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ily The Stanford Daily nf D An Independent Publication

MONDAY April 6, 2009

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Volume 235 Issue 30

SUMMIT SETS TONE FOR SERVICE Westly calls on students to stand up for what they know is right By ANDREW VALENCIA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Across campus, the demand for public service opportunities has increased as more students seek ways to use their Stanford education to contribute to society. While budget cuts and the weakened economy have strained campus resources, students and faculty remain optimistic that public service has a bright future at Stanford. On Saturday, the ASSU — in cooperation with the President’s Office, the Vice Provost for Student Affairs, the Haas Center for Public Service and other campus organizations — sponsored the Stanford Service Summit. Bringing together students, faculty and alumni from all disciplines, the summit examined and rethought the future of public service on campus. Former California State Comptroller Steve Westly ‘78 MBA ‘83 gave the keynote presentation and called upon Stanford students to always stand up for what they know is right. Drawing on his own experiences as a former ASSU president — who in the spring of 1977 led student protests against the University’s investments in South Africa — Westly claimed

that no student should rule out the benefits he or she can create by becoming involved with public service. “Even with someone like me, with no training, no background [in public service] . . . you can make a difference,” he said. Westly told The Daily that there was a strong need for young Californians to join public service. “It’s going to be a tough time, I think, for Californians this year because of the difficult economic straits we’re in,” Westly said. “But I think, by the same token, there has never been a more important time for the best and brightest amongst us in California, and especially for Stanford students, to come into the public sector.” Students attending the summit were asked to give their opinions on what the University could do to improve public service resources and to envision what role public service might play on campus in 2020. Gabriel Garcia, faculty director of the Haas Center, spoke during a session on public health about the importance of community awareness in medicine. “One of the things we do poorly as a university is honoring the knowledge of the community,” Garcia said. “If we are only inspired by the

STUDENT GOV’T

Senate chair Gao to be in D.C.for fall Current Senate Chair seeking re-election, despite plans to go abroad By CHRISTIAN TORRES EDITOR IN CHIEF

Current Undergraduate Senate Chair Shelley Gao ‘11 confirmed to The Daily last night that she will be participating in Stanford in Washington this fall, just as her potential second term as a senator gets going. After hesitating and initially declining to respond to questions of her status for autumn quarter 2009, Gao responded that she will indeed be in Washington, D.C. as she presumably begins work on campus issues outlined in her platform. “Being in Washington during fall would allow me to pursue my key project: fundraising, and creating a stipend program to provide financial support for Stanford students undertaking government service, and internships,” Gao wrote in an email statement to The Daily; however, the project is not noted in her platform on the Students for a Better Stanford (SBS) Web site or in her statement in the ASSU candidate handbook. “I intend to actively participate in Senate proceedings via Skype, and travel back periodically to physically attend the meetings.” According to the ASSU Constitution, there is no official clause prohibiting an Undergraduate Senate member from being abroad. However, it does state: “The Undergraduate Senate shall create and enforce by appropriate measures a policy to ensure attendance by members of the Undergraduate Senate at all meetings of the Undergraduate Senate.” This leaves handling of the situation up to the elected Senate itself. Gao, who is currently running with the SBS coalition, would look to fulfill her responsibilities in the Senate alongside evening classes and an internship likely requiring 40 hours per week, according to the Stanford in Washington Web site. Contact Christian Torres at [email protected].

Index

previous literature to create the future literature, then that may be a good academic life, but it is a poor [citizenship].” Garcia and his session group brainstormed ideas for how public service could become more ingrained in the academic culture of the University. The ideas they put forth included wide-sweeping reforms and additions to Stanford curriculum, including the addition of a public service GER and the creation of a school of public health that would collaborate with other schools in the state. In general, the students called for a greater faculty effort to interweave aspects of public service into course syllabi. “‘Mountains Beyond Mountains’ influenced the junior class with a lasting feeling of public service,” said Tommy Tobin ‘10, referring to the Tracy Kidder work about Partners in Health cofounder Paul Farmer that was included in the required summer reading for the Class of 2010. “We could change the three books requirement to make one of the books service-oriented.” As the principle source of public service resources on campus, the Haas Center has seen a dramatic increase in the number of students

Please see SUMMIT, page 8

ALEX YU/The Stanford Daily

Former California State Comptroller Steve Westly ‘78 MBA ‘83 gave the keynote presentation at the Stanford Service Summit and called on students to go into public service sector.

STUDENT GOV’T

NOT TOUGH Coalition ENOUGH sets sights ZIA NIZAMI/Belleville News-Democat

Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer attempts to rally her troops during the first half in last night’s game. Stanford led only once over the course of the game.

STANFORD TOPPLES UNDER GOLIATH UCONN, 83-64

on Senate Students for a Better Stanford aim for 12 of 15 Senate seats

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 4/5 vs. UConn L 83-64

By MARISA LANDICHO

GAME NOTES: Stanford was held without a point for the first five and a half minutes of the second half. Stanford’s star center, junior Jayne Appel, finished with 26 points and seven rebounds. The Huskies tandem of Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery posted a combined 50 points. With the win, UConn avenged a loss to Stanford in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

By NATE ADAMS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Stanford women’s basketball’s 2008-2009 season came to humbling conclusion Sunday night as the Cardinal fell to top-seeded Connecticut, 83-64 in semifinal play at St. Louis’ Scottrade Center. Four Husky players finished with doubledigit points, while Stanford’s Jayne Appel tied UConn’s Renee Montgomery in scoring with 26. The defeat marked the end of a 20-game Cardinal winning streak and dashed any hopes for this year’s squad to earn the school’s third national title. UConn, meanwhile, will proceed to Tuesday’s championship game against Louisville, which defeated Oklahoma in Sunday’s first semifinal game. Stanford (33-5) was the last team to defeat Connecticut, eliminating them in last year’s semifinals by a score of 82-73. Sunday’s rematch, however, was all UConn. The Huskies (38-0) won the opening tip, and continued to control the ball for most of the first half.After just six minutes of play, the Cardinal had turned the ball over six times and had taken it away from UConn only once. The Huskies took advantage of Stanford’s offensive missteps, scoring 13 points off turnovers in the first half, while holding the Cardinal to only two. UConn threw Stanford’s defense off its game as well, attacking from all angles and positions. Four Husky players had at least one field goal after only four minutes of play. Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer was impressed by the preparedness of the Huskies. “They’re an extremely aggressive, athletic team,” she said. “Their whole team came out and made plays that they had to make. They

ZIA NIZAMI/Belleville News-Democat

Despite tallying 26 points, Stanford star center Jayne Appel was unable to provide enough to defeat top-seeded UConn. Appel led the Cardinal offensively with a strong tourney showing. don’t make a lot of mistakes, and they don’t take bad shots.” Stanford certainly had its chances to score, trailing the Huskies in attempted shots by only five after the first half (29 to 34) and one after 40 minutes (62 to 63). Most of the Cardinal shots came from leading scorer Jayne Appel, who tallied 10 of Stanford’s first 14 points. She played with toughness, leading the Cardinal to a 14-13 lead midway through the first half with two consecutive baskets, one coming after she

Opinions/4 • Sports/5 • Classifieds/7

took a hard fall. Appel received relatively little help as the game went on, however, and that small lead proved to be the only time Stanford wasn’t playing catch-up to UConn. No other Cardinal player had more than four points until Kayla Pederson scored at the 10:15 mark, by which point Appel had scored 17. Free throws and three-pointers proved to be a struggle as well

Please see BASKETBALL, page 6

Students for a Better Stanford (SBS), a new coalition of 12 Senate hopefuls, share a flashy Web site and a strong desire to get elected — but no uniting ideological vision, according to the members. Before the start of campaign week, the 12 candidates, led by current Senate Chair Shelley Gao ‘11 and candidate Zachary Warma ‘11, allied themselves publicly. “These are 12 people with a very common vision of what student government should look like and form a responsive Senate that would really help the undergraduate population,” said Warma, who is also a Daily columnist. But when pressed on what their “common vision” entails, SBS candidates could offer little more than a pledge to be civil if elected to the Senate. “What unifies us is how we will conduct our business,” said SBS candidate Adam Creasman ‘11. “We all work well together and are willing to compromise.” Other candidates have questioned the intentions of SBS, saying their stated credo of working for a better Stanford carries little meaning, as the notion of Senate candidates hoping to improve the University is seemingly obvious. “Every single person running for Senate should want to improve Stanford in every way,” said Michael Cruz ‘12, questioning the SBS moniker. Cruz is endorsed by the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC). Getting elected The student candidates that comprise SBS do share one idea — getting themselves elected to the Undergraduate Senate.

