The executive editing team addresses The Daily's participation in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's lawsuit to protect free speech.
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Dear Community,
Yesterday, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on behalf of The Stanford Daily and two other individuals. The suit challenges two federal immigration laws that allow the government to revoke non-U.S. citizens’ visas for protected speech, including speech in student papers.
We understand the significance of the step we are taking as an independent student publication. Thus, we want to explain how we came to this decision and what it means for The Daily moving forward.
FIRE approached The Daily following a letter from the editors in which we identified growing concern among international students either in speaking to The Daily as a source or contributing as a writer or editor. Their trepidation stemmed from cases like Mahmoud Khalil’s and Rumeysa Ozturk’s, in which international students were targeted for speaking up on a political matter.
As a result of the administration’s actions, we saw a dramatic decrease in the number of international students willing to speak to The Daily. Those who did requested anonymity, which — while important to grant in some instances — can lead to declines in our overall credibility. Several international members of our own staff even left their positions at The Daily. Many of those who stayed requested to stop writing news articles related to protests or political events on campus and asked that their previous articles be taken off our website.
As an independent student paper whose mission is to represent the voices of the Stanford community, this fear of the government directly impacts the quality of our work. With every resignation and refusal to speak on the record, we actively miss out on covering an entire group of students’ voices — as well as the many events and stories on campus that benefit from an international student’s perspective.
So, after multiple meetings with The Daily’s board of directors and members of our own staff, we decided to move forward with the lawsuit. It was a decision we did not make lightly.
This suit will not affect the quality of our journalism or how we function as a paper. We will continue to report on Stanford with diligence and care, review the cultural and artistic events that shape us, keep readers informed on University administration, provide and platform thoughtful opinions and produce the videos, crosswords, photos and graphics that tie our coverage together. As we enter the school year, we look forward to welcoming the next generation of student journalists and taking on more stories that matter.
Importantly, the objectivity of The Daily will not be affected in any way by this lawsuit. This was not a political move — journalism exists to hold those in power accountable, regardless of who is in power. Our participation in this lawsuit has been to guard our First Amendment rights and ensure The Daily’s writers and editors can fulfill our mandate as a student paper: covering campus to the best of our abilities. The freedom for all students to speak with and contribute to The Daily is core to that mission.
Best,
Greta Reich ’26
Ananya Udaygiri ’26
Lauren Koong ’26
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Stanford to lay off over 360 staff following $140 million budget cutsAmid a $140 million budget shortfall, the University has begun widespread layoffs, with 363 staff affected so far.
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Stanford announced on Thursday that many schools and budget units have issued layoffs over the last few days as a result of the University’s $140 million budget cut for the upcoming academic year.
“This is a product of a challenging fiscal environment shaped in large part by federal policy changes affecting higher education,” Stanford president Jon Levin ’94 and Provost Jenny Martinez wrote in the announcement of the layoffs.
According to the University, a total of 363 layoffs have occurred thus far.
“This is a difficult step that affects valued colleagues who support Stanford’s mission of research and education,” University spokesperson Luisa Rapport wrote in an email to The Daily.
President Donald Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” that was signed into law on July 4 calls for an increase in Stanford’s endowment tax from 1.4% to 8%. In response to a higher endowment rate and Trump’s termination of over 4,000 federal funding grants nationwide, Stanford braces itself to navigate a challenging fiscal landscape.
The University said they provide support resources and layoff benefits to eligible employees. Eligible employees receive at least 60 days’ paid notice, a severance based on their years of service to the University, contributions to their benefit premiums for three months and outplacement assistance.
Still, the University acknowledged the consequences of its actions in affecting “valued colleagues and friends who have made important contributions to Stanford” in its announcement.
A Stanford library employee who chose to remain anonymous for fear of being laid off said that one of the library employees who was laid off had decades of service to the University.
“A job at Stanford used to be pretty stable… Now it feels like that sense of stability is gone,” the employee said. “People are pretty concerned about what the future holds, because it’s clear there’s not a lot of communication from the top.”
Despite the budget reduction and impending consequences, the layoffs came as a shock to many staff members.
“Many of us went to lunch not knowing what’s happening, what’s going on, and then all of a sudden some of our colleagues were just gone,” the library employee said.
Levin and Martinez set forth the need to “position the university to be resilient as federal policy evolves” in their June announcement of the $140 million budget reduction.
In Thursday’s announcement, the pair reaffirmed their commitment to their “vital ongoing mission of research and education” in guiding decisions and adaptation strategies to come.
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Stanford to continue legacy admissions, reinstate standardized test requirementsNew admissions criteria announced a continuation of legacy consideration and a reinstatement of the standardized testing requirement for class of 2030 applicants
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Stanford will continue considering legacy status while no longer being test-optional for the fall 2026 admissions cycle, according to the University’s newly released admissions criteria.
The move comes after Assembly Bill 1780, which will prohibit universities benefiting from state-funded financial assistance from “providing a legacy preference or donor preference in admissions… to an applicant.”
To comply with the new bill, Stanford will withdraw from the Cal Grant, a state-sponsored fund that supports Californian students in financial need. The University will be “replacing state-funded student financial aid with university funding, keeping our students’ financial support whole,” wrote Brad Howard, associate vice president of University communications, in an email to the Daily.
Regarding legacy admissions, Howard said there are “important issues on which there are many perspectives.” He added that the University will conduct “continued study and analysis” on the issue.
While Stanford will continue considering applicants’ legacy status, the University will no longer be test-optional for the upcoming fall 2026 admissions cycle.
Stanford’s renewed test requirements mean that applicants will have to submit either SAT or ACT scores, although the admissions office clarified that there is “no minimum GPA or test score.”
The decision to reinstate standardized testing was made public last year. In the announcement, the University wrote that “test scores represent only one part of a holistic review of each applicant to the university.” Academic potential will remain the primary factor on which applicants are evaluated, the University wrote, for which standardized tests serve as an important indicator.
According to Howard, the consideration of test scores was based on a faculty review that showed a strong correlation between standardized testing and academic performance at Stanford. The requirement’s “implementation was timed to allow students to prepare,” he wrote.
The decision reverses the previous removal of standardized testing as an application requirement in 2021.
Including test scores allows Stanford to “consider the fullest array of information in support of each applicant,” Howard wrote.
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Stanford chemist sues University for alleged anti-Semitic discriminationIsraeli chemist Shay Laps filed a lawsuit against professor and lab director Danny Chou, alleging that Chou’s falsified sexual harassment claims indicated anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli bias. The University stated that Laps’ allegations are “unsubstantiated.”
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A postdoctoral research fellow in the school of medicine, Shay Laps, filed a federal lawsuit on July 10 against the University and his lab director, Danny Chou, alleging anti-semitism and anti-Israeli discrimination.
Laps, who is Israeli, claimed Chou fabricated a false sexual harassment investigation against him without due cause, prompting Laps to leave the country as a result of his terminated immigration visa.
The suit alleges that Laps’ colleagues at the Danny Chou Lab — which studies chemical biology, protein engineering and structure biology — created a “hostile work environment” in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks because of his Jewish and Israeli background, “pushing him off campus [and] threatening his career with a dangerous lie,” according to the lawsuit.
“Stanford takes any allegation of antisemitism very seriously,” University spokesperson Dee Mostofi wrote in an email statement to The Daily. “In this instance and based on all the allegations that Dr. Laps reported directly to the institution, a thorough internal investigation found that they were unsubstantiated.”
Chou redirected all requests for comment to the University’s office of communication, who denied the allegations made in the complaint.
Talia Nissimyan of Cohen Williams LLP, one of the lawyers representing Laps, called the incident“one of the more extreme cases of retaliation I’ve ever seen,” in an interview with The Daily.
Represented by attorneys from Brandeis Center and Cohen Williams LLP, Laps accused the University and Chou of 17 complaints, including discrimination, retaliation, defamation and breach of implied contract.
In early January of 2025, the University concluded its initial investigation of discrimination, finding “the information gathered does not support that Dr. Laps was discriminated against because he was Jewish or Israeli.”
A few days prior, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) had notified Laps that his research proposal had been granted, awarding a three-year fellowship and a grant totaling $283,230 to allow him to continue his research at Chou’s lab.
The next month, a second investigation opened following Laps’ claims of retaliation against the first one, planning to determine whether Chou retaliated by ending Laps’ postdoc appointment as of March 31 and refusing to support the JDRF grant. This investigation concluded in April, with Stanford School of Medicine Dean Linda Boxer writing to Laps that “Dr. Chou’s conduct did not violate a university policy.”
In addition to Chou’s alleged retaliation, Laps also claimed that the University retaliated against him following his second suit. At the time of the second investigation, Laps alleged that the University submitted activation materials and wrote a letter to JDRF to amend the award from supporting three years of research to one year.
“What is really surprising about this case is Stanford’s involvement in what happened, both knowledge, and what was going on on campus generally… and what happened to Dr. Laps,” Nissimyan said.
On Feb. 26, Laps ended his postdoc appointment, feeling “forced by Stanford and Dr. Chou’s behavior,” according to the complaint. Upon the termination of Laps’ employment, the University informed Laps that he could legally remain in the U.S. on his J-1 visa for 30 more days, causing him to leave the country.
In the complaint, Laps also alleged that on April 1, 2024 – his first day in the lab as a postdoctoral appointee – the lab’s research assistant, Terra Lin, “instructed him never to speak with her in person.” Lin then proceeded to tell Laps he wasn’t welcome to sit with his colleagues at lunch, redirected her trash duties to him and delayed or “snapped at him” when Laps needed to order materials.
The complaint alleges that this escalated to Lin tampering with Laps’ research due to his Jewish and Israeli background, reflecting a University-wide trend of anti-Israeli sentiment. Since Hamas invaded and attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 250 Israelis hostage, students have conducted multiple protests on campus, leading to the arrest of 12 pro-Palestinian protestors last June who now face felony charges for breaking into the president’s office, a 120-day pro-Palestinian Sit-In To Stop Genocide and a hunger strike to advocate for Palestine.
“Dr. Laps also observed that Stanford was doing next to nothing to counter the hatred being sown by protestors on campus that it euphemistically attributed to ‘deep concern and passionate debate’ regarding ‘events in the Middle East,’” according to the lawsuit.
In July 2024, Laps alleged that he informed Chou of Lin’s alleged discrimination, but noted in his lawsuit that no steps were taken in response. The next month, Laps claimed that Chou called a meeting with Laps to inform him that “a serious complaint of sexual harassment had been made against Dr. Laps and that a Title IX investigation into Dr. Laps was now ongoing,” as stated in the complaint.
In the meeting, Chou allegedly encouraged Laps to leave the lab and avoid an investigation. Shortly after, Laps claimed he filed three similar complaints with University administration, believing he was being discriminated against because of his Jewish and Israeli identity.
Laps stated that he contacted the Title IX department directly for more information regarding the complaint. In response, Outreach and Student Resources Manager Miranda Tuttle informed both Laps and Chou in September that the Title IX office never received a complaint about Laps, and he was not under investigation.
According to the complaint, the Title IX office informed Laps and Chou that “Dr. Laps had never been found to have violated any Stanford policy and remained in good standing as he always had been,” and also that “Dr. Laps was protected from retaliation and intimidation going forward.”
In October, the School of Medicine opened an official investigation in response to Laps’ discrimination complaint, which allegedly prompted Chou to retaliate by “firing Dr. Laps, locking him out of the lab, attempting to create a false record, and defaming Dr. Laps to colleagues,” according to the suit.
The complaint states that Chou “directed Dr. Laps to immediately stop his research, and divert all of Dr. Laps’ attention to finding another lab” and told colleagues that Laps’ absence was due to a “legal licensing” issue with Laps’ work. The lawsuit claims that Chou also attempted to withdraw himself as Laps’ mentor in an application for a three-year research fellowship from the JDRF, which the pair applied for in June of 2024 and would have run through 2028.
Laps then informed Stanford administrators, including University president Jonathan Levin ’94 and School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor, of Chou’s actions, requesting another investigation into the alleged retaliation.
The University did not respond to requests for comment on Chou’s allegations of discrimination, retaliation and defamation.
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Men’s water polo coach cleared of second investigationA University investigation found “no substantiated evidence” that Brian Flacks retaliated against some water polo players, though the investigator will provide recommendations to resolve any negative impacts.
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A University-commissioned investigation found “no substantiated evidence” that men’s water polo head coach Brian Flacks retaliated against players, but it also concluded that some conduct within the program failed to meet Stanford’s standards for respectful behavior.
“Over the past nine months, I have faced allegations that challenged the values I’ve upheld throughout my career. Today I’m grateful to share that the investigations are over,” Flacks told The Daily.
This is the second investigation that Flacks has been cleared of in the past year. Last fall, the coach was investigated and cleared of emotional abuse allegations raised by parents of some. The investigation closed in February. In April, a second investigation opened based on student athlete concerns as at least three players met with Vice Provost Patrick Dunkley in March and filed formal retaliation complaints, according to a statement to The Daily from an investigation participant who requested anonymity.
“The message this sends to student-athletes at Stanford is unmistakable: ‘If you see something, don’t say something,’” they wrote.
In a statement to The Daily, an athletics department spokesperson said an outside investigator interviewed 44 witnesses and reviewed more than 1,000 documents during a 10-week inquiry.
“Based on a preponderance of the evidence, the claims of retaliation were not substantiated,” the spokesperson said.
The same review also determined that “certain individuals within the water polo program” fell short of University expectations, prompting recommendations for Flacks to “improve team culture” and refine his coaching style with help from a professional mentor. The University did not specify who the “certain individuals” were.
“With the investigations concluded, Coach Flacks and his staff will move forward with the full support of Stanford Athletics leadership, in working with our players and staff to achieve competitive excellence in their sport,” the statement said.
Flacks, hired in 2022 and just the fifth head coach in the history of the program, expressed gratitude to those around him who supported him as the investigation unfolded.
“The support from current and former players, their families, my coaching staff, and Stanford Athletics has been overwhelming. Most importantly, I want to thank my wife, Katherine, for her unwavering love and strength,” he said.
Ryan Ohl, a sophomore on the team, said the conclusion of the investigation removes a major distraction.
“We’re excited to get back to focusing on water polo and winning a national championship,” he said.
Ohl described Flacks as “a passionate and incredible coach who looks for the best in all of his players” and said his team “is a family.”
Other team members feel differently. One water polo player who requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation wrote to The Daily that Stanford “effectively endorsed retaliatory actions by a head coach against students to further enforce a troubling culture of silence and intimidation.”
The player added that the University “chose to prioritize its image, reputation and relationships with those in positions of influence over the very student-athletes it is responsible to care for.”
In another response to the investigation’s findings provided to The Daily, an investigation participant who also requested anonymity called the outcome “a cautionary tale.”
“The student-athletes involved in two formal investigations followed every proper channel, repeatedly bringing their concerns to two Athletic Directors and four senior administrators. Each time, their experiences were downplayed and dismissed,” the participant said. “But this conclusion defies logic and common sense given the extremely negative and long-lasting impact [Flacks’] callous and calculated actions have had on the student-athletes.”
A spokesperson for Flacks denied these “unfounded allegations.”
The investigator on the case will provide recommendations to Flacks in an effort to improve the program overall.
“Moving forward, Coach Flacks will follow those recommendations and will also work with a professional coach who can provide individualized feedback,” said the spokesperson for the athletics department.
While the investigations are closed, those who believe their concerns were ignored plan to keep pressing for change.
“Stanford should be leading the NCAA,” the anonymous player said. “Instead, it hopes to sweep unethical behavior under the rug and hope truth-telling student-athletes will go away.”
For Flacks and his supporters, the priority now is returning their full focus to water polo and building the program. A source close to Flacks added that three of the nation’s top four recruits in the class of 2026 have reaffirmed their commitments to The Farm and that no prospect decommitted during the investigation.
“The future is very bright, and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Ohl said.
“Moving forward, my focus is clear: to continue building a championship culture at Stanford alongside the most dedicated student athletes in the world. This chapter has only deepened my commitment to our shared values and our goal to educate and compete at the highest level,” Flacks said.
This article has been updated to provide further comment from Flacks’ spokesperson.
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Stanford graduate Maxime Raynaud joins the NBA as a Sacramento KingRecent graduate Maxime Raynaud '25 will play for the Sacramento Kings during the 2025-26 season.
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Stanford graduate Maxime Raynaud will play for the Sacramento Kings during the 2025-26 season after his selection in the NBA draft.
The Kings used the No. 42 overall pick in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft to draft Raynaud. The 7-foot-1 French big man had a standout senior year at Stanford, where he averaged 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, making him the only player in the country to achieve those numbers that season.
Born and raised in Paris, France, Raynaud arrived at Stanford for the 2021-22 season. After being a reserve as a freshman, he moved quickly up the depth chart and became a starter by his second year. After a solid junior year, the Cardinal fired head coach Jared Haase, which made Raynaud question leaving the team. However, he decided to stay and had a breakout season, making first team All-ACC alongside Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NBA draft. He also won the Skip Prosser award as the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year.
His 10.6 rebounds per game led the ACC and ranked ninth nationally. He finished second nationally in double-doubles with 25, behind UAB’s Yaxel Lendeborg who had 26. Raynaud also set a new Stanford single season rebounding record with 371.
“Max possesses a very unique combination of size, skill and ability that really mirrors a lot of the big players in today’s game of basketball,” Kings general manager Scott Perry stated in Raynaud’s introductory press conference. “He’s a double-double machine there at Stanford. We think he has a lot of growth and development in front of him and can be very helpful.”
As for Raynaud, he shared his excitement to start his NBA journey at the same press conference where he shared the stage with the Kings’ second round draft pick, Nique Clifford.
“I’m glad we get there but once again it’s not the finish line, this is just the start. This is where you have to double down your work, you have to listen even more, you have to adapt and I think we’re both willing to do that,” Raynaud said.
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University Board chair Lily Sarafan faces lawsuitDallas real estate executive Jared Caplan is suing Sarafan for alleged fraud, seeking monetary relief of over $1 million.
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Dallas investor Jared Caplan filed a lawsuit on July 17 against University Board chair Lily Sarafan ’03 MS ’03, accusing her of fraudulent inducement, fraud by nondisclosure, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
A statement to The Daily from Sarafan’s legal counsel — Kirkland & Ellis partner Jeremy Fielding — called the allegations “meritless” and “a PR stunt designed to pressure a multimillion-dollar settlement by exploiting Ms. Sarafan’s public profile.”
Caplan claims that as a smaller investor within the Home Care Assistance (HCA) franchise network, he was defrauded by Sarafan, who was the CEO of HCA until November 2020. Caplan seeks monetary relief of over $1 million.
