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Freshman guard scores career high in 70-62 victory over Utah in Maples
Neelay Trivedi ’23 calls for Stanford to add a climate crisis course requirement
The Stanford Daily An Independent Publication
THURSDAY February 27, 2020
Volume 257 Issue 18
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Sophomore died of accidental fentanyl overdose University to increase drug and alcohol prevention, education programs By ERIN WOO NEWS EDITOR
The January death of a Stanford sophomore was caused by an accidental overdose of the powerful narcotic fentanyl, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office confirmed on Wednesday. Eitan Weiner ’22 was found unresponsive in his on-campus residence on Jan. 17 and pronounced dead by the Palo Alto Fire Department that morning. The University is “deeply concerned by Eitan’s cause of death,” wrote Stanford spokesperson E.J. Miranda in an email to The Daily. “We are increasing our drug and alcohol prevention and education programs, enhancing screening and assessment of students who have engaged in substance abuse, and working with national experts in college substance abuse to develop a comprehensive plan to promote and support student health and well-being,” Miranda wrote. Though the cause and manner have been determined, the Santa Clara County Sheriff ’s Office is continuing to investigate the
circumstances around Weiner’s passing, according to Miranda. Weiner’s death was followed, later that day and in the weeks afterwards, by several University-wide emails and alerts warning students about fentanyl — an opioid 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine — and the “dangerous counterfeit prescription drugs in our community,” although the messages made no explicit connection to Weiner at the time. “As many of you know, young people are dying in record numbers after consuming drugs containing fentanyl,” wrote Vice Provost for Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole in an email to students on Jan. 31. Brubaker-Cole’s message warned specifically of circular, blue or light green counterfeit prescription painkillers stamped with the letter M and the number 30 that looked like Percocet or OxyContin, but contained fentanyl. The email told students how to dispose of drugs and reminded them to call 9-1-1 in an emergency, noting that first responders serving Stanford carry Narcan to treat opioid overdoses. Brubaker-Cole urged students strug-
gling with drug addiction to contact Narcotics Anonymous, their residence dean or Graduate Life Office dean. Posters containing similar information were also hung in undergraduate residences. Discussion of fentanyl on campus has also reached the Undergraduate Senate, which debated and ultimately tabled a resolution to ask the University to place kits containing Narcan in Stanford dorms. “There is not a single issue on this campus that is more important than student life,” said Senator Sam Schimmel ’22, who introduced the resolution, at the Senate’s Feb. 4 meeting. “The science is settled,” he added. “When we introduce Narcan to communities, those communities are better off.” However, other senators argued that the resolution left important legal and logistical questions unanswered. After debate, they voted to table the bill to gain more input from the student body, consult with stakeholders and identify the liability of placing the kits in the dorms. “Someone on this campus died,” said
Courtesy of Weiner Family/Stanford News Service
Eitan Weiner ’22 died in his on-campus residence on Jan. 17. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office confirmed his death was caused by an accidental fentanyl overdose. Senator Micheal Brown ’22 at the Feb. 4 meeting. “Let’s not take advantage of that to have some type of political victory for ourselves.” At Stanford, Weiner worked at the Hoover Institution and had planned on ma-
Please see FENTANYL, page 3
UNIVERSITY
STUDENT LIFE
Arrillaga pledges $55 million
Exam raises Honor Code questions Grading scale changed after timed take-home midterm
Donation to help fund medical school financial aid
By ESHA DHAWAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
By EMMA TALLEY
By KATE SELIG
DESK EDITOR
DESK EDITOR
$90 million in new scholarship funding will be funneled toward debt elimination for incoming students in the School of Medicine over the next 10 years, Stanford News reported on Wednesday. The funding is led by a $55 million gift from prominent real-estate developer and philanthropist John Arrillaga ’60. His contribution will be supplemented by institutional support and philanthropic donations from the School of Medicine. Arrillaga’s gift comes amid a free-tuition trend in medical schools. The New York University School of Medicine made tuition free for all students in 2018, regardless of students’ financial background. In April 2019, the Washington University School of Medicine eliminated tuition costs for half of incoming
Although standard procedure would require the GSC to wait until next Wednesday to vote on the resolution, communications co-term John Coffey ’19 M.A. ’20 noted the time-sensitivity of the issue and motioned for the Council to vote immediately. The Council voted to suspend the procedure and passed the bill. All councilors voted in favor
A timed take-home midterm in the class CS 161: “Design and Analysis of Algorithms” raised Honor Code questions when a student pointed out that the code’s official interpretations discourage such exams. The professor in CS 161 — which contains 529 students, according to Explore Courses — assigned a take-home midterm exam between Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 that was required to be completed in a three-hour time frame. However, the Interpretations of the Honor Code web page states that “[i]f takehome examinations are given, they should not be closed-book examinations, nor should there be a specific time limit less than the full period between the distribution of the examination and its due date.” “Such procedures place honorable and conscientious students in a difficult position and often at a disadvantage,” it adds. Emily Jusuf ’20, a student in the class, shared her concerns on Piazza, an online platform where students can ask instructors questions. “We understand that setting up a three-hour block for students to take an exam together is difficult, and that you trust us to take the Honor Code seriously,” she wrote. “At the same time ... we were hoping instructors could help us understand the decision to give us a timed take-home midterm in light of [the Interpretations of the Honor Code].” “It became evident from the responses and the number of ‘good
Please see GSC, page 3
Please see MIDTERM, page 4
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The Arrillaga donation will be used to enhance financial aid for incoming students with demonstrated need. The additional aid will go toward covering living expenses in addition to tuition. medical students. The Arrillaga donation will be used to enhance financial aid for incoming students with demonstrated need. The additional aid will go toward covering living expenses in addition to tuition, according to Stanford News. “Because we live in an area with such a high overall cost of living, we appreciate that tuition-free does not necessarily mean debt-free,” School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor told Stanford News. “Merely addressing tuition costs is not sufficient, as students must often
take out large loans to cover their room, board and other living expenses.” The Class of 2019 graduated with median student debt of just over $89,000, according to Stanford News, while the country median was $200,000. Arrillaga, who received financial aid from the University when he was a student, told Stanford News he hoped the donation would make medical school more accessible for students. “I hope this gift will attract a diverse group of the best and bright-
est students from every socioeconomic background to the university and bring a Stanford Medical School education within reach for any student who may not have been able to consider it otherwise,” Arrillaga said. “I believe that focusing aid on students with established need is what is best from an equity and opportunity standpoint.” Stanford Medical Center Development, which supports Stanford Medicine, has set up a page on its website where individuals can do-
Please see ARRILLAGA, page 3
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
GSC stands in solidarity with UCSC grad students By CAMRYN PAK DESK EDITOR
The Graduate Student Council (GSC) passed a bill that called for solidarity with striking graduate student workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). At their Wednesday meeting, councilors also discussed the upcoming Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) elections.