Please see COALITION, page 8

Recycle Me

2 N Monday, April 6, 2009 STUDENT GOV’T

DAILY POLL Do you think you would have been admitted to Stanford University if you applied this year? 114 votes taken from stanforddaily.com at 9:45 p.m. 04/05/09

37%

A

10%

C

Lyman,Werner campaign for hope,change Candidates call for a revamping of the Executive

20%

D

The Stanford Daily

By ELLEN HUET CONTRIBUTING WRITER

33%

B A) Yes, I’m very confident in my abilities B) No, it has become far too competitive C) I’m not sure D) How did I get here again? Today’s Question: What do you think of student coalitions running for ASSU senate? a) It’s great! More students should form coalitions b) It is beneficial if they all share the same beliefs c) It is opportunistic d) I see no benefit to student coalitions

vote today at stanforddaily.com!

During last November’s presidential election, candidates and citizens alike harped on change. This week, the executive slate of John Lyman ‘11 and Garrett Werner ‘10, two candidates whose platform promises to highlight issues that, until now, the ASSU has never even considered discussing, are pushing the concept of change to new heights. Although their slate is named “Just A Couple Of Affable, Public Service-Oriented Guys Trying To Help The Student Body Exercise Its Voice While Also Bridging The Gap Between Our Peers And The Faculty/Administrative Complex (JACOAPSOGTESVWBGBOPATFAC),” Lyman and Werner are not to be confused with the typical executive slate. Boasting the elusive endorsement of the Stanford Chaparral — the only Chappie-endorsed slate or candidate in this year’s entire elec-

STUDENT GOV’T

SOCC endorses 12 Senate candidates By ZOE RICHARDS STAFF WRITER

The historically powerful Students of Color Coalition (SOCC) has endorsed 12 Undergraduate Senate candidates in this week’s election. Committed to protecting community centers, reducing Voluntary Student Organizations (VSO) costs, increasing ASSU transparency and safeguarding diversity, SOCCendorsed candidates have pledged to a vision that also directly addresses issues of diversity in their personal platforms.

Anton Zietsman ‘12 affirmed an interest that seemed to be shared by all of the SOCC-endorsed candidates in protecting the sanctity of community centers in the face of budget slashing. “Because of the economic crisis, we have focused on protecting the community centers when it comes to budget cuts,” Zietsman said. “What I would like to do as a senator is promote that more.” Senate candidates seeking the stamp of approval from SOCC

Please see SOCC, page 3

tion — JACOAPSOGTESVWBGBOPATFAC is calling for a complete revamping of the executive position, focusing specifically on the student voice, unity under pressure and a standardized greeting system to encourage open communication. The slate’s presidential candidate, Lyman, sat down with The Daily to discuss his vision for Stanford’s future. Lyman said that he, like others, was initially inspired by the leadership of current ASSU Execs Jonny Dorsey ‘09 and Fagan Harris ‘09. He specifically cited a video in which Dorsey and Harris make an appeal to the student body to engage in more public service. “Since [the video], we’ve been inspired — not just by what they said, but how they said it,” Lyman explained. “After all, the message was to better exercise the student voice, and their voices sounded hearty and had great projection.” The slate’s main platform extends around helping the entire student voice emulate the qualities of Dorsey and Harris. Lyman stressed that in the interest of feasibility, the slate will focus on tangible goals: making the student voice “more booming, louder and more in-your-face,” as well as touching elbows while projecting.

“In the end, we have these general ideals that involve various metrics of the student voice that we want to improve,” he said.“We also want to give the student voice a slightly nicer timbre — it’s probably the most ambitious of our goals at this point, but I think the timbre is really going to be key if we want our student voice to be ready for a cappella tryouts next fall.” The slate also showed the financial savvy and awareness necessary in such an economic crisis, explaining that their budgetary concerns would focus around choosing between expensive voice lessons or studio time with synthesizers to achieve the end goal of vocal excellence. Other platform initiatives for JACOAPSOGTESVWBGBOPATFAC include a standardized Stanford greeting and more emphasis on elbow contact throughout the student government. “If we could somehow apply some of the formalities of creating a secret handshake and make it open to everyone, we wouldn’t have this problem of people approaching each other from different age groups and being at a loss,” he said. “It would be nice if we knew what kind of greeting was appropriate. Maybe a belly tap.”

When asked about their fellow executive candidates, the Lyman-Werner slate expressed serious concern about David Gobaud ‘08 M.S. ‘10, stating that his campaign seemed to be asking students to “go bald” with him. Lyman worried that the Gobaud-de la Torre platform was rushing students into “growing up too fast,” and he promised to adhere to “ushering the student body through young adulthood to normal adulthood gradually and comfortably” in the interests of student safety and wellbeing. As for their chances, Lyman and Werner perhaps best sum it up in the ASSU’s official voter guide. “You miss 100 percent of the shots that you don’t take, so we’ve decided to give this student government thing a try — for better or for worse,” they wrote. “Our shot at ASSU Exec will hopefully be a slam dunk, but we are also prepared to launch an air ball, a brick, an off-the-backboard or even one of those weird spinners that goes around the rim a bunch of times and gets everyone going all ‘ooooh’ before it catches a bad bounce and flies out.” Contact Ellen Huet at [email protected].

Monday, April 6, 2009 N 3

The Stanford Daily

Crazy Color Camaraderie

THE

volume 235

STANFORD DAILY101X Daily 101X is your opportunity to learn about joining The Stanford Daily and get an introduction to journalism.

Meet the editors and learn about the various departments (writing, photos and graphics) you can get involved with!

When: Monday, April 6 @ 7pm Where: The Daily Office (behind Old Union, down the street from Tresidder)

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! If you’re interested but can’t make the event, please email: [email protected]

MATT JONES/The Stanford Daily

Two students enjoy the traditional Indian celebration of Holi on Wilbur field. The event, which celebrates the arrival of spring, involves throwing colored powders at one another/

