FEATURES/5

TIME AND SPACE TRAVELS

SPORTS/8

Today

Tomorrow

NO DICE

Baylor eliminates Card

Partly Sunny 66 46

Partly Sunny 63 50

T Stanford Daily The

MONDAY April 2, 2012

An Independent Publication
www.stanforddaily.com

Volume 241 Issue 29

Dean Julie to leave in June

Alumna and freshman dean to pursue MFA in writing
By MARGARET RAWSON
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Courtesy of Stanford Athletics

Samantha Sam Wopat, an outside hitter for the Stanford womens volleyball team, died at Stanford Hospital on March 25.

Student-athlete Wopat dies at 19

Memorial service details announced for star sophomore volleyball player
By KRISTIAN DAVIS BAILEY
DESK EDITOR

UNIVERSITY

Samantha Sam Wopat 14, a member of the womens volleyball team, died Sunday, March 25, at Stanford Hospital following a weeklong battle in the intensive care unit. Wopat was hospitalized Saturday, March 17, after attempting suicide in her Suites residence. We are deeply saddened by the passing of Sam Wopat, said Bob Bowlsby, director of Stanford Athletics in a University statement. She was an integral member of the Stanford Athletics family and a tremendous student and athlete. On behalf of our administration, coaches and students I extend my condolences to Sams siblings, parents, relatives and friends. Stanford University and the Womens Volleyball program have lost a wonderful young woman. Wopat is survived by her parents, Ron and Kathy Wopat of Santa Barbara, Calif.; her twin sister, Carly Wopat 14, also on the Stanford womens volleyball team; and two younger brothers, Jackson and Eli. A memorial service for Wopat will be held at 1:30 p.m. in Memorial Church on Wednesday, April 18. As a high school student Wopat played track and field, basketball and volleyball at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, Calif. She was planning to complete a major in English with an emphasis on creative writing, according to an October interview with The Daily. Wopat joined the Stanford womens volleyball team as an outside hitter in 2010, though her athletic success began much earlier. She participated on three U.S. Junior Olympics teams from 2006-08, competed in the World Championships as a member of the U.S. Youth National team and played in the 2010 U.S. Womens Junior National Team. The Charger Account the student newspaper at Wopats high school ran a tribute on March 30.

Quarterback Andrew Luck isnt the only Cardinal powerhouse who wont be returning to the Farm this fall. Julie Lythcott-Haims 89, associate vice provost for undergraduate education and dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising, will step down in June to pursue a master of fine arts in writing, with an emphasis in poetry, from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. This is something that for four years has been my hobby and Ive decided to make it my focus, Lythcott-Haims said of her choice to turn to writing full-time. I got to a point where it felt that not to do it would be to suppress an important part of myself. Lythcott-Haims, known across campus as Dean Julie, has been a part of the Stanford community since her undergraduate years, when she served as a Resident Assistant in Branner and as a senior class president, in addition to participating in a host of other extracurricular activities. After Stanford, she graduated from Harvard Law School and practiced corporate law in Silicon Valley. She joined Stanford in 1998 as associate dean for student affairs at Stanford Law School and became a member of University President John Hennessys senior staff in 2000. In 2002, she took on the role of Stanfords first dean of freshmen. Lythcott-Haims became dean of Undergraduate Advising and Research (UAR) in 2009 and continued her work with freshmen and transfer students. In 2010, she was awarded the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for contributions to undergraduate education.

Courtesty of Julie and Dan Lythcott-Haims

Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Julie Lythcott-Haims 89 will leave Stanford to attend the California College of the Arts in San Francisco to pursue her passion for writing.
Shes been an incredible and iconic figure at Stanford, both in terms of her work with students but also her work with faculty and parents, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam said. Everybody knows Dean Julie and I think thats a tribute to her passion, her commitment to Stanford and her concern about people. According to Elam, the University will begin a national search for a replacement. Discovering her voice as a writer Lythcott-Haims development into a writer was not something she predicted. I got feedback when I was an undergraduate here that my writing needed a lot of work - and they were right, she said. I shrank in the face of that advice. I was ashamed. Now, after discovering poetry, she is coming full circle to embrace an identity as a writer. Until NSO [New Student Orienta-

tion] 2007, I was pretty sure I couldnt stand poetry, Lythcott-Haims said. She connected with the medium for the first time when she read Lucille Cliftons collection of poems, Good Woman, for the annual NSO Three Books panel that fall an event that Lythcott-Haims herself kick-started. It was the first time a set of poems really spoke directly and deeply to me as a human being, she said, recalling how she was moved to hear a white, male freshman share how Cliftons poems spoke to him as well. A few months later, Lythcott-Haims began writing. I was discovering myself, my voice, through poetry, she said. Though she has kept her work largely private, Lythcott-Haims has shared some of her creative endeavors with the public through the Stanford Storytelling Project, the Red Couch Project and Dance Marathon, where she performed her song, Cant Tell You His Name, about a loved ones lost battle with AIDS. Her first formal project, however, will be a work of nonfiction about parenting in America. I intend to write about something I care deeply about, which is the way in which parenting has changed in the last couple of decades and the importance of young people turning into independent, self-actualized adults and the potential consequences to us as a society not to mention to the individual of not doing so, she said. Though she will draw from her role at Stanford and her experience as a parent, this is a national issue that is not special to Stanford, she noted. Lythcott-Haims and her husband,

Please see DEAN, page 2

UNIVERSITY

Class of 2016 admit rate at historic low

By ELLORA ISRANI
SENIOR STAFF WRITER

University accepts 6.6 percent of applicants, on track with peers

Please see WOPAT, page 2

About 6.6 percent of applicants were admitted to Stanford Friday when the Office of Undergraduate Admissions released notification letters via email. The number is the lowest in University history, down from last years 7.1 percent admit rate. The University received a total of 36,631 applications this year, a 6.6-percent jump over last years applicant pool. 755 students received offers of admission in December due to the restrictive early action process. These early action applicants faced a 12.8 admit rate. Stanford extended offers to 1,672 more students on Friday. Another 789 were placed on the wait list. Stanford has been exceedingly fortunate to attract a simply amazing group of applicants from all over the world, said Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Richard Shaw in a press re-

lease. In our review, we were humbled by the exceptional accomplishments of those candidates who have been admitted, as well as the competitive strength of all of the applicants. Nitish Kulkarni, who attends Oakridge International School in Hyderabad, India, was one such lucky admit to the Class of 2016. One of the main reasons that made me choose it is that Stanford wants students coming in to be students, and not semi-professionals like other schools want you to be, Kulkarni wrote in an email to The Daily. I see Stanford as a place where I can just be myself. On Thursday, six Ivy League universities also posted all-time low admission rates: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell. Harvards was the lowest at 5.9 percent, followed by the other Ivies at 6.8, 7.9, 9.4, 12.3, and 16.2 percent, respectively. Brown and Columbia saw slight increases in their admission rates, posting final percentages of 9.6 and 7.4. Princeton and Harvard reintroduced their restrictive early action programs this year after a four-year hiatus. This

gave students the option to receive their decisions early without having to make a binding commitment to enroll. Although the schools each saw an overall drop in applicants, both universities ultimately admitted fewer students than in previous years, anticipating a higher percentage of admitted students to matriculate. These admission changes at peer universities also coincided with a decrease of 18 percent in the number of students who applied to Yale early action. Yale, however, experienced an overall increase in its applicant pool when regular decision applications were taken into account. Last years 7.1 percent admit rate at Stanford reflected a .1-point drop from 2010. In an effort to increase total student capacity and to accommodate 50 additional students, the University expanded classroom and residential facilities and ultimately admitted 96 more individuals. Admitted students have until May 1 to inform the University whether they will be attending. Contact Ellora Israni at ellora@stanford.edu.

NEWS BRIEFS

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Research suggests future of stroke recovery

By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF Researchers at the School of Medicine recently identified two molecules as potentially having a significant impact on future stroke treatment and recovery. Mice that were genetically engineered to lack two immune system molecules or their corresponding cell receptor in the brain were better able to regain advanced motor functions following a stroke. The molecules, K and D, and their cell receptor, PirB, are usually involved in regulating the brains ability to form and eliminate connections between neurons. Researchers found that when performed in excess, the formation and elimination of brain synapses leads to a high risk for conditions such as epilepsy or schizophrenia.

