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BRUINS BEATEN

AIDA OPENS

Cardinal tops UCLA in extra innings thanks to Drew Storen’s dominance

Ram’s Head’s production of “Aida” stays true to original work

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The Daily talks with Senator Palpatine about his ASSU Undergraduate Senate campaign

The Stanford Daily An Independent Publication

FRIDAY April 10, 2009

Volume 235 Issue 34

www.stanforddaily.com

VADEN FEES CONVEY EXTENT OF CRISIS Budget shortfall leads to $167 fee per quarter By JULIA BROWNELL DESK EDITOR

VIVIAN WONG/The Stanford Daily

Entrepreneurial Fever Stanford alum, Jen Hsun Huang MS ‘92, speaks to an overflow crowd as part of the

BASES-hosted Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (ETL) Seminar. Huang, who recently donated $30 million for the construction of the Jen Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center, is a co-founder and CEO of Nvidia. Please see page 6 for a full story on ETL

SPORTS

WILL PAUL SUSPENDED SOPHOMORE FORWARD OUT UNTIL AT LEAST 2010 By WYNDAM MAKOWSKY MANAGING EDITOR

Stanford has suspended redshirt sophomore Will Paul for a full academic year, The Daily learned earlier this week and confirmed on Thursday. As a result, he will be ineligible for the 2009-2010 men’s basketball season. The suspension is due to scholastic issues, but the extent and specific nature of the problems are unknown at this time. “Will has fallen short in fulfilling the academic requirements established for Stanford and our basketball program,” said coach Johnny Dawkins in an athletics department press release. Paul, a forward/center, is not currently studying at Stanford, but will be able to reenroll before spring quarter of 2010, and could theoretically rejoin the Cardinal basketball program at that time. Paul was expected to help fill the void left by the Lopez twins this year, but struggled to establish himself in the Cardinal’s lineup. He started six of the 23 games in which he played, battling injuries throughout the latter part of the season. He averaged four points per game,

Please see PAUL, page 6

Stanford Daily File Photo

Redshirt sophomore Will Paul was expected to play a key role in the post for Stanford next season. His absence could leave the Cardinal men perilously thin in the paint.

As announced on Wednesday, the University will no longer be subsidizing most Vaden Health Center services that were previously covered by the general fund. Beginning next year, Vaden will charge students a $167 Health Services Fee every quarter to continue its programs. “The reality is that this was a very difficult situation,” said Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman in an interview with The Daily. “With the rising cost of health services . . . [the fee] was, in our opinion, the best way to manage this.” In the past, health services at Stanford were divided into three

parts: off-site services covered by students’ insurance plans; Vaden services that were not covered by insurance, but were offered free to students through the University’s general funds; and finally, out-of-pocket expenses like co-pays on pharmaceuticals that students had to pay themselves. The new fee will cover the second category, since the University’s general funds will no longer be able to cover those costs. Services being funded now by the fee include primary care services, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and health outreach programs, including the PHE program. “We’re working to preserve the core services for students,” Boardman said.

CRIS BAUTISTA/The Stanford Daily

All undergraduate and graduate students will have to pay the fee, along with enrolled high school students and visiting researchers. For those on financial aid, the fee will be included in their aid plan.

Please see VADEN, page 6

ASSU ELECTIONS ASSU Elections

BACKGROUND CHECK: THE EXEC SLATES

DAVID GOBAUD JAY DE LA TORRE

By ELLEN HUET and ZOE RICHARDS

BENNETT HAUSER MATT SPRAUGE

By CHRISTINE MCFADDEN and MARISA LANDICHO

The role of the ASSU Executive is traditionally one of coordination, as the Executives work to organize efforts between students, administration, staff and faculty to achieve their goals. In an interview with The Daily, David Gobaud ‘08 MS ‘10 and Jay de la Torre ‘10 explained that the slate’s overall theme is a “close partnership” with all parts of the University. Students who have worked with Gobaud and de la Torre in the past generally gave positive reviews of their collaboration and management skills. Gobaud’s background is in computer science, but he has managed public service initiatives and is an advocate of improving graduate student life. De la Torre has been involved with public service through several different organizations on campus. Last year, Gobaud ran for Executive with Greg Goldgof ‘09. Goldgof is not running again this year since he plans to graduate, but as Gobaud’s former running mate, he has unique insight into Gobaud’s strengths and weaknesses as a manager. Goldgof especially emphasized Gobaud’s dedication to remaining up-to-date with current issues and doing the necessary research to be well-informed regarding student concerns. “He asks students what they actually believe and want,” Goldgof said. “He will always be working harder, doing his research, and searching for the right thing to do, without having the hubris to think his personal opinion is more important than detailed research, discussion and reflection.” Goldgof also had comments regarding Gobaud’s weaknesses and improvements since last year, specifically regarding community organizing. “Observing him last year, his weakness was an inexperience with the type of community organizing necessary to win student election,” he said. “However, through the course of the last election, working with [current Executives] Jonny and Fagan, and helping me with Stanford’s record-breaking No On 8 campaign, I hope he has overcome this weakness.” The Gobaud/de la Torre platform also emphasizes increased representation and advocacy of graduate student issues. Gobaud and de la Torre have promised to deliver greater graduate student involvement in the ASSU by fostering the relationship between the Undergraduate Senate and Graduate Student Council (GSC), and lobbying for graduate student priorities such as low-cost housing and health insurance. “Housing and health insurance have been long-standing issues for graduate students, and it’s great to know that David and Jay are committed to helping the GSC tackle these matters,” said GSC co-Chair Polina Segalova, a third-year mechanical engineering graduate student. “They have an excellent understanding of these topics and their history at Stanford.” Segalova explained how in her interactions with him

Selling their financial leadership and experience, Bennett Hauser ‘10 and Matt Sprague ‘10 have argued that their Stanford Student Enterprises (SSE) backgrounds make them suitable to be ASSU Executives. Feedback from their current employers and employees supports these claims, revealing the candidates’ strength in cultivating positive personal relationships. For the last year, Hauser and Sprague have served on the financial side of the ASSU under Stanford Student Enterprises (SSE), a fact that has taken center stage in their campaign. Hauser has managed the Student Store for the past two years, and Sprague has worked as the director of Capital Group. Their superiors and direct reports had only kind words to say of the candidates. “[Hauser and Sprague] have the skills of efficiency that are important for any executive,” said SSE CEO Matt McLaughlin ‘08,who supervises both Hauser and Sprague.“I think the numbers speak for themselves.” “Diligent” and a “hard-worker,” Hauser worked every weekday and often on the weekends, according to McLaughlin,who said that Hauser increased the profit of the Student Store by a factor of three, from $50,000 to $150,000, in his first year as general manager. Furthermore, profits are on track to increase by another 10 percent for the current year, a feat that McLaughlin described as “phenomenal”considering the state of the economy. Workers in the Student Store also praised Hauser’s management abilities. “We had two general managers, but everyone would always call Ben,” said Keith Knapp ‘11, who has worked in the Student Store since the start of winter quarter. “[Hauser] trusts people . . . but has enough firmness so that you don’t keep pushing him,” he added. Hauser garnered similar praise from his second job as 2008-2009 ASSU Executive Cabinet Cost of Living co-chair. Fellow Chair Eugene Nho ‘10 described Hauser as a “great working partner” and said the two shared the workload equally.He noted that Hauser headed the ASSU airport shuttle project. “I had a really good time working with him,” Nho said. “He brings fresh ideas. I’m really impressed.” Nho recognized Hauser’s ability to work on a team. “I remember one time when I got really busy during last quarter,” he recalled. “Bennett really stepped up. It was just perfect teamwork.He just kept the ball rolling until the finish line.When he was busy, I took the baton.” Sprague, Hauser’s running mate, earned praised for both his work in Capital Group and as a residential assistant (RA) in Toyon. As Capital Group director, Sprague oversees the finances of over 600 student groups and a budget of around $7 million. McLaughlin commended Sprague’s job performance and