SOCC Continued from page 2 undergo a rigorous application process before the board reaches consensus on which candidates will be endorsed. The process includes screening applicants based on their responses to questions that particularly address SOCC issues and an interview for finalists, cutting a typical applicant pool of 20 to 30 down to anywhere between 10 to 15 endorsees. SOCC board members span a variety of student organizations dedicated to promoting diversity on all fronts of student social and academic life. Ashley Anderson ‘09, of SOCC, noted the importance of the coalition as a mechanism for setting select candidates apart from the pack. “In a Senate race in which candidates tend to be indistinguishable from one another based on the majority of their platform points, the SOCC endorsement functions as a way for voters to readily distinguish

which candidates have communities of color in mind and will advocate for issues that are specifically important to these communities,” she said. SOCC-endorsed candidates have promised to push against so-called “acts of intolerance” at the University. This devotion has seen candidates focus on everything from dispelling gender biases to ensuring that offensive party themes that play into stereotypes are reconsidered. Also committed to faculty diversity, SOCC-endorsed candidates have vowed to play a part in preserving and communicating the importance of a diverse staff to Executive officers and school administrators. However, being a poster child for this coalition doesn’t mean that these candidates will not have their individual differences on various issues if elected to the Senate. Ben Jensen ‘12 pointed out the plurality of views even among SOCC candidates. “We’re all very different people, and we do represent SOCC, but for very different reasons,” Jensen said. However, Matt Miller ‘12 con-

tended that these differences will, ideally, not interfere with Senate decision-making. “I would believe [the Senate] to be very similar to what [SOCC candidates] are doing now,” Miller said. “You have those informal and necessary, impromptu meetings on things that aren’t quite clear.That air of collaboration will definitely translate into the senate.” It is this kind of shared attitude about how to address problems in the Senate in addition to their shared vision and commitment to addressing issues of diversity on campus that defines SOCC-endorsed candidates. As for disagreement, all agreed that they do not consider themselves as SOCC-endorsed candidates to simply be a monolithic force. Some feel that bringing problems to the table and allowing them to be discussed openly might be the best way to bring about progress in the Senate. “Yes, we’re going to butt heads,” Wharton said. “And that’s the best way to work out differences.” Contact Zoe Richards at iamzoe @stanford.edu

4 N Monday, April 6, 2009

The Stanford Daily

OPINIONS EDITORIAL

The Stanford Daily AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

Established 1892

Increase dining plan flexibility W hat with the fresh jicama and Swiss chard regularly served in cafeterias or the private chefs who greet hungry Row-dwellers with barbecued ribs on any given weeknight, you’d think a Stanford student might be hard-pressed to argue the injustice of the dining situation on campus. While the editorial board agrees that we are a privileged lot, and does not mean to attack the quality or quantity of the cuisine that Stanford Dining works hard to provide, we feel the need to beg the question:Why aren’t all options open to students on an equal basis? And what is this dining disparity doing to our level of wellness and sense of community on campus? Few stop to consider how greatly the University-assigned meal plan they have been assigned affects their social circle,budget and day-to-day satisfaction. Consider the sophomore who draws into Mars to be with friends, but cannot afford a board bill that demands she spend an extra several hundred dollars per quarter on food. Or the upperclassman with a high Draw number who must choose between the guilt of “wasting a meal” he’s already paid for to eat with friends off campus, or trying to fit in at a freshman discussion of PWR in Wilbur Dining. The University is sprinkled with many such cases of dissatisfaction and even serious hardship endured under the currently rigid and effectively mandatory meal plan policy. And thus far, Stanford Dining has been unreasonably unwilling to accommodate students’ diverse financial,nutritional and social preferences. Dining argues that by constricting students to their residentially assigned meal plan, it is “helping to build a sense of community within a house and promote interaction between residents, faculty and guests.” The current policy dictates that students must accept the dining plan offered by the residence to which they were randomly assigned unless they can get a religious leader, or the Office of Accessible Education (OAE), to certify in writing that there is a conflict between their lifestyle and assigned dining facilities. Even then, students are assessed a quarterly fee for the privilege to opt out and spend their money as they see fit. Stanford Dining should take an approach to meal plan selection that more aptly reflects students’ means and social habits — an

approach that is not so contingent upon a student’s place of residence. If students could choose a personalized meal plan that included more co-op eating or self-op eating, a wider range of dining hall meals and Cardinal dollars for purchase, or the chance to be a Row-house eating associate without having to fake a new interest in keeping Kosher or pay a penalty, students would be able to take better advantage of all the great options on campus without paying above and beyond what Stanford charges for board bills. On the East Coast, a number of institutions, including Cornell University and Boston College, offer students a far wider range of dining options, recognizing that it should be students’ prerogative to decide whether they spend more money in a dining hall or a local or off-campus eatery. They have instituted a prepaid debit card service that allows card holders to eat both at dining halls and a number of privately owned local eateries, and students can decide for themselves how much they spend at each location. These universities understand that not all students benefit from all-you-can eat programs, and that going out can be a positive eating experience in addition to eating in a residential program. Given that so much of Stanford life is contained on campus, our dining system might be more feasibly amended by giving each student a set number of meal points to spend anywhere on campus — including Row houses, cafes and dining halls — and to let students decide what works best for them. Many students would still most likely choose to eat close to their homes most nights of the week, but the flexibility advantages to the students currently socially isolated or unsatisfied by their meal plan options would be tremendous.While it may cost more to implement, as dining hall managers are less certain about how much food they should prepare, the student body will reap more than enough benefit to justify the expense. Food is one of our most essential needs, and mealtime provides not only nourishment, but also pleasure and social connectivity. The student meal plan system is as arbitrarily and dispassionately assigned as our Draw numbers, and is not well-equipped to provide students with the choice and flexibility that we, as adults with diverse needs and interests, deserve.

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].

P ITH

AND

P LEONASM

Matt Gillespie

O

that’s being put on these kids, from parents, classmates or the document you can download that has the average admitted GPA for every med school on the planet,is so immense,so unthinkable even a generation ago, that the question shouldn’t be how pre-meds can be so crazy; it’s how pre-meds can possibly not be so crazy? Hazing is almost uniformly illegal on college campuses, but that’s all the full pre-med curriculum really comes down to. If a campus organization forced its new members through the beer-chugging or ass-paddling equivalent of a year of organic chemistry, they’d be kicked off campus faster than you could say Organizational Conduct Board. Having been on sports teams in high school, a fraternity at Stanford and then taken a full year’s worth of pre-med masochism at Northwestern,I can promise you that nothing even remotely approaches the intensity or humiliation of what happened on a daily basis in my summer chemistry classes. The Ancient Powers that be of the American Medical College Application Service (w (w ho I’d imagine are well over 80 and sit in cedartrimmed, Montgomery Burns-style offices that haven’t been ventilated since 1973) simply go by a we-did-it-and-so-should-they mentality. They completely miss the point that the climate of today’s colleges, not to mention the state of healthcare in America, is so radically different than it’s ever been in the past that the system simply needs to change to accommodate the times. High grades and test scores certainly select for a competent, calculating bunch, but this approach, especially at a college where everyone already had to claw tooth and nail in high school just to get in the door, crowds out a ton of students who could have made excellent physicians but fell on the wrong side of one too many Gaussian curves. To call the 45 or so required pre-med undergraduate units unnecessary and excessive would be unfair.‘Unnecessary’ and ‘excessive’ are far too benign of terms to describe the absurdity of forcing kids though all that class just so they can do it for seven more years. It’s stupid, and it forces totally qualified students to look for other lines of work. It’s not just unnecessary and excessive — it’s insane. Matt Gillespie got all Bs in organic chemistry and executed perhaps the least successful independent project in the history of BIO 44Y.Send your ShutUp-Cause-You-Could-Never-Be-a-DoctorAnyway e-mails to [email protected].

Tonight’s Desk Editors

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I LVES L IVES !

