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Whales threatened by increasing demand for Antarctic krill

A Stanford study found that whales in the Southern Ocean are being threatened by krill hunting in the Antarctic. The practice puts whale population recovery in jeopardy, researchers said.

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Southern Ocean whale populations are being threatened by human activity — a trend that could worsen global warming, Stanford researchers found in a study published in September.

Researchers at Stanford’s Marine Hopkins Institute found that the Southern Ocean’s krill population is insufficient to support today’s recovering whale populations. This is partly due to humans, who have caught Antarctic krill at a rate that has quadrupled in the last 30 years, a finding the researchers presented in an earlier study from 2021. The researchers also found that large blue and humpback whales rely on krill in their diet to a significantly higher degree than previously believed.

“We’re fishing for their food, so we’re now a competitor of the whales,” said Matthew Savoca, a research scientist at the Goldbogen lab through Hopkins Marine Station and lead author of the September follow-up study.

Antarctic krill is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and serves as the only food source for larger whale species like blues or fins, filtering easily through their bristly mouths and forming an integral part of their diet. However, rising human demand for these small crustaceans — used in vitamin supplements similar to fish oil and as feed for fish farming — has led to record-high catch rates, depleting the whales’ primary food source.

Whales hold outsize importance in Southern Ocean ecosystems, as their bodily waste fertilizes large regions of the water. 

In most parts of the ocean, dust from the continental crust provides the iron needed for organisms to survive. But the Southern Ocean barely touches continental land mass, and nearby Antarctica is covered in ice. Whale feces makes up for missing iron, allowing organisms to get the nutrients they need. 

“Without the whales, the ocean system, the phytoplankton system [and] the krill in that system are not getting iron they need to be able to grow,” said Mehr Kumar, a research ecologist and co-author of the study.

Lower iron means a decrease in phytoplankton, which Kumar said are the “trees and plants of the ocean.”

“They are what’s photosynthesizing, taking carbon out of the atmosphere that we put there,” Kumar said. A reduced whale population could lower the ocean’s ability to mitigate global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The increased catch rates of Antarctic krill follows a common trend in the Southern Ocean.

“Before krill, whale oil was the resource of interest for fisheries. This fits with a common theme in ocean conservation known as fishing down the food web,” said Jeremy Goldbogen, associate professor of oceans at the Doerr School of Sustainability and co-author of the study.

Humans mainly interact with Antarctic krill products through supplements and fish food. Antarctic krill supplements can be found in vitamin aisles of many grocery stores, with brands promoting them as less fishy-tasting alternatives to traditional fish oil. Petco advertises Antarctic krill as a more nutritional food option for fish that gives them a more vibrant hue. 

But the main use of Antarctic krill is in large-scale traditional fish farms.

Savoca said fish farms often use Antarctic krill as food because it gives fish — especially farm salmon — a pinker color, even though equally nutritious plant-based or lab-grown-fish meal alternatives exist.

Kumar said that ultimately, none of the krill harvested from the Southern Ocean contribute toward global food security. 

Savoca explained that while regulations may help limit the amount of krill being harvested, enacting new policies presents a significant challenge. The Southern Ocean is governed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living (CCAMLR), formed in 1982 with 27 member nations. The CCAMLR is part of the Antarctic Treaty passed in 1959 with 12 original signatories.

The size of the group makes it difficult to reach a consensus on legislation. Kumar said a nation does not get a vote unless it is “fishing or doing research” in the Southern Ocean — creating problems for smaller ocean nations that want a say in the regulation of the ocean but are economically unable to partake in significant fishing or research activities.

Savoca said leaders should shift demand for Antarctic krill by asking themselves: “Is there something that we could do to make [krill fishing] more sustainable, or is there a different product that we can be using that would be better?”

The researchers are hopeful their work can bring people closer to protecting the whales and the broader Southern Ocean ecosystem. 

“It may be possible for human and whale interests to co-exist, but it requires the cooperation and commitment of funders, regulators and operators,” Goldbogen said. 

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Spiderman swings ‘Across the Spider-verse’ and into innovative live concert

Composer Daniel Pemberton’s movie soundtrack orchestration swung into life in an immersive and innovative mash-up of classical and electronic music.

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As a classically trained pianist and violinist, I stepped into Golden Gate Theatre on Sunday evening with something a little more than skepticism: curiosity and intrigue. I had never encountered a true mash-up of electronic music with string orchestra, though the idea was brought up countless times throughout my pre-college school orchestra program. Boy, was I glad my first exposure to the nexus of classical and scratch DJ was in the good company of Miles Morales and his spidey crew, orchestrated by Daniel Pemberton in “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Live in Concert.”

Since its world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall in London, the show has shared — through sold-out performances — the innovative soundtrack of the film. Swinging into San Francisco, conductor Shelbie Rassler introduced the 14-member orchestra while inviting audience members to cheer when their favorite Spiderverse character appeared on the screen. This encouragement of interaction and expression from the audience provided an interesting contrast to classical concerts which value silence instead. I feel it also aligned nicely with the tone of the film: a nice sprinkle of fun. 

I was initially a little worried the percussion would outdo the strings — an experience that made full orchestra rehearsals a pain back in high school, given my role as a string instrumentalist. I’d also previously associated electronic music as overpowering classical music in volume. But the balance in the ensemble quickly played these worries away. The DJ mixed tracks seamlessly, making me almost question whether I was hearing the soundtrack recording directly from the movie. 

The orchestral sound enveloped me and I was reminded why I enjoy live concerts so much: they embody unique moments to be present and share with loved ones. The father sitting in front of me put his arm around his daughter when Miles and his mother had their heart-to-heart conversation. I wondered if he was envisioning the moment when he too would have to let his little girl venture out into the world. 

I’ve always felt the magic of movies, and the reason I get attached to movie characters comes from the music. The musical backdrop on conversations between characters elevates the volume of emotion delivered in heart-to-hearts. Tears welled in my eyes when I watched Miles’ mother let him spread his wings — just like the first time I saw the scene. The strings swelled, violins maintaining tension while crescendoing through their tremolos. I felt the deep tympani in my chest as it beat my heart.

Later songs that flowed into end credits continued to spotlight the strings as they harmonized to the voice recording and rap. I particularly appreciated how the orchestra saw the performance through, playing every track of the movie, from the top of the introduction for SONY to all of the end credits. I was delighted by the perfect timing of drums as superhero-cartoon expressions like “BAM!” jumped on screen. I sat in a trance as the orchestra concluded the night with a reprise spotlighting the DJ, clean scratches overlain on a grand orchestral finale. 

The flashiness of the movie animation was an aspect that stood out to me upon first watch. This feature was further brought to life with thoughtful stage lighting in the concert hall. As the screen flashed neon lights when Miles glitched, so did the stage lights. Yellows, reds and greens temporarily filled the stage before settling down to a rich purple, returning the audience’s attention to the musicians and storyline. 

Although the initial invitation for audience members to interact with the movie display felt novel and exciting, I must say that old preferences die hard. At times, I just wanted to relish in the musical transitions as new Spider-verse characters were introduced. But the crowd’s excitement and screams drowned out some of the music, especially when Hobi Brown and Pavitr Prabhakar swung into view. 

The massive screen lit up the musicians throughout the concert and brought me back to the first time I watched the film — 40,000 feet above Earth, traveling to Taiwan. I couldn’t (and still can’t) say whether Miles and his crew wouldn’t have made it faster or farther than I did on that trip. What I can say for sure is this: just as Gwen learned from Miles, I learned from this concert that in regard to the mash-up of classical strings with an electronic DJ — “it’s all possible.”

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Letter to the Community | Voting is a civic duty

Deans Debra Satz, Jennifer Widom and Arun Majumdar exhort the Stanford community to vote on Nov. 5.

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“The right to vote is the right upon which all other rights depend.”

– Thomas Paine

As the three deans responsible for overseeing the education of the largest number of Stanford’s students, including all its undergraduates as well as the majority of its graduate students, we write again, in a presidential election year, to urge you, regardless of your political affiliation, to exercise your right to vote.

Universal suffrage is a profound achievement, the product of centuries of struggle. For most of human history, decisions were made by the few. Even when voting was practiced, large portions of the population were excluded: in ancient Athens, for example, only male citizens with property were entitled to vote. In the United States, it took more than two centuries for this right to extend to both African Americans and women. And it was only in 1971, that the right to vote was extended to all US citizens 18 years and older.  

Unfortunately, low numbers of American citizens exercise that hard won right to vote. Voters in the 18-29 age range are less likely to vote than any other qualified age group. In 2021, recognizing this as a problem, students pushed for a yearly Stanford academic holiday to encourage voting, civic engagement and participation in public service. The Faculty Senate ratified the student’s proposal and Democracy Day was created. In 2022, more Stanford students registered to vote than students at any other California college or university, in large part due to the efforts of StanfordVotes, a student-led, non-partisan organization dedicated to voter turnout.

We hope that you will take advantage of the incredible resources offered through StanfordVotes and programming taking place around the election through Stanford’s celebrated Democracy Day on Nov. 5.

We understand that some are cynical about the importance of voting, and especially cynical about the importance of any single person’s vote making a difference. We address these two sources of cynicism in turn.

Let’s start with the importance of the vote itself. In some countries votes are merely symbolic and the results of elections are already predetermined. In other examples, votes are ignored, and rulers do what they like. Certainly, even in the United States, our democracy is not perfect. Nevertheless, almost all the social and economic rights Americans enjoy today — from Medicare and Medicaid, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Clean Air Act — exist because citizens elected public officials who voted to enact them. 

Another reason that voting is important is that it makes democracy more representative. If only some people vote, elected officials are likely to give less weight to the interests and views of non-participants. Studies repeatedly show that young voters, along with citizens with lower levels of income and education, are less likely to vote. This makes politicians more likely to ignore them. Indeed, the power of the vote is the main way we keep officials accountable to us.

Moreover, voting is important as it is one of the ways we sustain democracy. Democracy is more than rule of law — it needs people who care about our collective interests and are willing to express their views about what these interests are. By engaging in this activity, citizens empower officials to promote those interests.  

What about the second source of cynicism: the idea that no single individual’s vote matters. Here we again have several arguments in counter: foremost, as alluded above, each person’s vote makes our democracy more representative of the will of its citizens. Indeed, your vote does contribute to the representativeness of democracy, even when it registers as a dissent from the majority. Recording that dissent itself matters.

Furthermore, and as we have witnessed in recent elections, small numbers of votes can be decisive in elections. Even when the state you are voting in may be decisively red or blue, there are often many important state and local issues on the ballot. 

A final reason is this: if no one’s individual vote makes a difference, then no one has a reason to vote. But in that case, if everyone fails to vote, democracy cannot be sustained. So please do your part in sustaining this democratic practice! 

Of course, you can certainly do more to help make our society and our world better, alongside others, including those who are not eligible to vote. We do not mean to suggest that the only way for you to be involved in questions of public concern is by means of a vote. But it is a decisive way to engage, and perhaps the most important way to engage in our democratic society.

So, vote for the party and candidate of your choice, but by all means: vote.

Debra Satz, Dean, School of Humanities and Sciences.

Jennifer Widom, Dean, School of Engineering.

Arun Majumdar Dean, Doerr School of Sustainability.

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New students celebrate Black Frosh Convocation amid declining Black enrollment

Stanford University’s Black Student Union presented the 28th annual Black Frosh Convocation last Friday to celebrate new Black freshman and transfer students.

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Black students, staff and faculty across the diaspora dressed in black and gold “pop-out” attire to celebrate Stanford’s new Black freshmen and transfer students at last Friday’s 28th annual Black Frosh Convocation.

The event, hosted by the Stanford Black Student Union (BSU), aimed to uplift and inspire incoming Black students. It included speeches from upperclassmen, freshmen and faculty speakers, musical performances and presentations by the historically-Black American Divine Nine sororities and fraternities.

This year’s Black Frosh Convocation took place against the backdrop of a decline in Black student enrollment. Following the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban, Black student enrollment decreased by 44% from 9% of the class of 2027 to 5% of the class of 2028.

BSU co-president Jaeden Clark ’27 opened the night by recognizing the “effects of the affirmative action ban.”

“The Black freshmen class is half of what it was when I was a freshman a mere two years ago,” Clark said. “I was left wondering why we had half the number of people RSVP for convocation. Why do we only need half the number of round tables this year? Half the number of plates and utensils?”

Speaker Nifemi Bankole ’27, the second person from his South London high school to attend Stanford in 21 years, emphasized new Black students “deserve to be here.”

“I always like to say if you’re going to dream, dream big. if you’re going to dream big, dream even bigger,” Bankole said. “The representation you provide doubles up as an example to others as to what they can achieve, in addition to setting new paradigms to what Black people can accomplish.”

Laolu Oguneye ’28, the freshman class speaker, said it was an “incredible feeling” to be able to meet and inspire his fellow classmates. Oguneye emphasized his and his classmates’ strength and intelligence.

“We’re all perseverant people” with a “strong sense of coalition and brotherhood and sisterhood,” he said.

Among the attendees were Asha Morgan-Joseph ’28, who plans to major in Human Biology, and Iamanni Jackson ’28, who plans to major in Aeronautics and Astronautics. In their short time on campus, both say they have found community in Black student spaces at Stanford.

Morgan-Joseph said she does not live in Ujamaa (Uj) — the Black diaspora theme dorm on campus. However, she considers herself an honorary member, also known as a “C-winger,” and enjoyed being with the Black freshman community at convocation.

“I really loved convocation as a ‘C-winger’ who doesn’t live in Uj,” Morgan-Joseph said. “I appreciate all of the work they do to include everyone and I think they do a wonderful job of that.”

Jackson appreciated seeing “so many other Black students at Stanford” through convocation, she said.

“I feel like it can be easy to feel alone here as a Black person,” Jackson said. “Knowing that I had this community behind me really helped to boost my confidence and spirit.”

The night ended with performances by Everyday People — Stanford’s Hip-Hop, Soul, R&B and Motown acapella group — and Miles “MiLES” Selles ’27, an independent R&B artist.

Selles said he enjoyed performing at Black Frosh Convocation and hoped his performance was “bringing the community closer than it already is.” When asked what message he aimed to leave the crowd with, he said, “Even when things are difficult, we will all be alright.”

“Tonight is not just a celebration of our presence, but a reminder that even when they try to cut us down, we rise taller…We will continue to fight for every inch of space we deserve,” Clark said. “We will not just survive these times — we will flourish, we will lift each other up and we will fill every room, every space and every heart with the undeniable power of our community.”

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Stanford’s student-athlete advisory committee tackles college sports changes

The Daily interviewed the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to discuss how they're helping Stanford tackle numerous changes related to college athletics.

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The college sports world is rapidly changing, especially at Stanford. Within the first few weeks of the quarter, the University has entered its inaugural year in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), following the addition of an in-house NIL representative last year. The changes come amid rising conversations surrounding revenue-sharing in college sports.

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), a student-athlete-led group committed to advocating on behalf of student-athletes, has continued to provide representation for the community. SAAC is working towards understanding how the new athletic environment will affect student-athletes, said Hunter Hollenbeck, the committee’s co-president and a graduate student diver.

This August, Stanford athletics joined the ACC, and as the transition takes full effect, SAAC is working to ensure student-athletes feel supported during this change.

“Our goal right now is to understand how that’s impacting our student-athletes, what our pain points are and how to progress different initiatives,” Hollenbeck said. 

With Stanford athletes traveling across the country nearly every week while in season, academic concerns have been on the forefront of the committee’s mind, Hollenbeck said. 

“[Increased travel] impacts things from class to lab sections that will tend to last over three hours and contain significant course material, week by week,” he said.

While Hollenbeck said Stanford has introduced case-by-case accommodations to allow athletes to catch up on academics, SAAC is working towards making these accommodations more institutionalized. 

“All these different niche solutions that have been implemented kind of sparingly in the past are now going to be much more regular because of this increased travel for student-athletes,” Hollenbeck said. 

Hollenbeck also noted these changes would apply to student-athletes and all students who travel for athletic events — including the Stanford Dollies, the band and the Stanford Tree.

SAAC is also taking steps to help improve Stanford’s approach to name, image, and likeliness (NIL). In the past, Stanford has erred more on the side of caution when it came to NIL because, Hollenbeck said, “for the better part of two years, there weren’t really clear guidelines as to what having NIL meant.”

In May, Stanford appointed its first in-house NIL manager, Lindsey Jones, who has helped open the door for student-athletes to become more involved with NIL deals and contracts. 

Hollenbeck said SAAC is also hoping to help students leverage “social media and people’s individual talents to generate revenue for individuals and teams that are not traditionally revenue sports.”

A component of that effort is helping student-athletes craft their own image for themselves online and feel empowered through the brands they represent. Another part is getting athletes verified and recognized on social media platforms, Hollenbeck said. He mentioned Ian Gunther ’23, a previous Stanford gymnast who has grown his social media presence and amassed millions of views by posting gymnastics-related content. Hollenbeck said this has not only grown Gunther’s recognition, but Stanford’s men’s gymnastics profile as well.

