Alexa Philippou – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Tue, 21 Feb 2023 05:31:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Alexa Philippou – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Philippou: Leaving the House that built me https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/15/philippou-leaving-the-house-that-built-me/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/15/philippou-leaving-the-house-that-built-me/#respond Fri, 15 Jun 2018 09:29:01 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1142159 Looking back on my time at Stanford, I can confidently say that nothing has shaped my experience as much as The Stanford Daily. And knowing I’m about to leave the place that has determined my career trajectory, given me some of my closest friends and made me into the person I am today scares me more than leaving Stanford itself.

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Last week, on The Daily’s last production night of the volume, I stayed until the paper was completely finished —  at 5:31 a.m.

I could have left the office much earlier. I had finished my three baseball articles sometime between midnight and 1 a.m., and as a writer I had no obligation to stick around. Plus, I had been working off only three hours of sleep.

But I wanted to stay until the very end of production, no matter how late it was or how tired I would be the next day. I needed to take in every last moment — my last chance to argue with my editors over sentence structure, to advocate for punny headlines, to watch as my writing is inserted into the Quark file with the next day’s paper — in the place that’s become my home.

Looking back on my time at Stanford, I can confidently say that nothing has shaped my experience as much as The Stanford Daily. And knowing I’m about to leave the place that has determined my career trajectory, given me some of my closest friends and made me into the person I am today scares me more than leaving Stanford itself.

Over the past four years, my friendships have shifted. I have too often felt uninspired or burned out by my academic work, and I have become increasingly jaded about Stanford’s values and whether they align with my own.

Yet the one constant through it all has been that I always had The Daily, and, by and large, it has never let me down.

Philippou: Leaving the House that built me
SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily

The Daily was where I fell in love with journalism and specifically sportswriting, which I intend to pursue as my career. The staff encouraged writers to take ownership of their work, allowing me to become a beat writer for one of the nation’s top women’s basketball teams my freshman fall, to be promoted to a desk editor by that winter and to cover my first national championship (women’s water polo!) in the spring.

Then, my editors took a chance and chose me to run the sports section as a sophomore. My friends will tell you that The Daily made me extraordinarily stressed that year, but serving as sports editor was by far the most rewarding and fun experience I’ve had at Stanford. And when I was ready for a different role, The Daily gave me the freedom and support to try writing a biweekly sports column, to join the Editorial Board, to report for the news section and to put together The Daily’s 125th anniversary celebration. Through it all, my peers pushed me to produce my best work in a nurturing environment where I learned from some of the most thoughtful and innovative journalists of any college paper in the country.

The Daily was also the place where I formed some of my deepest friendships with people that I may have never met otherwise. We were a conglomeration of students spanning across class years, academic interests and career pursuits (unlike me, most people aren’t even considering going into journalism). But there is a special bond that emerges when a bunch of young and dumb college kids disregard their schoolwork and come together to produce a newspaper five nights a week — and in knowing that we, a bunch of 18-to-22 year-olds, could tell some critical, funny, thought-provoking and inspiring stories about one of the most complex yet fascinating institutions in the world.

The late nights putting together the paper that would become early mornings — though excruciating at the time —  were always secretly my favorites. We’d make a run to Starbucks or the Axe and Palm before they closed for the night, edit as our eyes struggled to stay open, throw around a football in the street at 3 a.m. as we waited for Duran to finish laying out the paper. When we finally sent the pages to the printer and got word that they had been received, we’d collapse in exhaustion and relief. We had put out another paper that day.

And, by that time, it wasn’t rare for the sun to have already come up and for us (i.e. me) to just throw in the towel and crash on one of the couches in the office.

Walking into The Stanford Daily building, or The House as we call it, always felt like putting on a cape that gave me superpowers. When I was there, I had purpose. I had a community that had my back. I felt inspired, invincible and whole.

Now, I’m finally leaving this place and these people behind. Or, more precisely, time is forcibly kicking me out.

As all the “lasts” have come and gone — my last editor-in-chief election, my last banquet, my last night of production, my last sports article — I’ve started to question who I am without The Daily. I’ve feared that, in leaving it, I’m leaving behind one of the most integral pieces of myself, one that has been part of me during the most formative years of my life.

I’ve realized I was wrong to look at it that way, though. In a way, I am indeed leaving behind a piece of myself when I leave The Daily — but it’s a legacy of 176 bylines, the Volume 248 sports section, the Daily@125 alumni event, interviews with Olympians, a Q&A with the former president of Estonia, coverage of national championships and the recall of Judge Persky, and so much more that I can’t even remember.

And though I’m leaving The Daily, I’ll be bringing it, and all the people whom I’ve met there, along for the ride that is life. In other words, I get to pack my cape with me.

