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Treatment induced remission in nearly 80% of participants
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The Stanford Daily An Independent Publication
FRIDAY December 3, 2021
CAMPUS LIFE
Potential noose found on campus Discovered ropes likely 18 to 24 months old By ILA MATHUR CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Two cords with loops that may represent nooses were found in a tree along the Lake Lagunita walking trail early Monday morning, according to an email from Vice Provost for Institutional Equity, Access and Community Patrick Dunkley and Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students Mona Hicks. While the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS), in collaboration with a campus arborist, determined in their investigation that the ropes have likely been hanging for 18 to 24 months, Dunkley and Hicks wrote that they “cannot be certain whether the ropes were deliberately fashioned in the shape of nooses, or were part of an abandoned swing or rope ladder.” Still, they condemned the incident, writing that “a noose is a potent symbol of anti-Black racism and violence that is completely unacceptable under any circumstances.” This sighting is not the first of its kind. In the summer of 2019, shortly before these ropes were likely hung, a noose was found tied to a bush on the lawn of the Columbae House. The incident was reported to SUDPS as a hate crime. Although it is not yet confirmed that the cords found today were
Please see NOOSE, page 2
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HEALTH
Volume 260 Issue 10
www.stanforddaily.com
Sexual harassment reports decrease University cites pandemic as cause for 47% decrease in reports By MATTHEW TURK DESK EDITOR
By CHELSEA CHO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Reported cases of sexual harassment, sexual violence and gender discrimination decreased by 47% in the past year, according to Stanford’s Annual Title IX/Sexual Harassment Report, which was released on Wednesday. Reports declined from 187 in the 2019-20 academic year to 98 in 2020-21, with the University citing COVID-19-related restrictions as a “likely” factor, Provost Persis Drell wrote in an email to the community. Stanford has been releasing Annual Title IX/Sexual Harassment Reports since the 2016-17
academic year. Reported cases from pre-COVID years have ranged from 190 in the 2016-17 academic year to 279 in 2018-19 — a stark difference from the 98 cases reported in 2020-21. The data includes reports received from Aug. 14, 2020 to Aug. 31, 2021. “Relative to prior years, there’s a dramatic decline in the sheer number, but the piece that I take away from that is that even with fewer people on campus this continues to be a problem,” said Stephen Chen, Stanford’s Title IX coordinator and director of the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Education (SHARE) Title IX Office, in a briefing with The Daily. Campus data from the 2019-
AXELLE TALMA/The Stanford Daily
The University received 98 reports of sexual violence in 2020-21, a decrease “likely” due to COVID-19 restrictions. Stanford received 187 reports of sexual violence the year prior. 2021 academic years were impacted by COVID-19 and the drastic drop in the campus population, according to the University. Stanford received 187 reports during the 2019-20 academic year, when campus housed a full popu-
HEALTH
The new Omicron variant of COVID-19 is “not a cause for panic,” University administrators announced in a Tuesday email. The variant was first detected on Nov. 25 in South Africa and has since been discovered in over a dozen other countries. The United States “has yet to detect a case,” but Provost Persis Drell, School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor and Associate Vice Provost Russell Furr wrote that many epidemiologists predict that the U.S. will soon confirm a case of the new variant. According to the email, Stanford Medicine’s clinical virology laboratory is actively monitoring the COVID-19 variants it is testing. “The lab screens all positive tests that it receives and will detect the Omicron variant should it receive a positive case,” Drell,
Minor and Furr wrote. It is unclear whether the lab is testing all of students’ weekly or twiceweekly positive Color tests or only certain positive tests submitted directly to the lab. Stanford will continue to adhere to its ongoing safety protocols, including “vaccination requirements, indoor mask mandates and weekly testing.” Administrators also took the opportunity to encourage those eligible for a booster dose of the COVID19 vaccine to schedule an appointment, writing that “our most important tool is vaccination.” Instruction will continue as normal for the remainder of the quarter and students can “continue to expect in-person instruction for the winter quarter.” Drell, Minor and Furr reiterated that Stanford expects to provide details in early December about post-winter break protocols upon return to campus. The email also extended a warning to those trav-
Faculty urge passage of voter rights bill Professors sign letter in support of Freedom to Vote Act UJWAL SRIVASTAVA/ The Stanford Daily
The Stanford community can expect to adhere to the same safety protocols put in place for fall quarter as research continues on the new Omicron variant.
program. “It’s just an accident, but it’s an accident that reveals something deeper about the way interdepartmental programs at Stanford are run and set up,” Daub said. FGSS used to be rather stable, according to Daub. For some time there was not much shift in the staff, as the program housed professors who taught the subject for many years. For instance, Monica Moore, the program director before 2013, joined Stanford in 1971. The current change in faculty could simply be the re-
Please see FEMGEN, page 4
Please see VOTING, page 4
eling internationally over break to watch for possible travel restrictions implemented as a result of the new variant. Little is yet known about the severity of the disease caused by the variant, which is currently being studied by scientists around the world. “This variant calls upon us to remain thoughtfully prepared,” Drell, Minor and Furr wrote.
6 students test positive for COVID-19 in last week By ANNE LI CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Please see CASES, page 4
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The Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies program remains unsuccessful in finding a permanent replacement director and has assigned art history professor Richard Meyer during the interim.
ACADEMICS
FemGen program sees high turnover rate By ISABEL CAI In 2019, Adrian Daub, a German studies and comparative literature professor, ended his four-year term as the director of Stanford’s Program in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies (FGSS). Such occurrences are not out of the ordinary — departments all across the University regularly experience departing professors and new incoming faculty. However, the department still remains unsuccessful in finding a permanent replacement director after beginning the search last year.
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The department eventually assigned Richard Meyer, an art history professor, to be the interim director. This year, Charlotte Fonrobert, an associate professor of religious studies and, by courtesy, of classics and German studies, is taking the position for a two-year term. Recently, FGSS has dealt with a high turnover rate within its faculty, especially at the directorship level. When asked why, Daub told The Daily that this instability is a result of circumstances beyond the program’s control, such as personal health issues professors have faced, as well as the innate structure of the
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By SARINA DEB SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Ten Stanford professors and researchers are urging Congress to pass the sweeping voting rights bill S.2747, the Freedom to Vote Act, citing a democracy at “critical risk” due to election interference, partisan gerrymandering, dark money and voter suppression. The ten professors are among a group of around a hundred academics who signed a letter through the organization New America in support of the legislation. “American democracy is on life support,” Assistant Professor of Political Science Hakeem Jefferson, who signed the letter, said in an interview with The Daily. “We were compelled to write this letter in part because of how long it has taken for Democrats to pass meaningful voting rights legislation, despite the attacks we have seen across the country in various states against the right to vote.” Jefferson’s signature is joined by those of Professor of Political Economy Jonathan Bendor, Associate Professor of Political Science Adam Bonica, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute and Freeman Spogli Institute Larry Diamond, Professor of Political Science Anna Grzymala-Busse, Senior Research Scholar Didi Kuo, Professor of Political Science Margaret Levi, Professor of Political Science Terry Moe, Professor of History and Political Science Jack Rakove and Professor of Sociology and Psychology Rob Willer. The Freedom to Vote Act, which was introduced in the Senate in mid-September, expands voter registration and voting access, establishes Election Day as a federal holiday and restores voting rights to felons who have served their sentences. It also creates a new criminal offense of conduct for election interference, sets forth provisions related to election security, outlines criteria for congressional redistricting and addresses campaign finance. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (D-ME), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) and supported by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The academics wrote in their letter that the Freedom to Vote Act is “the most important piece of legislation to defend and strengthen American democracy since the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” and that failing to pass this legislation would have “grave consequences not only for our democracy but for political order,
11 COVID cases logged The University reported six student and five faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholar COVID-19 cases for the week of Nov. 22, according to the COVID-19 dashboard. Of the five new employee COVID-19 cases, four are included in the University’s testing count, and the remaining individual either tested outside the University’s surveillance testing program or tested positive earlier than last week but had just reported it to the University, according to the dashboard. The new student and employee case counts are lower than the 13 student cases and 14 employee cases reported the week before, marking the second consecutive week of declining cases. Many students and faculty, however, were off-campus during the week of Nov. 22 due to Thanksgiving break, resulting in the administration of 5,914 student tests and 5,928 employee tests in comparison to the 12,318 student tests and 11,084 employee tests for the week of Nov. 15.
Please see TITLE IX, page 2
UNIVERSITY
University stresses caution as Omicron spreads By CLAUDIA MOSES
lation before students were sent home in March due to the pandemic. The reduced number of community members on campus in
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The Stanford Daily
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Grad students celebrate Thanksgiving By ISAAC LOZANO To a passerby walking through Escondido Village this Thanksgiving, campus may have looked relatively normal, save for the lack of students frantically biking to and from classes. But inside a tent on Kennedy Commons, between plates of turkey and mashed potatoes, friends and families were doing something they have waited two years for: celebrating together. Each year, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) hosts a Thanksgiving dinner for graduate students and their families to join friends in relishing the festive spirit before the end of fall quarter. Approximately 1,600 graduate and undergraduate students stopped by Kennedy Commons this year for a traditional Thanksgiving meal catered by Ray’s Grill, according to GSC co-chair K.C. Shah J.D. ’22. Amid COVID-19 restrictions and cautionary messaging from the University regarding Thanksgiving travel, many graduate students chose to stay on campus for the holidays. This holiday season marks a time of unity and recuperation for many of Stanford’s graduate students, especially as
festivities continue to be upended by the pandemic. This year’s in-person Thanksgiving dinner was the first time graduate students on campus celebrated as a community in over two years — the GSC opted for a dinner pick-up in 2020 due to social distancing protocols. Shah, who organized the event, said it was a welcome opportunity to support students, especially those who may not have been able to return home for financial or logistical reasons. “We don’t do it for the thank you,” Shah said. “We just do it because it’s an important part of our community. I think it just shows how the Thanksgiving spirit about being grateful is definitely present at this meal. It’s a normal, wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, just like you might find in a movie or TV show. Or at home.” The event would not have been possible without the support of the University, which offered $130,000 in funding for the event to support food and labor expenses, according to Shah. “The fact that the Provost is giving money shows how much she cares and believes that Thanksgiving is an important part in a year that so many members of our grad-
uate community have faced tragedy and loss of family members,” Shah said. “It’s really important to just be thankful for everything that we have.” Ray Klein, the owner and operator of Treehouse, the Coffee House and Ray’s Grill, helped facilitate the Thanksgiving dinner, which also featured flower bouquets made on campus and other table decorations. Klein said that he and the organizers tried to make the event “warm and fuzzy” for attendees in light of pandemic-related financial and mental strains. “I’m 84 years old and this is what I would want for my kids,” Klein said. “I am very much involved in taking care of the community. The community is taking care of me by giving me a business and I like giving back. I think that everything we do shows that.” For students who are planning to celebrate other cultural holidays in the coming months, support from the Stanford community can go a long way. Yiqing Ding, a sixth-year mechanical engineering Ph.D. student and international student from China, said he will stay on campus throughout the holiday season and
TAMMER BAGDASARIAN/The Stanford Daily
This year’s in-person Thanksgiving dinner was the first time graduate students on campus celebrated as a community in over two years. hopes to spend Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 1, with his friends at Stanford. Chinese cultural campus groups will hold events to commemorate the holiday, including by hosting performances at the Memorial Auditorium. “For me, it’s taking a break from work because my friends and me, we’re full time students,” Ding said. “A lot of them, I probably wouldn’t see during holiday time because we’re just so busy. But during the holiday, we can take a break. It’s a value for us to meet up and reunite.” Last year, Ding left Stanford for
China amid COVID-19 concerns and was unable to celebrate Chinese New Year with his colleagues and classmates in-person. Since returning to campus in October, Ding said he has seen the power of holidays to help foster community bonding on campus and give graduate students another space to call home amid travel restrictions. “It’s a time for us to celebrate and reunite again,” Ding said. “A lot of us haven’t seen each other for a long time. Through this event, it’s [a] time for us to recognize our culture.”