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Graduate student workers at UCSC have been on strike for the past two weeks as a result of their demand for a $1,412 monthly cost of living adjustment. The strike occurred after months of dialogue between students and the UCSC administration, according to The New York Times. Fourth-year law and international policy student Julia Neusner J.D. ’20 M.A. ’20 introduced the resolution to support
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the UCSC student workers in their strike. “They’ve been met with oppressive resistance from the administration including threats of expulsion and employment termination,” Neusner said. “Their requests are being ignored by the administration, so we would like the GSC to pass a resolution that indicates that they stand in solidarity with these UCSC graduate students.”
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The Stanford Daily
SPORTS 47 FOR TERRY, DA SILVA CARDINAL DEFEAT UTAH BEHIND RECORD SCORING MEN’S BASKETBALL UP NEXT COLORADO 21-7 (10-5 PAC-12) 3/1| 3:00 PM | STANFORD, CA COVERAGE: TV ESPNU By SAVANNA STEWART DESK EDITOR
Big contributions from Stanford men’s basketball’s Tyrell Terry and Oscar da Silva are anything but uncommon. Twenty-point nights from the freshman guard or junior forward are slightly more rare but not unfamiliar. Twenty points apiece from the duo in the same game, however, was unheard of. That is, until Wednesday night, when their combined 47 points helped the Cardinal (19-9, 8-7 Pac-12) stretch its win streak to three with a 70-62 home victory over Utah (15-13, 6-10 Pac-12). It took da Silva less than a minute to get Stanford on the board with a dunk, and Terry wasted no time tacking on three shots of his own with one from behind the arc a possession later. Terry had no way of knowing it at the time, but the triple would be just one of seven he sank en route to a career-high 27 points. Terry’s 11 attempts from deep are the most by a Cardinal player during a single game this season, but hardly an issue to head coach Jerod Haase. “[Terry] has a presence about him, a confidence about him,” Haase said of the freshman, who averages 15.4 points per game. “I have told him before ... the idea of a green light,” Haase continued. “In those kinds of moments, that green light is very, very, very green.” Two-thirds of Terry’s points came in the final 20 minutes of play, but the nine he added before halftime, in addition to 13 from da Silva, let the Cardinal head to the locker room with a comfortable 12-point
lead at the break. It appeared as though Stanford’s third straight victory would come easily on its home court, but the Utes had other plans. Though none of Utah’s players were able to match the offensive performances of Terry or da Silva; four managed to break into double figures, with sophomore guard Timmy Allen’s 17 pacing the squad. Allen finished having shot 8-of-14 from the field in his 35 minutes on the court. Freshman center Branden Carlson wreaked havoc on Stanford’s offense in the paint and had eight blocks to show for his efforts by the end of the night. Despite Carlson dominating down low, da Silva was able to tally 20 points against the Utes. As is typical of the 6’9” forward, the majority of da Silva’s buckets came from inside the paint, where he also reeled in a team-high seven rebounds for the Cardinal. Both Terry and da Silva finished the game having shot 8-of-14, though Terry’s perfect 4-for-4 showing from the charity stripe slightly outdid da Silva’s 3-for-4 effort. While Terry may have dazzled the crowd with his seven 3-pointers, it was a long-range launch by sophomore forward Jaiden Delaire that truly sealed the deal for the Cardinal. After Utah had whittled Stanford’s lead down to just 3 points — largely thanks to a 57.69% success rate from the field in the second half — a pass from freshman forwards Spencer Jones found an open Delaire in perfect position to sink one from behind the arc and make it a two-possession game with just a minute remaining. “My goal, whether it’s a game or
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Freshman guard Tyrell Terry (above) knocked down seven 3-pointers, four free throws and a jumper to tally a career-high 27 points on Wednesday night against the Utes. Junior forward Oscar da Silva added 20 more. practice, is to go in everyday, work as hard as I can [and] try to get better,” Delaire said. “I have been putting in a lot of work on my shot, and just being able to step in and having the confidence to knock that down was really helpful for me tonight.” Delaire was hardly the only one confident in his ability to make the play, regardless of the narrow lead Stanford was struggling to hold fol-
CLOSING SPORTS’
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BY DANIEL MARTINEZ-KRAMS STAFF WRITER