After all, it’s The Daily that was my training ground for what I intend to do for the rest of my life. It’s The Daily that has given me friendships that I know won’t evaporate even when we no longer share 456 Panama Mall as our home. And it’s The Daily that has taught me to question authority, to never back down from a challenge, to follow your heart, to empower others and to always have faith in yourself and your ability to make an impact.

For the rest of my life, I’ll be supported by the people and The House that built me. It’s okay for me to now let go.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford falls to rival Fullerton in regional, eliminated from NCAA Tournament https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/04/stanford-falls-to-rival-fullerton-in-regional-eliminated-from-ncaa-tournament/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/04/stanford-falls-to-rival-fullerton-in-regional-eliminated-from-ncaa-tournament/#respond Mon, 04 Jun 2018 11:44:31 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1142030 Two years in a row, Stanford hosted Cal State Fullerton in its regional of the NCAA Tournament. Two years in a row, the Titans eliminated nationally-seeded Cardinal teams from postseason contention, won the Stanford Regional and advanced to the Super Regional. Except this year — with one of the best Stanford teams in recent memory, one […]

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Two years in a row, Stanford hosted Cal State Fullerton in its regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Two years in a row, the Titans eliminated nationally-seeded Cardinal teams from postseason contention, won the Stanford Regional and advanced to the Super Regional.

Except this year — with one of the best Stanford teams in recent memory, one that had swept a Fullerton team on the downswing earlier in the season — that wasn’t supposed to happen again.

Stanford had found answers to four-seed Wright State on Friday evening and two-seed Baylor on Saturday afternoon. It could not do the same against third-seed Fullerton, which added a new chapter to the historic Stanford-Fullerton rivalry, the second-most played matchup in the NCAA tournament, when it handed the Cardinal both their losses to end their season.

The final dagger came Sunday evening, when Stanford (46-12), the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, fell to the Titans (35-23), 5-2 in an elimination game at Sunken Diamond.

It sucks,” junior Brandon Wulff said. “There’s no other way around it.”

The Cardinal came into the season with the program’s highest-scoring offense (runs per game) since 2008’s College World Series team. But it was those same bats that let Stanford down the most this weekend and most fatally in both Fullerton matchups.

“Sometimes you get into tournament baseball and you just don’t get your stride like you’d like to,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said. “We fell victim to that a little bit, but the effort was there and our guys were fighting until the end.”

Stanford hit .200 (2-for-10) with RISP in its first matchup against Fullerton on Saturday, but faced a more acute problem on Sunday: The offense couldn’t put the ball in play, as Stanford struck out 15 times, tying a season-high.

And when Stanford faced its best chance at catching up to the Titans, a bad baserunning mistake by Nick Oar gave Stanford its third out with the tying run set to come to the plate.

An inconsistent strike zone from home-plate umpire Brandon Cooper also did not help the Cardinal offense find its groove.

Fullerton starter Tanner Bibee recorded 11 strikeouts, including eight called third strikes. Before the second Fullerton game, Stanford had only been struck out looking four times in the entire tournament versus 21 times swinging.

Cooper’s inconsistent strike-three calls evoked ire from Cardinal batters. With runners on first and second and two outs, Kyle Stowers, a generally calm player, faced a 2-2 count and erupted at Cooper’s strike-three call on a pitch that was clearly off the plate.

Things only escalated from there. In the fifth, Bibee struck out the side on three called third strikes, and Stanford hitting coach Tommy Nicholson was promptly ejected after trying to argue with Cooper.

“Our kids seemed to be reacting to the strike zone,” Esquer said. “I probably won’t be able to tell until I get a chance to look at the film, but it seemed a little loose in the sense that our guys were just a little bit upset.”

Yet it would be unfair to attribute Stanford’s loss entirely to officiating.

“[Bibee] hit his spots, he was pounding the zone,” said Wulff, who had a team-high three hits on Sunday. “Maybe getting a couple extra calls that we didn’t like… [but] he was able to throw his fastball and his curveball for a strike, get us off balance, mix it inside and outside. [We] just couldn’t make the adjustment quick enough.”

Though it wasn’t as acute of a problem as it was on Saturday, Stanford also struggled to take advantage of its baserunners.

The play during which Stanford scored its two runs also represented its greatest missed opportunity. After Wulff and Will Matthiessen’s hits put them at third and first, respectively, Nick Oar, whom Esquer usually brings in when Stanford is looking for a home run, was inserted into the lineup to pinch-hit for Christian Molfetta. Oar drew the walk, but when Alec Wilson’s two-out single to center plated Wulff and Matthiessen, Oar tried to make it to third and got caught in a rundown, ending the inning for the Cardinal.