TITLE IX
tigation,” he wrote. “One was resolved through mediation and the other was dismissed after investigation — there was not enough evidence to proceed to a hearing.” For the remaining five student reports in that category, one impacted party requested not to move forward; in another case, not enough information was present for an investigation to follow, and two “were dealt with through a university intervention.” The final one “was still active at the time of our report,” Miranda wrote. Four of the nine employment cases of sexual harassment that underwent investigation resulted in “policy violations and some disciplinary actions, including a suspension, a formal written reprimand, and no-contact orders,” Miranda wrote. This fall, advocates sounded alarms that Stanford was entering a “deep red zone” — when students are most vulnerable to sexual assault — both because two classes of students were living on campus for the first time and due to the University’s new drug and alcohol policy. Advocates protested the policy at Sophomore Convocation amid concerns that it would chill sexual violence reporting. The University ultimately specified that victims and witnesses will not face disciplinary action if they report an incident of sexual violence involving underage drinking, but advocates said that the change did not constitute a sufficient protection of survivors. The bulk of the annual report concerns incident reports and responses, regardless of whether they proceeded to a full investigation. According to Chen, the University responds to every report they receive and the affected parties are given agency about whether to proceed in an investigative process. Of the reports, 27 involved misconduct in a professional or academic setting, 24 were “uncategorizable,” nine involved nonconsensual intercourse, seven involved stalking and five involved gender discrimination. The report also outlines prevention education efforts made by the University. The SHARE Title IX Office has also been engaging with education and prevention work by partnering with the Office of Substance Use Programs Education & Resources (SUPER Office), Voluntary Student Organizations (VSOs), Residential Education and the ASSU to implement Title IX trainings. “We also hope that by making the data visible and accessible, it will encourage anyone experiencing unwanted sexual conduct to come forward so that the issue can be addressed,” Chen said.
Continued from page 1
AYA AZIZ/The Stanford Daily
The study, which found the treatment to have induced remission in nearly 80% of participants, has been deemed a "breakthrough therapy" by the Food and Drug Administration.
ACADEMICS
Researchers tackle depression New treatment developed at Stanford 80% effective By BRANDON KIM Stanford neuromodulation therapy (SNT), an experimental, accelerated version of magnetic pulse brain stimulation developed at Stanford, may provide a “revolutionary” treatment for severe depression, according to researchers at Stanford’s School of Medicine. The researchers’ optimism comes on the heels of an Oct. 29 study in which the treatment was found to have induced remission in nearly 80% of participants. The study tested the efficacy of SNT on patients with long-term, moderate to severe depression who were also “treatment resistant,” meaning that they had unsuccessfully tried several other conventional forms of treatment. For many of these patients, SNT was the first treatment that successfully alleviated their depression in a significant, lasting way, researchers said. “My brain has been rebooted,” said one patient treated with SNT who asked to remain anonymous due to concerns regarding the stigmatization of mental health treatment. “It’s like this cloud of depression has been lifted from me.” SNT is an adaptation of an already existing, noninvasive form of brain stimulation called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS delivers magnetic pulses to specific locations within the brain, activating neural circuits that show decreased activity during depressive episodes. According to researchers, while TMS has been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2008, its efficacy is limited, and it can take weeks for patients to show improvement. SNT differs from TMS in several key ways. First, SNT relies on functional neuroimaging to map out the brain, allowing researchers to pinpoint where to deliver magnetic pulses. Second, SNT deploys an especially efficient stimulation pattern that relies on fewer pulses to change neural circuits. Third — and most crucially — SNT dramatically increases the rate at which patients receive brain stimulation. While TMS involves one brain stimulation session per day for 36 weekdays, SNT requires only 10 stimulation sessions per day over a
five-day period. “There have been a lot of innovations in the TMS technology space,” said Nolan Williams, the lead investigator in the Oct. 29 study. “The question we tried to answer was, ‘how do we take what we now understand and reengineer TMS?’ And that’s what we did.” Williams, who is the Director of the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said that the research team plans to submit the data to the FDA, which has already deemed SNT a “breakthrough therapy.” Williams said that the timeline for the treatment’s deployment will depend on whether or not it receives FDA approval, although he is optimistic about its potential to treat a broad range of neurological disorders. “One application [of SNT] is for people who are in psychiatric emergencies,” Williams said. “We’ve been doing this in obsessive compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder. We think that this is a brain tool.” SNT’s versatility makes it a much more compelling alternative to other treatments, said Kristin Raj, the co-chief of Stanford Mood Disorders and chief of the Stanford Bipolar Clinic. As one of the researchers in the study, Raj said that the study’s results demonstrate that SNT is far more effective than medication, which often produces diminishing returns after the first few doses. Moreover, SNT has none of the side effects that come with other popular treatments for depression like electroconvulsive shock therapy or ketamine therapy, which are still viewed as controversial. “I’ve had many patients tell me how much hope it gives them to hear about SNT,” Raj said. Still, despite overwhelmingly positive results, SNT is not a miracle cure. Researchers have said that not all patients respond in the same way to the treatment — while some patients are still in remission years after being treated, others have reported relapse after only a few weeks. Most individuals fall somewhere in the middle, said psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor Brandon Bentzley, who offered one hypothesis as to why responses to SNT might vary. “What we’re doing in SNT is try-
ing to move the brain from the default mode network, which is dominant during depression, to the central executive network,” Bentzley said, another researcher in the study. “My speculation is that different people have a different propensity to shift back to the default mode network.” The question of how to extend the positive effects of SNT to all patients, Bentzley said, remains an active research focus. David Carreon, another researcher for the study and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said that he has already adapted SNT to his private practice, albeit without the functional neuroimaging techniques used in the Oct. 29 study. While the treatment is not as effective as the full version of SNT, it is still showing success in patients he said. While SNT might offer hope for depression treatment, the stigma that hangs over mental health issues remains dangerous, according to the same patient who requested anonymity. The patient, who is a physician, said that this stigma is especially prevalent within the healthcare industry, which takes an almost “militaristic” approach to denying the existence of mental health issues in its workforce. “You would think that the healthcare system, since it’s so good at treating others, would be better at providing treatment for physicians,” the patient said. “But it’s more like, ‘Everyone else has problems, but we don’t.’” Carreon said that many of his patients, including those who have gone into remission, have refused interviews with media outlets looking to report on SNT due to this stigma. “People don’t want to be on national TV as the guy who was depressed,” Carreon said. “Even if it was in the past.” The stigma surrounding mental health has real-world dangers; according to Enas Dakwar, a clinical psychologist at the Vaden Health Center, social stigma prevents many individuals from seeking support for mental health. This is exacerbated by the fact that many individuals with depression are high-functioning, Dakwar said, which can lead them to try to “fix” their depressive state on their own. Without proper support, these individuals often fail, “taking them deeper into the rabbit hole” of depression, Dakwar said.
2020-21 led to a decline in reported incidents in two ways, Chen said. First, with fewer individuals on campus, there were fewer opportunities for incidents to occur. Second, the smaller on-campus community led to a decrease in the number of reporting individuals. Chen also said that when more people are on campus and aware of incidents of sexual violence, the SHARE Title IX Office often receives duplicate reports of the same incident. Stanford law professor and Title IX advocate Michele Dauber wrote in a statement to The Daily that based on the annual report, “Stanford’s culture of impunity appears to be getting worse.” “Despite the fact that most students were not on campus and student social life was severely limited, sexual assault and harassment continued to occur,” she wrote, referencing the nine incidents of nonconsensual intercourse included in the report. “So far as I can tell, despite these and dozens of other reports of sexual violence and harassment, no student was expelled or even suspended. No one was terminated from employment even when found responsible for sexual harassment.” While the report details the resolutions employed for each of the cases, it does not specify any instances of student suspension or expulsion or faculty termination. Two of the cases involving nonconsensual intercourse proceeded to a SHARE Hearing, with one of the cases resulting in the perpetrator being found not responsible and the other case being dismissed. Two university interventions were employed for two male undergraduates in cases involving nonconsensual touching. The report defines “intervention” as “an action to address a concern without a formal investigation,” which is “appropriate when the allegation, if true, would not rise to the level of a policy violation, but the conduct is nonetheless objectionable.” This includes remedies such as counseling, group training and changing housing assignments, among other interventions. “There was no finding of a policy violation against a student last year,” according to University spokesperson E.J. Miranda, and as a result, no student was expelled or suspended. “As an example, of the seven reports of sexual harassment that occurred in the student setting, two proceeded through an inves-
NOOSE Continued from page 1 nooses, Stanford’s same-day response represents a change of pace in communication compared to the 2019 statement, which came five days after the noose was reported. Some groups, such as the Graduate Student Council, condemned Stanford’s 2019 response for being delayed and lacking actionable next steps. Dunkley and Hicks acknowledged the compounded emotions students may feel in receiving the email in light of the previous incident and considering recent survey
results, which revealed that 63% of Black respondents had experienced at least one microaggression on campus. The Dean of Students Office connected with the student who reported the cords via telephone and email and will continue offering support, according to the email. Dunkley and Hicks also referred students, faculty and staff to mental health resources, but it remains to be seen what other measures will be taken to promote solidarity and healing as this investigation continues. Anyone with additional information on the incident should contact SUDPS at (650) 329-2413 or the 24/7 communications center at (650) 329-2413, according to the email.
Friday, December 3, 2021 N 3
The Stanford Daily
OPINIONS Rebecca Wang
The Stanford Daily Established 1892 Executive Team Kate Selig Editor in Chief
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Anna-Katharina von Krauland
COP26 disappoints: A student’s view eyond the coverage around pledges to cut methane emissions and Greta Thunberg’s march through the streets of Glasgow, what isn’t easily gleaned from reading news about COP26, the UN’s annual climate summit, is the degree to which insubstantial and unactionable discourse makes up the event. There were few speakers whose tone and ambition matched the immense gravity of the topics being discussed. Although earnest and clearly concerned, the leaders I heard from didn’t venture to express the kind of bold and innovative plans for action that we urgently need from every sector if we are to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, the target set by the Paris Agreement. I expected to leave feeling inspired; instead I left frustrated. Some news sources have described the conference as being selfcongratulatory. However, the atmosphere was far from festive when the messages were so sobering. Countries publicized their new coalitions, partnerships, targets and goals, but they also acknowledged the long road ahead. Al Gore proclaimed, “The era of procrastina-
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with my high-functioning self nowhere to be found for the first few weeks of school. Slave to my own apathy, I watched my responsibilities slip past my attention as I simultaneously neglected to give my hobbies the love they deserved. In retrospect it seemed that since the midway point of my college career, periods of burnout had plagued my life every few months like clockwork. I genuinely began to question: how did everyone else deal with these pressures? Perusing job descriptions made me anxious; I consistently saw “must be willing to work overtime, as needed”. When I asked “what are your working hours like?” to recruiters from a prospective employer, it was no longer a courtesy — I was becoming more afraid of being hired into a “fastpaced, able to wear many hats” environment. My hope for other countries was quickly squashed. I had heard about the “996” (9 am — 9 pm, 6 days per week) work culture in China; Japan suffered from extreme overworking, while South Korea and Mexico competed for the most hours worked according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). My generation is increasingly getting the worst of both worlds as working members of society. We’re expected to be available 24/7 and engaged to our company unlike any expectation that’s ever existed in previous generations, yet the stress and anxiety of this sits with no reprieve from outdated organizational policies and a haphazard government.
Please see BURNOUT, page 4
Leadership in support of Hakeem Jefferson n response to the recent racist attacks on Professor Hakeem Jefferson and the open letter published in The Stanford Daily from the Early Career Black Faculty Group, we, the chairs of the Basic Bioscience Departments in the Stanford Schools of Medicine, Humanities and Sciences, and Engineering, the directors of the Biosciences Institutes and the directors of the Interdisciplinary Biosciences Programs, express our support for Professor Jefferson and the requests made in the open letter. We condemn the coordinated, racist attacks against Professor Jefferson and call on ourselves, our community and our University to help protect and defend our Black colleagues in response to these attacks. We commit to developing proactive strategies, in coordination with our Black faculty, to prevent these attacks in the future, and when we cannot prevent them, to respond to them quickly and to mitigate their negative impacts. We hope that we can help Stanford become a community where all of our members feel safe and included as we pursue our scholarly endeavors and career aspirations.