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tanford won its first national championship in a men’s sport in 1928. The first women’s national championship was delivered by the 1982 tennis team, the beginning of Stanford’s most prolific program and a dominance in women’s sports. Despite a much shorter history, women’s sports have accounted for 59 of Stanford’s NCAA-record 126 team national championships (47%). Given this success despite inequity, it is no surprise, then, that a former Cardinal is attempting to remedy one of sports media’s most glaring blights: 4% of coverage is dedicated to women’s sports. Haley Rosen ’15 began her soccer career with a national championship in 2011 and ended with an All-Pac-12 First Team honor in her redshirt senior campaign. Now, Rosen is searching for loftier goals with Just Women’s Sports, a Stanford media startup aimed, as the name implies, at bridging the gender chasm in sports coverage. Her breakout senior season led Rosen to a professional career in the U.S. and abroad that shaped her current perception of women’s sports media. Upon entering the professional scene, Rosen felt like a stranger in the soccer world she has been a part of for so many years because she knew so little about opposing teams and players due to the lack of media coverage. She said that this trend continued when she left the soccer world, and the energy she had experienced as a player was not replicated in the coverage. So Rosen took action and founded Just Women’s Sports. “I think representation matters,” Rosen said. “I know for me personally, had I been able to follow
justwomenssports.com
Just Women’s Sports (homepage above) is a news website founded by Stanford soccer alumna and former professional soccer player Haley Rose ‘15 in order to combat gender disparity in mainstream coverage. these women, these leagues, these awards, I think it would have really helped me in my playing career.” Of course, Rosen was not alone in her assessment of the disparate landscape. When the site launched in 2019, more than 100 different athletes posted about it on social media. Three of the biggest names in women’s sports — three-time beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist in Kerri Walsh Jennings ’01, 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike ’12 and two-time water polo gold medalist Maggie Steffens ’17 — have signed on as athlete partners. The fourth and final partner, 2018 hockey gold medalist Hilary Knight, was born in Palo Alto. “Honestly, the Stanford community is strong,” Rosen said. “We’ve been really lucky to connect with athletes that are obviously phenomenally gifted at their sport, but they’re also advocates for change. They’ve done a lot to push their sports forward [and] to push women’s sports forward.” “[The partners] keeping us in check and making sure the content that we create, our voice, and all our branding, everything that we do is authentic to the women’s sports world,” Rosen added. The Stanford connection continued with Rosen’s interviews of both Sophia Smith, who was drafted to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in January after her sophomore season, and sopho-
more goalkeeper Katie Meyer, whose penalty kick heroics delivered a national championship in November. On the way to that title, Stanford women’s soccer defeated UCLA in the semifinals. Now, Stanford has 16 more women’s sports team championships than the second-place Bruins. “Stanford is a major university. We have a major football program, we have a major basketball program,” Rosen said. “And even in this environment, there’s a world where women’s sports gets a ton of attention, and people are super excited to go to the games, cheer and be a part of the playoff run.” Stanford’s dominance in women’s soccer came during one of the best years historically for the sport. The Women’s World Cup in France drew worldwide attention as the U.S. Women’s National Team sprinted undeterred to victory. The spotlight it generated carried over to the NWSL, as more people began to pay attention to the domestic game. “I think it’s amazing that we’re starting to see more headlines [about women],” Rosen said, “but there’s still so many athletes, so many stories that we’re just not talking about.” Luckily, there is now a platform to follow and find out. Contact Daniel Martinez-Krams at danielmk@stanford.edu.
lowing 3 1/2 scoreless minutes. “Hopefully [Delaire] is gaining confidence that I have confidence in him,” Haase said. “If you looked at me on the sideline ... I looked at [the shot] and I smiled.” “He has worked and worked and worked these last few weeks,” Haase continued. “Instead of hoping that things turn out well or that he plays well, [Delaire] has worked
at it.” Up next for the Cardinal is No. 21 Colorado on Sunday. After one of Stanford’s longest breaks of the season, action tips off at 3 p.m. PT at Maples Pavilion. Contact Savanna Stewart at savnstew @stanford.edu.