Following the House v. NCAA settlement, schools are now also allowed to share roughly $22 million of revenue with student-athletes. Stanford, however, has yet to fully detail how the university will move forward. While Hollenbeck declined to comment on specifics, he said SAAC is “committed to making sure that all sports remain prospering in the way that they are.”

While many of these recent challenges are still developing and new information is surfacing, SAAC is working to ensure the University’s student-athlete community is involved in these conversations. 

While some of these new decisions are already taking a toll on student-athletes with increased travel affecting academics and overall well-being, Hollenbeck said SAAC is trying to keep up with the latest changes and respond efficiently and effectively. 

“We’re trying to be reactive and trying to implement these policies as fast as possible,” Hollenbeck said.

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Daily Diminutive #005 (Oct. 22, 2024)

Click to play today's 5x5 mini crossword. The Daily produces mini crosswords twice a week and a full-size crossword biweekly.

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From Yaad to Yard: Good friends or pocket money?

"From Yaad to Yard" is a bi-weekly column where Breanna, a Jamaican international student at Stanford, shares her unique experiences navigating life on the Farm. This week: what does it mean to find friends?

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“From Yaad to Yard” is a bi-weekly column where Breanna Burke, a Jamaican international student at Stanford, shares her unique experiences navigating life on the Farm. Through reflections on culture, identity and academia, she offers a thoughtful perspective on bridging the distance between her Caribbean roots and her new life on the Farm.

“Good friend better than pocket money.”
— Jamaican proverb meaning “A good friend is better than money.”

The drive to Kingston was an exhaustingly long four hours, with a couple of off-tune shrieks as my mom and I sang ’90s dancehall. Then it happened. I counted the cars that zoomed past us on the highway and wondered if the lives within them were as strange as mine. The question lingered in the cold air of the car and slowly fell flat as we inched closer to our destination.

“Don’t you want to see any of your old friends?”

My mom’s question poked a heavy dot of navy sadness within me, one that was bound to explode sooner or later. Growing up, I never felt as if I had a best friend. Sure, I had friends whose giggles often filled tiny, pink bedrooms as we mused over crushes, but I never felt the inexplicable pull of the best friend that’s sold on TV — the one who knows everything about you, the one you have sleepovers with all the time.

When I left Jamaica, I left with two amazing friends from high school, who I talk with daily. The three of us had bonded after a school trip to Barbados. From then, our group chat “BIM” held thousands of messages containing our deepest secrets, fears and sometimes funny Instagram reels (to their dismay, I am not on TikTok). I loved them, but I didn’t share a life with them and I thought that’s what having a best friend was. The other friendships I had in high school slowly dissolved over the summer, especially when we all went off to college (partly due to moving to a completely different country). People I spoke to every day for the last seven years had been relegated to a simple “Happy Birthday” once a year.

The truth was, I didn’t really want to see them. We had become completely different people. We were strangers.

The night before I flew to Stanford, I made a new note on my phone titled “Goals for Stanford Experience – To Be Achieved by Graduation”:

1. To make at least 2 genuine friends

If I’m being honest, everything else was just a space filler. If you had asked any other pre-frosh what they were most scared about, they would’ve probably said being away from everything they’ve ever known and not knowing if they’d find their people. For me, I didn’t even know what it meant to find “my people,” especially in a new country. I just knew that for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to be okay with feeling alone.

Within the past year, I have found friends in the most unlikely places and had to work to reframe my idea of what friendship truly means. When the lining of the gorgeous red dress I bought for CROM (Crothers’ prom) burned under the heat of my iron — thanks to my very teenage inexperience with pressing my own clothes — rather than sitting in my misery alone (or bothering my mom at 10 p.m.), I rang my friend in the dorm, who offered to lend me her steamer so that I could still dazzle the night away (even if a bit burnt on the inside). Similarly, when it felt as if my entire world was crashing under the weight of CS p-sets and self-doubt, I had people who reminded me that I belonged here and that everything would be okay — my people.

If you asked me two years ago if I would have chosen a good friend or $1,000 (okay, maybe $10,000), I would have chosen the money. Now, I’d think a bit more carefully. I’ve learned that a good friend is more than just that: they’re proof that our worlds are more than just the bubbles that we isolate ourselves in. They are proof that there is more. In the words of the best Batman, Christian Bale, they are evidence that, “I am more.” A good friend extends your reality beyond your fears and your flaws and gives you a more vast world, where there is beauty in that.

And I think that infinite world beats a couple of bucks.

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How About Now: The true monster of ‘Frankenstein’ (1931) was an unfaithful book adaptation

James Whale’s film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s namesake book fails to effectively elicit anything but fear for Frankenstein’s monster, writes Barrett.

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In his column “How About Now,” Mason Barrett ’28 reviews classic films through a modern lens.

This review contains spoilers. 

As Halloween rapidly approaches, I find my interest in the spooky and supernatural once again piqued. My recent viewing of English film director James Whale’s 1931 film “Frankenstein” undoubtedly filled this desire. This film is not only a classic monster movie but also, likely, the most well-known adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel. 

The film follows Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive), who is set to marry Elizabeth (Mae Clarke) once he finishes a mysterious experiment. With the help of his assistant, Frankenstein brings to life a creature constructed from the stolen parts of various corpses. Frankenstein decides to destroy The Monster (Boris Karloff) after witnessing the creature’s violent tendencies. He leaves another scientist to do so while he goes home to marry Elizabeth. The Monster escapes, kills the scientist, drowns a little girl and attacks Elizabeth. This prompts Frankenstein to lead an army of villagers to venture out into the night to slay The Monster. Frankenstein is nearly killed by his own creation but The Monster is ultimately defeated.

I came to this film as someone who has never read the book, and so I fear that I’m about to enrage a hardcore fan of the novel who’ll claim that I “didn’t understand Mary Shelley’s masterpiece.” Before you light the torches and grab the pitchforks, please let me defend myself by saying that, by discussing the film with others, I’ve gathered that the movie leaves out a lot of the humanization of The Monster. 

I hesitate to criticize this departure from the source material because I am not familiar with the latter. However, the film’s weakest point was the minimal development of The Monster. This is not to say that the writers don’t try eliciting empathy for the creature, such as when he’s brutally whipped or when he plays with the little girl. However, it feels as if a piece of the film were missing — an additional 20 minutes tacked onto this 70-minute film where viewers begin seeing The Monster in a new, more human light. Sadly, this great emotional shift never comes.

Even if the shortcuts in storytelling undermine the character of The Monster, Boris Karloff makes up for it with his tremendous acting. Any sympathy I had for The Monster was due to Karloff’s perfect balance of humanity and brutality. The way he creepily enters rooms and stares at the camera is haunting. Karloff shows off his emotional range when The Monster escapes and meets the little girl. He begins playing with her and his initial joy in finding a friend is heartwarming, although he ends up drowning her due to a misunderstanding. The Monster’s (apparent) death is tragic because of the humanity and helplessness in his fear. To me, this is the scene where The Monster becomes his most human and deserving of sympathy and Karloff’s performance makes this one of the best in the film. 

Karloff’s incredible performance in such a difficult role occasionally overshadows the nevertheless impressive performance of Colin Clive. Clive expertly portrays Frankenstein’s fear, respect, empathy and hatred for The Monster, making any scene where they are together extremely compelling.

The only aspects of this film more impressive than the acting were the production design and special effects. Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory is ominous and immense with its crackling lightning and rising table. The windmill where the showdown between Dr. Frankenstein and The Monster takes place is a terrifying and epic finale thanks to the bursts of fire and a wide shot of the burning mill. The makeup and special effects used to create The Monster are also noteworthy — their combined efforts allowed Karloff to come across as both terrifying and human.

I recently watched this film for a class where we discussed many of the same ideas I’ve presented in this review, including the idea that this film worked as a spectacle despite failing as a loyal adaptation of the novel and many of its nuances. By spectacle I mean that it was an experience — terrifying and thrilling to watch. This was the priority of the movie, so deeper themes were merely approached rather than explored. “Frankenstein” is a wonderful and chilling experience with incredible visuals and acting, but in the end, it’s best viewed as a fun monster movie.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Stanford Medicine affiliates redress health challenges in the Congo 

Medical students and faculty discussed health issues impacting the Democratic Republic of Congo, including gender-based violence, mental health and infectious disease outbreaks.

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Medical students and faculty urged increased awareness and resources to address gender-based violence, mental health issues, infectious diseases and other pressing health challenges affecting communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at an event on Friday.

As part of Stanford’s inaugural Congo Week, the panel was held at the Li Ka Shing Learning and Knowledge Center and co-sponsored by the School of Medicine’s Racial Equity to Advance a Community of Health (REACH) Initiative and the student-led Organization for Global Health (OGH). 

Esther Elonga, a third-year M.D.-Ph.D. student who is originally from DRC, moderated the discussion. Featured speakers included Nyota Babunga, a Congolese women’s rights activist who serves as the program advisor at the International Rescue Committee in New York, and two members of the medical faculty, Wendy Bernstein and Tyler Evans of the Wellness Equity Alliance. 

The use of gender-based violence as a weapon of war has led to significant mental health issues for women in conflict-affected regions of DRC, including South Kivu Province, Elonga said at the event. Ongoing violence has embroiled the eastern region of the country — including South Kivu Province — in a conflict that has caused the deaths of nearly six million people and displaced over seven million others for nearly three decades.

Bernstein, an adjunct clinical instructor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine, had previously treated severely mentally ill refugees and other vulnerable populations from the Congo and other developing countries.

During the panel, Bernstein highlighted the lack of training of mental health professionals in DRC. Evans said there are only three public psychiatrists for over six million people in South Kivu Province. 

“We know that the impacts [of violence] are profound, and at the same time, this is an area with very little developed resources,” said Bernstein, citing a study that found almost half of women in South Kivu had suffered from PTSD. Nearly 20% had died by suicide. 

Evans, an infectious disease and public health expert who has served on the frontlines of the ebola and HIV outbreaks in DRC and other African countries, said there is a lack of funding to provide the necessary resources to address mental health issues. Evans noted the application of Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) — a program which he said has been effective in the U.S. — to the Congo. 

“It’s really important to highlight how systemic violence is a public health problem,” Evans said. “Violence impacts every element of society, from economics to community health, mental health and physical health. It is impacting people by not being able to access health services.” 

Babunga illuminated the role of gender in Congolese society prior to colonization and ongoing violence, and its evolution over time.

“The pride of the Congolese people themselves was their women,” she said. To dominate the Congolese, colonizers had to “break [their] women,” she added. 

She noted there exists a level of impunity in DRC that prevents victims of sexual violence and abuse from obtaining retributive justice, which is “what is making gender-based violence grow in the country.” 

Congolese women who have been sexually violated are also discriminated against in their own communities, Babunga said. This phenomenon has led to a “culture of violence and gender disparity towards women,” especially in conflict zones. She said the social dislocation experienced by those returning from the military, including child soldiers, makes them more likely to commit gender-based violence due to the economic and psycho-social challenges associated with societal reintegration.

Babunga said the lack of emphasis on formalized modern treatment for mental health has contributed to government underfunding for mental health services in the country.

Mental health “is still very much new. It is not known or practiced in Congo,” she said. “It is mainly focused on women who have been sexually violated, or psychiatric facilities [for mentally unstable individuals].”

To adapt psychiatric care to contemporary issues in Congolese society, Bernstein and Evans emphasized the importance of working with community organizations on the ground in DRC.

Bernstein serves as the Medical Director of Project ECHO, a system of telehealth that provides training on the recognition of mental illness and basic treatment to healthcare providers in DRC and other countries.

“What was really remarkable was just how open the providers were to learning despite the stigma around mental illness and survivors of psyche violence in the region,” Bernstein said. “In working together, you can really find ways to build resilience.” 

Regarding infectious diseases such as HIV, ebola and mpox, Evans said he has learned a tremendous amount from African physicians. He noted the effectiveness of programs like the United States’s President’s Emergency Plan for Aid Relief (PEPFAR) have laid the groundwork for distributed networks of healthcare delivery. 

At the same time, Babunga highlighted that the most recent and ongoing mpox epidemic in the Congo has laid bare the unpreparedness of the country’s health infrastructure to address outbreaks of infectious disease, mainly due to a lack of government funding. In August, the World Health Organization called the outbreak of mpox in DRC a public health emergency of international concern, with the number of cases comprising 90% of all cases of the disease in Africa.

In particular, individuals living in areas with an industrial mining presence face extreme poverty and are more vulnerable to the spread of disease, she said. She also noted that unlike Western countries, the concept of “social distancing” does not exist in Congolese culture.

“It’s family and bond,” Babunga said. “It’s not just the same house, it’s the same village. We take each other as family. That’s how [disease] spreads quickly.” 

Parts of the Congo that are most affected by mpox include the internal regions, where it may be more difficult for medical providers to access afflicted communities.

“Sometimes people have to walk miles and miles to go to the center that is treating them,” she said. “Sometimes they will unfortunately die on the way.”

“The government hasn’t put in place a better system to be able to fight infectious diseases. Unfortunately, most of the time, we rely on international communities that come in and try to be able to support the country to be able to fight the disease,” she added. “We hope one day the health system will be strengthened and the government can do something. But right now, it is really exposed.” 

Despite the health challenges facing the Congo, the speakers remained optimistic. Bernstein said patients who have suffered the most unimaginable trauma can rebound with “just a little bit of care and support.” 

“Part of what keeps us going is wanting to make sure that the providers in DRC are getting the skills because there’s so much that they can do to be able to help people, to be able to give back to their lives,” Bernstein said.

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Youth advocates call for tougher social media regulation

Facebook whistleblower Arturo Béjar and youth activist Sneha Revanur ’26 delved into the impact of social media on young adults’ mental health.

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Social media companies should face stricter regulations, tech accountability advocates said at a Thursday panel, citing the adverse impacts of social media on young adults’ mental health. 

Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media platforms for children and young adults, hosted the panel. The coalition began in 2022 as a campaign supporting the California Age Appropriate Design Code — a bill that requires companies to consider the potential harm their products may pose to young users — and has since grown into a coalition that drives policy reforms for social media child safety.

Zamaan Qureshi, the coalition’s co-chair, moderated the panel, which featured Arturo Béjar, the senior engineering and product leader at Facebook, Vicki Harrison, program director for the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing and Sneha Revanur ’26, founder and president of Encode Justice, an organization which mobilizes young people to advocate for AI safety and fair use. 

Béjar said he once believed tech companies cared about the wellbeing of their users. That changed when he had a conversation with Facebook’s chief product officer, who Béjar said knew the exact percentage of users experiencing bullying and harassment on the platform but did not push the company to take measures to remedy the issue.

The social media companies can fix these problems, Béjar said. “They have the technology, and they have the people, but they choose not to.” 

Béjar is now helping lawmakers create a safer social media experience for all users by sharing what he learned from his time at Facebook in essays and recommending concrete steps that social media companies can take to protect their users.

Revanur, the founder of Encode Justice, said during the panel that even if employees recognize potential dangers within their company’s products, they are disincentivized from speaking up. Revanur added that policy is necessary to shift this element of tech culture.

“There is a consistent narrative that we have to immunize companies from any sort of liability,” Revanur said, adding that instead, we “need to have structural processes in place to keep users safe.”

Harrison, who heads projects on social media and mental health in young adults at Stanford, said the most important step in changing companies’ product design would be to incentivize health and safety. 

The speakers proposed solutions for a redesign of a safer social media experience while keeping in mind the interactions that young users want. Harrison said young people want to choose the content they see. Users trying to decompress and have fun should not have to see unsolicited jarring or explicit images, she added. 

“When you go to a library, you can pick what you want to read, and you don’t have people throwing books at you as soon as you walk in,” Harrison said. “Social media should be similar.”  

The general public is already in support of regulating technology companies, Revanur said, and tapping into support from demographics which activists have not previously reached out to is the key to drawing more support to new legislation. 

Harrison said it is important for companies to listen to input from young users. 

“Young users are more of the experts on social media than people in the Capitol,” she said. 

Béjar advised young people hoping to enter the technology industry to take care of themselves and to “have a north star,” explaining that he has seen enough passionate people be crushed by companies. 

“Find an environment where your ability is supported and where you can build the future you want to live in,” Béjar said.

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‘Play Nice’: Bloomberg video game journalist broadcasts Blizzard Entertainment drama

Jason Schrier delivered a talk on his new book chronicling the rise, fall and future of the company that created “World of Warcraft” and “Overwatch”

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In athletics, referees protect players and ensure fair play. But there is no “referee” in the video game industry to ensure people “play nice” — which is where investigative journalists like Jason Schrier come in. 

Stanford’s Silicon Valley Talks hosted Schrier, a Bloomberg investigative journalist who spotlights the video game industry. He promoted his new book, “Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment,” at the talk last Monday. 

Blizzard Entertainment, founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, has made billion-dollar video game franchises such as “World of Warcraft,” “Diablo” and “Overwatch.” The company underwent a major merger with Activision Games in 2008, creating Activision Blizzard, which was then purchased by Microsoft in 2023.

