By JACOB JOHNSON
DESK EDITOR
Last week’s announcement that the ath-letic department will sell seats to season-tick-et holders and Buck/Cardinal members inwhat was part of the Sixth Man section inMaples Pavilion provoked an outcry frommany Stanford students.Much of the fingerpointing and blame has been levied againstthe athletic department and AthleticDirector Bob Bowlsby.Yesterday,Bowlsbyresponded.One of the hottest issues is the claim madeby Sixth Man Managing Director Alexis Link‘10 that the Sixth Man was not informed of the decision to sell seats in Section 13.Bowlsby reiterated the department’s claimthat the Sixth Man leadership was informedof the impeding move for months.“We started looking for ways as early asDecember to increase student attendance,”he told the Daily.Bowlsby also addressed a major concernamong students that the Sixth Man section istoo expensive.Membership fees for the2008-2009 season were $65.“What we’d eventually like to do is haveour student section in football and men’sbasketball endowed,”he said.“We need tosee if we can get it to the point where it canbe free like football is.”Short-term changes have been imple-mented during the 2009 men’s basketballseason in an attempt to increase studentattendance.They have produced limitedresults.“We reduced the price of single-game tickets in an effort to get students tocome,”Bowlsby added.“I think it was for theCal game where we opened up Sections 13
By HALEY MURPHY
DESK EDITOR
With the Pacific-10 Conference seasondrawing to a close,and March less than aweek away,Stanford men’s basketballopens its last home series against the LosAngeles schools at 7:30 pm tonight inMaples Pavilion.The Cardinal is comingoff three consecutive losses—all on theroad—and hopes some time at homemight offer at least a positive finale to anotherwise disappointing conference sea-son.After a 3-3 start to league play,Stanford (15-10,4-10 Pac-10) collapsedinto a 1-7 rut against conference oppo-nents,and meetings with No.22 UCLAand USC this weekend will offer the Cardanything but easy opportunities for a last-
Index
Opinions/3 • Sports/4 •Classifieds/5
Recycle Me
LUXURYHOTELTOOPENINSPRING
By CASSANDRA FELICIANO
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Amid a troubling sea of budget cutsand layoffs,a University-owned luxuryhotel—the Rosewood Sand Hill—isscheduled to open the first week of spring quarter.While most strain to tighten pursestrings and businesses are cutting downon budgets,Michael Casey,managingdirector of Rosewood Sand Hill,isworking hard to ensure that everypiece of furniture and every light fix-ture is in place in time for the April 2opening of the Stanford-owned addi-tion to the management chain of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.Despite the hotel market’s recentdrop —the industry has been on thedecline over the last six months,accord-ing to Steve Elliott,managing directorof real estate for Stanford—no con-cerns about the effects of the economiccrisis on consumer demand have beenexpressed by those involved in theRosewood Sand Hill.To the contrary,both Elliott and Casey feel confidentthat the hotel will be met with theexpected public response.The locationand lack of competitors on Sand HillRoad plays a key economic advantagefor the new hotel,Casey said.“I think,despite the economic out-look,the prospects for the hotel areextremely favorable given the fact thatwe have such a unique product,”Caseysaid.“The whole project has been solong-awaited and much-anticipatedthat the community here,I believe,is just welcoming us.”Indeed,Rosewood Sand Hill is partof an office and hotel complex forwhich the final round of planningbegan as early as 2004.General plansfor commercial investments on the 16-acre Stanford property,on whichRosewood Sand Hill now stands,havebeen in the works for more than twen-ty years.“It’s always been the plan to comeup with an attractive developmentproject that would benefit the commu-nity and benefit the University,”Elliottsaid.“Since 2004,the primary plan wasto do a mixed use development thatincluded both offices and a hotel,[although] I think initially there was
eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoebullish on e-commerce
By JOANNA XU
MANAGING EDITOR