Caplan invested in HCA, an in-home healthcare service for seniors, in 2015. Tad Smith, Sarafan’s successor, rebranded the company as TheKey in 2022, with a stated aim of elevating health and quality of life for seniors.
Caplan claims Sarafan secretly built TheKey to replace HCA’s franchise system, defrauding him of investments in time, effort and money that were necessary to build his franchise office.
In a statement sent to The Daily, Kirkland & Ellis partner and counsel to Sarafan, Jeremy Fielding, said that Caplan’s dispute stems from “repeated attempts to coerce a buyout of his business using threats and intimidation.”
According to the 22-page lawsuit, Caplan claims that Sarafan built a corporate network through a “bait-and-switch” scheme to induce Caplan into a business agreement. He asserts that Sarafan had waited for him to incur the costs and risks of investment before forcing a sale of his franchise back to TheKey at a steeply depreciated price, yielding a 20% to 25% profit margin for the corporate network.
“[Sarafan] had HCA approach the franchisees about buying out their franchise at depressed prices before they could become too successful,” Caplan wrote in his petition to the Dallas County Court.
Sarafan partnered with private equity firm Summit Partners in building TheKey, which Caplan characterized as being part of an underhanded strategy to build a competing corporate model.
“Now that Ms. Sarafan has turned the tables in pursuit of the corporate, private equity funded business model of TheKey, the HCA brand and support for those efforts has been aggressively diminished,” Koddie Bennion, one of Caplan’s attorneys, wrote in a statement to The Daily.
Bennion added that Sarafan had perpetrated “fraud and broken promises.”
In Caplan’s original petition, he said that his North Texas franchise had been valued at $20,975,400. HCA valued the franchise below $4,000,000.
According to the statement by Fielding, Caplan’s dispute stems from “repeated attempts to coerce a buyout of his business using threats and intimidation.”
“We are confident the court will find the allegations to be meritless and resolve the matter in our favor,” he added.
This article has been updated to clarify the length of Sarafan’s tenure as HCA CEO and better contextualize Fielding’s statement.
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California sues Trump administration as health care providers suspend gender-affirming care for youthStanford Medicine, Children’s Hospital LA and Kaiser stopped gender-affirming care for children this summer. In response, California and 15 other states filed a lawsuit against the government.
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Stanford became one of the first major health care providers in California to limit transgender care in June, along with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Kaiser Permanente. The three health care providers cited efforts by the Trump administration to restrict gender-affirming care in their decisions.
In January, the President signed Executive Order 14187 titled, “Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation.” The order directed federal agencies to prohibit hospitals and medical schools that receive federal grants from providing gender-affirming care to youth. It was blocked by a federal judge in March.
In June, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting gender transition care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for minors.
Stanford Medicine paused all gender-affirming surgeries for patients younger than 19, beginning June 2.
The gender-affirming surgery program, housed within the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, provides care to the gender diverse community as part of Stanford’s larger LGBTQ+ health program. Through collaborations with specialties spanning mental health, endocrinology, primary care, urology, voice therapy and surgery, the program offers procedures including face, chest, body contouring, genital surgeries and more.
In an email to The Daily, Senior Manager of Media Relations for Stanford Medicine and Stanford Health Care, Lisa Kim, wrote that the step was a difficult decision, made “after careful review of the latest actions and directives from the federal government and following consultations with clinical leadership” and to protect both providers and patients.
“We remain committed to providing high-quality, thorough, and compassionate medical services. This includes supporting our gender-affirming care program in compliance with federal and state laws and regulations,” Kim wrote.
Stanford Medicine’s gender clinic remains open for a range of medical, social, and mental health support. Stanford Medicine also continues to host The PRIDE Study, the LGBTQ+ Health Program and the Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles closed its Center for Transyouth Health and Development and Gender-Affirming Care surgical program on July 22, as reported by ABC7’s Eyewitness News in June.
Kaiser Permanente will pause gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19 beginning Aug. 29, according to a CalMatters report. All other gender-affirming care treatment remains available.
On July 9, the Department of Justice issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that perform transgender medical procedures on children.
During the past month, protesters have rallied against the scaling back of gender-affirming care in California in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a multistate coalition, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday over its “efforts to restrict access to healthcare for transgender, intersex, and nonbinary youth.”
In a press conference, Bonta said: “Trump, Bondi and their allies have undermined trained medical professionals, trampled over states’ rights, overstepped their constitutional authority and have endangered vulnerable minors and 18-year-old adults.”
Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Connecticut — who are leading the lawsuit — as well as attorneys general of Delaware, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also joins.
“Today’s lawsuit aims to address the root cause of this problem and hold the Trump administration accountable, ensuring that we continue to safeguard and uphold the healthcare rights and freedoms of our transgender community,” Bonta said at the press conference.
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d4vd’s ‘WITHERED’ World Tour opens with emotion, intimacy and promiseAt just 20, d4vd opened his first headlining tour in a steamy, rose-strewn Warfield — balancing emotional depth with a few chaotic sound glitches and leaving fans screaming for more.
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The Warfield in San Francisco was already buzzing with energy when I walked in on July 30, the kickoff date of d4vd’s Withered World Tour. Opener Bryant Barnes — a fellow R&B artist — had the crowd hooked well before d4vd took the stage. With his angelic vocals and easy command of the room, Barnes set the tone for the intimate night ahead.
Even before the music began, it was clear it wasn’t going to be a typical concert experience. In the lobby, fans were greeted by a coffin-shaped casket, a portrait of d4vd wrapped in gauze (depicting his tormented alter-ego, ITAMI), a guest book to leave “condolence” messages and red pins reading “RIP ITAMI.” The setup signaled that this tour was the end of an era: the “death” of lo-fi artistry defined by emotional decay, one final bloom before the rose withered.
Inside the venue, white roses lined the stage. Soft purple lights shifted into pulsing strobes. The atmosphere felt immersive, as if we’d stepped directly into the world d4vd was building. And when he finally emerged wearing a Hello Kitty hoodie with Labubu plush dolls clipped to his belt, the crowd erupted. Over the next 80 minutes, d4vd delivered an emotionally charged, genre-blending set that showcased both his rising star power and raw vulnerability. Though there were a few small hiccups, including brief mic issues and moments when he paused to catch his breath, they never took away from the warmth and depth of his performance.
He opened with “What Are You Waiting For,” immediately setting an urgent tone. The crowd’s response was electric, their voices rising to meet him with unfiltered enthusiasm. That energy surged even higher with “Backstreet Girls,” a playful, catchy standout. Fans FaceTimed their friends mid-song, eager to share the moment as The Warfield transformed into one big singalong.
Then came “Here With Me,” and the energy shifted. d4vd encouraged the audience to sway side to side, creating a rare intimacy for a venue that size. With every lyric belted by the entire crowd, it was a powerful moment that underscored the emotional sincerity of his music.
Halfway through the set, he premiered an unreleased collaboration with Keshi titled “Summer Don’t End.” With a breezier speed, it offered a welcome contrast to the emotional weight of earlier songs.
“I needed to make something lighter,” d4vd said to the audience. The tone of the track felt like a window into his next chapter — maybe a more hopeful one.
He followed up with “I’d Rather Pretend” followed, for which Bryant Barnes returned to the stage. Their voices blended seamlessly, complementing one another with ease. It was a moment of mutual respect and collaboration, and the audience responded with warmth.
The night continued to build with “Feel It,” a track popularized by the animated series “Invincible.” Here, d4vd’s vocals rang out clearly — breathy, playful and bright. The crowd jumped up and down through the chorus before erupting in cheers, matching his emotional intensity beat for beat.
Then came “Romantic Homicide,” one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the night. The lights turned red, the live rendition featuring subtle vocal flourishes and delicate contributions from his band, making the already haunting song feel even more layered and intimate. The crowd sang along to every word.
As the show neared its close, “After Life” brought a final tonal shift. The lighting dimmed and a hush fell over the room. The collective energy softened into stillness, allowing the crowd to sit with the emotional weight of the night. This song was reflective, a cool-down after the emotional highs.
Though the show contained a few imperfections, they only added to his authenticity. In the face of nerves and occasional technical glitches, what stood out most was d4vd’s connection with his fans and the emotional honesty of his performance.
For a 20-year-old headlining his first tour, this wasn’t just a solid debut. It was a statement of intent — to lead with connection, honesty and imagination in a way that reflects and resonates with his generation.
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My experience at the Stanford Veritas Forum: Hennessy and Gelsinger on leadership, ethics and AIEspinoza reflects on his time at the Stanford Veritas Forum.
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On the evening of April 30, I found myself in a packed Bishop Auditorium at Stanford University, surrounded by over 500 students, faculty, alumni and community members, with an overflow room to accommodate the enthusiastic crowd. We had gathered for the Stanford Veritas Forum, a student-organized event dedicated to exploring life’s deepest questions at the intersection of faith, reason and culture. I was particularly eager to hear from two tech industry giants: John Hennessy, former Stanford president and current chairman of Alphabet, and Patrick Gelsinger, former CEO of Intel and a key contributor to the development of USB and Wi-Fi.
The forum was moderated by Elli Schulz ’25, president of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and vice president of Vox Clara, a student-run magazine partnered with Veritas. It offered a unique opportunity to connect with leaders who have shaped the tech world while reflecting on identity, purpose, ethics, and faith. Elli, whom I’ve known since 2022 through Chi Alpha — one of Stanford’s most diverse and largest Christian organizations — brought calm confidence, lighthearted humor and sharp questions to guide the hour-long conversation. She was the ideal moderator, given her passion for apologetics and dedication to faith and work.
Elli opened the discussion with: “Success isn’t just what we achieve vocationally, but it’s who we are as a person, our values, and how we treat others.” This set a profound yet grounded tone for the rest of the event.
The warmth between Hennessy and Gelsinger was striking, their friendship dating back decades. Hennessy had been Gelsinger’s professor at Stanford, and they reminisced about old times, laughing over Gelsinger’s nickname for Hennessy — “Mr. Risk” — and their public debates. Gelsinger called Hennessy “the best teacher” he ever had, underscoring their genuine mutual respect.
As the conversation unfolded, their insights on success, resilience and ethics captivated me. Gelsinger’s emphasis on integrity stood out: “If you want to piss me off, really get me angry, question my integrity, because to me that is by far the most important thing. I’m gonna beat you, and I’m gonna do it ethically.”
His words resonated deeply, showcasing achievement without compromised values. As an entrepreneur, I related strongly, striving to overachieve while staying humble, honoring my Peruvian roots and giving back to communities. It reminded me of core priorities: family first, community and values.
Through Pan Peru USA, the nonprofit I founded and lead, I continue my mother’s legacy by building libraries for underserved kids, reforesting thousands of trees in the Andes and empowering rural women entrepreneurs in her hometown at 12,600 feet elevation. With my mom currently battling Parkinson’s, balancing Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and caregiving in Peru has been challenging — I’ve missed Stanford weddings, conferences and board meetings to be in Lima, but I regret nothing. It echoes Gelsinger’s book, The Juggling Act.
The discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) drew me in further. Immersed in Stanford’s AI research, I found Hennessy’s view sobering yet inspiring. He acknowledged AI’s potential but cautioned: “AI needs leaders who think about how this technology gets deployed for good in the world rather than for negative consequences… It’s a lot more powerful than social media, so we have to think a lot harder about how we push it in directions that benefit society.”
This highlighted innovation’s responsibilities. It recalled my interview with Judith Estrin ’77 — Internet pioneer, Cisco’s first CTO, and Stanford alum in electrical engineering — for my book “Differences That Make A Difference”. Expecting tech gadgets at our Menlo Park coffee meet, she brought pen and paper, sharing regrets over the Internet’s negative impacts, especially on female teens. I agree with Hennessy: we must critically steer AI to benefit Stanford, the Bay Area and global society.
Elli boldly asked about balancing demanding careers with family and personal life. Their advice on mentorship, boundaries and relationships felt applicable. In my MS&E course with lecturer Jack Fuchs, noticing his tennis shoes led to suggesting a match, fostering a relational bond. Today, we play weekly in Portola Valley and have attended the French and Australian Opens. Despite differing faiths — he’s Jewish, I’m Christian — we share grace before meals in gratitude.
Gelsinger’s Christian faith was powerful, describing it as his life’s foundation. Quoting Colossians 3:23–24: “Work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” It drives his generosity — he and his wife donate 53% of their income: “Make all that you can, so you can give all that you can.” This inspired rethinking my priorities: caring for my mom Julia, leading Pan Peru USA in Silicon Valley, and serving on Notre Dame de Namur University’s board. While investing heavily in Pan Peru, a 501(c)(3), I could support more Stanford nonprofits and friends like Nicole Benalcázar-Pavlik ’25 (Chi Alpha vice president) and Erin Liwen Su ’25 on mission trips.
During Q&A, questions on AI policy, success, faith and life arose. Gelsinger’s resilience insight stuck: “You grow in failure, you grow in challenge. And if you’re not failing, you’re not challenging yourself. Character is refined in failures, it is gained in failure.” It freed me from fearing mistakes.
Post-event, the energy buzzed. I debriefed with friends over Chipotle; Gelsinger chatted with attendees. Hennessy praised Elli before leaving: “You did a great job — balanced and sharp.”
Gelsinger added: “What a fabulous evening. I’m always happy to share the stage with John.”
The Veritas Forum, founded at Harvard in 1992 with a strong Stanford history, fosters honest dialogue on big questions. For me, it was an invitation to reflect on purpose, ethics and belief in a fast-paced world. Hennessy’s closing lingered: “When you get to be my age and you look back on life, what you want to know isn’t how much money you made or anything else, it’s how many people’s lives you improved along the way.”
I left challenged to impact not just tech, but lives around me.
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‘Superman’ (2025) is a super character filmDespite a lackluster plot, James Gunn again makes it clear he understands superheroes, Barrett writes.
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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.
This review contains spoilers.
How do you even begin to make a “Superman” film? He just might be the most iconic superhero of all time. We’ve seen the Christopher Reeve version, the Henry Cavill version and, probably most famously, the Nicolas Cage Superman. Now it’s time for David Corenswet to don the red undies in “Superman” (2025).
But it’s not just Corenswet’s moment, as eyes fall on James Gunn, the film’s writer and director and co-head of DC Studios. After seeing “Superman” twice in theaters, I have some thoughts… 1,400 words worth.
The film picks up a few weeks after Superman (David Corenswet) apparently defied national security interests by stopping the fictional country of Boravia, a U.S. ally, from invading the neighboring (also fictional) nation of Jarhanpur. Capitalizing on the controversy, billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) convinces the U.S. government to allow him to take Superman prisoner.
Meanwhile, Superman, whose real name is Clark Kent, has dinner with his girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), who works with him at Metropolis’ leading newspaper, The Daily Planet. As Lois criticizes his journalistic ethics and involvement in Jarhanpur, she starts to doubt their relationship. Superman allows himself to be taken prisoner with the hopes of finding his canine superpet, Krypto, who was kidnapped by Luthor.
After rescuing Krypto and breaking free from Luthor’s pocket dimension prison, Superman once again jumps into action to save the city of Metropolis from being torn apart by Luthor. At the film’s climax, Luthor reveals he orchestrated the conflict with Boravia so that he’d have an excuse to kill Superman. However, Superman prevails: Luthor is defeated and arrested, with Lois and Superman left happy as ever.
This film’s storyline leaves much to be desired. At times the plot feels pointless, lacking a dramatic drive. Superman is mainly a reactionary force and has a different goal each act — making the plot feel utterly disjointed. In the first act, his goal is to convince Lois that his actions in Jarhanpur were justified, while she questions his actions like a proper journalist. In the second act, his relationship is sidelined as his mission becomes rescuing Krypto and escaping Luthor’s prison. In the third act, his goal is simply to defeat the central antagonist, Luthor, and his superpowered allies.
There is no throughline to Superman’s story — instead, the audience is bounced from one storyline to the next, with the hope that everything will be wrapped up at the end. The film feels more like three episodes of a television series that lead to a season finale. If you’re searching for a throughline, look to Luthor, who, unlike Superman, has a single goal he’s continuously working towards. You could argue “Superman” is Luthor’s story, as Superman acts mostly in reaction to him.
Story is hard, but casting isn’t a piece of cake either. The director John Frankenheimer once said, “Casting is 65% directing.” This is probably most true for superhero films, where celebrity casting turns great characters into soulless husks. That’s why it’s so incredible that here, Corenswet steps up. He perfectly plays up Superman’s wholesomeness, awkwardness and naiveté. He expertly navigates all sides of the character, from anger to grief to heroic conviction.
Plus, his chemistry with Brosnahan is astounding. This is exemplified in a scene demonstrating the differences between Clark and Lois as she schools him on journalistic ethics. Gunn makes an effort not to fridge Lois, “fridging” being the infliction of harm on female characters to serve as motivation for male characters. Given how common this trope is in the superhero genre — in fact, the term originates from the comic book in which Green Lantern’s girlfriend was killed and stuffed into a refrigerator — I’m happy that Gunn lets Lois be a character and not a plot point.
On the antagonistic side, Hoult approaches Luthor with ferocious commitment, delivering monologues with the authoritative might and emotion of a Shakespearean actor, his loathing for Superman emanating throughout his scenes. Corenswet was excellent casting, but Brosnahan and Hoult were strokes of brilliance.
Beyond the three major players, the rest of the massive cast did an excellent job, in large part thanks to Gunn’s writing. He gives everyone a specific role to play — no character is just there to sell toys. The only exceptions to this are Luthor’s two goons, Ultraman (Corenswet and Albert Valladares) and the Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría), who have no purpose other than giving Superman somebody to fight in action sequences, since Luthor lacks the strength to go toe-to-toe with him. I can forgive Ultraman because it’s revealed at the film’s climax that he’s a clone of Superman, created by Luthor who feeds him instructions from a distance. Superman is forced to defeat Ultraman’s brawn and Luthor’s brain combined, which is a compelling matchup.
Another notable stroke of genius from Gunn: he managed to write a Superman movie without using traditional kryptonite, a mineral that has historically served as Superman’s primary weakness. I’m tempted to argue Gunn did this to spite the common critique that Superman is boring because he only has one weakness. Gunn crafts numerous ways to defeat Superman, such as restricting his access to the yellow sun (from which he derives his power) or filling his lungs with nanobots. Kryptonite does make an appearance in the film, but not because Luthor is rich and can just acquire it in bulk. Luthor kidnaps Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), a metahuman with the power to change his body into any element, and forces him to turn himself into kryptonite so Superman can be kept prisoner. When it comes to kryptonite, Gunn refuses to take the easy way out — forcing us to watch how vulnerable Superman can be and how brilliantly evil Luthor is.