Please see GOBAUD, page 2

Please see HAUSER, page 6

SBS retools with platform Slate pledges to revamp IHUM, PWR; decries “mediocre administration” By RYAN MAC and ELLEN HUET Students for a Better Stanford (SBS), a coalition of 12 Undergraduate Senate candidates with a “shared approach,” released a revamped platform earlier this week with a slew of campaign promises, encompassing a variety of issues from Office of Student Activities (OSA) reform to reviewing PWR and IHUM programs. But in an interview with The Daily last Sunday, the group asserted that they have “incredibly different vantage points on issues” and a “variety of opinions.” The candidates insisted that they are united not by a common ideological thread, but by a “common vision of what student government should look like.” The online platform may showcase a change in course, however, as it details a consolidated list of promises that all the allied candidates will work towards, in contrast with earlier talks of individuals connected only by a pledge for civil cooperation if elected. “What unifies us is how we will conduct our business,” said Adam Creasman ‘11 in the interview on Sunday. “We all work well together and are willing to compromise.” Currently, the group’s stated platform sports the title “Students for a Better Stanford: A Slate for Undergrad Senate.” But in Sunday’s interview, the group unequivocally denied that they were a united slate. “We are not a political slate,” said Varun Sivaram ‘11 in the group interview. “Each of us has very specific ideas.” “I think the reason why we hesitate to use slate was because in the past, the word ‘slate’ has been used in a very specific context of sponsorship,” said Howard Tan ‘11. “I think it’s fair to say it was a summary and a consolidation of individual platforms.” “We don’t shy away from the fact that we’re different from one another,” added Alan Guo ‘11. “By no means should we say that SBS has homogeneous views.” The new platform promises a wide array of goals without great detail regarding their implementation and approach. Among the more ambitious promises is a “review of PWR/ IHUM programs, to see whether writing requirements are better suited for majors.” When approached with the question of implementation, however, SBS member and current Senate Chair Shelley Gao ‘11 wrote in an email to The Daily that SBS hopes “to collaborate with administrators to institute comprehensive review of IHUM/PWR instructors at [the] end of each quarter. We also intend to empower the IHUM and PWR boards with greater authority to influence course offerings and represent student opinion.”

Please see SBS, page 6

Index

Opinions/3 • Sports/4 • Classifieds/5

Recycle Me

2 N Friday, April 10, 2009

The Stanford Daily

TOP 8 SPECIAL FEE REQUESTS Group

1 2 3

Stanford Concert Network

Stanford Club Sports

KZSU 90.1 FM

Total Budget $135,180.00

$85,251.00

$78,974.00

Cost Per Student $24.24

$15.36

$14.16

4

LSJUMB - Stanford Band

$70,642.00

$12.66

5

Stanford Film Society

$61,225.00

$10.98

6

Alternative Spring Break

$58,982.32

GOBAUD

“David and Jay will

Continued from front page

Comments It’s the highest request because SCN puts on the most expensive events at Stanford. We don’t ask for students to pay for any of our concerts...We bring in people like Grammy-winning artists, so it is quite expensive. We definitely use all of our money every year on student events. Roxie Dickinson '10, Director (and Daily sports writer)

Club sports benefits 20 teams, and each of those teams has a large budget of its own. Even though we added a team – cheer – our request went down a couple of thousand, because we are encouraging teams to be frugal. Barbara Mazina '09, Financial Manager

Could not be reached for comment

It has mostly to do with the number of events we play for, and the sort of requirements that go into that. We have over 200 events that we play at each year, and generally they are either athletic events or charity events. We actually had to take a bit of a cut compared to past years, when we had the budget defense with the ASSU. Nate Foorman '09, Band Manager

Could not be reached for comment

$10.56

ASB runs between 13 and 15 spring break service-learning experiences each year, making it one of the largest community service organizations on campus. We are maintaining our current level of special fees funding to ensure that all qualified applicants, regardless of income level, will have the opportunity to participate in our ASB program next year. Donald Hoang ‘09, Financial Manager

7

The Stanford Daily

$58,493.00

$10.47

It may require the seventh-highest amount of special fees, but we are really only asking students for three dollars a quarter, and that's just to help subsidize our printing costs. Given the tough financial situation that we are facing right now, The Stanford Daily is relying on students more than ever to help us cover the cost of printing and help us provide our five-days-a-week news service to the whole community. We are the only student group that provides that service. In Ho Lee '09, COO and Business Manager

8

Asian American Student Association

$47,590.10

$8.52

AASA is an umbrella organization; it is not asking for fees for one student group, but 14 in total. We organize small events and big events, events that the whole Stanford campus comes out to. Christian Ngo '09, co-Chair COMPILED BY NIKHIL JOSHI

last year, Gobaud showed “good judgment and a real commitment to serve.” She said that he attended almost every GSC meeting and contributed ideas, showing his eagerness to work on graduate student issues. Segalova also told The Daily that she appreciated the fact that Gobaud and de la Torre did not promise to solve the issues, since in her opinion, such a promise would be an empty one. Instead, the slate “[pledged] to work with the GSC toward a solution at the University, state and federal level.” Gobaud also worked alongside Dance Marathon Executive Director Jessie Liu ‘09 to coordinate a public service opportunity for tech-oriented students. Dance Marathon’s Hack-AThon for computer science students was a 24-hour coding session for programming for philanthropic organizations’ Web sites. Liu recounted in an email to The Daily how Gobaud had impressed her upon their first encounter about his project. “David was extraordinarily organized,” Liu said. “He’d be one or two steps ahead of the game.” Gobaud recruited coders for the Hack-A-Thon by announcing the event to about nine different computer science classes,according to Liu.She was also moved by Gobaud’s tenacity when reaching out to donors for Dance Marathon. Gobaud garnered several thousand dollars-worth of donations from Yahoo! for the cause. When describing specific aspects of Gobaud’s personality, Liu mentioned that Gobaud isn’t loud and boisterous about his opinions. Still, she noted that Gobaud is able to complete tasks and achieve results through his hard work and thoughtful dedication. “One thing that blew me away about him was his willingness to learn about things he knew he didn’t know,” Liu said. “One thing David could work on more is delegation, but Jay and many others on his team are getting him to loosen up.” Several students shared positive remarks about the abilities of Gobaud’s right-hand man, de la Torre. Folake Dosu ‘11 was a freshman when she first met de la Torre, who was a facilitator at the Haas Center’s Emerging Leaders Retreat. “[Jay] clearly shows commitment to public service and the Stanford

provide the student body the diligent, hard-working, socially conscious leadership that it deserves.” — GREG GOLDGOF ‘09

community, and as a leader on the [Emerging Leaders] Retreat, he served as a friendly and outgoing presence,” Dosu said. “I feel that he really strove to cultivate leadership in others and believed in students’ ability to improve the campus.” De la Torre has continued involvement in the Haas Center’s Public Service Leadership program since winter of last year and has taken public service leadership coursework with Haas, as well. Still, not everyone shares a positive view of the slate’s talents. Luukas Ilves ‘09, a second-term senator, circulated an email to 300 voters, saying that Gobaud lacked the charisma shown by rival candidates Bennett Hauser ‘10 and Matthew Sprague ‘10. He also said that Gobaud had been campaigning since his loss last year and that he was unable to find a running mate until just before the filing deadline. But sources close to the candidates remain optimistic about their abilities to coordinate across the Stanford community as ASSU Executives. “David and Jay will provide the student body the diligent, hard-working, socially conscious leadership that it deserves,” Goldgof said. Contact Ellen Huet at ehuet@stanford. edu and Zoe Richards at [email protected].

Friday, April 10, 2009 N 3

The Stanford Daily

OPINIONS EDITORIAL

The Stanford Daily AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

Established 1892

Vote yes for Daily special fees W

order to ensure the continued existence of The Daily as we all know it, it is vital that we receive special fees funding through the ASSU. In short, we need your help to continue to provide the campus with a daily news source. In the past, we have been fortunate enough to have the wide support of the Stanford campus come through for us on special fees funding. For this, we are grateful beyond words. To have a source of income for The Daily beyond the fickle stream of advertisement funds has been — especially these days — an invaluable gift from the student body. But in order to make sure that Daily special fees continues, especially now when we need it the most, it is imperative that every student on campus who reads The Daily every morning, glances at the front page on the way to class or enjoys doing the crossword puzzle, logs onto ballot.stanford.edu and votes yes on Daily special fees. Now, there are those on campus who would make the claim that The Daily is not worth saving, that we have become too sensationalist or irresponsible in our reporting. Here at The Daily, we are no stranger to criticism. We have and always will have our detractors — such is the nature of journalism. It is the role of a newspaper to reveal the truth behind the poster boards, and by the very nature of this duty no responsible newspaper is ever going to please everyone all the time. We are your source for daily student-produced journalism on campus, and we hope that, however you may agree or disagree with certain articles we produce, you will acknowledge the importance of having a daily newspaper on campus and continue to support the mission of The Daily. And so, for the future of journalism on this campus, we ask that you please vote yes on Daily special fees. Our argument is not that we are too big to fail. This is not a bailout. By voting yes on Daily special fees, you are making a small investment in the continued future of student journalism on this campus. With your help, The Daily will be able to go on, standing up for the interests of students and delivering the latest news, straight to your dining hall — all for the price of just three dollars per quarter.