Yesterday,eBay Inc.CEO John Donahoe,along with a number of other top informationtechnology executives,spoke at the 15thAnnual Stanford Accel Conference.Hostedby Media X,the conference covered theeffects of the economic downturn on the retailindustry,e-commerce in general and innova-tion on top of existing online social networkplatforms.One of the markets most negatively affect-ed by the economic downturn and creditfreeze is retail.eBay.com,one of the leaders of online retail,has certainly not remainedunscathed.“A big retailer can survive through sixquarters of losses,”Donahoe said.“But smallbusiness cannot;that’s why we provided near-ly $120 million worth of coupons to buyers tohelp our sellers.”However,Donahoe sees a bright future forthe e-commerce business.“It’s still the early days in e-commerce,”Donahoe said.“Right now,e-commerce con-stitutes about seven percent of online retail.That figure should be 15 to 20 percent,justbecause of the security and ease of comfortthat it provides.The only way that percent-age is going to double is through innova-tion.”Of course,eBay Inc.’s revenue comes frommuch more than just eBay.com.Donahoeexplained that eBay.com comprised 50 per-cent of the company’s business;Paypal madeup 33 percent,Skype eight to nine percent andStubHub,Kijiji and a number of other smallerlocal businesses constitute the rest.Skype,in particular,did exceptionally wellin the fourth quarter of 2008,when the eco-nomic downturn really hit consumer demand.“There was a 73 percent increase in thenumber of free Internet calls on Skype in thefourth quarter,”Donahoe said.“There wasalso a 65 percent increase in the number of computer-to-phone calls.”This is,Donahoe added,due to Skype’slow-cost position on communication.Presently,Skype is a $500 million business thatis growing at 30 to 40 percent a year.Donahoe also expressed high hopes for thefuture of Paypal.While started initially tocomplement eBay.com as a convenient formof payment for eBay users,it has now growninto an entirely separate platform.“Paypal should eventually be bigger thaneBay,”Donahoe said.“Retail is a big industrybut very fragmented.”However,Donahoe believes that Paypal
AUGUSITINRAMIREZThe Stanford Daily
After a very promising start to the season, the Stanford men’s basketball team has fallen near the bottom of the Pac-10 standings.The team will look to this weekend to salvage any hopes of basketball in March.
SPEAKERS& EVENTS
Technology execs speakon campus
Courtesy of Amy Rubenstein
Sitting on Stanford land, the Rosewood Sand Hill is scheduled toopen the first week of spring quarter. Standard room rates start at$495 per weeknight.
SPORTS
ATHLETICDEPARTMENTSLASHES JOBS
By JACOB JOHNSON
DESK EDITOR
Y
esterday,the Stanford UniversityDepartment of Athleticsannounced plans to cut 21 positionsfrom its administrative staff.According to a department press release,the job cuts are part of an effort to compensatefor a projected $5.4 million decrease in rev-enue over the next three years.The shortfallin funding is expected to continue for theforeseeable future,as are the cuts in the ath-letic department’s workforce.The specific jobs to be cut have not beenannounced out of respect for the privacy of the individuals concerned.They will allcome from “administrative and serviceareas.”The laid-off individuals will receivethree months salary and two months of fullbenefits—in addition to the standard sever-ance package.“As there remains great uncertainty as tohow deep and how long the economic down-turn will be,we believe that the difficultdecisions we have made to date will placeStanford Athletics in a prudent position todeal with the present challenges,”saidAthletic Director Bob Bowlsby inWednesday’s press release.“As is the cir-cumstance throughout the Stanford campus,we will continue to assess our budget projec-tions and will make further adjustments asneeded,which may include programmatic,staff and sports reductions.”The release stated that the University isfacing endowment losses of 20-30 percentthis year.Every department has been asked
MEN’S BASKETBALL
2/21vs. Oregon
L
68-60
UP NEXTUCLA
(20-7, 9-5 Pac-10)
2/26Maples Pavilion 7:30 P.M.
COVERAGE:
TVFSNRADIOKZSU 90.1FM(kzsu.stanford.edu)
GAME NOTES:
After starting the season with a 3-3 recordin the Pac-10, Stanford has since gone 1-7 in confer-ence play. UCLA has lost three of its last four games.Stanford ranks second in the Pac-10 in turnover margin.
Please see
CUTS
page 6Please see
HOTEL
,page 6Please see
BOWLSBY
,page 6
Plans for Stanford-owned hotel proceed despite difficult economy
“...the prospects for the hotel areextremely favorable...
— MICHAEL CASEY, Rosewood managing director
PAUL SAKUMA/The Associated Press
STANFORD ATHLETICS
Bowlsby responds to Sixth Man backlash
Please see
BBALL
,page 6
NOTHING LEFTTO LOSE
Please see
ACCEL
,page 2
www.stanforddaily.com
THURSDAY Volume 235
February 26, 2009Issue 18
Today
Chance of Showers
6046
Tomorrow
Partly Cloudy
5846
SPORTS/4
ALOHA!