When adding to a canon as massive and legendary as that of “Superman,” people will naturally ask what this film has to offer. Why does this story need to be told? How is it different or special? I believe Gunn’s “Superman” serves the same purpose as “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017) and “The Batman” (2022). All three films approach their protagonists with an untraditional origin story that sidesteps how they got their powers and centers on how they craft their superhero ideology.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” focuses on Peter Parker becoming the “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,” rather than an Avenger wannabe. “The Batman” tells the story of Batman becoming a protector and a crusader for justice rather than a vengeance-obsessed vigilante. We get to see the heroes in their developmental years, their awkward phase. Spider-Man flounders around looking for crime while Batman glides into train platforms. If I may throw in a minor spoiler for “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (2025): that film, too, rushes through the Four’s origin story to get to the core theme of family.
In a similar vein, “Superman” (2025) gives us a Superman who’s just getting his footing. He’s noticeably weaker than his previous portrayals. His landings are sloppy, Luthor can easily get a rise out of him and he spends his time working on superhero soundbites. When working with the Justice Gang, he has the makings and soul of a leader as he tries to spare the life of the creature they’re fighting, but ultimately he’s powerless to command the situation. He simply soars around saving people and muttering the old infomercial adage: “But there’s gotta be a better way!”
He’s not the mature, seasoned leader of the Justice League that he’ll surely become. For most of the film, he isn’t quite the Superman we know and love because he’s still becoming the Superman we know and love. The film is Clark’s journey of accepting he’s as flawed as any Earthling, and that’s what makes him a true human: he fails, he’s unpopular at times and what’s super about him is that he’s a man. This is the core of Superman’s character, and Gunn’s understanding of this gives me faith in his DC universe (although I never had doubt).
This is why I can excuse the disorganized plot: it’s a character film. Luthor’s story matters because Luthor is a static character. It’s okay for Clark to be reactionary because his story is internal. It’s not a film where you wonder if Superman is going to save the day, because he kind of always does. Gunn decides to focus on the question of who Superman is.
It’s safe to say that Superman stands as a symbol of hope for the cinematic future of DC. Gunn’s worldbuilding and respect for his characters predict great things to come. Welcome to the Hall of Justice, Superman. The other Super Friends should be arriving shortly.
Author’s Note: Long live the Mighty Crabjoys.
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‘Don’t know what we will do’: University dissolves Office for Inclusion, Belonging and Intergroup CommunicationThe University cited financial and organizational reasons for shutting down the office. Some of IBIC’s programs will be absorbed by the Office of Student Engagement.
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The University dissolved its Office for Inclusion, Belonging and Intergroup Communication (IBIC) on July 11, laying off its director, Ester Sihite, and one part-time employee. Some of the office’s programs and one staff member were absorbed into the Office of Student Engagement (OSE).
The approximately 35 student employees of the office were notified of the news in an email from Assistant Vice Provost for Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning Samuel Santos on June 12. Santos explained in the email that “ongoing fiscal challenges” were a factor in making the decision.
“The reorganization decision was made to preserve and strengthen core elements of student life while anchoring and integrating them within a broader portfolio focused on student wellbeing and engagement,” Santos wrote in an email to The Daily.
The IBIC office, which was established in 2016 as the Diversity and First-Gen Office, led workshops and consultations across the University about identity, belonging and difference. The office also hosted programs such as the Peer Facilitation Program and sponsored the academic courses PSYCH 103F: “Intergroup Communication Facilitation” and LEAD 152: “Dialogue Lab: Exploring and Cultivating Our Capacity to Engage Across Difference.”
The mission of the office was to build capacity for dialogue across differences and help community members feel belonging, according to Sihite, who has been director since 2022. From 2022 to 2024, the IBIC office led over 60 workshops and projects, and engaged over 1,300 participants, according to an IBIC pamphlet.
Sihite told The Daily that she learned the IBIC office would be dissolved and she would be laid off in a June 11 meeting with University administration. She added that the reasoning behind the decision was not conveyed clearly to her. The way the decision was communicated was one of the most “distressing” aspects of the news for Sihite.
“I didn’t get any information about what was happening, that there was going to be some type of a [reorganization], and that one person was staying on,” she said, referring to OSE Operation Assistant Director Zayna Seyedi. “I was basically just told, ‘We’re sunsetting the office, and today’s your last day.’ That was it.”
Sihite said she hopes that “there will be a clear picture of what it means to withstand the current times and all of the political realities, the financial realities, the institutional realities, while also tuning into the needs and interests of students who want to be better citizens of the world and more reflective and more including members of the Stanford community.”
Student employees with summer positions at the IBIC office were relocated to the OSE for the summer. The University plans to continue the Peer Facilitation Program and Faces of Community under the OSE, according to Santos.
“These programs will continue to be vital components of our campus community, providing students with meaningful opportunities for dialogue, connection and learning,” Santos wrote.
Sihite remains wary about whether these programs will stay the same.
“As a program that seeks to build a sense of belonging and community among new Stanford students, I just hope that there really is shared power in [Faces of Community] and that it remains a space where there’s helpful, constructive and also free expression of what current Stanford students want to share,” she said.
Former lead peer facilitator Jenna Ali ’25, whose summer fellowship was relocated to the OSE, is working this summer with Seyedi to determine the role of peer facilitators next academic year. According to Ali, administrators are not sure if it will be possible to continue the Peer Facilitation program and there is no clear plan for transitioning IBIC programs to the OSE.
“None of us thought that was going to happen,” Ali said. “It was really sad in the moment.”
In hindsight, Sihite says there was “writing on the wall” that hinted at changes to the IBIC office. While Sihite was conducting the “Certificate in Critical Consciousness and Anti-Oppressive Praxis” program in December 2023, the University unpublished the website and reviewed the curriculum in response to a complaint it recieved. The University did not respond immediately when asked for comment on this.
The dissolution of the IBIC office comes amid national attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and higher education. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to end DEI programs across federally funded agencies in January. He has specifically targeted Ivy League universities, reducing research funding and threatening to remove the visa status of international students. Earlier this year, Stanford removed DEI information from its websites and cut its budget due to reduced federal funding. The University stated in June that they are not engaging in special negotiations with the White House, unlike other universities.
Prior to the decision, IBIC office employees had been concerned that the office would be shut down due to Trump’s anti-DEI mandates, according to Ali. Ali speculated that the decision is correlated with the Trump administration’s mandates and that the University is dissolving programs that could put its funding in jeopardy. She added that the decision could also mean a shift in University priorities away from DEI.
The University did not comment on whether or how much of the funding for IBIC would be redirected towards other student programs.
The IBIC office also has not been permitted to fill a full-time position that has been vacant since October. However, Sihite said that nothing indicated to her that the office would completely cease to exist.
Ali, who has worked for IBIC since her sophomore year, said the office was a significant part of her Stanford experience. She emphasized the importance of the community the office had created.
“A lot of people who did experience workshops through the office really liked it, and we had built such a great community amongst the students and the professional staff,” Ali said.
Last year, the IBIC office conducted a bias training for Stanford Tour Guides prior to their annual hiring cycle. Tour guide student manager Olivia Jessner ’25, M.A. ’26 reported that the training was very successful, left positive impacts on participants and led to discussions that continued throughout the year.
“IBIC led the bias training in a very professional manner and in such a way that encouraged a lot of buy-in and active participation from the guides who were there, no matter their background,” she said.
She expressed disappointment over the closure of the office, as Stanford Tour Guides was hoping to make the IBIC bias training an annual tradition.
“I don’t know what we will do in the absence of the organization,” she said.
Former lead peer facilitator Ashwin Prabu ’25, who was also a teaching assistant for LEAD 152, said he was very sad to hear about the closure of the IBIC office, as he had developed very strong relationships with co-workers, received “incredible” mentorship and got the chance to grow as a leader and make a difference on campus.
“IBIC was truly a rare space of belonging and putting in that effort to dialogue and bridge-building and bringing people together to have those difficult conversations,” Prabu said.
He heard the news in the midst of senior celebrations and said it felt “odd” learning of the office’s closure as he prepared to leave Stanford.
“We did so much celebration with IBIC and I was excited to pass the baton and see the future of the office,” he said. “Because… I was part of the inaugural program, my cohort really built these programs from the start. I felt so proud that we really built something.”
The University’s commitment to belonging and engagement have not changed, according to Santos, who highlighted the continued work of the OSE in Greek life and Stanford’s eight Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership.
“The university’s commitment to an inclusive and welcoming campus remains steadfast under this reorganization,” Santos wrote.
“Having an office like the IBIC office was a really cool part of Stanford that made it stand out as a place of inclusion… and I feel like having programs like that is not that common at many universities,” Ali said. “So I just feel like, personally, it’s going to be a loss overall for Stanford that there won’t be a specific space for that anymore”
Prabu said it is especially important now for intergroup dialogue in a safe and organized way, at a time of heightened political division.
“[Stanford] really becomes a home to its students and when you spend so much time in a place, it is really important to make sure you feel included, you feel like you belong and you feel like you have community,” he said.
For former lead peer facilitator Sosi Day ’25, IBIC’s goal of understanding each unique person is important to continue pursuing now, amid “times of great division and dehumanization.”
“Without it, we will lose sight of each other and continue to follow hatred and anger,” Day said. “Losing the official space limits the formal possibilities for outreach and scope, and I think rebuilding those frameworks will be our community’s biggest challenge now.”
This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Zayna Seyedi’s name and to add context regarding the removal of the Anti-Oppressive Praxis program.
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Stanford names John Donahoe as next athletic directorStanford tapped veteran executive John Donahoe, former Nike CEO and longtime supporter, to succeed Bernard Muir as athletic director.
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Stanford named former Nike CEO John Donahoe MBA ’86 as its next Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics, the University announced on Thursday. Best known for holding top positions at Nike, Bain & Company and PayPal, Donahoe will officially take over on Sept. 8, stepping into the role at a time of seismic change for both Stanford athletics and the broader collegiate sports landscape.
Donahoe is not a traditional athletic director hire. A Dartmouth graduate with an MBA from Stanford, he began his career at Bain & Company, rising from consultant to CEO, before leading several high-profile companies in the tech, commerce and sportswear industries. Most recently, he served as CEO of Nike but also serves as the chairman of PayPal and is on the board of directors at the Bridgespan Group. His hire signals a pivot toward more executive-style leadership in college sports — likely a response to the era of name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, conference realignments and looming conversations around revenue-sharing.
Still, this isn’t uncharted territory for Donahoe. Throughout the years, he’s been a long-standing supporter of the University and its athletic mission.
“We needed a distinctive leader – someone with the vision, judgment, and strategic acumen for a new era of college athletics, and with a deep appreciation for Stanford’s model of scholar-athlete excellence,” University president Jonathan Levin ’94 wrote in the school’s announcement of the hire. “John embodies these characteristics.”
He will take the reins from Bernard Muir, who led the department for 12 years, guiding Stanford through dozens of NCAA championships and, more recently, the high-stakes move to the ACC. Stanford has continued to excel in Olympic sports but has struggled in its two highest-profile programs: football and basketball. The football team just wrapped its fourth straight 3–9 season amid the departure of head coach Troy Taylor due to bullying allegations. On the basketball court, the women’s team missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 36 years, while the men’s program has not made a March Madness appearance since 2014.
Donahoe’s arrival signals a long-term vision that prizes both academic and athletic excellence. With 36 varsity programs, a passionate donor base and a rapidly evolving national landscape, he steps into a role that is becoming increasingly complex and consequential.
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Tiësto turns Frost into a multi-generational raveA three-hour set with fans of all ages dancing nonstop under flashing lights and thunderous beats — at 56, Dutch DJ Tiësto still knows how to command a crowd.
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I’ve seen more than 15 artists perform at Frost Amphitheater, but none quite like Dutch DJ Tiësto. Presented by Stanford Live, Friday night’s show turned the scenic outdoor venue into a full-blown open-air rave. For three hours, his set stretched across generations and genres, delivering wave after wave of immersive sound. From the moment the first beat dropped just after 7 p.m. to the final chorus echoing under the stars, the crowd never stopped moving. There were no intermissions, no long monologues — just sound, light and pure energy. Nothing else was needed, because Tiësto’s show conveyed it all: nostalgia, euphoria and that singular feeling of being in sync with thousands of strangers to the same musical pulse.
Upon entering the venue, I was immediately struck by the sheer variety of fans and how everyone found their own rhythm. The pit was packed with Gen Z, while millennials and Gen X-ers spread out along the grass, giving themselves space to dance. The crowd was as diverse as it was unified. Visually, the show was dynamic, flashing strobe lights and animated backdrops that filled the stage and shifted constantly — bold colors, abstract shapes, the appearance of a bird, even a Minecraft-style animation of Tiësto and Post Malone during “Jackie Chan.” These moments didn’t just enhance the set; they elevated it into something far more immersive.
Tiësto’s set moved like a wave, rising, breaking and building again, with each hour delivering its own kind of high. The first hour leaned into more atmospheric, instrumental-heavy tracks, featuring few lyrics and a hypnotic blend of tempo and texture.
About an hour in, Tiësto finally grabbed the mic and said, “Stanford, how are you feeling? Are you ready for some classics?”
That question kicked the show into a new gear. From there, the set transformed into a remix-fueled thrill ride. Tiësto blended throwback tracks, new pop chart-toppers and EDM favorites with seamless transitions. Songs like “Kids,” “Set Fire to the Rain,” “Someone You Loved,” “Espresso,” “One More Time” and “Dancing on My Own” drew loud cheers and fresh energy from the crowd. He continued with a high-energy mix of “Wasted,” “Motto,” “Sweater Weather,” “Stan,” “Just Wanna Rock,” “Heads Will Roll,” “SkeeYee,” “Pump It” and “Someone I Used to Know,” keeping everyone guessing what would come next. The occasional lack of a beat drop created flickers of hesitation in the crowd, but any misstep was quickly erased by the next pulse of bass.
What truly made the night unforgettable was how effortlessly Tiësto commanded the crowd without needing constant interaction. His ability to build tension, signal a sonic shift or cue a synchronized hands-in-the-air moment appeared instinctual. The music simply spoke for him.
My favorite moments came during his mixes of “Set Fire to the Rain,” “Dancing on My Own,” “Sweater Weather,” “Stan” and a euphoric mashup of “Wasted” with “Midnight City.” Each transition felt handcrafted, as if it were meant for that moment, that crowd. The music wasn’t just heard, it was felt. Standing in the crowd, I could feel the bass vibrate through my body, syncing my heartbeat with thousands of others. It was movement, release and pure connection.
By the time he closed with the instantly recognizable “Kernkraft 400,” a stadium anthem-turned-EDM finale, the crowd was already beyond satisfied. It was the kind of ending that reminded you why certain songs live forever in public memory: because they bring people together in the most physical, joyful way.
When the beat dropped one last time, the lights flared in sync. And everyone was still dancing, still jumping, still wanting one more track.
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What a wonderful fountainGibbs shares his favorite summer activity on campus and encourages everyone to partake.
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When I first toured Stanford at the end of my junior year of high school, I remember the tour guide claiming that a defining feature of campus was the numerous fountains. I thought to myself, Fountains? Doesn’t every campus have a fountain? But then, she explained some of the various traditions that went with them, such as fountain hopping on a hot spring day and dyeing the water red in honor of Big Game Week. Okay, I guess they are kind of important, I thought.
However, she left out an important tidbit. So, let me tell you my favorite thing about summertime on campus. It’s something so Stanford that it’s bound to make you grin.
I invite you to first take a seat at the Coupa Cafe outside of Green Library. Grab a warm coffee (or my favorite: a mango smoothie) and perhaps a friend. A Saturday morning is the perfect time for this outing. Then, just sit and wait. It will come to you.
It might be in the midst of a fervent conversation or during the climax of a book or when you finally get to that one good reel (P.S. please do not be scrolling on beautiful summer days like these); slowly but surely you will notice it.
It starts with one innocent kid. He rolls up on a scooter wearing an oversized, blue helmet. You’ll be a little bit confused, thinking, Why is a kid coming to the Coupa Cafe at Green Library? Is he drinking coffee at this age? Is he already studying in the library at this age?!
Soon, you will realize. More and more kids arrive. Quickly, it becomes a whole swarm. Finally, the parents stroll up. The dad’s wearing a big straw hat and tank top, and the mom is in shorts and a ball cap. Behind them is a big ol’ wagon full of gear. Again, you think to yourself, That’s odd. Why are they in beach clothes? And why are they pulling that wagon?
Then, the parents give the nod and you immediately understand. In a flash, the kids dash towards the big red hoop. Mid-dash, they throw off their disguises to reveal sparkling swimsuits. The big blue helmet is no more, replaced with swim goggles in a flash. The shoes come off too (if the parents are lucky). They take three huge steps down and splash into the “red hoop fountain” (formally known as Shumway Fountain). The big smile never leaves their faces throughout the process.
You come to realize that this is not a coffee chat or study exercise — it’s the local neighborhood waterpark! You can’t wipe away the huge grin on your face.
Next, you look to the parents as they start to sprawl out. Out comes beach balls, toy dolls, towels, picnic blankets and snacks galore. It’s like a beach trip or lake outing — but it’s at the Stanford water fountain!
Things slow down and the smile slowly fades from your face. You return to your conversation or book or doom-scroll. But then, something grabs your eye. You look up and it’s kids again. Then, you look down at the fountain. Wait. The kids are still at the fountain.
And, before you can finish your next thought, a new set of children dash into the water without a moment’s hesitation. The smile returns again — larger this time. Now you know to not take your eyes off. In a few minutes, another family comes, then another and another. Soon, you look down at the fountain and think Man, I didn’t know fountains could fit that many kids. The waterpark’s at capacity — it’s packed!
You watch kids splash, parents laugh and dogs bark, all intermingled with the beaming sunshine and cool fountain water. As you eventually depart, the smile on your face is here to stay. You’ve had too much joy for it to be leaving any time soon.
I have been asked by many people why I chose Stanford. Sometimes, I think I don’t really know why. But, today I can tell you with utmost certainty why I chose Stanford. It’s because of stuff like this. We are a community who is really smart, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Where else do you have geniuses from across the world gathering together to make a waterpark out of a water fountain?
As I write this article on a warm and breezy Saturday morning, I watch this beautiful event replay over and over again. Not just in my head, but in real life too. I watch as packs of families crowd around the fountain and splash in it. I watch as people think, talk and laugh together. And, I think to myself, What a wonderful world.
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Time in a bottleGibbs reflects on graduations and the bittersweet changes that come with them.
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About a year ago this time, I was graduating from high school. No big deal. Just your average teenager from a small town who happened to hit it big. Who happened to hit it all the way to Stanford, California.
Yet, I can’t help but linger on what is no longer. I am no longer a high schooler, no longer a student at my rural, small town high school. Though my school was by no means perfect, I miss it — I’m nostalgic. Our school had this saying, “Once a Wildcat, always a wildcat.” Over the past few weeks, this has hit me. Hard.