The study, published March 22 in Neuron, showed that mice that were genetically engineered to lack either molecule or PirB, which is the receptor that molecules K and D bind to in order to carry out their function, experienced noticeably better motor performance recovery after the researchers induced strokes, compared to mice with normal levels of K, D and PirB. Concentrations of molecules K and D increased drastically after the induced strokes, according to the results of the study. The mice that were deficient in molecules K and D recovered advanced motor functions, such as traversing a horizontal ladder or spinning on a rod, significantly better than control mice and had smaller stroke-affected areas following the induced stroke. Results of the experiment with mice that lacked the cell receptor PirB mirrored the results for mice lacking molecules K and D.

GDC abandons push to place ASSU Constitution on ballot

By JULIA ENTHOVEN and MARSHALL WATKINS Amidst mounting criticism and concerns, the ASSU Governing Documents Commission (GDC) decided to cease attempts to ratify a proposed new ASSU Constitution this election season. The decision was made shortly after a March 19 Joint Legislative Meeting, in which the Undergraduate Senate and the Graduate Student Council (GSC) did not provide the two-thirds majority in each legislative body required to place the Constitution on the spring ballot. While Senate and GSC representatives expressed mostly favorable impressions of the proposed Constitution, the bill failed to receive enough votes at the Joint Legislative Meeting, mostly reflecting representative absences during finals week rather than sustained objections to the documents provisions. The Senate was three votes short of the requisite for passage, while the GSC was one vote short. Former ASSU executive officials, however, circulated emails in the days leading up to the Joint Legislative meeting, identifying areas that they foresaw as being problematic in the proposed Constitution. In light of the ongoing dispute involving ASSU alumni . . . the ASSU GDC has determined that it is unable to continue pursuing the ratification of the new ASSU Constitution, wrote ASSU President Michael

Please see BRIEFS, page 3

Please see ASSU, page 3

Index Features/5 Opinions/6 Sports/8 Classifieds/15

Recycle Me

2 N Monday, April 2, 2012 UNIVERSITY

The Stanford Daily

New Stanford center opens doors at Peking University

By SANDY HUANG After almost five years of planning, the University opened the Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU) last month. SCPKU, a $7 million project designed to strengthen ties with Peking University (PKU), builds off of a partnership between the two universities dating back to the 1970s, which has included joint academic ventures and a Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) established in 2004. University President John Hennessy, currently on a sabbatical that began Feb. 15, attended the opening ceremony at the new center. At minimum, several hundred faculty and students will make use of the SCPKU, according to Andrew Walder, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, in an email to The Daily. Walder said that over 50 members of the Stanford community have already participated in conferences or other events at the new center in the past two weeks alone. This new education and research hub will welcome 10 of Stanfords programs, including the Asian Liver Center, the Center for Sustainable Development & Global Competitiveness and the Rural Education Action Project (REAP). The seven other departments that will conduct operations at the center are the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), the Stanford China Program, the Graduate School of Business, Stanford Hospital and Clinics, the School of Engineering and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. As far as collaboration is concerned, Stanford does not operate in a top down model we expect collaborations to develop from the bottom up, through individual programs and projects that are directed by researchers and heads of academic programs, Walder said. For example, REAP had previously been collaborating with the China Institute for Educational Finance Research at PKU. Stanfords past collaboration with PKU make it a natural host for the expanded engagement that Stanford envisions, wrote Matthew Boswell, REAP project manager for technology and human capital, in an email to The Daily. The new center is a down payment on this vision, and provides some of the infrastructure that a vibrant academic partnership requires. Kim Meredith, the executive director of PACS, stated that SCPKU gives her research center the opportunity to add an additional Ph.D. or two to our group who would just focus on work in China. We would hope to convene what I would call a China Council or China Advisory Council, she added, and really utilize the individuals who participated with us on the ground floor to help us think about how we continue our work in China over the future years. For Jenna Nicholas 12, who accompanied Meredith on a PACS trip to China, the opening of the SCPKU marked a symbolic turning point in East/West relations where American and Chinese students can work side-byside forging friendships, vision and joint ventures in technology, science and social initiatives. BOSPs physical plant in China may also benefit from the new center. Walder said that the BOSP offices may eventually move away from Peking Universitys aging dormitory complex for overseas students and into the larger facilities at SCPKU. The distance between the foreign student residences and SCPKU is roughly the same as the distance between Tresidder and Maples Pavilion, Walder said. Thats a serious hike, but it has never been seen as a serious barrier to a quality education at Stanford. The architectural firm Mo Atelier Szeto designed the new center, which was named after the father of former Stanford trustee Chien Lee 75. The SCPKU building incorporates three levels courtyard, mezzanine and garden. By using traditional gujian wood, the building was constructed without any nails or glue. Brian Chhor 13, who is spending spring quarter at the Beijing BOSP program, said that exploring SCPKU gave him a sense of normalcy akin to being in the Stanford bubble, commenting that SCPKU is much sleeker than the older PKU academic buildings. Chhor said that the new center features the best amalgamation of Stanford and Chinese culture and that he was particularly impressed by the paintings of Stanford at the four corners of the eaves and overhangs, sort of like a Chinese quad. Its things like this that remind me how lucky and proud I am to be a part of such an amazing institution, Chhor said. So much swag. Contact Sandy Huang at sunhuang@stanford.edu.

DEAN

Continued from front page

Dan, have a son, Sawyer, who is 12, and a daughter Avery, who is 10. Lythcott-Haims departure from Stanford will not be the first significant change of direction in her life. My first transition was to flee something that was making me terribly unhappy and to find something that would bring me joy, she said of her decision to leave the world of corporate law to come to Stanford. Being a university administrator has indeed brought me joy. The difference now is Im not fleeing, Lythcott-Haims said. I love what I do and yet Ive decided that in order to feel fulfilled I need to turn to writing. She said she hopes her decision will inspire others. I hope that my decision to go off into the realm of creative and artistic expression may give some students who are reluctant to make that choice a little bit of confidence that it is a path that people pursue and an incredibly rewarding one. Advising at Stanford Those who spoke with The Daily agreed that LythcottHaims legacy will be her work in transforming undergraduate advising at Stanford. Shes made a real difference, said Elam, noting a survey on which 71 percent of students said they were satisfied with advising. This past fall, Lythcott-Haims presented a report on undergraduate advising to the Faculty Senate and cited similar positive statistics, such as an increase in faculty and staff serving as pre-major advisors. Much of LythcottHaims work has focused on lending credibility and relevance to the advising process for undergraduates, she said. Im really proud of what my team has done in the name of advising, she said, particularly noting the developing Stanford 101 program, a University-wide collaboration to create a curriculum for freshmen with themes of navigation and reflection on their time at Stanford.

One of our ongoing challenges is to help our undergraduates value getting advice from people older than the upperclassman down the hall, but Im sensing were making real inroads there, she added. Students and colleagues reflect She really made me confident to pursue what Im passionate about and what really interests me, even though it wasnt what my peers were doing, said Brittany Rymer 13, who had Lythcott-Haims as her pre-major advisor. Having her as an advisor was really important to build that confidence. Everyone at Stanford whos been lucky enough to come into contact with Julie has met a deeply humane and compassionate person, said English Professor Jennifer Summit. Her message has always been to take risks to bring our best selves to our work and her decision shows that thats a process that never stops. I know its not an easy thing to do to follow a dream and thats what shes doing, Elam said of Lythcott-Haims choice to pursue writing. I think its an exciting time for her. Michael Tubbs 12 described Lythcott-Haims as a fixture of the freshman experience and referenced what many students will remember most vividly: her leading students in shouting their class years at big campus events. I expect that Stanford students will be shouting their class numerals into the next century and beyond, Ill just miss getting to be a part of it, Lythcott-Haims said of the tradition, adding that she will be back in two years to shout hers at her 25th reunion. A longtime fan, LythcottHaims noted that she has renewed her season tickets for Stanford football. For the first time in awhile, however, she wont be cheering with students in the Red Zone. Stanford is not an institution in my life. Stanford is like a human being to me that I cherish like a mentor or like a good friend, Lythcott-Haims reflected. There is nothing I wont miss. Contact Margaret Rawson at marawson@stanford.edu.