Men’s volleyball heads to Hawaii for a weekend doubleheader
The Stanford Daily
An Independent Publication
SPORTS/4
FINAL BOUT
Wrestling concludes roller-coaster seasonat Pac-10 Championships
By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF
Last night,the Graduate StudentCouncil (GSC) passed a bill thatwould limit the amount of campaignaid executive slates could receivefrom the ASSU to a maximum of $750 per slate.In addition,thePublic Finance Bill would also limitthe amount of money that individ-ual slates could spend on top of the$750 maximum aid to $750,effec-tively capping the total campaignexpenses at $1,500 for slates wishingto apply for the public financing.Inorder to qualify for public financingfrom the ASSU,slates have to sub-mit 200 signatures from the studentbody,of which 25 percent mustcome from undergraduates and 25percent must come from graduatestudents.The total amount of money available for public financ-ing from the ASSU is $4,500,whichis enough for six slates to receivethe maximum of $750 in aid.If thereare more than six slates running foroffice,the aid will be divided equi-tably between each of the slates.The GSC passed the bill nine for,one against and two abstentions.The bill has already been passed bythe undergraduate senate.The GSCalso passed a service group bill thatwill institutionalize a service bronchof the ASSU to handle projects likebuses to airports and other projectsthat the ASSUexecutives have tra-ditionally taken under their wing.
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Thursday,February 26,2009
The Stanford Daily
GSCpasses publicfinancing bill
NEWS BRIEFS
has the potential to become theleader in online payment networks—if it does not become the fourthbig player in global payment net-work—in addition to the existingVisa,Mastercard and AmericanExperience payment networks.However,all these develop-ments depend on product develop-ment and innovation—andDonahoe emphasized that all busi-nesses under eBay Inc.are focusedon developing around user experi-ence.“In many ways,eBay was thefirst social networking platform,”Donahoe said.“We want to build agreat platform and commerce net-work upon which users can thenexpand.We want to keep providingthis marketplace.”During the Q&A session thatfollowed Donahoe’s talk,a numberof interesting questions were raisedregarding eBay’s future andgrowth.One question,in particular,asked what effects the Obamaadministration’s stimulus planwould have on eBay’s marketspace.“Fundamentally,I think some of the stimulus money should gotowards broadband,”Donahoesaid.“The broadband coverage inthe U.S.is embarrassing comparedto some Asian countries.”Withgreater broadband use,an entirelynew and different class of userscould emerge.Donahoe envisioned a scenarioin which a man would research anitem online,walk into a store to seethe product in real life,video chatwith his spouse on his phone aboutthe product—while conducting anonline price comparison check onhis mobile Internet—then orderthe item off his phone while walk-ing out of the store.“Product exploration willexpand,”Donahoe said.“And moreand more innovation will occuronline.Those lines will blur.”Other notable keynote speakersat the Accel Conference includedSir Martin Sorrell,chairman andCEO of WPP;Jayshree Ullal,presi-dent and CEO of Arista Networks;and Bob Muglia,president of Servers and Tools Business atMicrosoft Corp.
Contact Joanna Xu at joannaxu@stanford.edu.
ACCEL
Continued from front page
The Stanford Daily
Thursday,February 26,2009
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3
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PINIONS
Managing Editors
The Stanford Daily
Established 1892
A N I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S PA P E R
Incorporated 1973
Tonight’s Desk Editors
Mike Ding
News Editor
Zach Zimmerman
Sports Editor
Arnav Moudgil
Photo Editor
Ben Cohen
Copy Editor
Shelly Ni
Graphics Editor
Devin Banerjee
Deputy Editor
Nikhil Joshi
Managing Editor of News
Wyndam Makowsky
Managing Editor of Sports
Emma Trotter
Managing Editor of Features
Masaru Oka
Managing Editor of Photo
Joanna Xu
Managing Editor of Intermission
Stuart Baimel
Columns Editor
Tim Hyde,Niko Milonopoulos
Editorial Board Chairs
Cris Bautista
Head Graphics Editor
Samantha Lasarow
Head Copy Editor
Board of Directors
Christian Torres
President,Editor in Chief
In HoLee
Chief Operating Officer
Someary Chhim
Vice President of Advertising
Devin BanerjeeKamil DadaMichael LondgrenTheodore GlasserRobert MichitarianGlenn Frankel
Contacting The Daily
:Section editors can be reached at (650) 723-2555 from 3 to 10 p.m.The Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5803,and theClassified Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5801 during normal business hours.
