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CARDINALTODAY
CARDINAL TODAY

FRIDAY
The Stanford Daily An Independent Publication
www.stanforddaily.com Volume 235
May 15, 2009 Issue 59
CARDINAL BASEBALL

FROSH
PHENOMS
By DENIS GRIFFIN
DESK EDITOR

Softball to host Regional; opens against Vikings

By CHRIS FITZGERALD
DAILY SPORTS INTERN
Postseason play kicks off Friday for the No.
8 Cardinal,beginning with a showdown against
Portland State. Nevada and Cal Poly round out
the four-team regional in Palo Alto.
Stanford (44-9, 13-8 Pacific-10 Conference)
capped its season with three consecutive road
losses,and plummeted from first to fourth in the
Pac-10 standings.The Cardinal, ranked as high
as No.2 nationally this season,received an eight
seed, guaranteeing that a super regional would
be played at Smith Family Stadium,should they
advance beyond their regional.
With four teams striving to make Palo Alto
a stepping-stone to Oklahoma City, Stanford
head coach John Rittman acknowledged the
benefit of playing at home.
“We are excited to host,” he said.“We have
kids who have experience and don’t need to
stay in a hotel.”
The Cardinal is 27-1 on its home turf, with
the lone loss in Palo Alto coming to UCLA at
the outset of Pac-10 play. Stanford also went 10
innings with Cal Poly on March 21, besting the
Mustangs,2-1,behind a 19-strikeout effort from
senior ace Missy Penna.
Stanford’s first task will be to dismantle Port-
land State (29-24, 15-5 Pacific Coast Softball
Conference),a team which leads the lifetime se-
ries against the Cardinal,7-6,but is just 1-6 since
moving to the Division-I level.
Seniors Jackie Heide and Janna Rae Slayton
flank an explosive offense, as the tandem com-
bined for 19 home runs during the regular sea-
son and 71 RBI.
In the circle, the Vikings can choose from
any of five prominent arms. Sophomore Nic-
hole Latham headlines the bunch. She owns a
16-11 record and boasts a 2.63 earned-run aver-
age.
Cal Poly (39-10, 18-3 Big West) and Nevada
(39-17, 15-5 Western Athletic Conference)
round out the regional.They will lock horns to
open play in Palo Alto this afternoon.
The Mustangs toppled Nevada 1-0 in a pre-
vious meeting this year.Winner of the Big West
Conference championship,senior Melissa Pura
does it all for Cal Poly.The shortstop hit .379 this
season,including nine doubles.
Sophomore Anna Cahn went 27-5 this sea-
son,after starting off the year 4-3.Both Mustang
losses at the hands of the Cardinal were credit-
ed to Cahn. Junior Helen Pena has proved the
match for Cahn, with an overall record of 11-5
and an ERA under two.
“We’ve seen their ace twice,they’ve seen our
ace twice,”Rittman said of the contest’s familiar
feel.“It should be a good match-up.”
The Wolfpack boasts an impressive .390
team on-base percentage, with five hitters
above the .300 mark at the plate.To date,Neva-
da has posted 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases,
with production up and down the order.
Rittman praised the explosive bats of Neva-
da,but looked to his pitching to make the differ-
ence.
“It’s nice to have a very good pitcher,” he
said.“They have speed and kids who can hit for
power,but it’s a challenge for us.”
Junior Katie Holverson is the likely bet to
pitch,with a 1.68 ERA over 238 innings this sea-
son. Holverson went 8-0 in WAC play last year,
following up her sophomore season in stellar
fashion.She garnered 27 wins and took just nine
losses this year.
The Cardinal will rely on Penna to keep the
W
PORTLAND STATE hen the Cardinal baseball team
takes the field against USC in Los
(29-24) Angeles this weekend, facing a trio
Smith Family Stadium 3 P.M. of what are essentially must-win
games,it will be placing a sizable part
NOTES: The Cardinal earned an eighth seed for the of its postseason hopes on a pair of unlikely arms.
NCAA Championships and will take on the Vikings in Freshman starters Jordan Pries and Brett Mooney-
the opening round at home. Next up, depending upon ham have earned the mantles of Friday and Saturday
the outcome of Friday’s games, Stanford will face either starter, respectively, and if Stanford is to succeed in its
Nevada or Cal Poly. Stanford has been led by senior quest to return to the postseason this year, both will
ace Missy Penna this season. Penna has racked up an need to throw some of their best games down the
impressive 31-6 record on the season with 323 strike- stretch. It’s a challenge that is all the more daunting
outs in 256.1 innings pitched. Offensively, the Cardinal considering that last year they were pitching against
has been led by junior Alissa Haber, who is batting .439 high-schoolers.
with a .722 slugging percentage. According to Mooneyham, that’s a difference that
has had a significant impact on the way he’s had to go
ball within Smith Family Stadium against the about his job on the mound.
Wolfpack.Penna,who was the last Pac-10 pitch- “The hitters are, obviously, better throughout the
er to surrender a home run this year, coughs up lineup,” he said. “In high school, you’ve only got one,
only 0.38 home runs per seven innings, provid- two, three, four maybe five and then after that, it’s not
ing a counter to Nevada’s offensive strength. much. In college 1-9 it’s fairly solid. So you’ve kind of
Junior Alissa Haber teamed up with rookie got to just come with everything. Fastball, curveball,
Ashley Hansen in the first two spots of Stan- change, just mix ‘em up, try and throw as many strikes
ford’s order throughout the year.The two com- as you can and keep them off balance.”
bined for 154 hits and 40 doubles during the reg- For Pries, on the other hand, the challenge was more
ular season. Haber leads the team in stolen one of adopting a different mental focus. In high
bases with 18 and has reached base in half of her school, the Alameda-native was essentially called upon
trips to the plate. to pitch every day. Now, he needs to sharpen his focus
The postseason action kicks off for the Car- between starts to be ready for when his turn in the ro-
dinal today at 1 p.m. as Stanford opens play tation comes again.
against Portland State.Live video and audio can “Here it’s just been so different — you’re pitching
be seen online at GoStanford.com. once a week,” Pries said. “You really have to learn to
harness that focus and that aggression and not lose
Contact Chris Fitzgerald at chrishfitz@ focus in the fifth or sixth. We play five games a week;
gmail.com. those other four games you’ve got to find a way to
bring some intensity to them and filter that into your
outing.”
MASARU OKA/The Stanford Daily Please see FROSH, page 5

CARDINAL SOFTBALL

SENIORS USC
(24-25, 10-11 Pac-10)
Los Angeles 6:30 P.M.

READY FOR COVERAGE: RADIO: KZSU 90.1 FM, (kzsu.stanford.edu)

UP NEXT UC-DAVIS 5/19 Sunken Diamond

LAST SHOT COVERAGE: RADIO: KZSU 90.1 FM

(kzsu.stanford.edu)

By DANIEL BOHM
STAFF WRITER

I
t’s a time of year that Stanford softball has expe-
rienced before, but has never failed to leave the
Cardinal players with a sour taste in their
mouths. It’s postseason time.