Stanford hit .182 with runners on against Fullerton this weekend, but that was, in many ways, part of its greater offensive slump that plagued the team throughout the regional.

“We had been such a good offensive team throughout the year and had been able to generate runs and get some big swings,” Esquer said. “The reason we got those wins [earlier in the season] was because we found a way to score runs when we needed to.”

Though the score might suggest otherwise, Stanford’s pitching staff — starter Erik Miller and relievers Austin Weiermiller and Zach Grech —  had a respectable outing. Fullerton’s unconventional ways to find scoring opportunities hurt Stanford the most: The Titans took advantage of a hit by a pitch and a balk to plate their first two runs before they pulled ahead by five with Cardenas’ three-run homer off Weiermiller in the fifth.

Whatever promise Stanford had this season, what it brought to the regional was simply not enough to get it done against a Fullerton squad that, at least comparatively, might be peaking at the right time. Fullerton, who outscored its regional opponents 13-5 this weekend, advanced to its 14th Super Regional in school history (second-best in the nation behind Florida State) and third in four years.

But the season had its share of highs that the results of the regional should not overshadow: a promising crop of underclassman talent, the program’s first conference title since 2004, and an outstanding first year for Esquer on The Farm.

It’s a sad ending for our club. What a great year and what a lot of fun with this team,”  Esquer said. “They took us on a great ride. Some of the greatest wins I’ve ever been associated with we’ve had this year: comebacks out of nowhere and a Pac-12 championship that they’ll never take away from us.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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Stanford stunned by Fullerton freshman’s walk-off homer, will play in elimination game against Baylor https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/03/stanford-stunned-by-fullerton-freshmans-walk-off-homer-will-play-in-elimination-game-against-baylor/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/03/stanford-stunned-by-fullerton-freshmans-walk-off-homer-will-play-in-elimination-game-against-baylor/#respond Sun, 03 Jun 2018 10:31:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141990 It’s always Fullerton, isn’t it? For two straight years, Fullerton has been the thorn in Stanford’s side in its regional, last year beating the Cardinal twice to eliminate them from the postseason and this year handing Stanford its first loss of the regional on Saturday night. And the loss came about in a particularly painful […]

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It’s always Fullerton, isn’t it?

For two straight years, Fullerton has been the thorn in Stanford’s side in its regional, last year beating the Cardinal twice to eliminate them from the postseason and this year handing Stanford its first loss of the regional on Saturday night.

And the loss came about in a particularly painful way.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Will Matthiessen on the mound, freshman pinch-hitter Jace Chamberlin hit his first career home run off the bottom of the scoreboard to give Fullerton (34-23) a 2-1 walk-off victory in Stanford’s own ballpark.

Being walked off at home is surely a bad feeling. And likely so is knowing you have to win three games in two days — including two more against that same pesky Fullerton squad — to avoid elimination from the postseason.

“The tale of this [game] obviously was we had a number of opportunities to score some runs and get a big swing,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said, “and they got the big swing.”

The result should not overshadow an impressive performance from junior Kris Bubic, who, after surrendering two hits and a run in the first inning, maintained control and only gave up one hit and two walks through the rest of his 7-inning, 130-pitch outing, a career high.

His longevity was a huge relief for the Cardinal bullpen that had been depleted after the extra-inning game yesterday, during which relievers Jack Little and Jacob Palisch pitched for 3.1 and 2.1 innings, respectively.

“Kris did an outstanding job of pitching tonight. He was at his all-time best, as good as I’ve ever seen him,” Esquer said. “And we need it in a big moment.”

Bubic ended the evening with 10 strikeouts — four in the second alone (the leadoff hitter reached first on a passed ball) — three hits, two walks, and one batter hit by a pitch.

Stanford (45-11) surrendered a run in the first inning for the second game in a row, though tonight in a less dramatic way than yesterday. Bubic gave up two hits before Daniel Cope’s sacrifice fly to left field allowed Hank LoForte to score from third.

The only other real spark from Fullerton — besides the walk-off — came in the sixth: On Sahid Valenzuela’s single to left field, Mitchell Berryhill, who had been at second, rounded third to try to make it home. Kyle Stowers threw a laser to the plate, and Christian Molfetta tagged Berryhill out and preserved the tie.

Holding the Titans to one run only did so much, as the Cardinal couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end.

Facing a 1-0 deficit for most of the game, Stanford was retired in order in four innings, three of which came before the sixth. Fullerton starter Tommy Wilson took a no-hitter into the fourth, when Nico Hoerner finally recorded Stanford’s first hit, a double off the left-field wall. It was his second well-hit ball in two at bats, with his first also going to the warning track.

Hoerner was ultimately stranded on second when Andrew Daschbach and Stowers struck out, a result that would become all too familiar during the second half of the game.