T
he recent announcement that Stan-ford Athletics will sell seats in section13 of Maples Pavilion for bothtonight’s men’s basketball game againstUCLA and Saturday’s game against USCcame as a shock to many of the team’sdiehard fans,as well as members of theteam’s official student fan organization,theSixth Man Club.Section 13,which sits courtside oppositethe team benches,has long been reserved aspart of the Sixth Man’s student fan section,and the choice to sell tickets to season-ticketholders and Buck/Cardinal club membersdrew the ire of the Sixth Man Club’s leaders—who were left in the dark on the decision—and dismay from the team’s fans.The administration justified the choice tosell the tickets by pointing to declining SixthMan Club membership and dwindling atten-dance at games this year.At recent games,the Sixth Man Club has failed to show up insufficient numbers to fill the courtsidecheering section;in fact,only 648 studentspurchased the $65 membership for this sea-son,off from the recent peak of nearly 2,000students during the 2005-2006 campaign.Even at the best-attended game of the sea-son,Stanford’s upset win over Cal in Janu-ary,only 50 percent of club members showedup to root for the Card.Given these underwhelming attendancefigures,it is understandable that the athleticdepartment—already facing a $5.4 millionrevenue decrease over the next three years—would try to raise some money by sellingout seats that would otherwise stand con-spicuously empty right across from the Stan-ford team’s bench.While the editorial board not believe theathletic department’s decision was out of line,we still think it speaks volumes aboutthe state of the Sixth Man Club and high-lights the need for Stanford Athletics to stepin and help reverse the fortunes of this vitalinstitution.The announcement provoked an angeredreaction from the club’s managing director,Alexis Link,who decried the move as setting“a bad precedent for the future”in a Feb.19Daily brief (“Athletic department to sellSixth Man seats”).Link was further quotedin Monday’s Daily as saying that the sectionhad been filled at the Cal game,meeting theathletic department’s conditions for not sell-ing the seats (see “Sixth Man Meltdown”).While the editorial board emphaticallyagrees with Link that the Sixth Man Clubhas been an important contributor to theteam’s success and that the players “thriveon the enthusiasm”of its members,theboard feels that a partially empty studentsection does not serve the team well either.According to administration officials,theentire Sixth Man membership can fit,alongwith the Band,in Sections 9 through 12,without need for Section 13.And while thedepartment’s actions do constitute a badprecedent,they set no worse a precedentthan its decision to not intervene as the SixthMan Club atrophies in the wake of theLopez twins’ departure.The best short-term solution for revivingthe club is to discard the fee,currently $65,for obtaining Sixth Man membership.Withevery other athletic event at Stanford free toattend,the Sixth Man fee is unique and evi-dently depressing turnout.(Not even Stan-ford football has a fee anymore,and it hasseen increased attendance since the change.)In the long term,removing the cost seemslike not only a great way to reignite interestin men’s basketball but also a savvy businessdecision on the part of Stanford Athletics.Based on the $65 fee and the 2008-2009membership,the department only raisedabout $42,000 from the Sixth Man fee,asmall part of a men’s basketball revenuestream that was nearly $6 million in 2006,ac-cording to the San Francisco Business Times.About half of this funding goes directly tothe Sixth Man committee to finance promo-tions and T-shirts.The Sixth Man committee does an ad-mirable job of trying to stir up student inter-est,but can ultimately be stymied by the highprice of membership,which is set by Stan-ford Athletics.Earlier this year,Sixth Manmembers rallied through Branner,trying toraise awareness and sign up freshmen for theclub.Unfortunately,many students balkedat the high cost of tickets,especially thosethat might be interested in attending onlyone or two big games a year.Selling tickets in Section 13 to make a lit-tle extra money is fine for the rest of this sea-son,but is a very unsatisfactory long-termsolution.Next year,we want to see an intactstudent section that runs the length of thecourt and fills up regularly.Ultimately,theeditorial board hopes to see a revived SixthMan Club,reminiscent of those of yester-year that regularly packed the house andstormed the court after Stanford’s come-back victory over then-second-rankedUCLA in 2007.Free membership,granted toall students,can enable Sixth Man to enjoy athrilling comeback of its own.
The antidote to low basketball attendance:make Sixth Man free
E
DITORIAL
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 contributionsare 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.
