

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Four student groups that initially failed to secure enough votes for special fees in last week’s ASSU elections will in fact get their requested funding due to a reinterpretation of policies.

Elections Commissioner Paul Serrato ’19 explained the shift at Wednesday’s Graduate Student Council (GSC) meeting. The preliminary election results, announced on April 14, showed that four organizations — KZSU, Stanford Speakers Bureau, Viennese Ball and the Stanford Martial Arts Program — did not get enough graduate student votes for special fees. But during the meeting, when GSC members opened the internal document with the election results, they saw that the outcomes had changed. All groups had passed the threshold for student fees.

“It definitely said ‘no’ earlier today,” said Council Chair and newly elected ASSU Vice President Rosie Nelson upon seeing the results. It seemed that the bill had changed between 3:30 p.m., the time it was sent to GSC members, and 6 p.m.

Elections Commissioner Serrato, who arrived 10 minutes later to seek the certification of the results by the GSC, sorted out the confusion.

He explained that initially results had been calculated based on an interpretation that required a “yes” vote from 15 percent of the graduate population in order to pass.  However, after further consideration, the election commission decided that a majority of the students— with at least a 15 percent turnout — would be required to attain special fee status. According to Serrato, the new interpretation was more in line with previous years.

Once the change was explained, members had to decide whether to vote on certifying the results immediately. Traditionally, the GSC puts all bills on previous notice, meaning that the bills are presented one week and then voted on the following week. This ensures enough time for graduate students to review proposed bills, which are sent out on the GSC mailing list. The two-week system allows students can comment with their opinions on bills and make their voice heard before the vote.

The decision to immediately vote on certification of the results was controversial and was heatedly debated by council members. In the end, three students voted yes and four abstained. Isamar Rosa, a fifth-year Ph.D. student, was the only council member to vote “no.”

“To me personally I was like, there’s no rush, let’s leave it out there,” Rosa said. “I know that people [think] nobody is going to comment, and yes, probably no one is going to comment, but… what if there was one person?”

Overall student voter turnout continues to rise. Not only did undergraduate voter turnout rise during the 2018 election, but graduate student voter turnout hit a new peak.

“We have had the most successful election in ASSU history,” Serrato said. Graduate student voting rose from 34 percent in 2016 and 40 percent in 2017 to 42 percent this year.

The council was also updated by Kari Barclay, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in theater and performance studies, that the Faculty Senate just passed two resolutions relating to graduate advising based on the findings of the GSC’s recent survey on graduate student life.  Barclay asked members for feedback on the survey to ensure that the report’s priorities match student needs and concerns.

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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GSC talks new graduate student life report, council election ballot testing https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/05/gsc-talks-new-graduate-student-life-report-council-election-ballot-testing/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/04/05/gsc-talks-new-graduate-student-life-report-council-election-ballot-testing/#respond Thu, 05 Apr 2018 07:07:48 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1138750 In its first meeting of spring quarter, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) discussed a new report published on graduate student life at Stanford, ballot testing for its forthcoming election and Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Day.

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In its first meeting of spring quarter, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) discussed a new report published on graduate student life at Stanford, ballot testing for its forthcoming election and Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Day.

The council discussed the recent publication of its report based on a survey conducted last spring. The survey sample included a fifth of all graduate students and addresses different aspects of graduate student life including housing, stipends, healthcare, and diversity and inclusion. The report and next steps will be discussed in an open meeting with the administration, students and staff on April 10.

“It uncovers some pretty troubling trends around the cost of housing, which people are reasonably worried about,” said Kari Barclay, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in theater and performance studies. “But [it] also [addresses] potential gaps in stipends related to ethnicity, gender and sexuality that we’re investigating further and the challenges that students with dependents and students with children are facing.”

The report did not just rely on quantitative data. Instead, it also featured student voices that expressed deep frustration about several key issues, including lack of student diversity and childcare.

The publication of the report coincided with the publication of another report by The Stanford Families Working Advisory Group that reached similar conclusions.

“The hope now is that we have these two reports in dialogue with each other, and … it needs to be a matter of the University administration taking action based on it and in particular being willing to give the resources required to make life for grad students with dependents better here,” said Barclay.

The council also discussed ballot testing in preparations for GSC elections next week. Ballot testing will take place during the executive committee meeting on Thursday in order to prevent potential conflicts of interest that may arise if current council members view the ballot in advance.

“The challenge with the GSC is that a lot of us run again,” said Rosie Nelson, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Education. This raises a problem since GSC members who are running cannot take part in the ballot testing. “So what ends up happening is that there are very few members who can actually contribute in a meaningful way.”

Nelson explained that in the future the council will need to find an alternative approach to test the ballot effectively, perhaps by contacting outside student volunteers or having a focus group.

Last year’s voting issues regarding a problem in the ballot’s back-end logic at the medical school and law school have been identified and fixed.

Finally, members said they were concerned because the GSC was not mentioned during last Friday’s Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Day event when accepted graduate students came to visit the University. While some members thought this was deliberate, others believed that it was due to problems in communication and agreed to be more involved in future Diversity Days.