Schrier spoke to the company’s trajectory — past, present and future. The journalist narrated the story of Blizzard’s many corporate parents and the mergers they subjected the company to.

He also touched on the entrance and exit of Bobby Kotick, the former chief executive of Activision, and a large part of the reason as to why Blizzard’s founders left the company, according to Schrier’s research.

“It was the classic battle of creativity versus business,” Schrier said. “All of us can relate to [this story] in some way — both the business side and the culture side.”

On the business side, Schrier highlighted the unusual and spotty pattern of economic growth over the decades. On the culture side, Schrier focused on the sexual harassment and workplace misconduct allegations. 

Many of Blizzard’s executives were married to or dating employees, creating a power imbalance, as described in Schrier’s book. He said the dynamics between superiors and employees created an “if the boss can do it, why can’t I” mentality among supervisors interested in asking out employees.

Schrier highlighted the value of diversity in companies and reflected Blizzard’s gender imbalance, in an interview with The Daily.

“Being inclusive from the beginning is really important,” Schrier said, suggesting inclusivity could have prevented the problems that riddled Blizzard over the years.

Schrier said that during Blizzard’s founding in the ‘90’s, the company was about 10% women, with the first woman having been hired as the company’s secretary. 

This gender imbalance became more difficult to fix over the years. Blizzard highly prioritized tenure and time with the company when offering promotions. This made promotions for female employees scarce, as most were later additions to the company.  

Ryan Morgado, assistant director of career coaching and education at the School of Engineering and Doerr School of Sustainability, attended the talk as an avid fan of Schrier’s podcasts and books.

“I thought it was incredibly insightful to get confirmation or new information about how the company operated from the eyes of someone outside of the industry,” Morgado said.  

Community members tackled various topics in their questions, asking Schrier for specifics on how Blizzard had worked toward ending harassment, the company’s future and how it responded to going to court by the State of California. 

“The themings [of the talk] definitely matched what was discussed in the book, but it was especially cool to hear community questions,” Morgado said. 

Henry Lowood, curator of Hohbach Hall exhibits in Green Library and the head of the Silicon Valley Archives, said he enjoyed Schrier’s talk and admired the journalist’s dedication to reporting. 

“I think he’s a great writer, especially as a journalist — he has a lot that people in the academic world can get from his books,” Lowood said. “I’m still in awe of doing 350 interviews for a book.” 

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Women’s volleyball falls to Pitt Panthers in straight sets

The Cardinal have dropped all three of their top ranked matchups this season.

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A highly-anticipated matchup between two powerhouse schools on Sunday quickly evolved into a one-team show. 

After a commanding sweep over No. 12 SMU on Oct. 16, No. 5 Stanford (14-3, 6-2 ACC) carried huge momentum heading into its match against No.1 Pitt (17-1, 7-1 ACC). However, Stanford was overwhelmed by the Panthers, losing 3-0 with a hitting percentage of just .090 — the team’s lowest since 2020. 

Stanford faced off against Pitt for only the fifth time in program history, and the first time in 30 years. Previously unbeaten against the Panthers, the Cardinal saw its 4-0 streak snap in front of a sold-out crowd at Fitzgerald Field House, as Pitt’s offensive firepower took control of the match.

The Panther’s sophomore duo Torrey Stafford and Olivia Babcock posed a major threat to the Cardinal, totaling 29 kills. The pair dominated the match, breaking through leading senior middle blocker Sami Francis and repeatedly forcing Stanford into defensive positions. Pitt’s setter, Rachel Fairbanks, also led the Panthers on a 5-0 service run in the second set that rattled Stanford’s defense. 

As the match progressed, Stanford was unable to counter Pitt’s firepower. Cardinal junior outside Elia Rubin, who had the highest number of kills against SMU, was held to a hitting percentage of -.038. Rubin, alongside sophomore opposite Jordyn Harvey, struggled against strong blocks set by Pitt’s Babcock and Bre Kelley. 

Aside from the opening point of the match, Stanford’s only lead came in the third set following back-to-back blocks from Rubin and Francis. Attempting to regain momentum, the Cardinal recorded 11 kills and a hitting percentage of .133 — its highest of the three sets. Yet, miscommunication and defensive lapses cost the Cardinal the must-win set.

Stanford’s match against Pitt was the Cardinal’s third top-five ranked matchup this season — all of which ended in straight-set losses — raising questions about their ability to defend their No. 5 position. After a week on the road, Stanford will look to bounce back in back-to-back games against Cal on Wednesday and Friday.

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Gov. Newsom vetoes AI safety bill

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a landmark AI safety bill that would have implemented the first AI regulations in the United States. Instead, he recruited experts, including Stanford’s Fei-Fei Li, to build AI guardrails.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 1047, a landmark artificial intelligence (AI) safety bill meant to impose the first AI regulation in the United States, in late September. The bill drew opposition from tech giants in the homegrown industry.

“The outcome is not what we’d hoped for,” said Sneha Revanur ’26, founder and president of Encode Justice, a global youth movement for AI safety. Revanur has been advocating for the bill since it was first introduced by California Sen. Scott Wiener.

After tech companies like OpenAI expressed concern that the bill would hinder innovation, Newsom announced the state will instead partner with several AI experts, including computer science Professor Fei-Fei Li, considered the “godmother of AI,” to build AI “guardrails.”

Li did not respond to a request for comment. 

Revanur said despite the outcome, it was really exciting  “to see how far we came, how many allies we activated in the process and just how much we moved the needle when it comes to this broader conversation about AI.” 

If passed, the bill would have mandated tech companies to perform an overall safety test of large AI models, with the purpose of holding AI companies as legally accountable for harm caused by their algorithms. It also would have required tech powerhouses to enable a kill switch, in case their AI technology was misused for biowarfare or resulted in mass casualties. 

“While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data,” Newsom wrote in a statement.

Earlier this year, Wiener, the bill’s co-author, invited Encode Justice to help garner enough support for the bill to reach the governor’s desk. Encode Justice helped coordinate much of Hollywood’s support, resulting in 120 celebrities — including Mark Ruffalo and Shonda Rhimes — signing a letter to send to Newsom about the importance of such a bill. 

Encode Justice was “essentially sending a message to Gov. Newsom that in order to avoid repeating the mistakes that we made on those other issues, and in order for Gov. Newsom to carry forward his legacy as a progressive leader on a range of issues, he would have had to sign this bill into law,” Revanur said. 

Despite some technology industry leaders like Elon Musk voicing their support of the bill, other AI experts like Li remain apprehensive. 

“Take computer science students, who study open-weight AI models. How will we train the next generation of AI leaders if our institutions don’t have access to the proper models and data?” Li said in an interview with Fortune in August. “A kill switch would even further dampen the efforts of these students and researchers, already at such a data and computation disadvantage compared to Big Tech.”

Russell Wald, executive director of Stanford’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, said he believes nobody should govern AI technology itself. Instead, regulations should focus on the technology’s impact. 

Wald said much of the fear around AI is not grounded in fact. He is concerned this fear, if acted on prematurely, could impact academic innovation. A majority of safety research is conducted at universities like Stanford, so the regulations from a bill like SB 1047 would hinder experimentation.

“Are we going to put laws on companies for something that’s speculative, and then through that process, prevent students from being able to do the good work and safety research?” Wald said. 

One aspect of AI safety he believes should be considered is mandatory incident reporting. Similar to how the aviation industry follows specific safety requirements, integrating incident reports into the AI realm would help consumers to notify companies of concerns and for companies to track incidents independently, Wald said. 

Stanford’s teaching staff helps students develop critical thinking skills by assigning coursework that uses emerging tools like AI, said University spokesperson Luisa Rapport. 

“The Board on Judicial Affairs has been monitoring these emerging tools and will be discussing how they may relate to the guidelines of our Honor Code,” Rapport said. 

Still, Revanur believes there needs to be a balance. She said that AI innovation at Stanford primarily revolves around pure technological advancements, with only a fraction of students focused on the policy and governance around AI risk management.  

“People who are excited about building [and] people who are excited about inventing should not view regulation as an attempt to clobber that at all,” Revanur said. “I think the two things can coexist, and that is one thing that we’re trying to prove to the world.”

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In Focus: ‘Jai Bhim’ symbolizes hope for the ‘orphaned’

In the world of poignant South Asian cinema, “Jai Bhim” tackles the radical inequalities of the Indian caste system through the courtroom to enlighten and inspire.

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Srithanya Satish ’27 analyzes films that spotlight the diverse and vibrant South Asian experience in her column, “In Focus: South Asian stories through film.”

As an Indian American who has constantly moved from one suburb to another, I’ve always been drawn to exploring the diversity of the human experience — from the mundane to the spectacular — through film. The intricacies of the mother-daughter dynamic, coming of age in a one-size-fits-all world or striving towards the desperate, yet sometimes destructive, need for absolute perfection were all reflective themes beautifully portrayed in movies I watched. But, there was one thing all of these films had in common — they were all American. 

Of course, at first, that did not strike me as unusual. After all, I was born and raised here. But I had subconsciously veered away from the films of my motherland due to the preconception of some of them being “larger-than-life,” glorifying or even stretching reality, rather than hosting the dynamic realism I eagerly looked for. The Indian community calls them “masala” movies; they had something for everyone and the hero always saved the day. 

It wasn’t until I started intentionally probing into my background and peeking at the movies my parents would watch post-dinner that I realized the rich history and development of South Asian films. There are so many more movies behind the grandiose action stars or extended colorful dance sequences that slip in between the cracks of mainstream media.

For one, I went into T.J. Gnanavel’s “Jai Bhim” assuming it was a heartfelt legal drama, but the film was much more than that. Time and time again, its poignant performances, rooted in the realistic and masterful portrayal of the systemic erasure and injustice of lower castes, still makes me return to Gnanavel’s world.

Based on a true story, “Jai Bhim,” follows the real-life case of a lawyer who seeks justice for a rural, lower-caste man from the Irula tribe in Tamil Nadu, who went missing from police custody. The lawyer’s charged fight, bolstered by the missing man’s relentless wife, highlights the institutionalized caste discrimination that has unfairly infringed on the lives of many. 

Legally, the caste system was abolished by the Indian Constitution in 1950 by the lower caste Dalit reformer and trailblazer B.R. Ambedkar. There are several affirmative action policies and quotas for the lowest, or “scheduled,” castes and tribes to gain socioeconomic mobility through their reserved spots in education, government jobs and more. But even with explicit anti-caste discrimination laws, notions of caste hierarchy remain pervasive in India. Especially in its rural regions, lower-caste individuals are overtly exploited for their labor and face social exclusion for their “untouchability.”

The movie immediately starts with a police officer releasing individuals and separating them based on their caste. Amidst sly bribes for promotions and overt case planting onto the lower castes, the police’s cruelty and stoicism glares out in this muted landscape. They remain removed from any sense of remorse and unshaken by any pleas from the prisoners. The depiction of these cops — tinged by the easily corruptible system — is the movie’s first image of seething injustice. As the lower-caste individuals are quickly driven away in a bus, we, as the viewers, are left raging in the dark with their family members, hooked and needing to learn more. 

Panning to the lush and green Konamalai Village in the Villupuram District, the joy of our main couple — Rasakannu (Manikandan) and Sengani (Lijomol Jose) — radiates from the screen. Despite oppressive rule from a higher caste manager, their hard work and knowledge of herbal remedies, snake-catching and more drives resilience and hope for a brighter future within the scheduled Irula tribe. Sean Roldan’s musicality in these scenes beautifully frames the folksy and upbeat celebration of life between this inseparable couple and their larger community. Their optimistic attitude towards life and all-encompassing love for each other and nature, prevailing against all societal odds, appealed to me. The heart of this film was set in our basic humanity; as long as we hold on to one another and stay resilient, we will triumph.

However, their resilience is put to the test when one of the rich village homes Rajakannu helped reports a theft, and the police wrongly blame Rajakannu. A pregnant and agonized Sengani soon connects with Chandru (Suriya), a fierce lawyer known for fighting against police brutality on behalf of marginalized communities, as the perpetrated web of lies regarding Rajakannu’s disappearance from police custody bleeds into something darker than a failed forced confession. It is the actors’ performances that bring gravity to the situation. Sengani’s piercing cries and resistance against the police officers’ attempts of suppressing her stung my heart. Her ultimate resolve in the face of continuous trials was the most incredible display of strength, a truly heart wrenching yet immensely admirable sight.

Along with Sengani’s tragically powerful performance, Chandru’s perseverance helps shine light on the rarity of justice for many dehumanized low-caste individuals. The quick pacing of the screenplay carries out Chandru’s sharpness in his cross-examinations that cut through his steel facade. Behind his collected presence in the courtroom, his fiery attitude for truth and justice made me understand his desire to be a vessel of hope for his community at-large.

Despite these uplifting moments, a heavy aspect of the film was the systematic violence towards Rajakannu. The suffocating atmosphere of the police station and the tight corners of the gray jail cell are shot with raw intensity by cinematographer S. R. Kathir, as an impending sense of dread fills up in the audience. The hierarchy is explicitly posed as the police officers with the wooden sticks and prim dressed uniforms sit atop high chairs, while Rajakannu and his other family members writhe on the floor in pain. These repeatedly enforced conceptualizations strongly allude to Gnanavel’s directorial grasp as the police are positioned to reinforce their superiority. The police’s power-driven mania, though, begin to reveal their insecurity about their fragile sense of authority as Rajakannu resists their attempts to frame them. He refuses to let the police brand his family more than their caste already has.

“Jai Bhim” is a deeply moving film on the struggles of the overlooked and “orphaned” communities of Indian society, namely, the lower castes and tribes. It deconstructs and spreads awareness about the corruption within systems of power and the continued adoption of class-based bigotry in everyday individuals. In doing so, the film shines a light on the relentless fight and path for justice we must take for social equality — and encourages us all to wake up and make change.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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From the Community | What can ‘Star Trek’ teach Stanford students?

"Star Trek," as taught a comparative studies in race and ethnicity course last year, embodies Stanford's ethos of intellectual vitality and disciplinary diversity, writes Senkai Hsia '24.

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If I had a defining characteristic, it is that I am utterly “a nerd from central casting.” Central to my nerdom is a lifelong love for “Star Trek.” The show’s stunning starships and ingenious technologies motivated my studies in mechanical engineering. By depicting an evolved egalitarian society facing the complexity of interstellar diplomacy, “Star Trek” also developed my appreciation for terrestrial international relations. I am proud to share my fandom with others who have inspired me: public officials like Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and Stacey Abrams, professors, friends and my family, who first introduced me to Gene Roddenberry’s universe. “Star Trek’s” progressive future filled with hope, curiosity and compassion continues to be visionary as it approaches its 60th anniversary.

So, it came as a pleasant surprise when I saw a Twitter post from Cirroc Lofton, a former “Star Trek” cast member, saying he would be visiting Stanford. But, this would not be any ordinary visit. Lofton would be a special guest lecturer for Stanford’s very own class on “Star Trek.” Led by education Professor Adam Banks and Grace Toléqué, a program officer from the Institute for Diversity in the Arts, CSRE 194DS9: “Alternative Futurisms and Radical Worldbuilding” would study the story of a “Star Trek” spin-off, “Deep Space Nine.”

For a university labeled as “Nerd Nation”, having a class on “Star Trek” is perhaps less jaw-dropping. After all, we have four on Taylor Swift alone! What was intriguing was that “Deep Space Nine” (DS9) has long occupied an outsider’s status in the fandom. Seen as “darker and grittier” and set on a stationary space station, DS9 offers a different flavor than the traditional “wagon train to the stars.” Following a widower Black captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) raising his son (Cirroc Lofton) at the galaxy’s edge, DS9 carved out a unique place in science fiction by depicting “Star Trek’s” utopian universe in many shades of gray.

Of course, this was a must-take class for my senior spring. Yet, I worried that I would be an outsider in a disparate intellectual space. I had never taken a class in comparative studies in race and ethnicity (CSRE), which has a reputation for hosting activism-inclined students. On the first day, I sat next to classmates involved in the pro-Palestinian encampment that presented Stanford’s administration with much difficulty last year. Having served as the only undergraduate member of the presidential search committee for Stanford’s Board of Trustees and represented the United States at the G7 and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summits, I embodied an institutionalist view on political change. I presumed that “Alternative Futurisms and Radical Worldbuilding” would be a vast departure from my other studies that quarter: a political science class on U.S. foreign interventions and a national security discussion group at the conservative-leaning Hoover Institution.

My concerns turned out to be unfounded — I loved the class. At every turn, in the traditions of “Star Trek’s” openness, I was treated with dignity and respect even when my views differed. In exploring the themes behind Trek and science-fiction, we learned about constructing compelling stories. While the class did study and critique with a racial and decolonial lens, I found learning about these perspectives — otherwise unencountered elsewhere in my studies — unexpectedly refreshing. Challenging me to examine a show I love in novel ways, we discussed how DS9 pushed the envelope of 1990s science fiction by dramatizing discrimination and the pursuit of agency for the marginalized. 