Stanford heads south for critical series vs. Trojans

Maddy Coon and Missy Penna have been through
this before.This is not the first time they have prepared
for regionals. In fact, as the team’s only two seniors, this
will be the pair’s fourth and final postseason playing for
Stanford.
Each of the previous three seasons has left Coon
and Penna knocking on the door of the Women’s Col-
lege World Series — but the team has always fallen
short.
A year ago, the Cardinal advanced through the
Amherst,Mass.Regional but then fell to Texas A&M in
the College Station, Tex. Super Regional.
This is a new year, however.The Cardinal roster has
been boosted by a group of talented freshmen, while
other underclassmen have stepped up and had big sea-
sons.
Coon recognizes that this is not the same Cardinal
team that has bowed out before Oklahoma City the
past four years.
“This team is something special,” she said.“We have
all the tools to make a run, and we have a confidence
we’ve never had before.”
Despite the team-wide success, the main cog in the
Cardinal’s winning ways has been Penna. The right-
Please see SENIORS, page 5
By NATE ADAMS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Stanford baseball team will look to
continue its current hot streak as it heads
to Southern California this weekend, get-
ting set to square off against conference
rival USC in a three-game series.The road
trip is the last of the year for the Cardinal,
which has only six games within the Pacif-
ic-10 Conference left in the season.
The Cardinal (27-21, 10-11 Pac-10), is
playing a Trojan team with an identical
conference record (24-25 overall), and
should be in for a good match-up this
weekend. Both teams have a similar ap-
proach to the game and have put up very
comparable statistics in all categories this
year, with Stanford compiling slightly bet-
ter offensive numbers, while struggling
just a bit more with pitching. Stanford
head coach Mark Marquess respects
USC’s talent,and knows his team will be in
for an evenly matched and hard-fought se-
ries.
“I think we’re definitely very similar
teams,” he said. “I mean, talent-wise, our
statistics are almost identical. And with
them playing at home, where they’re pret-
ty comfortable, it’s really going to come
down to the little things, and to solid pitch-
ing, as it often does in close conference
match-ups.”
If recent history between the two teams
has any predictive power, though, this
weekend’s series will be more of a slugfest
than the statistics suggest. When the Tro-
jans visited Sunken Diamond last year,
then-No. 5 Stanford took two out of three
games from USC, including a 26-5 pound-
ing.
It has been the closer, grind-it-out sort
of games that Stanford has been seeing
lately, though. The Cardinal just barely
snuck away with its last two wins, narrow-
ly edging past San Jose State by a score of
6-5 in 13 innings and staging a thrilling
four-run, ninth-inning comeback against
Pacific on Wednesday night. In both con-
tests, the game-winning hit came off the
bat of sophomore right-fielder Kellen Ki-
AGUSTIN RAMIREZ/ The Stanford Daily
ilsgaard, who thinks his team’s recent late-
inning heroics might give them a mental
advantage this weekend.
“Those are always fun games to win,
and it definitely builds confidence and
gives a sense of momentum,” he said.
But Stanford’s current hot streak has
been building a bit longer than their last
two games. The Cardinal has won four
straight and seven of its last nine, and has-
n’t dropped two games in a single series
since being swept by conference-leading
Arizona State nearly a month ago.
The Trojans, meanwhile, have been
struggling mightily of late. USC has lost
Please see BASEBALL, page 5

Index News/2 • Features/3 • Opinions/4 • Sports/5 • Classifieds/6 Recycle Me

2 N Friday, May 15, 2009 The Stanford Daily

NEWS
Bravman updates Faculty Senate on recovery plan
NPR VP stresses
VPUE RESTRUCTURES news flexibility
By DEVIN BANERJEE
DEPUTY EDITOR
Financial realities once again dominated
this week’s Faculty Senate meeting, where all
ears were turned to Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Education John Bravman for
an update on the recovery of his office.
“I think we all understand that we’re in a
period of financial crisis,” Bravman began.
But the tone of the Vice Provost’s report
was clear: optimism.
Referencing the creation of hundreds of
small courses, the upcoming launch of the
Stanford Arts Intensive and a small expansion
of the Bing Overseas Studies Program
(BOSP), Bravman cited the recent 30,400
applicants as an indication of “infinite
demand” for the University.
“That’s how we think about it,” he said.
Still, after a cut of approximately 15 to 20
percent in the University’s general funds budg-
et and a reduction in endowment income
between approximately 20 and 30 percent,
some 1,000 of Stanford’s funds are “underwa-
ter” — that is, their current market values
remain below their historic dollar values. These
underwater funds now pose the largest threat
to the Office of the Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Education (VPUE), according
to Bravman.
“We have built up reserves for a rainy day,”
he said, “but we have not built up reserves for
universal Armageddon.”
Along with $8 million of the VPUE’s funds
that have already gone out the window,
Bravman has also implemented a major
restructuring of his office, compacting nine
units into four: Undergraduate Advising and
Research (UAR); Stanford Introductory
Studies (SIS), where most layoffs have
occurred; Bing Overseas Studies Program
(BOSP); and Center for Teaching and Learning
SCIENCE & TECH
(CTL), which has lost its administrative sup-
port but will be propped up by the VPUE
office.
VPUE Cuts
Bravman noted that the major impingement
has been on his staff — 16 layoffs, five hires for
revised roles and the loss of nine positions due
to attrition have meant an 18 percent reduction
in the VPUE’s non-lecturing staff. Further
reductions have hit advising, which slashed the
$750-per-year honoraria for its advisors and
resulted in the loss of its HPAC (head peer aca-
demic coordinator) and peer advising pro-
grams, as well as the Sophomore Seminars and
Sophomore College programs, which will face
“continued reductions on the order of 15 to 20
percent.” The latter two programs, Bravman
said, are where students will feel the pain.
But Stephen Stedman, a senior fellow at the
Freeman Spogli Institute for International
Studies and a former Resident Fellow of
Larkin House, probed Bravman on the elimi-
nation of the HPAC program. The vice provost
responded bluntly.
“We received evidence that HPACs were
giving poor advice,” he said. “The life experi-
ence of a 19-year-old is not optimized to offer
advice to an 18-year-old.”
Bravman instead touted this year’s new
Academic Director (AD) program, which
places a professional or faculty member in each
residential cluster that houses freshmen.
“We’ve seen, anecdotally — I can’t prove
this to you — that ADs offer a great experi-
ence for students,” he said. “Knowing that stu-
dents will always seek advice, we should be
paying professionals.”
The Future of VPUE
Looking to the future of VPUE programs,
Bravman assessed BOSP, SIS and advising. On
overseas studies, he noted that a large portion
of funding still streams from the President’s
funds, and the program is “extremely vulnera-
ble” to swings in the strength of the dollar. At
the same time, presidential funds will largely
fund the new program in Cape Town, South
Africa. With SIS, the Vice Provost admitted
that although PWR and IHUM run at very
lean levels, they still cost $10 million per year.
“I think we have to look at the costs of these
programs,” he admitted. “We need to move on
this sooner, rather than later.”
The VPUE office will also launch a new
Stanford Arts Intensive for 2009, which will be
gift funded for three years.
And on advising, Bravman remains opti-
mistic that the benefits of the AD program will
outweigh its cost.
University Fundraising
Martin Shell, vice president of the Office of
Development, followed Bravman with a report
on University fundraising. Shell reported that
$108 million of the Stanford Challenge goal of
$200 million has been raised for scholarships.
“For the past four years, we have raised
more money than any peer institution in high-
er education,” he said.
Still, for fiscal year 2009, the University con-
tinues to see a slowdown in cash gifts and new
commitments.
“I think most people felt like the world
stopped somewhere around January 5,” Shell
said. “Conversations have elongated; donors
are slower to make commitments, asking for
more time to pledge.”
Bravman will address the Faculty Senate
with a follow-up report in November, and, if
asked, Shell will return in the fall for an update
on year-to-date fundraising.
Contact Devin Banerjee at
devin11@stanford.edu.
SPEAKERS & EVENTS
Weiss hopes for better
times in industry
By MOLLY SPAETH
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Amid news of a declining newspa-
per industry and a changing era of
journalism, Ellen Weiss, senior vice
president for news at National Public
Radio (NPR), stressed the impor-
tance of journalistic flexibility in an
evolving model of news media last
night at Kresge Auditorium.
Entitled “Worst of Times, Best of
Times: NPR in the 21st Century,” the
lecture was sponsored by the John S.
Knight Fellowships program.
According to James Bettinger, the
director of the John S. Knight
Fellowships program, the annual lec-
ture series was established to create
awareness and facilitate discussion
on current journalism issues.
“The idea is to bring in outstand-
ing authorities on journalism to talk ARNAV MOUDGILL/The Stanford Daily
about journalism issues for Stanford Ellen Weiss, senior VP for news at
and to the Peninsula community,” NPR, spoke at Kresge Auditorium
Bettinger said.
about the changing strategies in
Weiss’ lecture addressed the
changing nature of broadcast jour- news media. The talk was part of an
nalism and the need for a new busi- annual lecture series hosted by the
ness model in an age of economic Knight Fellowships program.
recession and declining newspaper points included cross-training NPR
subscription. She argued that in the journalists to be proficient in differ-
middle of a journalistic revolution, ent forms of media, filling the grow-
the current challenges facing the ing gap in local news coverage, capi-
news media today provide opportu- talizing on the new relationship
nities for creativity and entrepre- between media and audience, priori-
neurship in the media industry. tizing content and stressing the
“It is an interesting time to live importance of innovation.
inside a major journalism institution “Communication is totally differ-
that is still succeeding in its tradition- ent now, and I think the opportuni-
al form — and yet also trying to ties to make us better journalists are
embrace and adapt to the new world
order,” she said.
enormous,” Weiss said. “The people
are reviewing and writing about our