I
Graphic: CHLOE YU-NING/The Stanford Daily
tion, of half measures ... is coming to its close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences. We are now experiencing the consequences of the climate crisis in every part of our world.” This truth became acutely evident when I heard Aminath Shauna, Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology for the Maldives, state that “COP is our lifeline. The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees, for us, really is a death sentence.” There were no illusions about the severity and urgency of the climate
crisis, but far too many on how to handle it. With energy generation responsible for three-fourths of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Mafalda Duarte, the CEO of Climate Investment Funds, there is an enormous opportunity to scale renewable energy from the currently installed 1,400 GW to the necessary 17,000 GW. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, whose impassioned speech contrasted those of the pre-
Please see COP26, page 4
How to improve campus alcohol safety
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oughly 600 days after my undergraduate institution announced we would not be returning back to campus after spring break, I find myself devoid of the growth, gains and glow-up I was supposed to achieve during this extended “down-time.” While people were working on their fitness, learning new skills and spending more time at home, my sleep schedule was in chaos, and I started therapy for the first time in the month leading up to the start of graduate school. Coming to the realization that burnout, amongst other factors, led up to my existential turmoil was really difficult. We live in a world where our parents’ generation write us off as lazy and unmotivated when we blame burnout, and a study needs to spend the first 500 words of its report justifying the concept of burnout to its audience before jumping into its insights. I therefore despaired over whether my ill-adjustment was a product of poor self-discipline or actually sensible. I didn’t know where to place the blame, and I flirted with the idea of no longer harboring any blame or shame as I navigated this transitory and young period of my life. More and more, this problem of burnout seemed larger than myself. It felt institutional. The society I lived in was becoming harder and harder to satisfy. When I finished my summer internship this year, I was a shell of a human. I threw away respectable standards for basic selfcare. The 16-hour days drained me completely, physically, emotionally and creatively; its impact was so severe that I came back to campus
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Lea Wenting Rysavy, Clarisse Hokia and Liza Hafner
ur names are Lea, Clarisse and Liza, and we are the codirectors of the 5-SURE on Foot program on campus, a studentled health and safety initiative that provides snacks and water and walks students home on the weekends. We are writing today out of concern for attitudes and behaviors toward alcohol on Stanford’s campus. As three people who work in alcohol safety, we witness parties on campus every single week. This quarter, we have watched unhealthy behaviors toward alcohol increase rapidly and frighteningly. We believe there are clear reasons for this increase, and we ask that the Stanford administration take the appropriate steps to address this alarming trend. At the 5-SURE on Foot table, we know that significantly more parties than are registered occur every weekend. We have had nights with twice the usual numbers of people visiting the table; on one night, over 1300 students came to the table. While this in itself is not a bad thing, it is indicative of a large increase in the number of students engaging in parties and alcohol consumption. We have had to intervene in many more alcohol poisoning incidents than usual. Previously, we rarely had to deal with vomiting in our role, but this year, we have had several instances of vomiting at the table, and some students have been so in-
Our society’s problem with burnout
toxicated that they were extremely disoriented and could not stand even with assistance. We have also had to deal with near-transports or transports every weekend. Excessive alcohol consumption additionally poses hazards, including running in the dark across busy streets, disregard for COVID-19 safety, and property damage. There are several plausible explanations for this recent change. The first is perceived attitudes toward drinking and partying culture on campus. New students have just been thrown into a completely new physical, academic and social environment. Academic stress and social interactions encourage students to push their boundaries without knowing their tolerance or comfort limits. This is, of course, not a novel occurrence; however, we have heard from students personally that they feel they need to hide drinking or do not feel comfortable asking for help if something happens while drinking. In addition, during the times we have intervened with alcohol poisoning incidents at the table, students become very nervous when we suggest calling a transport, the RD on call or even their RAs. We have heard from students that another reason for the increase in dangerous drinking behaviors is the lack of alternative substancefree programming on campus. With the disappearance of Cardinal
Nights, many students who don’t drink, or students who still want to go out with friends but don’t feel comfortable drinking, have no other structured nighttime entertainment options. We have heard from RAs that dormitories lack sufficient funding to provide consistent alternative programming, too. As a result, students feel there is nothing else to do on weekends except drink and go to parties, which both excludes students who don’t drink and pressures students who don’t know their limits to engage in drinking past their boundaries. We believe there are clear ways to address this concerning increase in unhealthy alcohol-related behaviors. The first is to reinstate and increase substance-free programming, including Cardinal Nights. Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cardinal Nights provided university-sponsored substancefree events 2-3 nights per week. These events ranged from on-campus socials and craft nights to tickets for off-campus movies and concerts. The presence of Cardinal Nights improved campus morale and was an exciting and reassuring source of entertainment for all students. In addition, the presence of student staff at Cardinal Nights events was critical for student engagement in their events because
Please see ALCOHOL, page 8
Chairs of Basic Biomedical Science Departments in the Schools of Medicine, Engineering and Humanities and Science, directors of the Biosciences Institutes and the directors of the Interdisciplinary Biosciences Programs
DOUGLAS K. OWENS Chair, Department of Health Policy SYLVIA K. PLEVRITIS Chair, Department of Biomedical Data Science DAVID S. SCHNEIDER Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology MICHAEL SNYDER Chair, Department of Genetics AARON F. STRAIGHT Chair, Department of Biochemistry ANNE VILLENEUVE Chair, Department of Developmental Biology STEVEN ARTANDI Director, Stanford Cancer Institute CAROLYN BERTOZZI Director, ChEM-H Institute MARK M. DAVIS Director, Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection MARY LEONARD Director, Maternal and Child Health Research Institute CRYSTAL MACKALL Director, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy WILLIAM NEWSOME Director, Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute CARLA SHATZ Director, Bio-X Program IRVING WEISSMAN Director, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine JOSEPH C. WU Director, Cardiovascular Institute
STEPHEN A. BACCUS Chair, Department of Neurobiology
OLIVIA MARTINEZ Director, Immunology Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
MELISSA L. BONDY Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health
K.C. HUANG Director, Biophysics Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
JAMES K. CHEN Chair, Department of Chemical and Systems Biology
TUSHAR DESAI Co-Director, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
JENNIFER R. COCHRAN Chair, Department of Bioengineering MARTHA S. CYERT Chair, Department of Biology
GERALD SPANGRUDE Co-Director, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
MIRIAM B. GOODMAN Chair, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
JULIEN SAGE Co-Director, Cancer Biology Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
SHERRIL L. GREEN Chair, Department of Comparative Medicine
LAURA ATTARDI Co-Director, Cancer Biology Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
THEODORE S. JARDETZKY Chair, Department of Structural Biology
JUSTIN GARDNER Co-Director, Neurobiology Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
PAUL S. MISCHEL Vice Chair for Research, Department of Pathology THOMAS MONTINE Chair, Department of Pathology
MERRITT MADUKE Co-Director, Neurobiology Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
4 N Friday, December 3, 2021
COP26 Continued from page 3 ceding panelists, asserted that “clean energy is an engine that will get us to our net zero future.” However, despite the many well-intentioned speeches, it became exceedingly apparent that the details and ambition in the announced plans were lacking. The conversation mainly focused on phasing out and retiring coal plants, or cancelling plans to build new ones. Although this is an essential component, there was a missed opportunity to move the conversation forward on other critically important technologies that will shape our future grid instead of centering the dialogue on a fuel source of the past. We no longer have the luxury to allow ourselves or
BURNOUT Continued from page 3 Young workers between the ages of 20 and 34 lead the numbers of Americans who are neither working nor looking for work. Whether policies are instituted to have employers set publicly embraced working standards, to report and collect data on the satisfaction of employees and the sustainability of their jobs, to create a national paid family and medical leave plan, etc., one thing is clear — we need our government to step in and regulate. Slowing labor force growth minimizes U.S. competitiveness and economic strength; if our government isn’t interested in the wellbeing of the American people, then they should at the very least be motivated by the former. Looking back, it’s clear that societal pressures heavily impacted my upbringing. I grew up with two very hardworking, and possibly overworked, parents with “9-5” corporate jobs. As a baby, I was sent to live with my aunt, who resided in a city 800 miles away while my parents were still finding their place in America; my parents brought me back home once I became a toddler only because my grandparents came to live with us. I spent many
VOTING Continued from page 1 economic prosperity and the national security of the United States as well.” The bill includes many of the provisions that were included in H.R. 1, the For the People Act (FTPA), which passed the House in March but was stalled by Senate Republicans. The Freedom to Vote Act also adds new safeguards to “protect the integrity of vote counting and ensure sound election administration,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. “One of the most important aspects of the Freedom to Vote Act is that it establishes a federal floor for voting access,” Senior Research Scholar at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Didi Kuo said in an interview with The Daily. “If voters in all states are guaranteed early voting, no-excuse vote by mail, an electionday holiday and automatic voter registration, it makes it easier for Americans to cast a ballot.” According to Kuo, the bill would also bring the American election system in line with those of many other democracies. Another important aspect of the legislation, according to Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute Larry Diamond, is the bill’s focus on preventing the reversal or sabotage of election results, including the removal of election officials for partisan reasons. “The biggest and most imminent threat to the future of American democracy comes from the growing campaign of Republicans in many states to politicize and take control of election administration and certification in case they don’t like the results,” Diamond said. Other experts who signed the New America letter agreed that the largest obstacle to expanding voting rights is the Republican Party, with some citing racial tensions and the rise of white nationalism. “Republicans believe (correctly) that the expansion of voting rights to people of color works to their political disadvantage because these groups tend to vote heavily Democratic,” Professor of Political Science Terry Moe wrote. “Acting in their own selfinterest, they have blocked efforts in Congress to expand voting rights, and they will continue to do that. Jefferson echoed Moe’s view of the Republican Party, adding that the Party “is not advancing the goals of multi-racial democracy in this country. We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that these attacks on the right to vote, and the attempt of the Republican party to subvert the will of the American people, is all happening at a moment where
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our leaders to echo well-established truths rather than forge ahead into the uncertain, yet necessary, realities that lie before us. It was troubling to observe the disconnect between the ideas presented by governments and the innovative solutions offered by existing research to address sustainability targets. My wind energy mapping research, for instance, demonstrates that it is possible to supply all power demand in the U.S. with onshore wind energy alone and can help developers and policymakers expedite site selection. The Solutions Project, a research organization founded by professor Mark Jacobson, has created roadmaps for cities, states and countries to reach 100% renewable energy using only wind, water and solar resources. These plans quantify potential cost reductions, health benefits and economic gains, in addition to the emis-
sions reductions of transitioning to renewable energy. There are a myriad of other organizations that are doing truly good work to push us forward, ranging from decarbonized cement to green hydrogen to electrified fertilizer production to materials recycling and inventive ways to use abandoned oil wells as battery storage. These technologies, even if not yet available at scale, are advancing rapidly and forging ahead to become profitable within the next few years. Inventions and insights like these need to be amplified, executed, supported and shared at forums such as COP. To provide more substantial and progressive ideas, a greater number of scientists should be engaged. This might serve to sharpen ambitions and advance cross-disciplinary understanding on the incredible potential of pivotal technologies. Further, it is crucial that published
summers home alone, beginning at an age well under what would have been appropriate, and up until the last day of high school, I never came home before 7 or 8 p.m., despite school ending at 2:30 pm and most club activities wrapping up around 4 pm. I will never know the extent of the sacrifices they endured during the prime of their child-rearing years, but I feared for my ability to maintain a personal life when I eventually became a working adult. I’m not sure what my outlook on life should be when societies benefit from happier citizens, and yet we are the most overworked developed nation in the world. Quarantine may have seemed to give us more time on the surface, but it also gave people more time to tend to preexisting responsibilities that may have been neglected before the pandemic. These include child-care responsibilities for parents or familial commitments for people of all ages. These bleak circumstances, often out of our control and due to the lack of resources built into the pillars of our society, create a stressed and mentally unwell workforce, permeating into all corners of society with relationships to the employed. Then shouldn’t our goal be to move towards a reality where all citizens can maintain a livelihood sustainably? Thankfully, perhaps, not all is lost. Recently, some governing enti-
ties have stepped in to curb the overpowering grip of these fundamental pillars of our livelihood. As the Chinese government cracked down on the 996 work culture, ByteDance, owner of TikTok, became one of the first companies to pioneer a new work culture amongst China’s booming technology companies. This “1075” system involves a working schedule from 10 am to 7 pm for five days a week. Although real working conditions take time to adjust to newly passed mandates, the Japanese and South Korean governments have released new amendments curbing the maximum work week hours. In Europe, many countries are rated highly by the OECD for the best work-life balance, with Denmark in the lead. National policies in Europe also allow for much more generous parental-related entitlements, annual leave and sick pay compared to those in the U.S. Though some American companies are following in these footsteps with the help of federal leadership, more can follow suit. If you were my dad, you’d tell me my underwhelming efforts towards “carpe diem!” were due to a lack of discipline, but as I continue to unlearn and learn habits to construct a more sustainable life, I wonder how much of this is not my own doing. I wonder how much of this conversation is still in the hands of forces much, much larger than my own.