Thursday, February 27, 2020 N 3
The Stanford Daily HEALTH
USA Football to use Stanford program Concussion module now part of coach certification By UJWAL SRIVASTAVA DESK EDITOR
A concussion education module developed in collaboration with Stanford experts will be used as part of USA Football’s nationally accredited coach certification curriculum, according to an announcement made at the USA Football 2020 National Conference on Feb. 23. The module, CrashCourse, is an interactive educational program created by the health education nonprofit TeachAids to improve concussion awareness and understanding among athletes, parents and coaches. As a free, stand-alone course within USA Football’s online course library, it has been taken more than 9,000 times in the
past six months. TeachAids’ founder and CEO, Piya Sorcar, said the module’s widescale applicability, research-based focus on education and use of technologies such as virtual reality set it apart. “TeachAids uses a researchbased development process to design interactive and impactful learning experiences that resonate with our youth,” Sorcar wrote in an email to The Daily. “Our technology allows us to scale our near-peer content much more effectively [and] reach a far wider audience.” USA Football Director of Coaching Micael Krueger told The Daily that the organization is excited for its new partnership with TeachAids. “Our staff was incredibly impressed with the passion and commitment that the entire TeachAids team had toward its mission,” Krueger wrote in an email to The Daily. “TeachAids’ CrashCourse module is cutting-edge in its content
and has a high degree of interactivity in how it engages with learners.” Krueger added that the new training program has the potential to change how coaches deal with concussions. “We believe that coaches will be better prepared to recognize the signs and symptoms of concussion and therefore better prepared to care for their athletes,” Krueger said. “Because the information is relayed so effectively and in such an engaging way, we feel that coaches will retain the information and feel more confident in their understanding of it.” In recent years, football — especially youth football — has come under fire for causing concussions in children and teenagers. Last fall, legislators in New York reintroduced a bill that would ban tackle football for children under 12, citing science that links repeated head injuries in childhood to neurological conditions like chronic traumatic
Courtesy of Piya Sorcar
CrashCourse, a concussion education module developed in collaboration with Stanford experts, was recently added to USA Football’s nationally accredited youth coach training program. encephalopathy later in life. In the past, TeachAids has partnered with organizations such as American Youth Football and Cheer and Pop Warner youth football league. USA Football certifies the greatest number of coaches annually among U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee member organizations. “We take great pride in our close association with USA Football, the
GSC
ARRILLAGA
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besides Neusner, who abstained as one of the resolution’s co-authors. GSC co-chair fourth-year mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Yiqing Ding also encouraged councilors to run for council in the upcoming ASSU elections, noting that the filing period was extended by a week — from Feb. 21 to Friday. “The deadline was pushed back to allow for more candidates to file as some graduate students were unaware of the filing period being open,” wrote ASSU elections commissioner Christian Giadolor ’21 in an email to The Daily. “This follows protocol from last year in which the filing period was extended to accommodate for the schedules of graduate students and to ensure their participation in the general election.” Ding also said that there has been a lack of advertisements sent out to graduate students about the upcoming election, saying that he will be “sending out a grad-wide email about elections” on Thursday as the current number of those who filed is “very low.”
nate to match Arrillaga’s gift. The page also includes quotes and videos from students who have benefited from financial aid. Kaylene Carter, fifth-year medical student, told Medical Center Development that financial aid was pivotal in her decision
FENTANYL Continued from front page
CAMRYN PAK/The Stanford Daily
In its weekly meeting on Wednesday, the Graduate Student Council passed a bill indicating that it would stand in solidarity with graduate student workers who are on strike at UC Santa Cruz. The students are striking because they want a cost-of-living adjustment of $1,412. Only three students have filed as of Wednesday evening, according to Giadolor, who added that “the commission is aware of a handful of others who intend to file but have not done so yet.” “The majority of the 41 [Under-
graduate Senate] candidates filed within 48 hours of the period closing, so we expect more candidates to file soon,” Giadolor wrote. Contact Camryn Pak at cpak23 @stanford.edu.
joring in history. Passionate about hip-hop and rap music, he was also producing an album. Weiner’s family remains deeply involved in the campus community. His father, Amir Weiner, is an associate professor of history, and his mother, Julia Weiner, is an associate vice provost for medical center development. His sister, Ya’el Weiner ’19, majored in human biology. At Weiner’s memorial service, which drew hundreds to Memorial Church, his family and friends remembered him as a cherished
governing body of youth football,” Sorcar said. “Our overall goal of Concussion Education is to make all of sport and recreation at every level and age group safe. We are thankful such a respected organization as USA Football has had the confidence in us to give us this start.” Contact Ujwal Srivastava at ujwal@stanford.edu. to pursue medicine. “I probably would have had a much harder decision whether or not to go into medicine, especially coming from seven years of a different career [in the U.S. Navy], whether or not to give all that up and start something new afresh,” Carter said. “Having access to financial aid like that really just made the decision a lot easier.” Contact Kate Selig at kselig@ stanford.edu. member of his fraternity, Theta Delta Chi (TDX), and his freshman dorm community, Arroyo. “Without him, the world is less bright, colors are less vibrant and Stanford is less like home,” said Mia Bahr ’22, his former dormmate in Arroyo. But Weiner ’s mother also struck a cautionary note, saying she could see her son not only in the ways his friends were “bright, beautiful and full of promise” but also in the ways they were “reckless and brazen.” Weiner’s death was “senseless and stupid,” she said, adding: “Don’t let his memory be meaningless.” Contact Erin Woo at erinkwoo @stanford.edu.