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].

L ETTER

TO THE

E DITOR

I just wanted to express my surprise and concern over the new $167/quarter fee for using the Vaden Health Center services. For graduate students, this will equal a $668 annual fee. Including the new Cardinal Care $400/quarter (after subsidy) minimum health insurance cost, Stanford graduate students will be paying $2268/year for mandatory health coverage. A quick survey of Stanford and seven of our peer institutions shows that we have the second-highest cost of health fees for graduate students after Harvard. In fact, three of those seven other institutions (MIT, Cornell and Columbia) pay all health insurance and fees on behalf of their students. We rank sixth out of the eight schools in our net graduate stipend after health fee deductions. While $668 doesn’t seem like much, it is 2.3 percent of our total graduate student income, and brings our total health fees up to 7.9 percent of our income. This can be a significant financial burden to a low-income graduate student. The estimated graduate student living expenses not including health care reported by the Stanford Registrar’s office are $27,106/year. Without only Cardinal Care and not the new annual health fee, we would just be able to cover our estimated expenses. With the new Vaden fee,the average student is suddenly $584 in debt a year. I understand that Stanford now finds itself under unprecendented financial hardship and that concessions need to be made all around to weather our current economic turmoil. However, I wonder if there is not some other way to make up the $9-12 million this fee would generate. It just seems as if the University is asking for financial aid from those least able to afford it. Graduate school stipends, health fees, and net stipends (after health fees): Stanford - $28,700 stipend, $2,268 health fees, $26,432 net stipend Berkeley - $26,500 stipend, $1,689 health fees, $24,811 net stipend Harvard - $29,106 stipend, $2,830 health fees, $26,276 net stipend MIT - $28,200 stipend, no health fees, $28,200 net stipend Cornell - $28,533 stipend, no health fees, $28,533 net stipend Columbia - $29,328 stipend, no health fees, $29,328 net stipend Yale - $28,000 stipend, $1,166 health fees, $26,884 net stipend Princeton - $28,600 stipend, $1,050 health fees, $27,550 net stipend CHARLES C. L. MCCRORY PhD candidate, chemistry

Tonight’s Desk Editors

Board of Directors

Managing Editors

Christian Torres President, Editor in Chief

Devin Banerjee Deputy Editor

Joanna Xu Managing Editor of Intermission

Ryan Mac News Editor

In Ho Lee Chief Operating Officer

Nikhil Joshi Managing Editor of News

Stuart Baimel Columns Editor

Denis Griffin Sports Editor

Someary Chhim Vice President of Advertising

Wyndam Makowsky Managing Editor of Sports

Tim Hyde, Niko Milonopoulos Editorial Board Chairs

Vivian Wong Photo Editor

Devin Banerjee

Emma Trotter Managing Editor of Features

Cris Bautista Head Graphics Editor

Samantha Lasarow, Jane LePham Copy Editors

Samantha Lasarow Head Copy Editor

Cris Bautista Graphics Editor

Kamil Dada

here would Stanford be as a university without The Daily? To be fair, the buildings themselves would probably still be standing. Classes would still be held according to schedule. It’s unlikely there would be any disruption of frozen yogurt services at Tresidder if The Daily ceased to be. So what, then, would be the total loss to the University as a whole? As special fees voting draws to a close, we on The Daily’s editorial board hope that the student body will not force this question to be answered. We hope you will recognize the importance of having a daily newspaper on campus by voting yes on Daily special fees. In the midst of this recession, the American newspaper industry has been hit particularly hard, and papers once venerated as indestructible monoliths of national journalism — including The New York Times and The Washington Post — are now slashing jobs as advertisement revenue plummets. The Christian Science Monitor has switched from daily to weekly printed issues after more than a century of business. Even large press corporations such as Hearst and McClatchy are showing major losses. It is a dangerous time for journalism in America, and, as with the recession, it is unclear how long it will last. Here at the college level, student newspapers nationwide are being hit hard when it comes to ad sales, and the effects are already visible. Daily newspapers at Berkeley, NYU, Syracuse and Boston University have all decided to cut down to four issues per week because of poor ad revenue. Advertisements make up the financial lifeblood that keeps all newspapers from dying. Here at The Daily, financial cutbacks across campus have meant that fewer organizations and departments are able to advertise with us. The result has been the loss of 45 percent of our ad revenue. Over the last few months, we have worked to cut expenses through reductions in staff pay and by printing fewer pages each issue. We have also increased the level of content available exclusively online. But we are still facing difficulties as a paper, and we do not want our financial difficulties to translate into fewer issues each week or, God forbid, an entirely online Daily. In

Incorporated 1973

Michael Londgren

Agustin Ramirez Managing Editor of Photo

Theodore Glasser Robert Michitarian Glenn Frankel

Contacting The Daily: Section editors can be reached at (650) 723-2555 from 3 to 10 p.m. The Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5803, and the Classified Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5801 during normal business hours.

S TEAL

THIS

C OLUMN

A final ode to my wonderful girl hen I returned home from six months in Berlin in September of last year, it was like I had gone into a time warp. I had to pinch myself to make sure that the previous half-year had actually happened. Reality set in when I stepped back inside my house for the first time on September 16, and beckoned our family’s Black Labrador, Chilli, to come over and say hello to her big brother. It is only slight exaggeration to have called Chilli my father’s favorite of his four children ever since we got her in 1996. Eager to please, patient, obedient, fiercely loyal (to every member of the human race, I mean), she was absolutely beloved by all of my family’s friends, including my friends from Stanford who have visited my family’s house. After a few years, as our family developed along with our dog, we began to see Chilli no longer as a pet, but as a member of the family. I stopped thinking of her in terms of what happiness she offered me, but rather, in terms of her needs,and what I could do to please her.Countless times, I would be heading up to my room for sleep after a late night of work, when a single small whimper and those begging, brown eyes proved too much for me to resist, and I would turn around to spend another ten minutes simply petting Chilli until I was sure she knew she was loved. I loved her right from the start - we all did and a true bond developed between Chilli and me as I entered my teenage years. As I went through my various troubles and teenage travails throughout middle and high school, Chilli became my constant, and longest-tenured, companion. Brilliant for a dog, with a human sense of compassion, she was incredibly attuned to people’s moods.She loved to play with anyone who would throw a ball,even if she didn’t quite understand the second part of the twotiered game of fetch - and yet, if you were down, she was equally content literally nosing you in the chin, as if to say,“Stay in there. Keep

W

your head up.” If that sounds crazy to you, perhaps you have never owned a dog. And if you have, and still don’t get it - well, then, Chilli was special. This school year has been a happy one, among the happiest of my life. Everything has sort of fallen into place academically and socially, ever since my return from study abroad in September. It has been such a good era for me that in some ways I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop - something to shock me out of my contented stupor. In the beginning of February, about a week after my 22nd birthday, it finally did. I had noticed that Chilli had been slowing down ever since I had returned from Berlin. My family had attributed it merely to an aging process, and we willed ourselves to ignore any signs that something more serious was taking place. But on this particular evening, a Saturday night around 11 p.m., I received an unexpected call from my father suggesting that I come home as soon as possible. “It could be,” he said, “that Chilli is on her last legs.” When I arrived home that night and entered the house,I was in shock.She could barely even lift her head. Her once lively eyes rested sadly, resigned, on her pillow.The rest of her body lay limp, on its side, on her bed. It would turn out that a tumor in her spine is what had caused her to slow down, and now it had paralyzed her. By the day following the vet’s diagnosis, it was clear that Chilli’s run was coming to a close. She was unhappy. Everyone at home knew it, and after talking with my sister Deborah, in school on the east coast, she knew it, too. That weekend, for the first time since Chilli was a puppy, my other sister Jessica and I spent two nearly sleepless nights downstairs with her, simply petting her, letting her know that we were there for her. Every time she whined out of unhappy frustration with her paralyzed condition, we would get up and try to intuit what it