Whether through an eerily prescient portrayal of a 2024 San Francisco where homelessness had become ingrained in society, or a lighthearted plot where DS9’s alien employees unionize and strike against the station’s profit-obsessed bartender, we learned how science fiction holds a mirror to the present. Amid a world that is increasingly insecure, the class asked hard questions about the sacrifices required to uphold institutions and values. We debated whether characters made moral decisions in episodes that tested whether the greater good could trample the rights of individuals. We disagreed agreeably on whether “Star Trek’s” optimistic approach on resolving interstellar disputes could be applied to modern-day conflicts. And above all, guided by Lofton and the teaching team, we had a galaxy’s worth of fun together.

I believe the diversity “Alternative Futurisms and Radical Worldbuilding” brought to my understanding represents Stanford’s ethos of promoting “intellectual vitality.” By choosing a complex subject for scholarly inquiry that was accessible to fans and newcomers alike, the class brought people together from across Stanford’s academic traditions and disciplines — including a libertarian veteran and several medical school students. In this way, CSRE 194DS9 modeled good faith civil discourse in pursuit of shared intellectual exploration. In a university, country and world riven by polarization and division, that is no small accomplishment.

Through this class and spending eight long months on the presidential search, I grew to appreciate that Stanford’s greatest strength is our diversity. Stanford’s unique excellence across such a range of academic disciplines, medicine and athletics — all at home on a single campus — is the special sauce that makes our university the world’s best. The flexibility to traverse the universe of scholarly inquiry, from Hoover to CSRE, helps foster an interdisciplinary mindset in Stanford faculty and students to become instinctive innovators, collaborators and change-makers. As Stanford boldly goes forward to new frontiers under President Levin’s leadership, it is critical the university promotes the scholarly freedom for faculty and students to explore all kinds of strange new worlds. Stanford can continue to build upon its uniqueness in global higher education by emphasizing how all parts of the university — from engineering to the arts and untethered from some supposed market value — contribute to our collective excellence. Through classes like “Deep Space Nine, Alternative Futurisms and Radical Worldbuilding,” Stanford can aspire to the truth and beauty central to the Vulcan philosophy of “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.”

Senkai Hsia ’24 is a member of The Daily’s Vol. 265 Editorial Board and served as the undergraduate member of the 2023-24 Stanford presidential search committee.

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Men’s cross country secures third place at pre-nationals

With the NCAA Cross Country Championships just around the corner, the Stanford men's team secured a third place finish while the women's team finished in 11th place.

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With the NCAA Cross Country Championships just a month away, the 2024 Wisconsin Pre-Nationals offered teams a final opportunity to familiarize themselves with the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course. Recognizing that Pre-Nationals would be the final regular season meet, most teams took the chance to showcase their strongest seven-man lineups. Thus, stakes were undoubtedly high in Madison, Wis. on Saturday morning.

The Zimmer Championship course is well-known to the Cardinal, having made the trip to Wisconsin in nine out of the ten past seasons. At the 2024 Pre-Nationals, No. 9 Stanford men’s cross country secured a third-place finish. Right before the men’s race, the No. 8 Stanford women finished eleventh in a fiercely competitive race, where six women went under the course record that was held by former University of Florida standout Parker Valby.

Women’s Race

The Women’s “A” Race featured the top five ranked teams: No.1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 NC State. Despite the high-pressure race, graduate student Zofia Dudek and sophomore Sophia Kennedy quickly positioned themselves near the front, trailing a few seconds behind eventual course-record breaker Pamela Kosgei from New Mexico.

The Kennedy and Dudek duo worked side-by-side in the chase pack until the final two kilometers, where Kennedy hammered home to take 13th in a collegiate best time of 19:41. Dudek also dipped under the 20-minute mark for the second time in her career to secure 23rd place. Junior Riley Stewert, senior Imogen Gardiner, and junior Nicole Hogg rounded out the top five for the Cardinal, with Gardiner securing her highest team finish in her career at No. 4. 

With many teams debuting their full squads for the first time at Pre-Nationals, it is not surprising that four lower-ranked teams placed in the top ten ahead of the Stanford women. Dudek and Kennedy, however, have consistently led the Cardinal in the past two meets, and their momentum will be tested at the upcoming ACC Championships.

Men’s Race

The Men’s “A” race was electric, with 19 ranked men’s teams in attendance and another course record broken by New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel. No. 9 Stanford also finished on the podium ahead of powerhouse schools New Mexico and Northern Arizona. 

The Stanford men went hard from the start, with graduate students Thomas Boyden and Cole Sprout, and sophomore Lex Young, immediately positioning themselves in the front pack. The three stayed within one second of each other up until the 6-kilometer mark, where Sprout took the lead for the Cardinal, finishing ninth in a season’s best time of 23:03. Young, Boyden and sophomore Leo Young kicked hard to the line for the No. 2 through No. 4 team finishes, and freshman Paul Bergeron rounded out the Cardinal’s top five, moving up 29 places from the 2-kilometer mark to the finish. 

From the first to seventh man, Stanford only had a spread of 37 seconds – the least out of any team on the podium. The Cardinal’s depth will be hard to ignore when it meets No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 2 BYU at the DI National Championships later this season.

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Despite big loss against SMU, Elijah Brown’s appearance gives hope for Stanford football

Stanford football's 40-10 loss against SMU contained plenty of disappointing moments. But its also the start of a new era on the Farm, as the freshman quarterback received extended playing time.

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As the Stanford football offense prepared to take the field for its fourth drive on Saturday, the program looked in the worst shape yet under the reign of head coach Troy Taylor. The Cardinal did not even attempt to throw the ball downfield on its last two third-and-long situations, demonstrating Taylor’s lack of faith in the passing game under the direction of junior quarterback Ashton Daniels, who started today’s game.

On the other side, Stanford’s young secondary was getting torched in coverage, as SMU put up a quick 21 points to get out to a quick, dominant lead. Down three touchdowns to zero, the game felt well out of reach. To make matters worse, a sea of blue seemed to make up more than half of those cheering in Stanford Stadium — the recorded attendance of 19,117 appeared to be generous.

But as number two walked onto the field, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope for the future of the Cardinal. With 1:47 left in the first quarter, the true freshman quarterback Elijah Brown sat behind center, ready to receive the snap. 

“We were down 21-0 and we needed a spark,” Taylor said. “He was ready to go and I [wanted] to see what he could do in extended time.”

Though Brown had an all but perfect game, throwing an interception within his first three minutes of play, and subsequently another late pick early in the fourth quarter, the Stanford offense started moving the ball down the field in a more consistent manner. 

Coming off a turnover in the middle of the second quarter, Brown threw an 18 yard pass to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor, who stripped the ball away from an SMU defender to earn Stanford’s only touchdown of the game. The quarterback from Los Angeles also had other opportunities to lead Stanford into the end zone, but key drops from Stanford’s receivers prevented the Cardinal from capitalizing. True freshman wide receiver Emmett Mosley V, while normally a reliable player, particularly struggled to hold on to the ball, even going into the injury tent briefly in the second quarter. 

The defense followed their counterpart’s lead, holding SMU to 10 points in the second and third quarter, compared to the dismal three touchdowns allowed in the first. Stanford’s defense remained solid, holding the opponent’s offense off from halftime until late in the last quarter, as the Mustangs scored their final touchdown with 5:03 left in regulation. 

Brown also did not receive support from his offensive line and running backs, as Stanford managed to tally just 33 rushing yards — failing to complement the passing game in a requisite manner. In addition, Southern Methodist sacked Brown six times, preventing the quarterback from feeling secure within the pocket. SMU’s final sack even resulted in a safety.  

“We were just not physical enough up front in terms of getting movement in the running game,” Taylor said. “We really tried to establish it and they beat us up front.

“We weren’t able to run the football. It made us one dimensional.” 

Because of these factors, the stats certainly don’t favor Brown’s performance against the Mustangs. The true freshman completed just 16 out of 32 passes for 153 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. 

But by the eye test, Brown showed decisiveness, mobility and the ability to find open receivers– something that could not be said about the other quarterbacks on Stanford’s roster. Moreover, he was able to get the tight ends more involved, as junior tight end Sam Roush even had a career high of 75 yards. 

“[He was] very tough. He hung in there, took some hits and continued to go through his progressions, and for the most part made good decisions,” Taylor said. “It’s not easy to do as a true freshman, to come in there under that scenario. I was proud of how he hung in there.”

The 2024 season has not gone how Cardinal fans hoped. Despite modest expectations, Stanford has not demonstrated enough overall improvement to give fans much hope going forward.

But with a new, highly-touted quarterback now appearing to take the reins, interest in Cardinal football now has the potential to gain traction.

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London-based economist calls for turning Rawlsian philosophy into democratic policy

Daniel Chandler’s recent book "Free and Equal: A Manifesto for a Just Society" advocates for economic and political policies based on a notion of fairness, as expressed by Rawls.

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To tackle the challenges facing modern democracies, like authoritarianism and late-stage capitalism, policymakers could embrace the communitarian beliefs espoused by 20th-century philosopher John Rawls, said Daniel Chandler, London School of Economics philosopher and economist at a talk on Wednesday.

Chandler joined Joshua Cohen, Apple University professor of philosophy, to promote his new book, “Free and Equal: A Manifesto for A Just Society.” The book talk was co-sponsored by the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society and the Boston Review.

“Chandler does what Rawls never did, which is to turn a hopeful philosophy of politics into a platform of specific policies that could be implemented in America right now,” said Leif Wenar, philosophy professor and faculty director of the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, in his opening remarks.

Chandler introduced the audience to Rawlsian practical agendas that he believes could be implemented today, including imposing term limits on judicial appointees, taking private money out of politics, abolishing fee-paying private schools and creating more generous parental leave policies in the workplace.

According to Chandler, Rawls is known for his “fair equality of opportunity principle,” which states that every individual should have a fair chance of advancing in society, and his “difference principle,” which states that inequalities in a society can be tolerated so long as they result in overall benefits to the general good. In other words, he said, Rawls argued that economic systems should be structured to most benefit the least-advantaged members of society. 

Political science Professor Brian Coyne, who attended the event, said the talk emphasized to him Rawls’ fundamental values, adding: “Everything [Rawls] says — whether you disagree or agree — you can best understand it as an argument of fairness.”

Chandler said he hopes his book will make Rawls more accessible to the public and help clarify the ideological differences between neo-liberal practices, which are largely based on the teachings of capitalist Milton Friedman, and liberalism, which encompasses Rawls’ views.

“Another thing I was trying to achieve with this book was to bring popular understandings of liberalism up-to-date and make a whole-hearted argument for a liberalism that’s grounded: not in self-interest and competition, but in reciprocity and cooperation,” Chandler said.

Karen Hinh said she attended the event to hear more about Rawlsian policy proposals.

“I’ve always been interested in politics and economics, and I’ve been reading a lot about neoliberalism and [had been] trying to figure out how to frame better policies,” Hinh said.

Though Chandler proposed specific policies, he cautioned that his book does not delve into political strategies that could elect someone into office who would push for Rawlsian-based policy change. 

Moderator Joshua Cohen, who is himself a former student of Rawls, mentioned a recent New York Times review that argues the policies Chandler introduces are “unequal to the fury of this moment.”

In response to the criticism, Chandler acknowledged that although this book was created with current events in mind, he wants it — and Rawls’ itself — to be applicable at any moment of time.

Cohen ended the talk by emphasizing the hope that he believes underlies a Rawlsian interpretation of liberalism. 

“There’s a very powerful temptation to endorse, to embrace, an adjacent form of liberalism, the kind of liberalism of fear,” Cohen said. “I think [Chandler’s book is saying] that that’s the wrong way to respond, that responding by retreating may not be the most compelling way to defend the kind of ideal of a fair system of cooperation.”

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Nayudu and Zhu | One last letter

The former editor-in-chief and executive editor write about the time they spent together at The Daily, where they met four years ago.

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When Stanford falls asleep at night, the Daily house comes to life. Every Thursday, the office swells with laughter, pizza grease, the scratch of vinyls against an ancient record player and the collective groans that punctuate bad jokes made by good editors — and by the time the paper is mercifully out to print, it’s 1 a.m. 

So many of our midnights were set at The Daily: both physically on its striped gray carpets, and mentally still there while far away from the newsroom. Some warm with fulfillment, others weighted with stressful pressure.

Perhaps it is appropriate that The Daily played such an outsized role across our time at Stanford, since we were first introduced to the newsroom by calling into Zroduction (Zoom production) from our childhood bedrooms. Every message from an editor to hop on Zroduction sparked slight dread — but over time, it was where we made our closest friends. 

We met each other through a co-written article that was the first of many midnights spent together because of The Daily. As we poured over an article — started at 4 p.m. and published 12 hours later after dozens of phone calls to candidates running for local office — we should’ve known then that we were the kind of people who, three years later, would still find ways to spend long nights at the house. 

Over the past several volumes, we’ve lost sleep and some idealism that pushed us through that initial article. Last year, we almost closed the chapter on our time at The Daily — we joked that we would dedicate our last year at Stanford to a joint advice column. To everyone’s surprise, including our own, we found ourselves spending our last two volumes as editor-in-chief and executive editor.

For two naive, impressionable frosh, the Kate Selig and Emma Talley School of Journalism was a lesson on the punctuation, patience and people that make The Daily what it is. For the two most argumentative people in every room, The Daily indulged our hyperfixations on the mundane — from commas, to hyphenation, to the random conversations we overhear outside CoHo.

Our most recent argument was over whether there was still such a thing as a novel senior column. The one throughline to our Stanford experiences has always been moving the goalposts on ourselves. It feels accurate, then, that we can’t write a perfect column or settle into a perfect lede. 

As we’ve stepped into the roles held by the people we most admired, there’s a new sense of appreciation for the guidance that they gave us. We credit our mentors for inspiring our successes, but our blunders are entirely our own.

At times, The Daily felt like a lesson in what it meant to be part of something special. At other times, it felt like a lesson in all the ways a person could feel inadequate — as an editor, a mentor and a friend. But it was always a lesson. And, despite the incredible classes we’ve taken together, the professors we’ve grown close to and the research we’ve spent hours debating on our bedroom floors, it was at The Daily that we learned the most about ourselves over the last four years. 

It was also where we encountered parts of campus we otherwise never would’ve gone to. At this newsroom, we learned how to care for others: as we turned the stories they shared with our reporters into narratives to present to our audience. 

Last volume, we talked a lot about how The Daily will never matter as much to us as others, how sometimes, an article or situation that seemed catastrophic was, at least to some degree, a product of over-attachment. It’s heartwarming to see a new volume of Daily leadership care for this institution as much as we do, but we trust that they will learn to balance a commitment to the best version of every story, and every volume, with an understanding of when to step away. 

Thank you to everyone who was a part of our last four years at this house that came to feel like home, with people who hurt and help you the way only family does — remember us at our best, and forgive us for our worst.

With love,

Kaushikee Nayudu
Editor-in-Chief, Volume 264 and 265

Jessica Zhu
Executive Editor, Volume 264 and 265

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5 tips for working through your fall quarter delusionship

Amuzie's five delusionship tips will keep your romantic dreams from ever becoming a reality.

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Author’s Note: List does not include “asking them out.” Don’t be crazy.

Editor’s Note: This article is purely satirical and fictitious. All attributions in this article are not genuine, and this story should be read in the context of pure entertainment only.

We’ve all been there. Fall quarter arrives, and with it the promise of a fresh start. “New year, new me,” amirite ladies?

Picture this: It’s week one, you’re getting settled in when all of a sudden you see Him — the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen sitting two rows up in your three-unit, non-WAYS, non-core, 18-hours-a-week elective. In an instant, you’re a changed woman. You’ve found something bigger and more meaningful than “degree progress”: a reason, nay, the reason, for living through the next 10 weeks without waltzing in front of the Marguerite.

There’s only one problem. He has no idea who you are. 

Worry not! We at The Daily are committed to fostering a nurturing environment for all kinds of relationships — real or imagined. Here are our tips for skating through your delusional era with style, grace and aplomb.

1. Stalk his socials.

A classic and obvious first choice. Hell, you’re probably way ahead of us here. But, if not, and you’re thinking, “Why would I do that? Is that healthy?” I’m going to stop you right there and hit you with some science. FACT: The human brain accounts for 20% of the oxygen and energy consumed by the body. Daydreaming is hard work! You will need all the inspirational content you can get to fuel the insane storylines you build in your head. Don’t be afraid to get niche with your search. If the Big 3 (Insta, Facebook, TikTok) don’t turn up anything, head to the B team: we’re talking LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter, MySpace, hell his Threads account if you have to. And ladies, don’t forget to hydrate!