In the sixth, after Tim Tawa’s mishandled triple plated Alec Wilson from second, a combination of bad luck and a bad at-bat left two on base: Despite trying to return to the base, Tawa was tagged out at third on a fielder’s choice, where Hoerner reached. Then Daschbach was hit by a pitch, but Stowers’ strikeout precluded the Cardinal from taking the lead.

The Cardinal also had runners on first and second with one out in the top of the seventh, but two consecutive strikeouts (the former coming on a wild pitch that allowed the baserunners to advance) ended things for the Cardinal once more.

“[Fullerton starter Tommy Wilson] kept the ball up a little bit. He rode that fastball up, and we had a lot of fly balls, a lot of pop-ups,” Esquer said about Stanford’s hitting difficulties today. “Eventually we made a little bit of an adjustment….. We gave ourselves some opportunities, we just couldn’t punch those runs across when we had them.”

Stanford’s best chance at taking the lead came in the eighth against reliever Brett Conine, with Hoerner and Daschbach on the corners and one out. Stowers hit into a double play, though Esquer briefly contested the ruling at first.

Stanford ultimately hit .200 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-13 with runners on.

“We just haven’t been able to relax and have that big at-bat in the spot,” Esquer said. “Hopefully we’ll play enough baseball tomorrow that by the time we get at it we’ll be a lot more comfortable swinging the bat.”

Team hitting is a hard thing to put a finger on a lot of the time,” Hoerner said. “I’m excited to see how we answer tomorrow. I don’t think there’s one single answer that fixes everything, but I have a lot of trust in our team.”

Stanford hopes its offense returns to its usual productive self when it faces Baylor, the two-seed of the Stanford Regional, in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Either Brendan Beck or Erik Miller will start on the mound for the Cardinal.

If the Cardinal advance, they will have to exact revenge and beat Fullerton later Sunday evening to force a third, winner-take-all matchup between the two rivals on Monday.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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In senior season, Beau Branton breaks out, leads Cardinal offense https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/01/in-senior-season-beau-branton-breaks-out-leads-cardinal-offense/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/01/in-senior-season-beau-branton-breaks-out-leads-cardinal-offense/#respond Fri, 01 Jun 2018 14:29:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141958 Beau Branton’s breakout season wasn’t supposed to happen.

First-team All-Pac-12 second baseman Duke Kinamon was slotted in to play second this year — until he went down with a groin injury in warmups minutes before the first pitch of the season. Even then, Jesse Kuet got the first crack at taking Kinamon’s place.

But not the last.

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Beau Branton’s breakout season wasn’t supposed to happen.

First-team All-Pac-12 second baseman Duke Kinamon was slotted in to play second this year — until he went down with a groin injury in warmups minutes before the first pitch of the season. Even then, Jesse Kuet got the first crack at taking Kinamon’s place.

But not the last.

Eleven games into the season, Stanford head coach David Esquer gave Branton a start, and he went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

“I just told myself, ‘This is my last year [at Stanford], possibly my last year playing baseball. Just have fun with it. Try and ball out,’” Branton said about his mentality when Kinamon’s spot opened up. “And the rest is history.”

Branton did not just exceed expectations for his senior season — he shattered them. After riding the bench for the last two years, he laid claim to the leadoff spot in the lineup and set the table for one of the highest-scoring Stanford offenses in a decade.

Since getting his first start, Branton has never recorded back-to-back hitless games and has had hitting streaks of 10, seven and six (so far). In addition to claiming a .909 OPS (third-best among year-long starters), he leads the Cardinal offense with a .379 batting average, good for fourth in the Pac-12 and on pace for Stanford’s best mark since Jed Lowrie hit .399 in 2004.

Branton’s stellar season has also included some standout moments: his first career home run during the Utah series; his three-run, 5-for-6 outing in Stanford’s comeback win against then-No. 3 Oregon State; and his 7-for-12 series against Washington State.

“He’s been a lifesaver for us,” Esquer said. “Having him come in and perform like he has has been a huge shot in the arm for us. He’s a valuable piece, and without him, we’re probably not whole.”

“That guy never fails to impress,” first baseman Andrew Daschbach added. “Honestly, I’m just kind of sitting back in amazement. [He’s] been huge for us.”

After getting 28 starts as a freshman, mostly at third base, Branton appeared in 29 games with 32 plate appearances over the next two years combined, with Kinamon, Tommy Edman, Mikey Diekroeger and Nico Hoerner dominating the playing time in the infield.

Branton’s emergence wasn’t just a result of newfound opportunity: He says he’s adjusted the mechanics of his swing, too.

I think I finally found something that works for me and keeps me balanced and keeps me short to the ball,” Branton said. “It’s really been a big mechanical difference.”