Mark Donig

was she wanted. Those two nights were a final act of gratitude for all the joy she had given us. Too soon, Monday night turned to Tuesday morning,and we took her to the vet to be euthanized. My parents, Jessica and I surrounded her, and my sister Deborah was on the phone when the final shot entered Chilli’s veins. Deborah’s was the last voice Chilli heard before she died. You want to feel as if you did not betray her by putting her down, but you wonder. You always wonder. I still dream about Chilli a lot. Stanford trains you for life, but nothing in life can prepare you to deal with the loss of it. The specific memories, the hazy recollections — they all hurt. It’s been a few months, and still when I close my eyes,images of a healthy Chilli come racing to me. Running around the backyard, her friendliness, her quirkiness that gave her personality — all those qualities we look for in human friendships,I felt with her.If a picture is worth a thousand words, I have no idea how many words I would need to describe what all those frames running through my head mean to me, but it’s more than the 750 I am allotted, and it’s more than the thousand I am using. Chilli brought so much joy into my life, and now she’s gone.And I don’t quite know how to deal with the gravity of the fact that what I just wrote is true, and it is real. Whatever joy 2009 may give me,I will remember it as the year I lost a good friend. Mark is glad he knew to treat her right while she was around.When they’re gone,anything they did to you won’t matter as much as what you remember doing for them. Email Mark at [email protected].

T HE D UDE A BIDES

This aggression will not stand

O

n April 3, 2009, the Iowa State Supreme Court rules unanimously (9-0) declared that the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional and had it immediately overturned. A legal declaration for gay rights right out of America’s conservative heartland, followed up by Vermont’s recent legislative legalization of gay marriage, may in fact be the watershed moment the homosexual movement was looking for. But I have to say that, despite my agreement and happiness in the Iowa court’s decision to practice law and not morality, I worry that by legalizing gay marriage we trample on the personal beliefs and rights of what seems to be a majority of Americans. Now, before you send me a burning mountain of hate mail, let me qualify my statement. Marriage is a civil, or legal, institution. In the eyes of the law there has never been, nor should there ever be, any religious aspect to it at all. Period. The “institution” of marriage, however, is a peculiar one in American society: it brings in arguments of tradition and faith into a society that is supposed to be governed by law. It is a deeply personal matter, but it retains very high salience across society. This makes it very difficult to separate arguments of reason and logic from arguments of personal morals and subjective ethics. Everyone has their own personal stake in the marriage debate, whether religious, traditional or legal, and by mixing personal morals with legal principles, we destine marriage to be doomed to eternal debate and conflict. This is why I don’t like the idea of statesanctioned gay marriage. This is why I don’t like the idea of statesanctioned marriage at all. The joining of religion and civil func-

Zack Warma

tion is guaranteed to cause problems because the state is supposed to be neutral and fair, whereas religion is inherently biased towards its believers. And that is where we run into problems. Church “A” claims that their omnipotent sky wizard says that redheads can’t marry brunettes, church “B” claims that their politburo of heavenly friends find it unacceptable if anyone with an extra dose of melanin in their skin marries anyone without it, and most Christian churches firmly hold that God believes any man who wants to marry another man is an “abomination.” And you know what? I’m fine with that. Religious organizations should be allowed to discriminate to their tastes who they allow to partake in their rituals and whom they consider a member of their congregation. It is a right inherent to religions and a right that the government cannot limit, especially in this country. However, this right would also logically preclude any religious involvement with state and civil institutions. It makes sense - religions are allowed to discriminate due to their protection nature. The state, on the other hand, cannot discriminate against any member of the public for the very simple reason that it is illegal and unconstitutional to do so. A religious institution shouldn’t have the ability to exclude individuals from federal benefits and privileges simply because of religious dogma and traditionalism, right? Not only would that be very direct

public discrimination, it would be a downright moral tyranny of a majority against a minority. Yet, despite this seemingly obvious understanding, we have the modern institution of marriage.A religious institution directly bound to a civil one. This needs to stop.There’s no other option. If we want this ongoing legal battle and social conflict to end, and if we believe the state should treat everyone as equal, then the state has no choice but to get its hands out of religious marriage and vice versa. The most logical and simple solution for the state to take is to eliminate all statesanctioned marriage. The state cannot marry anyone; they can only join them in civil union with one another according to the rule of law.This civil joining would recognize the couple in the same way that the current state-sanctioned marriage does. Full tax and access privileges, both state and federal, would be granted to the couple upon the signing of the legal document. Churches would still be allowed to marry whomever they want, just without the legal or tax benefits. In fact, this would make it much easier to discriminate

against whoever they wish. Churches could marry only whites, only Spanishspeakers or only turtles for all anyone cared. What matters is that their decisions would not have any effect upon the legal standing of the couple in question. Married in the eyes of God? Congratulations! If you want federal tax breaks and recognitions, file for a civil union simultaneously. If the churches of America truly believe that marriage is a religious institution, then let them back up their talk by reclaiming the practice and giving up the federal benefits. Let judges and civil servants do the legal paperwork for joining any two individuals who wish to declare union. Let churches marry whomever they wish before God. Just keep them separate. “The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.” — Thomas Jefferson. Agree? Disagree? Email Mark at mkogan@stanford. edu and let him know!

4 N Friday, April 10, 2009

The Stanford Daily

SPORTS Extra-inning exploits Card overcomes Cole’s strong start, wins 4-3 STAFF WRITER

AGUSTIN RAMIREZ/The Stanford Daily

4/9 UCLA W 4-3

UP NEXT UCLA 4/10 Sunken Diamond, 5:30 P.M.

By ERIK ADAMS

Senior outfielder Joey August and the Cardinal took a 4-3, 10inning win in the series opener against the Bruins and fireballing right-hander Gerrit Cole last night at Sunken Diamond.

BASEBALL

For six-and-a-half innings, it was the Gerrit Cole show.After that,it was only his UCLA teammates hoping to delay the inevitable. Stanford came back after trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a 4-3 victory in 10 innings at Sunken Diamond on Thursday. But before the Cardinal rally, it looked like it was going to be a miserable day at the ballpark.The sky was gray, it was cool and steadily drizzling and Cole, the UCLA freshman,was striking out Stanford batters at will. The right-handed starter allowed a pair of singles in the first inning, but after that was nearly unhittable. Over the next five innings, Cole allowed just a lone double by junior Toby Gerhart, and racked up six strikeouts. No Stanford hitter looked comfortable at the plate, and the Cardinal (12-12,6-4 Pacific-10 Conference) was sent down in order in four of the first six frames. Meanwhile, Stanford starter junior Jeffrey Inman found himself in trouble over the first three innings.

GAME NOTES: It took 10 innings, but in the end, the Cardinal pulled out its third consecutive victory in its series opener against UCLA. Starter Gerrit Cole was dominant through 6.1 innings, but eventually Stanford got to the Bruins’ bullpen and answered back, rallying for three runs in the seventh and the game-winner in the 10th. He hit the first man he faced in the head, and escaped the second after allowing an unearned run with an unconventional 5-36 double play. In the third, he nearly faced the minimum number of batters,but threw a wild pitch on a swinging-strike three to the third batter he faced, allowing him to reach first on what should have been the third out.The next batter, Casey Haerther, lined a home run just over the wall in right to give UCLA (12-18, 5-5) a 3-0 lead. Inman eventually escaped the inning and settled down to pitch three more strong frames. “I think he’s really turned it around — his fastball — he’s locating it a lot better in the zone,” sophomore catcher Zach Jones

said of Inman after the game.“Today,he really could’ve allowed no runs . . . It’s really been big for us to have him back in his normal form.” But it didn’t look like there was much hope of a Stanford comeback until sophomore right-fielder Kellen Kiilsgaard led off the seventh with a solid double to left. Sophomore pinch hitter Jonathan Kaskow followed with a single to put runners at the corners,and a visibly rattled Cole balked in the first run. Senior Brent Milleville hit an RBI double two batters later, and junior Adam Gaylord tied the game with a line drive single up the middle to chase Cole. Gavin Brooks relieved Cole and escaped the inning,but found himself in trouble again in the eighth as Stanford put two on with one out, but was able to escape. In the ninth, Stanford loaded the bases with just one out, but again, Brooks was able to escape the jam by striking out sophomore Colin Walsh and getting senior Joey August to ground out. Sophomore closer Drew Storen struck out the side in the 10th — after striking out the only man he faced in the ninth — bringing his total on the season to 34, as compared to just one walk. “Really,what it comes down to is I have confidence in my defense,” Storen said of