2. Make irreversible changes to your day-to-day commitments so that they revolve around him and his interests.

Say he invites you to a club meeting when you’re scheduled for a work shift. What do you do? Duh, you take an hour off — no one will even notice! Sure, you’re at the “greatest university in the world” to “maximize your intellectual potential/shareholder value,” but you need to think big picture. He’s sooooooo hot. Even if you do get fired, that’s just more time to dedicate to The Cause. So, in a way, congratulations and you’re welcome??

3. Insist that you need his help for a class.

Manufacturing dependence as early as possible is crucial, especially if you’re more knowledgeable on the subject than him. This tactic is also known as the “Cady Heron” (named after the near-flawless execution of the maneuver in the 2004 hit documentary “Mean Girls”), and there is literally no way it can fail. In fact, it never has and never will. Dumb yourself down, girl! It’s the only way.

4. Spiral (emotionally).

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

5. Have a genuine Menty B when he finally mentions his girlfriend in passing conversation.

Tears will stream down your face, but, girlie, he won’t fix you. You’ll think: time, wasted; life, ruined. But remember, there’s always someone else out there waiting for you. And he may never know it! 

So there you have it — our bulletproof guide to living your best delulu life. Commit to these steps, and you, too, could run your mental health right into the ground! Alternatively, you could perform the ancient humiliation ritual known as just-ask-him-out-are-you-kidding-what-is-wrong-with-you, but you and I both know that’s never going to happen. Or will it…

…

…

…

Yeah, no probably not.

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Sullivan | Stanford needs to bring back fanbase for Troy Taylor to succeed

Stanford football is in rebuild mode under Head Coach Troy Taylor, but to truly revive the program, rekindling the enthusiasm of the fanbase will be just as crucial.

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As most of the Stanford community was peacefully asleep in the very early hours of Saturday morning on Oct. 5, thousands of Cal fans were rallying at Memorial Glade in anticipation of the first-ever appearance of ESPN’s College GameDay at UC Berkeley.

The show came and went, but the excitement among Cal fans lingered all day as they awaited the evening game against the Miami Hurricanes. There was jubilation in Berkeley, which was made abundantly clear when a sellout crowd of 52,428 packed the stands at California Memorial Stadium just to watch their team lose in heartbreaking fashion — sorry, not sorry Cal fans.

Nonetheless, the aura surrounding Cal football that day was commendable. The electric scenes captured throughout the day were trending across social media platforms. Stanford football, however, was getting no love on social media that day. 

“I’m not sure ACC fever has reached the West Coast,” Andy Bitter, a staff writer for The Athletic covering Virginia Tech football wrote on X — an image of an embarrassingly sparse crowd at Stanford’s most recent home game against the Hokies served as evidence for Bitter’s statement.

The writer’s observation will get no pushback from most Stanford fans, but before the ACC transition, there had not been PAC-12 fever for Cardinal football in almost a decade. In 2013, Stanford stadium was sold out as around 50,000 fans packed the stands for every home game. Throughout the 2010s, fans religiously attended home games to root on the Stanford athletes, including now NFL star Christian McCaffrey. But just like McCaffrey, the fever has come and gone. 

Former Stanford Head Coach David Shaw (2011-2022) was at the helm during this golden era of Cardinal football. After two consecutive 3-9 seasons, however, Shaw resigned as head coach just hours after a 26-35 home loss to BYU to close the 2022 season. With only 25,000 fans in attendance for Shaw’s final game as head coach, it is clear fan support had been long gone before Shaw’s departure.

The arrival of former Sacramento State Coach Troy Taylor, Stanford football’s 35th head coach, marked the beginning of rebuilding mode. Rebuilding a program, of course, takes time and Taylor’s first season as coach last year went as poorly as the first year of rebuilds usually go.

Throughout the 3-9 season, there were certainly highs and lows. In Taylor’s debut, the Cardinal pulled out a 37-24 road win to open the season. A 56-10 blowout loss to USC in the following game, however, left a bad taste in the mouths of Stanford fans early on in the season. Somehow, the loss felt even more lopsided as the Trojans held a 49-3 lead by halftime. 

The fans who were able to stomach the loss and continue watching Stanford football were rewarded with very little. Stanford found themselves in the loss column in strands of double digit losses, but the double overtime 46-43 win against head coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes was cinematic. The “helmet catch” courtesy of redshirt sophomore receiver Elic Ayomanor will be remembered for a very long time.

On the surface level, this season looks to be on trend with last season: Stanford suffers hard-to-watch losses to powerhouse football universities (the 14-40 loss to Clemson and 49-7 loss to Notre Dame), they take care of business against inferior programs (the 41-7 win against Cal Poly), and they have that one win that keeps fans interested (the 26-24 win against Syracuse).

In so many ways this year has been a repeat of last year, but there has been notable improvement. When rebuilding, improvement year-to-year is key.

The Cardinal defense has been stronger this year. The pass defense has allowed 6.2 yards per play, which is an improvement from last year’s 6.6 yards per play. The rush defense has vastly improved, only surrendering 111.7 rushing yards per game. Last year’s opponents averaged 163.7 rushing yards per game against the Cardinal defense.

Stanford’s running game has also shown great improvement. Last year’s rushing attack was nothing to get excited about as the offense averaged 118.6 rushing yards per game. This season the rushing attack has shown some life. With the running back room being led by sophomores and freshmen, the rushing yards per game average has ballooned to 149.7 yards. 

Not only are the improvements promising, but so is the embracement of these improvements. Stanford football is curating their identity as they have leaned on their defense and running game throughout the season. This is unlike last season where any form of progress was nonexistent. Stanford fans need to practice patience as the football program searches for their identity.

“We will be champions here. I don’t know when it will happen, but we will be champions, and I am really excited to get started,” said Taylor in his introductory press conference back in December of 2022. 

In the meantime, Stanford faithful needs to embrace the optimism of Taylor and pack the stands like Cal fans so nobody else feels the need to question if “ACC fever” has reached Palo Alto.

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Klutch-mayer: Women’s soccer scores last-second winner on the road

Junior forward Lumi Kostmayer scored a goal just two seconds before the game ended, defeating Louisville.

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As the PA announcer’s 10-second countdown rang round the stadium in Louisville, Ky. on Thursday, it appeared inevitable that No. 6 Stanford (13-2-1, 5-2-1 ACC) would be held scoreless. Louisville (6-6-3, 1-5-1 ACC) had defended resiliently and — in the final ten minutes — came closest to scoring on multiple dangerous counter-attacks, as Stanford’s two prior matches against ranked opponents were clearly taking a toll on the team’s sharpness. 

However, with just two seconds remaining, a desperate ball launched into the box, missed everyone and fell to junior forward Lumi Kostmayer. She thumped a first-time volley into the roof of the net to cue jubilant celebrations from the Cardinal players and seal a hard-fought 1-0 win for the away side. 

“We expended a lot of energy [the past week] and [though] spirits were high after the big result against UNC, it’s hard on their legs,” said head coach Paul Ratcliffe. “Some of the starters were a little fatigued, so it was a great team victory.” 

Kostmayer’s strike capped a determined performance from the away team after a timid first half. Both sides managed just five collective shots, a surprising figure considering Stanford had averaged 16 a game this season. The middle of the field was well marshaled by Louisville, which prevented sophomore midfielder Mia Bhuta from orchestrating attacks and feeding the forwards. Instead, the Cardinal was forced wide repeatedly. Though both fullbacks — freshman Lizzie Boamah and senior Nya Harrison — saw lots of the ball, neither was able to progress it into the final third with much success. 

As the second half began, the Cardinal made some adjustments to gain control of the game and subsequently force wave after wave of attacks on their opponent.

Sophomore midfielder Shae Harvey and Bhuta “need to want the ball and the speed of play has to increase,” Ratcliffe said at halftime.

One change that was particularly effective was moving Boamah from left back to left forward after the break. The energetic freshman utilized her speed to lead the line and provide a focal point for the Cardinal’s attack, which was playing lackluster and without a shot in 34 minutes. 

Soon after the change, the Cardinal had its best chance of the night before the eventual winner, when Harvey displayed tremendous speed to recover a second ball ahead of the defender after a clearance in the box. Harvey neatly turned down the left by-line and put the ball into the box, where it ricocheted off the chest of a Louisville center back. The deflection looked destined to nestle into the bottom corner fortuitously for Stanford before Louisville’s keeper made a tremendous diving stop.  

Despite Stanford’s resurgence, Louisville remained a threat on the break. As the game progressed, with a stalemate looming, Ratcliffe transitioned to three at the back in the hopes of securing the winner. But this left Stanford more vulnerable and Louisville attackers created a few three-on-three opportunities which could have yielded a goal but for poor decision-making and — on one instance — an incredible recovery challenge by junior defender Elise Evans. 

“Elise was a rock,” Ratcliffe said after the game. “It is rare to switch to three at the back on the road, so full credit to the team.”

Evans was key to securing Stanford’s clean sheet, but she was almost the victim of cruel misfortune when a hopeful shot from outside of the box struck her leg and careened off the post. Louisville gained confidence with each half-chance, ensuring the game remained on a knife-edge until Kostmayer’s dagger. 

Stanford is now unbeaten in 50 of its last 53 matches and will be understandably elated after sealing consecutive clean sheets following a tough loss against No. 1 Duke last week. The Cardinal’s road trip concludes with a battle against No. 12 Notre Dame (9-1-3, 3-0-3 ACC) at 11 a.m. on Sunday, before they wrap up the regular season at home on Halloween night. With the team’s inaugural participation in the ACC tournament thus fast approaching, Thursday’s last-minute winner should provide great momentum for the team to carry forward into tournament play.

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Janelle Monáe explores Black queer sensuality in ‘The Age of Pleasure’

The American singer-songwriter and rapper masterfully combines conversations of Black queer sensuality and self-confidence, creating a fun, flamboyant album, writes Cunningham.

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In “Pulse,” columnist Madisyn Cunningham ’27 reviews albums that spotlight the Black queer experience.

Janelle Monáe has established themself as one of the most influential Black queer icons of our time. The 38-year-old has made their multifaceted queerness — identifying as pansexual, nonbinary and polyamorous — known for years, and has never been scared to flaunt it on the highest possible stages. Monáe has made it clear that they will not tone down their flamboyance for anyone, from the tuxedo they wore in their song “Tightrope” to their campy Met Gala outfits and dazzling performance of “Make Me Feel” at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Whether you like it or not, they’re here. 

Monáe’s 2018 experimental album-emotion picture “Dirty Computer” was an amazing exploration into the psyche of queer femme sensuality, heartbreak and American Blackness. Despite the tall task, Monáe was able to make a project as good, if not better, five years later. “The Age of Pleasure” came out in June 2023 and was recognized for its genius instantly. The album reached 17 on the Billboard 200 and received two Grammy nominations. It’s fun, genreless form guarantees that it has something for everyone — everyone who is willing to come along for the ride, that is.

“The Age of Pleasure” instantly transports me back to New York City in June, complete with days spent in Washington Square Park among the NYU transplants and young queer people hopelessly in love. I’m reminded of the magnitudes of joy that compel people to go barefoot in the disgusting fountains — unfortunately, I’ve been one of those people — and the freedom of self-acceptance, the freedom of not owing anyone anything. 

Monáe seamlessly travels between genres, never quite landing squarely in one. They jump from rap to Afrobeats to pop, and the sounds come together to create an all-senses experience.

With lyrics like “I like lipstick on my neck/It let me know I’m your number one select” and “Baby, if you pay me in pleasure/I’ma keep it coming forever,” sexuality is clearly at the forefront of Monáe’s mind. Music about sex is obviously nothing new, but this unabashed reverence of Black women’s bodies and queer sex in particular is special. 

Monáe has faced a considerable amount of criticism for their supposed vulgarity, and “The Age of Pleasure,” offers no apologies, as the title suggests. In fact, “Float,” the first single from the 2023 rollout and first song on the album, is a proud declaration of their unbotheredness. They assert that they “are not the same” as they once were, and that they are now able to “float” over the negativity, giving way to a new, liberated way of being. 

In short, this album works because it is just fun. As one X user put it, “This album is everything the title promises, and more. The Age of Pleasure makes me feel like ME. Fun, free, sexy, wild, black. And those Fela inspired afrobeat flavours reach my very soul. Go to track for instant boost: Phenomenal.”

“Phenomenal” is indeed an energizer — Monáe collaborates with upcoming rapper Doechii to make an ode to themself, during which they sing to their “phenomenal waist,” their “phenomenal taste,” the freeing feeling of dancing by oneself and much more. Even without saying it, it’s clear that Monáe and Doechii are speaking to Black women and queer people and telling them that it’s okay to be cocky, a sentiment too rarely shared. Its authenticity makes you want to put the song on replay and dance until you can’t anymore. 

Sex is clearly not a chore to Monáe, which, as simple as it sounds, is special. They are connected with their body and its needs in a way that most people socialized as women are not allowed to be: The cover picture shows the limitless bounds of exploration, both worldly and bodily. 

“Only Have Eyes 42” is the perfect example. The record’s penultimate track is quite possibly the first song I’ve ever heard about polyamorous love. In it, Monáe describes a scene of initially shy exploration into a new form of love, and it sounds as if they’ve discovered new universes in the eyes of both their lovers. 

Despite being almost entirely about sex with other people, this album is still more about Monáe than anyone else. They are not writing to express their undying loyalty to a lover, but rather to themself. They repeatedly commit to themself by allowing themself to experience, and to live in their “age of pleasure.”

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Zhu | Our past lives

"For the first time, I’m starting to have empathy for that 18-year-old girl. I mean, it was her that got me to where I am now. And perhaps I can’t understand her anymore — but I can forgive her," Zhu writes.

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The last essay I wrote at Stanford was on Proust’s theory of our inability to completely understand our past selves. At the beginning of it, there is a passage I cite from “Mémoire de fille,” my favorite Annie Ernaux book, that I can’t stop thinking about. Picking up a photo of herself from 50 years ago, she wonders if she is still the same person as the girl pictured:

For me to be her, I would need to know nothing of the future, of that summer ’58. I would need to suddenly be amnesiac of the history of my life and of the world. The girl of that photo is not me, but she is not fiction.

As graduation approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about the girl I was four years ago, finishing high school from her childhood bedroom. To her, this university was still so intangible — whenever she tried to mentally place herself there, the buildings were nameless, the people faceless. The Daily was still a Slack workspace instead of a house I’d spent hundreds of hours inside, sprawled across its couches. 

Proust writes that our past selves are almost like strangers, whose interiorities we cannot completely access. But I can’t stop wondering: Would she have been proud of me?

I think I’ve spent the past four years running from that girl, but I’ve been chasing her approval too. There is so much I can see through today that she couldn’t: her bravado, her stubbornness, her insecurities. Sometimes I resent her for not knowing what’s coming next, for believing so resolutely that everything she wanted so desperately would be enough to make her happy. 

But there is also so much of her that I’m shut out from now, so many thoughts and feelings that I can’t access or even understand anymore. Some I wish I still had: her hope, her trust, her comfort or rather her unawareness of her own body. Some I’m glad to leave behind: her tunnel-vision, her naivety, her self-martyrdom.

I don’t mean for this to be sad. Each of us has past selves, past lives, things we wish we held on to and things we are glad to leave behind. The ‘me’ of each of the last four years has felt like a radically different person: The ‘me’ of frosh year so desperately wanted the world to be bigger than the two-mile radius around her house. The ‘me’ of sophomore year rubbed salt into her own wounds so she could have something to write about, as if there was something poetic about women’s pain. The ‘me’ of junior year spent nine months overseas trying to run from everything that reminded her of home, then returned to a Californian spring that finally felt like belonging. And the ‘me’ of this year feels grounded for the first time — feels like me with no apostrophes attached — after four years spent making mistakes to finally realize what mattered most to me. 

I’ve spent a lot of the last two years thinking about the mistakes I made at 18 and 19, the decisions I could have made differently to avoid such regret. But something about graduation is softening my resentment. Maybe it’s the knowledge that despite everything, I made it. Maybe it’s the understanding that it was because of everything that I did. 

For the first time, I’m starting to have empathy for that 18-year-old girl. I mean, it was her that got me to where I am now. And perhaps I can’t understand her anymore — but I can forgive her. 

I wonder how the ‘me’ of five years from now will look back at the me writing this today. She’ll probably think the Proust reference was stupid. She’ll probably cringe at my dramatism. Maybe she’ll smile at the things she knows that I don’t yet. I hope she’d be proud.

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Stanford baseball to kick off season on Valentine’s Day

After opening the season with a match against Cal State Fullerton, the Cardinal is scheduled to play their first home series on Feb. 21 against Washington.

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In its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) after exiting the Pac-12, the Stanford Cardinal baseball team will face a mix of old rivals and new adversaries. Their first few weeks will see them battle familiar foes on the West Coast, whereas the spring months will be dominated by conference play in unfamiliar territory.

All told, Stanford will play 29 home games in 2025 against 11 teams during the regular season. The most anticipated series of the year may be against Stanford’s chief rival, UC Berkeley, who also switched to the ACC as the Pac-12 collapsed. That best-of-three series will be played at Stanford from March 21 to March 23, just as academic final exams are set to conclude.