Hennessy urges Obama to revise controls

Univ. President co-chairs
committee on nat’l security
By DEVIN BANERJEE
DEPUTY EDITOR
To those familiar with the line
items of John Hennessy’s CV —
from co-founder of MIPS
Technologies to board member of
Cisco Systems and Google — it may
come as no surprise that Stanford’s
10th president also co-chairs the
National Research Council’s
Committee on Science, Security and
Prosperity.
The committee, which Hennessy
co-chairs with Brent Scowcroft, for-
mer National Security Advisor to
Presidents Gerald Ford and George
H.W. Bush, urged President Obama
earlier this year to revamp export
and visa controls that it considers to
be ineffective and, in many cases,
detrimental to the prosperity of the
nation.
The committee’s recommenda-
tions came in the form of a January
report titled “Beyond ‘Fortress
America’: National Security
Controls on Science and Technology
in a Globalized World.”
“The national security controls
that regulate access to and export of
science and technology are broken,”
begins the report. “As currently
structured, many of these controls
undermine our national and home-
land security and stifle American
engagement in the global economy
and science and technology.”
In an interview with The Daily,
Hennessy said visa and export con-
trols as they currently stand are out-
dated remnants of the Cold War era,
when weapons technology was tight-
ly protected for the sake of wartime
national security.
“What’s happened in export con-
trol is that it has not had a global,
complete look at the whole area in a
long time,” Hennessy said. “And by
global, I mean looking at it from the
perspective of the academy, indus-
try, as well as national security con-
cerns.”
For this reason, “regulation has
piled on top of regulation on top of
regulation,” according to the
University President, and of these,
deemed export control remains a
large hindrance to university-level
development. Deemed export regu-
lation is a set of rules limiting access
to technology for foreign nationals
while in the U.S.
“So, for example, somebody from
Weiss went on to stress the impor- work much more easily, immediately
tance of flexibility as journalists and much more publicly than ever
adapt to a changing business model. before.”
“The structural model, the busi- Weiss also said that like many
ness model is shot,” she said. “The other news sources, NPR is facing
sustained downturn of the economy, financial hardships. Even after cut-
China or Iran may not be able to use
electronics or work on next-genera-
trol information, but that we should-
n’t find ourselves in a situation
fails,” Hennessy said.
The committee’s 100-page
with the attendant fall in advertising
income, exacerbates the dilemma.”
ting 10 percent of its staff in
December, it is still considering more
Weiss, who currently holds NPR’s
tion technologies,” Hennessy said.
And following the attacks on
where there are broad attempts to
control information that’s unclassi-
report, which includes specific rec-
ommendations for the President, top news management position,
benefit cuts in light of the current
economic situation.
September 11, the list of controls fied.” can be accessed on The National oversees 18 domestic and 18 foreign Yet, Weiss was optimistic for the
quickly lengthened. Hennessy said some institutions Academies Press Web site at news bureaus in addition to more future of her medium. According to
“The concerns became quite believe it is in the national interest www.nap.edu. than 50 hours of news programming her, more people are listening to
broad because they became things that they accept money for such each week. NPR than ever.
like access to fundamental bio- research, but that most leading insti- Contact Devin Banerjee at With this experience, she outlined “More Americans listen to public
science technologies that could, in tutions would view the “necessary devin11@stanford.edu. a plan on how NPR will adapt to a
the wrong hands, be used to build compromises” as unacceptable. changing age of journalism. Her Please see NPR, page 6
bio-warfare,” Hennessy said. “So, The Committee on Science,
that became a real concern in the Security and Prosperity is currently
academy.” in the process of reviewing the
At the same time, however, influx of recommendations that
industry and military professionals have followed the report’s publica-
became concerned about tightening tion. But Co-Chair Hennessy, while
regulations in both visa and export recognizing that there exists a set of
controls. individuals in government who are
“Our visa controls have made it concerned about the issues the com-
more difficult or less attractive for mittee has raised, also recognizes
talented foreign professionals to that President Obama has higher
come and learn what is great about priorities.
this country, or to stay and help grow “Put these issues against the
the American economy,” the report biggest economic crisis in 80 years, a
states. “Our export controls retard messy war, a situation in
both the United States and its allies Afghanistan — while this is an
from sharing access to military tech- important problem and it’s a nag-
nology, and handicap American ging problem and a building prob-
business from competing globally.” lem, it’s hard to say that it’s about to
Hennessy echoed these concerns, cause everything to collapse in the
but emphasized the need for bold, same way that, let’s say, if
direct action to avoid the stagnant Afghanistan or Pakistan completely
nature of Washington politics.
“Like a lot of things in govern-
ment, if it’s never forced to clean
itself up or ‘sunset’ itself, the list [of
regulation] just gets longer and
longer and longer,” he said.
Hennessy noted that part of the
difficulty in inciting change is the
fact that export and visa controls are
not housed in any single sector of
the government.
“Which is why we’ve tried to
focus on a Presidential Directive as
the key way to solve the problem,
because otherwise you have to get
State, Defense and Commerce to all
act in concert,” he said. “And that’s
extremely difficult.”
Speaking specifically to
Stanford’s role in national research,
the President noted that the
University does not conduct any
classified research, nor does it
accept funds for classified research.
But Hennessy said there remains a
gray line when it comes to “sensi-
tive-but-unclassified research” that
comes from the government, which
Stanford resists.
“We felt that the dangers of that
to the University and the openness
in research that we espouse was a
really dangerous bank,” he said. “So,
we’ve tried to push away from that
and say that’s something the govern-
ment can use when it wants to con-
The Stanford Daily
FEATURES
Students mind the gap
Undergrads defer the Farm for a year to explore, travel
By JOANNA XU
MANAGING EDITOR
W
e’ve all seen those
pictures of Prince
William of England
bending over a toi-
let, cleaning it with a
toothbrush in rural Chile. He was on
his gap year — a phenomenon that
has gained significant popularity and
is a common trend nowadays.
Nonetheless, most of us came
straight to Stanford from high
school. True, we may hail from all
over the globe, but most of us prob-
ably haven’t taken a year off to
travel the world, work as an aspir-
ing actor in Los Angeles, or experi-
ence those “life-changing” experi-
ences.
But some Stanford students did
forgo the Farm for a year to explore
the world and find themselves prior
to coming to college.
“I’m from the suburbs north of
Chicago,” said Quinn Slack ‘12. “I
haven’t traveled much at all
throughout my life so by the time I
was finishing high school, I was sick
of high school classes. I knew even
before I applied to college that I
wanted to take a gap year.”
Slack spent six months of his gap
year traveling through China. He
then came back to the states after
having spent the money he’d saved
up for the trip and moved out to
Palo Alto to get some work experi-
ence. Slack worked at a Web start-
up for about five months before
resuming his travels and finally
entering his first year at Stanford.
Aside from the desire to
explore, Slack had another reason
for taking a gap year: taking pres-
sure off the college application
process.
“Taking a gap year definitely
made the college application
process a lot less stressful,” Slack
confessed. “I knew that if I didn’t
get in, I could apply again the next
year. I got in the first time, though,
and I just deferred my admission.
For a lot of my friends that did take
gap years, though, part of the rea-
son was because they probably
wouldn’t have been able to get into
the college of their choice without
some more experience under their
belt.”
Harley Adams ‘12 took a gap
year for a completely contrary rea-
son. He graduated from high school
in New York City a year early and
decided to take some time off to
work as an actor in Los Angeles.
“I had filled up my schedule
throughout high school so at the end
of high school they told me I could
either take community college class-
es or graduate,” Adams said. “I
decided to graduate. So when I was
17 years old, I moved out to L.A.
and lived on my own.”
Harley applied to Stanford his
last year but withdrew his applica-
tion once he decided to take a gap
year. He applied again after spend-
ing two years in L.A. — and was
accepted. “I wanted to live
somewhere else, experience other
things before I went to college,”
Adams said. “Part of it was trying
