04/17/09 The Stanford Daily [pdf]

NEWS/2

INTERMISSION/INSERT

CAPE TOWN

AN ART AFFAIR

Grant from President’s Fund opens 11th Bing Overseas Studies Program campus

SOCA kicks off Art Affair with a visual art reception and film screenings

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The Stanford Daily An Independent Publication

FRIDAY April 17, 2009

Volume 235 Issue 39

www.stanforddaily.com

SOFTBALL

NO. 2 ARIZONA STATE

POWERS COLLIDE

COVERAGE: TV: FSN

Card gets shot at Pac-10’s top team

(25-8, 10-2 Pac-10) Tempe, Ariz. 6:30 P.M.

RADIO:

KZSU 90.1 FM, (kzsu.stanford.edu)

UP NEXT SANTA CLARA 4/20

Sunken Diamond

COVERAGE: RADIO KZSU 90.1 FM (kzsu.stanford.edu) NOTES: The Cardinal travels to Tempe to take on the No. 2 Sun Devils, who have been led this season by stellar starting pitching and their outstanding centerfielder Jason Kipnis.

TAYLOR CONE/The Stanford Daily

Stanford takes its show on the road to face No. 2 Arizona State in Tempe By DENIS GRIFFIN DESK EDITOR

This weekend, Stanford baseball returns to Pacific-10 Conference play against one of the best in the nation,Arizona State.But this weekend’s series is more than just a roadmarker for how far the Cardinal has come since starting the season 3-9 — it’s also the perfect opportunity to look back at Stanford’s tremendous 2008 campaign, which left the Sun Devils with a score to settle this weekend. The Cardinal (15-13, 7-5 Pac-10) has bounced back this year from its early season struggles, recently winning three in a row and taking two-of-three against UCLA, Oregon and Washington in recent weeks. The team goes into its showdown with No. 2 ASU looking to prove itself against a topnotch opponent. The Sun Devils (25-8, 10-2) are 17-3 at home so far this season, and have been led by the stellar offense of junior centerfielder Jason Kipnis, who enters the series hitting

.410 with 10 home runs, 46 RBI and an astounding .516 on-base percentage. Arizona State’s pitching staff brings plenty to the table as well, as junior southpaw Josh Spence is 7-0 with a 1.01 ERA, and fellow junior Mike Leake is 8-1 with a 1.53 ERA. Last season, the script was notably different when the Cardinal hosted the Sun Devils in early April. Stanford was 13-8 at the time, while ASU was the conference favorite, having lost just one of 28 games entering the weekend series. Arizona State looked to be an offensive juggernaut, led by Kipnis, as well as corner infielders Brett Wallace and Ike Davis (both of whom would be drafted among the top 20 of that summer’s MLB Draft) and catcher Petey Paramore. The Cardinal, meanwhile, was looking to prove that it was a legitimate contender a year after a disappointing .500 finish. And after dropping the first game of the series in extra innings, Stanford did exactly that, blasting ASU 12-2 in game two and 10-2 in game three. The series victory seemed to

propel the Cardinal to new heights as the team won six of its following nine conference games. But it was the atmosphere, particularly of the third game of the series, that could lend this weekend’s action a particularly contentious flavor.The Sunken Diamond crowd was particularly raucous that weekend, heckling Davis and Sun Devils coach Pat Murphy in particular. Whether or not the Sun Devils’ fans will be able to deliver the promised pressure remains to be seen, but Stanford certainly knows what is on the line this weekend. After only recently climbing out of its earlyseason hole (reaching .500 last Saturday against UCLA), the Cardinal now faces one of the most daunting stretches of its season, with 10 games between now and the end of the month, seven of which will come against conference foes (three each against Arizona and ASU, and one non-conference game against Cal). If the Cardinal is to succeed in holding off the Sun Devils’ attack, however, the squad

will need still more solid performances from its young pitchers. Sophomore closer Drew Storen has been money in the bank all season for Stanford,with four saves,a 3-0 record and 34 strikeouts to just one walk. Freshmen Brett Mooneyham (3-1) and Jordan Pries (3-0) have also been key to the Cardinal’s turnaround,boasting ERAs of 3.94 and 4.11, respectively. Friday-night starter Jeff Inman has also been solid, going 7.0, 7.1 and 6.0 innings in his last three starts, while allowing just five earned runs over that span. All will need to be on top of their game to limit a Sun Devils squad that has averaged over 7.9 runs per game this season. The trip to Tempe, however, is one of just three road series remaining on the Cardinal’s schedule, as the team will only travel to Washington State and USC (and to Santa Clara and San Jose State for one midweek game each) over the rest of the regular season, which concludes on May 24. Contact Denis Griffin at djgriff@stanford. edu.

MAPLES MAGIC Cardinal seeks home-court edge By JEFF LU CONTRIBUTING WRITER

With its position in the upcoming Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament firmly secured, the Stanford men’s volleyball team will head into the final two games of its regular season determined to secure a home-court advantage in the tournament’s opening round. The No. 4 Cardinal (20-9, 13-7 MPSF) has won 12 of its last 14 games, including a four-game upset of thenNo. 2 Cal State-Northridge, to climb three spots in the national rankings since it was No. 7 in mid-February.According to Stanford head coach John Kosty, the Cardinal’s extraordinary late season surge is in part due to the large number of home games on the team’s schedule in the second half of the season. “The team is starting to come together and figure out what it takes to win,” Kosty said. “That’s a crucial element for a team as young as ours.”

Index

Currently, Stanford is one game ahead of No. 5 USC, which visits Hawaii this Friday in hopes of breaking its three-game losing streak and gaining the No.4 position over the Cardinal for the home-court advantage. The tournament, which will be hosted in late April, will see the top eight teams in the MPSF competing for potentially two spots in the NCAA Tournament, alongside league champions from the East and Midwest. Kosty was optimistic about his team’s chances. “Stanford is definitely a contender this year,” he said. “We’ve got as good a shot as anybody in the MPSF at the title.” Despite Kosty’s confidence, a formidable barrier stands in the way of the Cardinal’s chances at an advantageous first round. Stanford will host No. 1 UC-Irvine on Friday at Maples Pavilion, marking their first encounter of the season since the Cardinal was swept by the Anteaters in early February.Irvine is currently on a three-game winning streak, most recently sweeping No. 2 Pepperdine at home. Irvine’s two formidable opposite hitters, senior John Steller and freshman Carson Clark, are currently hitting over .300 for this season. With sophomore outside hitter Jordan Du-

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL 4/11 BYU W 3-0

UP NEXT UC-IRVINE 4/17 Maples Pavilion fault knocking in 269 kills this season so far from the other end of the net, Stanford will have to find a way to shut down the Anteaters’ double-pronged offense if it is to retain its edge. “Irvine is a very fast team and extremely consistent,”Kosty said.“We’re strong enough at the net to match up against Irvine, but we’ll have to slow down their outside and opposite hitters if we’re to win.” Following Irvine, the Stanford men’s volleyball team will host No. 9 UCLA on Saturday. The Bruins have given the Cardinal trouble before, beating Stanford in a five-game nailbiter in their last meeting. Aside from holding a significant height advantage over Stanford, UCLA has several outstanding players in its lineup, including Garrett Muagututia, a 6-foot-5 junior outside hitter who has proven himself a notoriously difficult opponent for the

Please see VBALL, page 5

GIULIO GRATTA/The Stanford Daily

Ian Connolly and the Cardinal men will close out their regular season with a final homestand against conference foes UCIrvine and UCLA this weekend at Maples Pavilion.