Ballot box budgets: Keeping student life solvent s the tawdry details of ASSU elections and campaign financing initiatives are splayed across the pages of the Daily, a lower-key, but to most students far more important, annual drama is unfolding behind the scenes: Special Fees. Each year, the student body votes to tax itself over $2 million to fund the activities of its large student groups, supporting everything from Club Sports to MEChA.The process begins in February, when financial officers present comprehensive budgets for the coming year to the Undergraduate Senate’s Appropriations Committee, which shoehorns the budgets into its funding guidelines before they can appear on the ballot.We then vote on the fees in the Spring ASSU elections.As a final measure, students can request refunds from specific groups each quarter. The focal point of the process is fee interviews in February. (Disclaimer: I participated in this process last year as an ASSU Senator). The Appropriations Committee spends 25 hours in a windowless,Gulag-like room in Old Union over the course of a weekend, going through several-hundred pages of Special Fee applications, interviewing more than 50 groups. Last year’s committee had to supplement its regular quorum requirements with a ‘sober quorum’ to account for the hapless senators who took to drinking to deal with the stress. The process has its absurdities. Groups are asked to submit detailed line-item budgets for events that are often more than a year away, leading the appropriations committee to discuss sundries like the cost of napkins or whether speakers deserve $5 or $10 gift coffee mugs. Despite all this, the system functions. Groups get their money in a mostly fair and eq-

A

Show us your O-(chem) face n my first day of my summer class at Northwestern last year, the professor — an egg-shaped man with beady charcoal eyes and perpetually zipped-though-thefly sh s irt tails — began class with a red-faced, sweaty diatribe that ended with something close to this:Many of you will not make it.Many of you do not have what it takes, and you will find that you don’t have what it takes out very quickly in MY classroom. I know most of you are here because you want to be doctors — by the end of summer,many of you will need to consider a new career path. Your terrified narrator is looking around the classroom, fully expecting to see his own shock, disgust and confusion reflected on the faces of his classmates. I get nothing. No one looks up or rolls her eyes at this ridiculous, blotchy oval of a human being.The girl in front of me, instead, has written on the top of her paper (no joke) DAY 1 — NO EXCUSES THIS TIME. If I were lucky, this would just be a nightmare. But no, this is Organic Chemistry. Organic Chemistry, or “O-Chem,” as it’s called by every kid who ever leaned over to ask what you got on a physics midterm, is thought by most to be the most difficult hurdle on the track to medical school.In addition,premedical students complete a year of general chemistry, biology and physics, plus additional coursework that might be required by whichever holy grail of medical instruction they one day hope to attend. It’s obscenely time consuming, competitive and out-of-this-world stressful. In short, it all really, really sucks. As I suffered through organic chemistry, I went through all the standard states of disenchantment (I am told everyone goes through a fairly set series of states of disenchantment in organic chemistry). Somehow, I escaped the summer with my life, but when I turned in my last exam at the end of week nine, all I felt was disappointment. I had just finished the hardest set of classes I’d ever taken, and I felt terrible, like I’d wasted a summer, like I’d forgotten everything already,like . . . wait,this is what just decided whether or not I’m qualified to be a doctor? Seriously? There probably isn’t a group on campus that gets stereotyped more harshly than pre-meds. They’re so competitive! They’re such robots! Don’t they ever have any fun? It’s an easy trap to fall into, to think that pre-meds are a different breed. But think about it — the pressure

Incorporated 1973

Luukas Ilves

uitable manner; voting on fees and electing senators provide a democratic check on the process and, unlike the University administration, the ASSU transparently makes all documents and figures about the fees available. Whatever its imperfections, Special Fees are preferable to an administrator wantonly disbursing funds. That the system works is a testament to the mutual trust and solidarity of Stanford students.Most students benefit directly from only a few student groups,but our collective willingness to support groups of which we are not members allows the student body to fund a wide range of student groups in a democratic manner without falling prey to the interest group politics and populism that plague the California initiative process. Student fees have weathered the budgetary storm thus far. Because they are collected directly from students and spent that same year, endowment and market losses won’t drive down student group funding.Rather,fees are a source of last resort, serving as a backup for groups that can no longer rely on departments, grants, student affairs and other sources. This year, the quarterly Special Fees bill has crossed the $100 threshold for the first time-to $110. Next year, the fee is slated to grow further. The increase has been met with increasing refund requests.The fee refund was

created to allow students to express dissatisfaction with particular groups by asking for their money back, but that is not how it’s used. Students who ask for their money back go for broke, asking on average for 80 percent of the total fee. According to SSE, the ASSU’s business unit, autumn and winter quarter refund requests increased 40-80 percent over last year. If refunds increase dramatically next year, the ASSU will face a repeat of the Special Fees crisis of 2004, when the system nearly went bankrupt. If too many students ask for refunds, the ASSU needs to claw back money from groups’ accounts. In 2004, this led to frozen accounts and slashed budgets that depressed student life for several years.A repeat when the rest of the University is cutting back would be devastating. Nobody knows how Special Fees elections this year and refunds next year will pan out under the current economic crisis. Two things make sense, however. Students: don’t just blindly sign petitions and vote for every group. While you may not have time to read every group’s budget,inform yourself.It is better that one or two egregious fees get voted down than that the whole system collapses. Financial officers and group leaders: nobody knows how students will react in votes this year. Don’t be complacent — make sure you campaign hard and explain to students the benefits your group provides. Hopefully, we will show the University that when students run things, things run well. Luukas Ilves wants to start his own profligate and wasteful Special Fees group. If you’d like to be a signatory officer, contact him at [email protected].

S TU ’ S V IEWS

The unique place of car companies in our culture

I

n the current economic crisis, the Bush and Obama Administrations have “bailed out,” to use such an amorphous term, two main industries — the financial industries, which supply the capital and credit that underlies the entire American economy, and the automobile industry. It is easy to understand why loaning money to financial companies is important — without them, our entire economy would collapse. The rationale for bailing out car companies, however, is much harder to understand in purely economic terms. (Out of the three American-based companies, General Motors and Chrysler have taken federal money; Ford believes it can survive on its own.) How have the car companies — only one type of product that the American economy produces — acquired such a privileged place in the political discourse? Why are we bailing out car companies, but not newspapers, universities, law firms or other industries that have witnessed massive layoffs? Why are cars so important? The obvious answer is that they are not important to the overall functioning of the American economy. Automobiles are not a national security interest. Saving GM and Chrysler will not assist the larger economy (as helping financial institutions will), and at this point, there are no illusions about GM and Chrysler ever producing cars at the levels that they did just two years ago. The answer given by the Obama administration is that they want to save jobs. To a certain extent, the President is right — car companies and the associated firms that supply them employ a lot of people. But layoffs are occurring everywhere.And bankruptcy — the other option if the money stops coming — won’t result in the dissolution of the companies. The explanation for the billions of dollars directed to these two companies is not about economics. Instead, it is about culture and politics. We have been here before. In a highly controversial 1979 decision, the Carter administration chose to make $3.5 billion available to Chrysler, which was tottering on the edge of insolvency.That money may seem like

a pittance in the era of trillion-dollar asset recovery schemes, but it was a lot of money then. (And now, too. It would do wonders for my Fraiche-consumption frequency.) On a political level, unions are strong in Democratic politics. The Obama campaign courted them during the Democratic primaries and they put considerable muscle behind his general-election campaign. Despite the fact that union membership as a share of the total workforce has declined, year-on-year, for about three decades, unions’ influence in Democratic politics has not waned. It is difficult for a Democratic president to take on the unions. Bill Clinton earned years of union enmity by advocating for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and most Congressional Democrats abandoned him. NAFTA passed on the back of Republican, not Democratic votes. On a cultural level, cars are deeply entrenched in the American consciousness. There is no industry that is as ubiquitous. We remain a car culture — every American family owns one, if not two. Television advertising is mostly the domain of car companies and beer companies. But even more than cars generally, American car companies hold a special place in our postwar economy. General Motors was once, long ago, the foremost symbol of American industry and manufacturing. Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler, is an icon of management studies and thousands of executives read his books every year. Finally, cars are our last big manufacturing sector. Textiles, electronics and most other industries have long been moved abroad, but there are still a lot of automobile plants in the U.S. employing hundreds of thousands of people.There is something tangible and real about a car that can never be replaced by a piece of software or a “service.” The question is whether the unions are now standing between President Obama and a better economic outcome. It makes no sense to keep throwing billions at GM and Chrysler at a time when Americans are reining in their spending, especially on big-ticket items such as cars. Republicans have long

Stuart Baimel

been advocating Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the best option.A lot of big companies do this — it seems like the airlines are constantly bankrupt and they still operate, somehow. It would give the government more leverage to slim down the companies and change the range of models to be smaller and more fuelefficient. GM and Chrysler have been much slower to produce fuel-efficient sedans and hybrids than their more agile Japanese counterparts, Toyota and Honda. Chapter 11 bankruptcy would also be the most fair — cars, after all, have no more right to bailout money than newspapers. Stuart Baimel is currently driving a car that is not even produced anymore. Hooray for progress. Email him your proposals to make every car a hybrid to [email protected].