out the life of an actor. I couldn’t do
that just coming to Stanford.”
While many Stanford students
may consider the merits of taking a
gap year, most actually decide
against it. Students offered similar
reasons — concerns of age differ-
ences and academic continuity —
for not taking the leap.
“The reason I didn’t [take a gap
year] was that I did not want to be a
year older coming into the freshman
experience,” said Chris Riklin ‘11, an
international student from London.
“Compared to the U.K. where it is
the norm to have differently aged
people during the first year, I
thought I would feel different to
Stanford freshmen if I had taken a
gap year. Secondly, U.K. universities
are only three-year programs, so
taking that extra year is not as much
of a big deal.”
Anton Zietsman ‘12 provided
a similar perspective.
“I plan on taking a gap year
after college, before law school or
whatever it is I decide to do,” he
said. “It’s weirder to be an older
college freshman than it is to be
an older graduate student.”
Zietsman also said that he
didn’t want to disrupt the conti-
nuity in his academics.
“What you learn in high school
is more relevant to what you learn in
college compared to the relevance
you learn in college and your first
year of graduate school,” Zietsman
said.
For some students, taking a gap
year is not even an option. Male
Singaporean students, for example,
must serve two years of mandatory
military service after high school.
“A good portion of Singaporean
students will be 20 or 21 when they
enter as freshmen in college,” said
Andrew Chou ‘12. “It’s not uncom-
mon.”
Chou, who is a dual Canadian-
Taiwanese citizen and graduate of St.
Paul’s boarding school in New
England, also seriously considered
taking a gap year. However, he
decided against it largely for finan-
cial reasons.
“My parents are covering my col-
lege degree and they’ve even
CAMPUS LIFE
Wellness Room fails to attract
Students misunderstand
purpose, are uninformed
about Wellness Room
By DANA SHERNE
The Wellness Room still needs
to reach out to more students in
order to completely fulfill its mis-
sion of increasing student wellbe-
ing, said both the room’s staff and
students who have used the room’s
resources.
The new room opened on Feb.
26, and bases its philosophy on
proactively promoting mental,
physical and spiritual health on
campus. This approach is what dif-
ferentiates the room from other
campus mental health facilities, said
Mary Liz McCurdy ‘09, a Wellness
Room coordinator.
The room was “allocated one-
time funds of $5,000 to start up and
pilot the room,” said Chris Griffith
in an email. Griffith, the associate
vice provost for Student Affairs,
said that her office and the ASSU
jointly fund the Wellness Room.
As most of the funds were dedi-
cated to set-up, McCurdy hopes the
room will be sustainable in the
future, in spite of budget cuts.
“We’re not CAPS [Counseling
and Psychological Services], or the
Bridge or Vaden,” she said. “We’re
not treating, but proactively dealing
with student wellbeing.”
McCurdy, along with fellow
Coordinator Annie Alpers ‘09 and
some 20 volunteer “wellness
guides” work to make the room a
place that promotes stress relief
and relaxation.
But many famously over-sub-
scribed Stanford students simply do
not have time to come to the
Wellness Room and engage in
relaxation activities.
Friday, May 15, 2009 N 3
offered to cover some of my gradu-
ate studies,” Chou said. “I feel like
since my parents are being so gener-
ous, I shouldn’t be spending any
time off. For me, it took so much
work and was so much trouble get-
ting to come to the U.S. for universi-
ty that it didn’t make sense to throw
it all away for a year to do other
things.”
Chou noted that — call it a gener-
alization — very few Asian students
take gap years when compared to
their Western counterparts.
“I’ve noticed that for Asian kids, if
they take a gap year, it’s not because
they want it — it’s usually because
they have to,” Chou said. “From per-
sonal experience, I know that Chinese
culture perceives taking a year off to
be really irresponsible, both fiscally
“I’m pretty busy during the day,
and I don’t really have time to
relax, and when I do have time to
relax, I sleep,” said Erik Donhowe
‘10.
Others have already learned
how to deal with their stress in pro-
ductive ways.
“Although I think it could be a
good resource, I don’t know what
my incentive would be to go there,”
explained Ramya Parameswaran
‘10. “When I’m stressed, I already
have routine ways of dealing with
it.”
Most students are less informed
than Parameswaran, and do not
even know about the Wellness
Room’s mission, much less the cen-
ter at all.
“I’ve heard it mentioned before,
but I don’t actually know what it
is,” said Lydia Santos ‘12. “Its pur-
pose is to promote wellness, I
guess.”
The wellness guides understand
this dilemma.
“I think another reason people
might not come in is because they
don’t understand what we think our
purpose is,” said Jesse Palmer ‘11, a
wellness guide. “I think it’s possible
that people think we’re like: ‘Oh,
you need help getting well,’ instead
of seeing the difference between
making people happy and helping
people with problems.”
McCurdy explained this prob-
lem as inherent in any startup
organization.
“We just opened the room, and
there’s a lot of things that need to
be done still,” she said.
Since opening, the room has
often been deserted, aside from the
wellness guides. The scheduled
operating hours are not always fol-
lowed, and the room may be locked
during open hours. Furthermore,
some guides do not come to their
shifts, according to Wellness Guide
Nicole Aguirre ‘12.
CRIS BAUTISTA/
The Stanford Daily
and academically, because for that one
year you have to live off your parents,
and you’re putting your education —
the most important thing to them —
off for some personal time. Gap years
are considered very selfish in Asian
culture.”
Even without cultural pressure,
sometimes other universities may not
like the idea of a gap year, though
Stanford is highly receptive to the
idea.
Jenna Nicholas ‘11, who graduated
from St. Paul’s in London, said that
though it may appear that English stu-
dents appear to take gap years more
often, Oxford and Cambridge don’t
like it.
“They shun the idea of students
taking a gap year — they just care
about your brain,” she said. “They
Please see GAP YEAR, page 5
The current Wellness Room
decor, complete with colorful rugs,
flowers and stuffed animals, may
not be the most attractive either,
according to students.
Brian O’Connor ‘12, who has
attended some Wellness Room
activities, noted that it feels like a
“pretty feminine” place that may
keep male students out.
Others were just confused by the
decorations, which are reminiscent
of the stress-free atmosphere of
grade school.
“The first time I walked by, I
thought it was a daycare center for
staff’s kids,” said Kwame Agyei-
Owusu ‘10.
However, progress has been
made, according to Wellness Room
staff.
“A lot more people are starting
to hear about it and come in a lot
more,” Aguirre said.
“Up until the last few weeks, we
didn’t have any solid program-
ming,” Palmer added. “We’ve start-
ed to have a lot more scheduled
events, and just having things that
people know about that they can do
when they come in.”
The staff has worked to create a
diverse programming that many
kinds of student might enjoy. Friday
afternoons are “crafternoons,” and
open hours on weekend nights pro-
vide an alternative to frat parties.
The Wellness Room also offers
meditation workshops, art classes
and massage therapy lessons.
“It’s kind of on an individual
basis in terms of what people get
out of it,” Palmer said. “It’s for find-
ing ways to relax and enjoy life,
even if you only come in for 15 min-
utes just to get away. Maybe you
find some way, if it’s having a con-
versation with someone or if it’s
painting, to just enjoy life.”
Contact Dana Sherne at
desherne@stanford.edu.
4 N Friday, May 15, 2009
OPINIONS
EDITORIAL
Undergrad parenthood
taboo unnecessary
ast Sunday, Stanford students hon-
L Kamil Dada
ored the mothers and special female
guardians in their lives, or at least the
editorial board hopes you remembered to
do so. If not, call home immediately. That is
the first crucial point of this editorial.
The second is this: The editorial board
finds it curious that, in all of our attention to
wellness at Stanford — and to gender equali-
ty — that the subject of motherhood, and
more broadly parenthood, remains largely
taboo as it pertains to Stanford undergradu-
ate students. The notion that pregnancy,
planned or otherwise, does not happen with-
in a student body of over 6,000 is preposter-
ous given that, in a national study conducted
10 years ago, approximately 12 percent of col-
lege students reported either experiencing or
being involved in unplanned pregnancy. No
current statistics are available regarding the
current number of pregnancies that occur at
Stanford — perhaps a deliberate choice by
the University — but it should be fair to as-
sume that a single decade has not seen the
complete disappearance of undergraduate
pregnancy nationwide,and that Stanford can-
not be too far off the current average.
Regardless of precisely how many under-
graduates on campus are already parents,
Stanford undergraduates should be willing
to accept that some of their peers may
choose to see a pregnancy through while re-
maining a student.Yet the campus as a whole