Please see BASEBALL, page 5

SOFTBALL

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

4/9 California W 4-1

Cardinal captures MPSF championship

UP NEXT UCLA 4/10 Berkeley GAME NOTES: Senior starter Missy Penna went the distance again for the Cardinal in her 25th complete game of the year to improve her record to 25-2. Offensively, freshman Ashley Hansen made the difference for Stanford, driving in three runs on a double to left center in the fifth inning. The series now moves to Berkeley for games today and Saturday at 4 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

Penna goes the distance

By JENNY PETER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The top-ranked Stanford men’s gymnastics squad won almost everything there was to win at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships last Saturday in Maples Pavilion. The Stanford men took the team title; redshirt senior Sho Nakamori won the all-around title and MPSF Gymnast of the Year honors; and Thom Glielmi earned the MPSF Coach of the Year award. The Cardinal, which had not won an MPSF title since 1995, ended Oklahoma’s four-year winning streak by setting a season-high score of 363.75. Oklahoma came in second with a 358.35, while Cal placed third with a 352.55. The team has made many improvements since losing to Cal on three occasions earlier in the season. This meet, the Cardinal men

overcame the Golden Bears by 11.2 points — a wide margin in men’s gymnastics. Nebraska (341.85) and Air Force (330.15) also attended the meet and placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Stanford began the meet with a steady start on vault, scoring a season-best 64.1. At the end of a near-perfect line-up, sophomore Josh Dixon spurred big excitement from onlookers by performing his difficult new 2 1/2 twisting vault and sticking the landing for the first time. “We got out to a great start on vault,” Dixon said. “We didn’t let our emotions get too high or allow ourselves to get overly confident for the rest of the meet.” Dixon placed second with a 16.4, missing first place by just .05. Sophomore Alex Buscaglia placed fourth with a 16.05, while junior Greg Ter-Zakhariants and sophomore

Tim Gentry also contributed to the team score with a 15.85 and 15.8, respectively. On parallel bars, Nakamori won with a 15.4. Nick Noone added a 14.7 to the team score, as well as Ter-Zakhariants’ season-best 14.6. The Stanford team swept the top three finishes on high bar. Buscaglia and Nakamori’s routines stood out both at a 15.0 and tied for first place. Dixon came in third behind them at a 14.85. The team moved onto floor and had yet another exciting event. Floor’s nationally topranked Dixon scored a season-high 15.9 and won. Other solid routines came from Ter-Zakhariants’ 15.55, Nakamori’s 15.45 and Hadden’s 14.9. On pommel horse, Nakamori led the way

Danny

Belch

On My Mind

Tiger’s return in full swing

I

am a hypocrite when it comes to sports.In baseball,football,basketball,tennis — professional and college alike — I’m always a fan of the underdog. It’s so cool when the team that wasn’t supposed to have a chance suddenly finds itself walking away with the glory, while the favored team is stunned, speechless and sometimes embarrassed. When David slays Goliath, it is truly an awe-inspiring and memorable moment (see: Stanford vs. USC football 2007). But here’s where I go wrong:I don’t root for the underdog in golf. If my above motto holds true, I should be rooting for Thabang Simon,the lowestranked player on the PGA Tour, ranked No. 998 in the world. But I don’t.I barely even root for Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh or Geoff Ogilvy — three players ranked in the world’s top 10. Every time I watch a golf tournament, I root for Tiger Woods. I don’t know why I do, but I just do. I love the guy. I love everything about Tiger Woods and everything he stands for: winning, preparation, competitiveness, emotion, mental toughness, sportsmanship and passion. I drink his Gatorade line. I wear red Nike Golf shirts. I’m not crazy . . . I’m just a huge fan. So how excited am I that Tiger has returned to golf from a half-year layoff and regained his spot atop the world? How excited was I two weeks ago, when he sank that putt on the final hole to win his first tournament this year? Pretty excited. And the manner of his first tournament win of the year couldn’t have been more predictable, as Tiger once again rattled his opponent. All he did was play in the final group, and he indirectly forced Sean O’Hair into giving up a five-stroke lead on the final day. And just when you thought that Tiger didn’t have the magical stuff he once

Please see GYM, page 5

Please see BELCH, page 5

MEN’S GOLF

Heartbreaking finish in Georgia

Stanford ace brilliant as No. 2 Card triumphs By CHRIS FITZGERALD

By ROXIE DICKINSON

DAILY SPORTS INTERN

STAFF WRITER

No. 2 Stanford (35-2, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) upended No. 16 Cal (26-12, 3-4), 4-1 at Smith Family Stadium on Thursday evening. Rain subsided almost immediately after the first pitch by Cardinal senior Missy Penna,and would hold off for the remainder of the evening,coaxing out a healthy crowd for the rivalry game. In her 25th complete game of the year, Penna fanned 12 and coughed up just three hits. The Stanford senior, who holds a spot in the top 25 gunning for USA Softball National Player of the Year, improved her ERA with the 4-1 Cardinal victory,as the only run surrendered to Cal was unearned. Help for Penna was sparse, as Cal’s junior hurler Marissa Drewrey mowed down the Cardinal. The Bears’ starter posted six strikeouts over the first three innings. Drewrey, who came in boasting a 2.04 ERA, blanked the Cardinal on April 20 last year, the last time these two teams met,collecting a win and complete game at Levine-Fricke Field in Berkeley. The Stanford bats woke up in the fourth,fueled by freshman Ashley Hansen’s leadoff knock. She would find her way home on an alleyway shot from junior Rosey Neill.The Cardinal catcher’s double was one of just five Stanford hits on the evening. “We had timely hits tonight,” said Stanford head coach John Rittman. “We took advantage of the opportunities they gave us.” Cal fought back with a run in its half of the fifth inning. Penna faced only four batters and yielded no walks or hits, yet freshman Jamia Reid capitalized on an errant throw to reach base, then advanced on another throwing error to score from second.Sophomore Melissa Koutz hauled in a fly ball in foul territory,90 feet from home plate on the first base side, but skipped a throw in the direction of junior Shannon Koplitz, which allowed Reid to round third and score as the ball careened into the pads surrounding Smith Family Stadium. But on a difficult night defensively, Rittman had nothing but praise for his ace. “Missy got herself into some tough situations,” he said. “But she’s good enough to get herself out of it.”

Please see SOFTBALL, page 5

Stanford will hope its offense can be the best defense against Denver, countering Denver’s scoring threats with a prolific offense of its own. The Cardinal has scored at least 17 goals in every MPSF contest and is averaging close to 15 goals per game overall. These impressive numbers are mostly attributed to Stanford’s multiple offensive weapons. Flynn currently leads the Cardinal with 21 goals, followed closely by Lindsay and Schmidt with 19 each. Junior Julie Christy is also enjoying plenty of success with 18 goals of her own. Schmidt, a junior midfielder, is having a stellar year. She recently tied a school record, scoring six goals in the Cardinal’s victory over William and Mary just over a month ago on March 8. Along with her 19 goals and .487 shooting percentage, Schmidt, who has