Though Branton intends to work as a industrial engineer for Disney after he graduates in a few weeks, his hitting and infield versatility will likely capture the attention of professional scouts as the draft approaches.

But even if Branton’s professional prospects don’t pan out, he’ll be able to end his college years having played the best baseball of his career and having propelled Stanford to its first conference title since 2004.

“It’s really meant a lot to me,” Branton said. “We haven’t had the greatest success [as a team] my first three years here, but now, I’m getting to compete for a national title, for a Pac-12 championship. That means a lot.

“I’ve always known I can compete at this level. I think proving it to myself and proving to everyone else that I can do it, that’s been a big thing for me as well.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Scouting NCAA Stanford Regional teams https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/01/scouting-ncaa-stanford-regional-teams/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/01/scouting-ncaa-stanford-regional-teams/#respond Fri, 01 Jun 2018 14:27:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141953 Stanford baseball hosts an NCAA Regional after earning a top-16 national seed. The three teams invited to the regional are the Baylor Bears, Cal State Fullerton Titans and Wright State Raiders.

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Stanford baseball hosts an NCAA Regional after earning a top-16 national seed. The three teams invited to the regional are the Baylor Bears, Cal State Fullerton Titans and Wright State Raiders. The profiles of each team are shown below:

No. 2 Baylor Bears

Record: 36-19, 13-11 Big 12

Home/Road Splits: 19-7 home, 12-10 road

Head coach: Steve Rodriguez (third year)

Record against RPI top 50: 8-11

Record against RPI top 100: 18-16

RPI: 32

Big picture: After starting their season 14-16, the Bears went on a rampage in their final 25 games of the season, going 22-3 in that stretch, including four series wins against Big 12 teams. They enter the regional on a six-game win streak, coming off their first Big 12 title in program history following a 6-5, 11-inning win against TCU in the championship. Not only are the Bears hitting .289 as a team (with five players hitting above .300), but the pitching staff also owns a 3.19 ERA, good for 11th in the nation.

Players to watch: Designated hitter Richard Cunningham and first baseman Andy Thomas lead the Bears in hits (73 and 70, respectively) and batting average (.344 and .343). Cody Bradford (7-5) has a 2.38 ERA through 13 starts, best among regular starters.

 

No. 3 Cal State Fullerton Titans

Record: 32-23, 18-6 Big West

Home/Road Splits: 16-10 home, 16-13 road

Head coach: Rick Vanderhook (seventh year)

Record against RPI top 50: 3-11

Record against RPI top 100: 5-13

RPI: 52

Big picture: Cardinal fans likely groaned when they saw that storied postseason rival Cal State Fullerton — making its 27th straight postseason appearance and seeking its 23rd regional title overall — ended up in Stanford’s region. The Titans eliminated the nationally seeded Cardinal last year and advanced to the College World Series, their third in a decade. Stanford and Fullerton clashed to open the season in February, and the Cardinal outscored the Titans 16-9 in a three-game sweep. More recently, the Titans have won 13 of their last 16 games to claim the Big West regular season title.

Players to watch: Second baseman Hank LoForte, the Titans’ primary leadoff hitter, paces Fullerton with a .341 batting average and 72 hits, and catcher Daniel Cope has a team-high 40 RBIs. Two of Fullerton’s three primary starters, Colton Eastman and Tommy Wilson, have ERAs below 3.00.

 

No. 4 Wright State Raiders

Record: 39-15, 22-6 Horizon

Home/Road Splits: 19-3 home, 17-11 road

Head coach: Jeff Mercer (second year)

Record against RPI top 50: 0-1

Record against RPI top 100: 6-7

RPI: 69

Big picture: The Raiders visit Stanford riding an eight-game win streak, claiming the Horizon League regular season title and also winning the conference tournament for the third time in four years. They have scored double-digit runs in each of their last six contests, including three games in the Horizon League Tournament. They have made the postseason in three of the past four years and six times since 2006, but have never won a regional.

Players to watch: First baseman Gabe Snyder’s .363 average, 15 home runs and 72 RBIs power the Raiders offense. Ryan Weiss (9-2, 3.40 ERA) leads the team in starts and innings pitched and should take the mound against Stanford on Friday.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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By the numbers: 2018 baseball regular season https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/01/by-the-numbers-2018-baseball-regular-season/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/06/01/by-the-numbers-2018-baseball-regular-season/#respond Fri, 01 Jun 2018 14:26:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141954 Stanford baseball has earned a national seed for the second year in a row after a historic 2018 season under first-year head coach David Esquer. The No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the 22-8 conference record speak for themselves, but some of the other numbers that emerged from Stanford’s season tell the story of just how particularly special Stanford’s 2018 regular season was.