Write to us. We want to hear from you. SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO [email protected] AND SEND OP-EDS TO [email protected]

Monday, April 6, 2009 N 5

The Stanford Daily

SPORTS BASEBALL FINDS ITS SWING Stanford streaks in Pac-10 play By WYNDAM MAKOWSKY

BASEBALL

MANAGING EDITOR

Stanford baseball’s first trip to Eugene, Ore. in 25 years proved successful, as the Cardinal took a best-of-three series from a firstyear Oregon program, two games to one. The Ducks,whose baseball program took a 26-year hiatus from 1981-2007, are in their first year of competition since their revival. But the young team — made up almost entirely of junior college transfers and freshmen — could not hold back the Cardinal, despite taking Friday’s contest, 2-1. In a series that was focused almost entirely on pitching, Stanford (11-12, 5-4 Pacific-10 Conference) was able to come back to win the latter two games, 3-1 and 6-3, respectively. Freshmen starters Jordan Pries (3-0) and Brent Mooneyham (2-1) excelled in the weekend games; they both worked into the seventh inning (with Pries pitching into the eighth) until sophomore Drew Storen came in to pick up his second and third saves of the year. Oregon (12-17, 2-4) boasts a pitching staff that came into the three-game set ranked No. 2 in the Pac-10 and No. 19 in the country in ERA,and Stanford depended mainly on small ball tactics to pull out the series victory — bunting and stolen base attempts were commonplace,as the Cardinal tried to score runs in any way it could. At first, Stanford shied away from such techniques, but after Oregon’s starter Tyler Anderson (2-3) shut the Cardinal down in the opening game on Friday, Stanford coach Mark Marquess recognized the need for a change in strategy.

4/5 vs. Oregon W 6-3

UP NEXT SAN DIEGO (22-11, 6-0 WCC) 4/7

Sunken Diamond

5 P.M.

COVERAGE: RADIO KZSU 90.1 FM (kzsu.stanford.edu) GAME NOTES: With the victories last weekend, Stanford has now won two straight series in the Pac-10. The Cardinal focused on small-ball against Oregon, dropping four sacrifice bunts in Sunday’s win. Stanford’s next opponent, USD, is coming off of a 22-5 victory over Santa Clara. “There’s not many runs being scored, so if you get an opportunity to get one or two runs an inning, that may be enough to win, as it was in the first two games,” Marquess said.“When runs are hard to come by,you try to get them as early and in any way you can.” Anderson,a left-handed freshman,allowed the Cardinal practically nothing in 7.2 innings of work — he struck out nine, his lone blemish coming in the form of a sixth-inning line drive home run from senior Brent Milleville. Oregon’s closer Drew Gagnier, who was practically unhittable coming into the series against

AGUSTIN RAMIREZ/The Stanford Daily

Stanford baseball continued its recent surge in conference play, defeating Oregon in a three-game series over the weekend. The Cardinal has now won two straight series in the Pac-10, and will look to ride its momentum against a powerful San Diego team at home on Tuesday. Stanford, went the rest of the way. Gagnier almost allowed the tying run to score in the eighth, though, when sophomore designated hitter Ben Clowe hit a scorching ground ball up the middle with a man on second that seemed destined for the outfield. But second baseman Josh Hogan made a diving stop and threw out Clowe, ending the Cardinal’s last rally. Junior Jeffrey Inman (1-4) threw about as well as one could throw and still get tagged with a loss, going 7.1 innings and allowing just two runs on seven hits, while striking out five. On nearly any other day, that would have brought home a win, but Stanford’s offense could not touch Anderson. “We didn’t really swing the bats well — their pitcher Anderson pitched a great game,”

Softball dominant on weekend road trip No. 2 Cardinal continues to rack up wins in the Pac-10 By CHRIS FITZGERALD DAILY SPORTS INTERN

The No. 2 Stanford softball team picked up three wins over the weekend with a victory in Corvallis, Ore. on Friday night and two wins in Eugene, Ore. The Cardinal (34-2, 5-1 Pacific-10 Conference) opened the weekend series against Oregon State with a 4-2 win. The decision gave senior Missy Penna her 106th win of her career, enough to pass Dana Sorenson (‘04) for first place on the all-time wins list at Stanford. Penna topped off her record-setting night with a whopping 13 strikeouts. Stanford coach John Rittman was quick to praise his senior starter. “[Penna] did a great job of mixing up her pitches, speeds and locations this weekend,” he said. Cardinal freshman Ashley Hansen did her part on offense, going 2-3 at the plate and scoring two of Stanford’s four runs. Junior Shannon Koplitz added two hits and two RBI in the win. For the Beavers, sophomore Audrey Roderfield was the offensive leader. She scored Oregon State’s first run and had two hits in three trips to the plate. Freshman hurler Paige Hall surrendered eight hits and four earned in seven innings of work to take the loss. Penna tossed three complete games over the weekend, the marquis performance coming on Saturday when she coughed up just one hit en route to a 11-0 throttling of Oregon. The hit was all that kept the Miami native from her first career perfect game. Offensively, Stanford took its cue from Penna’s dominance on Saturday. Stanford’s bats produced 11 runs on 14 hits, including two home

SOFTBALL 4/5 vs. Oregon W 5-2

UP NEXT CAL (26-11, 3-3 Pac-10) 4/9

Smith Family Stadium 7 P.M.

COVERAGE: TV

CBS College Sports

GAME NOTES: The Cardinal has won five consecutive Pac10 games. Senior Missy Pena moved into first place on Stanford’s all-time wins list with her wins 106 and 107. Junior catcher Rosey Neill sparked the Stanford offense last weekend by hitting two homeruns. runs from junior Rosey Neill. Senior Maddy Coon followed Neill’s example, belting her 27th career home run at Howe Field in Eugene. Coon and Koplitz both came around to score three times in the victory. The pair combined for five of the team’s 14 hits. Coach Rittman reflected on a strong weekend for Stanford in the circle and at the plate. “Overall, I’m very impressed with the team — how we handled ourselves and how we prepared,” he said. But after dominating the Ducks Saturday, Stanford stayed close with Oregon on Sunday. An unseasonably warm day in Eugene brought the Duck fans out in force.Cardinal junior Alissa Haber responded to the crowd, swatting a leadoff double off the wall in left-center on the third pitch of the game. Haber scored the game’s first run after a wild pitch from freshman Sam Skillingstad. The scoring didn’t stop there. A Coon walk led to a Neill homer, her third of the weekend.