white Americans are worried about maintaining political and societal power.” For Jefferson, conversations about racial dominance and whiteness are inextricable from the current “crisis of American democracy” described in the letter. “This legislation comes at a moment of racial reckoning where there is potential for us to see white backlash, not just in violent activity against people of color, but in the halls of places of power, where elected officials are doing the bidding of a white constituency,” Jefferson said. Despite many experts agreeing that voting rights is a priority issue for strengthening American democracy, progress on this issue has been slow, especially since the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Why? According to Diamond, there are two simple reasons. First, a 60-vote majority is required to overcome the Senate filibuster and end debate in all cases except reconciliation bills and executive and judicial appointments. Second, while Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has said that he supports the Freedom to Vote Act, he has not yet indicated his willingness to lift the filibuster for this bill, which would allow it to pass with a simple majority. According to Diamond, over time, the Senate has gradually narrowed the filibuster. First, the Senate reduced the threshold for cloture (ending debate) from 67 to 60 votes and then more recently lifted it for executive appointments and federal judicial appointments below the Supreme Court. Finally, in 2017, the upper chamber lifted the filibuster for Supreme Court appointments. “So I don’t see why bills pertaining to the defense of democracy should be held hostage to this antiquated provision.” If Senator Manchin agrees to lift the filibuster, the bill will pass and become law, Diamond added. “The support is there in the House, and he
would be the 50th vote in the Senate, with VP Harris breaking the tie,” he said. Experts sounded the alarm on American democracy if the bill fails to pass. Jack Rakove, a professor of history and political science, said that he is a “big believer in the American constitutional experiment,” yet added that “it is getting more difficult with each passing day to avoid worrying about the dangers the republic is facing.” “We have reached the point where the fundamental tenet of democracy — the peaceful transfer of power in the aftermath of elections — has been placed in jeopardy by a rogue president who has become the strongman leader of a party that is taking the form of an authoritarian cult,” Rakove said. According to Moe, we are witnessing the devolution of democracy as we know it. “This is how democracies die, when one of the major parties stops defending democratic norms and bends the rules to protect their hold on power,” Moe said, referencing Republican leaders’ support for former President Trump’s “anti-democratic” behavior. “The only way to save our democracy is by defeating the Republicans at the ballot box — but that is only possible through free and fair elections in which voting by everyone is encouraged, not suppressed.” Diamond added that the efforts included in the Freedom to Vote Act are critical for preventing violence and the demise of democracy. “It’s not a question of whether we will have a Republican or Democratic president in 2025, but rather whether that president was chosen through a democratic process,” Diamond said. “The potential for a much worse and more violent controversy than on January 6 is very real if the bulk of officeholders in both parties do not embrace, enhance and respect democratic rules of the game.”
CASES
and provide updates to the university community,” University spokesperson E.J. Miranda wrote. “We also encourage all eligible members of our community to get the COVID-19 booster as it is extremely effective at extending the protection offered by initial COVID vaccinations.” The University maintains that vaccination and mask-wearing provide strong protection against serious COVID-19 illness, and the University continues to provide weekly testing to campus community members and adhere to the county mask mandate. The University is also monitoring the situation surrounding COVID-19 variants, according to the dashboard.
Continued from page 1 The 0.10% seven-day positivity rate for students and 0.07% for faculty remains lower than Santa Clara County’s 1.6% rate and California’s 3.0% rate. The California Department of Public Health is closely monitoring the new Omicron variant, which has not yet been detected in the U.S, according to the California Department of Public Health. “The university continues to monitor CDC, state and county guidance and adjust health and safety protocols as conditions evolve
work reaches the right channels for easier adoption and implementation, which might take the form of increased sharing and collaboration between parties, or more frequent exchanges between scientists and policymakers. Reporting on highlevel politics must not take priority over discourse that integrates technical depth. It is not an exaggeration that I came across more media and film crews than scientists and engineers at the conference. True, COP26 is regarded as a world stage, but must the actors’ scripts be so hollow? In 1961, President Kennedy declared, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” This goal, for which almost none of the technology had yet been invented, was in fact successfully achieved in 1969. Now, in 2021, I believe that this nation, and indeed this world, should commit itself to achieving carbon neutrality. Not in 2050, not in another generation, or by the time island nations and coral reefs and hopes for a livable planet will be long gone, but by 2030. Unlike Kennedy’s grand challenge, 95% of the technologies needed to implement the proposed climate plans are already commercial. We have no excuse; we must act. Long-range targets, as necessary as they are, will not be attained unless intermediate actions are also undertaken. Kennedy’s ambition mobilized and united a whole country to perform a previously unimaginable feat. This is the kind of leadership we need around the world today. The fact that we have the solutions is cause for great optimism. Rather than having a narrative that frames it as a doom and gloom “crisis,” we should see the current climate situation as an opportunity — one for economic growth, the rise of novel industries such as offshore wind and alternative meat, improved quality of life and health through the avoidance of seven million annual air pollution deaths worldwide, as well as the creation of 28.6 million new long-term, full-time jobs over the business-as-usual scenario. Instead of wielding shame and peer pressure, which are effective only until dismay sets in, it is far more empowering to focus on the
tangible, immediate action that we have the ability to implement right now. Climate action is no longer a question of direction, only speed. Certainly, some of the new commitments will help to accelerate the transition. $130 trillion in funding was committed toward climate action, but an estimated $100 trillion is still required. The question of how to achieve a just transition, with allocation of capital toward developing countries and island nations, was a recurring topic. The need to de-risk investment opportunities in developing countries and to lift living standards will be addressed by the new Climate Finance Leadership Initiative, focused on India and Indonesia. Similarly, a historic $8.5 billion package was granted to South Africa through the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a new coalition with the US, the EU, France, Germany and the UK. The unprecedented level of funding clearly demonstrates what a priority climate has become. In fact, 90% of overall global GDP is now committed to net zero. Not only will this save lives, but it will also spur economic development. Janet Yellen, the US Secretary of the Treasury, described this as the “greatest economic opportunity of our time.” In fact, the economy of the world will be 25% bigger if we take the 1.5 degree track rather than the track we are on today. Many of the solutions that we need to reach net zero and to keep 1.5 degrees alive, two central themes at COP26, are already in existence, but we lack the communication channels and the political will to get them implemented. Though these are large barriers to overcome, we have reason for optimism if we can act quickly enough. Al Gore ended his speech by saying that we need to recognize that political will is itself a renewable resource. What he omitted was that time, unfortunately, is not. With 800 million people on the planet without access to energy, and countless others whose lives and livelihoods are endangered, we don’t have the time for insubstantial rhetoric and delay. “We know that we have made progress, but we are far from the goal that we need to reach,” Gore concluded. The ambitions have been set, but now is the decade of action.
FEMGEN
the amount of time and effort they had to put into FGSS,” Daub said. “I don’t think people investing in the program should be disadvantaged.” To increase stability in faculty, the professors proposed several ideas. For Daub, departmentalization seemed to be the most direct solution, as it would solve the problem of professors worrying about other departmental commitments. Departmentalization would also attract additional professors to join the University who specialize in the field of study and have more time to devote to it, Daub added. Still, Fonrobert offered an alternative perspective. She said she believes that the inter-departmental nature of the program should remain. For her, the immediate solution should be to continue the current search for professors. Hiring through the different departments with a note about the inter-departmental programs in the position description would help, she said, though interested professors may not have much time for the program. There would be a more stable and guaranteed connection with other departments involved, she added. “The Inter-Departmental Programs are the glue that keep and nurture the interdisciplinarity in studies, and that I think is a good thing,” Fonrobert said. Moreover, Leighton confirmed that the School of Humanities and Sciences doesn’t “have plans to departmentalize the inter-departmental programs.” Despite the high turnover rate, the number of students taking courses under FGSS, also known as FEMGEN, has been steadily growing. “FEMGEN 101: Introduction to Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies” is a large introductory course that attracts many students outside of the program, and “FEMGEN 103: Feminist and Queer Theories and Methods Across the Disciplines” is often on the verge of oversubscription according to Daub, who added that classes about feminism in the queer community and racial minorities are also popular. “There’s such wonderful people, students and faculty,” Fonrobert said. “The people and interest in the subject have encouraged many professors to voluntarily spend time and effort in the program,” Daub added. “It is such willingness and passion that allowed FGSS to run smoothly for the past years.” “We value the work of our IDPs and the faculty who teach in them. We recognize the wonderful leadership in the Programs in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Asian-American Studies,” Leighton said.
Continued from page 1 sult of the preceding period of stability, with many professors retiring after an extremely long career at the university, Daub said. Or perhaps, more importantly, is the fact that the structure of Stanford’s inter-departmental programs leads to highly-fluid faculty, Daub said. FGSS has no core faculty — all of its professors come from various other departments. According to Joy Leighton, the public relations spokesperson for the School of Humanities and Sciences, it is important that the essential subject matter studied in interdepartmental programs are represented in the traditional disciplinary departments. Therefore, the University appoints faculty in departments who can contribute strongly to both the inter-departmental programs and their home departments. Daub pointed out a disadvantage of such a system. The professors must teach a minimum hour of classes in their home department in order to keep their tenure. However, professors are not expected to teach in the inter-departmental programs, and these programs cannot request any class hour. They run on people’s commitment to the cause and being willing to donate their labor. Naturally, faculty prioritize work in their home departments. “It leads to a kind of attrition effect,” Daub explained. If professors decide to shift their focuses away from an inter-departmental program or their home department workloads increase, there is nothing that the inter-departmental programs can do. The programs depend entirely on faculty members’ passion and willingness to contribute, according to Fonrobert. “The challenge is to organize your teaching so that you can organize it to sustain the courses that you’re passionate about,” Fonrobert said, who also directs the Jewish Studies Program under the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. “It’s sometimes hard to sustain that because you’re pulled in various directions,” she added. Faculty in FGSS may need to also dedicate a lot of time and effort to the program, making large sacrifices without much reward, Daub said. According to Daub, last year, Max Crandall, the associate director of FGSS, had to perform work on multiple responsibilities even though he was only paid for one. “I know of at least two previous faculty directors whose future at Stanford was seriously imperiled by
Friday, December 3, 2021 N 5
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CULTURE MUSIC
Hidden holiday hits 5 underrated gems to jingle your bells while you rock around the Christmas tree By ADITEYA SHUKLA The criteria Each song is scored in three categories:
COLUMNIST
Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.
Christmas spirit Does this song remind you of the holidays? Are you transported to your childhood home, warm in a bundle of blankets next to your Christmas tree? Finally, can you play this at an X-mas party and not only get away with it, but have it widely appreciated?
Welcome to “Slept On Songs.” In this column you will find recommendations of songs and artists that you have never heard of but will undoubtedly love. Whether it be music released by an unknown artist last week or underrated songs from major artists that passed under your radar, this series will make sure you have your weekly dose of fresh indie music.
Production value How good does the song sound on its Graphic: JESSICA LEE/The Stanford Daily own? Does it sound professional enough to make it to the speakers of a Christmas market? How pronounced is the Christmas song t’s just a week after Thanksgiving, and Mariah Carey’s “All I sample, if any? Want for Christmas Is You’’ is already rising on the Billboard Creativity Hot 100. Christmas will come and go, but each one of us has a How fresh is this song to you? Is it like nothing you’ve heard song that carries our spirit through the season. As great as Christmas music is, it can be repetitive; everyone’s holiday before, or would you rather just play the classics instead? How playlist has the same 20 songs that we have all heard year in, long can you play it before people in the room find it awfully boryear out. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing: holiday music is ing? powerful in part due to its ability to generate feelings of comfort and nostalgia. But have you ever felt you could use a new Christ- THE SONGS mas song? What if you found a song that you could play at your next holiday party, surprising everyone with your complex taste 5. Jingle Bell Rock (TRAP REMIX) — Buck Rodgers in music, even in something as generic as the Christmas genre? This list starts off with a trap remix of the classic Christmas By the time you’re done reading this column, you will have five song “Jingle Bell Rock.” This song could be an exciting addition to new songs, each scored and ranked according to a carefully de- your Christmas party playlist, instantly increasing the energy in signed metric to make sure you find exactly what you didn’t know you were looking for. Please see CHRISTMAS, page 7
I
MUSIC
Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.