remains peculiarly silent on the topic of un-
dergraduate parenthood. As undergradu-
ates, whether we are currently anticipating
having a baby or not, we should be allowed
to acknowledge openly that, as potentially
sexually active young adults, the possibility
exists that we may celebrate our own Moth-
ers’ or Fathers’ Days in the next few years.
And we should all want to be responsible
and prepared.
Unsigned editorials in the space above represent the views of The Stanford Daily's editorial board and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the Daily staff. The editorial board is comprised of two former Daily staffers,
three at-large student members and the two editorial board co-chairs. Any signed columns and contributions
are the views of their respective writers and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire editorial board.
To contact the editorial board for an issue to be considered, or to submit an op-ed, please email
editorial@daily.stanford.edu.
Five things I wish I’d done at Stanford — and so can you!
he time has come, the walrus said,
“T to speak of many things. Of shoes
and ships and ceiling wax, of cab-
bages and kings. And why the sea is boiling
hot, and whether pigs have wings.”
In “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” by
Lewis Carroll, the two main characters use
enchanting conversation to lure naive oys-
ters to take a stroll along the beach. Then
they eat them.
In this spirit, I am going to begin the retro-
spective genuflections of departing seniors,
which will soon be flooding the few pages
The Daily can still afford to print. Sure, the
complaint can go,this is egotistic,this is a cop-
out, why don’t you write about something
real? The short answer is that I have a thesis
to avoid, but the longer answer is that I wish
I’d had more time and seen more suggestions
for awesome tomfoolery.
More than the classes, more than my two
beloved one-room-quads, more even than
the wonders of the dining halls, I will miss the
happy frivolousness of being an undergradu-
ate at Stanford. Along with old mainstays
Amongst the Stanford graduate student
community, in which pregnancy is far more
common and expected, the University takes
a commendably comprehensive approach to
family planning for female graduate stu-
dents. Stanford has one of the most generous
childbirth accommodation policies for grad-
uate students in the nation. The University
allows women to live on campus and stay en-
rolled in their advanced degree programs
without stopping out or taking a leave of ab-
sence, unless they choose to. They retain all
fellowship support they received prior to be-
coming pregnant, are able to take a reduced
course load if necessary and have access to
full healthcare on campus. The rationale of
Stanford’s Childbirth Accommodation Poli-
cy is grounded in the belief that a woman’s
prime childbearing years are the same years
when she is likely to be in graduate school,
doing postdoctoral training and establishing
herself in a career.
In fact, our “prime childbearing years”
span from age 20 to 40 and, theoretically, in-
clude a portion of our undergraduate career.
Though most of us opt to postpone pregnan-
cy and family planning until well beyond our
undergraduate years, the editorial board still
maintains that it is important to keep in
mind that pregnancy and an undergraduate
career need not conflict.Women who choose
to give birth in this time period deserve the
care and support of their peers and faculty if
they choose to remain on campus while they
see their babies to term. We praise the Uni-
versity for its discreet but thorough policy
addressing pregnancy and childbirth on
campus, and hope that the subject of student
motherhood does not need to be taboo when
it may affect more people around us than we
realize.
And again, if you have not already, call
your mom!
like steam-tunneling and the gallon milk
challenge, in my sophomore-year Draw
group alone, we had an apple juice drinking
contest, a peeps eating contest and a hot
sauce drinking challenge. And we fired Cal
bears out of a potato cannon. Why? For no
reason at all. That is the attraction.
So for those of you who still have time,
and to provide myself with extra motivation
to get the thesis done, here are five things I
wish I had done before leaving Stanford, and
still might, if I have the chance.
Use a “dissertation room” in Green Library
You know those rows and rows of door-
knobs scattered on walls in Green library?
They kind of resemble storage closets but are
for grad students to knock out their disserta-
tions. Until I started doing research for this
column, I thought they were actually called
study carrels. Intense investigations, howev-
er, revealed that study carrels are desks “with
lockable storage compartments” and disser-
tation rooms are lockable storage compart-
ments with a desk inside.
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Fancy mustard and the intellectual
bankruptcy of the modern conservative
ust when I thought the media’s right-
J wing commentators couldn’t get any
more pathetic, Sean Hannity, Rush Lim-
baugh and the rest of their ill-begotten ilk
had a surprise ready for me.
That surprise was Mustard Gate.
It honestly hurts me to describe this luna-
cy for fear of giving it legitimacy, but here
goes.
On Tuesday, May 5, President Obama and
Vice President Biden took an excursion to an
Arlington, Va., burger joint by the name of
“Ray’s Hell Burger.”
Followed by a motorcade of security and
media teams (which is ridiculous enough in
its own right), the executive duo ordered a
burger each and had a sit-down meal with
cameras rolling.
Later that day,Sean Hannity,Laura Ingra-
ham and “Rush Limbaugh Show” guest host
Mark Steyn called Obama an elitist and crit-
icized him over his use of “spicy” and “Dijon”
mustard. Hannity went on to call it a “fancy
burger” with a “very special condiment.”
I’m going to repeat that in case you didn’t
catch it the first time.
The most popular right-wing pundits on
television and radio hammered Obama on
his choice of mustard for his burger, repeat-
edly, over a series of days.
And the Republican Party wonders why
its Senators are jumping ship and their polls
are heading into George Bush territory.
First and foremost, Sean Hannity should
be absolutely embarrassed to even masquer-
ade as a journalist, much less claim himself as
an authority on anything other than public
idiocy.
Had this college dropout done a little re-
search, he would have discovered that
“Dijon” or “spicy” style mustard can be
bought for less than two dollars a bottle at
your local grocery store. Elitism, this ain’t.
More importantly, however, Hannity and
others like him should be thrown out on their
asses for even beginning to consider arguing
that what a President puts on his hamburger
is in any way important to his policy decisions
or the state of the country in general.[SB1]
How about instead focusing on the fact
that we as a country are borrowing 46 cents
for every dollar spent with Obama’s new
budget, a budget whose estimated $1.8 tril-
lion deficit dwarfs Bush’s budget deficits by
so much that it might actually finally make
T HE WANDERER
I always thought it would be sweet to have
a tiny getaway in the anonymity of Green li-
brary. Beyond the obvious studying and ro-
mantic advantages, it seems like a disserta-
Michael
Wilkerson
tion room could be kind of like a secret tree-
house.Any grad students want to let me bor-
row one for a week?
Have a balcony party in the Quad
Many buildings in the Quad have fantas-
tic balconies, either looking inward at the
cool architecture of the Quad itself, or look-
ing out at the broader campus. It really is a
shame students can’t book said balconies for
classy after-hours parties. What could possi-
The Stanford Daily
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Managing Editors
Devin Banerjee
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Joanna Xu
Managing Editor of Intermission
Nikhil Joshi
Managing Editor of News
Wyndam Makowsky
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Stuart Baimel
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Tim Hyde,Andrew Valencia
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Managing Editor of Features
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Agustin Ramirez
Managing Editor of Photo Samantha Lasarow
Head Copy Editor
M ARK M Y W ORDS
Mark
Kogan
If this kind of coverage
continues to be as popular as it
has [...] then this conservative
may just have to start
convincing his friends that he
is a fiscally responsible
Democrat [...]
him look like the fiscal conservative he never
was.
How about discussing Obama’s foot-
dragging on issues such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell,” [SB2]his double-speak on illegal sur-
veillance issues and his revoking of funding
for hydrogen fuel cells in cars, three of many
already-broken campaign promises?
Or perhaps they could look at the fact that
Nanci Pelosi, the anti-torture crusader her-
self, was both informed of and aware of tor-
ture since as far back as 2002 — maybe that
is important to how we interpret the hypo-
critical rhetoric flowing from her mouth
when she condemns those that condoned tor-
ture.
If those ideas don’t strike the media as im-
portant, how about bringing up the fact that
under Obama and the Congressional Demo-
crat’s new “pared-down” budget, we are
bly go wrong?
I’ve heard some stories about legendary