News/2 • Opinions/4 • Sports/5 • Classifieds/6

By NATE ADAMS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Fresh off a 7-0 rout of Santa Clara on Tuesday, the Stanford softball team will take to the desert this weekend as it continues Pacific-10 Conference play with an important series against two top-10 opponents, (33-9, 5-2 Pac-10) Arizona and Arizona State. Tucson, Ariz. 7 P.M. The secondplace Cardinal COVERAGE: will get started TV:CBS College Sports tonight in Tucson, RADIO: where a win would move them KZSU 90.1 FM, ahead of Arizona (kzsu.stanford.edu) at the top of the conference standings. From there, Stanford travels to Phoenix for two games against the Tempe, Ariz. third-place Sun 4/18 Devils, Saturday COVERAGE: and Sunday. RADIO KZSU 90.1 FM The series is a critical opportuni- (kzsu.stanford.edu) ty for the No. 2 Cardinal (36-4, 6-3 Pac-10) to get back on track in conference competition after dropping two of three games to California last weekend, its only set of consecutive losses on the season. With the Pac-10 proving to be astoundingly competitive this year — all but one member team has a winning overall record — Stanford head coach John Rittman knows the importance of playing well against top teams,and is eager to carry momentum from the Cardinal’s thrashing of Santa Clara into this weekend’s games. More focused than intimidated, he believes his team is ready to face its top-notch conference opposition. “It’s definitely a pretty significant series, especially with the close [Pac-10] race we’ve got right now,” he said. “Arizona is a great team, probably the best hitting team in the country statistically,and both venues will be sold out this weekend. We’re definitely excited by the challenge of playing two of the best teams in the country.” As Rittman noted, the Cardinal is certainly in for a challenge. No. 11 Arizona (33-9, 5-2) owns a remarkable 44-5-1 all-time record over the Cardinal, including wins in their last three games together. The Wildcats currently hold first place in the Pac-10, and lead the nation in four major offensive categories: runs scored (8.76 per game), batting average (.351), home runs per game (2.29) and slugging percentage (.670). Three Wildcats have batting averages over .400, including junior catcher Stacie Chambers, who currently leads the nation in home runs (24) and RBI (74). Stanford’s prospects against Arizona State, at least historically, aren’t much better; the No. 5 Sun Devils (34-8,4-3) are 20-27 all time against the Cardinal, including two wins in three games just last season, and they are the defending national champions. Despite the Cardinal’s track record against the Arizona schools, however, Rittman remains confident that his players have all the tools they need to win. “We have a very talented team, with a lot of upperclassmen who are going to lead us through this tough conference schedule,” he said.“We’re doing a great job of taking it one game at a time and preparing to win,week in and week out.As a coach, that’s all you can ask:to work hard and get ready to play. Hopefully we can go out and execute.” Indeed, Stanford has plenty of reason for optimism this weekend.The Cardinal is ranked as high as it’s ever been at No. 2, and has held that spot for a school-record three weeks.Stanford’s offense has scored first in 32 of 40 games this season, and has held its lead each time. The lineup is anchored by

NO. 9 ARIZONA

UP NEXT NO. 5 ARIZONA STATE

Please see SOFTBALL, page 5

Recycle Me

2 N Friday, April 17, 2009

The Stanford Daily

NEWS BOSP pursues new campus after two successful quarter-long seminars

CAPE TOWN PROGRAM LAUNCHES Grant from President’s Fund opens 11th campus By ROBERT TOEWS STAFF WRITER

Budget cuts may be touching nearly every corner of the University campus, but away from Stanford, the Bing Overseas Program is thriving, and even expanding. Starting winter quarter next year, students will be able to spend a quarter abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town will become the 11th campus in the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) and the first on the African continent. “We were interested in having one of the BOSP centers be in Africa, where students could study in place such issues as economic

development, healthcare delivery, disease control and prevention, deficient housing, democratization and race relations, among other issues,” said Norman Naimark, one of the BOSP directors. The Cape Town program will focus primarily on service learning, although it will be open to students with a wide range of academic backgrounds and interests. The program curriculum is still being finalized, however. Participating Stanford students will live in a dorm near the University of Cape Town campus. For the first program offering (winter of 2009-2010), 24 students will be accepted. Since English is the national language of South Africa, there are no language or other academic prerequisites for the program. “There will be numerous opportunities for students to do service-learning and community-based research with NGOs and residents of

Cape Town’s diverse communities,” said Timothy Stanton, director of the Cape Town program. “Interesting cultural events — drama, cinema, music, fine arts — abound here, and students will be encouraged to participate.” Stanton went on to explain that the emphasis on engagement with the local community is what sets Cape Town apart from some of the other overseas programs. “We are also obviously distinguished by our context,” he said. “While Cape Town is perhaps more ‘European’ than any other African city, it is still in Africa. The issues, problems and challenges citizens and government here face are considerable and unlike anywhere else in the world.” Administrators explained that the idea for a campus in Africa has been brewing for at least 40 years, encouraged especially by faculty members involved with the continent. The

new program was made possible by a grant from the President’s Fund. Quarter-long seminars designed as pilot programs were offered in Cape Town in 2006 and 2008, and student responses were overwhelmingly positive. “I can never say enough about my time in Cape Town,” said Aaron Kofman ‘09, who participated in 2008. “The intersection of so many different peoples in such an exotic land makes the history and politics absolutely fascinating — you can’t help but get drawn in by the tangible, addictive pulse from the moment you arrive.” Administrators expect demand for the program to be high. “Judging from the huge numbers that

CRIS BAUTISTA/The Stanford Daily

applied for our Cape Town seminars, from students’ answers on questionnaires, and from student focus groups, we anticipate very strong student interest in the Cape Town program,” Naimark said. Contact Robert Towes at rhtoews@stanford. edu.