P
roducer and singer-songwriter Finneas O’Connell appears as FINNEAS in his recently released debut album, “Optimist.” The 13track album is a scream against the injustices of society — racism, politics and internet violence, to name a few. Except, it isn’t. The album isn’t loud, coherent or rebellious enough for the kinds of topics he’s addressing, leaving us with a hollow, mildly chaotic array of jumbled political statements to wrap our heads around. FINNEAS has already revolutionized the music industry due to his jarring, genre-breaking productions with Billie Ellish; he draws soundscapes that incorporate bone-shaking bass and otherworldly chords to morph pop into something no one has ever heard before. I’m almost hesitant to write “debut” alongside his name,
Treehouse now selling Romanstyle pinsa
considering that he has won eight Grammy awards in the last two years. But this time, he attempted a solo-produced project completely to his musical liking — writing, recording and mixing all by himself. On this latest album, the artist struggles to communicate a clear stance on social issues which can tie his tracks together into a single entity. This ambivalence is illustrated in the second track, “The Kids Are All Dying,” as he points aimlessly toward all the problems in the world, never committing to a single culprit to scrutinize. In one verse he asks, “What’s your carbon footprint and could you be doing more,” and on another, “How can you sing about drugs when politicians are lying?” The song becomes more of a list of “social issues people should know about,” rather than a personal statement of his beliefs — and it gets even worse as he acknowledges his own privileges in society with the cringe-worthy lyrics, “And I’m whiter than the ivory on these keys.” This lyrical fumble is but one of many in the album. Often his words fall flat, failing
Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.
T Graphic: ANGELA WEI/The Stanford Daily
The album isn’t loud, coherent or rebellious enough for the topics FINNEAS is addressing, leaving us with a chaotic array of jumbled political statements, writes Ireh Kim. to hit their intended emotional bite. These moments verge on the side of trite and bland, turning messages fit for motivation posters into grandiose lines in the chorus. As it is, his social message is messy and confusing, but FINNEAS further complicates the focus of the album with completely off-topic tracks. “Around My Neck” is a slimy, sticky, pop fantasization of having sex, and “Peaches Etude” is an instrumental tribute to his ex’s pitbull named Peaches. While the tunes are pleasant to the ear, they add little value to the
Please see ALBUM, page 7
READS
The future of water politics in the West By ALLISON CASASOLA COLUMNIST
Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques. Welcome to “Facing the Speculative,” where I will be discussing some crucial speculative fiction novels and their implications for modern society. This is an extension of the project “Imagining Adaptive Societies” with Earth Systems Associate Professor Jamie Jones and Political Science Professor Margaret Levi under the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences.
“L
ook at this lake. Look at where the water has receded over just the last 20 years. That is larger than the height of the Statue of Liberty,” said Vice President Kamala Harris at her recent visit to Lake Mead in October. Harris’ visit to the lake brought dire and necessary attention to the climate-fueled crisis happening in the American Southwest. The basin is entering its 22nd year of drought. Water levels at Lake Mead are at a historic low as the lake vanishes before our eyes. These developments have catastrophic effects for the states who depend on the basin as a water
Please see FICTION, page 8
CULTURE
By BLAKE SHARP
FINNEAS’ newest release is unsure of its message By IREH KIM
BLAKE SHARP/The Stanford Daily
Since reopening after COVID-19, Treehouse has pivoted to serving New York-style pizza and Roman-style pinsa in lieu of its rectangular Detroit- and Chicago hybrid-pies.
Graphic: JESSICA LEE/The Stanford Daily
In Paolo Bacigalupi's speculative fiction novel, he explores the impacts of water shortages in America on our sense of justice and raises questions about human nature, writes columnist Allison Casasola.
he bottom crust snaps as the top of my teeth sink into mozzarella, calabrese, salty black olive and aromatic basil. The dough is light but still strong enough to hold its host of toppings. I can’t help but feel surprised; this delicious lunch feels like it belongs in the Italian countryside, not at Stanford’s Treehouse. Meet the pinsa (pronounced “peen-sa”), a Romanstyle pizza with extra-hydrated dough. Since reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic, Treehouse has pivoted to serve New York-style pizza and Romanstyle pinsa in lieu of its rectangular Detroit and Chicago hybrid pies. The rest of the menu remains intact, and the range of classics from chicken tikka masala burritos to garlic parmesan fries is as delicious as ever. The pizza shift stems from hiring a chef, Naim Sit, from the legendary Gusto Pinseria on Bush street in San Francisco, according to Ray Klein. Klein is the owner and manager of three campus staples: Treehouse, CoHo and Ray’s. Klein is a restaurateur who has had his hand in the California food scene for several decades. He was an early supporter of San Francisco favorite Tartine Bakery, which he helped move from Mill Valley to the city. Tartine is now a well-established bakery with multiple locations known for their breads and baked goods; I highly recommend their morning bun. Klein tried pinsa for the first time at Montesacro and then again at Gusto Pinseria several years ago. Since then, he has become a pinsa fanatic, and he jumped at the chance to recruit Sit to campus. So what makes pinsa different? Pinsa dough has a higher water content than most bread and takes three days to mature. This process causes the complex sugars in the bread to break down into simpler glucose molecules, making the dough more digestible. The Gusto chefs add a San Francisco touch to their dough by incorporating dried sourdough to create a more dynamic texture and taste. What sets pinsa apart for me is largely the crust, which manages to be fluffy and chewy while still maintaining a crunchy outer layer. The consumer is left with a delicious, rectangular pie paired with high-quality toppings and wonderful texture. The red sauces spread over the base are a tangy, bright complement to the salty mozzarellas sprinkled on top. Treehouse currently offers six flavors of pinsa: margherita, bufula, funghi, diavola, quattro formaggi and pepperoni. The margherita is a classic — just tomatoes and cheese — and the bufula uses the same base with fresh bufula mozzarella, a fresh cheese only produced in certain regions of Italy that is hard to find on California menus. The funghi has sliced garlic-roasted mushrooms on top of the margherita base. The diavola has red sauce, mozzarella cheese with huge folded layers of spicy salami, olives, bell peppers, onions and a heavy hand of herbs. The quattro formaggi is topped with gorgonzola, mozzarella, aged cheddar and padano cheeses with spicy n’duja sausage. The pepperoni is another classic with red sauce, cheese and cured meat cups. I highly recommend the diavola for meat eaters and bufula for vegetarians. For a vegan option, it is possible to order a bare pinsa to accompany any meal. The pinsa is a little on the pricier side. Each pie costs between 14 to 18 dollars. This is slightly above average for Treehouse and could deter some eaters. If you have the means, I strongly encourage trying it at least once. The pinsa tastes notably different, and isn’t close to anything else you can find around campus. All around, the pinsa is a win for the Stanford dining scene. These cheesy delights are wonderful to share with friends at the Arbor for Thursday trivia night or to enjoy as an indulgent lunch.
6 N Friday, December 3, 2021
The Stanford Daily
THE GRIND
Friendly voyeurism, part 1 Chamberlain and internet celebrity Wikimedia Commons
Yastika Guru contemplates social media’s obsession with the mundane and the relatable through looking at internet celebrity Emma Chamberlain.
By YASTIKA GURU
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ew York, September 2021. Suspense for the Met Gala drifts through the limp, humid air, down the city’s grimy railroad-stitched basement and up its pigeoncrowned gangly buildings. Glamour’s favorite night is here. Folded into the cacopahonic wail of Honda Civics and Hyundai Tucsons are the silence-preserving walls of Emma Chamberlain’s hotel room. She sets up her camera before climbing into the bathtub. “I’m totally in denial,” she confesses to her 10.9 million subscribers. “I don’t know what to say or think about this. Why am I not nervous?” She pauses and you hear the wet flickers of bathtub water skidding against itself. Quietness booms about the walls in a panic. The marble wall behind her stares back at you from your screen. “Throughout my experience being on the internet and doing the whole thing, there’s been so many parts of it that I just cannot comprehend. And this is obviously one of them.” She looks away from the camera. “The entire concept of my life I sometimes struggle to comprehend.” As the video progresses, you watch her through the disbelieving dreaminess of being fitted into a glittering golden Louis Vuitton dress while followed around by a
Vogue camera crew. “This is literally my marriage,” Emma announces to the room after hair and makeup. “I’m marrying myself tonight.” She steps into the crowd of paparazzi when her car rolls into the Met Gala. And just so, almost like Henry Higgins and Hugh Pickering watching Eliza at the embassy ball, you see her off. And just so, she transforms. The nausea and docility of anxious denial rearranges into the face that launched a thousand ships, version Gen Z. (Think: Instagram followers with higher engagement than that of Selena Gomez and Kim Kardashian.) Once uploaded to YouTube, Emma’s footage is received with sonorous streams of adoring comments. To an outsider, these comment sections of quasi-anonymous, faceless YouTube accounts expressing pride and support may seem absurd. Surely this is some giant delusion of parasocial intimacy, some amusing spectacle of histrionic internet absurdity? Emma herself seems visibly disoriented by it. But this sort of parasocial friendship, both comical and touching to witness, is earnest in all its saccharine extravagance. Obvious inquiry automatically wafts in: what delicate architecture of human connection moves over 11 million people to love you? Zoomed in, it’s not that complicated or interesting. Of course
you’re proud of Emma for hosting the Met. This is a friendship that began in 2017. Today, a Google search introduces her as an “American Internet personality” accompanied by a string of awards and business ventures. But you were there before all these commercial pyrotechnics lined her life. You first met her as an irreverent high school junior from San Mateo uploading videos to YouTube for fun. She recounted anecdotes while taking you along on trips to Target or the beach or San Francisco or her school — her monologues were seething with sarcasm, refreshingly disrespectful of etiquette and witheringly selfdeprecating. This was your reliable pasttime, your ASMR while Mom and Dad and their yelling reckoned with life in the living room: Emma’s bumpy, jagged, home video-quality footage. A lot of these were filmed in her Subaru, where she retreated throughout the day to report to you how her day was progressing. The walls of her room became as familiar as those of a best friend whose place you go over to after school everyday — white bed frames, drawers and lamps mixed with blue bed sheets and curtains; a Beatles print hung above her chest of drawers. Behind the scenes, Emma was a Normal Human Being. Only child. Parents divorced when she was five.
Please see CELEBRITY, page 8
Graphic: BENJAMIN GAO/The Stanford Daily
HUMOR
An ode to the cute girl I pinned on Zoom By BENJAMEN GAO
You finally came into view
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Editor’s Note: This article is purely satirical and fictitious. All attributions in this article are not genuine, and this story should be read in the context of pure entertainment only. I have a confession A missed connection This might seem unforeseen But it’s been on my mind all quarantine
My heart skipped a beat Almost fell out of my seat And that’s when I knew I had one thing to do So I opened a new tab Asked the question I had “For those that I pin, Will they know of my sin?” A sigh of relief Actually ... this ain’t it, chief What about class? Do I pin or do I pass?
The first day of lecture That’s when I saw her She then gave an introduction My attention; there was an abduction
I thought for a while My education; was it worthwhile? Fine; I set my priorities straight So I prudently went with fate
Soon it’d be my turn to go Can’t be boring or typical What to do? What to say? I felt nervous like chem 31a
Click after click I somehow felt sick My heart was running a race Seeing you; it began to erase
“Hey, Ben, are you there?” Asked the Professor; a big scare Suddenly snapped out of my trance I had to make this count, this chance
Then suddenly I heard “Type your homework on Word, I’ll see you all on Wednesday” “Thanks, Professor; have a nice day”
I struggled to unmute And my words weren’t astute Ugh, I wasted my first impression Had I already lost this connection? As the class progressed It was lackluster at best I needed something to do Then I remembered you! Clicked through the gallery The wait had me in agony But without further ado
Our peers began to log off Until it was just us; a faceoff But soon you too, did leave Oh, that pain! Oh, that grief! But from that day on I never saw you log on Those recorded lectures Were responsible, I conjecture But after all this time You’re still on my mind I have a confession I want this connection
HUMOR
Communion still on for politicians who hate neighbors By BEN LEES STAFF WRITER Edit: BEN LEES/The Stanford Daily
Concerned about dangerous questions and other noxious concepts, chemistry students are donning full personal protective equipment.
HUMOR
PPE protects from midterms By BEN LEES STAFF WRITER
Editor’s Note: This article is purely satirical and fictitious. All attributions in this article are not genuine, and this story should be read in the context of pure entertainment only.