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Stanford baseball has earned a national seed for the second year in a row after a historic 2018 season under first-year head coach David Esquer. The No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the 22-8 conference record speak for themselves, but some of the other numbers that emerged from Stanford’s season tell the story of just how particularly special Stanford’s 2018 regular season was.

 

48: Games it took Stanford to hit the 40-win mark. It was the fastest the program had reached 40 wins since the 1990 team did so in 47 games. Sure, how quickly a team gets to 40 wins doesn’t necessarily reflect how it will ultimately perform in the postseason, but this team is still clearly one of the best the program has fielded in recent years — which was also exemplified by the Cardinal securing the Pac-12 championship, the program’s first conference title since 2004.

2.85: Team ERA, which includes three starters with sub-3.00 ERAs (Tristan Beck, Kris Bubic and Brendan Beck), freshman reliever Jacob Palisch (4-1, 1.87 ERA) and closer Jack Little (3-0, 0.66 ERA). Stanford’s team ERA is the second-lowest in the country behind Stetson, and the best the Cardinal have recorded since the Pac-8 expanded to the Pac-10 in 1978.

4: Number of Stanford players who were intended to be in the team’s opening day lineup but have since been replaced (Daniel Bakst), have lost significant playing time due to injury (Brandon Wulff), or are still hurt (Duke Kinamon, Maverick Handley). Despite these personnel shifts, the team has showcased impressive depth, with players such Beau Branton, Will Matthiessen, Christian Molfetta and Christian Robinson all stepping in for, and in some cases outperforming, the original projected starters.

4: Stanford comeback wins in the ninth inning or later. The Cardinal have had their share of ninth-inning luck in the regular season. They stayed undefeated and avoided a shutout loss in their second game against Michigan with a walk-off three-run homer by Tim Tawa. They scored five runs against Arizona to eke out a 8-7 win; they escaped being swept by both Oregon State and Washington with late three-run rallies in both series finales. The Cardinal have framed these comebacks as exemplary of their “never-give-up” attitude — and while that may be true, at a certain point, their luck may run out, especially against tougher competition in the postseason.

6.69: Runs scored per game. Stanford has been better at scoring this season compared to the recent past — the Cardinal haven’t plated this many runs per game since 2008, the last time the team made it to the College World Series. Powering the offense have been Andrew Daschbach, whose home runs and RBIs are the most for any Cardinal since 2008; Beau Branton, who is hitting a team-leading .379; Kyle Stowers, who leads the Cardinal starters with an OPS of .948; and Nico Hoerner, who leads the team in hits.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cardinal take Game 1 against Washington State on Fireworks Night https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/19/cardinal-take-game-1-against-washington-state-on-fireworks-night/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/19/cardinal-take-game-1-against-washington-state-on-fireworks-night/#respond Sat, 19 May 2018 08:54:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1142472 Behind a multi-hit effort from three Cardinal hitters, including a 4-for-4, three-RBI performance from senior second baseman Beau Branton, No. 3 Stanford (41-8, 19-6-0 Pac-12) dominated in Game 1 of its final home series of the regular season, earning a 10-1 win against Washington State (15-29-1, 7-17-1) Friday night at Sunken Diamond.

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Behind a multi-hit effort from three Cardinal hitters, including a 4-for-4, three-RBI performance from senior second baseman Beau Branton, No. 3 Stanford (41-8, 19-6-0 Pac-12) dominated in Game 1 of its final home series of the regular season, earning a 10-1 win against Washington State (15-29-1, 7-17-1) Friday night at Sunken Diamond.

The win maintained Stanford’s 1.5-game conference lead over No. 2 Oregon State; the Cardinal can clinch the conference title if they win four of their remaining five conference games.

Beyond the game itself, the game was memorable for the fireworks show at the end of the night and a ridiculous barehanded catch by sophomore first baseman Andrew Daschbach, who lost his glove when the Washington State batter ran into him on his way to first.

Seven of the Cardinal’s 10 runs came from Branton, junior Christian Molfetta, who has filled in for an injured Maverick Handley at catcher since the Oregon State series, and freshman Christian Robinson, who was recently took over the starting job at center field.

Branton continues to impress this season, leading the team with a .383 batting average. He has been particularly strong as of late, going 18-for-38 (.474) over his last nine games, dating back to May 4 vs. Utah, with five multi-hit games over that span.

In a standout performance, Molfetta went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, while tying his career-high with three hits.

“After my first at bat, my timing was a little bit off, so going into the rest of the game, the one thing I wanted to do was be on time,” Molfetta said. “I knew that if I was on time and got a pitch to hit, I’d be able to put a good swing on it.”

Robinson also collected two hits, including a double, and an RBI of his own.