After holding the lead for much of the tournament leading up to the final nine holes, the No. 5 Stanford men’s golf team finished the U.S. Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta,Ga.in a heartbreaking second place.This marks Stanford’s seventh top-five overall finish out of all eight events played this year. The Cardinal went into the final round four strokes ahead of second-place contender, No. 28 Texas A&M, but was bested after No. 6 Clemson shot a four-under-par final round to steal the tournament crown. Stanford fired a one-over 289 and a two-over 290 for round one and two, but lost its momentum in round three, posting an 11-over 299 on the day. Clemson moved ahead of the Cardinal by only two strokes, sealing the deal with a cumulative 12-over-par 876 for the tournament. “That’s the way golf goes,” coach Conrad Ray said. “Our finish lets me know that the guys are in contention. Taking second was tough because we played so well all week.The last few holes are the two hardest holes on the course, and the cold weather and snow flurries made it even tougher.Hats off to Clemson, though — they played a heck of a final round.” The U.S. Collegiate was a tournament of milestones for freshman David Chung who earned his highest individual ranking and lowest individual round score yet. Chung started out slow, hitting a three-over 75 in the first round, but really came into his stride when the team needed him. Chung smashed the lowest round in the tournament with a six-under-par 66 in the second round, followed by a oneover 73 in the third. This outstanding showing prompted Chung to finish in third just two strokes behind tournament co-champions senior Erik Flores of UCLA and fellow frosh Bud Cauley of Alabama. “Chung has had a great week,” Ray said. “He is comfortable in those high-pressure situations. The bigger the stage, the better. The results have shown that he has gotten better with each week. The team is excited about the way he has played and there are a lot of areas where he can get better.He definitely has a bright future ahead.” No. 14 sophomore Steve Ziegler came in just behind Chung in a tie for fourth place on the individual ladder. The tournament marked Ziegler’s fourth consecutive top-10 finish for the Cardinal. Chung had the hot hand of the Stanford golfers for the first two rounds, carding a two-under 70 and a one-under 71 to pull into a tie with Ziegler going into the final round. Snow flurries and rough final round conditions caused Ziegler to shoot a three-over 75, putting him at even par for the match. Senior Dodge Kemmer also earmarked this tournament,

Please see LACROSSE, page 5

Please see GOLF, page 5

CHRIS SEEWALD/The Stanford Daily

Junior Lauren Schmidt and the Cardinal will look to bounce back from a loss against No. 2 Maryland at the end of March against MPSF rival Denver today. Schmidt has notched 19 goals and 12 assists this season for No. 12 Stanford.

Denver descends on Farm By ALISSA HABER The No. 14 Stanford women’s lacrosse team will look to bounce back at home from its recent road split as the ladies take on conference opponent Denver, today at 5 p.m. The Cardinal recently returned from a road trip against two non-conference opponents. And while its first game resulted in a sound victory over Johns Hopkins, the Stanford women finished the trip with a loss to No. 2 Maryland. Now the Cardinal resumes conference play and will look to build upon its perfect record of 4-0 against fellow Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) teams Denver and California. These matches come on the heels of yet another Cardinal player being selected as the MPSF’s Player of the Week. Sophomore attack Sarah Flynn earned the accolade for her efforts in

the Cardinal’s two games on the East Coast just over a week ago. In the two games against Johns Hopkins and Maryland, Flynn scored three and two goals, respectively. She is the third Stanford player to earn the Player of the Week award, with juniors Dana Lindsay and Lauren Schmidt (who has received the award twice this season) also garnering recognition. The Cardinal has been nothing short of dominant in conference play, winning its previous four MPSF contests by a margin of 11 goals or more. Denver, with a record of 8-5 overall (2-1 MPSF), boasts a huge offensive threat in junior midfielder Ali Flury, who has an impressive 42 goals on the season. Senior midfielder Karen Morton has also posted prolific numbers with 34 goals on the season and earlier this week became the Pioneers’ alltime leading scorer in a tough loss to conference opponent Oregon.

Friday, April 10, 2009 N 5

The Stanford Daily

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BELCH Continued from page 4 had, he sunk that long putt on 18 to seal the deal. A fist pump, shout and caddie hug later, Tiger Woods was back. And now he has descended on Augusta National in a quest for yet another major championship. All eyes are on him (as they always are) and the storyline is whether or not he is going to win the tournament (just as it always is).The rest of the 95-player field has shown up and will contend,but the pundits will be classifying them as mere obstacles to a Woods victory. Everything is in place for the weekend. Tiger looks, feels and says he is healthy. He says he feels like he never left the game. He is in a tournament that he has dominated and has won four times.It’s golf’s greatest weekend. It’s a time that golf needs for him to be back to his old ways. After day one, Tiger isn’t exactly tearing it up. He shot 70 (-2) in the opening round, 5 behind the leader Chad Campbell who shot 65 (-7). But with exactly zero majors for Campbell and 14 for Woods, 4 PGA Tour victories for Campbell and 66 for Woods, you can’t think that it’s going to be this way the whole weekend,can you? In fact, this is Woods’ 15th Masters,and he has never shot below 70 on the first day. Moral of the story: never count out Tiger. No one would be surprised to see him creep up towards the top of the leaderboard in the next days,while the players at the top slowly drop down. It’s just the way things have happened at the Masters for him. In his last four Masters, Woods has finished second, second, third and first, respectively. Out of his 13 Masters starts as a professional,Woods has finished in the top 10 an incredible nine times. He has been in the top five eight times. So it’s hard to call his weekend completely over. I am fairly confident we will be watching him on Sunday in contention for the championship. And how amazing would it be if he were to actually win his fifth Masters this weekend? How many exclamation marks would that put on him, his career and his will to win? How many question marks would that put on the rest of the PGA Tour’s players and the future of the Tour without him? How many lives would he touch, how many people would he inspire with a truly amazing story of hardship and comeback? How many would be left of those who doubt that he is the greatest athlete of this generation? A win this weekend might be his greatest ever. Some guys on the tour can’t win a major, can’t even win one tournament, can’t even ever finish in the top 10. And Tiger has surgery on his knee, takes seven months off, and could win two tournaments in four starts. A victory on Sunday would be like Tiger raising a bright neon sign to all other PGA Tour players saying, “Let’s face it: you guys got nothing.” I know I am getting ahead of myself,but I also may not be at all.We are, after all, talking about Tiger Woods. The man has done amazing things. A win this weekend might not even be too surprising to some — it would just be another Tiger moment. Another Tiger moment that I and many others around the globe have come to love. Tiger is back on the prowl, and Danny Belch couldn’t be happier. Contact him at [email protected].

SOFTBALL Continued from page 4 With the game tied at one apiece, Stanford did enough damage to chase Drewrey in the fifth.The power surge began on an error at shortstop, which allowed freshman Jenna Becerra to reach first. Fellow freshman Sarah Hassman then walked and junior two-time All American Alissa Haber singled to load the bases with no outs. The stage was set for Hansen, who belted a three-run double into the gap between left and center. With the three-run smash, Hansen garnered a team-best 37 RBI on the year. Hansen’s double concluded a 2-4 evening, and she now has a dozen two-baggers on the year. In the win, Penna gave up just one base on balls, but hit two batters over seven innings. Hit batsmen have been an Achilles heel for Penna, but a dozen strikeouts and dependable glove work from junior catcher Rosey Neill kept the ace out of trouble. Coach Rittman was pleased with his ace’s ability to stay calm in the win. “Penna’s in control of herself mentally,” he said.“That’s a tribute to her, and her catcher, Rosey Neill.” In addition to smacking her seventh double of the year at the plate, Neill gunned down Cal junior Nikki Schrey stealing, holding the Bears to 0-1 stealing on the evening. No small accomplishment for Neill,Cal entered play on Thursday with 110-122 stealing on the season. With the 4-1 win under its belt, Rittman still saw room for his team to improve.

VIVIAN WONG/The Stanford Daily

Junior Shannon Koplitz and the Cardinal did just enough to get senior starter Missy Penna her 25th win of the season in her 25th complete game. The Cardinal’s series against Cal continues tonight, as the action shifts to Berkeley. “Our pitch selection could have been better,” he said. “We had a big crowd at home, television covered the game, but we can’t help out Cal like that.” The Bears and Cardinal lock horns today and Saturday to conclude the

BASEBALL

GOLF

Continued from page 4

Continued from page 4

his remarkable run of success so far this year.“I just go out there and attack the zone, and I have confidence in my defense if they do hit it.” Gerhart led off the bottom half of the frame with a walk. Three batters later, he had reached third, and Jones hit a sharp grounder down the thirdbase line that forced Haerther to make a rushed and inaccurate throw to the plate that was offline and sparked celebration in the Stanford dugout. “I saw him dive for it,and once I saw the throw, I knew it would be pretty close,” Jones said.“But [Gerhart] beat it.” The win brought the Cardinal’s record back up to .500 for the first time since February. But Jones was more pleased with the way the team had been playing lately than with its overall mark for the season. “We really weren’t worried about getting back to .500; we were just worried about playing the way that we were supposed to,” he said. “We just wanted to play well.” Stanford and UCLA will resume the series tonight at 5:30 p.m. and play the series finale tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.After an off day on Easter Sunday,the Cardinal will host Cal in a nonconference game,Monday at 5 p.m.All three games can be heard on KZSU 90.1 FM or online at kzsulive.stanford.edu.