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eneral chemistry courses are moving through their last round of midterms, and students are gearing up for the grueling tests. In many cases, literally: safely han-
dling the dangerous questions on the midterm exams requires — among other things — gloves, goggles and a lab coat. “Those midterms are nasty stuff,” one chemistry TA said. “Direct skin contact with Gibbs free energy can result in severe burns within seconds, and crystal field theory can only be safely released under a fume hood. We only allow our students to handle the midterm after extensive preparation. Throughout the quarter, students have been practicing working with similarly dangerous problems in lab sections — with
comprehensive PPE, of course.” The course’s instructors hastened to add that the practice midterm, in contrast, posed no danger, despite some students’ concerns over being exposed to it without adequate protection. “Yes, we allowed students to use the practice midterms without PPE,” said a lecturer for Chem 31M this quarter. “But the real exam is written with a substantially different conceptual composition. Don’t assume the actual test is safe just because the practice midterm didn’t hurt you.”
Editor’s Note: This article is purely satirical and fictitious. All attributions in this article are not genuine, and this story should be read in the context of pure entertainment only.
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ast week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement clarifying who is entitled to receive Communion, though it falls short of restricting anyone from it. Though the statement mentions no politician by name, it comes as some quarters push toward denying communion to politicians who, according to some, go against the Church’s teachings by displaying outward resentment of their neighbors. While no source would go on the record, many bishops expressed their disappointment at politicians’ lack of commitment to Christian doctrine. “Christ himself asks us to love our neighbors,” said one bishop, who asked to remain anonymous. “How can one call oneself ‘Christian’ one moment and slander human beings as ‘illegals’ the next? It’s simply outra-
Wikimedia Commons
geous to offer the Eucharist to such a hypocrite.” Similar opinions dominate among religious authorities, but some disagree on the meaning of their religion. “The purpose of Christianity is simply to give the appearance of moral weight to your opinions,” another anonymous source said. “The Church has long regarded scripture as simply a tool for legitimizing whatever political aim you already held.” The final statement takes an indirect angle, avoiding names but noting that public servants have special moral responsibilities in accordance with their positions — Christian grace indeed.
Friday, December 3, 2021 N 7
The Stanford Daily
HUMOR
Prison Premium? By SEAMUS ALLEN STAFF WRITER
Editor’s Note: This article is purely satirical and fictitious. All attributions in this article are not genuine, and this story should be read in the context of pure entertainment only.
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CHRISTMAS Continued from page 5 the room with its heavy bass and drums. The production quality of this song is standard and does the job, making it good enough to present to an audience. However, this remix sounds like a Christmas song converted to sound like a trap song and not the other way around, which I envision as having more potential. The song has two sides to its personality: trap and holiday music. But even though the sounds of the sleigh bells are a nice touch, the Christmas music side of the song is far too hidden. Still, it was a creative idea to translate this classic to trap, as it definitely feels like a fresh spinoff on an old classic. Christmas Spirit: 60/100 Production Value: 75/100 Creativity: 75/100 Total Score: 70/100 4. All I Want For Christmas Is You X Crank That Soulja Boy — Original Bread You can never go wrong with Mariah Carey, and this song capitalizes on that. Combining the popular 2010s dance song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” with this classic Christmas anthem leads to a fun bop. The remix has a fun surprise element as Soulja Boy doesn’t feature until the main beat kicks in at 0:40. Unfortunately, the song drags at times because it relies on the quality of “All I Want for Christmas” a bit too much. At the end of the day, it is just a simple overlay of vocals on another track. Mariah Carey’s song must be a masterpiece in music production for its year-to-year popularity, and this mashup certainly makes the most of that. Christmas Spirit: 85/100 Production Value: 66/100
rison privatization across the United States has grown rapidly over the past decade, but as the industry has matured, corporations have begun to look for new ways to expand their business model and get a leg up on the competition. Until now, the prevailing business model for prisons was a race to the bottom on how badly operators could cut costs by mistreating and neglecting in-
Creativity: 80/100 Total Score: 77/100 3. Kanye West — MAYBE WE CAN MAKE IT TO CHRISTMAS (YEEZY WORKSHOP) — Toasty Digital At this point in time, Kanye West has an almost cult-like following, with his superfans knowing all his songs, verses and tweets by heart. One of these superfans is youtuber Toasty Digital, a music producer who makes amazing remixes and mashups of Kanye’s Songs. Rising to fame after releasing “Kanye 2049,” a conceptual mixtape of his version of Kanye’s discography if it was made in the future, Toasty Digital also released “MAYBE WE CAN MAKE IT TO CHRISTMAS,” a Christmas themed Kanye mixtape. Even though I recommend listening to the entire mixtape, the track “Yeezy Workshop” stood out to me as the real star. The idea of making a Christmas song after finding the perfect samples from thousands and thousands of verses and songs is an incredible achievement. The Kanye verse chosen for “Yeezy Workshop” fits perfectly, providing the track with a great flow. What I like about this track in particular is that Christmas is up front and center. The sample of Wham’s “Last Christmas” shines as the main character, maintaining the Christmas spirit we are looking for. Christmas Spirit: 82/100 Production Value: 86/100 Creativity: 87/100 Total Score: 85/100 2. Christmas Disco 1978 (Santa Claus is Coming to Town / Jingle Bell Rock) — The Mistletoe Disco Band The Mistletoe Disco Band is one of my holiday season favorites. It works great with all age groups and always puts people in a good mood. Obviously, this song receives top
mates. One local prison is looking to change that — at least for those who can afford to pay. The new offerings, dubbed “Prison Plus” and “Prison Premium,” will retail for $199.99 a month and $899.99 a month, respectively. The first plan offers an ad-free prison experience; comes bundled with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime; and gives inmates access to a private VIP lounge with free snacks, wifi and drinks. The more expensive offering comes with all the benefits of the first plan, plus weekly massages, a 20% reduction in sentence length and the ability to spend your time in prison vacationing at participating partner resorts. For a sufficient (though unspecified) fee, inmates can even choose to not to serve time at all.
marks for Christmas spirit; it’s the same Christmas carols we know and love but with a disco twist. The Mistletoe Disco Band was a studio band of nameless players back in the late 70s who recorded a variety of classic Christmas songs and carols as disco beats. Thus, this album especially creates a nostalgic experience for anyone growing up in the 70s and 80s. This nostalgia can be seen if you read through the comments of the video, filled with people reminiscing, remembering this forgotten record and its connection to their childhood. All the tracks on this record are perfect to play at any Christmas party with their groovy beats and basslines. Christmas Spirit: 99/100 Production Value: 79/100 Creativity: 80/100 Total Score: 86/100
ALBUM Continued from page 5 album’s meaning as a whole. FINNEAS knew the weight of his words in creating “Optimist.” In today’s society, where celebrities are analyzed and criticized into a deafening void, it is worth applauding the artist for taking the risk to address such controversial issues in the world. And this album isn’t the first time the artist has taken a political stance. In an iHeartRadio podcast, FINNEAS said, “I think that if you make yourself known as a voter that they will have to win over, you will create politicians who cater more to your desires.” “Optimist” struggles with both its lyrics and construction. The album is a ride across genres, time and space: in “The 90s,” heavy synth distortions and autotune reminiscent of 1990s music embellish the relatively simple vocals. In “Only a Lifetime,” he sings a piano ballad
5. The Rock Rap (Xmas Remix) — Leonz After featuring on Tech N9ne’s song “Face Off,” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson found himself going viral on TikTok and Twitter for his high-energy verse about drive and power. You don’t need to ask music producers twice to remix such an internet sensation. Even though this is another take on Marriah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” this remix in particular is everything the Soulja Boy mashup failed to be and more. This song beats out “Yeezy Workshop” as well because while the Kanye mixtape is great, it’s pulling from a large pool of material. In contrast, “The Rock Rap” producer shows his creativity by creating something so fun with so that lacks any musical significance. Although the diversity in sonic textures and subject matter keeps the album out of a monotonous loop, FINNEAS songs are, unfortunately, not consistent winners. Despite such brutal shortcomings, “Optimist” doesn’t always disappoint. In track six, “Love is Pain,” FINNEAS confesses that “there’s this dream I’ve had ‘bout mom and dad,” soon throwing the listener’s stomach into the abyss with the line, “I wish it wasn’t mandatory dying.” FINNEAS switches between delicate falsettos and strained cries of frustration and grief, his raw baritone complementing the tender timbre he creates with his voice and instrumentals. As a listener trying to be critical, I found myself intertwined in every aching syllable and the pure closeness with which he sang. The soundscape he creates in “A Concert Six Months from Now” is also notable. He mimics a live concert as he sings to an empty crowd with an acoustic band playing in the background, creating a mix of nostalgia and hope as he says, “I’ve al-
little to work with. The song has something new and exciting to share every 10 seconds, especially its immaculate key change that mixes the choir section perfectly with the harmony. This greatness is all underscored by an exciting transition to a drill beat that nobody can see coming. “The Rock Rap” almost feels like opening presents underneath the Christmas tree with a shocking number of surprises packed in its 1.5minute runtime. You and your friends are bound to thoroughly enjoy this stellar and surprising combination of The Rock and Mariah Carey. Christmas Spirit: 91/100 Production Value: 99/100 Creativity: 95/100 Total Score: 95/100 ready purchased two seats for their show / I guess I’m an optimist.” The song draws a parallel between reuniting with his ex and coming out of the pandemic era, and the track serves as an effective hook to the rest of the album. Although the project had disappointing moments, it wasn’t all bad. Listening to an album exploring such controversial subject matter and jarring extremes of sonic texture and tone, I was shocked — and in a good way. FINNEAS managed to build his soundscape, and I think that’s the biggest takeaway from this production. While the risks he took to share his opinions were impressive in theory, the album was ultimately too straightforward, a hollow expression of frustration. “Optimist” expresses pessimistic hope for society, but his blunt lyrics and confusing messaging hurt the impact. If FINNEAS continues to hone in on his lyricism and craft an album as a complete body of work, I’m beginning to become optimistic about what he creates next.
8 N Friday, December 3, 2021
The Stanford Daily
Kamdin Gutierrez and Christian Sanchez
Calling all transfers: You are not alone ime and again we were reminded that we belong here at Stanford. That we are not imposters and to resist feeling as such. This is all well and good when NSO programming, internships, extra-curriculars, officer positions and even scholarships are extended and often reserved opportunities for the freshman cohort. But there is an entire group of first-year students that are not brought equally into the fold: the transfers. Transfers attempting to join first year programming can quickly find that they do not fit or are less than welcome to many of these opportunities. Club positions reserved for freshmen don’t apply to all first year students (transfers). While those positions reserved for upperclassmen presume on-campus experience that an incoming sophomore or junior transfer does not have. One might think that transfers are better off with the upperclassmen, but we don’t quite fit there either. Let’s not forget that for incoming transfers, this is our first year here, too. To be a first-year student given the assumption of campus knowledge on par with the upperclassmen is preposterous to say the least. Whether a traditional- or nontraditional-age transfer, we are not graced with some inherent knowledge of the intricate workings of the Stanford process. This may come as a shock given the expedience with which the University expects a turnover of the transfer cohort year by year. An incoming transfer is expected to breeze through the Stanford process, knowing their direction upon arrival and having completed the majority of their undergraduate education. This expectation ignores the fact that such prerequisites consume time that transfers, generally, do not have. Though some of us are lucky enough to get a few
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freshman prerequisites waived, the vast majority find themselves tasked with completing the same requirements of freshmen with the disadvantage of three to six less quarters to do so. Some go so far as to consider changing majors due to the time allotted and available transferred units. These unfair expectations allow for significantly less time to participate in student groups, research, honors programs and the plethora of opportunities that this University has to offer. We are told to be sure to “explore classes while at Stanford,” but a transfer is already afforded less time for core classes, let alone exploratory ones. As a result, transfers inevitably feel like an anomaly, a student who is not really a junior and not really a sophomore and is often as wideeyed to the new campus as any freshman. And yet, after overcoming an acceptance rate four to five times lower than that of regular admissions, we face new obstacles here as we scramble to figure out our paths in our limited time here. This difficulty is only compounded by the verbiage of year-specific opportunities that, to many transfers, feel as though they read, “Transfers need not apply.” A new world of dilemmas and concerns open up when transferring in with children. The oversights of what it means to be an undergraduate with children are astounding. Moving in, for those of us with children, is one of the most nerve-racking processes that we encounter. The challenges of enrolling children in the neighborhood school district is made needlessly more difficult by a lack of contact or information offered from R&DE. Good luck getting anyone on the phone to answer questions related to our living situation, and when you do, the infor-
mation is always different. A week before moving in, you are given your address and when you finally arrive, you are handed a key and given directions to your place. Simple, yes. But when you have people who are picking up their lives and moving with you, this process can be overwhelming and is certainly not adequate for the requisite components of a child’s school registration. It is disheartening to see the minimal information provided to incoming families, only to be later greeted by an environment of survival of the fittest and the feeling of having to choose between time with kids or Stanford opportunities. While the diligent and invaluable work of our Undergraduate Advisor (UGA), Alice Petty, certainly makes navigating Stanford more manageable, it leaves me unable to imagine the struggle for those not previously assigned the same advisor. At present, we shout from our speck that “We are here!” hoping that our UGA can prove that we exist as part of the community, no matter how small we are, even if it’s hard for others to hear us. Luckily, we are making some headway, and we have been working hard with the ASSU to provide a new space for transfers as ex-officio members and will be moving towards working on a permanent space, with voting power, for transfers within the organization. In the meantime, we’ll keep hoping that we can be heard over the roar of traditional students. And maybe share our collective eye-roll at the statements that tend to follow, “Wait you’re a transfer?” For those fellow transfers that feel forgotten, undesirable or as an imposter within the traditional student body each time you have fielded that ridiculous statement or question, you’re not alone.