PALO ALTO

Shopping Center expansion plans halted Officials cite hospital expansion as priority By CHRISTINE MCFADDEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Plans to expand the Stanford Shopping Center were brought to a halt on Monday, as the University withdrew its construction application from the City of Palo Alto.The application dates back to August 2007, with discussions between the City and Simon Property Group, the leaseholder responsible for the Shopping Center, beginning in 2006. According to University Vice President for Land, Buildings and Real Estate Robert Reidy, it was the City that first proposed the idea of expanding the Shopping Center. Palo Alto City Manager Frank Benest and some members of the City Council called for the consideration of expanding both the Shopping Center and Stanford Hospital facilities (including the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the School of Medicine) simultaneously, yet separately. Stanford agreed initially with the intention of assisting the community, maintaining that the renewal of the hospital was the priority and that the project’s core objectives would be entirely separate. “The hospitals’ project is the immediate and highest priority for Stanford lands in Palo Alto,” Reidy wrote in a recent letter to Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier. “The urgently needed hospitals’ replacement and renewal project will be the single most important factor in determining the level and quality of health care services in this community for at least the next 50 years,”

However, the letter further stated that City Council members and Planning and Transportation Commissioners have implied, for nearly 30 months, that the Shopping Center and hospital projects should be considered one large endeavor. This pairing created confusion and went against Stanford’s initial intentions to keep the projects separate. “This [the application withdrawal] is the culmination of the ongoing process with the City and just a recognition that the Shopping Center had become a real distraction from the No. 1 priority [the hospital],” said Jean McCown, Stanford’s director of Community Relations. “There was not a specific thing that caused it in terms of the way the City was responding to the projects.” “I think [Stanford’s] concern was one of perception,” Drekmeier said. “The combined projects were so large that they were controversial.” One consequence of the projects’ grouping was that perceived community benefits and conditions for construction were tacked disproportionately onto the hospital. For example, the City proposed that only the hospitals be required to construct housing units, even though both the Shopping Center and the hospital would produce increased housing demand. “They [the City] have done a new analysis of people who will need affordable housing and have been advocating to the hospital to build housing units,” McCown said. “That’s an area of important difference of view with the hospital on one side and the City on the other.” 594 housing units were proposed, and they were to be built on land outside the City’s jurisdiction. McCown pointed out that housing was just one of many “community benefits” being

POLICE BLOTTER This report covers a selection of crimes reported between March 24 and April 14, as recorded in the Stanford Police Bulletin.

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 25 I At

Barnes Court, a car was towed and stored after the alarm on the vehicle had been sounding for approximately 18 hours. I Between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., an unknown suspect(s) threw paint over the wall and rear patio of an Escondido Village apartment. I In an incident at Memorial Way, between 6:20 p.m. and 6:25 pm, a person “made threats to the victim in anger over a parking space.”

MARCH 27 I At

6:30 pm, a driver at 800 Block Pinehill Rd. swiped a roadside dumpster, hurting both her vehicle and the dumpster.

MARCH 29 I At

Comstock Circle, between 12:05 a.m. and 4:48 a.m., three subjects were “seen acting suspiciously” near a parked pickup truck holding several bicycles, with the description later changed to “seen stealing bikes.”

MARCH 31 I

On the second floor of Herrin Biology Lab between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m., an unknown suspect(s) entered the victim’s laboratory and stole her wallet from her purse. I At Nixon Elementary School, at 8:15 a.m., a noninjury vehicle-vehicle collision occurred, and the children learned a lesson about words that only mommy can say.

APRIL 2 IA

person was arrested for shoplifting at the Stanford Bookstore between 2:15 p.m. and 2:35 p.m.

APRIL 3

I Between

3:44 and 3:45 a.m., two unknown suspects stole an advertising banner that was hanging in front of the Stanford Bookstore. I At 7:30 a.m., a person was arrested at Packard

pushed. “There’s a very lengthy list that the City Council and others have been putting together for 18 months,” she said.“It has many things in it that really don’t relate at all to the hospitals — it’s just things the City wants. The concern has been that it will be challenging enough to just fundamentally do the project that they’re trying to do, financially, and that’s just one issue.” Drekmeier said that these community benefits and housing issues are currently being negotiated between the City and Stanford. “The hospital expansion would add about 2,000 new employees,” he said. “The question is, where are they going to live?” “I know that there are some people in the City who wanted the Shopping Center expansion for tax revenue, so those people are going to be disappointed,” Drekmeier added. “Others felt that the combined projects were too much for the community to absorb. The City doesn’t have a position on that.” McCown pointed out that the renovated hospital will still produce revenue. “I know the City is concerned that the opportunity with the Shopping Center would have meant increased revenue with the City,” she said. “The hospital projects themselves will also have a significant boost, particularly during the construction period.” Reidy’s letter additionally cited the current economic crisis as hindering expansion and being one of the reasons for the cancellation of the Shopping Center application. McCown noted, however, that the main reason for the application withdrawal was to focus attention on the hospital renewal.

Electrical Engineering and booked for trespassing and having an outstanding warrant. I At 10 a.m., the University served an unnamed person with a University stay-away letter. I Between 11:08 a.m. and 11:59 p.m., a new cell phone shipped to the victim and delivered to her residence at 680 Lomita Drive was taken by an unknown suspect. I In an incident reported on this day that took place between March 9 and March 17 at the Environment and Energy Building, an unknown suspect entered the victim’s locked office and stole a textbook. I Three people were cited and released for being minors in possession at the corner of Mayfield and Xanadu at 10:15 p.m. I At 11:25 p.m. at Xanadu, with the party not finished, a fourth person was cited and released for being a minor in possession of alcohol. I Not to be outdone, at Theta Delta Chi, a person was cited for being a minor in possession at 11:55 p.m.

APRIL 4

I Shortly

after, at 12:40 a.m. at Theta Delta Chi, a person was cited and released for creating a public nuisance by urinating in public. I Unwilling to admit defeat, Xanadu put in a strong final effort when at 2:03 a.m., an arrestee was taken to the main jail and booked for “being drunk in public and unable to care for his own safety.” I In an incident between 10 p.m. on April 3 and 9 a.m. the following morning, an unknown suspect(s) stole the Stanford flag from a flag pole in Pac-10 Plaza.

APRIL 6 I In

an incident on April 3 at 8:30 a.m., the reporting party was bitten by a dog while jogging, and the case was referred to Santa Clara County Animal Control.

APRIL 7 I In

the week before April 7, an unknown person climbed over a wall and stole 8-10 printer cartridges from an office in the Y2E2 building.

APRIL 8 I An

unknown suspect(s) graffitied the front door of the mausoleum at 10:45 a.m.

Contact Eric Messinger at [email protected].

“Frankly, I don’t think that [the economy] was the focus from the University’s perspective,” McCown said. “The focus was entirely on bringing the highest priority of the hospitals back to the center of the effort with the City.” When asked if the emphasis on the hospital would lead to a more expedient construction process, McCown said that it was possible. One of the City managers mentioned that they are hoping to make the hospital decision by the end of the year. “I was more enthusiastic about the Medical Center than the

Please see SHOPPING, page 3

VIVIAN WONG/The Stanford Daily

Stanford Shopping Center expansion plans were halted Monday, as the University withdrew its construction application from Palo Alto. The main reasoning for it was to instead focus attention on the Stanford Hospital renewal.