parties in the archaeology building, but I re-
ally feel the Quad is underutilized. If allowed
to have a party on the balcony of the math li-
brary, I promise to be responsible, and will
personally guarantee the safety of all the re-
search materials, including the “Journal of
Soviet Mathematics.”
Take an advanced sciences final, without
having enrolled in the class
This is an idea that, while often joked
about, is rarely put into action. However, at
least one person, my former roommate Brian
Truebe, attended the final for an advanced
science class he was not taking, picked up an
exam and bluebook, scribbled furiously for
fifteen minutes of the three-hour final and
then turned in his test and left. I believe he
wrote about Marx in response to questions
about physical chemistry.
There is a lot of room for variation here.
Aim to freak out the people who think you
just nailed the test in a quarter of the time, or
The Stanford Daily
Incorporated 1973
Tonight’s Desk Editors
Ryan Mac
News Editor
Denis Griffin
Sports Editor
Amy Harris
Features Editor
Vivian Wong
Photo Editor
Samantha Lasarow
Copy Editor
Cris Bautista
Graphics Editor
spending $2.6 million dollars to educate Chi-
nese prostitutes on the dangers of drinking?
Or maybe the $2 billion set to re-open a coal
plant in Obama’s home state of Illinois that
was closed in 2008 by the Department of En-
ergy due to the project being deemed ineffi-
cient. Perhaps these are important facts most
Americans aren’t aware of?[SB3]
But noooo, no. Mustard is important.
Mustard. On a burger.
For the sake of the national IQ, I hope that
the right-wing media stops focusing on luna-
cy such as this and start hammering the De-
mocrats and the Obama administration on
the countless issues they deserve to be ham-
mered on.
It’s no surprise that with representatives
like Hannity, Coulter and Limbaugh speak-
ing on behalf of “conservatives” in America
that the number of individuals openly identi-
fying themselves as “Republicans” has
dropped by nearly 10 percent since Election
Day.
If the pseudo-conservatives that are the
modern face of the Republican Party and the
conservative movement keep focusing on is-
sues such as what kind of mustard our Presi-
dent is putting on his burger and whether
that makes him an elitist or not, then they
should stop acting surprised when they end
up sitting as a Congressional minority for the
next decade.
Because no matter how badly the Democ-
rats screw this up, and I contend that it will be
pretty damn bad, nobody is going to give the
time of day to a party of intellectually handi-
capped and backwards idiots who believe
that every time Obama eats Dijon mustard,
the terrorists win.
For the love of all that is good and decent,
stop giving these people attention. If this
kind of coverage continues to be as popular
as it has (Hannity has had the most-viewed
news show for months now), then this conser-
vative may just have to start trying to con-
vince his friends that he is a fiscally responsi-
ble Democrat, lest he be thrown into the
same category as the Bible-thumping bigots
and intellectual cavemen that are the face of
conservatism today.
Mark enjoys mixing Dijon, honey and spicy
mustards on his burgers. If you think that
makes him an elitist, e-mail him at
mkogan@stanford.edu.
leave so fast they can tell it is a joke and are
heartened by your levity? And for the TAs
who are going to have to figure out your
bluebook, what is more valuable, a funny
name, or stick figures instead of covalent
bonds?
Egg drop contest off of Hoover tower
Does anyone already do this? Think of the
crowd it would draw at the Stanford tour
check-in point across the street.Egg is easy to
clean up anyway, right?
Watch sunrise at the Dish
Not much explanation needed. There is
only a chain-link fence and some security
guards with golf carts between me, fun and
the beauty of Northern California. Does that
epitomize lots of after-hours fun at Stanford,
or am I really just up too late?
To join Michael for any of these activities, to
help him gain access to restricted areas or to
provide moral support for his thesis, contact
him at wilkerson@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily
SPORTS
ROW OF THEIR LIVES
Pac-10 Championships on tap for Card
By ZOE LEAVITT
STAFF WRITER
This Sunday, the waters of Lake
Natoma will boil as the Pacific-10
Conference crew teams descend on
the lake and row towards the culmi-
nation of their season.This year’s Pac-
10 Championships bring many chal-
lenges to the Stanford men’s crew
team, as it strives to improve its previ-
ous times, raise its rankings from last
year and avenge its three May 2 loss-
es to California.
The Cardinal faces tough competi-
tion from all sides in this year’s Pac-10
Tournament. The Bears’ strong team
beat Stanford varsity several times al-
ready this season, in the San Diego
Crew Classic and in the Big Row on
May 2. The Washington Huskies also
stand with a strong record on the
starting line. At the Windermere and
Cascade Cup races on May 2, the
Huskies dominated every single race
they entered, including those against
the rest of the Pac-10.
Despite several tough competi-
tions recently, the team knows noth-
ing is certain till the last oar crosses
the finish line.No.2 Washington,No.3
Stanford and No. 4 Cal have battled
back and forth all season, trading vic-
tories from regatta to regatta. The
Cardinal handed the higher-ranked
Huskies a swift defeat on April 17,
showing that, despite losing to them
later in the season, Stanford has the
potential for victory. Furthermore,
though Cal beat Stanford twice so far
this season, Cal also has seen the scar-
let oars speeding ahead of it when
Stanford beat the Bears in a heat of
the San Diego Crew Classic.
“We’ve had solid races against Cal
and Washington at different points in
our season this year, which has given
us confidence in our potential to be
successful this weekend,” said junior
BASEBALL
Continued from front page
nine of its last 11 and has not won
consecutive games in over three
weeks.
Marquess likes how his team has
been playing and is glad to be play-
ing a down-on-their-luck Trojan
team, but knows that confidence
and momentum can never replace a
solid focus on the game’s funda-
mentals, particularly on the mound.
FROSH
Continued from front page
For both of them, the adjust-
ment from high school has pro-
gressed well enough that Stanford
head coach Mark Marquess has
every confidence in them going for-
ward, even in this most crucial
stretch of the season.
“I’m not doing it out of the
goodness of my heart,” Marquess
said. “I’m pitching them Friday and
Saturday because they’re our best
guys and they’re doing a good job.”
Pries (3-3, 4.28 ERA) and
Mooneyham (5-2, 5.16 ERA) have
both had their good and bad mo-
ments this season, but Marquess
was confident in their prospects for
continued improvement going for-
ward.
“I think they’ve done a great
job,” he said. “It’s a huge adjust-
ment for freshmen to come in, espe-
cially in the roles that they’re in
now.They’ve been a little bit incon-
sistent, and I think that’s to be ex-
pected, but I think they’ve learned
from it, it hasn’t overwhelmed
them. And when they’ve had a bad
outing, they usually haven’t had
two bad outings in a row; normally,
they bounce back.”
Mooneyham, especially, looked
dominant in his last outing. The At-
water, Calif.-native threw 7.1 in-
nings and allowed only seven hits
GAP YEAR
Continued from page 3
want you to go and do well aca-
demically,whereas U.S.universities
and other English universities en-
courage you to take a year off.”
However, Nicholas pointed out
that perhaps too much emphasis is
put on the idea that taking a gap
Amelia Carr, the men’s varsity
coxswain. “Both Cal and Washington
have shown strengths and weakness-
es,so there is definitely no predictable
outcome for Pac-10s.”
The Cardinal has not let its last loss
to Cal discourage it, and looks to re-
fine its technique this weekend.
“Our guys were really excited and
they spun out a little bit,” said coach
Craig Amerkhanian. “We never real-
ly got traction in that race, too amped
up, but that’s easy to fix.“
Based on the team’s evolution
over the course of the season,motiva-
tion runs high at this point. For the
team’s seniors, this weekend’s Pac-10
Championships bring the height of
four years of collegiate intensity and
potentially years of practices. While
the team goes through a perpetual
learning process, this weekend, Car-
dinal rowers hope to fulfill hopes
built up over the endless meters
rowed.
“At the beginning of the season, I
wanted to win every race by 10 sec-
onds and not have to try hard ever —
that didn’t happen,” senior Mark
Murphy said.“I am very proud of our
team and the work they have put in.”
Murphy’s own rowing career fur-
ther illustrates what this weekend’s
championships symbolize.
“The only two races that Stanford
has not been victorious at are the Pac-
10 Championships and the IRA Na-
tional Championships,” Murphy said.
“And by never been victorious, I
mean never won, ever. In the span of
my rowing career, Stanford has fin-
ished [in] second place at both these
events. It should be fairly clear what I
hope to accomplish before I gradu-
ate.”
Last year, Stanford’s varsity eight
finished third in the Pac-10, behind
Washington and Cal. Washington
swept every grand final race last year,
“Obviously, we feel better win-
ning some games,but ultimately you