WOPAT

Continued from front page

Sam Wopat is forever in our hearts and memories, the tribute said. She will be missed dearly and will always be remembered for her exquisite smile and love of laughter. The article also mentioned that the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club created a fund in Wopats honor. Campus response and resources Campus-wide responses to Wopats hospitalization began in the days following her attempted suicide. On March 19, Resident Assistants (RAs) and other Suites residents sent emails announcing a vigil for Wopat. Saturday was a hard night for many members of our community, wrote one RA. If you would like to send love/support for those involved, take a trip to Maples

Pavilion. At the entrance is a tree from which we are hanging messages, notes, drawings, etc. Materials should be in a brown bag near the tree. Associate Dean for Residential Education Nate Boswell and Senior Associate Dean for Religious Life Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann emailed the Suites community on March 30 echoing the sentiments of the student messages. It is always an incredibly difficult thing when a member of our community passes on and we would like to create a space for Suites residents to process together and gather as a community, the email read. In an April 2 op-ed in The Daily, Vice Provost Greg Boardman encouraged students to utilize campus resources, including Residential Education staff, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), the Office of Religious Life and the Bridge Peer Counseling Center. Contact Kristian Davis Bailey at kbailey@stanford.edu.

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 3

Documents, in particular, that are in need of change. They listed the current Constitutions lack of distinct boundary between ASSU entities, underrepresentation of co-terminal and transfer students and violation of federal law as primary concerns. At 32 pages, less than half the current documents length, the proposed Constitution includes significant changes, such as the consolidation of Executive, GSC and Senate bylaws and authority. It also adjusts the standard of proof that students are subject to in the case of disciplinary proceedings, to align the standard with federal law. According to Kindel, other suggestions, such as a reduction in the number of Senators from 15 to nine, were discarded due to feedback before voting. There was also discussion about reserving Senate School these past eight years, Kramer said to The Stanford Report. I had the privilege to work with amazingly talented faculty, staff and students to support their innovative scholarship and work and be part of what I believe is easily the worlds best university. It has been an exciting time of great change and equally great challenges, but the law school has a strong, positive trajectory, and I cant wait to see the direction it takes under future leadership. Kramer oversaw the Law Schools recent curriculum reform, which took five years and emphasized more team-oriented problem-solving techniques. The physical campus of the Law School was also expanded and improved under Kramer. Larry Kramer transformed the Stanford Law School, both physically and programmatically, said Acting President and Provost John Etchemendy to The Stanford Report. He pioneered a new vision of legal education and then oversaw the creation of a physical plant capable of supporting the new program. His vision has benefited not only law students but the university at large, by integrating the law school with the rest of the university. Larry is a national leader in legal academia and a university leader at Stanford. His impact has been tremendous and he will be missed.
Billy Gallagher

ASSU

Continued from front page

Cruz 12 and Parliamentarian Alex Kindel 14, GDC co-chairs, in an email to student government representatives. We do not believe that to do so would be in the best interests of the current Association. Irreconcilably out of date Cruz and Kindel called the existing Constitution, which has not been updated since the 1970s, irreconcilably out of date. They added that reform is necessary to ensure the long-term efficacy and sustainability of the ASSU as the representative body of Stanford students and identified 15 flaws with the existing Governing

This is the most important document to the ASSU and arguably the most important document for the student body.
DAVID GOBAUD, former ASSU President
seats for upperclassmen; removing the requirement that ASSU legislation must exclusively address issues that uniquely and directly affect Stanford students; and establishing looser criteria for closing ASSU meetings to the public. Alumni criticism The Constitution and its review process received extensive criticism from ASSU alumni. Five former ASSU executive officials wrote an email to ASSU and GSC member lists on March 12 expressing concerns with the proposed Constitution. In particular, they identified a requirement that special fees groups petition twice for ballot placement each year and the removal of a Rights of the Accused section of the current Constitution as the two most salient issues. Although they agreed that the current Constitution could use improvement, these alumni called for a delay of at least one quarter in the documents ballot submission to allow more thorough public review. We are confident that additional problems of such magnitude exist in the current draft and have yet to be identified, the former executives wrote. The concerns of the five former executives were echoed and further expanded in a March 19 email co-signed by 34 ASSU alumni. The letter outlined 32 additional concerns with the Constitution and similarly disapproved of the review periods brevity. Everyone had good intentions and saw all of the good things that it was doing, former ASSU President David Gobaud 10, who endorsed both letters, said. But [they] didnt understand the magnitude and the consequences of what they were doing, both intended and unintended. One of the principle objections of the five former ASSU officials and the 34 signatories concerned the deletion of the Rights of the Accused from the new Constitution. The Rights of the Accused section has been completely removed and replaced with a couple watered down bullet points, wrote Kamil Dada 11 M.A. 12, a GSC member and former Daily editor in chief, in an email to the Senate and the GSC. Cruz and Kindel noted, however, that the current Rights of the Accused are not in accordance with federal law and must be revised. If we keep [the Rights of the Accused] in for Fundamental Standard violations, we violate the Dear Colleague Letter of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Cruz said at a March 13 Senate meeting. If Stanford does not abide by the Office for Civil Rights, it is put in jeopardy of violating Title IX, which means that it is no longer eligible for federal funding. Cruz and Kindel also said a Rights of the Accused clause is redundant in the ASSU Constitution because such protections are included in the Universitys judicial charter. ASSU Vice President Stewart MacGregor-Dennis 13, however, agreed with alumni and former officials that retaining the provision in the central Constitution might provide extra protection. [While] the Rights to the Accused might be represented in the judicial charter as well, I think it might still make sense to keep it in the Constitution because that is the ultimate constraint, he said. Hurried process The hurried discussion and compromise surrounding the judicial protections clause reflected a more general sense of urgency as the ASSU rushed to complete the document in time for spring elec-

BRIEFS

Continued from front page

The current treatment for strokes, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), is only effective if administered within hours of a stroke and only acts to limit the damage of the stroke. tPA is also not capable of restoring or replacing the lost connections in the brain caused by the stroke. The National Institutes of Health, the Mathers Charitable Foundation, the Ellison Foundation and the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship funded the study.
Alice Phillips

Law School Dean Larry Kramer to leave for Hewlett Foundation

By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF Larry Kramer, dean of Stanford Law School since 2004, announced Wednesday that he will leave Stanford in August to serve as president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It has been an incredible honor to work at Stanford Law

tions and the end of its members terms. To be placed on the spring ballot, the document required two-thirds approval from both legislative bodies by March 21, 21 days before the election. The short time period that the Constitution, released Feb. 26, was available for public review was a principle criticism of the GDCs effort. The document, which Cruz consistently emphasized to be a working draft, continued to undergo editing until the morning of a March 14 Joint Legislative Meeting. This did not give anyone sufficient time to read through the document and note the ramifications of the changes, Dada wrote in an email to The Daily. Cruz countered that all members of the community, including some of the alumni who signed the criticizing letter, had been invited to give feedback throughout the GDCs yearlong investigation. I think from the charter of the GDC in the spring of 2011 until the voting to place it on the ballot not to confirm the Constitution, but to place it on the ballot . . . that that year of process was a long enough period of public input, Cruz said. The battle over the ASSU Governing Documents continues to be a clash between those eager for urgent reform and those wary of unintended consequences. Dada emphasized that his concern stems from the importance of the Constitution which must also be approved by the Stanford Board of Trustees following the student body vote in maintaining student and ASSU independence. This is the most important document to the ASSU and arguably the most important document for the student body, Gobaud concurred, It deserves due process. Cruz agreed, standing by his personal sentiment that reform of the governing documents is necessary for student welfare. The structure of the ASSU does matter to every single Stanford student, even if they dont see exactly how it [does], he said. This is important work that I hope is carried into the future. But as an outgoing ASSU President, I believe that it is no longer my place to advocate on these points. Contact Julia Enthoven at jjejje@stanford.edu and Marshall Watkins at mtwatkins@stanford. edu.