Recently, I went to my sister’s college graduation. It hit again. That odd feeling you get in your stomach. It’s like sonder, but it isn’t. It’s one of those pivotal moments where you realize who you are and what’s actually going on in life. During this drawn-out graduation, it struck me: I’m no longer in high school. I am no longer the person I was in high school.
Graduations are such a powerful force. My campus minister recently told me about his favorite bookshop in Vermont. On the stones leading up to the bookstore is inscribed a quote: “Nothing is written in stone.” (Except, I guess, for that stone.)
However, I beg to differ. Graduations are written in stone. They signify the end of an era. That’s it. Once you walk across that stage, you are no longer a part of college. You can go to as many frat parties and cram as many p-sets as you want, but you will no longer do it as a college student.
A little while back, I stumbled upon senior Chloe Brown ‘25 working one of her near-to-last shifts ever at The Farm. She told me, “I love this job and I’m really going to miss it when I’m gone.” Once she graduates, she’ll never be a student intern again. She can arrange as many floral displays and pick as many flowers as her heart desires, but it won’t be as a Stanford student.
Somehow, in some way, I feel like the same thing is happening right now. As I am writing this at 3 a.m. in my dorm room, one of my closest friends is about to move out for the summer. But it doesn’t feel like only that. It feels like the end of an era. I am slowly watching the relationships and community that I have painstakingly built over the past year crumble into pieces. I am literally watching as my friends move away.
I’m confused. I thought periods of change were supposed to be bittersweet. Why is this just bitter? Why do I despise change? Change put me in the lofty place I am, and now it is kicking me down. Life, it ebbs and flows.
I move into sophomore year with more uncertainty than I would have ever expected. I would have thought that I had figured it all out. That I would have my friend group, classes, clubs, my everything. But, man, it sure isn’t feeling like that right now.
Instead, I feel like the crushing load of finals week has shown where my priorities are. I have been stressing to make sure that I can still get that A or A+ or whatever it might have been. I have been fretting over grades.
Let me tell you something that I hope I will eventually internalize: grades don’t matter. An arbitrary letter on a paper shouldn’t guide my life. The satisfaction I get from grades shouldn’t be my everything.
That close friend that is leaving in about five hours, let me tell you what he told me. It’s the simplest question but something that I don’t think I ever will have the answer to — nor should I. He asked me, “Will, what do you really want in life?”
For all my life, I probably would have said it would be to be in the place that I am right now. However, I want to propose a different answer. I don’t want grades, I don’t want money, I don’t want fame, success, love, athletic achievement. I don’t want any of it right now. Right now, I want time. I want to be able to freeze it in a bottle. To think about it. To cherish it. To live it.
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Lady Gaga rules the night at ‘Mayhem Ball’ in San FranciscoFrom crimson veils to leather jackets, Gaga reigned supreme at Chase Center, delivering a show that was equal parts chaos and control.
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If Lady Gaga’s 2025 Coachella set hinted at madness, her July 22 “Mayhem Ball” tour stop at Chase Center fully embraced that chaos — twisting it into ritual, revelation and joy. In San Francisco, a city that has long adored her, Gaga delivered a performance that was cinematic, intimate and bathed in symbolism. Split into four acts and packed with deep cuts, unexpected moments and one showstopping finale, the show was simply unforgettable.
The arena was briefly thrown into darkness. “Act I: Of Velvet and Vice” opened in crimson. Gaga’s towering red veil — part dress and part cage — hoisted the singer above the stage, the eerie toll of “Bloody Mary” welcoming us into her gothic kingdom. It felt like a mass for the wicked: sacred in scale, profane in detail. “Abacadabra” burst on next, and aggressive choreography from her dancers summoned sky-high energy.
The set quickly pivoted into “Judas,” signaling early on that this would be a show of reimagining, one that restaged past and present songs side-by-side with new meanings. Then came “Garden of Eden.” In black leather and a green-lit cyberpunk jungle, Gaga shredded on an electric guitar, eyes gleaming as she snarled through the chorus like a rock priestess. And just when the act seemed to teeter toward chaos, “Poker Face” dropped, bringing her dancers alongside her in full formation. It was the first moment of total communion, the closing chapter of an opening act that set the show’s tone: aggressive, decadent and utterly alive.
“Act II: And She Fell Into a Gothic Dream” shifted dramatically in tone. Gaga returned in a destroyed wedding dress — veil dragging behind her for what seemed like miles, silver armor glinting at her and crutches beneath her arms. “Paparazzi” became a ghost story: of fame, pain and spectacle. As she limped forward, the crowd held its breath. But by “LoveGame,” the veil lifted… literally. She ditched the crutches, revealing silver sequin boots that caught the light from every corner of the arena. “Alejandro” closed the act, Gaga framed in a golden hue, leading the crowd in a slow, waving rhythm that felt almost prayerful.
Then “Act III: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name” unleashed the monsters. Here, Gaga’s visuals leaned into horror, the dancers transforming into rave ghouls, the star herself donning spiked silhouettes and moving like she was half-doll, half-zombie. “Zombieboy” pulsed with horror-pop tension, but it was “Lovedrug” and “Applause” that reminded me that Gaga has always known exactly what she’s doing. The numbers illustrated how she turns showmanship into self-awareness, and surface into substance.
Then came “Just Dance,” which turned the arena into a euphoric nightclub. Everyone knew the words. Everyone danced. This act was less about precision and more about release and gritty, unhinged joy.
“Act IV: Every Chessboard Has Two Queens” was where everything snapped into focus. Opening with an extended intro to “Born This Way,” Gaga marched in a black military-style jacket reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s stage armor. Every movement, every vocal, every dancer — all were flawless in their timing, cohesion and sheer visual impact. And in San Francisco, where LGBTQ+ stories are woven into the very fabric of the city, the song hit especially hard, its significance amplified. Words from Gaga weren’t necessary. I could feel it in the audience.
Then came my favorite part of the night: the act’s emotional center, a three-song arc that unraveled on a literal chessboard, with Gaga cloaked in black and her red-dressed counterpart (another queen) moving opposite her. During “Million Reasons,” Gaga approached the red queen slowly, their hands meeting as if bridging timelines or selves. It was a beautifully staged metaphor — the pair were rivals, mirrors, maybe even past and future versions of herself. “Shallow” followed, with Gaga rowing a glowing boat beside her red queen as the audience belted along. Then she returned to center stage, shared a few heartfelt words about the late Tony Bennett (her musical collaborator) and commented that San Francisco has always been one of her most beloved cities.
“Die With a Smile,” played solo at the piano, was warm and unguarded. “Vanish Into You” took Gaga off the stage entirely. She walked among the crowd, offering high fives, eye contact, proximity. After all the grandeur, this quiet venture felt like an embrace.
Then came the moment that seemed like the finale: “Bad Romance.” Full fire, full choreography, full spectacle. The stage erupted in pyrotechnics and light, Gaga performing at the center. When the lights went black, many in the audience began to head for the exits.
But the show wasn’t over.
Just as the room began to exhale, the screen lit up one more time, depicting Gaga, backstage in a makeup room as she started “winding down.” Her voice cracked slightly as she began “How Bad Do U Want Me?,” and when she stepped back onstage, surrounded by her crew in a leather jacket, it became clear this last number was a tribute. Hours earlier, news had broken that Black Sabbath’s great Ozzy Osbourne had passed. Gaga’s final bow, surrounded by dancers, set to the unmistakable sound of Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” was equal parts celebration and elegy.
“We miss you, Ozzy,” she said into the mic, before waving her final goodbyes.
“Mayhem Ball” redefined the standard for a pop tour. It was strange, gorgeous, disjointed, heartfelt. It was Gaga through and through. And as the final lights dimmed, the message rang loud and clear: you can’t predict what Gaga will do next — but you’ll always want her to do it.
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Stanford Solar Car Project zooms to second place finish at Formula Sun Grand PrixAt this year’s Formula Sun Grand Prix, the Stanford Solar Car Project won second place in the Single Occupant Vehicle Class with its car, Azimuth.
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It’s the Fourth of July weekend, and solar-powered cars line up at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Teams from universities across the country have gathered for the Formula Sun Grand Prix, a three-day track race for solar-powered cars. After passing scrutineering, a three-day period of safety and specifications checks on their cars, the teams participate in the race from July 3 to 5.
As the race day arrives, the stakes are high. The teams are about to race cars that they have invested deep time and effort into over the past year or more. Students race their cars from sunrise to sunset, and sometimes work late into the night making repairs and fixing maintenance issues with their cars.
In this high-energy setting, the Stanford Solar Car Project (SSCP), a student-run organization working to develop environmentally sustainable solar cars, placed second in the Single Occupant Vehicle Class with their car, Azimuth. The results were determined based on the number of laps each car drove throughout the three day tournament. SSCP’s car drove 212 laps, or 667.8 miles.
“What’s really exciting about the Formula Sun Grand Prix is that it’s a once a year event where university teams from across the country are able to test the limits of the car they’ve been working on all year,” said SSCP array and strategy lead Sofie Roux ’26.
To compete this year, the SSCP team made changes to various parts of Azimuth, from its suspension system to its motor. In 2024, the team took the car to the Formula Sun Grand Prix, but as a result of new car standards the race implemented, they were unable to pass scrutineering in time to be competitive.
Beyond their efforts to pass scrutineering, SSCP also worked to rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic posed a challenge to the organization’s leadership.
“During COVID, a lot of our members graduated, leading to a huge gap in institutional knowledge,” said Ben Gao ’24 M.S. ’26. “Our faculty members had also left and being such a technical club, with a lot of engineering involved, we needed an advisor to keep us safe and on track.”
However, Gao said that SSCP is a historic club with a strong network of alumni who supported the team as they designed Azimuth, allowing them to navigate the hardship the pandemic posed.
As the results of the team’s work that earned them second place, Gao was inspired by the impact the race had on the team’s newer members.
“It was so touching to see the new students laughing and having fun and getting hands on, knowing those experiences are going to have a huge impact on their Stanford career and beyond,” Gao said.
Gaining firsthand engineering experience in a welcoming space is a significant part of SSCP’s mission.
“One of the biggest misconceptions people have about the team is that you need to have had previous high school robotics or engineering experience,” said safety officer Alec Klaudt ’28. “I basically knew nothing about engineering coming into the team, but it’s just a really welcoming environment.”
Roux added: “I think what we’ve shown is that we’re still able to have awesome outcomes as an engineering club while doing so responsibly and thoughtfully and taking care of and including all of our members.”
Moving forward, the team plans to continue expanding their mentorship of new members by using Azimuth to hone their strategies for racing while working to develop their next car.
“While Azimuth works, it’s probably the most reliable on the track, and it doesn’t have many miles on it,” said chief safety officer and mechanical co-lead Joseph Garcia ’25 M.S. ‘26. “It’s a great opportunity to bring up younger students and show them how to work on a car.”
On top of fostering a welcoming environment, the SSCP team aimed to keep its members as safe as possible as they designed and raced the car. Roux noted that during her first year in the club, before they could even see the car, the members met in a dorm common room to learn about how to handle the car safely.
“We went from not interacting with the car to being able to go to a race and come in second, which speaks to a a whole cohort of this generation of engineers who are doing a lot of really badass stuff like racing a car off of sunlight, but also doing so safely and with a good team culture and a sense of responsibility and care,” Roux said.
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Katy Perry shines sweet and surreal at Chase CenterWith cotton candy shoes, era-defining hits and a wink to the past, Perry’s San Francisco show was both a celebration and a reinvention: glittering, theatrical and full of heart.
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On July 18, Katy Perry turned San Francisco’s Chase Center into a kaleidoscope of nostalgia, camp and pop spectacle for her “Lifetimes” tour. For many of us in the crowd, the show wasn’t just a concert, but a celebration of girlhood, glitter and growth.
When Perry asked, “Who’s been with me since 2008?” I realized with a jolt that I had. I was a kid then — dancing in my living room to “Hot N Cold” on the original Just Dance, watching her “Part of Me” documentary on repeat and performing her songs at talent shows. That music raised me, and in some ways, this night felt like my inner child was healing in real time. College party playlists may have numbed some of that wonder by making her hits feel overplayed, but the moment I heard her sing them live (in full voice and spectacle), all of that magic came rushing back.
Before Perry took the stage, Rebecca Black opened the night with a set that felt intentionally provocative, unapologetically queer and a little chaotic. It was hard not to think about how both Black and Perry shot to fame in the early 2010s — one through a viral hit, the other as a full-blown pop star — but their trajectories have clearly diverged. Black’s sound today resembles alt-pop artists like Charli XCX or Dorian Electra, with an experimental edge and glitchy visuals that left parts of the crowd visibly confused. Her remix of “Friday” was barely recognizable, and while her evolution is evident and bold, the set felt somewhat mismatched for the broader audience — especially with families and kids in the arena.
But once the lights dimmed again and Perry emerged, any uncertainty from earlier in the night quickly faded. The crowd reflected the full span of her influence. There were older Gen Z fans like me, millennials who came of age during “Teenage Dream” and plenty of parents with kids in tow, clearly passing the Perry torch to the next generation. People came dressed to impress: sparkles, wigs, candy-colored corsets, references to every Perry era you could think of. Yes, even Left Shark made multiple appearances.
Perry, born Katheryn Hudson, is a California native, and her home-state energy was palpable. She owned the stage like someone raised just a few freeway exits away.
She brought fans onstage throughout the show, including little girls, teenagers and a pregnant woman holding a sign that asked Perry to “Name my baby.” After some playful back-and-forth, the audience learned she’d been attending Perry’s shows since the “Teenage Dream” tour. Now, at 30, she was back — a full-circle moment in every sense. Perry suggested the name “Lilly,” but lovingly left the decision up to the mom.
The next song? “The One That Got Away” from the “Teenage Dream” album. I could’ve cried.
The show’s structure felt like a video game: futuristic, high-concept and intentionally over-the-top. It unfolded in levels or missions, each with its own aesthetic, costume change and storyline. There were at least six outfits, all signature Perry extravagance: from butterfly wings and glowing helmets to cotton candy shoes paired with a peppermint swirl dress that looked straight out of “Candyfornia.” It was maximalist, it was camp and it was absolutely Katy. She danced, flipped and sang her heart out — all while reminding the audience between songs that she’s now 40. Truthfully, I was stunned. The energy she brought to the stage made her feel timeless.
Still, the night wasn’t without hiccups. Technical difficulties delayed the show’s start, and while performing “Roar” near the end of the set, floating above the crowd on a massive butterfly, Perry’s rig dropped several feet unexpectedly. She didn’t fall, thankfully, but it gave everyone a scare. Earlier, she reassuringly joked about being in “tech city” and the team needing to figure things out.
Despite the glitches, the show ultimately went off with heart and humor. Once the initial tech issues were sorted, the production hit its stride. Lights, props, projections — the show was never static, never boring.
Perry’s setlist was a dream for longtime fans. From “I Kissed a Girl” and “Hot N Cold” to “Teenage Dream,” “California Gurls,” “Wide Awake,” “Part of Me,” “Dark Horse” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” every hit landed like a burst of confetti. But I will say — abbreviated as they were — some of the classics felt a little too short. “Teenage Dream,” “Hot N Cold” and especially “California Gurls” (hello, we were in California!) deserved a bit more room to breathe. Those tracks helped define a pop generation, and I wanted to live in them longer.
Still, Perry didn’t just rely on the past. She pulled from her 2020 album “Smile” and her latest project “143,” which brings a more emotionally reflective and synth-pop-infused sound. My personal favorite from “143” was “Lifetimes,” which also happened to be the name of the tour. That track, with its softness and scope, felt like the emotional anchor of the show. In many ways, this performance felt like Perry’s version of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. It wasn’t just a career retrospective, but rather an evolution laid out through looks, sounds and stages. And Katy pulled it off in her own eccentric, whimsical way.
As she launched into “Firework” to close the night, the arena levitated with energy. Sure, some might call her brand of pop outdated or overly theatrical in 2025’s stripped-back music landscape, but that’s what makes Perry special. She’s never shied away from spectacle. Her performance reminded us that camp, color and carefully curated chaos still have a place in pop, especially when they come from someone who’s always made us feel seen, joyful and just a little bit larger than life.
And for those of us who grew up with Perry’s music, it was a reminder that the best pop stars don’t just give us songs — they give us eras, memories and moments that stay with us long after the lights come up.
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Justin Bieber resets: ‘SWAG’ as soft reintroduction, not spectacleWith nothing left to prove, Bieber trades flash for feeling on his most mellow, self-aware album to date.
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In early July, Justin Bieber dropped “SWAG” — his first full-length album release since selling the rights to his catalog and parting ways with longtime manager Scooter Braun. For an artist who once dominated the radio with glossy pop hits like “Baby,” stadium-scale hooks and a heartthrob persona that shaped and captivated a generation, “SWAG” marks a clear departure for Bieber, whose timeless hits still echo across playlists and charts today. He remains one of the most streamed artists in the world, and yet this project makes no attempt to chase hits. It floats, breathes and wanders — not lost, but finally unbothered.
For the first time in a while, Bieber seems free — free from the pressure to chart, free from the demands of reinvention and free from the idea that everything he makes needs to be for everyone. This album doesn’t feel like a rebrand. It feels like a soft reintroduction: one that leans into vibe over virality, intimacy over industry.
That freedom plays out in the sound. “SWAG” is mellow at its core, shaped by smooth, nostalgic R&B production that isn’t necessarily designed to stand out, but rather to settle in. It’s the kind of project you throw on while cleaning your room or decompressing after a long day, a soundtrack for stillness, softness and reflection. Beneath the laid-back production, Bieber creates a subtle emotional throughline: letting go of old versions of yourself. It reverberates in nearly every song.
Tracks like “ALL I CAN TAKE,” “WAY IT IS” and “DAISIES” don’t demand attention, but reward it. They’re understated but textured, offering quiet moments that build over time — moments about exhaustion, honesty and emotional thresholds. “DADZ LOVE,” in particular, feels like the heart of the album. It’s less about Bieber’s fatherhood in the literal sense, and more about presence, peace and unconditional care. It’s emotionally dense in the way a late-night voice memo is, unfiltered and intimate, floating in loops and affirmations like “Dad’s love — it’s all around us” and “You know this love, yeah, you know this love.”
This isn’t a perfect album, and I’m not sure it’s trying to be. “SWAG” is self-aware in the way only an artist with nothing to prove can be. That’s what makes some of the weirder choices oddly endearing. Take “SWEET SPOT,” for example: Bieber’s silky delivery contrasts sharply with a jarring verse from rapper Sexyy Red that sounds like it wandered in from another studio session. It’s not that artist features are unwelcome here — in fact, the right feature could’ve elevated the song. But Sexyy Red’s flow, more at home on an upbeat dance hit, feels mismatched on such a laid-back and atmospheric sounding track. Someone like SZA or Jhené Aiko might have better complemented the space Bieber created.