Friday, April 17, 2009 N 3

The Stanford Daily

SHOPPING Continued from page 2 Shopping Center,” Drekmeier said. “The impacts of the [Medical Center] are spread out throughout the region, but so are the benefits; other counties would benefit. The jobs there are higher-paid jobs, so others could afford to live in the community. For me, it was important for those issues to be addressed.” On the subject of University-City relations, McCown doesn’t think that the construction controversy will have much of an effect. “I think we’re in a very long-term relationship with the City of Palo Alto and we will be going forward,” she said.“I don’t think these kinds of specific events along the way have an effect on relations with the City. They’re not going anywhere, we’re not going anywhere; we have lots of ways to work together.” Contact Christine McFadden at [email protected].

FACULTY & STAFF

Faculty Senate debates Vaden fee,talks diversity By JULIA BROWNELL DESK EDITOR

Yesterday, the Faculty Senate convened to discuss issues of diversity among graduate students and faculty. However, during the meeting, the frustration of graduate students and their faculty mentors with the University’s financial situation dominated discussion. The meeting began with the President’s report, followed by questions on student confidentiality and the medical school’s new conflict of interest disclosure, which posts information on individual faculty pages. The liveliest discussion, however, came in response to Biology Prof. Robert Simoni’s comments on the new Vaden Health Center student fee. He expressed concern about the measure’s effect on graduate students’ finances,

and then posed a question to President John Hennessy. “What were you thinking?” Simoni asked. Hennessy explained the situation and concern over the struggles of graduate students to live in the current economy on meager salaries. However, he pointedly outlined the moves the University has made to avoid overstretching graduate students in the budget cut process. “I will point out that graduate students are the only members of the University to receive any kind of compensation increase,” he said. “We also did not terminate any fellowships in the process of budget cuts, although we will terminate or cut back the hours of about 500 University employees. And by the way, they are University employees whose salary scale matches that of graduate students.”

Simoni, however, offered the example of Wellness day, which is approaching, as part of the BeWell program. BeWell, he argued, is not central to the short-term goals of the University, and could be translated into relief for graduate students from the new fee. “I suggest, if you want wellness for the graduate students, then waiving this fee would do a hell of a lot more good than having them show up for a day and get their blood pressure checked,” he said. This concern for graduate students’ financial welfare and the stability of their programs permeated the rest of the proceedings. Graduate student diversity and funds The meeting was dominated by the Vice Provost’s Office for Graduate Education’s report, given by Vice Provost for Graduate Education

Patricia Gumport. The report focused on diversity among graduate students and graduate student funding. She began, however, by putting her report in the context of the University’s financial situation in the struggling economy. “I want to acknowledge what a difficult time this is,” she said. “We’re worried about our graduate programs; we’re worried about our students, our staff, ourselves and our work.” Further, she noted that many of the difficulties the graduate programs face are hard to address because of the organization of separate departments under a very loose-connected umbrella. “We have a number of challenges that are not easily resolved in our decentralized structure,” she continued. “In fact, they’re exacerbated by it.” Gumport then addressed the issue of diversity in the graduate population.

She first noted the successful growth of women’s representation in graduate programs. “In every school, the proportion of graduates who are women has grown,” she said. She also noted how earth sciences and engineering have doubled the percentage of women in their programs. Overall, however, she noted that the proportion of women in traditionally male-dominated fields such as engineering, science and economics is still low. “This shows me,” she said, “that we need to be much more field-specific in our discussion of critical mass.” She then moved forward to ethnic and racial diversity. “With ethnicity, it’s a much more sobering picture,” she said. “The concern is . . . since 1995 we have seen a dramatic drop in the enrollment of each of these three groups [Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans], and overall in underrepresented minorities.” In this past year, though, enrollment numbers for Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans have all gone up significantly — eight, four and six percent respectively. The groups now stand at 3.1, 5.1 and 0.7 percent of the graduate student population, respectively. In addition, Gumport noted the explosion in Asian American and international graduate students since 1985. Asian Americans now make up 13 percent of the total graduate population, while international students constitute 33 percent. Gumport cited recruitment, new search assistance and VPGE task forces as agents behind these largely positive changes in student diversity. In the case of funding, Gumport explained that the graduate students were funded in part by grants which have actually received additional funding from the federal government, endowments which have not been affected as much by the financial crisis, and the general fund, which has obviously taken a hard hit. “The lesson we can take away from this was that these sources are unpredictable,and so it puts us,especially us in the departments, in a very difficult position when making multi-year commitments to our graduate students,” she said. Gumport foreshadowed that academic departments, like all campus departments, will have to make cuts in graduate programming. “Our reserves are being tapped out, and as with every other funding cut in the University, we need to take a very close look at these models,and see what we can sustain,” she concluded. Report on the faculty The report on the faculty, given by Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity Patricia Jones, focused on women and minority representation among the faculty. “Our biggest challenge is increasing the representation of faculty of color,” Jones said.“While the numbers of Asian faculty have grown over recent years, Black, Native American and Hispanics haven’t seen much growth.” She noted that underrepresented minorities had remained relatively constant in representation among Stanford faculty. Blacks make up 2.4 percent of the faculty, Native Americans constitute 0.2 percent and Hispanics represent 3.2 percent. Asian representation among the faculty has nearly doubled since 1998, a large percentage of this increase from clinical science educators at the School of Medicine, which has seen the largest faculty hiring increase in recent years. Jones then discussed the representation of women. “All ranks are finally up to 25 percent women,” she said. “We’ve been working up to it for a number of years and we are at 25 percent women across all the ranks.” Earth sciences and engineering showed the largest increases in women faculty over the past 10 years, though their numbers were the lowest to begin with. Women still hold the highest representation in the School of Education, followed by the humanities in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Jones also congratulated the faculty present on moving women into positions of power at the University. “Our faculty . . . are doing a good job of having women appointed to positions of leadership,” she said. The Faculty Senate will next convene on May 14, with a presentation from Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education John Bravman and Vice President for Development Martin Shell on the economy’s effect on University fundraising. Contact Julia Brownell at [email protected].

Today’s Question: from the 04/16/09 issue What do you think of cuts to the drama department's class offerings? a) The department is a good place to start paring down the budget. b) Improv is a really worthwhile class. I am disappointed with the cuts. c) I'm more concerned about budget cuts in other departments. d) I don’t care about the budget cuts

vote today at stanforddaily.com!