Please see SOFTBALL, page 6

SPORTS BRIEFS Stanford QB Loukas tears ACL Redshirt junior QB Alex Loukas, expected to strongly compete for the starting job this season, injured his leg in Tuesday’s practice. A subsequent MRI revealed a torn ACL, an injury warranting an approximate six-month rehab period. Loukas is expected to have surgery in about three weeks when the swelling decreases. Loukas received many reps at WR last season for Stanford, serving as a potential receiving and passing threat.The injury depletes a very shallow QB position for the Cardinal. With the transfers of Nicolas Ruhl and L.D. Crow, as well as the departure of Jason Forcier,Stanford is now left with only two healthy, realistic options at the position — redshirt senior and returning starter Tavita Pritchard and sophomore Andrew Luck. Loukas was in a very tight race for the start-

ing spot this season. His role on the team, regardless of his position on the QB depth chart at the season’s commencement, was unquestionably valuable, as he was expected to once again factor heavily into the Cardinal’s offensive plans.Late in 2008,Loukas frequently came in to provide the Cardinal’s offense with a change of pace and style, as Loukas proved adept at running the option. Last season with the Cardinal, Loukas saw action in 10 games, completing 10-20 passes for 131 yards while tallying one touchdown pass and one interception. On the ground, Loukas was third on the team in carries with 36, behind only primary running backs junior Toby Gerhart and senior Anthony Kimble. He gained 223 yards on the ground and scored a touchdown with an impressive 5.2 yards-per-carry average. — By Zach Zimmerman

Denis

Griffin Rants and Raves

S

Marquess said. “We had some opportunities, some guys on base, and just couldn’t get a hit.” Stanford’s bats didn’t exactly wake up on Saturday,but they did enough to support Pries’ gem. He took a scoreless game into the eighth inning before surrendering the lone Oregon run of day. Pries struck out seven on the day to best Ducks hurler Erik Stayvert (2-3), who threw a nice game — 7.1 innings and five strikeouts, with the three runs coming on just four hits — but suffered a similar fate as Inman did the day before. “[The series has] been dominated by pitching, not much hitting, and the ballpark is conducive to pitching.The ball doesn’t get through the infield too quick,” said Marquess before Sunday’s game.“We’ve had great pitching and pretty solid defense and two real close games.”

The Cardinal’s first run came as a direct result of small ball — in the third, sophomore shortstop Jake Schlander took first on a walk, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before jetting to third on a ground out.He scored on Stayvert’s wild pitch to give Stanford its first lead of the series. Later in the inning, senior Joey August sent a long fly ball over the fence in right field for a solo home run. Junior Adam Gaylord scored the Cardinal’s final run in the eighth inning on a throwing error by relief pitcher Ryan Fleckenstein. Junior Toby Gerhart, who was one of the main offensive contributors for Stanford throughout the weekend, stole two bases on Saturday, and by Sunday’s rubber match, the

Please see BASEBALL, page 6

America’s pastime: The ultimate sports depression cure

ometimes, I just don’t know what to tell you.

I try and keep it mostly positive around here, because I’ve never been a big fan of the run-of-the-mill, gloom-and-doom columnist that seems to appear in virtually every paper around the country. But sometimes that job is hard. Like today, when we’ve all just watched the Stanford women fail in their bid to upset top-ranked UConn last night in the Final Four.You have to start by saying the Stanford women turned in another fantastic season, and applaud them for never saying die against a Huskies team that was just too much for them. But then the frustration sets in. Long story short, it’s enough to make you glad that there’s something else to focus on. Because when it comes to forgetting your frustrations, there’s nothing better than a national pastime. And believe it or not, even though there may not be any heavy favorites to contend for a World Series in the area, there should be plenty to watch in the coming months. Starting in the Major Leagues, neither the A’s nor Giants look like World-beaters, but they do both offer one thing in spades: hope. The A’s will trot out a lineup that should be dramatically improved from a year ago — Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera and the shell of Nomar Garciaparra should make certain of that.

But it’s the philosophical shift behind the moves that’s the real eye-catcher of the organization’s fanbase. For years, Billy Beane was all about the long-term — stocking and restocking Oakland’s farm system with premium talent. Big names were traded away from Oakland, not the other way around. But a funny thing happened when the economy tanked: Just as every other franchise in baseball, minus the always-be-spending Yankees, started screaming “Sell! Sell! Sell!” Beane turned calmly and said “Buy.” Years of sensible spending have, remarkably, left Oakland in the perfect position for a smaller market team in this economy. Rather than panicking and shipping off their high-priced players to whoever would take them, a strategy that would seem likely to only drive more business away rather than bring the crowds back to the ballparks, the A’s were able to add players who may now be undervalued. Giambi, Cabrera, Garciaparra and even the trade for Holliday, who is due to make big money in free agency after this season, are all players you never would have expected the A’s to make a move for in other years. Except suddenly, when everyone else started worrying about money, Oakland is playing for today. But if you’re a sucker for the future,you can still just watch their young arms Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill.They’re just a

couple of the best young pitchers in the game — nothing too unusual for an A’s roster. The Giants, meanwhile, will trot out one of the best rotations in baseball. From pint-sized reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum to fire-balling righthander Matt Cain, to legendary ace Randy Johnson (who should capture his 300th career win this season), the Giants rotation is bound to at least keep things interesting. And if you’re in the mood for a good laugh, there’s always Barry Zito’s contract scheduled to take the mound once every five days. Just five years, $101.5 million to go! But there’s more. These Giants just might be a little more exciting at the plate, led by the young Pablo Sandoval. The comparisons that have been flung around range from a young Albert Pujols (according to Giants legend Willie McCovey) to Vladimir Guerrero,to even some whispers of a slower Tony Gwynn. While living up to any of those comparisons would be a tall order indeed, if the early returns are to be trusted, Sandoval may just be the kind of player who defies any comparison. Watch him play and you’ll see a hacker, a guy who will swing at anything — a bad habit that will surely, eventually, catch up with him. And yet, look at the stat sheet and you’ll see that it

Please see GRIFFIN, page 6

MEN’S ROWING

Crew continues to pull ahead By JEFF LU CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Less than a week after both squads secured first place at the Windermere Real Estate Pacific-10 Challenge, the Stanford men’s rowing team continued its string of impressive performances as both the varsity and novice eight squads cruised to another victory in the first round of the San Diego Crew Classic in Mission Bay.A third squad, entered into the men’s collegiate JV team, also advanced into the second and final round. The No. 5 Stanford’s varsity rowers, whose undefeated streak to start the season has rocketed the Cardinal up in the polls from its previous No.14 ranking,posted the fastest time of the day, 5:50:09, outpacing No. 2 Cal by almost three seconds to take first in the Copely Cup’s qualifying heat B. The victory will place Stanford in the first lane of Sunday’s San Diego Crew Classic grand finals. For the varsity Cardinal rowers, Sunday will mark the first time this season — excluding Saturday’s qualification match

against Berkeley — that Stanford will face top-five opponents. Other than No. 10 Brown, the San Diego Crew Classic will place the Cardinal side-by-side with topranked Princeton, No. 3 Harvard, No. 4 Washington and Cal. The men’s novice eight also found itself advancing past the first round, posting a time of 6:17:28,a comfortable eight seconds ahead of second place British Columbia, to win its heat and qualify for the Derek Guelker Memorial Cup final. Stanford will join freshman squads from the Washington, Cal, Orange Coast College, UBC and Oregon State. “We’re really starting to see what the boat will look like this spring,” said freshman Chip Schroeder. “We’re smaller than some of the other freshmen, but we’re still moving the boat very fast. We’ve definitely come a long way since the fall.” “This year’s freshmen are in the process of gaining traction and are becoming aware of what wearing the Block-S symbolizes,” said Stanford head coach Craig Amerkhanian. A third Stanford team, entered into the

Sharp Cabrillo Cup, placed second in its heat behind Cal to clinch a third spot for the Cardinal in Sunday’s Crew Classic finals. “Our young team responded well today,” Amerkhanian said. “The men are beginning to define their eight, and coxswain Amelia Carr did a fantastic job.” Overall, Amerkhanian is optimistic about the Cardinal’s chances for the upcoming season. At the same time, he believes hard work and perseverance are the keys to unlocking a successful spring season. “Our goals as a team remain constant,” he said.“Each man is dedicated to improving himself [or] herself daily. Our team will achieve as a crew when the team strives to reach his [or] her personal potential and gives maximum effort to the team each day.” The Stanford men’s crew team will face its next opponents in a series of consecutive home matches beginning with Washington. The race will take place on Friday,April 17 at Redwood Shores. Contact Jeff Lu at [email protected].