Then there’s Druski. Yes, Druski. Known for always being on a side quest somewhere online, the actor-comedian’s spoken interludes on “SOULFUL” and “THERAPY SESSION” initially feel out of place, until you realize they’re not. In a way, his presence adds a sort of organized chaos to the album’s loose flow, a comedic absurdity that mirrors Bieber’s own online persona. “Even sometimes where I know you’re trollin’… he’s just doin’ it his own way,” Druski says, before Bieber quietly enters: “That’s been a tough thing for me recently… I’ve had to go through a lot of my struggles as a human, as all of us do, really publicly… and that starts to really weigh on me.”
The interludes are cringe, yes, but in a self-referential, “we’re all in on the joke” way, one that’s vulnerable, meta and very Gen Z. Cringe, but make it artful.
Structurally, “SWAG” is surprisingly cohesive. It doesn’t skip around genres the way Bieber’s past albums have; instead, it stays rooted in a soft, mood-forward aesthetic. Gone are the high-energy EDM moments of “Purpose” or the radio polish of “Justice.” Instead, this is music made for small speakers and solo listening: a personal soundtrack, not a public performance.
That shift feels intentional. Bieber, now in his thirties, a husband and a father, is no longer trying to outrun his teen star origins or manufacture viral moments. He’s living in the in-between, experimenting with form and taste in a way that feels earned. For years, people joked about “Lightskin Bieber” when he dabbled in R&B. But “SWAG” isn’t a persona. It’s a direction. And if this is his starting point post-catalog sale, he’s clearly more interested in exploration than in playing it safe.
The emotional takeaway is simple but striking: “SWAG” isn’t trying to impress — it’s trying to feel. It’s Bieber testing the limits of subtlety, of softness and of sound. And while it won’t be for everyone, that’s exactly why it needed to be released. It’s a quiet risk. But it’s one that lands.
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University suspends EBF, Kairos after Title VI investigationsThe University will suspend the co-op statuses of both houses, finding them in violation of Title VI, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin.
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The University will suspend two co-ops, Enchanted Broccoli Forrest (EBF) and Kairos, for the 2025-26 academic year, according to a University statement sent to The Daily on Monday.
Following student complaints to Stanford’s Title VI Office, the University determined that both houses violated Title VI, the federal law that prohibits harassment and discrimination based on race, color or national origin in educational institutions.
EBF and Kairos will be under University management and oversight during the suspension period, which will last at least a year. The University will also remove the names of both residences during their suspensions and refer to the houses by their addresses instead; EBF will be referred to as 1115 Campus Drive and Kairos as 586 Mayfield Ave.
Students who were expecting to serve as resident assistants (RAs) in either house will be replaced by RAs chosen by Residential Education (ResEd), which will also select a resident director for each house. Resident directors will manage and oversee the houses but will not live there. Students who were planning to live in both houses have the option to remain there or re-enter the housing portal.
Incoming RAs for EBF and Kairos declined to comment.
Stanford’s co-ops have offered a vibrant range of living environments for over forty years, allowing students to live together in intentional communities and partake in shared living responsibilities and communal cooking in lieu of dining hall meal plans. Co-op residents save a substantial amount each quarter by foregoing the meal plan.
Co-ops on campus aim to foster empowering communities, and many of these houses have served as hotbeds for political action. EBF dedicates itself to empowering Black, Indigenous and people of Color (BIPOC), gender-marginalized, queer and first-generation and/or low-income (FLI) student voices. Kairos fosters BIPOC solidarity as well as arts appreciation.
The suspension of EBF and Kairos arrive after the University’s Title VI investigations found substantiated claims of discrimination last spring.
According to the University statement, several reports were filed with the Title VI Office against Kairos after “students participating in an extracurricular activity in the house were asked to leave and told, among other things, that the presence of ‘Zionists’ in the group was making residents of the house uncomfortable.”
The Title VI Office said that none of the students in the group shared their political beliefs and that the extracurricular activity had nothing to do with the Middle East.
“The investigation determined that students were targeted based on their perceived Jewish identity,” the University wrote.
In a statement to The Daily, Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, executive director of Hillel at Stanford, wrote, “While it is distressing that any students would act in discriminatory ways towards each other, we are reassured that the university has acted swiftly and decisively to protect Jewish students.”
With regards to EBF, the Title VI Office said an email sent by EBF’s RAs in June to incoming residents was deemed exclusionary toward white students and male students.
Part of the email read: “Enchanted Broccoli Forest is historically dedicated to uplifting the voices of queer people of color, and thus is committed to being a place of refuge for those who are black, brown, gender-marginalized, and FLI. If you are white / white-passing, or if you are a man, do understand that you are being invited into space that wasn’t and isn’t made for you. We welcome you to this community, however ask that you acknowledge and are cognizant of the space you are occupying, and how, by nature, your presence may suffocate.”
Vice Provost for Institutional Equity, Access and Community Patrick Dunkley and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Michele Rasmussen wrote in an email to incoming EBF residents that this behavior “is discrimination under federal law” and that it violates the University’s nondiscrimination policy.
The University added in their email to incoming EBF residents that despite positive intent in supporting students from historically marginalized groups, “all houses at Stanford must be, and are, open to and welcoming of all students without regard to the color of their skin.”
The message from the EBF RAs also included a statement regarding the anticipated use of substances in shared spaces, which Dunkley said “could be interpreted to encourage activities that violate University policy.”
Following one year of suspension, EBF and Kairos will need to undergo the University’s established process for reinstating house status as part of its regular housing review process.
“The process requires compelling evidence of the capacity to self-govern the residence in ways that comply with university policies and applicable laws,” Dunkley and Rasmussen wrote in their email to incoming EBF residents.
The decision to suspend both co-ops comes on the heels of the University’s move to sunset Terra and Synergy, two co-ops that then became “hybrid co-ops” after failing to attract enough pre-assignees.
Now, only three full-fledged co-ops — Hammarskjöld, Columbae and 576 Alvarado — remain.
“The University is committed to having a robust co-op community, and at the same time all campus activities and facilities are expected to be open and welcoming to all members of the community,” Dunkley told The Daily.
This article has been updated to include comment from Rabbi Jessica Kirschner.
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Stanford freshman Nora Ezike competes for Nigeria at FIBA U19 World CupStanford incoming freshman Nora Ezike will represent Nigeria at the FIBA U19 World Cup, just weeks after arriving on campus.
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Incoming Stanford freshman Nora Ezike ’29 will represent Nigeria at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, taking place July 12 to 20 in Brno, Czechia.
The tournament, a biennial competition, features the world’s best under-19 women’s national teams. Sixteen teams qualify through regional championships held across FIBA’s continental zones, bringing together many of the sport’s most promising young players.
Nigeria began group play with a historic 93-88 victory over China on July 12 — the country’s first-ever win at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup. Nora Ezike led the team with a flawless performance, scoring 25 points along with six rebounds, four assists and two steals in her debut game for Nigeria.
On July 13, Nigeria lost to Canada 113-42 in a game where Canada set a tournament record for most three-pointers. They closed out group play on July 15 with a 79-61 loss to Portugal, finishing with a 1-2 record.
All teams will advance to the Round of 16, where Nigeria will compete against a team from Group A, which includes the U.S., Israel, Hungary and Korea.
For Ezike, the opportunity is as personal as it is competitive.
“I can’t be more honoured and humbled to have the opportunity to play on the world stage representing Nigeria,” Ezike wrote in an email to The Daily.
As a four-star recruit and the No. 85 player nationally, Ezike joins one of the nation’s most anticipated freshman groups at Stanford and brings a standout high school résumé to The Farm. She averaged 21 points and seven rebounds her senior season, broke the school’s single-season scoring record with 713 points, and earned first team honors from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. Off the court, Ezike was valedictorian of her class at Lyons Township, Illinois.
Ezike began training with the Stanford team at the end of June, and credits this experience for helping prepare her to compete internationally.
“I’ve pushed myself and been pushed by my coaches and teammates to reach a higher level of play and intensity,” she wrote. “Training with some of the best basketball players should serve me well in this tournament.”
Katy Steding, assistant coach for the Stanford women’s basketball team, began recruiting Ezike over a year ago and was impressed from the start.
“She’s very good at scoring around the rim and getting up and down in transition. She blocks shots, she rebounds, she defends,” Steding said. “She’s going to be quite a player here.”
Beyond Ezike’s athleticism, her consistency and presence stood out to Steding as well.
“She just plays hard and doesn’t ride the roller coaster,” she said. “That kind of mindset goes a long way in our system.”
This won’t be Stanford’s first connection to Nigeria’s national team. Ezike follows in the footsteps of Ros Gold-Onwude M.A. ’10 B.A. ’09 and Enjoli Izidor ’02, who both competed in major international tournaments for Nigeria. More recently, Shay Ijiwoye ’28 represented the country at the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit.
“Getting to play for your country can raise a player’s goals for how far they want to go in the sport,” Steding said. “Nora’s going to be relied on right away, and that kind of experience can only help her and help us when she comes back.”
On top of competing internationally and training with the Stanford team, Ezike is also taking two summer courses.
“She’s got her hands full, but she’s handled it really well,” Steding said. “She’s been in touch with her professors, her academic advisor and our staff to stay on top of everything. She has a strong support system, and she’s using it.”
Ezike herself is embracing this moment, which marks her first time competing internationally and representing Nigeria.
“I’m excited to connect not just with my teammates but with other talented players from all across the globe,” she wrote. “And I’m excitedly nervous to play on this grand stage and compete for a World Cup championship.”
All games can be watched live on FIBA’s YouTube channel.
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From the Community | What we’re getting wrong about mental health — and what neuroscience really tells usStanford researcher Abhinav Anne argues for better mental health care centered around neuroscience research and proactive measures, not only at elite research institutions, but in community clinics as well.
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We live in an era where “mental health” is the new buzzword. It’s everywhere — from constant TikTok self-care ads to statements from politicians who suddenly remember their constituents’ pain, yet routinely vote against the very policies that would ease it. But for all the talk of “wellness” and “resilience,” we’re missing something. What if real answers aren’t found in motivational posters or mindfulness apps, but in the messy, microscopic data that tells us how the brain actually works? Neuroscience helps us understand what’s really happening in the brain. If we use that knowledge, we can build mental health care that’s not just more accurate, but more human.
Take the evolution of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): a cutting-edge form of brain stimulation. A 2023 study from Stanford Medicine showed that accelerated TMS — delivered ten times daily over five days — rescued about 80% of patients from treatment-resistant depression. The treatment reversed abnormal flow of neural signals between the anterior cingulate and insula, two regions that work together to help us process emotions, monitor internal states and respond to stress, essentially forming part of the brain’s emotional regulation system. By targeting those circuits, treatment restored emotional balance almost immediately. This technique, known as Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT), isn’t a distant hope; it’s real, with nearly 90% remission rates in early studies .
Meanwhile, biomarker research is catching up to the crisis of suicidal ideation. A recent Nature review synthesized years of work identifying blood-based markers such as serotonin transporter gene expression and inflammation indicators that correlate with imminent suicide risk and psychiatric hospitalization. These findings are actionable: they allow us to anticipate a crisis, not just treat it after it’s too late. And in a country where suicide rates keep rising and public responses too often end at thoughts and prayers, investing in this kind of science could pave the way for real, preventative policy that saves lives.
Eye-tracking and machine learning are building new, low-cost pathways for early, objective screening and identification of depression and suicidal ideation. An April 2025 arXiv study showed that by analyzing eye movement patterns while participants read emotionally charged sentences — a research method known as “emotional reading” — these conditions could be flagged with up to 83% accuracy. With all these developments, diagnostic tools found in everyday tech can discreetly intervene before mental pain becomes unbearable.
Despite these life-saving advances, everyday mental health care lags far behind, with these findings barely making it past short-lived headlines constrained to medical communities. Insurance doesn’t cover SAINT access in most states. Emergency crisis centers don’t deploy biomarker-equipped screenings. Waiting-room triage rarely considers brain circuits or blood analyses. And our schools still approach mental health as a one-size-fits-all seminar, with too many young people being told to breathe through it when what they need is structural care, clinical support and someone who’s paying attention to the data. Our systems still wait for someone to break before taking action.
Worse, we’re failing to provide equity: neuroscience reveals that systemic stress, poverty, racism and chronic stressors alter neurobiology. Inflammatory and neural circuit changes are not random; they reflect lived experience often caused or made worse by inequities. And yet, those most impacted are often last in line for innovation. We must redirect the science to those who need it most, not just the privileged few with private care. In the United States, for example, only about 53.7% of the population has private, employer-sponsored health insurance, while many rely on public programs or remain uninsured altogether.
There’s this dangerous, often unspoken myth that because mental illness is not always obvious, it’s less real. It’s a matter of character, not circuitry. But neuroscience tells us otherwise. Depression isn’t laziness; it’s altered activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. PTSD isn’t “dwelling on the past;” it’s the amygdala firing like a smoke alarm on overdrive. And anxiety disorders aren’t just “overthinking;” they involve hyperactive connectivity between fear circuits and decision-making centers. These conditions live in the folds and sparks of the brain, not in weakness and not in choice.
This is especially urgent now, as the world grows heavier and safety nets grow thinner. Young people are carrying unprecedented burdens: climate anxiety, digital overload, displacement and a global sense of instability. According to a 2023 CDC report, nearly three in five teenage girls felt persistently sad or hopeless, the highest level ever recorded. Suicide remains the second leading cause of death among youth. And yet the public conversation often lags behind the science, treating mental health as a moral failing, a motivational issue or, worst of all, a trend.
But here’s what gives me hope. Neuroscience doesn’t just diagnose what’s wrong — it reveals what can change. Studies show that brains can rewire. That early intervention, especially during adolescence, can reverse trauma’s biological imprint. That neural pathways damaged by addiction can heal. That interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy or EMDR don’t just make people feel better; they change how their brains process the world. We are not fixed in our suffering.
Yes, the science is complex. Yes, not every finding is ready for rollout. But the question isn’t whether the evidence is imperfect; it’s whether we will let imperfection stall progress. We’ve already accepted imperfect technology in heart attacks, diabetes and cancer. Why not in mental health?
If we’re serious about saving lives, we must bring brain science to the frontlines globally (or nationally) as institutions like Stanford have begun to do. That means training more clinicians in neuroscience literacy. It means investing in neuroimaging, not just in elite research hospitals, but in community mental health clinics. It means building systems that don’t just react to crises but anticipate them using data, technology and neurobiology to guide support before the breakdown happens. It means treating the brain like the organ it is, with the same precision and urgency we’d demand for any other.
We need policies that keep up with science. We need a cultural shift that stops pathologizing pain and starts understanding it. And we need to remember that behind every brain scan is a human being, someone who wants to live, to love, to feel whole again.
Mental health isn’t just about fixing people. It’s about believing they’re worth healing in the first place.
Abhinav Anne is a researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine’s SRITA Institute, where he studies youth-targeted addiction marketing and its impact on shaping adolescent behavior. As the youngest U.S. representative in history on the World Health Organization’s Youth Council, he advises on children’s welfare, mental health and climate-related health disparities. He collaborates with UN agencies and U.S. lawmakers to advance inclusive, trauma-informed policy for global health.
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‘After Hours til Dawn’: The Weeknd shatters records and expectations at Levi’s StadiumWith atmospheric openers, haunting visuals and a finale worthy of fireworks, The Weeknd delivered a high-stakes, career-spanning performance in Santa Clara — becoming the highest-grossing male solo artist in Levi’s Stadium history.
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On July 8, The Weeknd kicked off his two-night Bay Area stint of his “After Hours til Dawn” tour at Levi’s Stadium — and gathered a crowd that proved just how deep his influence runs. I’ve always known Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd’s full name) to be a global star. He’s headlined Coachella, won Grammys, amassed billions of streams and currently has over 110 million monthly listeners on Spotify. But what I saw in Santa Clara redefined what that success looks and sounds like in real time.
Levi’s wasn’t just filled with casual fans — it was filled with people who knew every lyric, every transition, every vocal riff. The outfits alone told a story: black, silver and dark red (colors often utilized in Tesfaye’s artistry) dominated the crowd, a quiet unison that I hadn’t expected but couldn’t stop noticing. The dress code was nonexistent — yet somehow, everyone knew it.
The evening opened with renowned record producer Mike Dean, the sonic architect behind some of hip-hop’s most atmospheric albums. Dean brought his signature moody synths and layered soundscapes to Levi’s. That said, overhearing comments from other audience members revealed that many didn’t realize it was a live set until they looked up and saw his name on the backdrop of the stage. At times, his music blended so seamlessly into the ambient noise of the stadium that it felt more like a pre-show score than a performance. Still, once it clicked that it was Dean behind the keys, I gained a newfound appreciation for his art. His set may not have been stadium-shaking, but it did feel cinematic — the kind of music you’d expect to find in a slow-burning sci-fi thriller, not at a stadium with over 60,000 fans still grabbing drinks.
Dean was followed by renowned rapper Playboi Carti (Jordan Carter), who — despite the hype surrounding him — left the audience a bit flat. His 25-minute set included just six songs, and his energy felt uneven. “FE!N” sparked some excitement, but with the stadium not yet full, the reaction was more of a simmer than an eruption. Featuring his signature distorted vocals and guttural delivery, “Sky” and “EVIL J0RDAN” gave fans something to latch onto. But Carter’s actual on-stage presence felt surprisingly muted — especially compared to his hype crew and emcees, who not only seemed to be having far more fun than him, but commanded more attention. At one point, Carter’s emcee proclaimed that he was the “No. 1 artist in the world,” a line that struck me as ironic, given he wasn’t the night’s headliner. Carter’s choice to play “Timeless” (a song made with The Weeknd) without The Weeknd himself caught a few fans off guard, though it paid off later when Carter returned during the main set to perform it properly with Tesfaye.
Mike Dean and Playboy Carti were smart choices for the lineup, at least on paper, but in execution, the energy of their sets just didn’t land. Whether it was a matter of short runtime, lack of crowd connection or simply less crossover between Carter, Dean and Tesfaye’s fanbases than expected, the openers never quite reached liftoff.
When The Weeknd finally appeared, everything shifted. Emerging masked from beneath a dystopian golden skyline backdrop — complete with crumbling city towers, rotating statues and crimson-clad dancers — Tesfaye set the tone instantly. The production was theatrical yet restrained, allowing sound and emotion to take center stage. And then, just a few songs in, the mask came off. The crowd went wild. With one slow, deliberate reveal, Tesfaye turned a quiet build-up into a cinematic moment of transformation.