4 N Monday, April 2, 2012

The Stanford Daily

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 5

FEATURES

Mapping space and

time

Stanfords Spatial History Lab digitally navigates history through spatial and temporal analysis

SERENITY NGUYEN/ The Stanford Daily

By JUSTINE ZHANG

he Spatial History Lab, located on the top floor of Wallenberg Hall, resembles the office of a thriving new start-up. The brightly lit space is filled with computers and whiteboards, the walls are lined with maps and infographics, and a water cooler sits somewhere in the corner. Studying history, it seems, is no longer a matter of poring over books in a library, but a matter of exploring the past and present dynamically. The idea behind it is that history takes place in space, as well as time, so historians study change over time, but the changes that take place across space are just as important, said History Prof. Jon Christensen 81 M.A. 06 Ph.D. 12, a principal investigator of multiple projects in the lab. Christensen, along with fellow history professors Richard White and Zephyr Frank, founded the lab in 2007 with a grant given to White by the Mellon Foundation. Since its inception, the lab has branched out into several research project topics spanning from ecological history in the Bay Area to Chinese-Canadian immigration. The spatial aspect of the research, however, has remained consistent. The groups output includes research papers as well as animated displays of data and trends throughout time and space, which are posted on the groups website. According to Frank, the labs current director, creating a dynamic visualization of a historical event allows a researcher to glean new perspectives. Visualization leads us to be explicit about spatial dimensions in historical arguments, instead of assuming space is an empty container and human activity is autonomous to spatial constraints, he said. For instance, a group of researchers developed a visualization of a yellow fever outbreak in Rio de Janeiro in 1850. The visual overlays a map of the region with discrete points showing individual incidences of yellow fever and continuous colored regions indicating hot spots of the epidemic. The display is then animated through the months that the epidemic occurred, allowing a viewer to see how the disease moved across the city through space and time. [Conventional] literature tends to refer to epidemics as a unified whole, Frank said. An epidemic is usually referred to very generally by city and by year. This approach overlooks the individual experience or, as Frank termed it, what one person in Rio is thinking about right now, yesterday or last week. The visualization revealed the surprising trend that the disease migrated unpredictably instead of spreading outward from a point of origin, appearing in different locations in a seemingly random fashion. According to Frank, the visualization thus allows a

modern observer to experience the human side of the event the increased sense of fear brought on by the idea that the disease spread to new places randomly and without warning. To affiliated researchers, the visual aspect of the lab allows for new trends and insights to be extracted from old information. Mapping data spatially enables us to tease apart relationships that would not otherwise be apparent were the data stuck in spreadsheet form, said Jenny Rempel 12 in an email to The Daily.

Spatial analysis lets us visualize otherwise static and cumbersome data in a more dynamic and understandable fasion.
JENNY REMPEL, senior
Rempel, an earth systems major and Daily columnist, has been working with Christensen to study the interactions between natural and urban areas in cities. She said that the spatial tools she has used have been crucial to understanding these correlations. Spatial analysis lets us visualize otherwise static and cumbersome data in a more dynamic and understandable fashion, and, in the process, it makes this data accessible to a much wider audience, Rempel said. Along with representing data visually, the lab is also concerned with extracting existing data. Often information exists in forms that are dense in data but difficult to understand easily for example, as points on a map or scattered references in an historical text. Cameron Blevins, a third-year graduate student specializing in American history, is working on a study of 19thcentury Texas newspapers to reconstruct how the periods

newspapers presented geographic conceptions of the world to their readers. His research involves mining unstructured texts to extract place names. In an age of big data, scholars from history to literature are facing a deluge of information and sources to analyze, Blevins said in an email to The Daily. The problem is not necessarily going to be a problem of scarcity, but one of abundance. In this respect, the Spatial History Lab is as much a technological study as it is an historical one. To compile and parse historical data, the lab uses a program that can pick up cues such as geographical references in historical literature so that they can be recognized by a computer. To this end, the lab enlists people from a variety of disciplines. While the areas of study may interest students majoring in history or urban studies, the data-processing angle has attracted engineering and computer science students, as well. This project has opened their minds to creative possibilities in the humanities, Christensen said. If human beings are an important part of the human-computer interaction, one must understand the human side of the equation, and thats what the humanities are about. The interdisciplinary nature of the lab is one reason why it has grown to become a highly collaborative research facility. The degree of complexity and the technical knowledge thats required in a project generally exceeds any one persons capacity, Frank said. The collaborative atmosphere is highly appealing to student researchers such as Blevins. It offers a think-tank workspace in which people can bounce ideas off of one another, draw on each other for expertise and be exposed to other projects and topics, Frank said. Frank said he envisions increased collaboration with other departments as the project expands. This year, the project began making formal connections with other digital humanities projects such as the Stanford Literary Lab. In fact, a name change for the lab is pending because these two ventures are planning to merge together. As the lab expands, it continues to attract a wide variety of faculty members and student research assistants. [The lab was] one of the main reasons why I applied to Stanford as it was a truly unique resource that no other program in the country could match, Blevins said. For its founding members, the continued appeal of the labs innovative approach has not gone unnoticed. Its fun and interesting and creative, Christensen said of the lab. Its exciting to work in new ways using computer technologies and techniques to do new kinds of research. Contact Justine Zhang at justinez@stanford.edu.

6 N Monday, April 2, 2012

OPINIONS
E DITORIAL

The Stanford Daily

Reflecting on Dean Julies departure

Established 1892 Board of Directors Margaret Rawson President and Editor in Chief Anna Schuessler Chief Operating Officer Sam Svoboda Vice President of Advertising Theodore L. Glasser Michael Londgren Robert Michitarian Nate Adams Tenzin Seldon Rich Jaroslovsky

AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Managing Editors Brendan OByrne Deputy Editor Kurt Chirbas & Billy Gallagher Managing Editors of News Jack Blanchat Managing Editor of Sports Marwa Farag Managing Editor of Features Sasha Arijanto Managing Editor of Intermission Mehmet Inonu Managing Editor of Photography Amanda Ach Columns Editor Willa Brock Head Copy Editor Serenity Nguyen Head Graphics Editor Alex Alifimoff Web and Multimedia Editor Nate Adams Multimedia Director MollyVorwerck & Zach Zimmerman Staff Development

The Stanford Daily

Incorporated 1973 Tonights Desk Editors Alice Phillips News Editor Molly Vorwerck Features Editor Joey Beyda Sports Editor Madeline Sides Photo Editor Shane Savitsky Copy Editor

s announced over break, Julie Lythcott-Haims 89, associate vice provost for undergraduate education and dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising, will step down from her role at Stanford at the end of spring quarter to pursue a graduate degree in writing. Lythcott-Haims, known to many as Dean Julie, has had a tremendous impact at Stanford since joining the administration in 1998, and we at the Editorial Board would like to reflect on her time at Stanford. Dean Julie first came to the University as an undergraduate majoring in American Studies. She lived in Branner as a freshman, and she was also an RA there during her junior and senior years. After graduating in 1989, she attended Harvard Law School and briefly worked in corporate law before returning to Stanford in 1998 as the associate dean of student affairs in the Law School. Two years later she became a member of President Hennessys senior staff, and in 2002 she became Stanfords first dean of freshman. When the Freshman Deans Office merged with Undergraduate Advising and Research (UAR) in 2009, Dean Julie became the head of the undergraduate advising system at Stanford. So although among students she is perhaps most known for her class role-calls at campus events, her inspiring school-spirit at football games or repping Stanford on her Twitter account, Dean Julie has had a significant impact on broadening the role of premajor advising and expanding undergraduate access to resources to conduct their own research. One significant change is that undeclared students are now required to meet with their premajor advisor once per quarter before enrolling in classes. At a minimum, this provides a needed opportunity for underclassmen to reflect on what they have done, what they want to do and where they are headed. In addition, Dean Julie has spearheaded an 18-month effort to plan the Reflection Seminars, currently a pilot program that aims to provide even more introspection for freshmen. We ap-

plaud both directives, as many freshmen choose to narrow their academic experiences at a time when the faculty and administration want them to explore the most. We hope that Dean Julies successor can maintain enthusiasm for these initiatives while critically examining other areas of Stanford life for underclassmen. With that in mind, Dean Julies energy and school-spirit may never be matched.While the University searches for her replacement, we believe that the search team should prioritize candidates who are undergraduate alumni of the university. Not only should the candidate bleed Cardinal red, but he or she should be someone who, by the nature of having attended Stanford, has an instant connection with each incoming class of freshmen. Dean Julie was able to transcend the role of an administrator she was one of us. When referring in an interview to the Stanford band playing at Admit Weekend, she said: youre not in Cambridge, youre not in New Haven, youre not in Princeton, youre in Palo Alto, and we do things differently here. Dean Julie knew what made Stanford unique, and her successor should as well. It is safe to say that Dean Julie positively impacted thousands of students, and her presence on campus will be sorely missed. Despite her considerable administrative duties, she also managed to personally connect with many individual students, writing words of encouragement on their Facebook walls, reading graduate school personal statements and meeting personally with disillusioned students. One of our fondest memories was the 2009 Big Game, when Stanford was staging a comeback late in the fourth quarter. Dean Julie, in the first row of the Red Zone, turned around and started shouting Do you believe? This was followed by hundreds of students yelling back We believe! Although Stanford eventually lost the game, Dean Julies fighting spirit left a profound impression. We are confident that she will take this enthusiasm to her writing endeavors, and we cant wait to see what she will accomplish.