4 N Friday, April 17, 2009

The Stanford Daily

OPINIONS EDITORIAL

Draw revamp as opaque as Draw itself ast week, details for the new Draw system for residential housing were finally released. Chief among the changes made to the Draw is the decision to replace the traditional preferred/un-preferred housing system with a series of tiers corresponding to Draw number increments. This change was designed to make the Draw system fairer and to eliminate legends of people in the 6,000 club — people whose total draw numbers add up to over 6,000. But while the new Draw system was supposedly designed to ease students’ worries over housing, in reality the new system was conceived with far too little student input, and may unnecessarily impede on many students’ housing plans. An arcane system of rules determines exactly when students can use which tier — seniority, Greek membership, pre-assignment and a combination of other factors influence the decision, but essentially each student gets one year in each tier. (Students in Tier One receive Draw numbers between one and 1,000, while Tier Two students are between 1,001 and 2,000, etc.) Housed Greeks forfeit all first- and second-tier housing, a change which could come back to haunt many people as demand for housing increases. Considering that each housed sorority on campus was required to take over 40 members this year, the new system could really put a damper on people’s plans to live in a sorority, as they may only end up being able to live in their house for one year, after which they will have to suffer in thirdtier housing for the remainder of Stanford. One of the more noticeable changes to the Draw is the replacement of the priority system with the pre-assignment system. Preassignment is a single-choice option for students to guarantee a spot in a given house. Pre-assignments will be capped in each house to around one-half of the house population. Housing is currently working with each house to determine the logistics of the pre-assignment process. Co-ops are most directly affected by this, as many depend on housing renovations provided by prospective future residents who come in for work days to get priority. It appears that housing will soon come to an agreement with the coops. (They will have to consider how quickly the Draw is approaching.) In the meantime,

L

current co-op members have voiced concern over why they were not consulted more thoroughly about these changes prior to the release of the new rules. In designing Draw policies that are intended to directly affect co-ops, it does not bode well that Housing left co-op residents out of the decision-making process. The editorial board’s biggest bone of contention with the changes to the housing Draw — as with the new fees attached to Vaden and planned changes to the drop deadline — is the lack of transparency and student involvement in the issue. A small panel of undergraduates served to discuss the new Draw, but there was really no room for larger student body input, other than a poorly attended and publicized town hall meeting.It is becoming an increasing cause for concern that the University is not doing a better job of reaching out to the greater student body prior to making major policy decisions on housing, health services and academic schedules. Following a student body election which saw undergraduate voter turnout increase by nearly 15 percent, the University should recognize that the student body wants and demands input on these kinds of issues. One of the reasons why students at Stanford don’t complain much about housing — compared to students at many other universities — is that housing here, for the most part, is good. And housing remains a serious issue for most of the student body. The ability to live in a particular environment focused around a theme or living arrangement has been crucial to the satisfaction of the Stanford living experience. In addition to turning a house into a home united with a common vision, it provides groups of friends with an easy way to live together from year to year. Stanford excels compared to most universities in the amount of leadership opportunities given to students, as well as the amount of self-governance available. The way Housing has handled these changes to the Draw marks a departure from that model, as it takes power away from the student leadership on campus and gives it to Housing. While many students may, in fact, end up benefiting as a result of these changes, the editorial board would caution against continuing with this trend.

Unsigned editorials in the space above represent the views of The Stanford Daily's editorial board and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Daily staff. The editorial board is comprised of two former Daily staffers, three at-large student members and the two editorial board co-chairs. Any signed columns and contributions are the views of their respective writers and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire editorial board. To contact the editorial board for an issue to be considered, or to submit an op-ed, please email [email protected].

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M ARK M Y W ORDS

America’s gun problem isn’t one I was troubled, though I can’t say surprised, to read my colleague David Goldbrenner’s April 15 column “The NRA victorious,” in which he lambasted gun-rights activists and decried the influence of the NRA over the American population. Within his artfully written piece, he drew on anecdotal arguments meant to trigger emotion, pointed fingers at politicians for gun deaths and gave just enough statistical backing to help prove his point without pointing out its flaws — all in order to criticize the influence of firearms and their lobby on the American people. I’m not surprised because I’ve heard this argument a million times before, from grocery store clerks to U.S. senators and many others in between. Unfortunately, the fatal flaws in this argument have remained throughout the years. In this column, I will do my best to try and dispel the myths and assertions presented by the anti-gun lobby and provide a little more perspective on the issue and illustrate the point that the issue of personally owned firearms is not as black-andwhite as fans of the Brady Bill make it out to be. It’s not easy to write a “pro-gun” column here. Living in one of the few counties in the country that refuses to issue concealed carry licenses to the public at large, on a campus that’s more than a little left of center, makes convincing my peers that guns have merit an uphill battle. It’s very difficult to combat the “anti-gun” mindset that the majority of my neighbors have grown up with, but it is my responsibility to at least try. First and foremost, the argument that prevalence of guns leads to gun violence is incorrect and misleading. Extensive studies by the FBI have shown absolutely no correlation between gun supply and violent crime, or crimes committed with a firearm. In layman’s terms: more guns do not, nor have they ever, lead to more crime.The opposite of that is also true, in that an increased supply in guns does not lead to a decrease in the crime rate. However, legalization of concealed carry does. In every one of the 40 states that has “right-to-carry” laws on the books, crime either decreased dramatically or did not increase after the right-to-carry laws were introduced, also according to the FBI. Florida’s homicide rate fell from 36 percent above the national average to four percent below it, and has remained there since the laws’ passing. In Texas, murder fell 50 percent faster than the national average after the introduction of the law. Rape fell 93 percent faster in the first year after the enactment of the law and 500 percent faster in the second year.

More soberingly, every state without a right-to-carry law has higher crime than any state with said law. States that had right-tocarry laws, and rescinded them, saw their crime rates rise 11 percent faster than the national average. The average state without a right-to-carry law has a 105 percent higher robbery rate, an 86 percent higher murder rate and a 25 percent higher rate of rape than states with right-to-carry laws, according to various statistical studies. While none of these numbers prove causation, there is an awful lot more correlation than the numbers offered by the anti-gun crowd. These numbers suggest that perhaps laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of guns and gun owners seems both illegitimate and intellectually dishonest. To David’s citing of school shootings, he conveniently only mentions the shootings themselves and assumes they are the norm for such situations. In fact, there have been at least a dozen incidents since 2005, in which a responsible citizen brandishing a firearm has prevented a crime from occurring on a college campus. In the bigger picture of the tragedy of public shootings, after the introduction of right-to-carry laws in states with mass public shootings, a University of Chicago study found that the average death rate plummeted 91 percent and the average injury rate fell 80 percent, drawing the suggestion that responsible citizens with firearms helped to prevent more horrifying public slaughters from happening. Even wider statistics support this argument as across the country, firearms are estimated to be used in the prevention of crimes 2.5 million times annually according to the FBI. Finally, the two countries most like us (Western democracies) to have banned firearms in recent memory — Australia and the United Kingdom — both saw crime rates increase immediately after the ban. In fact, crimes committed with a firearm in the United Kingdom nearly doubled after firearms were banned according to the UK Home Office. Within three years of the 1997 ban, you were six times more likely to be mugged in London than in New York. The contention I am making is not that guns aren’t involved in crime. My contention is that it is not guns that cause crime. Furthermore, trying to ban and prohibit guns is a ploy used by politicians as scapegoat legislation to shirk other responsibilities. The shooters in the Columbine massacre broke multiple federal laws in the acquisition of their firearms.