6 N Monday, April 6, 2009

SOFTBALL Continued from page 5 After one inning of play, Stanford’s bats were in control. But the bats would quiet, totaling six hits on the day. Only two more runs would score in a 5-2 win over Oregon. Neill added a double in the third, notching another multi-hit game.The Ducks managed to collect just three hits off Penna, combining

for four in the two-game series. But two Stanford errors helped Oregon produce valuable runs. “We’re a good enough team that we can overcome some mistakes,” Rittman said of the errors. The Cardinal ace surrendered just her third home run of the year on Sunday, a solo shot off the bat of senior Sari-Jane Jenkins. Nonetheless, the win meant a clean sweep in Oregon for the Cardinal, now winner of five straight. On the outcomes, Rittman commented on the three-day difference

The Stanford Daily when keeping Penna in the circle. “Missy on day three is not going to be as sharp as on day one and day two,” he said. “But, I’m happy with her change in locations today.” Stanford improved to 5-1 in the Pac-10 with the wins,sharing the lead in the conference, and trailing only Florida in the national polls. The Cardinal will face Cal at Smith Family Stadium on Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. Contact Chris Fitzgerald at [email protected].

BASEBALL Continued from page 5 Ducks’ pitchers were visibly anxious whenever Stanford was able to get men on base — the threat of a steal was always imminent. Oregon’s Sunday starter Madison Boer appeared particularly affected, and, despite throwing well in general, struggled with his control when the Cardinal reached base. He was pulled in the fifth inning as Stanford, already holding a 2-0 lead, seemed poised to add to that total.Even after the Ducks

GRIFFIN Continued from page 5 hasn’t.At least not yet. Sandoval hit .357 in 145 big league at-bats last season and walked just four times.And yet he struck out just 14 times. A hacker he may be, but so far, he’s an effective one.And that’s a trend that’s carried him forward into this spring. He dominated winter ball, a home run derby against the

BASKETBALL Continued from front page

AGUSTIN RAMIREZ/The Stanford Daily

The Stanford softball team showcased its well-balanced attack this weekend, as the Cardinal was victorious in all three of its games in Oregon. The women were dominant offensively, while remaining untouchable from the mound.

— Stanford didn’t score in either category until well into the second half. VanDerveer, while insisting her team made a solid effort on rebounds and other areas, acknowledged her team’s struggle to find the basket, especially in the first half. “We took some bad shots, I thought, early,” she said. “Some quick shots. We missed some shots that we needed to make. We really have to help ourselves more by knocking down shots and making free throws. Those are things that as a team we have to do to be able to stay in it.” UConn didn’t give Stanford a chance to find its swagger after the intermission, opening up the second half with a 13-0 run led by Renee Montgomery and Maya Moore, who finished the game with a combined 50 points. Despite a series of substi-

went to the bullpen, the Cardinal was able to add a run in its half of the fifth to take what appeared to be a commanding 3-0 lead, given the lack of offense throughout the series. Stanford rode Mooneyham for most of the game, and the big freshman did not disappoint, striking out six in his first four innings,and seven in total — he gave up three runs on five hits before being relieved by Storen. The Ducks did stage a rally in the seventh inning,closing Stanford’s lead to just one run at 4-3 as KC Serna hit a mammoth homerun to left center,and Mitch Karraker hit a long double off of Storen to score Curtis Raulinaitis (the run was charged to Mooney-

ham). But the Cardinal added some separation in the top of the ninth,with Schlander scoring on another wild pitch — this one from Gagnier, who suddenly seemed human — and sophomore Colin Walsh coming home on classmate Kellen Kiilsgaard’s double. The Ducks could not rally against Storen in the ninth, and the Cardinal will return to the Farm victorious in its second straight conference series. Next up for Stanford is a Tuesday evening game against San Diego, starting at 5 p.m. at Sunken Diamond.

likes of Miguel Cabrera (search for it on YouTube) and batted .457 this spring. His energy and love for the game is effusive and infectious. In short, if his numbers stay good, he’s a megastar in the making. Not enough for you? Well, the serious prospect hound has another Bay Area option. The San Jose Giants will start the season with one of the most stacked rosters in the minor leagues. A Single-A affiliate of San Francisco, the Giants can legitimately claim four of the top 50 prospects in the minors — lefty Madison Bum-

garner, catcher Buster Posey, righty Tim Alderson and first baseman Angel Villalona are all key prospects in the Giants’ hopes going forward. And there are plenty of other solid prospects to go with the star power at the top of San Jose’s roster. So if you can’t afford a trip to a big league park, San Jose could offer you a view to Bay Area baseball’s future. Wherever you turn, baseball’s back.And just in the nick of time.

tutions by VanDerveer, Stanford simply couldn’t find an answer to UConn’s dynamic offense, and with 12:09 left, found itself buried in a 6029 hole — by far the biggest deficit Stanford has faced all season. While the Cardinal was able to open up its offense a bit after this point, outscoring UConn 25-23 over the final 12 minutes, it was simply too late to climb back into competition. Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, giving credit to Stanford for a great season, was proud of his team’s performance. “I can’t say enough about the effort these kids put forth, especially defensively,” he said. “[Moore and Montgomery] were unbelievable. Everyone was just so determined to play one more game.” The Cardinal, meanwhile, is taking the loss in stride. Despite the lopsided defeat, the women seemed far from discouraged. Many of them, including sophomore guard Jeanette Pohlen, believe that Sunday’s loss will only help improve their team. “We’re young,” Pohlen said. “We have our All-American, [Jayne

Appel], coming back and we’re just a young team that’s still growing. The fact that we made it this far is amazing. Of course, making the finals was our goal, but we’ve still accomplished a lot. We know what we can do, we know what we are capable of, and I think we’ll just keep getting better and better.” VanDerveer showed confidence that her team could indeed learn such lessons from Sunday’s loss, citing the game as an example of the strong character her team already possesses. “The best thing that happened was the fact that when things were not going our way, our kids stayed with things really well,” she said. “They competed. They weren’t sniping at each other. They didn’t have excuses when they came to the bench. I was so proud of that.We’ve really grown up a lot this season. The Huskies may be the ones moving on. But in a way, so too are the Cardinal women, setting their sights on the 2009-2010 season in which all but two players will return. The team’s attitude, even after the semifinals loss makes it obvious that despite the score Sunday, the Pac-10 Champion Stanford women have much to be proud of and plenty to look forward to.

Contact Wyndam Makowsky at [email protected].

Contact Denis Griffin at [email protected].

Contact Nate Adams [email protected].