4 N Thursday, February 27, 2020
The Stanford Daily
OPINIONS OP-ED
The Stanford Daily
Let’s require Stanford students to study climate change C
limate change is an existential crisis that threatens life as we know it. Yet as governments and policymakers around the world continue to contemplate possible solutions, they are ignoring a key piece of the puzzle: climate education. Given its self-stated mission of “solving real-world problems” and “benefiting the region, nation and world,” Stanford has a moral responsibility to endow its students with a basic sense of climate literacy. To accomplish this goal, Stanford should establish the nation’s first comprehensive climate change academic requirement. Under this requirement, every Stanford student would have to take at least one course addressing the climate crisis during their undergraduate career. A climate literacy requirement would go a long way toward making climate change a nonpartisan reality accepted across the aisle. Obviously, politically motivated differences are to be expected when discussing various solutions for tackling the climate crisis. But right now, we are wasting precious time debating the mere existence of the problem instead of focusing on solving it. Rampant misinformation is also paralyzing the climate movement and undermining the establishment of a global climate consensus. A Yale study found that only 57% of Americans know what the greenhouse effect is and only 50% understand that global warming is a man-made phenomenon. These percentages are far too low, but if you think that college students fare better than the general population, get ready for a surprise. A Vanderbilt study found that of the top 100 American universities and liberal arts colleges, only one (Columbia) has a climate science class in the core curriculum. The same study calculated that the average American college student has only a 17% chance of learning about climate change throughout their undergrad career. That’s why a climate education requirement is indispensable. A curriculum rooted in scientific rigor
and based on case studies would give students a shared set of facts about the climate crisis aimed at closing this climate awareness gap. The knowledge gained from such a class would help all students, irrespective of their political leanings. Climate policy must be addressed from the political center in order to build the widest coalition possible and have the largest impact. Moreover, the requirement doesn’t have to take the form of a single class that every student takes. Such a unified approach would be ineffective and uninteresting. Instead, the requirement should be flexible in order to accommodate the diverse interests of Stanford’s student body. One option is to create a WAYS-style climate requirement, which multiple courses could be used to fulfill. Another is to incorporate climate education into a standalone requirement, similar to Writing and Rhetoric, within the general education requirements. This would signal that climate literacy is just as important as the ability to communicate effectively. Once again, a variety of courses could be designed to fulfill this kind of requirement. Now is also a particularly good time to propose a climate change requirement. Traditionally, modifying Stanford’s core curriculum would be a long and arduous process requiring jumping through bureaucratic hoops and gaining approval from key stakeholders and academic departments. But luckily, Stanford is in the midst of making the most consequential changes to its academic core in decades. A recent Daily open letter from the history department stressed the need for more student input in this process, and I couldn’t agree more. With a deliberative session scheduled for March 5 and a formal vote on April 16, there is plenty of time for Stanford students to make their voices heard and advocate for a climate change requirement to be added to the new proposed core. Ultimately, I don’t view a climate change requirement as some kind of panacea that will immediately fix the climate crisis and lead to uni-
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versal acceptance of humanity’s role in creating it. Rather, I view it as an important institutional step that Stanford can take in order to better prepare its students for the future. As a key influencer within the higher education universe, Stanford’s action on this issue can inspire other colleges to take similar steps, making climate literacy a nationwide policy initiative. If we are to have any chance of coming to a global climate consensus, we need to prioritize educating citizens about what climate change is, its causes and why the problem is so serious. Nothing has stymied climate policy more than individuals who mindlessly embrace the climate denier movement without understanding the science behind emissions and the greenhouse effect. To convert these deniers and prevent future generations of students from falling victim to the misinformation tactics of big corporations and oblivious governments, we need to make climate education a permanent fixture in classrooms. NEELAY TRIVEDI ’23
Contact Neelay Trivedi at ntrivedi @stanford.edu.
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Courtesy of Emily Jusuf
A Piazza post raises questions about the Honor Code following the administration of a take-home midterm exam in CS 161. The class grading scale will be changed to avoid negatively impacting grades.
“We understand ... that you trust us to take the Honor Code seriously.” — EMILY JUSUF ’20 lated twice, once with the midterm and once without it. The final grade will be a maximum of the two letter grades. “No one will receive a worse letter grade than they would under the original grading scheme!” Wooters wrote. However, she told students that she believes they did follow the Honor Code, writing that, “the grade distribution seems about right for a timed exam.” Wooters did not respond to multiple Daily requests for comment. Mitchell said he was glad the students and Wooters have reached an agreement. “ The department supports Stanford policy and encourages all faculty to treat students fairly and respectfully, as appears to have occurred in the final agreement,” he said. But Sanchez expressed concern that the University lacks clear process for handling situations where professors violate the Honor Code. “It’s tricky because faculty are employees, so if there was a problem with their work behavior, it should be handled by their department,” Sanchez wrote.
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MIDTERM questions’ on the post that a lot of other students in the class shared our concerns,” Jusuf told The Daily in an email. According to Catherine Sanchez ’19, a first-year sociology Ph.D. candidate who serves as the chair of the Board on Judicial Affairs — a 15person committee which interprets the Honor Code — a timed takehome midterm violates the Honor Code. “Take-home exams that are closed-book or timed or in any way require students to ‘police’ themselves create a temptation for students to violate the Honor Code and are, therefore, supposed to be avoided,” she wrote. “If students were required to time themselves, that would go against the Honor Code,” she added. Student Affairs spokesperson Pat Harris told The Daily that exams that do not follow Honor Code guidelines may be brought to the Office of Community Standards or the class’ academic department, but said that the University does not confirm student conduct matters. Computer Science Department Chair John C. Mitchell told The Daily that “no students have reached out to me as the department chair about the midterm.” In a lecture after the midterm was given, Mary Wooters, an assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, acknowledged that she had made a mistake. “Thank you to those who respectfully pointed out that there is actually some guidance from Stanford about timed take-home midterms,” she wrote in slides presented at the lecture. In order to address students’ concerns, Wooters chose to alter how students’ grades are calculated. In an update to the Course Policy, course grades will now be calcu-
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She also advocated for incorporating better training of faculty to ensure they have an adequate understanding of the Honor Code. Currently, there is also no centralized place for faculty to ask questions related to the Honor Code other than the Office of Community Standards, and there is no staff person designated for that job, Sanchez said. “‘Everybody’ knows they can’t proctor, but many people don’t know or think about the nuanced ways that undue temptation can be created!” she wrote. Jusuf told The Daily she was happy with the way the situation worked out, “especially with Professor Wootters for her understanding and her quick response to change the course policy both this quarter and in future quarters.” “It’s amazing how we were able to have such an honest and respectful conversation,” she said. “Mistakes happen.” Riya Sankhe contributed to this article. Contact Esha Dhawan at edhawan@stanford.edu and Emma Talley at emmat332@stanford.edu.