ALCOHOL Continued from page 3
students felt both more excited and comfortable attending events run by their peers. We also need to provide the resources and support for student dorms to host alternative programming and think carefully and holistically about attitudes toward handling substance use culture on campus. In part, the reason why Cardinal Nights programming was so beneficial was because it cre-
FICTION Continued from page 5 source. According to Patti Aaron from the Bureau of Reclamation, 18% of water deliveries to Arizona, 7% to Nevada and 5% to Mexico are projected to be cut within the following year. While this demonstrates that climate change does have a tangible impact on the resources (such as water) that we depend on, we as consumers still find ourselves ignoring warning signs. According to General Manager of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) Theodore Cooke, the water cutoffs will have no physical effect on human life for at least five years. Water will still be available at the turn of a faucet until it is too late for us to do anything about it. In the climate fiction (cli-fi) novel “The Water Knife,” author Paolo Bacigalupi warns us of what may happen if we continue to neglect this forthcoming water scarcity — if we continue to allow this condition of Lake Mead and the overall American Southwest persist. Bacigalupi presents an American Southwest ravaged by the effects of drought in the apocalyptic near-future. State water deliveries have been cut. Lake Mead is suffering. Commercial monopolies are purchasing water rights. War over water has ensued between California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. Bacigalupi raises important points of concern about who we as humans are at our core — especially when in survival mode. For example, when a foundational resource of human life becomes scarce, when parties must compete over water to keep their people alive, we lose a sense of morality — there is no morally good thing to do. Through the complex narratives of Angel, a “water knife” working for a water supply company whose
CELEBRITY Continued from page 6 Parents nice. Academically ambitious — class schedule riddled with honors and AP courses; competitive cheerleading; attended expensive private Catholic school (on financial aid). In all this time spent together, screen in the middle and everything, her existence became so familiar. The little sounds of her life were now comforting input — just that eternal, private conversation that took place between her and her tasks when it was almost as though she was alone and unobserved. Almost, but not quite (think: vlog camera). It took Emma a while to find her footing in this friendship. You spent up or held on to your feelings in harmonious ways. What one had to give, the other was pleased to take. She began on YouTube by uploading a few awkward attempts at fashion and lifestyle videos. As she settled down in front of the camera and on your screen, though, her content mutated into the kind she’s fabled for — vlogs (video blogs), which are usually simply recordings of her activities within a day accompanied by her polemical chatter: agitated rambling that switches between anxious and indignant and pure potent funny. These are interspersed with somewhat scripted and planned “challenge” videos that are more intentionally poised for entertainment. What distinguished her was her notorious editing style and lack of inhibition or etiquette — she was defiant, determined to cross as many traditional boundaries of internet presence as possible. Honestly, she was just being herself (a steeply risky move for a female teenager to make on the Internet). Jump cuts, zoom-ins, distorted filters and aggressive sound effects added up to her “Vine-esque” energy. She dared you to feel uncomfortable every time she swore furiously or overshared or simply didn’t care. Her spunk kickstarted an entire genre of content, and in many ways, an entire genre of person-on-the-internet (often, both unironically and ironically, referred to as the VSCO girl). Soon approaching, her fame came in a hurry and stayed for three years, but her content remained essentially similar. In an interview with V Maga-
ated a social environment that removed alcohol as the primary motivator, encouraging students to be clear and honest about their own boundaries and comfort levels. This way, we can create a campus culture that prioritizes students’ safety and positive peer interactions. Please take the necessary steps to create a safe and healthy social environment for all students. Sincerely, LEA WENTING RYSAVY ’22 CLARISSE HOKIA ’23 LIZA HAFNER ’21 M.S. ’22 5-SURE on Foot student directors
job is to cut off other competitors’ access to water; Maria, a Texan refugee trying to survive the water crisis; and Lucy, a reporter whose investigative journalism gets her caught up in the water rights war, Bacigalupi demonstrates what happens when this foundational resource of human life evaporates. Corruption, distrust and individualism break out as competitors fight for water. People become willing to hide information, lie and turn a knife to their trusted colleagues. As the narratives of Angel, Maria and Lucy intertwine, we witness how quickly we must sacrifice our morality in order to persevere in apocalyptic times that may not be too far away. We become people of self-preservation, not of cooperation. Even further, “The Water Knife” demonstrates our lack of human agency, especially in times of crisis. In this war-torn water-deprived landscape, all characters seem to have resigned to their positions and the depravity of the situation. As a “water knife”, Angel neglects to protest the morality of his role, willing to shed blood to satisfy his boss’ commands and kill off other competitors. He makes a special reference to the Stanford Prison Experiment: “You ever hear about that psychology experiment, where this guy made people pretend like they were either prisoners or guards, and everyone started acting just the way prisoners and guards really act? ... This is the same. “ Bacigalupi’s novel is a warning that moments of crisis cause us to lose our grasp on morality and agency, the very things that make us fundamentally human. But it also teaches us that it doesn’t have to be this way. As of now, we retain the agency to make morally right decisions in order to prevent our society from turning into the frightening apocalyptic world he describes. We retain the energy to protect Lake Mead right now. We just have to make the right choices before it’s too late.
zine, Emma summarized, “I kind of just share everything about my life on the Internet. That’s basically me.” The stern voice of the district nurse in Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” grumbles at all this: “We’ve grown to be a race of peeping Toms. What people should do is stand outside their own houses and look in once in a while.” The district nurse’s chiding aside, granting people a window into her life, has worked out extraordinarily well. As an article by The New York Times declares, Emma is “the funniest person on YouTube,” and The Atlantic calls her “the most important YouTuber today.” She has featured in Vogue, Variety and Cosmopolitan, worked with Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Adidas and Levi’s and attended Paris Fashion Week multiple times in co-sponsorships between YouTube and Louis Vuitton. She has a successful podcast and coffee company. She purchased her first home, a West Hollywood mansion, in Los Angeles for nearly 4 million dollars, and has already moved on to a 4.3 million dollar Benedict Canyon home — all while still a teenager. Social Blade estimates that her estimated yearly earning is $88.2K — $1.4M. And this year, of course, she attended and hosted her first Met Gala. When you lay out the facts and numbers like this, her career admits its own strangeness. Emma said in an interview with Vogue magazine, “My life is really bizarre, you know? I have a very weird reality. And whenever I think about it too much I get so overwhelmed and I’m like, ‘God, I have this massive responsibility, why the fuck am I here? Why am I the one doing this?’” In the following series, I’m going to try to answer these questions. It’s sort of dehumanizing to study Emma as a cultural phenomenon, but to the extent that she is one, it’s worth unravelling what series of upturned expectations make her life feel so surreal. And what makes her so addictive to 11 million people. And why one of my friends swears by Emma’s Trader Joe’s recommendations. And why I dress like her. And why I know some people who get Emma’s exact coffee order at Philz. And why I watched all her videos three times over and maybe some more during the pandemic. And why one of my friends got through multiple breakups by bingelistening to Emma’s podcasts. And why I’m writing this. And why —
Friday, December 3, 2021 N 9
The Stanford Daily
SPORTS
SENIOR SPOTLIGHTS
Water polo’s AJ Rossman and Quinn Woodhead reflect
Graphic: AMY LO/The Stanford Daily
DÉJÀ VU FOR SCHULTZ AND MCCAFFREY Week 12 brings injuries, touchdowns for the pair WILLIAM MENG/The Stanford Daily and RICHARD ERSTED/isiphotos.com
Senior 2MD AJ Rossman (above, left) and driver Quinn Woodhead (above, right) are two of the Cardinal’s highest scorers. Rossman and Woodhead were both members of the 2019 Cardinal men’s water polo team that claimed the NCAA championship over Pacific.