Contacting The Daily: Section editors can be reached at (650) 721-5815 from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. The Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5803, and the Classified Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5801 during normal business hours. Send letters to the editor to eic@stanforddaily.com, op-eds to editorial@stanforddaily.com and photos or videos to multimedia@stanforddaily.com. Op-eds are capped at 700 words and letters are capped at 500 words.

THE YOUNG ADULT SECTION

The invisible why B

y the end of 12th grade, I had achieved the good life a preview version of what I thought I wanted for the rest of my life. My name and face was broadcast to the student body twice weekly; I had an impressive resume; I had a solid group of hilarious friends, and options in the romance arena; I was seen as super nice because I distributed baked goods, mix CDs and carpool rides; I was labeled a good person because I led so much community service. I was enjoying the perfect balance of high achievement alongside magnanimous reputation; I was comfortable, ambitious and really happy. I

was decent, while hoping to change the world in my name. Thankfully, that kind of life aspiration was and is completely socially condoned. Pride in self may not be, but as long as I never consciously addressed my own selfishness, and others around me believed I was good, I was safe. So when my Stanford career began, everything I said and did was driven by my hearts ultimate intention: the ideal life I tasted that senior year. But today, the beginning of my last quarter here begins, commencement beckons and much of what I used to want from college and beyond seems like someone

Nina Chung
elses dream. Somehow, my existence at this school and my picture of the future seems . . . different. For a while, though, I couldnt figure out why. After all, the Work bookmark group in my browser is filled with listings I would have tagged four years ago, too; I find myself looking into the same general post-college plans I would have picked out during freshman year. Plus, I

Please see CHUNG, page 7

Unsigned editorials in the space above represent the views of the editorial board of The Stanford Daily and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Daily staff. The editorial board consists of five Stanford students led by a chairman and uninvolved in other sections of the paper. Any signed columns in the editorial space represent the views of their authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire editorial board. To contact the editorial board chair, e-mail editorial@stanforddaily.com. To submit an oped, limited to 700 words, e-mail opinions@stanforddaily.com. To submit a letter to the editor, limited to 500 words, e-mail eic@stanforddaily.com. All are published at the discretion of the editor.

I DO CHOOSE TO RUN

O P-E D

The tyranny of homogeneity A

lexis de Tocqueville, worried about the undue power American democracy granted to the people, famously warned about the tyranny of the majority. There is now a new despotism, equally dangerous. It is a tyranny of the individual over himself as damaging to social utility as it is to personal intellectual growth. In his recent New Yorker essay Groupthink, Jonah Lehrer examines the efficacy of brainstorming most specifically, its key strategic rule that brainstormers refrain from criticizing each others ideas during the thoughtgeneration process. He finds that while hundreds of businesses, think tanks and schools continue to employ brainstorming as a strategy for finding solutions to tough problems, theres just one problem: It doesnt work. In fact, explains Lehrer, countless studies have shown that banning criticism during brainstorming sessions lowers the number, quality and efficacy of the groups final decisions. Groups that encourage criticism of faulty ideas regularly outperform groups where a friendly but false consensus prevails. But technology particularly the Internet tends to generate precisely this type of dangerous consensus among the like-minded. Legal scholar Cass Sunstein has warned in his book Republic.com 2.0 that new forms of social media have allowed individuals to control what they read, see and hear to an unprecedented degree. Since we prefer to consume things we know and like, argues Sunstein, this has fragmented and polarized the delivery of previously nonpartisan content to consumers of new media. Thus liberals can watch Rachel Maddow every night without ever reading Charles Krauthammer, while conservatives can obsessively replay YouTube clips of Newt Gingrich pontificating about food stamps without ever taking a serious look at Paul Krugman. The results are echo chambers and information cocoons where sheltered citizens successfully avoid dealing with opinions they dont want to hear. Social networking contributes to the problem. Our friends, on the whole, tend to share our ideological and political outlook on the world, and Facebook has now enabled us to take that comforting consensus online (thus the domination of my news feed by links to the Huffington Post and The New York Times and the general absence of links to the National Review and the Weekly Standard). Surrounding ourselves with circles of the pleasantly like-minded, argues Sunstein, can be comfortable. But it comes at the cost of increasing partisan polarization and the calcification of existing ideological prejudices. This is all, of course, little more than statistical confirmation of what British philosopher John Stuart Mill recognized nearly one hundred and fifty years ago in his 1869 work On Liberty that disagreement and discord tend to maximize social utility, while con-

On the passing of Sam Wopat 14

Dear Stanford students:

Miles Unterreiner

s many of you may already know, the university tragically lost a member of the sophomore class and of the womens volleyball team on March 25, just as many of you were ending finals and beginning spring break. Samantha Sam Wopat died at Stanford Hospital, where she had been hospitalized since Saturday, March 17. A memorial service for the Stanford community has been scheduled for Memorial Church on Wednesday, April 18, at 1:30 p.m. The death of a student is one that profoundly affects all of us. It touches the entire university community. It is human nature to seek explanations and closure, especially when faced with the issue of death; however, it is not always possible to have the certainty we seek. It is unlikely that the university will release further information out of respect for the wishes of the Wopat family. I hope that, like the university, each of you will continue to recognize and respect the

familys need for privacy. We hope you will keep them in your thoughts during this difficult time. The university continues to provide support for Sams teammates and friends. It is always incredibly heartbreaking when a member of our community passes away. So I would like to remind you of the campus resources that are available to Stanford students. They include: Residential Education: resident assistants, resident fellows, residence deans Counseling and Psychological Services Office of Religious Life The Bridge Peer Counseling Center We hope you will seek help from those resources if you need to in order to process the thoughts and feelings that may emerge in the aftermath of Sams passing. Sincerely,
GREG BOARDMAN Vice Provost for Student Affairs

formity, forged by legal or social pressure, tends to minimize it. First of all, notes Mill, never taking intellectual opposition seriously undermines our ability to see where we may be wrong and to change our opinions accordingly. Society and the individual both lose out when errors go unchallenged. Equally importantly, conformity limits our ability to more keenly discern why, when and how we are right. Without the blessing of a loyal opposition, we can start to take the correctness of our opinions for granted, without fully appreciating the underlying premises or reasons for that correctness. The luxury of consensus thus begets intellectual complacency. While Stanford is in some ways a beautifully diverse place, inhabited by people from nearly all backgrounds and cultures, I think that it can also be ideologically homogeneous to a degree that Sunstein, Lehrer and Mill would find damaging. I dont buy Rick Santorums assertion that college is a liberal conspiracy to indoctrinate young people; every political science and ethics professor with whom Ive taken classes has done his or her

Please see UNTERREINER, page 7

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 7

CHUNG

Continued from page 6

look the same, my hobbies havent changed much and casual, four-year-old acquaintances say Im still recognizably me. The trajectory of my time here seems to have run along with general logic and predictability. What changed, then? Why does that girl four years ago feel like a stranger Id probably be interested to meet? This question has been the backdrop for the numerous jobrelated chats Ive been having recently with friends and various other income-earning human beings in the world. I initially started contacting these people to learn what their work was like and if I would like it: publishing, freelance writing, consulting, graduate study, urban nonprofits. But what I found myself learning most was how little their job title told me relative to their purposes behind it. Why are you doing what you do? is the question that has uncovered the most. I honestly didnt expect a graduate course professor to ask me if what I wanted from grad school was an entrance to a fascinating subject, or just an escape from the job search. I didnt expect my music major friend to tell me she had loved performing ever since seeing the joy it gave her grandparents during their most painful days. I didnt expect my own father to explain how he was leaving consulting to start a new investment firm in order to have deeper relationships with the

people with whom he was working. Why didnt I expect these answers? Its because I forget that theres a heart inside every story the part of the story I actually love the most. Behind every word, action and interaction there is intention, and I think that intention is born ultimately in our hearts. Of course, not everyone is thinking about their heart and what it seeks most, or about whether its necessary to understand how their heart plays into their version of the good life. Our deepest life objective is an invisible thing, with little territory in daily conversations. It is quiet and completely unannounced, even if it guides everything any of us will ever do . . . which I believe it does. Sometime in the first century, a guy named Matthew wrote a revolutionary statement: where our treasures are, our hearts are also. And I agree. He suggested that what people desire most from life goes beyond rationale or intellect and right to the core of who we are. He suggested that what we treasure is the giveaway of our heart, which defines us. Well, no wonder my life is different. Somewhere between four years ago and now, what I want from life and what I want to want completely changed. And it wasnt a mere head decision. In the end, this is just a school column written by a random 21year old girl. Yet I hope it means something, if it comes straight from my heart. Curious? Questions? Complaints? Email Nina at ninamc@stanford. edu. Happy April, Stanford!