earning his fourth top-25 finish of the season.Kemmer kept pretty consistent this tournament, shooting 73, 77 and 73 each round to put himself in a tie for 25th with USC’s golden boy Jamie Lovemark and Texas A&M’s Bronson Burgoon. Sophomore Sihwan Kim finished up the tournament with a 12-over 228 in a tie for 44th. Kim was in 17th going into the final round of the tournament, but those tough frosty conditions got to the California-native in the end, when he putted a nineover 81 for the day. Rounding out the Cardinal five was senior Daniel Lim, who checked in at 230 for the tournament in a tie for 72nd. The tournament was no piece of cake for the Cardinal as it took on nine of the nation’s 10 top teams with no team ranking below 31st in last week’s Golfweek poll. Of the top pool of 13 teams, Stanford took on a field that included then-No. 1 Georgia, No.2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Southern California, No. 4 Clemson and No. 5 Florida. “Our guys are gamers,” Ray said. “The great thing about Stanford is that, whether it’s a tough exam or a presentation, it prepares you to get good with dealing with what’s at hand.This tournament gave the guys a whiff of the NCAAs, and we are hoping to play well at the end of the year. I haven’t changed anything in terms of preparation these past years, and we’re just knocking on wood that it keeps working.” After its final regular-season road trip, the Cardinal returns next week to the not-so-snowy weather at the Farm to host the U.S. Intercollegiate Championship.

Contact Erik Adams at [email protected].

three-game series. Play will move to Levine-Fricke Field today for a 4 p.m. start, with a 1 p.m. start for Saturday’s final contest in Berkeley. Contact Chris Fitzgerald at chrishfitz@ gmail.com.

SPORTS BRIEFS Stanford leads Directors’ Cup race by 160 points The latest updates to the NACDA Division I Directors’ Cup standings were released on Thursday, and Stanford holds a commanding lead as it edges closer to securing the award for the 15th straight year. The Cardinal’s point total sits at 854.75, while North Carolina, the second-place school and the only other institution to win the Directors’ Cup since the award’s inception during the 1993-1994 athletic seasons, has 694.25 points to its name. Stanford was able to maintain its lead through successful finishes in women’s basketball and men’s swimming, while the Tar Heels moved into second largely on the back of their men’s basketball championship. Still, Stanford has tallied the most points in the winter season, and is just over two months away from likely winning the Cup, which honors the best collegiate athletics program in the country, yet again. — By Wyndam Makowsky

LACROSSE Continued from page 4 started in all 10 of Stanford’s games, has 12 assists, and will be heavily relied on to fuel Stanford’s offense. With a win today, Stanford will be poised to take home its fifth straight MPSF title, as the squad would remain undefeated with only one game remaining in conference play when it takes on Cal this Sunday.

Contact Roxie Dickinson at roxie221@ stanford.edu.

Contact Alissa Haber at [email protected].

GYM

Nakamori also took away the allaround title for the last time in Maples with his highest college career score at a 91.85. “Sho has been a symbol of this team — professional, calm, cool and consistent,” Dixon said. “The way he goes about his training and gymnastics allows the rest to see what a champion needs to do in order to be on top.” The Stanford men also had three season highs on vault, one on parallel bars, four on floor, three on pommel horse and six on rings. “We won almost everything there was to win at that competition: four of the six events, the all around, the MPSF gymnast of the year, the MPSF coach of the year and, most importantly, the team title,” Hadden said. “It was a good day for Stanford men’s gymnastics.” The final recognition the Cardinal hopes to gain will be the NCAA Championship title next week. Stanford will have its chance Apr. 16-18 at the University of Minnesota to face its rivals Oklahoma and Cal for the last time this year. “We want to win the national title,” Dixon said. “Missing out on one last year by .45 is something that we will all remember forever. It motivated us to work even harder this year. Now, we are ready to win.”

Continued from page 4 with his 15.25 and was awarded first place. Ter-Zakhariants’ season-high 14.75 gave him a fourth-place finish, while Hadden’s 14.7 put him at fifth. The team’s last counted score by Dixon was a rough but hit set, scoring a 14.05,which was all the team needed to procure a 58.75 total for the event. On rings, the team really seemed to enjoy itself on its last rotation. “We knew we had the lead going into the rotation and that our ring lineup was the best in the country,” Hadden said. “So, we felt confident that our ring team could get the job done.” The team did just that, posting its highest ring score of the season at a 61.5 to seal the deal and win the MPSF title. Hadden had been ranked No. 1 on still rings for almost the entire season and won with a 15.65. Gentry placed second behind him with a 15.45. Nakamori and Noone tied for fifth at a 15.2. “It wasn’t a matter of them doing something out of the ordinary to put up such great scores,” said Dixon of his teammates.“They simply did what they have been doing in practice — hitting nearly flawless routines with high start values.” MPSF Gymnast of the Year Sho

Contact Jenny Peter at [email protected].

6 N Friday, April 10, 2009

The Stanford Daily

SPEAKERS & EVENTS

Students test entrepreneurial waters

DAILY POLL

PAUL

Do you think it is okay for ASSU senators to spend a quarter away from campus during their term?

Continued from front page

44 votes taken from stanforddaily.com at 11:31 p.m. 04/09/09

ETL attracts students to startup ventures By CASSANDRA FELICIANO STAFF WRITER

A quiet entrepreneurial fever has swept across Stanford in the midst of economic crisis, with startup hopefuls in the student body continuing to push for a place in the business ecosystem. Tina Seelig, professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) and executive director of Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), attributed the growth of student interest in entrepreneurial ventures to the change in “risk differential” between finding a job in the finance industry versus starting one’s own business. “As the market tanks and people are looking at their opportunities, they’re saying, ‘Do I get a job that I might lose, or do I really start a company?’” Seelig said. “Now, the difference in risk is not that large. And so students are saying, ‘If I’m going to start something, now is a great time to start because it’s going to be really hard to find a job, and if I find a job, who knows how stable it is?’” The increasing appeal of the entrepreneurial path for students is evident in their response to the programs offered by entrepreneurfriendly organizations on campus. The Stanford E-Challenge and Social E-Challenge — the annual business plan competitions hosted by the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) — has seen its highest recorded number of entries this year, with 123 and 112 applicants, respectively. Both EChallenges promise prizes of around $25,000 for the winning team to pursue their idea. Many of the entries, according to Seelig, are based in the IT and software markets. These ideas make up 50 to 60 percent of the entries this year. The concentration of startups in that field, especially among college students, is due to the inexpensive

SBS Continued from front page Despite this, heads of the PWR and IHUM programs remain skeptical. PWR Program Director Andrea Lunsford said that the Program in Writing and Rhetoric already had comprehensive reviews. “I’d say first that all Stanford programs go through regular reviews,” Lunsford wrote in an email to The Daily. “PWR conducted an intensive self-study in 200607 and there are plans for a review committee of all first-year requirements. PWR also has a very active Undergraduate Advisory Board that meets regularly to offer advice and suggestions for ongoing review and improvement.” IHUM Faculty Director Russell Berman stated that any changes to these current requirements could only be affected by the school’s Faculty Senate and the Committee on University Standards and Policies (CUSP). “PWR and IHUM are requirements and changes in those requirements would go through Faculty Senate and CUSP,” he said. “PWR and IHUM act on the basis of the stipulations from Faculty Senate and CUSP. “I would remind the platform that there already exists Writing in the Major to handle major-specific writing,” Berman added, “and changing PWR and IHUM to major-specific programs would mean no writing instruction in first year.” The slate Web site also includes a category entitled “Where Stanford lacks,” detailing SBS’s views of Stanford’s weaknesses, including “callous attitude towards undergrads (some departments),” “IHUM sucks” and “entrenched mediocre administration,” which is listed under both the academic and student life categories. When asked to clarify the slate’s intended approach to dealing with the “entrenched mediocre administration,” Gao said SBS would “like to institute a review process over student affairs-related administrators.” For the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) and Dean of Student Life Chris Griffith, an advisory board already exists. “I think student advisory boards are good in a number of contexts, and I think there’s a number of ways we seek student input,” she said. “I know there is a proposal put together for OSA for an advisory group, and we’re reviewing that now.” Griffith also added that her office is always open for student