just have to play well,” he said. “It
basically comes down to defense,
and how you pitch and how they
pitch against you. In a close game
like this, it’s difficult to know exact-
ly what’ll happen, and we need to be
ready [to take every opportunity we
get].
Each hovering near .500 in the
standings with the end of the season
just over a week away, both Stan-
ford and USC each have a lot to play
for this weekend. Indeed, though
while issuing no walks and striking
out eight. Although the Cardinal
freshman did give up five runs
against New Mexico, his peripheral
stats in the game suggest that he’s
just now hitting his stride.
“Obviously he’s got outstanding
stuff — it’s big league stuff,” Pries
said of his teammate. “When he’s
on and he’s throwing strikes, he’s
one of my favorite guys to watch.
When he can do that, he’s unhit-
table, no one can touch him. He
brings great poise. I think both of us
as freshmen, we’ve had the big-
game experience as starters, so it’s
just a matter of putting it together
in a big spot.”
Pries, meanwhile, has relied
more on varying his pitches and at-
tacking hitters with a variety of of-
ferings, saying that the key from
here on in for his performance
would be staying aggressive and
trusting his stuff.
“Personally, I’ve just got to re-
member to attack hitters and have
the confidence to go after guys and
not nitpick and be too fine around
the plate,” Pries said. “Just go after
them, get ahead in counts and try
not to walk too many guys.”
The keys for the Cardinal as a
team, according to Pries, aren’t
much different, as he expects confi-
year will allow one to discover
something important.
“Coming to university itself is
changing your environment,”
Nicholas said. “Sometimes too
much emphasis is put on this idea
that you’ll go out into the world and
all of a sudden discover something
you can’t discover through any
other avenue.”
Contact Joanna Xu at joannaxu
@stanford.edu.
Cardinal Today
MEN’S ROWING
5/2 California L VARSITY EIGHT
UP NEXT PACIFIC-10 CONFERENCE
CHAMPIONSHIPS
5/17 Gold River, Calif.
GAME NOTES: The Cardinal rowers will face
off against the conference’s best on Sunday
in the Pac-10 Championships, looking to im-
prove on their third-place finish from each of
the past two seasons.
repeating a feat it achieved in 1997.
2008 also brought Washington its sec-
ond consecutive Pac-10 Champi-
onship. Stanford’s third-place men’s
varsity finish in the grand final, higher
than Oregon State, served as a tie-
breaker between the two teams to put
Stanford overall in the lead.
This year, the Cardinal hopes to be
a stumbling block in the way of fur-
ther Husky domination.
“Obviously, I hope to improve on
our finish from last year,” Carr said.“I
hope all of the Stanford boats have
their best races of the season this
weekend and that we perform to our
full potential.”
Propelled by the fires of competi-
tion, the weekend will be a scorcher
on and off the water, with tempera-
tures running in the triple digits. With
all the teams rowing at the highest lev-
els in the country, the Cardinal will
have to reach far and pull hard to-
wards victory.
“All we can ask for this weekend is
to be in the fight, and I think our com-
petitive desire compels us with a fer-
vor greater than Cal and Washington
can muster,” Murphy said. “It’s going
to get bloody, but we like that taste in
our mouth, so bring it on.”
Contact Zoe Leavitt at zleavitt@stan-
ford.edu.
this road trip may be the last in the
Cardinal’s season, a solid perform-
ance against the Trojans can help se-
cure another chance to play ball
away from Sunken Diamond, and
accomplish what every player has
been aiming for all year — a return
to the postseason. Marquess, at the
helm of the Pac-10’s seventh-place
team, knows his playoff chances are
running short.
“At this stage, we really have to
win all we can,” he said. “It’s a diffi-
cult time, with ‘SC and Stanford
being tied, and a big series for both
Freshman pitcher Jordan Pries has assumed the role of Friday night starter
for Stanford this season. With teammate Brett Mooneyham starting Satur-
days, two-thirds of the rotation this season has been comprised of freshmen.
dence will rule the day.
“I think we just need to come
out with the intensity that we could
beat anyone and we’re just as good
as anyone else in the country,” he
said. “Because, the second we start
feeling sorry for ourselves and feel-
ing like we’re a weak team, that’s
not going to get the job done.”
SENIORS
Continued from front page
hander is enjoying her best season on the Farm; a season
in which she has won a record five Pacific-10 Conference
Pitcher of the Week awards and has looked utterly un-
touchable at times.
Penna is 31-6 on the season with a 1.45 ERA. She has
struck out 323 batters en route to being named to the Pac-
10 All-Conference first team for the second consecutive
season.
Penna is buoyed by the experience that four postsea-
Stanford ace Missy Penna has dominated this year for the
Cardinal, amassing a 32-6 record and a 1.45 ERA.
Penna takes the circle today against the Vikings.
of us if we want remain in the hunt
for any kind of a postseason chance,
so whoever wins this series has a big
leg up on that. It’s definitely an im-
portant series for both of us.”
Stanford and USC kick off the
series in LA at 6:30 p.m. tonight,
then continue on Saturday at 6:30
p.m.and Sunday at 1 p.m.The games
will be broadcast live on KZSU,
available at 90.1 FM and online at
kzsulive.stanford.edu.
Contact Nate Adams at nbadams
@stanford.edu.
PHILIP L. TOM/The Stanford Daily
For a pair of freshman starters,
that confidence has emerged for a
reason.With their backs to the wall,
the Stanford players are glad to
have a pair of powerful, if different,
young arms in their presence.
Contact Denis Griffin at djgriff@
stanford.edu.
Friday, May 15, 2009 N 5
sons bring.
“[The postseason] becomes more normal every time
— it’s not really new anymore,” she said. “After three
years, I know what to expect.”
Unlike Penna, Coon has flown under the radar this
season.That said, she has been just about as vital to Stan-
ford’s success as her teammate.
Coon, a highly touted recruit out of Chappaqua, N.Y.,
may have been overshadowed at times this season by
some of the team’s underclassmen, but her versatility, un-
selfishness and leadership have been unmatched.
With freshman Ashley Hansen taking over at short-
stop this season, Coon moved to her third position while
at Stanford: second base.
Not only did Coon never complain about the move,
but she also established herself as one of the top second
basemen in the conference.
Defensively she has been rock solid, making only
three errors all season.And she had a heck of a season at
the plate, to boot.
The always patient, four-time All-Pac-10 performer
hit .303 and was second on the team with a .456 on-base
percentage.
Coon doesn’t hold back her excitement about the po-
tential of making it to Oklahoma City.
“It would mean everything,” Coon said.“That said, we
are going to take it one game at a time and not rush any-
thing or look ahead.”
Obviously a lot of eyes will be on Penna, as well as
Hansen and junior left-fielder Alissa Haber this weekend
for their play on the field. It will be the way in which the
seniors,Penna and Coon,lead the team that will ultimate-
ly determine whether this team will finally make a trip to
Oklahoma City, or if it is due another disappointing end.
Head coach John Rittman has praised the leadership
of his older players all season. Nothing can be more in-
dicative of this leadership then the quick maturation —
both on and off the field — of freshmen like Hansen,
Sarah Hassman and Maya Burns.
Penna chooses to pass the credit around, however.
“[Leading] has been a job for all the upperclassmen,”
Penna said. “Everyone has done a part. Even the fresh-
men have stepped up.”
Whether or not the team can rise to the challenge and
make it to the Women’s College World Series for the first
Stanford Daily File Photo time since 2004 will soon be determined. The Cardinal
opens postseason play today at 6 p.m. against Portland
State.
Contact Daniel Bohm at bohmd@stanford.edu.
Save our Danny
Belch
sports! On My Mind
A
May 5 Associated Press article advertisement around the Stanford
by Andrew Bagnato quoted athletic facilities. Not one Coke banner
Stanford Athletic Director Bob or Pepsi sign. Nothing. I’m not talking
Bowlsby as saying the following: “I re- about cups or refrigerators at basket-
ally think you’re going to see a lot of ball and football games. I’m talking
men’s Olympic sports, and probably about scoreboard or outfield adver-
women’s too, go away in the next two tisements. Many schools are littered
or three years.” with them, but not Stanford. Whether
Whether Bowlsby was referring to a it’s John Arrillaga’s requests or Stan-
general NCAA cut or Stanford specif- ford’s claim to fame, there is nothing
ically is unclear. But either way, it looks but cardinal and white out there.
like dark days could be ahead for at Why then, can we not bring in some
least some collegiate sports. advertisements for our facilities? A
A general NCAA cut would mean simple sign up on the track scoreboard
that the NCAA would remove the or football scoreboard could generate
championship associated with a partic- a lot of revenue. Our budget deficit
ular sport (which would happen if could be solved with one measly sign.
enough teams around the country Boom. No more worrying about cut-