D
EMBY
D
OWNER
NicoleDemby
Write to us.
We want to hear from you.
SENDLETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO
EIC@DAILY.STANFORD.EDU AND SEND OP-EDS TO EDITORIAL@DAILY.STANFORD.EDU
S
uites Special Dinner at Middle EarthEating Club last Friday? Phenomenal.Having Ram’s Head Theatrical Societygeniuses turning our suite common roominto an African Safari for a party Saturdaynight (and at no cost!)? Amazing.Welcomingthe great Andrei Markovits (brilliant visitingprofessor of Political Studies and GermanStudies) into my family’s home for brunch onSunday morning? Wonderful,despite the lessthan four hours of sleep that preceded it.But with all respect and thanks to every-one involved in the aforementioned activi-ties,what really set this weekend apart waswhat—or rather,who—I saw Sundayevening.Whether you are the most ardentclassical music aficionado,or the ignoramuswho knows Mozart only as that characterwhose picture adorns those tasty chocolate-marzipan candies,the experience of ItzhakPerlman in concert (and it is indeed an expe-rience) is one that lasts you a lifetime.And inside Davies Symphony Hall,ele-gantly positioned across the street from thebeautiful San Francisco City Hall to the eastand the War Memorial Opera House to thenorth,I was fortunate enough to see thegreatest violinist of his generation (and per-haps of any) perform his craft.Though I was raised as a violinist,playingfor thirteen years (seven of which I spentbuilding up the cajones to tell my parentsthat I would rather switch to guitar,which Isubsequently did),classical music has neverquite spoken to me the same way that that of Neil Young,Leonard Cohen or John Frus-ciante has.When I quit violin,I never had asecond thought.It will likely always be mybest instrument,but guitar will forever be myfavorite.Only on rare occasions can classicalmusic truly move me.But an Itzhak Perlman concert representsmore than simply a performance of classicalmusic;it is a tour de force.Perlman’s viva-cious,joyous performance of pieces by Han-del,Beethoven and Messaien was the uttermastery of a craft personified.The verve andflair with which he brought each piece of music new life had a contagious quality aboutit,and the audience soaked it in.Even thoselike me,not directly affected by the music it-self,could not help but take to heart the waythat classical music can connect with the hu-manity in that room.But of all the great moments that stoodout,the one that I will take most to heart wasa single piece Perlman performed in his en-core.After having just completed a lively,perpetual-motion-esque piece lasting nomore than a couple minutes,he and his ac-companying pianist suddenly swept into per-haps one of the few classical musical worksthat truly speaks to me:the theme from“Schindler’s List.”Perlman was the violinistfor the movie’s original score.I studied and worked in Berlin for sixmonths through Stanford’s Overseas Pro-gram.As a Jew with two grandparents wholived in Berlin (who were fortunate enoughto escape in 1938),living as an echo of theirmemory took on a special meaning for meduring that half-year journey.Berlin gave tome a series of experiential gifts,a period of reflection and a score of emotions and real-izations that I have held onto dearly evensince returning.Some of these emotions Ihave kept to myself,believing them to carryan ineffable quality best left to silence.But Perlman tapped into something in meon Sunday night as he performed this onepiece.As he played I sat captivated,and with-out warning,images began to flood throughmy buzzing brain.Perlman’s performancehad me suddenly exposed.He transmitted allthe feelings I had experienced in Berlinthrough his hands and fingers,seemingly em-anating my experiences through his body,and my most meaningful emotions,thoughnot translatable into words,were suddenlycrying out from his violin.By the end of the piece I was in tears.I wasnot the only one.For each of us in the audi-ence,that piece spoke to something both in-dividual in our experience and common inour humanity.I returned to my room that night,thankfulfor the opportunity to have gone,struck bythe brilliance of Perlman’s performance.Iwas still emotionally moved as I went to bed.The following evening,still reflective onmy experience,I was still lost in thought.Sud-denly I found myself swiftly moving my bedsheets out of the way,maneuvering my deska bit until my old friend revealed itself.And then,for the first time in years,I tookout my sheet music and began to play.
Mark Donig is psyched that his best buddy from Berlin,Fabian (yep,that’s his real name)is coming to visit him in California this sum-mer.Contact Mark at mrdonig@stanford.edu.