Thursday, February 27, 2020 N 5
The Stanford Daily
THE GRIND On the paradox of choice, Tinder By LARISSA BERSH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Of all the things to learn in an intro psychology class, I didn’t think the connection between a jar of jam and my dislike for Tinder would be one of them. And yet, as I listened with rapt attention from the back row of the PSYCH 1 lecture hall, the pieces began to come together. The way I learned it, the jam study went as follows. Researchers set up two different “jam stand” conditions at a grocery store: one in which the stand advertised a great variety of jam flavors to pick from, and another that presented only a few. In the former condition, customers flocked to the jam stand, intrigued by the sheer amount
of options. But the researchers found something funny. When there were more choices, the customers were less likely to actually make a purchase, despite showing more initial interest. And when they did make a purchase, compared to the condition in which there were fewer flavors to choose from, they ended up less satisfied with their final decision. This study illustrates a phenomenon that has been dubbed “the paradox of choice.” Sitting in the back of that classroom, it was a paradox that sounded awfully familiar. I nudged my friend, sitting beside me. “It’s kinda like Tinder, don’t you think?” The words had come out of my mouth facetiously; I’d
barely had time to register what I was saying. But, to my surprise, my friend didn’t laugh. Instead, she nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right,” she agreed. “It really is like Tinder.” Just two months earlier, I’d been sitting cross-legged on the questionably stained floor of a one-room double, preparing for the onset of cuffing season by crowdsourcing my very first Tinder bio. “It’s gotta be a joke,” one friend insisted. “Make it ‘Roast me,’” another countered. In the end, I settled for no bio at all, hoping my lack of creativity could hide under the guise of mystery. After all, to me Tinder was nothing more than my own version of
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the proverbial post-breakup haircut; I was only four days out of an eight-month relationship (an overenthusiastic return-to-play timeframe, to be sure), and downloading the app was my way of shedding skin. In those first few weeks, using Tinder gave me a feeling I’d never quite experienced before. Having all of those options at my fingertips was gratifying, freeing. It was powerful. In the real world, I saw the people around me as ambiguous and self-involved — in short, unavailable. On Tinder, it was different. The lines were clear: this one likes EDM — not my type; this one’s bio reads “what it do, baby” — also not my type; this one uses Oxford commas — most definitely not my type. I swiped left without discretion; behind each imperfect profile was the potential of another, perhaps one that would better suit my fancy. I found myself wishing I’d discovered the wonderful world of college singledom earlier — who ever said it was boring? Who ever said it was hard, or scary? There were fish in the sea, all right, and I was having the time of my life catching them. This was the peak of my Tinder experience, the beautiful view from the top of a steep, steep hill. At the top of that hill, it didn’t matter if I sent the first message and it went unanswered. It didn’t matter if the boy I’d been eyeing from across the lecture hall ghosted me after a two-message exchange, if that guy from my freshman dorm swiped left, if every conversation was a dead end or a 3 a.m. “u up?” And though I tried to convince myself that the rejections didn’t matter, as I began the painful descent down my own perilous hill of self-deception, it became abundantly clear. They did matter. They mattered a lot. The experiences I thought of as “failures” — the ghostings, the unanswered messages, the rejections — they mattered so much because they were real. Each and every one took down the skeleton of a reality I’d constructed where picking a new person was as simple and as inconsequential as picking a new pair of shoes. Each failure made it ever-clearer that I was somehow abiding by
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For the first few weeks, using Tinder gave me a feeling I’d never quite experienced before. Having all of those options at my fingertips was gratifying, freeing. It was powerful. two parallel, and starkly contrasting, world views. In one of those worlds, my options were endless and replaceable, and I was invincible. In the other, I was grasping desperately for a connection with another human being, mortally wounded by the loss of nuance in my relationships. As my two worlds came dangerously close to convergence, I realized how awestruck I had been by the sheer number of jam jars at my table. With every new match, my connection with each of the previous felt less special, each person seeming like a sporadic collection of parts. Here was their bio, and their favorite song, and there was their face, and that one time they caught an abnormally large fish — and then what? What made them different from the next? What made me different from the next? The seemingly infinite supply of options allowed me to care less, to distance myself, to treat people like items in an online shopping cart. And as a result, I found myself deeply unhappy with all of it. Unlike Tinder, real life is not an infinite supply of interested people or the near-instant gratification of swipes and matches. Real life is investing valuable time into mutually enriching relationships. Real life is choosing the people you spend time with intentionally. It is not juggling 20 shallow conversations at once, not fake-laughing at the same unoriginal pickup line seven times, not absent-mindedly swiping while waiting for a squat rack, or while sitting in class. Perhaps Tinder itself is not to blame. Perhaps it was my own fault for ignoring who I had always been, for
shutting down that creative, imaginative part of me that met a new person and placed them squarely in my life. Regardless, what really matters is that, when we buy into the illusion of bottomless choice that Tinder offers us, we’re helping to create a culture of depersonalization. It’s a culture where it is okay to drop people like flies, not necessarily because we don’t want them anymore, but simply because we can when there is someone else waiting to replace them. That’s why I raised my hand in class that day when the professor asked for examples of overchoice. Despite the laughs my response garnered, in the words rang an undeniable truth. I walked home from class that day with that truth ringing in my ears. On the same stained floor of my friend’s dorm room where the adventure had begun, I deleted my Tinder app, watching that pink backdrop wiggle until I pressed the ‘X’ with a rigid finality. In truth, erasing the app may not have been the answer. It may not have stopped me from eventually redownloading it (only to erase it again), or from lamenting my newfound boredom (what am I supposed to do now while waiting for a rack?). Maybe getting rid of the app didn’t rid me of the disillusionment or the disappointment. But even if just for a moment, in the midst of a world teeming with choices, saying goodbye to Tinder was something I had to do. After all that time and all those jars of jam, I’d finally made a choice that tasted sweet. Contact Larissa Bersh at lbersh@stanford.edu.