begin to cut that sport). Though Stan- ting sports. No more fretting. I’ll drink
ford could still keep that team intact, it a Coke per day if that means all Stan-
would have to be knocked down to a ford sports are safe.
club-level sport. OK, sure, advertisements may look
The possibility of any cuts, though, tacky.And I agree that it is special that
is obviously a very uncomfortable one Stanford sporting events are not bom-
for athletes, students and fans across barded with them. But wouldn’t it be
the country. better to see an advertisement at a
The same AP article reported that sporting event, rather than not even
Stanford has cut $1.8 million from its being able to attend that event be-
athletic budget this year.The Universi- cause no team exists? Today’s eco-
ty of Washington has already cut both nomic times call for sacrifice, improvi-
its men’s and women’s swim programs, sation and temporary solutions; doing
a shocking and saddening move as whatever we can to stay afloat. I say we
both were relatively big sports at a siz- slap on a few Pepsi signs here and
able Division-I university. Washing- there and call it a day. Leave them up
ton’s move shows that no top-tier ath- for a year or two, have them pay us
letic university is safe. some money, and by the time this
The Daily recently reported that storm settles,, we can take them down.
Bowlsby told the Stanford fencing I’ll even volunteer to go out with some
team to go find funding elsewhere. hammers and nails and put a sign or
While this is not as significant as other two up myself. Ask any athlete if they
schools cutting upwards of five or six would rather have an advertisement
sports altogether, the trend is unset- where they compete or not be able to
tling — especially if money doesn’t compete at all. The answer is not all
start flowing back into the athletic de- that surprising.
partment’s pockets. I almost want to say it’s a brilliant
Stanford is unique in that it offers idea, but I know my email inbox will
such a wide range of the so-called soon be cluttered from administrators
Olympic sports. The success of the claiming I have no idea what I am talk-
Stanford program over the years has ing about. But I’m fine with that, be-
depended on sports like swimming, cause at least I’m offering a solution
track and field, indoor volleyball and that doesn’t affect the overall Stanford
gymnastics.The wide range of athletics athletic experience. We can wallow all
is what makes Stanford attractive to we want in this tough economic time,
athletes and fans and what separates us or we can take action and do some-
from other schools. Having to cut or thing to try and weather the storm.
knock these sports down a level would God forbid if we at Stanford have to
be a detriment to the Stanford athletes actually look at advertisements during
and community as a whole. a sporting event. Personally, I wouldn’t
But there is a solution to this mess mind looking at a few ads if it were the
that doesn’t involve cutting sports, difference between cutting and saving
waiting for the economic crunch to end a sport.And, I bet a lot of other people
and instilling fear in many athletes, would agree with me.
fans, coaches and athletic department
personnel at Stanford. It’s a simple Does Danny Belch really want to save
one-word solution: advertising. Stanford sports? Or is he just in this for a
You may or may not have noticed, Coke a day? You be the judge. Contact
but there might not be a single outside him at dbelch1@stanford.edu.
6 N Friday, May 15, 2009
DAILY POLL POLICE BLOTTER
How do you feel about
Moonbean’s being replaced by By ELLEN HUET
Coupa by the end of June? STAFF WRITER
176 votes taken from stanforddaily.com at 9:16p.m. 05/14/09
3% This report covers a selection
D of crimes from May 6 to May 11
10% as recorded in the Stanford
C eral objects. He was taken into
39%
A Police Bulletin.
C15%
79% A into the main jail in San Jose.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6
B I Between 10 p.m. on May 5 and
30% 1 p.m. on May 6, at Schwab
Residential Center, an
B unknown suspect smashed the
right-door window on a vic-
A) I’m excited! Coupa Café is incredible!
B) I’m furious! Moonbean’s is a Stanford tradi tim’s unoccupied vehicle and
stole an iPod from the right
tion!
C) It’s kind of sad to see Moonbean's go, but I front floorboard.
don’t mind that much. I At 8:10 a.m. on the 800 block
D) I don’t care. of Campus Drive, the victim’s
left rear window was shattered
Today’s Question:
by a piece of debris thrown by
In the face of budget cuts, which of these pro-
grams are you most concerned about?
a weed and vegetation string
a) Student advising trimmer as she was driving.
b) Overseas programs George of the Jungle was near-
c) Sophomore College and Seminars
d) PWR and IHUM by to advise, “Watch out for
vote today at stanforddaily.com!
that [piece of] tree.”
I At 10:25 a.m., an unknown
suspect peeped into a shower
stall in Roble while the victim
was showering. The suspect
NPR
fled on foot in an unknown
direction.
I Between April 8 and May 6, a
Continued from page 2 student received a check from
an alleged Stanford sorority
drawn on a fraudulent account
radio today than any other time in from Southern California.
our history — and, as most of you
know because of a recent spate of THURSDAY, MAY 7
stories, we are the only traditional I Between 11 p.m. on May 6 and
news media whose audience has 1 p.m. on May 7, a victim’s
been growing,” she said. unattended laptop was taken
Finally, Weiss stressed that from Cubberley where it had
although the news industry may be been left overnight.
suffering, the drive for news and I Between April 26 and May 7,
information is as important to an unknown suspect removed
American institutions as ever a commemorative brass
before. plaque from the exterior wall
“America isn’t facing a death of at Gate 2 at the Stanford
news consumers,” she said. “Rather, Stadium.
it is facing a shortage of news — an I At 11:30 p.m. in Alondra, a ver-
imminent, acute shortage of reli- bal altercation occurred
able, fact-checked, edited, mediat- between two parties, reported-
ed, trusted information. That this is ly over whether Virgil could
a threat to news organizations is beat Homer in a battle of the
obvious.” minds.
“The more important threat is to n Between 7:30 and 7:50 p.m., an
American society,” she added, “to unknown suspect stole an
the capacity of our democracy to be iPhone when it was left unat-
well-informed and functional.” tended on a Marguerite shuttle.
In other news, students appar-
Contact Molly Spaeth at mspaeth@ ently still ride the Marguerite.
stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily
CLASSIFIEDS
HOW TO PLACE AN AD
Call (650) 723-2555 Ext. 1
for display and contract rates
*Please allow for 3 business days from the
when you purchased your ad to when it
FRIDAY, MAY 8 appears in the paper
I At 3:49 a.m., a student was
observed at Campus Dr. and
Bowdoin driving recklessly, TEAM CREATE $$ W/O JOB! RECORDED INFO:
going off road and hitting sev- ANNOUNCEMENTS 9/09-4/10. GREAT PAY. 408-332-6004 877-937-6286, x9022 THEN CALL
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I Between 10:50 p.m. and 11:20 Princeton-NYC area this fall? We have THE job for a new grad
p.m., four people were arrested, DONORS WANTED Professor with home in Princeton at a cool as heck start-up in San
seeks exchange while at Stanford Francisco! Contact Leann:
cited and released at Mayfield $$ SPERM DONOR NEEDED $$ leann@capeoplesearch.com
and Santa Ynez for being Sept-Dec 2009. 3 BR, etc, car,
minors in possession of alcohol.
Earn up to $100/donation. Healthy
MEN, wanted for California
gardener, near Lake Carnegie. Walk (510) 468-9366
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Cryobank’s sperm donor Call 609-216-0072
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I www.spermbank.com WEB SAVVY GRAD STUDENT
Between 12:20 and 12:35 a.m. Cozy escape place for female commuter. wanted to refurbish outdated
at Arguello and Bowdoin, a $685/mo. 650-704-3994. book selling web site of small,
victim reported being involved HELP WANTED
local publisher.
in a fight with an unknown sus- SPEECH & DEBATE COACHES WANTED www.PeninsulaPublishing.com.
pect during which the suspect TO COACH LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL
JOBS
Charles Wiseman. 948-2511
cut the victim’s right temple
with a knife.
I At 1 a.m. at Tresidder Union, a
laptop was stolen from a stu-
dent’s vehicle. The vehicle’s
front passenger window was
rolled down prior to the theft.
SUNDAY, MAY 10
I Between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m.,
the victim’s laptop was stolen
from his unlocked dorm room
in Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
I At 11:40 pm, an arrestee was
cited and released for being in
possession of less than one
ounce of marijuana at the
Angel of Grief. The Angel, a
long-time supporter of legaliz-
ing marijuana, wept at the bla-
tant injustice.
MONDAY, MAY 11
I Between 9:40 a.m. and 9:45
a.m, an unknown suspect stole
a purse from an unattended
bike parked in the Lasuen
Mall bike parking area.
I Between 1:10 p.m. and 3:30
p.m., a locked bike was stolen
from the bike rack between
the Clark Center and the
Fairchild Auditorium.
I Sometime between May 8 and
May 11, an unknown suspect
attempted to force entry into
the Y2E2 server farm by pry-
ing the lock with a flat, bladed
tool.
Contact Ellen Huet at ehuet@stan-
ford.edu.