Mark Kogan

The“gun culture”in America is really just the word“culture”with something shiny added to it. Guns aren’t the problem here. The shooter at Virginia Tech was mishandled by the university and also broke federal gun laws already on the books before the shooting. If these laws didn’t stop them, what on earth makes people believe that more will? The United States has a tragically large number of gun deaths, this is true. Yet, countries socially very similar to our own, with much higher gun ownership rates (Switzerland and Israel), have far lower gun crime rates, which again suggest that perhaps guns aren’t the problem. The “gun culture” in America is really just the word “culture” with something shiny added to it. Guns aren’t the problem here. Issues of poverty, socio-economic stratification, poor law enforcement, and a myriad of other social and cultural pressures have a much greater impact on crime rates than do guns. I agree with David that issues such as the gun show loophole need to be addressed, and sooner rather than later. However, I completely understand the resistance of gun owners to these movements. After closing a few loopholes stateside, the Brady Campaign enacted prohibitions on firearms nationwide. Gun owners felt double-crossed and back stabbed.Why should they continue to give an inch when the anti-gun lobby then takes a mile? It is unreasonable to demand gun rights lobbyists to back off when anti-gun crusaders make no such concessions.The right to own a firearm is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution. If the people don’t defend that right, who will? “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.” — The Dalai Lama. Do you think Mark is right on the money or does he need to set his gun down and open his eyes? Let him know at [email protected].

T HE WANDERER

Fees, PHEs and budget cuts don’t know if it’s the presidential election, the recession or intense senior burnout, but my ability to manufacture outrage just isn’t functioning anymore. It might have been the ASSU elections, which once again, to brutally parse Macbeth, seemed “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (On that, I hope I’m wrong, but beyond last year’s Executives, the precedent isn’t promising.) It might be that as budget cuts trickle down, there are so many causes to care about that I’m overloaded and can’t prioritize. The quite normal Stanford pattern of finding people and things that need saving has now come full circle — extending from the far reaches of the globe back to a campus in the throes of budget cuts. In our post-Google boom, it was all about “saving” Darfur, or underprivileged youth or providing electricity. Now the most urgent calls ask if I want to save The Daily, community centers, Vaden Health Center or the drama department. Do cuts mean the new Old Union will never be upgraded beyond a slightly cushier version of Meyer? The new foosball table in Old Union is already broken.

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Game tables aside, with the traces and shreds of fervent concern I have left, student health is my greatest fear as cutbacks continue. The newly announced blanket charge for Vaden of $167 per student per quarter is a lot, but it does kind of make sense. We can be assured that Vaden will continue to offer services, even if it costs more. Stanford wants to make sure students get treatment if they need it, rather than avoiding appointments that cost money. “I think the University is selecting the philosophy [of distributing costs] because charging people at the time of service heightens the penalty of being ill or injured,” Vaden Director Ira Freedman told the Graduate Student Council this week. “[Vaden] provides a community good that I think is appropriate to distribute throughout the entire community.” In an earlier interview with The Daily, Freedman also pointed out that “there will be virtually no reduction in CAPS,” or Counseling and Psychological Services. That is, of course, reassuring, except that numerous cases have been made, including by the University Mental Health Task Force and a spe-

cial series in The Daily, that the current level of resources devoted to CAPS is woefully inadequate. The question administrators are surely grappling with is how to improve CAPS, and where it lies on the priority list with the corpses of lost jobs and the now non-existent Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities degree already rotting on the floor. I’m glad that CAPS is not going to be cut back, but it’s been lacking for years — it already often takes weeks to get an appointment.It’s hard to make a case for more spending in a time of severe budget tightening, but if there is one place spending should be increased, CAPS deserves consideration. For more general health issues, perhaps fittingly, it may be students who play a large role in looking out for student health in the coming financially scrawny years. Even though I know it has virtually no chance of getting more funding soon, the peer health educator (PHE) position is one of the most cost-effective ways to make sure students get the health information they need. PHEs are student residential staff giving ad-

vice and minor health assistance in most freshman dorms and a few others. As a resident assistant (RA) in a freshman dorm, I have been awed and humbled by the contributions of our PHE to the dorm’s well-being and I was shocked to find out that PHEs are basically volunteers, paid a whopping total of $1,000 for the whole year. That’s far less than most social managers in Row houses,and how many hours do you think they ever spend in the hospital? Fortunately, though the program should be expanded, most PHEs are not motivated by the stipend, even though it is woefully unfair compared to other staff members. “When it started, it was a volunteer program,” Jarreau Bowen ‘07, who coordinates the PHE program, told me recently. “It was a group of students who were very dedicated to health and wellness.” As the program expanded, Bowen explained, “It was easy to say yes to having [another] PHE because we weren’t paying any money.” My own PHE, Michelle Meyer ‘09, confirmed that money wasn’t the motivating fac-

Michael Wilkerson tor. “I think the reason I signed up for being a PHE rather than an RA is I liked the health aspect of it,” she said. Meyer has played an active role and mentioned fixing bikes and reading resumes, in addition to providing health information. “Ninety percent of the PHEs, if not all of them, want to be considered full staff,” she added, noting that PHEs do take a four-unit class. Given their direct connection to students and ability to provide information and treatment referrals, the University would do well to give more support, even if non-monetary, to the PHE program. PHEs can’t make up for the shortfalls at Vaden or in CAPS, but they do more than supply condoms and band-aids. I hope the Vaden fee is the only one of its sort. But I am glad I’m graduating. Michael Wilkerson is currently covering himself in band-aids and condoms in anticipation of the SHPRC party.Want some? Email him at [email protected].

The Stanford Daily

Friday, April 17, 2009 N 5

Cardinal Today

CREW

SPORTS

By ZOE LEAVITT STAFF WRITER

Final home tourney on tap By ROXIE DICKINSON STAFF WRITER

Contact Roxie Dickinson at [email protected].

SPORTS BRIEFS Men’s gymnastics advances to team finals No. 1 Stanford was victorious in Minneapolis on Thursday, as the Cardinal came in first at the NCAA qualifying meet to move on to tonight’s team finals.The men will be joined by No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 California. Stanford started strong and hardly let up, as it won the vault competition with a 63.850; sophomore Josh Dixon took first in the event. The Cardinal went on to win four of the six events in total, and never finished below third. Stanford also finished first on the horizontal bar, still rings and floor exercise. Dixon picked up his second top finish on the floor, where he finished with a 15.6, three-tenths better than the runner-up. The Cardinal came in second on parallel bars and third on pommel horse. The 361.100 overall score was the Cardinal’s second highest of the year overall as it bested second-place Michigan’s mark of 358.300.