The Cardinal’s first series of 2025 will begin away from home on Feb. 14 against Cal State Fullerton, where Stanford holds a record of 26 wins and 22 losses since 2006. The first home series at Klein Field starts the following weekend, on Feb. 21, against the University of Washington. On March 7, the Cardinal flies off to North Carolina to play its first official ACC match against UNC Chapel Hill.

To proceed to the NCAA playoff tournament in June, Stanford will need to have a high enough winning record to be one of 64 teams that advances from a pool of around 300. The last time the Cardinal qualified for the tournament was in 2023, when they became one of only eight teams to play in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. After losing nine players to the Major League Baseball draft that year, Stanford failed to make the playoffs in 2024 with an overall winning record of only 400. This year, with the help of key additions like freshman Rintaro Sasaki from Japan, the Cardinal will attempt to launch a comeback.

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Talk Horror to Me: ‘The Substance’ is all form with little substance

Now that Elizabeth becomes a monster, doesn’t she see that her original, middle-aged body was comparatively so much more beautiful?

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In “Talk Horror to Me,” columnist Emma Kexin Wang ’24 reviews horror, psycho thrillers and all things scary released in the past year. 

Peeling open the stylistic skin of “The Substance,” through its uncomfortable close-ups and suffocating soundscape, the central conceit is ultimately a tired one: a middle-aged Hollywood fitness star, aptly named Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), is bullied into retirement because of her age. That is, until she’s introduced to a black market drug called the Substance, which promises its users a better, younger, more beautiful version of themselves. 

The grotesque consequence of this miracle drug is prophesied in the movie’s first shot: After injecting a neon green liquid into an egg yolk, another yolk forces itself out of the original. Mirroring this concept, a slime-covered Sue (Margaret Qualley) claws her way out of Elizabeth’s back, and, with shock, she admires every inch of her new, youthful body. 

The body horror genre has always been heavily intertwined with the female body, which becomes the site where pain and trauma are both inflicted and processed. “Huesera”’s cracking bones and twisted limbs become a vessel to express the horrors of childbirth and heteronormative marriage; “Men”’s final sequence becomes symbolic of the violent perpetuation of the patriarchy through the blood and gore of childbirth.

Cinematographically, “The Substance” doesn’t disappoint. I had to shield my eyes as the camera tracked Elizabeth’s skin being split open down her spine, and then sewn amateurly back together in an extreme close-up shot. Here, director Coralie Fargeat literalizes a rhetoric that permeates the women’s fitness industry of a thinner, better version of oneself “inside” one’s current body that’s always simply waiting to emerge. 

But that was only the tip of the gory iceberg. Following a standard sci-fi convention, the substance comes with a strict set of rules. That is, the bodies must be switched every seven days. They also offer one ominous warning: remember, you are one. 

But rules are meant to be broken.

Sue, Elizabeth’s younger body, becomes a different person from the depressive, moody 50-year-old. Sue shines, swaggers and walks in slow-mo while the camera pans from her calves to her round, youthful ass. Sue is different, both inside and out, the movie tells us, even if it is arguably the same Elizabeth who occupies her mind. 

For me, the middle arc of the movie was the most intellectually and emotionally compelling. The repetitive mantra that “You are one” is at odds with what is actually happening to Elizabeth/Sue, who seem to become two distinct personalities with every switch. Sue disobeys the one absolute rule of the seven day switch, which results in Elizabeth waking up to find a blackened and shriveled finger. Here, we learn that what one body takes is enacted upon the other. 

While Sue gains fame and love from the public, Elizabeth retreats more and more into herself. The latter’s only purpose is to somehow pass the seven days before switching into Sue’s body, before she would be young and beautiful again. The scenes of her eating an entire rotisserie chicken, of her hair becoming more mangled, of her removing her makeup after seeing Sue’s massive billboard were the emotional crux that convinced me of the film’s substance.

At this point, it seems only a matter of time before Sue would, literally, suck all the life out of Elizabeth. Without spoiling the plot, the last thirty minutes of the film stretches and exaggerates the aged female body, turning it into a site of monstrosity. This is where the movie lost me. The “biting” social commentary highlighted by critics seems to rest on the beauty discourse that always represents the female body as either sex symbol or disfigured monster. There is no in between, and has become a discourse that I’ve grown tired watching.

Similarly, the body horror is enacted to an extreme. As if afraid its audience wouldn’t get the metaphor, the last thirty-minutes splatters so much blood and gore just to spell out its message: this is what happens to a woman’s body when put under the unattainable, impossible-to-maintain beauty standard. Now that Elizabeth becomes a monster, doesn’t she see that her original, middle-aged body was comparatively so much more beautiful?

In the end, “The Substance” was a film that rewards the viewer in commentary that we know, have known, for a long time. Male executive caricatures that objectify women’s bodies engender easy recognition and laughter from the audience. It’s been many days and the countless shots of Sue’s ass still play in my mind. The film’s “message” about aging reminds me too much about what “X” (2022) tried to say two years ago. But Demi Moore’s performance as the lonely, depressed woman is what ultimately saves the movie, as horror’s plotline — and all good storytelling — rests on great characters.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Congolese women photograph their own displacement

Students and community members gathered at Roble Arts Gym to recognize the courage and determination of Congolese women who have been displaced by conflict.

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Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault and gender-based violence.

Students illuminated the resilience, strength and humanity of Congolese women affected by decades of ongoing conflict, sexual violence and industrial mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Roble Arts Gym on Wednesday evening, marking the third event of Stanford’s inaugural Congo Week. 

The space featured a photo exhibit of images captured by the Mamas, 50 internally displaced women from the Bulengo displacement camp in Eastern DRC. The women have been forced to flee their homes due to what the United Nations describes as the deadliest conflict of the 21st century.

“This event is really a celebration of the women in the displacement camps who are representing their own spaces and creating their own narrative,” said Dena Montague, an environmental justice lecturer who has conducted research on the Congo for over three decades.

The photos were created through a project sponsored by the Friends of the Congo, Yole!Africa and the Basandja Coalition, an Indigenous union of approximately 10,000 artisanal miners from the Congo Basin forest. Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, a Congolese filmmaker and activist, curated the project. A book titled “Mahindule” will also be published soon exploring the photography project and the dynamics of memory, trauma and family displacement. 

The coalition provided cameras to the women “rather than guns” to heal from their trauma, said Fatoumata Barrie ’24 M.A. ’25, lead organizer of Congo Week. The project aims to facilitate emotional and psycho-social rehabilitation for Congolese women through artistic expression.

Barrie, who uses photography to process the grief of losing her own mother, emphasized the potency of visual storytelling in the recovery process. 

“Seeing these pictures, hearing from the Congolese people, you will see just how human they are,” Barrie said. “We miss out on so much by being silent about what they are going through, and not tapping into that connection that could be so beautiful and a wonderful exchange.”

Jackline Wanza Wambua ’25, co-president of Stanford African Students Association (SASA) and organizer of Congo Week, shared her experiences speaking with Congolese women in displacement camps in Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province in the eastern region of DRC, this past summer. 

Wambua said that she was driven by a “desire to experience the truth firsthand” to visit Eastern DRC after years of reposting stories about the struggles faced by Congolese people on social media. She described wanting to gain a nuanced, multidimensional portrait of the suffering in the internally displaced person (IDP) camps.

“I was determined to move beyond passivity and take action,” said Wambua, who grew up in Kenya. “As a development economist, I wanted to see the realities on the ground. I like solving problems dealing with poverty, and so I wanted to go in and investigate these questions.” 

Wambua described the dire conditions in the IDP camps in Goma, including poor sanitation, malaria and limited access to food and clean water. She said that she never saw a child attend school in the camps. 

Rampant sexual violence has also been extensively documented in Goma’s IDP camps, Wambua said. Barrie also said that Congolese women are “disowned” and “unable to return home” with their children after instances of rape or sexual violence, forcing them to seek refuge in displacement camps and take care of each other. However, Wambua and Barrie noted that the women face threats of violence and attacks from militant groups within the camps. 

“I am very interested in how humanitarian organizations work… and why action is not being done to help the [victims] of sexual violence,” Wambua said. “Most of these women are sometimes raped by the military in the name of peacekeeping. Instead of guns being used to protect them, sometimes the guns are used to make them subdued to being raped. Sometimes you meet a woman who has been raped several times, and nothing has been done to help them.” 

Wambua highlighted the detrimental impact of mismatched aid, noting the disconnect between the type of donations given and what is needed by the refugees. “I wanted to know when we donate money to different platforms, where does this money go and who does it impact?” 

Attendee Benita Kisembo ’25 echoed Wambua’s statement regarding aid-giving and donations, emphasizing the need for “people at Stanford [to] gain insight into how to be ethical givers and ethical members of the international community.” 

She urged international aid to be structured more efficiently to meet the needs of displaced Congolese people, while also encouraging audience members to consider their role as individuals.

“Consider how your own skills, how your own talents, how your own knowledge can be effectively used to meet the needs of the Congolese people,” Wambua said. “When you mobilize as an individual, you get people to collaborate with you. I wanted to visit DRC, and Asukulu,” a Congolese Stanford senior, “said he was going… There are always people to support our journeys.” 

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UGS approves funding for VSOs, introduces points system

The Wednesday meeting also included an update from ASSU president and vice president, who shared details of their discussion with President Jon Levin '94 and Provost Jenny Martinez.

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The Undergraduate Senate (UGS) unanimously passed a funding approval package for $23,805.30 out of $26,079.17 requested in Voluntary Student Organization (VSO) spending, emphasizing that they could not approve funding for purchases that have already been made.

UGS Appropriations Chair David Sengthay ’26 introduced the motion to fund clubs like the Stanford Solar Car Project. 

“I want to help you make your programming a reality. So let’s continue the good work we’ve been doing on this committee and maintain a strong symbiotic relationship between the ASSU and our VSO community,” Sengthay said.

Two of the clubs that did not receive the full funding they requested were Alternative Spring Break (ASB), which received approximately $2000 less than the $7347.58 requested for promotional materials. The Bangladeshi Students Association of Stanford received $100 less than the $770 they requested for Cha Adda. 

VSOs “cannot spend money for [their] programming … until the money is approved by UGS,” Sengthay said. That money is posted into their accounts, he added.

Sengthay said that VSOs who had questions about funding approvals could email him or attend his committee’s office hours.

UGS co-chair Gordon Allen ’26 also introduced a public point system tracker for senators’ progress on initiatives, to be updated quarterly. Points are allocated for duties such as general meeting attendance and progress toward executing initiatives with a minimum amount of points to be achieved per senator per quarter.

“This will provide transparency on how student representatives are addressing [students’] concerns,” Allen said. “The system ensures that the spirit of public service remains at the heart of every senator’s work.”

The Wednesday meeting also included an update from Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) President Diego Kagurabadza ’25 and ASSU Vice President Divya Ganesan ’25.

Kagurabadza told the Senate he and Ganesan met with President Jon Levin ’94 and Provost Jenny Martinez. In the meeting, they discussed campus priorities, which included campus climate and free speech, the Office of Community Standards (OCS) process, a new physical wellness Ways requirement and subsidizing event spaces like Dinkelspiel Auditorium for VSOs.

Kagurabadza expressed disappointment in the Board of Trustees’ decision not to take action on a proposal for divestment despite support from undergraduate and graduate students.

“I am particularly disheartened because as ‘controversial’ as that motion would be, to see that go disregarded is a real shame,” Kagurabadza said.

Another initiative discussed included campus lighting. UGS Treasurer Jadon Urogdy ’27 said that, in regard to lighting, “the University chooses aesthetics over practicability.” He said he plans to reach out to Lucia Wade of campus planning to discuss campus lighting initiatives.

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Snapchat and Khan Academy founders weigh in on technology’s impact on democracy

At an “Election 2024: Democracy on the Ballot” panel, Evan Spiegel ’18 and Sal Khan characterized technology as generally positive tools to solve the nation’s problems.

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The founder-chief executives of Khan Academy and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. said they believe that tech advancements have improved overall quality of life in America, despite the complex impacts of technology and AI on democracy.

Sal Khan and Evan Spiegel ’18, joined by tech journalist Kara Swisher over Zoom, spoke in CEMEX Auditorium in a Monday panel for the speaker series course “Election 2024: Democracy on the Ballot.” Spiegel and Khan depicted the advancement of technology and AI as complicated but having improved quality of life despite harms from misinformation. 

Spiegel told the audience “to take a step back and look at what the world was like 250 years ago.” According to him, the U.S. “should be incredibly focused on being the leading technology power in the world.”

“I think, indisputably, technology has had an incredible impact on our lives [and] the world,” he said. “We should be very focused on how our democracy can continue to advance the most cutting edge technologies.” 

Spiegel, a product design major while at Stanford, co-founded Snapchat with his Kappa Sigma fraternity brother Bobby Murphy ’10, who is now Snap’s chief technology officer. 

Khan said he agreed with Spiegel that “the general arc of history has been a positive one,” pointing to better mass public education, technological productivity and more people entering the middle class compared across centuries. 

In early April of this year, Snap released plans for increasing moderation and fact-checking measures for political advertisements this election season, in response to calls for major tech companies to help protect election integrity. 

Snap is also partnering with Vote.org to help register voters. Over 80% of Snapchat users are aged 18 or older, with over half of its U.S. users estimated to be Gen Z — a higher proportion compared to that of TikTok (44.7%), Instagram (33.7%) and X (32.6%). 

Before the CEMEX talk, Spiegel also spoke in the class “CEE242P: Product Making,” which deconstructs popular technology products with their founders. The 50-minute talk covered Spiegel’s experience building and growing Snapchat. Spiegel ran through the critical decisions that grew the app, specifically highlighting its deliberate camera-first design and the features specialized to target users of family and friends.

During Monday’s election panel, Spiegel said that, on social media and online platforms, eliminating harmful speech outside the scope of the First Amendment will require focus and energy.

“What are internet services’ obligations when they find that sort of content?” he said, referring to disinformation and harmful speech.

Swisher criticized many social media platforms for hiding behind free speech to avoid what she believes is their obligation to enforce restrictions on harmful speech. She advocated for clearer regulations on what behaviors social media companies are liable for, similar to pharmaceutical and airline companies holding responsibility for their products and services. 

Adjunct education professor Jim Steyer J.D. ’83, who leads the class, prompted the speakers to suggest solutions to combat misinformation during this election cycle.

For Spiegel, the health of local news is an area of focus. Spiegel said he has taken a personal interest in strengthening local news reporting in the Los Angeles area, where he lives. 

“There is just a massive decline in coverage of council meetings, school board meetings, all of these places where you would typically find a lot of journalistic accountability that was driven by local news,” he said. The issue is prevalent across the U.S., which has lost one-third of newspapers since 2005. 

Khan — noting his bias — pointed to education. Creating greater accessibility to gain critical thinking skills, he said, is crucial to combating misinformation campaigns during elections. The Khan Academy CEO described working on offering diverse course options for students, such as civics education. 

Swisher identified the contrast between parental attitudes toward online and in-person behaviors. “We protect kids offline everywhere, and we under-protect them online,” she said. The issue of social media addiction, which creates more susceptibility to misinformation, is unique in that parents are similarly affected as their children, according to Swisher. 

The solution, she said, lies in not trusting the responsibility fully to parents. She supported actions such as classroom phone restrictions and pushing a culture shift akin to the campaigns against cigarette use. 

Ben Rosenfeld ’27, who studies data science and education and attended the panel, emphasized the need for responding to rapidly advancing technology. He also pushed back on the speakers’ claims about technology consistently advancing human wellbeing. 

“Technology has irreparably changed democracy and especially American elections,” he said. “I think it is a factor that will be ever-present in elections to come, and it’s probably hurt it for the worse. Sensationalism and lies spread faster than ever.”

In the search for answers to technology’s growing harms on democracy, he agreed with Khan that “education is the path forward.” 

A previous version of this article misrepresented Evan Spiegel’s class year as 2012, when he in fact did not return to Stanford to earn his degree until 2018. The Daily regrets this error.

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Green Library looks to fulfill 24-hour promise by end of quarter

Hohbach Hall in Green Library is nearly ready to open 24-hours. With renovations complete, the only remaining hurdle is hiring two librarians to staff late nights.

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Despite promises of a 24-hour Green Library study space starting this quarter, staffing delays have prevented this from becoming a reality. Alexis Manheim, the associate university librarian for technical and access services, said she is “hopeful” that something can be up and running by the end of fall.

The plan came after the University accepted a three-year trial of new late night hours, supported by a student survey and formal resolution presented by Undergraduate Senators Ivy Chen ’26 and Gordon Allen ’26 last May. The transition is being funded by a special grant from the University nearing a million dollars for the 2024-2025 school year.

The Daily has reached out to the University for comment.

To prepare for the change, the library installed a rolling shutter door to block students from accessing the staircase to other areas in the library past midnight. This would leave only Green Library’s Hohbach Hall — the first-floor space facing Meyer Green — available for students past midnight from Sunday through Thursday.