UNTERREINER
Continued from page 6
best to encourage real debate, and to present both sides of controversial political issues. But the student responses to such intellectual exercises tend to be one-sided, or at best prefaced by I dont actually believe this, but . . . There are generally lots of people willing to argue for more limits on corporations and more spending on the social safety net, but few willing to advance a principled case against regulation or mount a spirited defense of the free market. The fact that I agree with most of it makes matters worse; I much prefer a nuanced

refutation of my own beliefs to endless variations on them. Transcending this reflexive conformity requires a deliberate effort to continuously engage with arguments we find wrong and even absurd. Here at Stanford, it might require a daily dose of David Brooks or George Will, some Hayek or Friedman alongside Rawls and Marx a spoonful of distasteful medicine forced down the throat to cure the ailment of ideological homogeneity. It might rankle at first. But in the end, both the individual and society as a whole benefit from a real engagement with thoughtful opposition. Agree or, even better, disagree with Miles anytime at milesu1@stanford.edu.

8 N Monday, April 2, 2012

SPORTS
BEARS TOPPLE CARD
NNEKAS 22 NOT ENOUGH IN SEMIS
By TOM TAYLOR
SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Stanford Daily

Jacob

Jaffe
Stat on the Back

Five straight Aprils, five straight heartbreaks. Last night, the No. 1 Baylor womens basketball team defeated No. 2 Stanford 59-47 in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in Denver. It was the fifth straight time the Cardinal (35-2) had made the trip to the Final Four and its fifth straight loss in the last two rounds. In the previous four seasons it was knocked out of the tournament by the eventual national champion, and many expect the undefeated Lady Bears (39-0) to repeat that success. If it wins the final, Baylor will also make history by becoming the first team to win 40 games in a season. Obviously, no one feels good after a loss, especially if its in the Final Four, senior forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike said after losing her last collegiate game.But I just kind of look back and reflect on what it took for us to get here, and I would have rather gone down with my team than up with any other team. Having not played against the Bears since 2008, a year before Associated Press National Player of the Year Brittney Griner started her collegiate career, both teams were unknown to one another.Trying to crack the puzzle of how to deal with the 6-foot-8 junior center, Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer set her team up with the radical strategy of playing five on four; leaving the Bears junior guard Jordan Madden (who had a shooting percentage in the tournament of just 26.3) free to take her shot and using the spare player to double-team Griner. The tactic seemed to work. Griner had a relatively quiet game, going without scoring for a full 15 minutes spanning halftime and ending with 13 points, eight rebounds and just two blocks. In comparison, Nneka Ogwumike scored 22 points to set a new single-season

NHAT V. MEYER/MCT

Stanford senior forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike put up 22 points in her final career game to set a school record for scoring in a season, but Stanford was still eliminated in the Final Four.
record for a Cardinal player with 807 points over a single year, and also grabbed nine boards. Beyond Griners abilities to block shots, rebound, shoot and even dunk, the real effect that she has on other teams is that her presence changes the way they play basketball. Stanford had shot 42.1 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from beyond the arc in the tournament up to Sundays semifinal; against Baylor it shot just 33.3 percent and 11.8 percent from downtown. Both Nneka Ogwumike and her sister, sophomore forward Chiney, got into foul trouble in the second half, and when the latter fouled out with 7:39 remaining in the game, the Cardinal had trouble recovering. The Card also committed 17 fouls to Baylors nine, sending the Bears to the charity stripe 26 times. In the first half Stanford refused to let the Lady Bears open up a gap and responded to an early four-point deficit to tie and then lead the

Please see WBBALL, page 9

BASEBALL

Stanford slips, drops four of five

By JOSEPH BEYDA
DESK EDITOR

The last week has been anything but a break for the No. 3 Stanford baseball team, which played seven games in eight days to open its conference season.And while a pair of victories against No. 29 USC in a doubleheader got that busy stretch off to a promising start, spring break quickly turned into a humbling experience for the Cardinal (16-6, 2-4 Pac-12), whose

sloppy play cost it four Pac-12 games in a row and its first series loss of the season. No. 15 Arizona ranked as highly as eighth in some polls before the weekend may have been picked to finish second in the Pac-12 behind Stanford, but it got a quick series win in Tucson, edging the Cardinal on Friday and Saturday before securing the sweep Sunday with its second straight complete-game performance on the mound. Stanfords play over the last several contests

seems hardly characteristic of the squad, which jumped out to a 13-2 record before its conference opener thanks to consistent defense and excellent hitting from everyone in the lineup. The Cardinal committed just 15 errors in its first 17 contests but has tacked on 14 more in the last five games alone. Meanwhile, its 1-2-3 batters have combined for just 10 hits over the same stretch.

or several years, there has really been no comparison between Stanford mens basketball and womens basketball. While the men have struggled to get over .500, the women have been blowing out their opposition left and right. The men havent been able to sniff NCAA tournament contention, whereas the women are locks to be national title contenders year after year. This year, that reality has not changed one bit. In a weak Pac-12, the Stanford men still managed to finish in the bottom half of the conference, and the team has been on such a downward trend that an NIT berth was seen as quite an achievement. On the other hand, the women continued their destruction of the Pac-12 by running their winning streak over conference foes to 78 games and had an overall winning streak of 32 games this year. However, sometimes perception plays an even bigger role than reality, and for the first time in recent memory, the perception is much more favorable to the Stanford men than the women. Stanford womens basketball has gone to the Final Four each of the last five years, which is one of the most impressive streaks in the sports history. But after falling to No. 1 Baylor last night, the Cardinal has yet again failed to secure the elusive national title. For the seniors, particularly AllAmerican Nnemkadi Ogwumike, last night marks the end of four unsatisfying trips to the Final Four. At some point, the national view of Stanford womens basketball has become similar to that of Andy Murray in mens tennis an immaculate record and total domination of lesser foes, but just not enough against the top-quality competition to win the big one. For a team with such an impressive resume and the amount of talent that Stanford has, almost no one in the media gave Stanford a shot to win the national championship, which says something about the effect of all these Final Four defeats. Im not suggesting that the team has stopped believing it can win, but you have to wonder if doubts start creeping in when Stanford falls behind by eight or 10 points deep in the postseason. Doubts about whether the team can indeed close the deal can also be detrimental to recruiting. Stanford

Men are a trendier team

Please see BASEBALL, page 10

Please see JAFFE, page 9

CARD CAPTURES NIT CROWN

By MIKE SCHWARTZ and ANDERS MIKKELSEN After finishing seventh in the Pac-12 during the regular season, Stanford found itself in the postseason for the first time since 2009, competing in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The Cardinal would end up cruising through the bracket and securing the second NIT title in school history, finishing a once-disappointing season with an impressive 26-11 record. This season has been a little bit of a roller coaster ride for us, said head coach Johnny Dawkins. We started off so strong, battled through some adversity in the middle and then we ended as strong as we ever could have imagined. As the No. 3 seed in its region, Stanford faced No. 6 Cleveland State in the opening round. The Cardinal took an early lead, but the Vikings mounted a furious comeback, cutting the Stanford advantage to just one at the half. After the break, an early three by Cleveland State gave the Vikings their first lead of the game at 33-31. Forward Anthony Brown then scored six unanswered points as the Cardinal retook control of the game. Stanford pushed the lead as high as 20 points with three minutes remaining, ultimately winning 76-65. Brown led the Cardinal, as the sophomore complemented his 15 points with a careerhigh 12 rebounds in one of his greatest games at the Farm. Sophomore guard Aaron Bright also had the first of his many brilliant tournament performances with a game-high 17 points. In the second round, Stanford found itself pitted against No. 7 Illinois State, which was coming off a stunning overtime upset of No. 2

RICH SCHULTS/Stanford Athletics

Please see MBBALL, page 13

Sophomore guard Aaron Bright averaged 16.8 points per game in the NIT, never scoring below double figures, and was named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player after Stanford dominated Minnesota 75-51 in the final at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 9

where Stanford has struggled (see: losses to Butler and Utah). In the past few weeks, though, the Stanford men did anything but struggle. The Cardinal played inspired basketball, getting impressive contributions from a variety of players while gaining momentum with each game. The way Stanford played on both ends of the floor by the end of the tournament brought back memories of the good old days of Mike Montgomery and yearly trips to the Big Dance. It was easily the best Stanford has looked in Johnny Dawkins four-year tenure, and it brought back something that has been missing for all four of those years: hope. For once, Stanford mens basketball is trending upward, and with a strong crop of recruits ready to join the Cardinals solid core of underclassmen, the future looks bright. Of course, if youre placing early bets on the 2012-13 season, youd still be smart to predict the Stanford women to advance deep into the NCAAs, and youd be foolish to expect the men to do the same. But for the first time in a long time, the buzz surrounding the mens team has at least equaled that of the womens team. And considering that womens team just made the national semifinals for the fifth straight year, Id call that a pretty positive sign. Jacob Jaffe is planning to take on Brittney Griner one-on-one to revive Stanfords basketball pride. Wish him luck or place a bet at jwjaffe@stanford.edu and follow him on Twitter @Jacob_Jaffe.