Women’s gymnastics misses Super Six Stanford faced heartbreak in Lincoln, Neb. on Thursday, as the Cardinal came just a fraction of a point short of qualifying for the six-team NCAA Championships. The top three teams from the event advanced, and LSU finished just 0.075 points ahead of Stanford to come in third and claim the final spot in the NCAA Super Six Finals. The Cardinal was impressive on uneven bars, finishing in second behind Georgia,as well as vault,where it came in third.But Stanford only came in sixth in the floor exercise and fourth on the balance beam. Now, with team competition complete, Stanford only has the individual event finals tomorrow left in its season. Senior Nicole Ourada and junior Carly Janiga, who each earned spots by winning first-team All-American honors in bars, will compete.

Stanford cycling hosts home race Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m., an hour most college students have never heard of, the Stanford cycling team will speed off on its first on-campus race in years. A high-performing club team that achieved three national championships in the last decade, Stanford cycling will host its first true home

Belch

Stanford to play host to first spring regatta

MEN’S GOLF

The No. 4 Stanford men’s golf team returns to the Farm this weekend to host its final regular-season tournament,the U.S.Intercollegiate. The rounds will be a preview for the upcoming Pacific10 Conference Championships, as nine of the 10 conference teams will be participating in this weekend’s tournament. Of the 17 participating schools, six are ranked in the top 25 nationally,including No.3 USC,No.4 Stanford,No.8 Washington,No. 15 Texas, No. 18 UCLA and No. 21 Arizona State. “This is the one time all year that a bunch of top teams come from all over the county to compete in the Bay Area,” head coach Conrad Ray told KNBR 680.“It’s the future stars of what you’ll see down the road on the PGA Tour. There were 15 guys who played in the Masters last week that have played at one time in the U.S.Intercollegiate.It’s neat to see these young guys come and heat it up.” Last year, USC took the tournament crown from the Cardinal with the only under-par team score of the tournament at 12-under 828. Stanford tried to bridge the gap in the final round but was unable to overtake its SoCal rival,posting a one-over 841 for the tournament. Sophomore Sihwan Kim earned second place on the individual ladder, firing a two-under-par 208, while Trojan Rory Hie took the individual title with a 10-under 200. Hie has since graduated. This past week’s mighty gusts of wind may pose a challenge for the range of competitors.Last year,the wind caused many teams to post high over-par scores. Luckily for fans and competitors, the winds are expected to be down this weekend. “We’re talking short weather this weekend,” Ray said.“It’s supposed to be 80 degrees this weekend, which is great because the course is playing firm and fast.We’ve got a great backdrop here at Stanford with our university course.” Stanford’s five team competitors this weekend are No. 10 sophomore Steve Ziegler, No. 48 freshman David Chung, Kim and seniors Dodge Kemmer and Daniel Lim.Sophomore Graham Brockington and junior Jordan Cox will be competing as individuals.This will be the last time that Kemmer and Lim compete for the Cardinal on the Stanford golf course. Both Chung and Ziegler were on fire last week,helping the Cardinal earn its second-place finish at the U.S. Collegiate Championship in Georgia. Chung snagged his personal best and second top-10 finish of the season,coming in third on the individual ladder. Just one stroke behind Chung was Ziegler, who came in a tie for fourth. Southern California may be ranked third nationally, but last week the Trojans came in ninth place overall in the U.S. Collegiate. Stanford has good momentum going into this weekend’s tough playing field, posting top-five overall finishes in all five of its spring season tournaments. “We’ve had a good year,” Ray said to KNBR “The guys are working hard,and we’re looking forward to having a good showing this weekend.” The U.S. Intercollegiate will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, going until dusk.Admission is free and the weather is predicted to be gorgeous on the links.

Danny

AGUSTIN RAMIREZ/The Stanford Daily

Freshman Sarah Hassman and the Cardinal will look to topple Arizona from the top spot in the Pac-10 standings today in Tucson, Ariz.

SOFTBALL Continued from front page

several of the nation’s top players, including junior Alissa Haber (.428 average, seven home runs, .746 slugging percentage) and freshman Ashley Hansen (.415, 39 RBI). Nothing has contributed more to the Cardinal’s success, however, than its dominant pitching. The ace of the staff, senior Missy Penna, has combined with sophomore Ashley Chinn to put up conference-leading numbers in ERA (1.11),opposing average (.170), strikeouts (327) and wins (36). Penna, a senior from Miami, expressed the same confidence that her coach did, stressing that the Cardinal needs to focus on its own performance, not its opponent’s. “We’ll play our game, no matter who we’re up against,” she said. “We’ve got good competition, but we need to concentrate on our own team, and playing our best no matter what.We shouldn’t ever play up or down to whomever [we’re up against].” Adding to the excitement this weekend, tonight’s game, in which the Pac-10’s top spot will be up for grabs, will be televised nationally on CBS Sports. Junior catcher Rosey Neill said, however, that it won’t be a significant distraction to her team. “We’ll play the same game against every team, regardless of T.V. or other circumstances,” she said. “Maybe it’ll add some nerves to some kids, but we try not to let it affect us.” Tonight’s televised contest with the Wildcats begins at 7 p.m., as does Saturday’s game against Arizona State. Sunday’s game is set for noon. Contact Nate Adams at [email protected].

event in recent memory. “It’s kind of been a Stanford cycling tradition, to try every year to host a race and to run into some roadblocks,” said the team’s road captain, junior Rae Brownsberger. “[This year] we’ve finally reached a critical mass of wisdom and experience.” This Sunday’s race involves an approximately one-mile loop around Campus Drive and the surrounding roads. “The smartest person is going to win, not necessarily who can climb a hill the fastest,” Brownsberger said. The Stanford team, depleted by a

large graduating class last year, hopes this event will draw new faces to their ranks and remove some mystery from the team. “It would be awesome if people even remotely interested in cycling could come out,” Brownsberger said. “For all those people who say, ‘Cycling looks fun, but I’m intimidated’ and think everyone on the team is in better shape, it’s really not true. It’s about school pride and running around screaming.” — By Zoe Leavitt and Wyndam Makowsky

This weekend, Stanford men’s crew will compete against Washington, Wisconsin and Oregon State in its first home regatta of the spring season. All teams enter the weekend ranked in the top five. Stanford, a team full of younger rowers, hopes to use its impressive results against topranked Cal a few weeks ago as a springboard toward greater heights when the Cardinal men face other top-ranked teams. “We had a really good day in San Diego when we beat Cal in the heat, and Cal is now No. 1 in the country,” said men’s coach Craig Amerkhanian. “It showed us that we have a capability to race with the best.” At 6 p.m. tonight, the Cardinal varsity eight will face off with Washington, followed by the second eight at 6:20 and, at 6:40, the freshmen eight against Wisconsin. Saturday morning will see the Cardinal battle Oregon State, leading up to the finale against second-ranked Wisconsin on Sunday. The waters of Redwood City will be frothing with the best rowing talents in the nation. The Cardinal has traded victories with the Badgers over the past several years, but this year Wisconsin has come armed stronger than ever,with last year’s national championship to back its reputation. This regatta will bring together the most recent two national champions, Washington (2007) and Wisconsin (2008). “This is the finest regatta this side of the national championships,” Amerkhanian said. “This field represents the highest ranked teams to come together in rowing history.” “We’re racing with the best,” he continued. “They respect us, and we respect them.” While the whole team will be pulling its hardest for the finish line this weekend, the freshmen will face an especially tough uphill battle.

