This past week, a Daily columnist wrote an article entitled “In Defense of Standards of Excellence.” Her argument in favor of the administrative process that recently unhoused the TDX fraternity (before the decision’s reversal) was well written and, on a superficial level, reasonable. However, the foundation upon which many of her claims lie is a…

TDX never received an ultimatum. There was no final warning, specific crime or particular indication that it was all going wrong. Instead, they got an email: “We have decided to remove Theta Delta Chi from the facility at 675 Lomita Drive beginning academic year 2019-2020.” Theta Delta Chi’s demise, pending an appeal, is a sad…

Last week, in an email sent to all Stanford undergraduates, the Office for the Vice Provost of Student Affairs promised, in its own words, “a new approach” to alcohol policy on campus. In vague terms, the message detailed a supposed epidemic of binge drinking on campus and a series of forthcoming administrative efforts to curtail…

The Office of Community Standards (OCS) at this school is entrusted with a lofty moral mandate: They alone are singularly responsible for ensuring that the Honor Code and Fundamental Standard of the University are upheld by all members of the Stanford community. The office’s task is a thankless one, and one constantly beset by controversy…

The Stanford social scene is dead — or, at the very least, on life support. The case for that claim is obvious enough to anyone with eyes and a few free hours on a weekend night. The case for why it should be kept alive, however, is a different one, and as far as the university…

Last Saturday night, I walked alone down Mayfield Avenue. Most of the windows in the row houses were dark, and, but for a distant car or two, the street was silent. It was eerie, spectral even, and a stark reminder of just how much this campus has changed in my own time here. Ask almost…

The cityscape of San Francisco is an iconic one: a fist of land jutting out into blue water, blanketed with bucolic hills and Victorian homes; iconic bridges guarding its periphery and cultural landmarks lying in the shadows of glass towers, reaching ever higher toward the clouds. But to the west of that postcard image of…