JAFFE

Continued from page 8

will invariably have one of the top recruiting classes in the country thanks to its success under Tara VanDerveer and the allure of what the Farm has to offer. The only question is if that one extra top recruit will pick a place like Connecticut instead of Stanford. And if youve watched any amount of womens basketball, you know what kind of impact one player can have (see: Brittney Griner, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi, etc.). Meanwhile, the Stanford mens basketball team has faced none of the expectations and pressure that have followed the women for years. The Stanford men quietly extended their season with an NIT berth, and despite less-than-stellar attendance at Maples Pavilion, the Cardinal advanced past Cleveland State before the rest of the bracket disintegrated in Stanfords favor. As a three-seed, Stanford faced two five-seeds, two six-seeds and a seven-seed while playing three home games and two neutral-site games en route to an NIT title. Although no win in particular was truly notable (Stanford was favored in all five), stringing together five straight wins in any postseason tournament is impressive. Winning games you should win is an important part of sports just ask Missouri and Duke and its an area

WBBALL

Continued from page 8

game. Baylor pulled ahead to take a 25-23 lead into the break, but the Card quickly regained the lead after returning from the locker room. It could not make the advantage count, though, and the Bears moved ahead and grabbed enough of a lead that the Cardinal could not quite pull itself back into contention. Ultimately, I think also it was kind of difficult for us to really figure out what we wanted to do on offense, Nneka Ogwumike said. I think we were too worried about [Griner]. Baylor will now face Notre Dame in Tuesdays final. In Sundays first semifinal the Irish trailed Connecticut at the half after dropping an early lead and almost allowed the Huskies to sneak past for the win in the final seconds of regu-

lation. After forcing overtime, though, Notre Dame pulled out an 83-71 victory. Stanford, meanwhile, will look back on yet another bittersweet year. By most teams standards, it was a great season: winning both the Pac-12 conference and tournament, continuing a four-year undefeated reign at Maples Pavilion and reaching the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. However, it is now 20 years since VanDerveers program last took home a national title all three of the other semifinal participants have won it within the last 11 years and it now graduates several key players. The bright side for Stanford fans is that, as always, there will be fresh talent arriving on the Farm for next year, and with VanDerveer at the helm it may well get back to the Final Four for yet another bite at the apple. Contact Tom Taylor at tom.taylor@ stanford.edu.

10 N Monday, April 2, 2012

The Stanford Daily

LUCK SHINES AT PRO DAY

By JACK BLANCHAT
MANAGING EDITOR

ROGER CHEN/The Stanford Daily

Redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Luck completed 46 of his 50 passes at Stanfords pro day on March 22, his last chance to impress scouts before the NFL draft later this month. Continued from page 8

In his last chance to impress scouts and media members before Aprils NFL draft, redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Luck didnt disappoint, putting together a dazzling performance at the Stanford football pro day on March 22. And while the superstar quarterback and future first overall pick didnt exactly have a lot on the line at his pro day his talent has been well-documented for more than two years Luck still capitalized on the opportunity to show more than 100 scouts from all 32 NFL teams just who will be taking snaps next season. On a cold, windy day on the Farm, Luck completed 46 of his 50 passes on throws that highlighted his mobility, including several snaps where Luck was forced to race away from a coach chasing with a broom that was intended to simulate the reach and speed of an NFL pass rusher. I wanted to put my best foot forward and show that I could make all the throws that I am going to be asked to do. I thought I did that to a degree, so it was a good day in that regard, Luck said afterward. I wanted to go out there and show that I could make every throw that an NFL quarterback has to make. Luck also said the pro day was a good opportunity to highlight what hed been working on so far this offseason with quarterback coach George Whitfield, the mentor to last years number one overall pick, Carolina Panthers passer Cam Newton. Ive been working a lot on throwing from awkward positions, maybe different positions, Luck said. Ive tried to work that in to some of the throws. Whether its running left and trying to get it across your body or types of throws like that are going to be throws you will have a chance to complete at the next level. With his final throw of the day, Luck took the opportunity to add one additional highlight and show off a little bit, launching a 70-yard pass downfield into the hands of senior wide receiver Chris Owusu, who dropped the pass at the goal line. I think he could probably throw it further than that, redshirt senior tight end Coby Fleener said. Maybe, in fact, his arm strength isnt his weakness after all, Fleener continued, adding a quick shot at the scouts and media members that have criticized Lucks deep passing abilities this season. For his part, Fleener also impressed

the NFL scouts by showcasing his impressive speed. The 6-foot-6, 247-pound tight end wowed teams by running the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, an effort that likely helped Fleener solidify his status as a first-round pick as the best tight end in this seasons draft class. Also impressing were defensive tackle Matthew Masifilo, safety Delano Howell and cornerback Johnson Bademosi. Masifilo showed off his strength by bench-pressing 225 pounds 38 times, Howell improved on his performance at Februarys NFL combine by recording a better broad jump, vertical leap and 40yard dash, and Bademosi blazed his way to a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, then topped it off with a 40-inch vertical leap of his own. Conversely, offensive tackle and likely first-round pick Jonathan Martin, who was unable to participate in the NFL combine due to illness, didnt have a great day. Martin only notched 20 reps on the 225-pound bench press, a low number for an offensive lineman. However, Martin and fellow firstround lineman David DeCastro both said the atmosphere and fanfare of the pro day were exciting as they head towards the NFL draft. It is always nice when you can prove your talents to as many people as possible, Martin said. Its always fun to get in front of people and show what you can do. I prefer to play football, obviously. I am never going to run 40 yards in a game, unless it is chasing down an interception or something, but yeah, it is always fun to compete. Even though he did not run or participate in any of the pro day drills, DeCastro added that the event helped him to continue to motivate himself as his NFL career comes ever closer. I still think that I might not get drafted, that is how I push myself, he said. The fear of failure, you have to get better every day or you arent going to be any good. Martin echoed his teammates sentiments, saying that he wasnt going to spend any time speculating about where he might be drafted on April 26 at New Yorks Radio City Music Hall. Its something that you cant pay attention to, he said. There is all kinds of buzz, but you dont think about it as a player. You concentrate on what you can do, set goals for yourself and cancel out all the outside noise. Contact Jack Blanchat at blanchat@stanford.edu.