VBALL Continued from front page Stanford defense. For that reason, Stanford will be rolling out its own big guns this weekend. The team will undoubtedly look to outside hitter Evan Romero to spur the Cardinal offense;the junior has hit over .300 in eight of his last 12 games and has totaled an incredible 435 kills this season. “Evan has raised his own bar this year,” Kosty said. “He’s really done the job for us out there and has played a consistently high level of volleyball, just what we need on the outside.” On the defensive end, Stanford

Washington presents two 22-year-old international students from Germany who have rowed at some of the world’s highest levels but compete this year on the freshman team. Tom Lehmann, who reached the men’s rowing pair semifinals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Mathis Jessen, who stroked the German men’s four boat to victory in the 2008 World Rowing Championship, have both proven to be remarkable assets. Lehmann and Jessen helped Washington flatten all opponents in the San Diego Crew Classic, including defeating Stanford by a huge margin. “Freshmen are not eligible to row varsity,” Amerkahnian said. “It’s no riff on them,they’re awesome,it’s just they should be able to row on the best boat. But Washington has a firstranked freshmen team, and our freshmen will have to do their best to compete.” Stanford freshman Chip Schroeder looks forward to this weekend’s races as a good opportunity to show the team’s improved fitness. “The frosh know that if we row aggressively as we’ve been doing this week in practice, we have the potential to be a very fast crew and show some good results this weekend,” Schroeder said. The team hopes that the San Diego Crew Classic bodes well for the rest of its season, and views this weekend’s difficult competition as practice for the rest of spring. Despite the Cardinal’s opportunity to prove itself against some of the best in the country, the team’s challenges will not be over soon as it faces Cal again on May 2.With Stanford climbing the rankings and taking on increasingly difficult teams, the men will try and prove themselves, showing how they deserve their high reputation. “The team itself has a typical Stanford student can-do spirit,” Amerkhanian said. Contact Zoe Leavitt at [email protected].

reigns No.1 in the nation for digs,in no small part thanks to freshman libero Erik Shoji who is becoming increasingly well known for his miraculous save, which was featured as the No. 2 Play of the Day on SportsCenter’s “Top Plays;” the video has over 180,000 hits on YouTube. Shoji currently leads the nation in digs and holds the Stanford single-season record for digs. With the entire team playing at its highest level since the beginning of the year, both Kosty and the Cardinal players can hope for the best this weekend.With a little bit of luck,Stanford may see the first round of the MPSF Tournament grace its campus later this month for the first time in several years. Contact Jeff Lu at [email protected].

On My Mind

Sports’ healing powers would like to follow up on my Daily colleague Dan Bohm’s Wednesday column, “Tragic times in the sports world.”The death of Anaheim Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart last week was indeed tragic. I feel for his family, his friends, his teammates and anyone who was close with the 22-year-old rookie. People that young just don’t deserve to pass away like that. The Angles respectfully and appropriately honored Adenhart. A makeshift memorial was created outside of Angel Stadium. The team postponed the game that was supposed to take place on the next day. The team held a ceremony two days later and etched his number into the dirt on the mound. A part of the outfield wall has his picture and number on it. The Angels will now wear his number 34 on their uniforms the entire season. It was a poignant moment at the Angels ballpark in their first game since Adenhart’s death. It reminded everyone in the stadium and watching on TV that life can be short, and something can happen in an instant that can change it forever. No one is free from the despair of tragedy, not even a young kid who showed just a few hours earlier that he had a bright future ahead of him. But as moving and emotional as the Angels’ celebration was, it also brought to mind a bigger principle — something that maybe few have thought about. What makes Adenhart’s death any different from the hundreds, thousands of untimely and heartbreaking deaths that take place around the country every day? He was a young man whose first job in life happened to be that of a baseball player. In most cases, he was just an ordinary guy. Ordinary people don’t always get special news coverage like Adenhart did. Ordinary people don’t always get the top headline on several websites, ongoing television reporting and an extravagant memorial. Referred to several times last week as “a big fraternity,” the Angles and MLB as a whole have been excellent in showing their love and support for Adenhart’s family and the Angels franchise. The MLB, like any professional sport, is an organization that is committed to the well-being of all its members. Competition takes place, but at the end of the day it’s about the coaches, players, judges and team staff. Like a nice car, a sport

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6 N Friday, April 17, 2009

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BELCH Continued from page 5 needs all its parts to be in place and working perfectly in order to have a smooth ride. Professional sports organizations find the loss of one to be damaging to the whole. Athletics has offered us a glimpse at some of the best ways to rally around a cause and support it. From the honorary events that came after September 11, to Breast Cancer Awareness at women’s college basketball games, to the Jimmy V Cancer Foundation for men’s college basketball, to grieving the deaths of players and coaches, sports have been a cornerstone of support and remembrance for colleagues who

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have been affected by tragedy. Even Stanford has been subject to sad times in the past few years, with the passing of legendary football coach Bill Walsh and longtime beloved athletic administrator Kathy Wolff. In both instances, the Stanford and outside communities shared in the mourning of two members of Stanford’s family. So nothing was too different when the Angels had to grieve the death of one of their youngest and brightest stars. It was the camaraderie that the organization had and the connection that the team and MLB had with other players and fans across the country. People felt like they were all in it together for him, his family, the Angels and the game of baseball. The death of Nick Adenhart was, on the surface, just another unfortu-

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nate drunk driving death. But because he was a baseball player, his brothers across the country rallied around him. That made people like me take notice and want to rally as well. Baseball showed that the game, the stats, the numbers and the home runs are not as important as the life of one of their own men. I’ll thank sports for instilling that feeling in myself and many others across the country. Sports are not above the rest of the world.They are something that can bring people together. And that principle struck people like me who grieved for Nick Adenhart and his family — because after seeing how the Angels and baseball community honored him, it just felt like the right thing to do. Contact Danny Belch at dbelch1 @stanford.edu.