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Center hosts events celebrating language diversity https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/23/center-hosts-events-celebrating-language-diversity/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/23/center-hosts-events-celebrating-language-diversity/#respond Fri, 23 Feb 2018 10:00:57 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1137242 Language tables clustered around and within the Language Center in the Quad offered glimpses into the cultures behind different world languages, featuring images and foods ranging from wagashi, a Japanese dessert, to mate, an Argentinian herbal tea. Students and language instructors stood by to speak with curious visitors.

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On Wednesday and Thursday, the Stanford Language Center hosted several events to celebrate International Mother Language Day, an annual observance emphasizing language diversity that is recognized by the United Nations.

Language tables clustered around and within the Language Center in the Quad offered glimpses into the cultures behind different world languages, featuring images and foods ranging from wagashi, a Japanese dessert, to mate, an Argentinian herbal tea. Students and language instructors stood by to speak with curious visitors.

Center hosts events celebrating language diversity
This week, the Stanford Language Center hosted events in celebration of International Mother Language Day, an annual observance recognized by the U.N. (ANDREA VILLA FRANCO/The Stanford Daily)

Event organizers intended to promote language-learning opportunities for students in and out of the classroom.

“[Students] are encouraged to take language classes at Stanford, go on [foreign] exchanges and talk to us about any language-driven goals,” said Gabriela Badica, a Ph.D. student in Iberian and Latin cultures as well as a Stanford Spanish instructor who staffed the Spanish language table.

Language programs used the event to spread awareness about their academic offerings.

“[There are] few students, but even for a few students there is the opportunity to learn a very under-taught language,” said Kutay Serova ’20 at the Kazakh language table.

Some Language Day hosts said that their programs face a recurring problem of low enrollment.

“[According to our professor], at other schools it [is] really easy to get people to sign up [for Hindi classes]… and here at Stanford, we are struggling to get enough people,” said Priya Miller ’20, who staffed the Hindi language table.   

Various workshops, ranging from Lithuanian easter egg decorating to a Japanese Ikebana demo, occurred on Wednesday at the Language Center.

One workshop included a musical performance by Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford.

“I think it’s really cool that we were able to represent Mexican culture here,” said Cenobio Hernandez ’18, one of the performers in the Mariachi band.

Another member, Francisco Lopez ’18, underscored the importance of connecting language to culture.

“If you understand the lyrics, it’s another level of appreciation for the music that we are playing,” Lopez said.

Event attendees ranged from Stanford students to curious tourists who were already walking around the Quad. Some students even attended for a language course.

Justin Wilk ’20 said that he initially came to the event with his Spanish class but later decided to stay on so he could go to a German Döner-Kebab workshop.

In addition to the workshops that occurred Wednesday, the Language Center hosted screenings of films from around the world, subtitled in English, on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Although Stanford’s language requirement ensures that around 1,700 students enroll in language classes at any given quarter, there has been a drop in enrollment, according to Elizabeth Bernhardt, Stanford Language Center director.

“We are like all of the humanities,” Bernhardt said. “We have been hit by student interest moving to other corners of the University.”

Still, some students are drawn to language study for the skillset.

“Employers are very interested in employees, no matter what the area is, that have some ability to deal with the rest of the world,” said Bernhardt. “They like foreign language learners because they can really deal with ambiguity in a way that monolingual language students cannot.”

Other students are heritage learners who want to reconnect to their roots, says Eva Prionas, Classics lecturer and coordinator of the Special Language Program, which allows students to study languages that are not offered as Stanford majors or minors. The program offers Native American language classes such as Lakota, Cherokee and Navajo, as well as several other non-mainstream languages.

“I decided to study Quechua as part of my Master’s in Latin American Studies, but part of the reason I applied to [the program] in the first place was because I wanted to explore part of my cultural heritage and also understand the Andean region as a whole,” said David Albán Hidalgo ’17 M.A. ’18, one of the hosts at the Quechua table. Quechua is a native South American language spoken principally in the Andes.

According to history emeritus professor Mark Mancall, who directed Stanford’s Overseas Studies program from 1973 to 1985, “Each language puts together the world differently both from the point of view of grammar and the point of view of categorizing phenomena.”

By studying foreign languages in the right way, Mancall said, “You can move at least a little bit from the mentality of the culture you exist in into the mentality of the culture you are studying.”

Bernhardt echoed Mancall’s sentiments, arguing that, no matter the draw, language study forces people to opens their horizons to the lives of others.

“The ugly American thinks that everyone in the world is going to take our perspective,” Bernhard stated. “[But] language people don’t believe that. They believe that what they are teaching is how to deal with others on their terms.”