and easily accessible resources that can facilitate business pursuits. “It’s low-hanging fruit,” Seelig said. “It’s stuff that they can do easily in their dorm room. It doesn’t require a lot of capital, and it’s something that they could use their CS skills to do.” Similarly, students crowded Skilling Auditorium last Wednesday to fire hazard potential in order to hear Jen Hsun Huang MS ‘92, cofounder and CEO of Nvidia. Huang was the first entrepreneurial bigwig to present a guest lecture for the BASES-hosted Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (ETL) Seminar. A handful of students were asked to watch a live broadcast of Huang’s lecture in an overflow space because the auditorium could no longer accommodate student demand. ETL Organizers are expecting their high-profile lineup of entrepreneurial leaders to attract close to 300 students to sign up for the course, not to mention the many others who will sit in on one or two lectures. “We try to cast a pretty wide net and try to bring in a variety of speakers so the people who don’t necessarily want to take the course might want to come,” said Chris Baker ‘10, a member of ETL’s organizational team. “That’s part of the reason why we want to increase our marketing, because even if people don’t know about ETL, they can still come see a speaker they want to hear.” ETL hopes to find itself in the same highly coveted student class list with courses like “Sleep and Dreams” and the creative writing series. “One of the main goals we’ve had for the last quarter and for this quarter is sort of to increase awareness around campus because we have this small colloquium of people who are excited about it and we feel like those people who know it love it,” said Nikil Viswanathan ‘10. “But, we don’t really have exposure elsewhere.” Many students certainly share the same vision for classes like ETL. Charles Naut ‘12, who has been attending ETL since fall quarter, heard about the seminar from a friend and claims that many of his peers are not aware that there are

programs like this offered at Stanford. “I think the Stanford entrepreneurship programs are really good, but it’s sort of disorganized, and there are so many groups out there and they don’t really communicate with each other enough,” Naut said. “I feel that while there are really good groups out there, they could be more efficient in the outreach that they do and the impact that they have among Stanford students.” While some Stanford students are trying to break into the business scene, others among them have already built their own startup dream teams and are well on their way to the “big time.” Ooshma Garg ‘09 is in the first year of her company, Anapata Inc., the first Web-based, diversityfocused recruiting and networking source for law student organizations. Anapata has approximately 50 percent of the market share in the top 25 law schools in the country, and Garg hopes to increase these numbers this spring to cater to more law schools, as well as the grad students entering other academic markets, such as science and engineering. “I think student organizations have a lot to do with the level of entrepreneurship and level of entrepreneurial spirit at Stanford,” Garg said. While she recognizes the rising attraction of entrepreneurial ventures, she cautioned students against starting their own business for the sole reason of a bleak job market. “Starting a business is almost like raising a child; there is a long road to success,” Garg said. “There are sleepless nights and a lot of opportunities that you forgo just to progress one more step further.” “It’s important to recognize that it’s not about what you do, it’s about why you exist,” she continued. “Even if there’s an idea that you think would make a lot of money, even if it’s popular and even if you have a team — none of those reasons are good enough unless you absolutely love what you’re doing.” Contact Cassandra Feliciano at [email protected].

dialogue. “I invite the students to meet with me and other administrators to hear their concerns directly,” she said. “More importantly, an in-person meeting is more likely to identify common ground, invite dialogue and create collaboration on our shared goals.” Contact Ryan Mac at [email protected] and Ellen Huet at [email protected].

VADEN Continued from front page While Boardman said that, “health services was at the top of the list” in areas the University tried to shield from budget cuts, Vaden was still hit hard by the realities of the economic crisis. “I don’t think students understand the magnitude of the University’s financial problems,” said Ira Friedman, director of Vaden and associate professor of Pediatrics. The general fund comes primarily from student tuition. The fund could not cover the services, especially because tuition was only slightly raised. “The cost of tuition was very moderately increased,” Friedman said. “Conceivably, it might have been higher.” When deciding how to handle the financial situation at Vaden resulting from budget cuts, many ideas were tossed around, including paying only for visits. “I feel [the fee] is better than charging for individual visits — it doesn’t hit folks who are ill,” Friedman said. Charles McCrory, a graduate student in chemistry, was highly concerned with the burden the new health fee will place on graduate students who live on a fixed income. He felt that paying for visits would be highly preferable to the baseline fee. “A lot of people would have preferred a small co-pay,” he said. Freshman Brian Louye ‘12 agreed. “It’s not fair that there is a very large subset of students who don’t need Vaden services, but who have to pay it anyway,” Louye said. However, Dean Schaffer ‘10 felt that an upfront fee was better than a fee for each visit. “It is better to pay upfront versus having to pay for it when you go — it’s very different psychologically,” he said. Both Boardman and Friedman felt that the fee was fair because it spread the cost of services across

the whole student body. “There’s a fairness when it is distributed over the entire population,” Friedman said, going on to compare the fee to taxpayer money paying for a firehouse — everyone pays for the protection, instead of the owner having to pay when the fire engine shows up at a burning building. Both Friedman and Boardman stressed the necessity of the fee to maintain necessary services. Because of the fee, Vaden will only have to institute a few cost-saving measures. Some staff positions have been reduced at Vaden and other staff will have reduced hours over the summer. Also, for the 2009-2010 school year, Vaden will cut back on weekend hours. These measures, Friedman said, were “to preserve the core services that people depend on.” “Primary care services during the week will remain the same,” Friedman said. “In addition, there will be virtually no reduction in CAPS.” Many students are angry about having to pay the fee, especially those who are dissatisfied with Vaden services. “I don’t want to have to pay 160some dollars to find out that I’m pregnant every time!” said Stephanie Castro ‘12, citing Vaden’s joked-about tendency to diagnose female students with pregnancy when it is a non-issue. Though students are unhappy about having to pay, Boardman and Friedman said that this decision, however hard, had to be made, and more decisions are to come. “This was one of many, many decisions that were very difficult, all across the campus,” Friedman said. For Vice Provost Boardman, cuts are something that students should come to expect from all University fronts in the coming months. “There are many units across campus who haven’t yet announced the measures they are going to take to handle budget cuts,” Boardman said. Contact Julia Brownell at juliabr@ stanford.edu.

23%

D

14%

A

11%

C

52%

B

A) Yes, it does not present a problem. B) No, you can’t be an effective senator without being on campus. C) Maybe, it depends on the senator. D) I don’t care. The Senate does nothing anyway.

Today’s Question: What do you think of the tone of ASSU elections this year? a) b) c) d)

All candidates behaved fairly and had clean campaigns. Candidates behaved poorly and ran divisive campaigns. Politics as usual - nothing extreme. I don’t pay attention to the ASSU anyway.

vote today at stanforddaily.com!

HAUSER Continued from front page emphasized his negotiation skills. “Whenever there’s a glitch . . . [Sprague is] involved in the solution in some fashion,” he said. But McLaughlin, wishing to remain apolitical, refrained from making an endorsement of the slate. For his work as an RA, Sprague received glowing reviews from dorm resident Fausto Bustos ‘11. “Matt is pretty much awesome as an RA,” Bustos said. “He’s a great guy that’s very involved in Toyon life and our hall.” Sprague has planned a midnight screening of James Bond, about 10 hot chocolate study breaks and numerous In-N-Out and Jack in the Box runs, according to Bustos. “Matt is always around to hang out,” Bustos added.“He’s a very reliable RA, and I know he’s an honorable man.” Contact Christine McFadden at cnm714@ stanford.edu and Marisa Landicho at [email protected].

and saw the most action during the heart of Pacific-10 Conference play. Paul played throughout the Pac-10 Tournament and stayed with the team until the end of its season, although he did not see action during the College Basketball Invitational. His suspension now leaves a hole in Stanford’s big man depth. Senior Lawrence Hill is graduating, which means that sophomore Josh Owens is the lone post player with significant experience. Dawkins began integrating his freshmen forwards and centers into his game plans more as the

seasoned progressed, with Jack Trotter seeing the most playing time — still, Trotter only averaged 6.3 minutes per contest. That said, Dawkins is prepared to move on without Paul. “This is disappointing and unfortunate, but we must continue to move forward,” he wrote.“We wish Will the best in the future and continue to support him during this transition.” This is the second time in two years that a Cardinal basketball player has been ruled academically ineligible. Brook Lopez was forced to sit out for the first nine games of the 2007-2008 season due to scholastic issues. Contact Wyndam Makowsky at [email protected].