BASEBALL|Errors abound in Cardinals disappointing stretch

Those deficiencies began to emerge against the Trojans (16-9, 3-5) who brought a 13-6 record to Sunken Diamond and kept things close all weekend. After the March 24 game was postponed to the following afternoon due to rain, the Cardinal needed a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth and a two-run, walk-off homer by sophomore rightfielder Austin Wilson to get junior righthander Mark Appel a complete-game win in the series opener. Junior lefthander Brett Mooneyham and freshman closer David Schmidt held USC to just two runs in the second game that evening, but Stanford could barely squeak out the 3-2 decision. The Cardinal would not escape the mediocre weekend unscathed, committing a season-high six errors five of them by sophomore shortstop Lonnie Kauppila in an 8-4 loss that saw freshman starter John Hochstatter last just 1.2 innings. The squad briefly returned to form on Wednesday after another scheduling irregularity, which saw a rained-out Tuesday trip to UC-Davis replaced at the last minute by a home bout with St. Marys. Stanford got three runs on freshman designated hitter Alex Blandinos first career homer and went on to win 10-4, continuing its midweek dominance of the Gaels (14-12, 1-5 WCC), which came into the Wednesday matchup with the lowest ERA in the country (2.04). But errors would haunt the Cardinal yet again against Arizona, and Stanford came up short in a weekend series for the first time this season. A passed ball set up a two-RBI single for Blandino to open the scoring in the second inning of the Friday night opener, but Arizona responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame and jumped out to a 4-3 lead in the third. Stanford showed its resilience, though, knotting things up in the sixth on a poor throw by Wildcat starter Kurt Heyer and adding three more unearned runs on a trio of Arizona errors in the seventh. Appel rode the 7-4 advantage into the bottom of the ninth, but hit the leadoff batter and quickly walked another. Stanford head coach Mark Marquess then brought in Schmidt, and the freshman gave up a walk of his own and allowed two runs with a one-out single. Senior designated hitter Bobby Brown then added a single which should have just brought home the Wildcats seventh tally, but the ball slipped under the glove of sophomore centerfielder Jake Stewart for his first error of the season and the winning run came around to score. The Saturday matchup between a pair of undefeated starters 5-0 Mooneyham for the Cardinal and 3-0 sophomore Konner Wade for Wildcats produced a lowerscoring game than the 8-7 Friday contest. But Stanfords lefthander was outdueled for the first time this season, as Arizonas righty pitched a complete-game three-hitter in a 42 Wildcat victory. The Cardinal couldnt break up the nohitter until the top of the sixth but grasped a momentary 2-1 lead on a rally set up by a Kauppila infield single and a Stewart double. Yet the Wildcats refused to back down, tacking on two runs of their own both unearned in the bottom of the frame. Stanford couldnt bring home its two ensuing baserunners in the seventh, couldnt get another hit off Wade in the final three innings and couldnt draw even with Arizona, which tacked on an eighth-inning run on Schmidts third hit batsman of the season en route to a 4-2 win. Defense was less of a concern for the Cardinal in the Sunday finale, but the squads error-free performance was not nearly enough, as its bats fell silent yet again to give Arizona its first sweep over Stanford in 19 years. A Wilson triple opened the scoring in the top of the fourth as the Cardinal jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, yet the Wildcats responded with runs in the next three innings to give freshman righty John Hochstatter (3-3) his third straight loss. Sophomore righthander James Farris (4-1) tossed a six-hit complete game for Arizona in its 6-2 victory. As little production as Stanford has gotten out of its offense over the last week, though, sophomore first baseman Brian Ragira has shown flashes of brilliance. He came up with two hits off Farris and is currently riding an eight-game hit streak. Stanford will hope to revive the rest of its lineup again tonight against the Gaels, which will come to Sunken Diamond for the second time in six days. Though the Cardinal beat St. Marys 5-0 on the road earlier this season before last weeks 10-4 win, both teams come into this matchup fatigued just a day after returning from weekend road trips. Contact Joseph Beyda at jbeyda@stanford. edu.

MEHMET INONU/The Stanford Daily

Sophomore first baseman Brian Ragira has been one of the few bright spots for the Cardinal lineup recently. He is riding an eight-game hit streak even through the difficulties of the squad, which has lost four of its last five games, all of them against conference foes.

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 11

12 N Monday, April 2, 2012

The Stanford Daily

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 13

Stanford brought in Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis as its pre-game motivational speaker before the Cardinals semifinal matchup with Massachusetts, and his speech propelled the team to play its best basketball of the year. If you aint pissed off for greatness, then youre okay with being mediocre, Lewis told the Stanford players. Unfortunately for the UMass Minutemen, the Card was definitely pissed off for greatness that Tuesday night. Stanford controlled much of the first half, riding the wave of momentum from Lewis pep talk to take an early lead. Nearly every offensive possession resulted in an easy bucket. A pair of 3-pointers from Bright and Randle gave the Cardinal its biggest lead of the first half, as the squad went up 2614. But UMass would turn it around, buckling down on defense and heating up offensively. The Minutemen began playing selfless basketball, spreading the ball around and setting themselves up with open shots to go on a quick 9-1 run and pull to within two points of the Card. Stanford could not break away from UMass, and at the end of the first half, Stanford led just 36-33 with a chance to play for the NIT championship on the line. Neither team managed to find its offensive rhythm for the first few minutes of the second half, as they combined for just two field goals in the first 2:44. The Minutemen managed to keep pace with the Cardinal, answering each Stanford score with a bucket of their own. With just 7:17 remaining, sophomore guard Chaz Williams hit a jumper to tie the game at 52 apiece, but Bright countered almost immediately with a jumper on Stanfords next possession. The sophomore had a great game for the Cardinal, scoring 13 points off the bench. The Cardinal would not lose their lead, going on to beat UMass 7464 and earning the chance to play Minnesota in the finals. The last time Stanford played in the NIT championship game was 1991, when it beat Oklahoma to capture the crown. The Cardinal was hoping for a similar result against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, a No. 6 seed that had played well to earn its bid in the championship game. In the title matchup, the Cardinal delivered its most impressive performance of the season against a Minnesota team that was completely overwhelmed. Stanford could not have picked a better game to shoot 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line, as well as force 22 turnovers and grab 36 rebounds. After senior Jarrett Mann grabbed a steal and converted the transition layup to even the score at 21, Stanford would not look back, closing out the first half on a 10-4 run to take a six-point lead. The second half would be a completely different story. Stanford scored 11 straight points to open the period, cruising by Minnesota on its way to an easy 75-51 victory. The Cardinal was firing on all cylinders, converting both in the paint and beyond the arc. The guard combination of Randle and Bright led the way, scoring 15 points each to help Stanford earn its first NIT championship in 21 years. Brights performance won him Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament. We have had good runs before, but never on a stage of this magnitude where youre playing for a championship, Dawkins said of the dominant second half. It says a lot about our kids, their belief and them being able to share in those experiences. The season could not have ended on a more positive note for the Card, and their dominant performance provided just a glimpse of things to come. While seniors Mann, Josh Owens, Andrew Zimmerman and Jack Trotter will be missed along with associate head coach Dick Davey, who is retiring after a storied career the Cardinal boasts a young core that will help it make a mark on the NCAA next season and hopefully earn an elusive spot in the Big Dance. With sophomores Bright, Anthony Brown and forward Josh Huestis back next year along with freshman standout Randle, Stanford has the pieces in place to make a run at a Pac-12 title and maybe even a little more. Contact Mike Schwartz at mikes23@stanford.edu and Anders Mikkelsen at amikk@stanford.edu.

MBBALL

Continued from page 8

Ole Miss in the opening round and was looking to do the same to the Cardinal. The matchup was back and forth for the first half, yet Illinois State began to pull away in the second. The Redbirds took an 11point lead before Bright took over with nine straight points, and the Cardinal began to even the game up. With the game tied at 78 and 20 seconds left on the clock, Stanford held the ball hoping for a last-second victory. Unfortunately, a contested three by freshman guard Chasson Randle would fall off the mark, sending the game to overtime. While the Redbirds continued to put up a fight, the Cardinal prevailed 92-88 in the extra session. The star of the game was again Bright, who put up a game-high 29 points while shooting 11 of 13 from the field. The sophomore hit six threes and also dished out six assists. His backcourt mate Randle added 19 points, while sophomore forward Dwight Powell had a season-high 18 as well as nine rebounds off the bench. The victory secured Stanfords spot in the NITs Elite Eight, where the Cardinal hosted No. 5 Nevada. The Wolf Pack had not been seriously tested in either of its first two games, defeating both No. 4 Oral Roberts and No. 8 Bucknell with ease. In front of a home crowd for the last time this season, Stanford put on a show. The Cardinal cruised to a 15-point lead in the first half and didnt let up, thrashing Nevada, 84-56. Senior center Josh Owens made the most of his final game at Maples Pavilion, pouring in a game-high 15 points, while Randle was his usual brilliant self, also scoring 15 as Stanford headed to the Final Four in New York.

14 N Monday, April 2, 2012

The Stanford Daily

CLASSIFIEDS
GET NOTICED BY THOUSANDS.
www.stanforddaily. com/classifieds

The Stanford Daily

Monday, April 2, 2012 N 15

SEEKING DONORS
$$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$ Earn up to $1,200/month. Give the gift of family through California Cryobanks donor program. Apply online: SPERMBANK.com

16 N Monday, April 2, 2012

The Stanford Daily

Summer Employment
skills in leadership, teaching & mentoring excellent pay, including room and board an exciting and rewarding summer

EPGY

EPGY Summer Residential Programs gather academically talented middle-school and high-school students on the Stanford campus for intensive courses and socializing. Various sessions throughout June, July and August 2012. Residential Counselor, Head Counselor, Activities Coordinator and Senior Residential Assistant.

epgy.stanford.edu/summer/employment.html