The remaining hurdle to opening is hiring two full-time librarians to oversee the space from midnight to 8 a.m. 

According to Manheim, the library has been seeking new hires for the role since June, but extra scrutiny of the candidates has lengthened the process, which is currently in the interview stage. 

“What you don’t want to do is rush hiring and then have to close back down [a couple weeks later] because they don’t want to do the work anymore,” Allen said.

The librarians will oversee the nightly functioning of the space and provide resource help to students. But, as library stacks will be inaccessible, circulation will effectively close after midnight, apart from specially reserved books available at the counter. 

Chen and Allen hope that demonstrated demand will legitimize their desire for a security guard to supervise during late-night hours upon opening. Yet there are currently no arrangements for security, Chen said. However, Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) was in the process of hiring security staff, Manheim said.

The Daily reached out to SUDPS for confirmation. 

The senators believe the space will provide a valuable late-night alternative to other current options like Old Union, which closes at 2 a.m., and the 24-hour study room in Lathrop. Allen compared the latter to a “bland sort of hospital” far away from where students live, while he felt Green Library was “cozy.”

Hohbach Hall provides 155 seats in addition to “two group study rooms, 12 sit-stand desks with monitors and four study corner setups (with monitors, desks and seating) in the central glassed-in presentation room,” according to Manheim. Additionally, during the last two weeks of the quarter, the hours will extend to 24/7, including both Friday and Saturday nights, in anticipation of students preparing for finals.

Demand for the space at night remains uncertain. According to Manheim, Green Library currently sees a drop off in attendance around 11 p.m., this could be because people moved elsewhere, knowing the building is about to close. She said the library will observe usage continuously, and that upticks in attendance may be delayed as student study habits take time to update.

While the 24-hour space has yet to open, Chen and Allen look forward to its implementation. The duo, who are a year deep into the project, hope to have a grand opening party with food and drinks supplied by Coupa Cafe or On Call.

In response to the delay, which has faced scrutiny by students on social media app Fizz, Allen and Chen “apologize very much,” saying they’ve nudged the administration and “emphasized the need to speed up [librarian] recruitment.”

As they wait on administration to fully implement the plan, the senators reiterated that the longevity of the extended hours will depend on utilization. 

“We actually want people to come and prove that the statistics justify why this is all happening, and why we should advocate for the entire library … to actually extend 24/7,” Chen said.

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Stanford women’s basketball starts season unranked for first time in 25 years

Stanford women's basketball was picked to finish in seventh place in the ACC media poll, while men's basketball was chosen to finish 17th.

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For the first time in a quarter of a century, Stanford women’s basketball is unranked in the AP preseason polls following the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in college basketball history. In the ACC preseason media polls, which were announced Tuesday night, the Cardinal ranked seventh in its new conference, while the men’s team was positioned second to last.

In women’s basketball, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish topped the ACC poll with 70 first-place votes, led by preseason ACC Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo and star Olivia Miles. NC State and Duke placed second and third.

Stanford’s relatively poor preseason rank comes after the loss of stars Cameron Brink ’24, who was drafted to the LA Sparks, and Kiki Iriafen ’24, who transferred to USC. VanDerveer, the three-time national championship winning coach, is succeeded by long-time Stanford assistant coach Kate Paye. 

Two new transfers, sophomore Mary Ashley Stevenson from Purdue and junior Tess Heal from Santa Clara, will add to a lineup that retains experienced seniors Brooke Demetre and Elena Bosgana, and includes another crop of young freshmen, led by center Kennedy Umeh, who was ranked the 44th best player in the country by ESPN HoopGurlz.

On the men’s side, Stanford ranked 17th out of 18 ACC teams, followed only by Boston College. The poll was topped by longtime ACC favorites Duke and North Carolina, followed by a resurgent Wake Forest. Cardinal senior Maxime Raynaud received one vote for preseason ACC Player of the Year, which was ultimately awarded to North Carolina’s RJ Davis, who received 40 votes.

Both men’s and women’s basketball start the season on Nov. 4, with home games against Denver and Le Moyne respectively.

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Coach’s Notebook: Stanford football’s secondary running thin on depth, quarterback Elijah Brown soon to return

Ahead of Stanford's game against SMU, quarterback Elijah Brown could be available for the Cardinal for the first time in weeks.

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On Tuesday, Stanford football head coach Troy Taylor spoke at a weekly press conference prior to Saturday’s home game against SMU.

Shuffling the deck

Stanford football will head into their Week 7 matchup with a banged-up secondary. Graduate safety Omari Porter and junior safety Jaivion Green will both be unavailable. Sophomore cornerback Aaron Morris and fifth-year cornerback Zahran Manley are currently questionable. 

”As the season’s gone on, we’ve lost players, so we’re gonna be a different team,” said head coach Troy Taylor. “A lot of teams [acquire depth] through the transfer portal. We end up having to use a lot of young players when our starters go down.” 

When asked about moving players around, Taylor noted that the team has already started shuffling players on the defensive side. He also left open the possibility of bringing players over from the offense.

Progress on the offense

Taylor said he is impressed with the offensive line so far this year. He noted the success the Cardinal have had running the ball at times and praised the unit for its efforts. He also acknowledged that the unit could play better, especially after efforts against top defensive fronts the past three weeks. But overall, the progress has been evident. 

”It’s not even close. We’re so much better up front than we were last year,” Taylor said.

The offense may also see a new face return earlier than expected. 

According to Taylor, freshman quarterback Elijah Brown “has progressed much more rapidly than initially was thought” in his recovery from a hand injury suffered during a bye week practice. Coach Taylor said that he is “way ahead of schedule” and that he could be available this week.

A new rival

Stanford will face another new conference rival this week, this time one that they will see on a yearly basis. Stanford will play SMU for only the second time ever, the first matchup being Stanford’s 1936 Rose Bowl win. This is the first of what will become a yearly matchup as the ACC looks to minimize travel for both teams. 

“[SMU is] really explosive on offense, fast tempo [and] one of the fastest in the country,” Taylor said.

It will be crucial for Stanford to start fast, as Taylor noted that the SMU team ”play really well with a lead.” The Cardinal will look for its second win this season against the Mustangs at 5:00 p.m in Stanford Stadium.

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Stanford football’s secondary shakeups could spell trouble

With several injuries in the back end, the Cardinal's secondary will rely on several freshmen to play against SMU.

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Stanford football’s secondary has gone through significant change over the course of the season. Junior safety Jaivion Green was knocked out early in the season and fellow safety, graduate student Omari Porter, exited last week’s game against Notre Dame. 

As a result, several players in the secondary have switched positions, while young players have stepped into starting roles earlier than expected. Junior cornerback Collin Wright stepped in for Green at the nickel position during the game against Clemson — where Green was injured — and tallied an interception. Sophomore cornerback Jshawn Frausto-Ramos has moved through several different positions as the ranks of the secondary starters continue to thin out.

“I like all the positions and [I like] helping my team the best way I can,” Frausto-Ramos said. “I’ll play defensive tackle if they put me there.”

Stanford head football coach Troy Taylor warned that one of the main problems facing the team, currently 2-4, was their lack of depth. Fourteen players on the roster were dealing with injuries, he noted.

Our progress “is slowed down when we don’t have a full allotment of players,” Taylor said. “We have to use young guys as opposed to pulling from the transfer portal.”

Because of the lack of transfers through the portal, Taylor continued, freshman cornerbacks Cam Richardson and Brandon Nicholson were slated to have more time on the field.

While the Cardinal’s rush defense remains highly ranked in the Atlantic Coast Conference, its pass defense has struggled, in particular at stopping big plays. In last week’s matchup against Notre Dame, Stanford gave up 248 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in a 49-7 rout. 

The Cardinal’s defense is wary of their upcoming game against SMU, with both Taylor and Frausto-Ramos acknowledging that SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings poses a serious threat to their unit.

“SMU has a really fast tempo and a good quarterback,” Taylor said.

As Porter and Green are unavailable for next week, and cornerbacks Aaron Morris and Zahran Manley are both questionable, it seems likely that the revolving door of Stanford’s secondary lineup will keep turning.

Taylor expressed mild concern about having to ask his players to switch positions so suddenly.

“There’s a number of residual [effects] that happen when you lose a safety and have to move a corner to nickel and play a new corner,” he said.

It seems clear that Stanford’s secondary desperately needs stability going into Saturday’s matchup with a tough opponent like SMU. Despite this, there is reason for hope. The young team spells good fortune for the future as its freshmen and sophomores gain experience earlier rather than later.

“We like our young guys,” Taylor said. “It’s good to give them an opportunity to show what they can do.”

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From the Community | The Board of Trustees’ decision against divestment does not receive a ‘pass’

The Board of Trustees' rationale for refusing to divest from companies that support Israel's war on Gaza is "mindboggling," writes Palumbo-Liu.

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On Tuesday, the Board of Trustees responded to overwhelming student concern about Stanford’s investments in companies that profit off of Israel’s war on Gaza, refusing to take action on demands for divestment. 

This update is just the latest in Stanford’s deliberations surrounding divestments from its controversial investment portfolio. Last year, Stanford students voted to support divestment, and they had filed the required paperwork to get the board to act. 

The board’s decision is not altogether unexpected. What was exceedingly disappointing was the way they rationalized their decision:

Just as the University does not take positions on partisan or political issues, the Trustees maintain a strong presumption against using the endowment as an instrument to advance any particular social or political agenda.

It further provides that the Trustees “may choose to take no action on a request if an issue is divisive within the campus community.” The board additionally reaffirmed in a recent resolution the “avoidance of institutional orthodoxy” as a critical principle that supports Stanford’s environment of free inquiry.

The misrepresentation, obfuscation and bad faith we find here is mindboggling.

What is abhorrent, and why they fail logically and ethically, is that exactly one paragraph after the phrase (“if an issue is divisive within the campus community”), the board’s very own policy makes this exception:

The Trustees recognize that very rare occasions may arise when companies’ actions or inactions are so abhorrent and ethically unjustifiable as to warrant the University’s dissociation from those investments. Such activities include apartheid, genocide, human trafficking, slavery, and violations of child labor laws. These instances may be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and must meet the very high bar articulated above.

Once we read what the board failed to disclose in order to make its case, we are now placed on a very different terrain. 

The board needs to explain why they feel the issues of apartheid and genocide are irrelevant to its decision to ensure a transparent deliberative process. By obfuscating their policy for exceptions and failing to address them in their reasoning, the board is shirking its responsibility.

Given the widespread coverage and analysis of the war in Gaza, which points to war crimes and genocide committed by Israel, the University must clarify why this situation does not meet their “very high bar” for investment dissociation. Given the clear parallels between the exceptions stated in the policy and the current situation, it appears that the board deliberately omitted these exceptions in order to avoid addressing them.

The legal literature on Israel’s acts of genocide and apartheid are voluminous — here are just some recent decisions from the world’s highest courts on international humanitarian law and human rights.

On July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice found Israel responsible for apartheid. The New York Times noted:

“The Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the regime associated with them have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the court’s president, Nawaf Salam, said as he issued the 83-page opinion at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

The court also said that Israel’s presence in the territories should come to an end “as rapidly as possible” and that Israel was “under an obligation to provide full reparation for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all natural or legal persons concerned.”

Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch, stated:

In a historic ruling the International Court of Justice has found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid. The court has placed responsibility with all states and the United Nations to end these violations of international law. The ruling should be yet another wake up call for the United States to end its egregious policy of defending Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and prompt a thorough reassessment in other countries as well.

Earlier, in January, the same court found South Africa had a right to bring its case against Israel and that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide” — rights which were at a real risk of irreparable damage. This finding now requires the court to do a full investigation into the case presented by South Africa.

And just five days ago, on Oct. 10, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory asserted:

Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities, including East Jerusalem, Israel said in a new report today.

So — Board of Trustees, why doesn’t this meet your “high bar” for divestment actions?  If it doesn’t, what would?

If we are to have “civil discourse” on campus, then a prerequisite is trust, honesty and forthrightness. That trust is eroded when the board publishes such a misleading rationale for its rejection of the divestment appeal.

And make no mistake — in excerpting their own policy to suit their purposes, the board indeed took a political position.

David Palumbo-Liu is the Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor and professor of comparative literature at Stanford University. He is representing Stanford Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.

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Q&A: Mariachi Cardenal unites members through music and Mexican culture

Two sophomore musicians in Mariachi Cardenal reflect on their experience as part of Stanford’s only Latin music performing group.

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Each year since the pandemic, Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford — founded 30 years ago as Stanford’s only Latin music performing group — has performed at Faces of Community, an annual showcase which aims to celebrate the diversity and vibrancy of student organizations during New Student Orientation (NSO). 

For many of the organization’s musicians, including Carlos Pardo ’27, a harp player, and Patrick Vasquez ’27, a bass player, experiencing Mariachi’s Faces performance has helped them transition into their new environment and discover what Vasquez calls a “home away from home.” This year, rather than sitting in the seats of Frost Amphitheater, Pardo and Vasquez took to the stage bearing their instruments and traditional mariachi attire as sophomores, performing classical folk songs such as bolero and ranchera. 

According to co-president Abby Garewal ’25, the mission of the group lies in highlighting identities that are historically not highlighted in Mariachi music. “That includes celebrating queerness and working against machismo,” she said. “Our goal is to celebrate our own heritage, but also to promote so many other missions within the umbrella of Latinidad.”

Over the past year of rehearsals, performances and hours of practice and laughter, Pardo and Vasquez say that the supportive and welcoming environment of Mariachi Cardenal has allowed them to become best friends. The Daily spoke to the two sophomores about their time in mariachi, identity and heritage. 

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. 

The Stanford Daily (TSD): How did you join Mariachi Cardenal? 

Carlos Pardo (CP): Coming into Stanford, I already knew that I wanted to join Mariachi Cardenal so that I could continue playing mariachi music, [which I’d done] since sixth grade. I met the officers at FestiFall 2023, told them about my experience playing the Mexican folk harp and thankfully, they let me join!

Patrick Vasquez (PV): I was blown away [at FACES]. I showed my mom and she loved it and told me you have to join. I had to learn a new instrument in college. I’ve been a lifelong musician. I play piano, saxophone and bass. I wanted to learn one more and thought learning an instrument for mariachi would be an incredible thing to do. I saw Mariachi Cardenal at the club fair, and I signed up through El Centro. 

TSD: What has been your favorite memory so far? 

CP: My best experience was doing Valentine’s Day serenades. That was one of my favorite days at Stanford because we got to travel all across campus. I was a frosh so I wasn’t familiar with all of campus, but we got to travel to all ends. Being able to play for people and getting to see their reactions when they saw the mariachi band pull up and play was really exciting. 

PV: One of the most memorable experiences was my first performance for the Stanford medical minority group at the start of winter quarter last year. I was feeling nervous, [even though] I had memorized all the songs and I still had the music taped to my instrument. I was so stressed out because right in front of me in the audience was Dean Minor, the dean of the medical school. As a pre-med student, that was a big deal. Coincidentally, he was also my COLLEGE 102 professor, so it was a double big deal. I was staring right at him in the audience. It was scary but it also filled me with a lot of energy and passion to just give the best performance that we could. We did; the audience cheered for us and they didn’t notice if we messed up one note or two.

TSD: How do you connect to your culture through music? 

CP: Playing mariachi music has allowed me to connect to my culture not only by listening to traditional Mexican folk music but also by actively participating in it. Through my mariachi harp, I have discovered other Mexican folk genres, such as “Son Jarocho” from the coastal state of Veracruz, a style of music that features melodic harp playing. These experiences have not only enlightened me about the intricate beauty of Mexican music but also given me the opportunity to share it with others who haven’t been exposed to it yet.

PV: Music is a way to express myself and share my emotions. As an audience member, you may not be able to see or tell but every single time that I play my instrument, strum the strings, it is a time that is filled with many emotions — passion, joy and pain too, all the hours of practice and the callouses that have formed on my fingers. But through all these feelings, I am really confident in the songs and sounds that I create with the rest of the band. Playing with others is the most powerful part, and continuing this legacy of rich tradition and musical history. Mariachi is not really popular among younger people; it is classical, traditional, much like the other genre I play, which is jazz. But every time that I am able to put a smile on the audience’s face and get applause from them, I think I’m doing a really good job of continuing the legacy.

My mariachi performances also affect my family profoundly, especially my grandma on my mom’s side, who is Mexican. The picture she sees of me in my mariachi outfit performing is incredible. She has never witnessed my performance, but just seeing the photos afterward puts a huge smile on her face. If I can do that for my own family, then that is an extremely powerful feeling that I want to share with others.

TSD: Which aspects of Mariachi Cardenal are you most looking forward to this year? 

CP: I hope we can keep expanding our musical repertoire by introducing more complex mariachi standards that I know audiences will love. Most importantly, I hope we continue to have fun doing what we do.