Eight Cardinal combined to record 14 hits against the the second-to-worst pitching staff in the conference (the Cougars’ team ERA was 5.39 coming into the series).

Junior starter Tristan Beck (8-3) gave up five hits, three walks and struck out four batters, but allowed just one earned run in 6.0 innings pitched. His ERA improved from 2.92 to 2.79 after the win.

“He’s the kind of pitcher, whether he starts off hot or he starts off slow, either way he’s going to find a groove,” Molfetta said of Beck. “He did a really good job of finding that groove early and getting right back on the mound — if he missed a pitch, he’s going to get right back up there and throw the next one. He did a really good job of bouncing back.”

After Beck’s departure, the Cardinal bullpen shut down the Cougars, allowing just three hits in the final 3.0 innings and issuing two walks, both in the ninth.

Washington State’s starter Hayden Rosenkrantz retired eight of the Cardinal’s first nine batters before Branton got Stanford’s first hit in the bottom of the third, setting him up to score on freshman third baseman Tim Tawa’s triple.

Stanford’s rout picked up steam in the fifth when junior Nico Hoerner doubled down the left field line with the bases loaded, driving in two runs. Daschbach’s sacrifice fly then brought home Tawa to put Stanford up, 4-1.

The Cardinal would ultimately score three runs in each of back-to-back-to-back innings.

In the sixth, Molfetta’s single to left drove in the other Christian (Robinson), who had reached second on some aggressive baserunning. Junior right fielder Alec Wilson bunted, putting two on base for Branton to bring in with a double down the left field line, extending the Cardinal’s lead to six.

In the next inning, Daschbach advanced to third on a throwing error and wild pitch, and a series of hits by Robinson, Molfetta and Branton drove in three more runs with two outs.

First pitch for the second game in the series will be at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Junior southpaw Kris Bubic (7-1, 2.77) will take the mound for Stanford, and Scotty Sunitsch (6-2, 2.95) will do so for the Cougars as they look to even the series.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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No. 3 Stanford baseball goes undefeated in midweek games with 5-1 win vs. BYU https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/15/stanford-baseball-victorious-against-byu/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/15/stanford-baseball-victorious-against-byu/#respond Wed, 16 May 2018 01:50:42 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1141106 For the second year in a row, No. 3 Stanford (40-8) completed its midweek-game slate undefeated, sealing a 9-0 record in such contests with a 5-1 victory Tuesday afternoon at home against BYU (21-26).

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For the second year in a row, No. 3 Stanford (40-8) completed its midweek-game slate undefeated, sealing a 9-0 record in such contests with a 5-1 victory Tuesday afternoon at home against BYU (21-26).

No. 3 Stanford baseball goes undefeated in midweek games with 5-1 win vs. BYU
Sophomore outfielder Kyle Stowers was the spark to the Cardinal’s offense in their midweek game, going 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs in the team’s 5-1 victory over BYU. (JOHN P. LOZANO/isiphotos.com)

With the win, which Stanford secured in a speedy two hours and 10 minutes, Stanford hit the 40-win mark in 48 games, the fastest the program has reached 40 wins since the 1990 team did so in 47.

“That’s a big statement (being undefeated in midweek games), it really is,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said. “Sometimes these Tuesdays can bite you a little bit. It really shows a little bit about their character. They got good leadership, they come out there and check in with each other, make sure that no one’s going to take a day off of, take a Tuesday lightly or not be ready to play.”

The Cardinal were highly opportunistic in their scoring, scoring all five of their runs following infield errors by BYU and with two outs. Sophomore outfielder Kyle Stowers (3-for-4) took full advantage, leading the Cardinal offense with three hits, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to cushion the Cardinal’s lead. He drove in three of Stanford’s five runs, also bringing home junior shortstop Nico Hoerner on a third-inning RBI single.

Stowers has had a strong end to the regular season, raising his batting average by 20 points in the last month. But the improvement still leaves him dissatisfied.

“I’m happy with how things have gone as a team. Individually I feel like I can be better,” Stowers said of his performance this season. “I felt like against Oregon State, I didn’t pick up the team and had a bunch of spots where I could’ve helped us get some leads and I didn’t come through… I feel like I have so much more room to improve.”

After helping spur Sunday’s comeback against Oregon State, Hoerner had another two-hit game, his sixth multi-hit game of the month. His single to left field in the bottom of the third brought in senior second baseman Beau Branton and gave the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.

In a spot start out of the bullpen, sophomore sidearmer Zach Grech (3-0) got the first start of his career and, though he only pitched 3.0 innings, he gave up only one hit to the 11 batters he faced, not striking out or walking anyone but inducing a lot of weak contact.