BY CYBELE ZHANG DESK EDITOR
F
or the last four years, 2MD AJ Rossman and driver Quinn Woodhead have been core pieces of the Cardinal men’s water polo team. Both are three-time MPSF champions (2018-20) and 2019 NCAA champions. As seniors, the two cocaptained this year’s Stanford team, leading the Cardinal to an impressive 19-6 record, including a 12-game win-streak to start the season. Rossman appeared in every single game in 2021, and Woodhead missed only two. On the score sheet, the roommates individually stand out, too. The latter is second overall on the team in goals with 41, and the former is close behind with 29. Both had at least 10 multi-goal games this season. And the duo also shines in the classroom. Both California-natives are also three-time ACWPC All-Academic — Outstanding (2018-20). Both intend to graduate this spring, Rossman majoring in Computer Science and Woodhead majoring in Product Design. The Daily’s water polo desk editor Cybele Zhang spoke to Rossman and Woodhead prior to the conclusion of their senior season. The Stanford Daily (TSD): How were you first introduced to water polo, and what has your experience with the sport been like since then? Quinn Woodhead (QW): My mom was a swimmer in college — she actually went to Stanford and swam. She had my siblings and I swimming from a young age, so we were in the pool when we were five or six. And then when I was about nine or 10, one of the opposing [swim] teams started forming this water polo community. It was a great group of guys, and it was just kind of a no-brainer for my brother and I to join them. So we started swimming and playing with them, and since then I’ve just continued to grow and love the sport more. Eventually, I was playing with the same group of seven guys in high school [at
Sir Francis Drake in Marin County]; we had some success in high school and in club, and then we all went on to continue playing in college. So yeah, just joining that group of guys from a young age and us all having the motivation to keep playing, that was awesome. AJ Rossman (AR): My mom was a swimmer, and so I was kind of thrown in the water ever since I could walk. I started doing club swimming around six years old. My family belonged to a summer club, and they would always do these five-week little water polo seasons, where we compete against other summer clubs ... My older brother would do it, and I was just kind of thrown in because they needed bodies. [I would play up] from pure necessity ... I would just play a bunch and then started taking it more seriously when I was 13 or 14. I like swimming, but I also like the physical aspect of water polo. And I was good at it, so it was just a natural progression. TSD: AJ, you grew up in Bellevue, Wash., but moved to Orange County, Calif. as a junior in high school. Did water polo prompt the move? AR: That was part of it. My dad’s job was also part of it. Water polo is a very weird sport because it’s almost entirely based in California. So the water polo competition in Washington was fine, but I wasn’t going to get to Stanford if I was playing high school water polo there. TSD: Why did you chose Stanford originally? Quinn, did the fact that your brother Dylan Woodhead ’20 was already here affect your decision? QW: My mom went to Stanford. My dad went to Cal. My brother was always a Cal fan. I was a Stanford fan. So when he went to Stanford it kind of shook things up. But as soon as I got the chance to go to Stanford, I didn’t really think much further. I’ve been coming to football games here, coming to water polo games my whole life. It’s always been a dream to come to Stanford, so it wasn’t that much of a decision for me. As soon as I started talking to the coach and got that all good, I was set on Stanford. AR: I think Stanford was kind of in the back of my head from a pretty early age. My brother is two years older than me, so I would go on college tours with him when I was like 14 or so. He visited Stanford, and I was like, ‘This place is dope.’ I was thinking of Stanford even
By DREW SILVA STAFF WRITER
before water polo was really in the picture. It just so happened that it kind of worked out really well; my high school coach in SoCal played at Stanford, and so he had a lot of really good connections that connected me here. But I chose Stanford because I see it as the epicenter of excellence in all areas; I wanted to play water polo at a really competitive level, but I also wanted to be respected as a student and a person that’s dedicated to excellence. TSD: Has Stanford been everything you’ve expected? Looking back on the last four years, what has been challenging? AR: Looking back now I’m a senior, I think it is a lot of what I expected. It’s hard. [laughter] It’s been the most fun I’ve had in my life, but it’s also been the most stressful and the hardest period of my life. And that’s, you know, where growth comes from — by pushing yourself, which is what I wanted to do by coming to Stanford. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and, you know, water polo is a full time job. But I take pride in doing stuff that not everyone wants to do. TSD: On the flip side, what are those other things out of the water that keep you busy and keep you happy? QW: I’m thankful for a good community of friends — we’re living with a lot of friends in Suites right now — and just my water polo team outside the pool, just having that community to fall back on. It’s great to have something to get your mind off of water polo a lot of the time, and just having good friends, good community really helps with that. TSD: Quinn, your brother Dylan, himself a former driver for the Cardinal, joined the coaching staff earlier this season as a volunteer assistant. What has it been like to have your brother as a coach? QW: It’s awesome. I’ve been playing with him basically my whole life, so it’s nothing new or weird. It’s definitely good to have someone around that I can talk to that knows me as a player really well and is out of the pool watching and can give some great feedback, personally. So I really enjoy having him around, and I think it’s definitely a big help to the team. TSD: What was it like to watch Dylan compete for the United States in water polo in the
When the Cowboys and Panthers faced off during Week 4 of the NFL season, tight end Dalton Schultz ’18 found himself in the end zone while Christian McCaffrey ’17 missed his first game of the season due to a hamstring injury. In Week 12, the two Stanford alumni encountered similar situations in their respective games, with Schultz returning to the end zone and McCaffrey again on the injured reserve. McCaffrey had ten carries for 35 yards against the Miami Dolphins before he was forced to exit Sunday’s game due to an ankle injury. The running back was placed on the injured reserve list following the game, effectively ending his season. McCaffrey played in seven games this year, two of which he had to leave early due to a respective hamstring and ankle injury. The Heisman Trophy runner-up rushed 99 times for 442 yards and a touchdown and had 37 receptions for 343 yards and a touchdown this season. By the end of this year, McCaffrey will have missed 23 of the Panthers’ 33 games since his historic 2019 campaign, where he became just the third player in NFL history to have over 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in a season. On a more positive note, Schultz had three catches for 46 yards on Thursday, including a 32-yard touchdown — his first TD since Week 4 — against the Las Vegas Raiders. Immediately following this touchdown, Schultz hauled in a two-point conversion to tie the game for the Cowboys and help force overtime, but Dallas was ultimately defeated by the Raiders, 36-33, in the first overtime game on Thanksgiving since 2012. Later on Thanksgiving night, running back Ty Montgomery ’15 took on a larger than normal role for the Saints due to injuries to running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. Montgomery had six carries for 14 yards, along with five receptions for 31 yards, but the Saints fell to the Buffalo Bills, 31-6. After going without a catch for the first 10 games of the Eagles’ season, wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside ’19 had his second reception in as many games. This week, he caught a pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts for 13 yards in the Eagles’ 13-7 loss to the Giants. Former Stanford offensive linemen were
Please see SPOTLIGHT, page 10
Please see NFL, page 10
MEN’S WATER POLO
A Season in Review Cardinal fall in MPSF championship, finish 19-6 By CYBELE ZHANG DESK EDITOR
This year in men’s water polo has been a rollercoaster ride. For the first time in program history, the team played two full seasons in a single calendar year. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA postponed the fall sport’s 2020 season until the winter, so Stanford men’s water polo team uncharacteristically played from February to March this year. Then just five months later, they were in the pool again to begin their regularly scheduled 2021 season. The condensed schedules altered the year for the players and presented unique mental and physical challenges. “It’s been really hard. It’s been almost a year of uninterrupted [play] — no offseason — really hard, pretty strenuous practices and stuff like that,” 2MD AJ Rossman said about the altered schedule. “So it definitely gets a little hard to stay motivated, because the burnout is pretty real.” “But it’s also been interesting,” the co-captain added. “Having two seasons back-to-back is very weird because I feel like I just played games that I’m playing a week ago, and that was last season.” For example, the Cardinal have faced
UCLA a whopping seven times since February — the most recent match-up resulting in a Stanford loss in the 2021 MPSF tournament final. Despite the toll of playing 36 games in a nine-month span amid a pandemic, both Rossman and Quinn Woodhead have shone this year. Although the Cardinal was stopped just short of an NCAA run this season, the duo led Stanford to a 19-6 overall record, and individually, Rossman and Woodhead claimed All-MPSF first and second team honors, respectively. But what the awards and statistics obscure is the bumpy path that the seniors have traversed over the last year. Just a year ago, the Stanford team did not even know if they would have a season — much less two deep conference title runs. At the start of the pandemic — when campus first closed in March 2020 — Rossman returned home to Orange County, where public health-related closures made high-level training near impossible. With public pools shut down indefinitely, he was out of the water for the longest span in over a decade. “There was a lot of cross-training and lifting weights — gave my body a little rest,” he said. “A lot of us transitioned to running or just dryland workouts,” senior driver and co-captain Quinn Woodhead said. “Swimming is very weird in that you get out of shape very quickly. So being out of the pool for three or four months and then trying to get back into it was really difficult at the beginning.”
Please see REVIEW, page 10
WILLIAM MENG/The Stanford Daily
Senior 2MD AJ Rossman (above) is one of three members of the Class of 2022 on the men’s water polo team. He earned All-MPSF Tournament First-Team honors following the season.
10 N Friday, December 3, 2021
NFL Continued from page 9 also active in multiple games throughout the NFL this weekend. Cameron Fleming ’14 started and played every offensive snap for the Denver Broncos this weekend. Fleming’s protection of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater allowed the Broncos to take down the Los Angeles Chargers, 28-13, and keep their playoff hopes alive. Nate Herbig ’19 played the majority of the Eagles’ snaps in a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants. Although rookies Drew Dalman ’21 and Walker Little ’21 did not start for their respective teams this weekend, the two former teammates were able to reunite after Dalman’s Falcons bested Little’s Jaguars, 21-14. On the defensive line, Solomon Thomas ’17 led the way for former Cardinal with four total tackles, including one on Cowboys’ running back Tony Pollard for a loss of five yards. Defensive linemen Harrison Philips ’18 and Casey Toohill ’20 each had two tackles on the defensive lines for Buffalo and Washington, respectively. Toohill added two hits on Sea-
REVIEW Continued from page 9 When restrictions began to loosen, Rossman swam in the only body of water he could: the Pacific Ocean. When the water polo team was finally able to return to campus last year, practice looked different, too. While the county-mandated precautions were necessary to keep the team safe, the restrictions also gave rise to additional complications and distractions for a team already uncertain of their future. In Rossman’s words, “COVID just presented a lot of obstacles.” At one point, the Cardinal were tested nine times per week. While the players would take off their masks in the pool during practice, they needed to put them back on while sitting on the bench — a “not fun” task when your body is dripping wet. To make matters more challenging, for a while the team could not practice with contact, a tough feat for a sport that is highly physical. Instead, the players worked on only swimming, passing and shooting. “It’s really hard to get better at water polo without playing, scrimmaging and actually getting reps,” Woodhead said. Nevertheless, despite a timeline in flux and socially distanced practice sessions, the water polo team persisted. “We all lived together as a team, hung out together, trained together — kind of 24/7,” Woodhead said. “So one of the bright things that came out of the COVID training was we spent a lot of time together. I feel that I’m very close with my team, even the underclassmen. So that was definitely a plus.” Nearly 14 months after winning the NCAA championship on December 8, 2019, the Cardinal returned to action on February 6, 2020, with a No. 1 ranking and a win over thenNo. 2 USC to start the fall-2020turned-winter-2021 season on a high note. After a month, the Cardinal won their third straight MPSF title but were unable to repeat as NCAA champions after falling in the semifinals to UCLA. Yet, there was little time to process the 2020-21 season. Still limited by COVID precautions, the team returned over the summer to train again. “It just kind of feels like one big season,” Rossman said about the accelerated schedule. But the 2021 season was a welcome return to some semblance of normalcy. Woodhead downplayed the physical demands because “we’re kind of used to playing year round”; instead, he recalled his excitement at the prospect of “playing with fans and real games, traveling
hawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson as Washington defeated Seattle, 1715, on Monday Night Football. Rookie cornerback Paulson Adebo ’21 had another solid performance for the Saints, making four total tackles with one being for a loss. Adebo was the only Stanford defensive back who appeared in the statsheet this weekend, as Justin Reid ’18 was suspended by the Texans for violating team rules. Entering his team’s game against the Jets with a record of 2-8, Reid challenged the coaching style of Texans’ head coach David Culley and was ultimately suspended for this confrontation. Reid’s absence was surely felt, as Houston was defeated by the 2-8 New York Jets, 21-14. After the game, Culley said that Reid’s availability for their next game against the Colts has not yet been determined. Bobby Okereke ’19 highlighted the contributions of Stanford linebackers with eight total tackles for the Colts as they fell to the Bucs 3831. Linebacker James Vaughters ’15 added a tackle and a quarterback hit for the Falcons in their 21-14 win over the Jaguars. The only punt of the game for Jake Bailey ’19 went for 48 yards as the Patriots defeated the Titans 3613. to other schools.” “You can kind of see how people have gotten more into it this season — just being able to scrimmage and get that time in the pool together,” Woodhead said about his teammates. This sense of joy and gratitude pushed the Cardinal to a 12-game win-streak at the start of the 2021 season, but Stanford’s momentum fizzled when MPSF play began, which proved to be the Cardinal’s Achilles’ heel. Despite winning every single non-conference game this season (including eight games against Top-10 opponents), Stanford did not pick up a conference win until the postseason MPSF tournament. “There were some bumps early in the season, but I think that comes with a young team and comes with learning,” Woodhead said in October. “I’m excited about how much we’ve improved already.” Momentum seemed to be shifting in the Cardinal’s favor when they upset No. 1 Cal in the MPSF semifinals, but Stanford ultimately fell by just one point to UCLA in the finals. The Cardinal’s poor conference record (0-3), however, kept them from the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017. At times throughout the season, Stanford’s relative inexperience has been on display — but for Rossman and Woodhead, the Cardinal’s youth is also a benefit for the future. Although the duo will both graduate and leave Stanford this spring, the Stanford water polo pipeline is loaded. A player to keep an eye on? Rossman says it is 2M Ike Love. “He’s 6-foot-7, ginger, huge,” Rossman said. “And he’s a center — he’s the big guy in front of the cage. And generally, big guys like Ike don’t have great hands, but he’s a very smart guy and has great hands. He’s a sophomore right now, and I think he’ll be going places.” “I’m excited to see how [junior driver] Larsen [Weigle] continues playing this year,” Woodhead said. “My sophomore year, when we won the [NCAA] championship, he definitely had a coming off the bench roll — just bringing some quick offense. And now that he’s kind of a solidified starter, I’m excited to see what he can do in the full games. I think he’s already shown that he’s a great water polo player, but I really don’t think he’s reached his full potential yet.” If all goes to plan, men’s water polo won’t take the pool again until fall 2022. Unlike 2021, the Cardinal will get a true offseason to regroup, reflect and reload. For the 2022 season, head coach John Vargas and the Cardinal will have something to prove. The Stanford men have overcome the odds of the strange, disorderly COVID year, and they’ll use that same resilience to eventually come out on top once again.
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SPOTLIGHT Continued from page 9 Tokyo Olympics earlier this year? QW: That was a wild experience. I feel like him making the team and going all happened so fast. And then us not being able to go to Tokyo was just a really crazy experience, but we were talking to him every day, getting pictures. He came back with so many cool stories about meeting athletes — Pau
Gasol and just crazy people. But yeah, it was great to watch him and Team USA in the Olympics. We had some watch parties with our team here, threw it up on the TV. That was his dream for such a long time, and it was great to see it come true. TSD: What are your plans postStanford? Do you see water polo in your future beyond the collegiate level? AR: I’m currently in the process of trying to figure that out. I think it’s definitely an option, but I’m probably going to make that decision once
the season’s over. I have another year [of eligibility] if I want, so I could do that. Or you could play in Europe if you wanted to. But also part of me just kind of wants to go work, but we will see. I don’t know yet. QW: [Turning pro] is the plan right now. I’d love to play in Europe for some time, hopefully join my brother and try to train for the USA team — that’s the next goal. This transcript has been merged, lightly edited and condensed for clarity.