Monday, April 6, 2009 N 7

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STUDENTS FOR A BETTER STANFORD

Several SBS candidates commented on the synergies that can be harnessed in a coalition of 12. The group has a Web site, staged a photo shoot and has collaborated extensively on advertising tactics. Although the SBS candidates quickly denied the intention of installing all 12 of their members on the Senate, Warma admitted the advantages of running in a recognizable coalition. “In the messiness of student politics, with 12 people working together, there is going to be strength in numbers,” he said. SBS purposely selected 12 members, three less than the available Senate seats, so as to avoid the perception of a monopoly. Raillan Brooks ‘12 echoed his sentiments and argued the group was more “altruistic” than observers might think, highlighting their overlying goal to improve the Senate. However, in regards to getting elected, Brooks acknowledged, “You increase the statistical likelihood by pooling resources.” Still, SBS candidates would not admit to simply hoping to dominate the Senate. “I don’t think anyone here can say we 12 are the most competent people running for Senate,” said SBS candidate Alan Guo ‘11. “What I can say is that these are the people I have met and worked with for months now, and I think they are the people I know are the most competent senators.”

Brooks. “On community center funding, I don’t think that every dollar should continue to go there,” Katz said. “I think that some cuts are allowable.” Brooks vehemently disagreed and prioritized funding to community centers. “I feel community centers are extremely important,” he said.

Diverse and conflicting views SBS members pride themselves upon their diversity, championing the fact that SBS-affiliated candidates have secured endorsements from every group on campus. Endorsed by groups ranging from The Stanford Review to the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC), individual members have varied, and conflicting, platforms. However, past the glossy group photos and the lofty vision, the students who compose SBS simply don’t agree on the issues. Review-endorsed SBS candidate Alex Katz ‘12 has adopted a position on community centers opposite to fellow SBS member

Coalition or clique? Alliances during election season are not uncommon, but typically these coalitions have been based upon endorsements announcing shared political views, as seen most notably in the past few years by SOCC. SBS, however, has changed the elections game by announcing a self-selecting alliance, essentially an endorsement of themselves. While led by Gao and Warma, SBS is said to be the brainchild of outgoing Senators Luukas Ilves ‘09, Stuart Baimel ‘09 and Patrick Cordova ‘09, who were referenced as the “founders” by Varun Sivaram. Ilves and Baimel are both

Ruthie Arbeiter ‘12 Raillan Brooks ‘12 Adam Creasman ‘11 Shelley Gao ‘11 Jia Alan Guo ‘11 Alex Katz ‘12 Varun Sivaram ‘11 Howard Tan ‘11 Brian Wanyoike ‘12 Zachary Warma ‘11 Dean Young ‘11 Anton Zietsman ‘12

current Daily columnists; Baimel is also the columns editor. Nevertheless, charges of exclusivity and elitism dog the ambiguous SBS. “[SBS] seemed too exclusive to me,” wrote non-SBS and nonSOCC candidate Ben Laufer ‘12 in an email to The Daily. “It is hard for me to believe that this almost clique-like group represents the best interests for everyone.” Laufer was never approached to join the group, but also maintained that he never felt he was unable to join. Michael Tubbs ‘12 was less forgiving of the coalition. Tubbs, after receiving the most petition votes and a SOCC endorsement, dropped out of the race, but cast doubt on how members were recruited. “I don’t see why I wasn’t approached . . . if this coalition was really about being inclusive,” he wrote in an email to The Daily. “It is incredibly presumptuous to single out 10 people out of 50.” Forgoing a formal application process, SBS members relied on personal connections to recruit other candidates. After the election Executive candidate Matt Sprague ‘10 worried over the brewing controversies in the Senate race. “I don’t want it to turn out to be a huge battle,” he said. “At the end of the day, Undergraduate Senate is the really the only way for undergraduates to get heard — to waste a second arguing with each other is wasting priceless time.” SBS members were unclear about what would happen to the group after this week’s elections, saying that they haven’t completely planned out their next steps. Several members said they were not sure what would happen to the SBS brand itself after the election. The coalition members contended that they have not allied themselves against any group on campus, but have had little success in convincing others of this fact. Warma, trying to clarify the purpose of SBS, said, “This is not a political drama of us versus them — this is not a dichotomy. We are pro-us and making the school a better place.” Contact Marisa Landicho at [email protected].

8 N Monday, April 6, 2009

SUMMIT Continued from front page interested in public service opportunities. According to Abbie Connover, post-grad public service coordinator for the Haas Center, there has been increased attendance at each recent workshop and information panel hosted by the center. In addition, applications for the Haas Center’s postgraduate fellowships have increased by approximately 20 percent since last year. “As my colleagues and I reflect on the trend, there is a conflation of variables,” Connover said, citing the economy as well as the sense of public service inspired by Barack Obama’s election as likely factors. At the same time that the Haas Center is working to meet increased demand, financial difficulties have presented the center with the dilemma of how they will keep up. The Haas Center, which receives only 10 percent of its funding from the University general budget and as much as 70 percent from the endowment, is reeling from both budget cutbacks and endowment losses. Interim Executive Director Jackie Schmidt-Posner explained that in order to keep up with student demand, the center is working to tighten finances through cutbacks in operating expenses and personnel. The goal for the center is to be able to balance its finances without cutting core services for students, especially in this time of increased interest in public service. “It’s heartening for us to see so

many qualified students who want to work in public service,” SchmidtPosner said. “But it’s disheartening to not be able to meet all the demand.” Schmidt-Posner said that the Haas Center is working to keep from having to cut student opportunities, but she warned that further endowment loses could eventually mean that the center will not be able to offer as many fellowships. However, she added, the center continues to work with potential donors whose contributions may help offset current loses. She also said that she is “delighted” that interest in public service on campus is growing, even with financial difficulties at hand. ASSU President Jonny Dorsey ‘09, one of the principle organizers of the Service Summit, said that he is enthusiastic about the role that ASSU can play in public service on campus. Plans are currently in development, he said, for a student-run group that would offer tutoring services to the children of University custodial staff and other workers. The role of the ASSU in campus public service, he argued, should include advocacy, assistance and bringing students together to serve the Stanford community. “The ASSU has the ability to bring people together around a topic,” Dorsey said. “We want to keep expanding the demand and keep meeting it.” Dorsey admitted, however, that the ASSU does not have the means to be an equal partner with the Haas Center and that voluntary student organizations (VSOs) must initiate the bulwark of public service activi-

The Stanford Daily ties on campus. With Dorsey’s term in office quickly approaching its conclusion, he acknowledged that his administration has done all they can for public service on campus and that the next ASSU Executives will have to pick up the torch. At the conclusion of the Service Summit, University President John Hennessy offered a congratulatory video message to those who had participated in the event. “One of the things I’ve found quite remarkable is our students’ willingness to participate in public service,” Hennessy said. The President’s remarks were followed by the unveiling of the Stanford Vision 2020 platform, an outline of goals designed to bring public service to the forefront of University culture within the next 11 years.The goals included facilitating students to “leverage their Stanford education to create public impact,” and to engage with the greater community. The final event of the summit, a fireside chat featuring Garcia and physician Larry Brilliant, a member of the 1973 World Health Organization program to eradicate smallpox. Brilliant shared stories about his life, from time spent in a Himalayan monastery to marching with Martin Luther King, Jr., and challenged Stanford students to use their education for the greater good. “The life of the mind is important, but the life of the heart is more important,” Brilliant said. Those students who attended the Service Summit were generally impressed by the event. Rebekah Lucien ‘12 came to the summit with a long history of interest in tutoring

and public service through medicine. She believes that serving the broader community is becoming more accessible and important to the average student. “I feel that people are now aware that, in whatever career they’re in, there are opportunities for service within it,” she said.

As for the future of public service at Stanford, the University will continue to place important emphasis on this facet of education even with financial difficulties at the moment. In addition to its Vision 2020 goals, the University has laid down plans to establish Branner as a public service-oriented dorm and

create an online database of public service opportunities available to students. All initiatives come with the end goal of fostering an enduring culture of public service on campus. Contact Andrew Valencia at andrewv [email protected].