And from there, the set truly took flight.
What surprised me most wasn’t the scale or the visuals, but how much better every song sounded live. Tesfaye’s vocals, which are already pristine on record, somehow reached new heights on stage. “Take My Breath” hit harder, leaner, brighter. “Can’t Feel My Face” felt less like a dance hit and more like a stadium command, with Tesfaye skipping down the runway toward the B-stage, lit by a sea of LED wristbands. “I Feel It Coming” and “Save Your Tears” reminded everyone of just how well he controls a falsetto. He doesn’t just hit notes — he floats between them with precision.
“Cry For Me,” one of Tesfaye’s deep cuts, quickly transformed into a highlight at Levi’s, standing out for its raw emotional pull.
“Would you cry for me, Bay Area?” he asked, drawing thousands into a chorus that doubled as a question and a demand. You could feel it — the tension, the sincerity, the connection. That moment bled into “Die For You,” which became a full-stadium singalong, with Tesfaye conducting the crowd as if he were leading a 60,000-person choir.
The set wasn’t without its pacing dips — especially during some of the newer, less radio-driven songs. But for fans who’ve followed Tesfaye beyond the singles, those valleys felt more like chapters in a longform story than lulls in energy, giving the audience space to breathe. For a die-hard fan, the runtime was likely perfect — or even too short. But for casual listeners, some moments may have felt like dead zones, especially during songs that didn’t chart as highly or get mainstream play.
Still, the die-hards — and there were many — hung on every note, singing along with a devotion that surprised me. There was a loyalty in the air that went far beyond typical fandom — a sense that this wasn’t just entertainment, but a gathering of people connected by the music that had seen them through their highest highs and lowest lows.
“Starboy” roared to life with strobes and smoke. “Sao Paulo” turned the floor into a bouncing wave of bodies. And “Blinding Lights” — already crowned the No. 1 song of the 21st century by Billboard and officially the most streamed track in Spotify history — arrived with a twist. Rather than leaning on its signature synth line, Tesfaye sang the instrumental hook himself, building tension with each measure before erupting into the chorus. It was unexpected and theatrical, the kind of flourish that reminds you he’s not just a singer, but a performer.
The production struck a balance between minimalist and maximalist. While the staging itself remained relatively clean (futuristic ruins split by a long runway) Tesfaye and his team used bursts of fire, lasers and well-timed fireworks to amplify the show’s emotional peaks. The finale, “Moth to a Flame,” delivered a final blast of visual drama: flames leaping skyward, fireworks lighting up the Bay and Tesfaye’s voice — echoing, plaintive, powerful — bringing the night to a close.
Throughout it all, Tesfaye acknowledged where he was, calling out “San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Berkeley” like a Bay Area love letter. The crowd roared back every time. That sense of mutual recognition gave the night an added weight, as if he wasn’t just performing for the crowd, but with it.
And make no mistake: This wasn’t just any big headliner concert — it was a historic one. With over 60,000 fans in attendance, Tesfaye officially became the highest-grossing male solo artist in Levi’s Stadium history. It’s a title that speaks to more than just ticket sales. It speaks to scale, to reach, to resonance.
Rumors have floated that this might be Tesfaye’s final tour in its current form — he recently hinted at an artistic rebirth (and the potential retirement of his stage name). If that’s true, he made sure to leave it all on the stage. If it’s not, then what he brought to Santa Clara — a night of vulnerability, spectacle and near-perfect execution — is proof that The Weeknd’s reign isn’t close to finished. For the sake of his die-hard fans, and those who appreciate powerful, beautiful vocals, one can only hope this isn’t the last chance to witness a show like this.
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Is passion enough? Students reel after national cuts to performing arts fundingStanford students and recent grads chase acting dreams at a time when the arts are threatened on many fronts, including politically and technologically.
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Sierra Corcoran ’25 plans to move to New York City to chase her dream — a career in acting — at a time when the arts are under attack on virtually every front.
“As someone who’s going into the job market right now, I’m really scared,” said Corcoran, who interned at a New York theater company last winter and witnessed a scramble to make up for the loss of National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants. NEA funding has been uncertain for national and regional theater companies since January, with even more cuts rolling out in May.
In February, President Donald Trump overhauled the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and installed himself as chairman, leaving many in the arts community to question the reason.
“NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST,” Trump posted about the center on his Truth Social platform.
In California, budget pressures led Gov. Gavin Newsom to propose a $11.5 million reduction in government support for small, nonprofit arts organizations.
“It’s just this time of uncertainty in a career that already was so uncertain,” Corcoran said.
Anna Zheng ’25, a theater and performing arts major, is especially worried about the theater industry, which relies on in-person audiences already diminished by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Theaters are usually operating [on] a very thin, marginal sort of budget, so a lot of them went under during COVID,” Zheng said. “You’re already facing this depletion of resources, and the industry is trying to get back up in those years afterwards after shutting down. And then now you have this.”
Corcoran agreed, noting that theater productions are typically planned more than a year in advance. This makes adjusting to drastic changes difficult. “We don’t know what to do, because we don’t have the money we thought we were going to have a year ago, which is devastating,” she said.
To her, it’s clear that the Trump administration is targeting the arts “because the arts are a way of telling new ideas and telling stories.”
Corcoran credits the arts for helping her confront perspectives and worldviews vastly different than her own. When in New York, she saw the play “Eureka Day,” which tells the story of parental divisions emerging when a mumps outbreak overtakes a school. In the play, “woke” and “anti-vax” parents clash over how to best protect their children.
Corcoran began considering the perspective of the anti-vaxxers more seriously when a particularly likeable character in the play revealed her reasons for not trusting vaccines.
“In my daily life, I had not really had empathy for people that were anti-vax, because I’m like, ‘Just read science. It’s not that hard.’ But even though that is still true, I did have a bit more empathy for the fear that exists with people that are genuinely afraid of what these big pharmaceutical companies are doing to them, and it’s very real,” Corcoran said.
Zheng fears that similarly diverse and thought-provoking stories are threatened by budget cuts.
“[Funding] influences the kind of stories that are being told,” Zheng said. “If the theater company is about to go under, they’re not going to risk anything new and anything experimental. And of course, always when this kind of stuff happens, the first things to go are marginalized narratives, the stories that aren’t being told anyways, the stories that are a bit risky.”
Zheng is considering moving to Europe after graduation in hopes of finding more opportunities in the arts outside of the U.S.
Threats to the arts come not just with budget cuts, but with rapidly changing technology. To the alarm of Lily Kerner ’26, a member of the Stanford Shakespeare Company majoring in English, the first entirely AI-animated films emerged in 2024 with the release of “Where The Robots Grow” and “‘DreadClub: Vampire’s Verdict.”
“I think that AI can be super useful because I think it can edit, and I think that it can provide ideation, but I think that when AI takes over completely, that’s when we have a problem,” Kerner said.
Even if AI can eventually achieve the same technical prowess of humans in filmmaking, Kerner said, “I have a feeling that it will not have the same luster as that really great Pixar movie that you saw when you were six.”
Beyond her concerns about films losing their humanity, Kerner said she fears AI will eliminate jobs. “If you have AI even do a little bit of film, personal assistants won’t be hired, runners won’t be hired,” she said.
The performing arts are inherently interconnected, so threats to some artists are felt by many. But Corcoran said she also finds hope in the arts community.
“Something we’re really good at is community and organization, which I’m very grateful for, and so people are trying to help each other out,” she said.
“I have faith that the arts are resilient,” Corcoran added. “The arts have been resilient throughout all of history, and arts are so important in times of political turbulence, especially like this, when they’re trying to shut us up because we have something to say.”
Zheng recalled that even in the most trying eras of human history, art has endured.
“People are always going to make [art],” Zheng said, “It’s just about: What is the cost to them to make it? What will have to be given up in that process?”
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From the Community | Vaping is only growing and our children will pay the priceStanford Research Assistant Abhinav Anne writes about the dangers of vaping for the youngest generation.
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On June 20, the Supreme Court delivered a decision that should alarm every parent, educator and public health official in America. By ruling that vape companies can challenge FDA denials in favorable courts, the justices granted a legal shortcut to an industry that’s addicted to something far more dangerous than nicotine — profit at the expense of children’s health.
As someone who researches tobacco marketing with Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA), I’ve spent years studying how these companies target young people: bright colors, fruity flavors, trendy aesthetics and social media posts that blur the line between an ad and a vibe. In my work with SRITA, we’ve analyzed hundreds of vape ads using models barely out of high school, scenes of parties and friendship and even candy-themed packaging — tactics nearly identical to what Big Tobacco used to hook teens on Marlboros in the 1980s. It’s not subtle. It’s strategic.
And it’s working.
The 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 1.63 million kids — 5.9% of all U.S. middle and high school students — were current e-cigarette users. Over a quarter (26.3%) of those kids were using them daily. Another 38.4% reported vaping on at least 20 of the past 30 days. That’s not experimentation, it’s addiction.
More than 87% of youth e-cigarette users are hooked on flavored products, mostly fruit, candy or menthol flavors – flavors the FDA has not authorized for sale, yet remain widely available in gas stations, corner stores and online. The most popular brand? Elf Bar, a disposable vape that’s supposedly illegal, but still dominates the market through a thinly disguised rebrand: EBDESIGN.
Let me be clear: Elf Bars are not niche. In 2024, 36.1% of youth vapers reported using them far more than legacy brands like JUUL. This is a crisis, and our federal response is collapsing under the weight of missed deadlines and industry lawsuits. The FDA, under court order, was supposed to finish reviewing e-cigarette marketing applications by Sept. 9, 2021. It missed that deadline, and the one set for June 2024.
In short, the FDA has denied marketing for millions of flavored e-cigarette products, yet they remain on shelves due to ongoing litigation and lack of enforcement. Many companies exploited another loophole — switching to synthetic nicotine to avoid regulation altogether. Congress closed that gap in 2022, giving the FDA clear authority to eradicate those products. But still, they remain.
In my research, I’ve studied how vaping ads lean into youthful emotions — happiness, success, belonging — while ignoring the real stakes. The U.S. Surgeon General has confirmed that nicotine harms adolescent brain development, affecting memory, attention and learning. Today’s e-cigarettes often deliver nicotine levels equal to 20 packs of cigarettes.
And the risks aren’t just developmental. In the past year alone, poison control centers reported more than 7,000 e-cigarette-related exposures, nearly 90% involving kids under five. 43 resulted in hospitalization.
We are not protecting children. We are enabling an industry that markets to them, poisons them and then blames “bad choices” when their lungs give out.
What’s most disturbing is how closely this all mirrors the playbook of cigarette advertising. At SRITA, I’ve reviewed decades of ads that once claimed “More Doctors Smoke Camels Than Any Other Cigarette.” Today, we see influencers pushing nicotine bars with rainbow lights and hashtags. Different era, same deception.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve made progress before. We taxed and restricted cigarettes out of every corner store and school locker room. But this time, the tools we’ve built — like FDA oversight — are being undercut by litigation, missed deadlines and now, a Supreme Court ruling that lets vape companies pick their judges.
To fix this, Congress must step up where agencies have failed. We need a nationwide ban on all flavored e-cigarettes, including disposables and synthetic nicotine products. We need to close enforcement loopholes that allow illegal products to linger for years. And we need a public health message that speaks directly to youth, not just in warnings, but in accountability for the corporations profiting from their addiction.
As someone who’s watched friends struggle to quit vapes they picked up at 14, I cannot stay silent while an entire generation is hurt by a system that saw profit more clearly than pain.
This is not just about policies. It’s about kids. And right now, they are losing. Because if legal technicalities are more powerful than science, justice and children’s health, then we’ve already lost far more than a court case. We’ve lost a generation.
Abhinav Anne is a youth advisor to the World Health Organization, where he advises on global initiatives related to nicotine addiction, youth mental health and children’s health equity. He is also a research assistant at Stanford University, working with the Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA) Institute, where he studies the tactics used by tobacco and e-cigarette companies to market addictive products to adolescents. His work focuses on youth-targeted advertising, regulatory policy and the intersection of public health and behavioral science.
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From the Community | How we use LLMs mattersMD-PhD student Humza Khan writes about the importance of adjusting to LLMs and maintaining critical thinking.
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Forever a Luddite, I’ve only just started using ChatGPT. I’m not like some (far more productive) grad students who can recite whether Claude or o4-mini or whatever else is best for coding; I pretty much just stick to ChatGPT and use it as a scientific buddy.
I have what I always wanted as a kid — a friend! And more importantly, I have a “friend” who can wax poetic about anything I’m interested in.
ChatGPT provides reasonable collections of readings — summaries on everything from protein hydrodynamics to evolutionary biology to art history. I can only imagine that this is as drastic a shift as the incipience of the Internet or recombinant DNA technologies. Information, and even basic reasoning, are democratized.
My apprehension towards using these tools is simple: I don’t want to stop thinking.
I find it hard enough to sit down and write — the attention economy has affected me as much as any 13-year old iPad kid. At the same time, I find that using LLMs can be pedagogical — I ask the model to teach me about autoimmune thrombocytopenia, statistical jackknifing or the difference between dark and light rum. But I also see people using them to replace their judgement: “Please write code to analyze RNAseq data.” “What does the gene expression data tell me here?” “Write a story I can send to a journal with these findings.”
With dramatic ease of use, we will inevitably see a massive outsourcing of cognitive activity. Even if the models can’t themselves reason, they provide us with methods to prevent us from reasoning. By asking the model to write for us, to interpret data for us, to try to think for us, we lose the struggle of learning. Education is an uphill battle against one’s own stupidity. Thus, by surrendering the skirmish, will we lose our ability as humans to think? More simply: are the kids done for?
More optimistic views from friends is that LLMs will open avenues for “higher cognitive activities.” But what higher cognitive activity exists than reasoning? What could be more important than spelunking through rational, difficult chains of thoughts until a “eureka” moment?
I’m fine with a model reformatting an Excel document for me, but I’m much more resistant to it giving me hypotheses to explain my data, or discussing how to assess the tractability of a scientific problem. For me, that process is why I’m alive.
Of course, in science and medicine, our ultimate and final duty is to truth and to ameliorate suffering in the world. Advanced intelligence models will undoubtedly help us approximate truth and to better treat patients. But I think with ideas of having advanced models usurp human thinking, we lose another base value of humanity: the value of active cognition.
We’ve started seeing professors and companies looking to outsource large chunks of human work — medicine, biology, artwork. Maybe the long-term future of non-procedural medicine *is* practitioners without residency training using statistical models to guide treatment. This, arguably, could make outcomes better and return physicians to being healers, in every sense of the word. I’d like that.
But with other fields (art, literature, basic research), why on Earth would I want a world where human cognitive output is wholly irrelevant? Even if it is “better” than us, what am I going to do with my extra time not spent reasoning and creating? I’d argue that a hedonistic life scrolling on TikTok is likely to be less fulfilling than the ones we have today. Especially if that content is generated by things trained on, but not experiencing, the human condition.
By omitting the joyous pain of writing an article or the frustration of planning a difficult experiment, we are liable to completely lose what makes us intelligent. Yin prompts the existence of yang, love due to hate and knowledge and wisdom due to the feeling of idiocy. If we rarely hit our heads against the ceiling of understanding, we lose our intellectual height.
Clearly, LLMs have changed how we work — and will continue in ways beyond my ability to predict. They will hopefully disrupt many terrible things about our society such as educational barriers and lack of healthcare access. But to become Soma-driven, hapless auditors of LLMs is to outsource our meaning to machines. In my opinion, the struggle of creative production is the joy of life. Thus, how we use LLMs matters.
Here’s hoping that we leverage the machines to learn and experience, lest we lose our divinely inspired sense of reasoning. However flawed, our reasoning is what makes life worth living.
Humza Khan is a third year MD-PhD student at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a first-year PhD student in the Program in Immunology.
This article was not produced or edited by an LLM, evidenced by its poor diction and grammatical choices. Ironically, the author happens to simply love using an em-dash.
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Stanford to reduce budget by $140 million, lay off employees for next academic yearThe University shared its plan for a $140 million reduction in the allocation of funds in a letter to faculty and staff.
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Stanford announced Thursday that it will impose a $140 million budget cut for the 2025-26 academic year to adapt to reductions in federal research support and an increase in the endowment tax.
President Donald Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” passed May 22 by the House of Representatives, proposes an increase on Stanford’s endowment tax from 1.4% to 21%. The bill is currently undergoing negotiations in the Senate before being sent to the president’s office. If signed into law, the increase would represent a tax of $750 million annually, placing some financial aid — over two-thirds of which comes from the endowment — at risk.
Recent budget cuts have also impacted research funding Stanford receives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), as hundreds of grants have been terminated and funding freezes continue to slow the review process for new grants.
“There is significant uncertainty about how federal support for universities will evolve, but it is clear that the status quo has changed,” University president Jonathan Levin ’94 and Provost Jenny Martinez wrote in their announcement of the change.
According to the letter, the budget cuts will require a reduction in staff positions, including through layoffs.
“The university has benefits and compensation programs to support transitions in cases where layoffs are necessary, but there is no getting around the impact of such decisions,” Levin and Martinez wrote.
The figure of $140 million excludes funding cuts for the School of Medicine, which will separately decide on reductions in the coming weeks.
The University’s budget is managed through a system of 30 budget units, encompassing various schools, departments and administrative offices that contribute to the overall consolidated budget. Martinez told The Daily that the budget units will need to determine how best to implement the new budget restrictions — namely, where they can absorb cuts.
Per the announcement, the provost’s Budget Group, a group of faculty members across different schools as well as senior staff who advise the provost on budget matters, considered both larger and smaller reduction scenarios over the past several months.
“[The Group] felt like this level of cuts was prudent to put the university in a position to be resilient in the face of what developments may come in the coming year,” Martinez said.
In light of the budget reduction, Martinez added that the University will prioritize preserving research funding, particularly for PhDs, and undergraduate financial aid.
“For the PhD students, they have a five year guarantee of funding, and we’re committed to fulfilling that commitment to them. And for undergraduates, we’re committed to our need-based financial aid programs that we have and to sustaining those,” she said.
Referring to the halting of NSF grants, Martinez added that “cuts in science funding will really hurt the pipeline of future scientists.”
While Levin and Martinez have mostly refrained from direct criticism of the Trump administration, they have repeatedly emphasized the importance of federal funding for research and Stanford’s ability to sustain scientific innovation. They also expressed support for Harvard University after its president Alan Garber M.D. ’83 objected to demands of the White House.
“In all the departments in the humanities and social sciences, in the natural sciences and engineering, in the medical school and elsewhere, the importance of that work is for the future of the country and the world,” Martinez said. “The investment in education is for the long term benefit of society, and we really need to defend that.”