S ATIRE
I forced a bot to read 1,000 AAD emails, then write one By PATRICK MONREAL SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Hello, student. Quarter 5 in Winter Week welcomes you! I hope you have been going well for the quarter. I know classes are happening. Now is time to ask questions. Are you self-care? Are you withdrawal deadline? Are you reflection? REFLECTION There are deadlines approaching that are nearly dead. Interested in becoming research? Apply for money soon! Scientific Computing Department has its summer research program. Pre-Med Department has its summer research program. Earth and Rocks Department has its summer research program. Department of Humanity also can have research. Seniors, come in for grad check and leave on time. Freshmen, it is never too early to Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing about life. Sophomores and Juniors, yes. Need job? There are recipes for job available in BEAM. Very soon, the
LANA TLEIMAT/The Stanford Daily
Pretty much all emails from academic advising directors (AAD) say the same thing. I had a bot read 1,000 from my AAD and then write one. I doubt you can tell the difference. BEAM has a workshop on work to resume making a cover for your letter. Several jobs are currently hiring, too. The Hume Center is looking for rhetoric, or become Stanford Newcomer Guide to lift your hold. Each quarter has classes, and students should sign up for classes. Consider taking a One Unit Wonder or a Terrific Two, or maybe you want to major in space-available IntroSems? Take “EARTH 4N: Dairy Farming on Jupiter.” Or how about “CS 345: More Coding”? I will be in my office this week for hours. Here are
hours: I Monday: 10 a.m. — 11 a.m. I Tuesday: Arrillaga Family
Dining Commons I Wednesday: Out Sick I Thursday: 10 p.m.
—9 a.m. I Friday: Huzzah! If you have trouble finding my office, it has a desk. [fun fact here] Have a week, student. Our blog is also a place to go to for more words. I have candy in my office, Your Academic Advising Director Contact Patrick Monreal at pmonreal@stanford.edu.
6 N Thursday, February 27, 2020
The Stanford Daily
ARTS & LIFE MUSIC
TOP 100 hip-hop/rap albums of the decade
NADIN TAMER/The Stanford Daily
By NICK SLIGH STAFF WRITER
T
be an expression of Drake’s discomfort with his life changes, his comfort in his ability to rap and make quality music never wavers. (Side Note: “Furthest Thing” has one of the best beat switches of the decade.)
40. J.I.D: “DiCaprio 2” (2016) J.I.D’s sophomore Dreamville album and sequel to his earlier “DiCaprio” (2015) mixtape, “DiCaprio 2” provides an array of flows and styles that demonstrate his already-refined expertise in understanding and making quality rap music. On songs like “Off Deez” and “151 Rum,” J.I.D showcases an undeniable ability to simply rap well, with refreshing flows and great delivery. Songs like “Despacito Too” and “Slick Talk” show J.I.D’s ability to deliver various other flows over more subdued and less chaotic production. “Skrawberries” and “Workin’ Out” allow J.I.D to effortlessly glide over smooth and jazzy production and effortlessly cross over into more of a soul and R&B sound. Any fan of rap can probably find something among the diverse array of sounds in the album to enjoy.
Favorite Songs:
o read more about the background of the list and my thoughts on making it, check out the introduction to my rankings. Without further ado, here are #40-31 of my top 100 hiphop/rap albums of the 2010s list:
Favorite Songs:
“Off Da Zoinkys” “Skrawberries” “151 Rum” “Workin’ Out” “Hasta Luego” “Despacito Too” 39. Phonte: “Charity Starts at Home” (2011) One-third of North Carolina trio “Little Brother”, Phonte ventured out with his first full-length solo release of his career on his 2011 album “Charity Starts at Home.” The tremendously personal and soulful work had production mainly handled by Little Brother member and famous producer 9th Wonder, which allowed Phonte to not have to stray too far from his comfort zone in his earlier collaborative albums. The tone and lyrics of this album are very unique, with Phonte often reflecting on the development of his life as a father and as a veteran in the rap game. An album filled with wonderful and uplifting wisdom, Phonte’s talent combines with his meaningful content to create a modern masterpiece with an old-school feel. Favorite Songs:
“The Good Fight” “The Life of Kings” “Sendin My Love” 38. Drake: “Nothing Was The Same” (2013) “Nothing Was The Same” is the result of a man who has catapulted into global superstardom. The combination of singing and rapping that made Drake into a superstar gets a new sound from previous work with a very different set of production selections. Although not as emotionally captivating at times as Drake’s famous album “Take Care” (2011), “Nothing Was The Same” is its own journey through Drake’s emotions as he matures and comes to grips with the way that his life has changed since “Take Care” and even before. Although the album seems to
“Too Much” “Worst Behavior” “Tuscan Leather” “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2” “Furthest Thing” “The Language” 37. J. Cole: “Truly Yours” (2013) One of the things that makes J. Cole one of the most popular and well-liked rappers in all of music is that he seems like an “every man.” He does not dress lavishly, is not known for excessive brag rapping, and has historically been very vulnerable with his struggles. The more vulnerable Cole is, the better the result of the music typically is. “Truly Yours” is Cole at the most vulnerable that he has ever been. Intended to just be a two-EP compilation to hold fans over between studio albums, “Truly Yours” resulted in some of Cole’s greatest work ever. An immensely enthralling and emotional collection, this is the kind of work that leads to fans becoming such devout supporters of the Dreamville leader. “Cole Summer” is an absolute classic in the hip-hop genre, and certainly one of Cole’s greatest songs of his career. The flawless production and the vulnerability and self-doubt of Cole create one of the most soulful and personal songs of the decade. The somber “Tears for ODB” provides a wonderful ode to late rapper Old Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan, the jazzy “Stay” sees Cole struggle with his relationship problems, and the emotional “Cousins” explores how relationships fade and shift with changes in success and wealth. “Truly Yours” is Cole at his most vulnerable, and his best. (For clarification: I am considering both of the 2 “Truly Yours” EPs (“Truly Yours” and “Truly Yours 2”) as one collective project for the sake of ranking.) Favorite Songs:
“Cole Summer” “Kenny Lofton” “Stay” “Head Bussa” “Cousins” 36. YBN Cordae: “The Lost Boy” (2019) The irony in the title of this album is that Cordae is far from lost in the rap game. The 22-year-old native of Raleigh, North Carolina, shows on his debut album that he belongs in rap, and that he deserves respect as a solo artist. While still finding his sound in some ways, like practically any young rapper, Cordae explores a variety of sounds and styles, all with the precision and execution of a veteran. Great lyrics, production selection and narrative make Cordae’s debut feel much more like a third or fourth album than a first. Cordae shows an incredibly high ceiling and asserts himself as one of the must-listen rappers in years to come.