PV: Last year was a rebuilding year. Several members who had been in the band before graduated, and our group needed new instruments. Carlos and I both filled the gap because they did not have players for our instruments. We attended many more workshops than we normally did. Our hope this year is to carry that over so we can have a really great year. We’ll have traditional mariachi outfits, which is really exciting, since that is the one thing that I felt was really unifying in the sense that we were lacking. I’m also excited to just recruit more members. Last year, we lost our instructor who was an alum. This year, one of our main goals is trying to find someone to replace that role. By doing so, we hope to lay a really strong foundation at Stanford, making us the band that you want to call and have us perform. 

TSD: What is the importance of Mariachi Cardenal to the broader Stanford community? 

CP: I believe it is our responsibility to be ambassadors of mariachi music. Mariachi is a beautiful genre that anyone, regardless of background, can appreciate, and I think we should do everything we can to ensure that this wonderful music reaches as many people as possible.

PV: The role of mariachi is to make people laugh. It is not only about music and performance, but also entertainment. Any time that there is an opportunity where you want a group to liven up the audience and make it an enjoyable event, we are the people to call. It is a universal experience. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your background is or where you are from. If you like the genre, mariachi has the power to evoke so many positive feelings, and that is something we want to spread as much as possible.

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Daily Diminutive #004 (Oct. 17, 2024)

Click to play today's 5x5 mini crossword. The Daily produces mini crosswords twice a week and a full-size crossword biweekly.

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Letters from Down Under: Ocean curiosities

In her second installment of "Letters from Down Under," Skalnik takes readers into the hidden world of coral reefs, exposing their vulnerabilities and the hope which still exists for one of nature’s most threatened ecosystems.

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In her biweekly column, Allie Skalnik brings lessons and stories from her travels abroad in Australia back home.

Dear Stanford,

G’day from the ferry leaving Heron Island, a tiny patch of land near the Tropic of Capricorn at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s true what everyone says:

Coral reefs are vitally important for our planet, with a quarter of ocean life reliant on reefs and coastal communities relying on them for protection and fishing and tourism. 

It’s also true that coral reefs are disappearing fast. Over half the world’s corals died in the past 27 years. But I’m not here to tell you how bad it is; I’m here to share the wondrous hidden world of our oceans. There’s a lot worth protecting, and there’s plenty of hope. 

Aside from climate change, another major threat the Great Barrier Reef is facing is a sea star. Called the Crown of Thorns Sea Star (COTS), it’s no ordinary touch tank sea star. Massive and covered in menacing dark purple spikes, it looks fearsome and delivers — it mows square meters worth of coral at a time and leaves devastation in its wake.

COTS is perfectly natural; it is not invasive nor augmented nor any of the things we worry about these days. However, the prevalence of COTS is not natural. Each spike in COTS population and subsequent reef devastation coincides with algal blooms from farm runoff. The influx of nutrients helps more juvenile COTS live into adulthood, at which point very few organisms feed on them. COTS has a small number of predators, one of which being an unlikely and diminutive crab. The guard of corals is a type of crab that makes its home in coral, and when COTS come around fixing to chew up the coral they live in, they go full cranky, neighbor get-off-my-lawn, defending their home from one the most fearsome creatures in the sea. 

One of my favorite animals to learn about, and get entirely awed over, was the nudibranch. Nudibranchs are sea slugs: bright, ruffled, patterned things that trawl the sea floor munching on sponges and anemones. Like many bright, patterned creatures, they look that way to warn others of their toxicity, but they don’t have their own defense mechanism. They can ingest other toxic organisms and instead of succumbing to it, use it for their own defense. Aeolid nudibranchs are able to eat anemones, which have stinging cells called nematocysts, which are primed and ready to trigger their harpoon-like sting at the slightest touch. Yet, somehow, Aeolid nudibranchs eat these nematocysts whole, move it through their body to sit at the top of spikes on the top of their backs, all without triggering it to sting. 

It’s crazy we don’t know how old turtles can get. We know they must be ancient, with how positively massive they can get, but they’re one of those creatures which lays hundreds of eggs, and only a handful will make it into adulthood. Following one all the way through the process just hasn’t happened yet. Ocean life is more incredible and fascinating than I ever imagined, and it’s clear there’s so much we’ve yet to learn, so many mysteries yet to be solved. It’s true that coral reefs are vital to life, and it’s true that they’re threatened, and it’s true at this very moment, there are people working to save them. Heat-tolerant corals are seeming more and more promising by the day, and some clever person figured out transplanting the mucous microbiome covering coral can transmit heat tolerance from one coral to another. The fight for coral reefs is far from hopeless, and I’m learning that the best way to start doing your part is to start getting awed, inspired, full-blown excited about life in the sea. 

All my love,

Allie

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Q&A: Michi Barall ’93 draws on her Stanford experience as her play ‘Drawing Lessons’ premieres

Barall speaks about the writing and design process for her recent show and how Stanford was formative in her theater journey.

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Michi Barall ‘93, an actress and playwright, premiered her play “Drawing Lessons” on Thursday at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis. Barall graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in theater and performance arts and went on to do her master of fine arts in acting at New York University. She then began her career as an actor for around a decade before focusing on playwriting.

Barall sat down with The Daily for an interview prior to the premiere of her play.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): Could you give me a summary of “Drawing Lessons”?

Michi Barall (MB): The play is about a 12-year-old Korean American girl who loves to draw and is struggling in school. She meets a mentor in the art shop — a comic strip artist — who, along with all of her friends and family, help her develop her voice as an artist and as a person. I really wanted to center on an adolescent girl who isn’t particularly chatty — whose strength is visual communication. The play explores the strength of her abilities and her determination as she becomes a comic artist. 

I was really interested in this phenomenon of the middle grade graphic novel. There’s a cohort of kids who grew up with these graphic novels that were about eighth grade and surviving eighth grade. I wanted to see what it would be like to put that on stage in some way: to use the vocabulary of the graphic novel in staging practices, but also as part of the design world, so that we have access to her thoughts and feelings much in the same way that you do through a thought bubble in a graphic novel or through text or color or image. 

So my hope is that what it does is it, in effect, puts a graphic novel on stage. And at the center of that graphic novel is this 12-year-old Korean-American girl growing up in Minneapolis in the ’90s. 

TSD: Your play is inspired by comics and graphic novels. You mentioned text bubbles and colors. What should the audience be expecting going in? Are there going to be actual speech bubbles on stage?

MB: There’s the equivalent of that. We have two designers who have been incredible, who also work in collaboration with our set designer. It’s an integrated design plan between set projection and illustration. The illustrator that we’re working with is a person named Blue Delliquanti. 

There are explicit instructions in the text for what we see on the backdrop, which is the projected surface. We have multiple panels in the projection design. Sometimes they come to complete a full image like the backdrop of the classroom. Sometimes those images are actually fragmented in some way. But we have the chance to move around inside [the main character’s] mind and inside her actual physical setting through the projection, illustration and stage design. 

We don’t have anything animated per se, but the illustrations, which are just like the kinds of illustrations that you would see in a graphic novel, are storyboarded through the projection design. So they run at a pace that actually begins almost to feel like animation, even though it’s not continuous.

TSD: Why did you choose to go with a children’s theater for this? You’ve mentioned your daughter serving as artistic inspiration — how much of a role did your daughter have? Did she advise on the play?

MB: No, she’s a musician and totally not interested in theater. There’s always a backdrop of music [in my role as a playwright], maybe because I’m always listening to her practice.

I think [the team of creators and I] made this proposal for a play that would have drawing in it, and I didn’t really quite know how we would set it. Because of the setting of the middle grade graphic novel, I kind of knew that it would be a play that featured a young protagonist.

I was writing it really as a memory play to be performed by actors who double as kids and grown-ups. 

I think what’s a little bit unusual about this is: The lead character of Kate really is never offstage. If I had it to do over again, I would try to get her a break. It’s a lot for a kid to do, especially when they’re up at 6:30 in the morning and then go to school all day and then come to the theater from 4:30 to 9:30 in the evening.

It’s also just really wonderful to hear [kids’] perspectives on the characters, on the relationships, on the histories and what it means to them, how they’re processing it. 

TSD: How did your identity influence your work?

MB: I am Japanese Canadian. I am mixed race. And actually the character was initially mixed race, in part because there are so few mixed race characters on stage yet so many mixed race people.

It can be difficult [to grow up mixed race] but it is also an important way of growing up. Kamala Harris is Black and she’s South Asian — that’s just who she is, you know. There’s no contradiction in that, and often people read a contradiction. We have two [actresses playing the main character] Kate, one is mixed race and the other not. She’s Korean American, so we have slightly different languages for both characters. 

Stanford was, I think, a huge moment for me in terms of thinking about Asian-American identity, because I came from Canada, where we have official multiculturalism and questions of racial and political identity were not at the forefront when I was growing up. And so coming to Stanford in the sort of early ‘90s was this moment of being awakened to this identity, particularly through the Asian American Theater Project. 

Because I had grown up with this, I just jumped into this cohort of Asian American writers who were writing both within the politics of the community, but also within the larger umbrella of Asian-American identity — I just realized all of us need help. 

I had cultural consultants who were both in theater and outside of theater, which I felt was important to read this script. We also had a cultural consultant on the production, who’s helping the actors with the Korean language. There’s a little Korean in the play, but there’s also some of the cultural aspects that are embedded in the play. 

TSD: How did your time with the Asian American Theater Project at Stanford impact you both as an actor and a playwright? 

MB: I would never have been an actor without the Asian American Theater Project. I came to Stanford to do International Relations. I was in SLE (Structured Liberal Education) my first year, which I really loved. And so I think it was a kind of pull towards the humanities and towards theater through the Asian American Theater Project.

I saw a flier for auditions. It was for the part of Maya Lin, the architect, in Jeannie Baroga‘s play “Walls,” which is a play that hadn’t actually been done in many places yet. It’s a really beautiful play about Maya Lin’s own struggle for recognition and the discrimination that she faced after her proposal for the Vietnam War Memorial. 

Being in that play made me feel, one, that I could get cast. It also put me inside a community of people who really cared about theater. While I was there, I did learn very quickly that I’m a terrible producer because I produced The Crucible [by Arthur Miller] of all things.

It was a real opportunity to see theater in 360, like what are all the aspects that go into a production? Actors can have a tendency to just be a little bit in the world of their character and inside the envelope of their own arc. 

Something about working with the Asian American Theater Project was that it was pretty scrappy, and we had to do a lot of the work ourselves of producing, finding directors, and being point people for production elements.

It taught me very early that a play is a thing that’s meant to be on stage. It is a collaboration between design, production, staff, and actors and directors. I think that was always in my head when I started to write for the theater. 

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Congo Week teach-in calls for a more sustainable, socially-responsible mining industry

Organizers of Stanford’s inaugural Congo Week discussed human rights and environmental issues associated with the mining of critical minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Student activists and research scientists urged sustainable solutions and social responsibility at a Monday teach-in on mining, technology, human rights abuses and environmental challenges affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Sponsored by the Society of Black Scientists and Engineers, the gathering was the first event of Stanford’s inaugural “Breaking the Silence” Congo Week. 

Although the Congo is one of the globe’s wealthiest countries in terms of natural resources, three-quarters of its population lives on less than $2 a day. As part of the Copper Belt, the country hosts some of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals that power electronic devices, ranging from phones to electric cars. Meanwhile, mining operations in the DRC are connected to human rights abuses and environmental concerns. 

Since 1996, an estimated 6 million Congolese people have been killed and more than 7 million others have been internally displaced in the Second Congo War, which is considered the world’s deadliest conflict since the end of World War II. 

In light of the devastating legacy of Belgian colonialism and ongoing violence in the Congo, Fatoumata Barrie ’24 M.A. ’25, lead organizer of Congo Week, emphasized the inclusion of Congolese voices when discussing the future of mining in the Congo and renewable energy. 

“The Congo is critical to the direction that we are trying to move in towards a green transition, and we can’t do it without the voices of the Congolese people,” Barrie said. “If we try, it will be a repeat of history,” she said. 

Barrie called for the development of sustainable solutions that promote both environmental justice and technological advancement. “Our goal is to have sustained connection, long-term relationships established between frontline communities in the Congo and people at Stanford who are driving innovation to mitigate climate change,” she said.

Kimberly Harrison Ph.D. ’14, founder of Chip Workers 4 Responsible Mining, highlighted the impact of worker activism and solidarity, factors that her organization aims to support. She noted the necessity of creating a “responsible” supply chain through efforts to formalize artisanal and small-scale (ASM) mining areas, as opposed to large-scale industrial mining. 

Harrison said that up to 20% of DRC’s population depends on ASM mining for their income. 

“What the [Congolese] generally want is for the industry and policymakers to engage with them so that they can create a safe environment for themselves to work,” she said, referencing that the main issues in creating a safe environment for artisanal miners is female empowerment, prevention of child labor, establishing safety protocols and providing personal and protective equipment. 

Harrison also emphasized the importance of companies implementing standard procedures to promote corporate social responsibility, citing the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development due diligence strategy, which includes elements such as supply chain tracing, independent audits and remediation. She encouraged a focus on long-term solutions that make sure that “the promises made now endure.”

Attendee Zoey Hill ’25 said that she appreciated discussion of “how we currently can be responsible with the materials that we consume and how we consume them,” applauding the teach-in for giving students tools they could currently use to become more ethically responsible consumers. 

David Zhen Yin, co-founder and program director of Stanford Mineral-X, an affiliate program of the Doerr School of Sustainability, noted that the group is involved in fostering awareness of Indigenous perspectives, including human rights and environmental sustainability, by inviting Congolese experts and members of frontline communities to discuss these issues. 

Earlier this year, Mineral-X hosted visitors from the DRC Ministry of Mines to discuss sustainable innovations in the mining sector. Yin will also facilitate upcoming conversations between faculty, students and members of the Basandja Coalition, an Indigenous alliance composed of approximately 10,000 artisanal miners from the Congo Basin forest. 

The need for minerals to support the energy transition is fueling a boom in the mining sector, according to Yin. To identify high-grade subsurface mineral deposits in DRC, Mineral-X employs remote sensing data through use of AI and collaborates with geophysical service companies to increase the availability of data and transparency of mining practices.

“The artisanal miners are not fully informed. It is important to find a more hybrid mine and then have those discoveries be fully transparent, instead of hidden transactions,” Yin said.

At the intersection of its emphasis on education and community engagement, Mineral-X nurtures partnerships and initiatives with research universities in DRC, including the universities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. “The goal is to let the Congolese run their own mines, instead of foreigners owning and running the mines,” Yin said.

Through an education fund supported by the U.S. State Department, Mineral-X is working to establish a long-term computer lab for Congolese students to learn remotely from Stanford researchers regarding the use of AI in earth science. The program is part of a broader Mineral-X education initiative to establish a joint education program between DRC and Zambia to educate future generations in mining. 

“These projects are really exciting, and that’s why I’m also excited about this upcoming visit from DRC. We can combine awareness with education and research,” Yin said. “I believe that could be the future for finding a better solution.”

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GSC passes joint bill urging the decline of charges against Daily reporter

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) unanimously passes a bill asking Santa Clara County to decline pressing charges against Daily reporter Dilan Gohill ’27.

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The Graduate Student Council (GSC) passed a bill written jointly with the Undergraduate Senate (UGS) calling upon the University to urge the Santa Clara County District Attorney to decline to press charges against Daily reporter Dilan Gohill ’27 at its Monday meeting.

The bill, intended to protect student journalism, originally passed in the GSC last week but underwent revisions in the UGS and was subjected to another vote Monday. It passed unanimously after brief deliberation.

Gohill was arrested in June along with 12 student protestors while reporting for The Daily on a pro-Palestinian student group’s occupation of the president’s office. The bill calls upon the University to urge Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen to decline to press any legal charges against Gohill — which include felony burglary, vandalism and conspiracy — and to reconsider Gohill’s referral to the Office of Community Standards (OCS). 

The bill also expresses support for The Daily to revise and communicate changes to journalistic training to prevent such incidents from reoccurring. The bill states that Gohill had a “lack of clear guidance from his leadership at the Stanford Daily” and “acted in good faith.”

The GSC also deliberated a Union Relations Bill, which calls upon the University to accept the Stanford Graduate Workers Union’s (SGWU) position that a five-year 12-month funding guarantee should be a part of graduate workers’ contracts. 

The bill received mixed opinions. GSC co-chair and fifth-year chemistry Ph.D. student Emmit Pert expressed doubts about its effectiveness. 

“I’m struggling to see the actual impact this bill will have,” Pert said. Other council members raised concerns about the bill’s potential implications for GSC-University relations.

“We’re not here to make the University happy. We’re here to represent the students’ needs,” said councilor Pamela Martinez MFA ’25 in response to the concerns.

Pert also raised concerns about the legal implications of the bill. “We should get legal opinion before we do something that potentially has legal consequences,” Pert said. The GSC plans to consult legal experts before an anticipated vote on the bill in next week’s meeting.

Councilors also received updates from Residential & Dining Enterprises representatives regarding wine and beer licenses for the pub and graduate housing, approved funding requests for student organizations and introduced a bill to cut the GSC’s dining costs that has yet to receive a vote.

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