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All the News You Missed This Spring Quarter | The Cardinal BriefFrom the Trump administration's revoking of visas from international students to a pro-Palestine hunger strike and Coldplay’s historic performance at Stanford Stadium, here are the top headlines you may have missed from The Daily this spring.
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From the Trump administration’s revoking of visas from international students to a pro-Palestine hunger strike and Coldplay’s historic performance at Stanford Stadium, here are the top headlines you may have missed from The Daily this spring.
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Overcoming the ‘one inch tall barrier of subtitles’ with Akira KurosawaWhat can world cinema — watching movies made outside of Hollywood — teach us about film as an art form and about life?
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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.
This review contains spoilers.
Some of modern Hollywood’s most popular tropes originate across an ocean.
Picture this: A group of idiosyncratic heroes is recruited to serve a noble cause. Their leader, the protagonist of the film, convinces reluctant characters to join his team. Despite their differences, the team learns to work together over the course of the film, culminating in a final battle where the audience has become invested enough in the characters that deaths truly sting.
What action movie could this summary describe? Plenty. So many that this “assembling the team” trope has become cliché.
But the film that created this trope is “Seven Samurai” (1953) by Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) — a leading director of the postwar Japanese film boom and indisputably among the most influential directors in cinema history.
It’s impossible to watch “Seven Samurai,” a three-hour epic about 16th-century Japanese villagers who hire samurai to defend them from bandits, without recognizing its enduring influence.
While the action sequences are well-shot and edited, the characters are the true reason to watch the film. Action requires stakes, and “Seven Samurai” dedicates its first two hours to developing the seven samurai and villagers alike. For me, the most memorable aspects of the movie weren’t the action sequences — which, paradoxically, is why “Seven Samurai” is such an excellent action film.
My favorite scenes in the film involve Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), the seventh member of the team who isn’t actually from a samurai family. His character arc from wannabe hero to actual hero is another that has become an action movie trope.
When the samurai debate why they are defending villagers (a recurring theme in the film, as they have agreed to do so pro bono), Kikuchiyo points out that samurai have caused villagers harm, too. Watching action heroes seriously debate the moral underpinnings of their mission, I understood why “Seven Samurai” is as compelling today as it was 72 years ago — it firmly grounds its action in character development.
What makes a hero? Should a samurai sacrifice his life for a lowly villager? The thematic stakes of “Seven Samurai” elevate it from merely a well-shot action flick to a profound work of art.
Kurosawa’s work spans far more than “Seven Samurai.” While he directed too many famous and excellent films to list in a single article, two other examples highlight the wide range of his work.
You might recognize “Rashomon” (1950) for its eponymous effect — in this film, Kurosawa originated the plot device of retelling the same story multiple times from someone else’s perspective and leaving the truth ambiguous. Its influence is reflected in countless subsequent works such as Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” (2019), in which each character recounts the night of a murder from their own contradicting points of view. Like “Seven Samurai,” “Rashomon” raises questions that transcend the specific plot, though “Rashomon’s” themes are more inward-facing: Who are we as humans if subjectivity always complicates truth?
Kurosawa’s films aren’t all period pieces. “Ikiru” (1952), whose title means “to live,” features a Tokyo government bureaucrat, Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), who embarks on a quest to find meaning in his life for the first time after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. While this premise has appeared in art before and since 1952, I appreciate the film’s lack of clichés — Watanabe dies with a significant amount of time left in the film, allowing for a clever plot where, at his funeral, his coworkers debate his sudden change in disposition.
As the viewer, we are invited to participate in the conversation, as we are equally unsure of what changed in Watanabe as his coworkers. Furthemore, the audience relies on the coworkers’ recounting of the story to reconstruct the last weeks of Watanabe’s life, most of which is never directly shown on screen.
It’s telling that the title of the movie is “To Live,” compared to the title of the short story that partially inspired it, Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” It takes the prospect of his imminent death for Watanabe to realize that he hasn’t lived — to realize that despite decades as a bureaucrat, he has accomplished nothing significant in his life.
As a viewer, watching Watanabe is a wake-up call. I don’t want to end up like him, but that’s easier said than done. Do I know what it means to live? Do I feel that I’ve accomplished something significant in my life? How long, how much experimentation, would it take for me to be sure? But again, “Ikiru” affirms life — Watanabe dies satisfied.
These examples are just a glimpse of the diversity — and analytic depth — of Kurosawa’s work.
When “Parasite” won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2020, the film’s director, Bong Joon-ho, encouraged viewers to “overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” and explore movies beyond Hollywood.
I strive to watch foreign-language films not to pretentiously present myself as “cultured” but rather to better understand film overall. Hollywood — classic and contemporary — is just one way to write, edit, film and score a story.
Movies haven’t existed for much more than a century, and directors from around the world have always watched each others’ work. To thoughtfully engage in the conversation of cinema, it’s helpful to sample widely. Don’t worry about “best film” lists or Rotten Tomatoes scores — pick a movie whose premise you find interesting. Don’t force yourself to watch a movie that bores you, but don’t give up too early either (I always watch the first 45 minutes).
Every human culture — and films from every human culture — grapples with questions of heroism, subjectivity and mortality. Perhaps the best reason to watch more foreign-language films is to explore another approach to these universal questions. You might just discover some new favorites, like I have.
You can watch “Seven Samurai,” “Rashomon,” “Ikiru” and most of Kurosawa’s other films on Kanopy (available for free with your SUNet ID).
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Trump administration demands foreign students make social media accounts publicFollowing the suspension of student visa appointments last month, the U.S. has expanded its vetting process by demanding access to applicants’ social media presence.
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The State Department announced on Wednesday that it will consider online presence in the selection process for F, J, and M nonimmigrant visas — the international student and visiting scholar visa categories — and instructed applicants to make their social media profiles public.
The Bechtel Center said in an email sent to international students on Thursday that “this may be important information especially for [students] who will be traveling outside the U.S. and will need to obtain a new F-1 or J-1 visa to reenter.” This means that the measure will impact both prospective students seeking visas and current students who must obtain a new visa for reentry into the U.S. including students whose visas have expired or been cancelled.
Under the new policy, consular officers are instructed to identify “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States” on visa applicants’ social media pages, according to reporting by the New York Times. The State Department “did not provide further details on how officers would define that criteria.”
The University wrote to the Daily that the Bechtel Center offers resources for the international community, many of which can be accessed on its immigration website.
This policy comes as another development in President Donald Trump’s aggression towards foreign students in higher education, which included the suspension of new student visa interviews and the since-restored termination of visas from thousands of international students in May. The State Department announcement said that visa appointments at embassies and consulates will resume soon.
The Trump administration has specifically targeted Chinese students. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the U.S. would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” and Congress demanded that Stanford release information about Chinese international students in April.
University president Jonathan Levin ’94 has faced criticism for his response to the Trump administration’s attacks to higher education and international students. While Levin has affirmed the importance of international students to the University’s scholarship and research, critics urge him to directly condemn the Trump administration’s actions. A petition released in April and now signed by over 3,000 students, faculty and alumni called for Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez to issue a statement criticizing Trump’s campaign against higher education. Later that month, Levin abstained from signing an anti-Trump letter published by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Among the letter’s signatories were presidents of peer institutions such as Harvard and Columbia. In May, the University denied any awareness of a private, elite university collective opposing the Trump administration as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Several members of Stanford faculty have expressed outrage at the Trump administration’s interference in international student enrollment.
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Edible Ethos: Six power foodsCan taste be sustainable? Pandey explores six meat-alternative, delectable foods in the plant kingdom.
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In Edible Ethos, Chetanya Pandey ’27 dives into the wild world of eating with a pinch of humor, a dash of honesty and a whole lot of love for plants. From simple switches to kitchen wizardry, this column explores how making small, conscious food choices can help save the planet… and your taste buds. Think of this as your guide to eating better, feeling better and saving the world, all while keeping it casual (and delicious).
When you think of protein and nourishment, it’s likely your mind immediately leaps to animal based products like chicken, fish and eggs. But the plant kingdom is actually bursting with nutritious, satisfying and even protein-rich foods that can rival and often beat non-vegetarian options in terms of health, sustainability and most importantly, flavor!
Whether you’re trying to cut down on meat or look for some spice in life, here are six foods to try instead of chicken that will keep your plate exciting and your body thriving.
First up are the unsung heroes of this world. Packed with protein (frickin’ 18 grams per cup cooked), iron, fiber and folate, lentils make an excellent substitute for minced meat in dishes like shepherd’s pie, tacos and curries. Aside from being incredibly affordable, they are also easy to cook and can even be eaten in soup form. Don’t forget to add a squeeze of lemon and fresh coriander for a flavor punch. Stanford Health Care even offers a recipe for Egyptian red lentil soup filled with multiple cancer-fighting ingredients.
Hearty and protein-rich, chickpeas are great in both Indian and Mediterranean dishes — think chole, hummus and falafel. Full of fiber and low in saturated fat, chickpeas aid digestion and keep you feeling full for longer. Maybe skip the chicken sandwich and go for a chickpea wrap with cucumber, onions and tahini sauce. Not convinced? Try your hand at this extremely delicious chickpea salad or this chickpeas and artichoke “crab” cake with remoulade over mushroom risotto by Chef Jay-ar Pugao.
Raw jackfruit is surprisingly similar in texture to pulled pork or shredded chicken. When cooked with the right spices, jackfruit makes a fantastic meat alternative. One could replace mutton curry with jackfruit masala. It has all the heaviness of meat minus the cholesterol. Unlike money, meat can grow on trees!
It’s not a grain but a seed that offers all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein! High in fiber and minerals like magnesium and iron, quinoa is a great alternative to animal protein in salsa, bowls or even breakfast porridge. Don’t shy away from replacing your chicken-and-rice lunch with a quinoa bowl topped with beans, avocado, corn and a lime vinaigrette.
With a meat-like texture, seitan has 21 grams of protein per 3 ounce serving. A favorite amongst athletes, it’s a must-try and is easily found in grocery outlets! Here is a recipe for making seitan in a dorm kitchenette. And yes, from my own dining experience, it is convincingly meaty — proving you don’t need animals to enjoy meat. Seitan can sizzle on the grill, crisp in a stir-fry or stew in curry. As a bonus, it’s also low in fat.
Like quinoa, soybeans are gifted with all the nine essential amino acids. Rich in calcium and iron, they provide 31 grams of protein per cup. They also contain isoflavones, which reduce cholesterol levels and improve heart health. Soy nuggets, tempeh and boiled edamame need to be on your to-eat list.
These alternative proteins are both sustainable and delicious. With this, I leave you to experiment and go have fun with the plant-based world!
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Meet Merry Seng Maran: Stanford’s ‘first Kachin-Burmese American’ graduateOn Sunday, Seng Maran ’25 M.A. ’25 graduated with a degree in political science and a masters degree in sociology, which she plans to put to use as an education strategist in Kenya.
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“I’ll be the first Kachin-Burmese American to graduate from Stanford,” Merry (M) Seng Maran ’25 M.A. ’25 said. “This moment is historic, not only for me but also for my community.”
Seng Maran graduated with a major in political science and a masters degree in sociology.
She has questioned identity and the idea of home for all of her life. “I’m used to being the first Kachin-Burmese student in almost every setting that I go to,” she said.
“One: I’m mixed,” she said. Seng Maran’s father, who passed away when she was young, was Kachin, an ethnic group living in northeast Myanmar. Her mother is Burmese.
“Two: I’ve moved around.” Seng Maran was born in Myanmar, where she lived with her mother until age 5. The pair then moved to Malaysia, where they waited five years for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to determine their refugee status.
“Three: I got stuck in Tennessee with a bunch of white people,” she concluded. After the UNHCR officially deemed them refugees, Seng Maran and her mother moved to their stateside home of Tennessee.
From her roots in Myanmar — where the world’s longest civil war has been ongoing since 1948 — Seng Maran has always been motivated to pursue education.
“Airstrikes are happening as we speak right now,” she said. “Schools have been bombed, churches shelled, children have died in classrooms even a few days ago. Entire families are living in displacement camps with no electricity, no health care and no consistent education.”
After watching her mother sacrifice opportunities in order for her to have a shot at education, Seng Maran said that applying to Stanford was an “act of resistance.”
“Coming to Stanford wasn’t just about ambition,” she said, “It was about reclaiming what war tried to steal, reclaiming a future that was never promised to me… I felt like I needed to seize all the opportunities that were in front of me because I’m doing it for not just me and my family, but for a whole nation.”
Attending Stanford as a first-generation student, Seng Maran said she wrestled with imposter syndrome, cultural differences and the weight of representing her whole country.
While on campus, however, she found spaces not just to learn, but to “heal, question and serve,” she said, studying political science to understand how power and systems shape individuals’ lives “with [her] people in mind.”
Throughout her four years, Seng Maran has also found friends, mentors and professors who reminded her that she belonged.
Khuyen Nguyen ’25 described Seng Maran’s “deep interest in humanitarian issues and uplifting those around her,” in an email to The Daily.
“It is inspiring to see how much she gives to her work and to the people around her,” Sydney Helfand ’25 added.
To Jinpa Sangmo ’25, Seng Maran is “someone who always looks to learn more from life but also shows up for her loved ones… I’ve seen her get stronger in the four years, continuing to stand for what she believes in and her community,” Sangmo wrote.
In the classroom, Jennifer Johnson, Seng Maran’s instructor for PWR 2: “Language, Identity and Power,” wrote to The Daily that Seng Maran’s trilingualism in English, Burmese and Jinghpaw — an ethnic Kachin dialect — allows her to “center overlooked voices and offer powerful insights on language, identity, and power,” making her “a force in both the classroom and the community.”
Similarly, Jared Furuta M.A. ’20 Ph.D. ’20, who taught Seng Maran in SOC 160: “Formal Organizations” and SOC 133D: “Globalization and Social Change,” described how Seng Maran “engages with the world in a genuine and enthusiastic way,” in an email to The Daily. He referenced a time that Seng Maran wrote about student life through organizational theory and analyzed activism in Myanmar through social movement theories.
Senior Associate Dean of Students Darrell Green — who met Seng Maran while she was taking photos for the University social media at a football game — once spoke to Seng Maran about his faith, and she invited him to her church where she introduced him to many of it’s members.
“You just don’t meet these types of people too often,” he told The Daily.
During her senior year, Seng Maran was also a resident assistant (RA) in Arroyo.
Jill Patton ’03 M.A. ’04, one of Arroyo’s resident fellows, praised Seng Maran’s thoughtfulness in the dorm, where Seng Maran wrote notes and holiday cards to dorm residents.
Ashley Harden, who worked closely with Seng Maran this past year as the Resident Director for neighborhood Sequoia, said: “She’s such a resilient young woman. She has been through so much. She’s so family oriented and she cares so much about doing well for her family,” Harden said.
After four years, “Stanford became a place where I not only learned about power and policy, but also about purpose,” Seng Maran said. “I’m glad I’m leaving knowing I have something to give. I’m walking away from Stanford not just with a degree but with a mission.”
After concluding her Stanford career with a senior capstone on educational recovery and authoritarian regimes post-natural disasters, Seng Maran graduated last Sunday on Father’s Day without the father she lost — but with a mother who filled both roles. “This day is a reminder of all that’s been lost — and all that’s been overcome,” she said.
Following graduation, she booked a one-way ticket to Kenya to work at a school as an education strategist for the summer. Seng Maran hasn’t returned to Myanmar since she first left, and with the recent travel ban to Myanmar and other countries by President Donald Trump, the closest opportunity for her is Kenya, she said.
“This degree is for the kids back home who had to drop out of the school to work to support their families; for the youth in refugee camps who are told that education is a luxury and not a right,” Seng Maran said.
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From cell to cell: Kyle Cole builds bridges for nontraditional learners at StanfordBy connecting independently-led programs, Cole helped cultivate a collaborative network that opens opportunities to community college and formerly incarcerated students.
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Nikkhilesh Ranjith still has the photo from his first day at Stanford Medicine — in which he stands, in his own words, beaming with “pure joy, pride, gratitude and a lot of disbelief.”
Ranjith, a formerly incarcerated student, came to Stanford to work at the Helms Lab in summer 2024.
“I cannot emphasize enough how crazy it is to go from sitting in a cell where you have no control over anything to sitting in a high-tech lab like something out of a movie, doing things we actually see in movies, where every idea I have could produce tangible results that could change lives,” Ranjith wrote in an email to The Daily.
Ranjith carved a unique path, but it was one of many facilitated by the work of Kyle Cole.
Cole has served as director of education and STEM outreach at Stanford’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE) since 2023. There, he leads efforts to connect faculty and staff at Stanford with students who don’t usually picture themselves on the Farm, including community college students and those who were formerly incarcerated.
“Community college students have few internship and work-experience opportunities, which can be pivotal for advancing their educational career,” Cole wrote in an email to The Daily.
Many faculty, graduate students and staff at Stanford had long been working on outreach initiatives, but until recently, Cole said, their efforts often went siloed. In 2022, to resolve this problem, Cole launched the Stanford Community College Community of Practice (CoP), a decentralized network that brought together people who had been independently supporting community college outreach. The idea, he said, was “bringing people together in the same space to say, ‘Hey, what do you do and how can we work together?’”
By summer 2024, more than 170 community college students were hosted in labs and programs across Stanford.
“The CoP has created a structured mechanism for sharing and coordinating community college outreach programs in units across campus,” wrote Michael Acedo, assistant director of project innovation and technology in Stanford Digital Education. “Cole has been instrumental in leading this effort, which has enabled different groups to highlight their work, exchange ideas and inspire new partnerships.”
One of the partnerships Cole helps support is with nano@Stanford, where interns from community colleges build industry-leading technical skills while also supporting daily operations.
“The internship program has nurtured a truly symbiotic relationship between the interns and facility staff,” wrote Daniella Duran M.A. ’97, education and outreach program manager. “While the staff are training and empowering these community college students, the interns in turn are providing critical facility operational support.”
Interns have presented their research at nano@Stanford’s Open House, led training videos and tours and attended their first technical conferences. Many continue to work at Stanford after the program ends.
One former intern, Alsyl Enriquez, later conducted summer research at Harvard.
“I can’t emphasize enough how influential and foundational my experience at Stanford was in helping me not only secure a research position at Harvard, but also succeed in it,” Enriquez wrote.
Cole’s collaborators also recognized another group who faced challenges in accessing education: students who had been impacted by the criminal justice system.
“There are underserved students, and then there are really underserved students who have few opportunities,” Cole said. “Once you’ve been in the criminal justice system, the number of doorways that are open to you just close tremendously.”
With internship funding available, Cole reached out to Rising Scholars, Berkeley’s Underground Scholars and Project Change at the College of San Mateo in 2023 to recruit formerly and currently incarcerated learners. In the program’s first summer, five system-impacted students joined Stanford labs.