S
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MarkDonig
The return of an old friend
Sex and student government
L
ike almost all endeavors of young peo-ple,my impetus in writing this columnis 20-25 percent to get laid.While I sus-pect that the majority of Stanford Daily read-ers are actually middle-aged women,I havethis fantasy that if I can write a sexy,provoca-tive column that showcases my deliciouslysnide wit each week,I will have hordes of el-igible young literary bachelors knocking onmy co-op door.So when some abstemious,non-jay-walk-ing person,undoubtedly sobered by theirmany years,commented on my column lastweek,reminding me that we don’t need tooverthrow the system to effect change,myinitial reactions were both a genuine feelingthat they were wrong and a revealing defen-siveness.Was this upstanding citizen right?Was I just romanticizing revolution? MaybeI only advocate skepticism toward authoritybecause telling people to work “within thesystem”is about as sexy as chamomile tea.Let me be fair to myself.What I was advo-cating wasn’t violent revolution or even anyrevolution,per se,but rather turning a criticaleye toward the social structures around us.Idon’t think it’s implausible to say that Stan-ford,like any institution,has a vested interestin making its citizens think it is doing a good job,and that it has interests other than itsown in mind when it makes its decisions.AllI was saying was that we should make an ef-fort to learn for ourselves what’s what,be-cause otherwise we have no epistemologicaloption other than to blindly accept whatwe’re told.Yet two weeks ago,in this very newspa-per,I read something alarming that suggest-ed that maybe rhetoric like my own couldhave a dangerous backlash.An article on thefront page said that out of the entire studentbody that was invited to participate in a townmeeting about the Draw,fewer than 30 stu-dents had chosen to attend.I’m guessingevery one of you reading this column,includ-ing myself,has said at least one negative thingabout the Draw system since entering Stan-ford.Yet when finally given a chance to airthese legitimate grievances,1/500 of us actu-ally took up the opportunity.The next week,I received an email fromthe ASSU presidents,telling me about the ef-forts the school was taking to consider com-munity members’ opinions when making themassive budget cuts that need to be made.The email offered me a link to a survey whereI could tell the ASSU which Stanford pro-grams I think are important,and invited meto another town hall meeting,this time on thetopic of the cuts (and a bribe of In-n-Out forthe first 50 attendees).I vaguely promisedmyself to fill out the survey,and even morevaguely noted that attending the meetingwas probably something I should do butwouldn’t.In his book “On Violence,”Slovenianphilosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizeksays we live in a post-political world in whichcitizens only have the illusion of politicalagency.Instead of real political considera-tions,every decision the government makesin this post-political system is chalked up to‘universal’ ideals like ‘justice’ and ‘democra-cy.’ For example,in a two-party democracy,Zizek says we merely have the illusion of sig-nificant choice between two essentially iden-tical options.Or take,as another example,themass protests in London against the Iraq wara few years ago to which George Bush re-sponded gleefully that protestors were exer-cising precisely the rights that the U.S.mili-tary was fighting for in Iraq.In such a system,even resistance is complicity.In order toevade this,Zizek advocates that individualswithdraw from the system by non-participa-tion such as abstaining from voting.So was that it? Did we miss the Drawmeeting and not fill out the budget cut surveybecause of our theory of abstention as theonly true form of protest? Did we think thatholding these meetings was the University’sway of simulating democracy while reallyforeclosing it,of letting us feel like we havesome say in order to appease us while reallyignoring our input?Evidence suggests that perhaps this is notfar from the truth.For example after theStanford Labor Action Coalition fasted foreight days to support living wage for Stan-ford employees in 2007,the University final-ly agreed to meet some of SLAC’s demands.Despite their rhetoric,however,the Univer-sity has delayed making the promisedchanges.They have come up with standardsfor a ‘living wage’ that is essentially deter-mined by other employers in the Bay Area,effectively changing very little.Yet despite this disheartening sign,per-haps we shouldn’t give up on the Universitybefore we fully explore the modes in which itinvites us to participate in it.It’s not quite assexy as defying authority,but maybe a newrevolution will be when 14,000 students showup to a town hall meeting to voice their opin-ions.It might be an exercise in futility,but atleast we’ll better know how to affect changeif we know how we can’t affect it.Either way,they’re going to need a lot more In-n-Outburgers.
Nicole is fending off middle-aged women whokeep throwing their underwear at her.Email her and comfort her at demb33@stanford.edu.
For each ofus in theaudience,that piece spoketo something bothindividual in ourexperience and commonin our humanity.
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