Favorite Songs:
“Thanksgiving” “Broke as Fuck” “Nightmares are For Real” “Lost and Found” “Bad Idea” “RNP”
“Lust Demons” “The Book of Soul” “Double Standards”
35. Drake: “Take Care” (2011) “Take Care” is the defining moment of Drake’s career. From the smash hit title track with Rihanna to the meme sensation “Marvin’s Room,” “Take Care” was the point when Drake went from rising star to global superstar. The album has spent over 350 weeks on the Billboard 200, which only three other hip-hop albums have been able to ever do — and for good reason too. Drake really masters the art of being a pop rapper, providing styles that everybody can appreciate if they really listen. The versatility and emotional captivation of “Take Care” makes it one of the most well-known and successful albums of the 21st century.
32. Chance The Rapper: “Coloring Book” (2016) Before releasing a disappointing debut album with “The Big Day” (2019), Chance The Rapper released a series of mixtapes that were very well-received. 2016’s “Coloring Book” sees Chance in his most gospel and pop form, which he executes at a very high level. Triumphant, promising and inspiring, Chance’s youthful exuberance is contagious. Great production comes primarily from frequent collaborating group The Social Experiment. An unlikely feature crew that included Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Young Thug, Justin Bieber and Future actually turned out to be a great fit for the album. “Coloring Book” successfully thrusted Chance The Rapper into the mainstream with an enjoyable and uplifting album.
Favorite Songs:
Favorite Songs:
“Buried Alive Interlude” “Lord Knows” “Under Ground Kings” “Cameras” “Over My Dead Body” “Shot For Me” 34. Tyler, The Creator: “Flower Boy” (2017) “Flower Boy” feels like the peak of the roller-coaster that is the evolution of Tyler, The Creator. Tyler opens up to his audience more than ever before, and does so over a beautifully and thoughtfullyproduced album. In his most cohesive and consistent work, Tyler’s focus feels so fixated on making his most refined piece of art. His attention to detail is clearly evident through the production and the writing, which bring to life Tyler’s emotions and storytelling. “Flower Boy” turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises in hip-hop of the past decade. Favorite Songs:
“Glitter” “911/Mr. Lonely” “Boredom” “See You Again” 33. Ab-Soul: “Control System” (2012) The Top Dawg Entertainment rapper establishes his prominence within his label, the west-coast hip-hop scene and the entire world of rap with “Control System.” With a lyrical style that could be best described as abstract and dense, Ab-Soul constructs a full project in line with his style. “Control System” presents a wordy and enjoyable rap adventure that ranges in mood and style throughout and encompasses everything from spirituality and philosophy to politics. The Top Dawg label received one of its strongest releases from a rapper not named Kendrick Lamar by way of Ab-Soul’s sophomore album.
“Same Drugs” “Angels” “No Problem” “Summer Friends” 31. Dreamville: “Revenge of the Dreamers III” (2019) Dreamville’s 2019 summer blockbuster “Revenge of the Dreamers III” was one of the major releases of the year and one of the defining releases for the label. Thirty-five artists and 27 producers contributed to the mega project, whose release and rollout felt more like that of an Avengers film than a music album. The project does about as well as could be hoped for with what is basically one massive posse-cut. Though there is no theme and little consistency, there isn’t supposed to be. The famed recording sessions, initiated by an epic invitation from J. Cole that took Twitter by storm, resulted in a fantastic collection of tracks that allowed veterans to continue to thrive and emerging rappers to establish themselves and make their push to the mainstream. Favorite Songs:
“Under The Sun” “Sacrifices” “Down Bad” “Sleep Deprived” “Costa Rica” “PTSD” After every segment of my Top 100 rankings are published, I will be creating a Spotify playlist with my favorite songs from the albums that are in each section. Just go to my Spotify Profile (@nicholassligh) where I will be posting the playlists in descending order of rank. I hope that my list gives credit to deserving artists and helps people that enjoy Hip-Hop/Rap (and even those less familiar with the genre) to find new music that connects with them and that they simply enjoy.
Favorite Songs:
“Illuminate” “Terrorist Threats”
Contact Nick Sligh at nick1019@ stanford.edu.