Jorge Gonzalez, a student from this life experience who conducted research at the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis in summer 2024, wrote that “being able to have this opportunity to collaborate and work remotely for Stanford was amazing. I gained new skills and knowledge that can help me as I work toward my bachelor’s degree.”
Despite the opportunity, many faced obstacles while they were on campus. Cole described how one intern didn’t have stable housing and was taking Zoom calls from a car for their internship. Another had permission to come to the program during the day, but had a curfew that required him to be back in his home by 6 p.m.
“That puts you in a very different group than other students,” Cole said.
Each time Cole shares his work, he said, more faculty, staff and students reach out asking how they can get involved.
“I would just say for formerly incarcerated students, to not count them out as part of the pool,” Cole said. “They have all the abilities of these other students and even fewer opportunities to demonstrate those abilities.”
As for Ranjith, he wanted to offer one final note to other students from similar backgrounds: “Your past and background does not make you inferior to anyone or diminish your potential for success,” he wrote. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions because that is literally what research is.”
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Katie Ledecky speaks at Commencement marked by protestsAbout 150 students protested during graduation while University president Jonathan Levin spoke. Katie Ledecky '20 gave the Commencement speech.
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The 134th Commencement ceremony was held at Stanford Stadium today, where the University awarded long-awaited degrees to the Class of 2025. Joined by family, friends and faculty, the graduates celebrated the culmination of their academic journeys, which began in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his first Commencement speech as president, University president Jonathan Levin ’94 reflected on his memories as a Stanford student, the global reach of the Stanford community and ongoing criticisms and disputes facing higher education.
“I can confidently say that the [Class of 2025] will be remembered as the class that brought back fun,” Levin said, referring to the so-called “War on Fun” that drew controversy in recent years.
During his introduction to the ceremony, approximately 150 pro-Palestine students walked out in protest of the University’s stance on the war in Gaza as well as their actions dealing with the Trump administration.
Provost Jenny Martinez recognized the graduates for completing their degree requirements while Levin conferred their degrees, officially marking the transition from students to alumni. The total graduating class — including undergraduates and graduate students — consisted of 5,271 people, Stanford’s largest in history, with students’ ages ranging from 18 to 67.
Stanford’s youngest commencement speaker, Katie Ledecky ’20, a psychology alumna and 14-time Olympic medalist, returned to the Farm to address the Class of 2025. Ledecky missed her own graduation while training for the Tokyo Olympic trials. In an interview with The Daily, she said, “This is my first time really experiencing a graduation… I’m excited to just crash their events and get a feel for that sort of celebration.”
In her speech, Ledecky connected her swimming career with the nature of graduation. “When I was a little kid, my dad taught me that swim races could be decided by just a hundredth of a second…and that exercise taught me just how fast time flies by,” she said.
Graduation kicked off with the Wacky Walk, a beloved tradition with seniors displaying their creative outfits — typically reflective of campus culture or social commentary — as the graduates entered the field. Groups dressed as floating ducks, for example, poked fun at Stanford’s so-called Duck Syndrome.
Notable looks this year included the campus package center lockers, a group dressed up as a pirate ship labelled “Jane Stanford’s Revenge” and Stanford parking tickets.
Lindsey McKhann ‘25 and Andrew Gerges ‘25 wore TreeHouse margarita costumes from the popular campus restaurant “to pay tribute to something that was critical to our time here at Stanford, something that whenever we needed it, was there to help us find community and seek kinship in a shared love and joy with our people,” McKhann told The Daily.
Following the Wacky walk, Levin gave his introductory remarks during which the walk-out occurred. The protest was publicized through an Instagram post asking graduates to “Join the Class of 2025 in rejecting Stanford’s insatiable greed, as they cower to the federal administration, maintain complicity in genocide, and prioritize profit over students.”
The group held signs reading “The People’s University” and carried Palestinian flags.
An organizer of the walkout, Emma R. ’25, who requested to withhold her last name due to concerns about academic repercussions, told The Daily, “We walked out in protest of the University’s complicity, in support of Palestine and in recognition of all the Palestinians who should have been graduating this year but haven’t, because they’ve been murdered.”
Members of the walkout also hosted an alternative commencement called “The People’s Commencement” just minutes away from the stadium at the Arboretum Grove. “We wanted to still offer graduates the opportunity to celebrate their achievements while also not supporting an institution that is complicit in genocide,” Emma said.
Shortly after Levin began speaking and before the walkout began, a small plane began circling the stadium, trailing a banner that read, “Congrats! Don’t work for Elon [Musk].” The plane returned more than once, continuing its appearance even after the main ceremony concluded.
Following Levin and Martinez, Ledecky’s speech drew on her experiences as a student-athlete and her passion for setting ambitious goals. Reflecting on her Stanford career, she emphasized the importance of community.
“Some of my best friends have come out of Stanford, my teammates, but also some of the professors that I’ve stayed in touch with and some other classmates,” Ledecky told The Daily. “I just look back on my time at Stanford with such fondness and with such great memories.”
She recalled a particularly spontaneous week with the Stanford Band, where she learned to play the saxophone for a football game. She said, “I had never played the saxophone before… By the end of the week, I had the hang of it a little bit.”
In her speech, Ledecky spoke about not comparing oneself to others. “You don’t have to win the race. You just need to win your race,” she said.
Her address resonated with graduates navigating their next steps. “I would just encourage all the graduates to continue to set those big goals for themselves,” Ledecky told The Daily, urging students to leverage their Stanford education to pursue their passions.
Graduate students joined the celebration with enthusiasm. The Graduate School of Business was especially lively, with students popping champagne and confetti and throwing beach balls into the air.
Charity McDowell ‘25, a Masters Student in Community Health and Prevention Research said, “I feel like it’s really just an accumulation of my years throughout school… Now it’s just kind of like a reward, like graduating from [Stanford], so it’s a real blessing and honor.”
Many families, students and faculty agreed that much of Stanford’s impact lies in its community. Johnbull Okpara, father of a member of the Class of 2025, resonated with Ledecky’s remarks on his daughter’s experience with Stanford. “This school, the environment, the camaraderie, the folks around her, professors, the work she’s done here, the whole package has been outstanding,” he told The Daily.
As the Class of 2025 packs up to leave the Farm, Commencement marks both an end and a beginning. Ledecky closed her remarks by telling the recent graduates to “take your mark and go out there and make your mark.”
The atmosphere outside the stadium was emotional, energized and full of pride. Chidimma Okpara ’25, graduating from the Graduate School of Science Community Health & Prevention Research said, “I’m elated, and just so excited too. And I think the [commencement] was just a cherry on top.”
Dawn Royster ’26 contributed reporting.
This article has been updated to specify that the walkout occurred during Levin’s introductory remarks.
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For the fathers who raised usThe Daily invited students to share stories and memories about their fathers.
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The Daily invited students to share personal stories about the father figures who’ve shaped their lives — by blood or by bond — who’ve guided, taught and inspired them. These are their stories.
When I was born, my grandfather caught me from my mother’s womb and cared for me like his own daughter. His rough and calloused hands taught me that they could create whatever I wished to make, and my childhood was filled with running around in the dirt, laying on the grass, picking fruit from our trees. With him, my joy came from peeling oranges, taking care of his many plants, watching the water fall on them like makeshift rain. My hands would get dusty and my legs would be splashed with mud, yet he bestowed upon me a childhood that was cut short for him. It was finding little things to fix around the house with wire, oil and steel. It never came from luxuries; it came from time spent together in each other’s company, each other’s warmth and hugs. It came from running into his arms and being met by his big puffy jacket filled with the aroma of cologne and churros when he returned from morning Mass. It came from a bond that did not beg to be bought but was created through blood and the gift of being a father.
Everyone always questioned me when I called you Papa, Dad: “Don’t you mean just Grandpa or Dad?” They didn’t understand that you were a father to everyone who knew you. How you listened without judgment and intuitively handled every situation. How you embodied structure and discipline: wake up every morning by 8 a.m. for work, make your coffee, read your newspaper and start the day.
On Sundays, you kept moving: get up early, do your laundry— seven t-shirts, three pairs of jeans, eight pairs of socks and underwear — “That’s all you need” — put on some oldies and take care of house chores by noon. You took pride in everything you did. You always carried your brown bristle brush to slick back your hair in your Ford truck, placing it right next to the keychains of me and my sisters from our Holy First Communion. These are memories and values you’ve instilled in me forever. From an unwavering drive and a spirit far too contagious to extinguish. If I close my eyes, I can be transported to the back of your truck, on our way to a Dodgers game, listening to The Isley Brothers, feeling protected, grounded and seen all over again.
“Why is there a sun and a moon?” Random questions rolled off my tongue every morning you dropped me off at school. Somehow, you always seemed to give a plausible reply to “Can you tell me a story?” “How come airplanes can fly?” or “How come I can see colors?” Endless replies to endless questions.
I reached for a picture book, but you handed me “Little Women” instead. I was five.
I turned each page, cover to cover, not understanding a single word — only the weight (literally) of the story in my hands. Ten years later, I read it again and finally understood what once was just a heavy book.
A seat by the dinner table was a seat… for homework… something I used to not dread. You guided me through simple math problems so that I could later do harder ones on my own. While you couldn’t help me with those, you helped me get there.
You were my first exposure to education. What I call my strength — my education — is wholly yours. For that, I thank you.
I call you my little daddy but there’s nothing little about your heart or your presence. Any room you walk into automatically feels your warmth, your charm, your kindness. Your ability to make people laugh is incredible. But most importantly the care you have for others is the trait I admire most. You are always looking for ways to bless and be a light to those around you. You think about how to make people feel loved and seen. You have such an incredible heart which is truly God-given. Your impact on this Earth has already been felt immensely by those who have the privilege to encounter your presence but most importantly it has been felt by your children. I speak for all of us when I say that we couldn’t have asked for a better father. We tease you for your corny jokes but we secretly love them because you’re able to make us laugh even when we don’t feel like it. In addition to happiness, you also bring peace and security because I know that if I can always come to you for advice. It’s such a powerful gift. When I say that I am blessed to have you, I hope you know how deeply I mean that. You gave me a second chance at life. You were there to pick me up from the orphanage and took me in as your own daughter, and I am eternally grateful. I love you so much, and I want you to know that you played a huge role in shaping me into the person I am today. I am lucky to be your Sweet T.
Cada mañana a las seis, mi papá y yo nos subíamos al coche, café en su mano, mochila en la mía. Hablábamos de todo: nuestros días, la escuela, su película favorita “The Martian,” y de mis sueños grandes. Me ponía sus canciones favoritas desde los Beatles o “Piano Man” de Billy Joel. Por diez años, manejaba tres horas al día para que yo pudiera estudiar en la mejor escuela. Nunca se quejó. Nunca me dejó sentir que le debía algo. Solo decía: “Tú haz tu mejor esfuerzo … y Dios proveerá.”
En cada concierto, cada competencia, ahí estaba con su cámara, su sonrisa, y su clásico “¡Ponte pa la foto!” Y en mis días más bajos o cuando no me va bien en algo siempre me dice“¿Sabías que estoy muy orgulloso de ti?” Y lo dice con tanta calma, que duele bonito.
Él y mi mamá dejaron México, su familia, y todo lo que conocía, para que mi hermana y yo pudiéramos tener más. Trabaja desde casa desde hace 17 años, no porque era fácil, sino porque quería estar construyendo legos, jugando barbies, ayudándome con tareas y simplemente estando.
Y aunque estoy lejos, lo siento cerquita. Porque todo lo que soy, empezó con todo lo que él decidió ser.
“Pónganse los zapatos de fútbol, vamos a practicar afuera.“
My dad would say this to my sisters and me, and we instantly knew what it meant: hours of footwork drills, speed exercises and relentless sprints if we kept making mistakes. It was tough love, but we understood that it was his way of showing us he cared. Each drill, each repetition, taught us not just soccer skills, but lessons in resilience. After each practice, as we gathered the homemade soccer equipment my dad built for us, he’d share his wisdom. One phrase that’s stuck with me all these years is: “Cuando te caes, te levantas y te esfuerzas más, aunque te duela. Haz todo con una sonrisa y con humildad. Que no te importe lo que digan los demás.” That lesson in perseverance and humility has shaped who I am today.
Before my freshman year at Stanford, I wanted to spend a summer fully focused on my family. My parents never let me work during school to prioritize my studies and soccer, but that summer, they finally gave me the green light. I had the option to pick an easy job, but instead, I thought about what my dad had been doing for over 20 years — something that demanded incredible strength and resilience. So, I decided to help him as a truck driver assistant. The job was tough. I woke up early, worked under the scorching sun, lifted heavy loads and restocked non-stop. And yet my dad had been doing this for 20 years, always with a smile. It was then that I truly understood the depth of his sacrifice and work ethic — how he did it all for us, without complaint, with the guidance of God.
For everything you’ve done, Dad, I want to say gracias. Thank you for the love, the hard work, the countless sacrifices. Your humility, humor and tireless spirit have shaped me into the person I am today. And I thank God every day for the strength and example you’ve given me. Siempre echándole ganas, just like you taught me.
”Phone call with my dad”
What did you do today, bố ?
Nothing.
That’s not true, I’m sure you did something.
Bố go to SF and visit Bà Nội. Play with Bảo Anh and Ngọc Anh. Same thing.
Hey, so you did do something! What else did you do?
Eat, sleep. Bố clean up the backyard. Walk Bà Nội around neighbor hood. Busy.
You literally just said you didn’t do anything today.
But Bố do this every day.
Then you do something everyday. That’s a good thing.
Maybe.
Bố, what are you doing after this?
Nothing.
Oh my gosh.
Ha!
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From the Community | We must build a united front to defend international studentsFormer residents and associates of international theme houses urge the community to take action to support international students, arguing that silence is perceived as weakness.
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To the Stanford Community,
We are writing on behalf of many alumni who were residents and associates of the international theme houses at Lagunita Court between 1968 and 1971. Our shared Lagunita experience combining U.S. and international undergrad and grad students fostered lifelong personal and professional connections. International students are vital to Stanford’s excellence, and to Stanford’s mission as a global hub of learning and innovation.
We’ve shared this with Stanford’s leadership, who assured us that they are taking steps to address issues facing international students; however, we are concerned that their public silence is perceived as a weakness. We must unite to safeguard the open, diverse community that makes Stanford a beacon for the world.
We are aware of additional challenges by the current U.S. administration that threaten Stanford and other universities. The Stanford Daily reported that the budget bill passed by the House on May 22 imposes a 21% tax on Stanford’s endowment income. This threatens financial aid, which relies on the endowment for two-thirds of its $459 million budget, as well as research, faculty support and student services. Meanwhile, visa bans block international students, federal funding cuts cripple labs and accreditation threats, like those against Columbia University, undermine academic trust.
Stanford’s leadership must do more than offer assurances. We call on the entire Stanford community to act:
Stanford’s motto, “The wind of freedom blows,” summons every one of us to defend the free exchange of ideas. Let’s rise as a community to ensure Stanford remains a home for all who seek to participate in Stanford’s mission of discovery and learning.
Nicol Ian Mackenzie ’73, M.S. ’76, M.D. ’81, Anesthesia Residency ’84.
Ian D. Smith, M.A ’70, Ph.D. ’71, Fulbright scholar ’68-‘71. Australian citizen and associate professor (retired), University of Sydney, Australia.
Heather E. Hudson, M.A. ’69, Ph.D. ’74. Professor Emerita, University of San Francisco (Dual Canadian and U.S. citizen).
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The Stanford Daily Magazine: All the RageHow does rage shape a society? Does it emerge as a reaction, or does it incite as a catalyst? Is it a symptom of failure or a signal of change? Prompted by these questions, this volume of our magazine dares to explore rage not just as an emotion, but as a force through our overall theme, “All the Rage.”
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Editor in Chief
Greta Reich
Executive Editors
Lauren Koong, Ananya Udaygiri
Magazine Editors
Charlotte Cao, Rebecca Louie
Graphics Editor
Da-Hee Kim
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Crossword: All the RageClick to play The Daily's special edition crossword, part of this volume's "All the Rage" magazine. The Daily produces mini crosswords three times a week and a full-size crossword biweekly.
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Campus crime reviewed throughout academic yearThe Daily compiled all reported crimes across Stanford for the 2024-25 academic year. The data, separated by whether the crime occurred on east or west campus, maps the location and patterns of all reports throughout campus.
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Throughout the 2024-25 academic year, 561 crimes were reported to the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS). The data, which was compiled by The Daily, was made using reports of police blotter, a weekly account of SUDPS’s reported crimes.
The data visualization maps the location of each crime, distinguishing between each of them depending on whether they occurred on east or west campus. The separate sides of campus were determined by whether the longitude of the reported location fell to the left or right of the median location for all the reports.
There were 161 bicycle and scooter thefts reported, 94 of which occurred on east campus and 67 on west campus. Bike thefts are either labeled as petty theft, if the bike was valued at or under $950, or grand theft, if the bike was valued at over $950.
“We have engaged in targeted enforcement efforts [against bike thefts] that have resulted in some arrests,” Bill Larson, community outreach office for SUDPS, wrote in an email to The Daily.
According to Larson, parking areas for bicycles are also watched for suspicious activity during routine patrol checks. SUDPS and the University’s campus planning and architect office also review the parking areas for any lighting improvements and where additional parking areas may be needed.
In 2023, Stanford was awarded the Platinum Bicycle Friendly University Award for the fourth consecutive time, making it the only university to achieve this. Over 10,000 bikers ride across campus daily as well. SUDPS introduced several efforts, such as their bike safety class developed with Stanford Transportation, increased promotion of their Bicycle Safety Diversion Program and heightened law enforcement, to increase bike safety and decrease collisions across campus.
“The Bicycle Safety Class was recently launched online. We plan to add more information on how to prevent bicycle theft in the next version,” Larson wrote.
Larson noted several efforts that SUDPS is undertaking to combat bicycle theft. “Bicycle theft prevention is a topic in our Bicycle Safety Diversion Program, [SUDPS] is represented on the Bicycle Safety Committee which includes bicycle theft prevention, [and] bicycle theft prevention tips are shared with our community members at all resource fairs,” he wrote.
Through the school year, 40 vehicle thefts were also reported, with several of these occurring during a string of car thefts around Rains graduate housing in March. Seventeen of the vehicle thefts occurred on east campus and 23 on west campus.
“Whenever possible, we patrol parking lots and parking structures more frequently, especially at night,” Larson wrote. “We educate our community members on how to prevent vehicle theft, such as parking in lighted areas, doors locked, windows rolled up, and to consider a steering wheel immobilization device such as ‘The Club.’”
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