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Debnil Sur

Debnil Sur

Debnil Sur is a columnist for The Stanford Daily. He is a member of the class of 2017 from Sunnyvale, California, planning on double majoring in Computer Science and Public Policy. Debnil holds opinions about many topics, from Stanford life to state and federal policy, and enjoys discussing, defending and molding those perspectives. He’s also passionate about 49ers football, Chipotle burritos and Steph Curry’s jump shot. Direct fan messages to debnil ‘at’ stanford.edu, and mail insults to P.O. Box 15648, Stanford, CA.

The GOP war with science continues

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Many of the most impactful scientific advancements, including penicillin and Velcro, were side effects of other scientific endeavours. The scientific enterprise carefully vets proposals to determine which projects would most benefit from funding in the short-term. People who have spent their lifetimes in review processes and research allocation are far better suited to make such decisions than Republican politicians who have publicly disavowed science in the past.

Free trade: A site of potential bipartisanship?

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With both foreign policy and the economy turning the corner, President Obama must capitalize upon his sudden strength and use it to broker a deal as soon as possible. With the Republican Senate poised to unveil legislation in coming weeks, the window of opportunity has arrived. International officials from TPP countries have stated that the first six months of 2015 will be critical to finish up talks and hammer out details. Thus, it is imperative to pass domestic legislation sooner, rather than later.

ISIS, Hong Kong, and American Democracy

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Other than sharing headlines for the past couple of weeks, the crisis over ISIS and the Hong Kong protests seem like very disparate situations. However, recently, it was revealed that the protests had been planned in April by Department of State-related interests. Thus, if true, both can be seen as chapters in a very different narrative: the United States’ often-counterproductive efforts to spread democracy across the world.

How the People’s Climate March shows that protest matters

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n an era of massive political gridlock, the People’s Climate March reminded us that citizens can still demonstrate their power. In addition to hundreds of thousands across fifty countries, roughly 300,000 people filled the streets of Manhattan on September 21 to form not only the largest climate protest ever but also the biggest U.S. political demonstration of any kind in over a decade.

A somewhat new idea

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“Wow. What an original idea. Why has nobody thought about this before?” Of late, Daily columns have discussed the importance of politically correct language in daily discourse. The top comment, quoted above, responding to one such article raised an important, albeit sarcastic, point: People have heard those lessons their entire lives. Why would a college…

Dreaming for Others

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We’ve all heard the numbers: 42,167 applications; 2,138 accepted; 5.07 percent admission rate. The Class of 2018 is just the latest group of eager high school students ready to come to Stanford and explore the California sun, Internet wealth and Silicon Valley’s other opportunities. Indeed, in 2013, the Princeton Review reported that in a survey…