 

Contact Andrea Villa Franco at acvilla ‘at’ stanford.edu and Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu

 

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Language and identity in the Holy Land https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/29/language-and-identity-in-the-holy-land/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/29/language-and-identity-in-the-holy-land/#respond Tue, 30 Jan 2018 04:36:48 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1135728 During finals last quarter, as backpacks and bikes stormed Green Library, most students walked straight past the exhibition on the second floor of Green Library and right into the Lane Reading Room. It was finals, after all. But if they did stop and look around, they would have come across a strange script, a combination of […]

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Language and identity in the Holy Land
Courtesy of Stanford University

During finals last quarter, as backpacks and bikes stormed Green Library, most students walked straight past the exhibition on the second floor of Green Library and right into the Lane Reading Room. It was finals, after all. But if they did stop and look around, they would have come across a strange script, a combination of Hebrew and Arabic called “Aravrit” that is attracting a lot of attention. Featured on media outlets such as the BBC and New York Public Radio, one of the Aravrit videos has 1.6 million views, and its designer was even invited to present the project to Israeli President Rivlin.

The new writing system was developed by Israeli designer Liron Lavi Turkenich and is featured as part of Green Library’s current exhibition (until May 14) titled “Facing The World: Type Design in Global Perspective.” Turkenich first developed the script six years ago as her final project for her bachelor’s degree in design.

The project was inspired by street signs in Israel which are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, the three official languages of the country. However, in practice, many Israelis cannot read Arabic and end up ignoring the language and it fades into the background. “My mind was blown when I realized I was ignoring the Arabic,” admits Turkenich, a native of the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Haifa. So she did something about it.

It turns out that in Arabic, readers only need the top half of the word to understand it while in Hebrew readers need only the bottom half. As the exhibition poster shows in the case of the word “water,” Liron used this idea to combine the two languages into a new script which is legible in both languages.

And while it hasn’t made it onto street signs yet, it has entered classrooms. “I showed it to my students,” said Ronny Barda, who has been teaching Arabic in Israel for more than twenty years, “and I think most of the Arabic teachers in Israel showed it to the students.” This is progress, but it should not be overstated. Arabic is not a mandatory subject in Israeli high schools.

So when will we see Aravrit in public spaces? While Turkenich’s hybrid script is innovative and simple, it strikes a sensitive political nerve. According to Stanford history professor Thomas Mullaney, who organized the exhibition, writing and typefaces have always been viscerally political.

Part of the reason it is so political is that writing and print tie into national identity. According to a 2016 Pew poll, language was found to be the most important requisite for national identity in all of the 14 countries that it polled including the U.S.

According to Benedict Anderson, one of the most influential scholars of nationalism, this idea goes back to the advent of the printing press, an innovation which allowed people who would never meet each other to build an imagined community (or nation) through a linguistic connection with others who read their language. Countries and provinces go to great lengths to “protect” their national treasures. Take the French and their fierce linguistic pride, French language laws in Quebec or the Catalonian desire to gain linguistic rights from Spain.

We see “our” language as part of who we are. And this is what makes Aravrit so interesting. While Arabic and Hebrew are sister Semitic languages, both are root-based and have very similar grammar, politically, many see them as completely separate.

These political and national linguistic boundaries are painfully visible in a video by AP in which Palestinians and Israelis were asked what they thought about Aravrit. Ehab Iwidat, a resident of Ramallah, said,” I think it looks nice, but I’m simply against it, it’s kind of shameful to have a real language mixed with a stolen language.” One Israeli from Jerusalem said that it could cause incitement. “People will not respond to this in a good way. It doesn’t look good to the eye.”

Unfortunately for those interviewed, linguistic identity in the Holy Land does not fall into neat national categories. Indeed, Arabic is the mother tongue of Palestinian Arabs from Gaza and the West Bank, but it is also the mother tongue of Arab-Israelis like Bedouins and Druze, who have Israeli citizenship, and of the 850,000 Jews who immigrated from Arab countries.

But how set in stone are group definitions? In recent decades, social psychology has shown that similarity is a state of mind and that we are more flexible in defining shared identities than we give ourselves credit for. In an experiment by Levine and colleagues, Manchester United fans were primed with a questionnaire about team allegiance and then encountered a jogger who had hurt his ankle and needed help. When the jogger wore a Manchester United shirt, 93 percent of participants did something to help, but only 30 percent of participants helped when the person was wearing a Liverpool or an unmarked shirt. This changed when participants were primed with a survey emphasizing their overall love of soccer. While 80 percent still did something to help the Manchester fan, this time 70 percent did something to help the Liverpool fan and only 22 percent helped the unmarked shirt.

Social psychologist Andrew Luttrell sums up the experiment findings in an article: “Our notion of a common bond is flexible. With a slight change in perception, someone that once seemed like an outsider becomes a member of your own group.” Can everyday street signs in Aravrit serve as the same kind of subconscious primer?

Avrarit will not magically solve the conflict. But perhaps when the language of the “other” is uncomfortably mixed with your “own” language to make something beautiful, you will look at it differently. As Turkenich puts it, “Hey! Reality! We are here together. And this is what I also wanted to say beyond the political message, we are here whether you like it or not. We are here together … don’t ignore it.”

 

Contact Anat Peled at anatpel ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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