The bullpen mostly picked up where Grech left off, with freshman southpaw Austin Weiermiller pitching two perfect innings. He was replaced by sophomore reliever Will Matthiessen, who also had a one-two-three inning in the sixth before loading the bases with one out in the seventh.

Freshman Jacob Palisch replaced Matthiessen, and though the Cougars scored their only run of the game on a RBI groundout, Palisch, who ultimately earned the save, escaped trouble by striking out BYU’s Noah Hill with runners on second and third.

After playing four games in five days, the Cardinal will have a short repose before facing Washington State in their final home series of the regular season. First pitch will take place Friday, May 18 at 6 p.m. at Sunken Diamond.

Although the Cougars are second-to-last in the conference standings, the

series will be key for Stanford, which leads the Pac-12 and seeks its first conference title since 2004. Stanford is currently 1.5 games ahead of second-place Oregon State and three ahead of UCLA.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Sparks fly as Cardinal takes on Santa Clara https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/09/sparks-fly-as-cardinal-takes-on-santa-clara/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/09/sparks-fly-as-cardinal-takes-on-santa-clara/#respond Wed, 09 May 2018 07:04:18 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140765 Stanford’s midweek game against Santa Clara might have been effectively over by the top of the sixth, but that didn’t stop some sparks from flying between opposing teams — and some familiar faces.

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Stanford’s midweek game against Santa Clara might have been effectively over by the top of the sixth, but that didn’t stop some sparks from flying between opposing teams — and some familiar faces.

An exchange of words and some shoving between the Stanford and Santa Clara catchers at the end of the fifth set off a chain of events that ultimately led home plate umpire Tommy Vessey to eject Santa Clara reliever Luke Martin-Resnick and head coach Rusty Filter, who just took over the Santa Clara program after eight years as an associate coach with the Cardinal.

Though noteworthy, the ejections were simply one chapter of No. 2 Stanford’s (38-6 overall, 17-4 Pac-12) dominant 9-0 win over the Broncos (22-24, 8-13 WCC), which featured sophomore first baseman Andrew Daschbach finishing a triple shy of a cycle; defending Perfect Game/Rawlings National Player of the Week sophomore Will Matthiessen’s fifth home run in as many games after striking out the side during the top of the inning; and a wild hare running onto the field and temporarily halting the game.

The victory was Stanford’s fifth shutout of the season and extended the Cardinal’s win streak to seven games. They have now won 15 of their last 16.

Stanford was up 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth when some shoving between both teams’ catchers, Stanford’s Maverick Handley and Santa Clara’s Jake MacNichols, brought Filter out of the dugout to argue with the umpire. After the exchange had subsided and the sixth commenced, Broncos reliever Martin-Resnick hit Handley —  the leadoff hitter — on his second pitch, leading to the pitcher’s and Filter’s ejections.

“It was emotional and that’s fine, that happens,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said. “In the old days that would’ve been bigger than it was… but the rules keep that under control.”

Though some aggressive baserunning in the first few innings didn’t pay off, the Cardinal ultimately registered 13 hits and had three players with multi-hit games.

Daschbach went 3-for-4, including a home run, and brought in 3 runs, while senior second baseman Beau Branton went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and sophomore outfielder Kyle Stowers had a single and double.

Matthiessen’s three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth put a Broncos comeback well out of reach.

“We didn’t play very well for the first three innings,” Esquer said. “I didn’t like the rhythm of the game, how it looked early on and I thought Santa Clara came out ready to play…. [but] we’re playing well enough where the whole parts of the game add up for us.”

Freshman starter Brendan Beck, who lowered his ERA to 1.29 — best among Pac-12 starters — improved to 6-0 with five scoreless innings, allowing six hits and a walk, despite giving up two hits in each of the first two innings.

With Stanford holding an early 1-0 lead, the Broncos threatened to tie things up in the top of the second with runners on the corners and 1 out. But Beck and the Cardinal got out of a jam on a double play: Beck struck out Bronco outfielder Grant Meylan, and Handley threw out Austin Reyes trying to steal second.

“That’s actually a good sign, when somebody can not be at his best and still give you a quality outing,” Esquer said. “That tells you you have some margin of error there.”

Relievers Jacob Palisch and Matthiessen shut down Santa Clara’s hitters: Palisch earned five of his six outs on strikeouts, while Matthiessen struck out the side in the eighth before his homer. In his first career appearance, redshirt freshman Luke Sleeper earned the final out of the game.

Coming off this midweek win, the Cardinal enter arguably the most important series of the season when they travel to Corvallis to take on the No. 3 Oregon State Beavers this weekend.

“When it comes to Oregon State, with our arms and our offense, and if we can put together an all-around game, I think we can beat anybody in the country,” Daschbach said.

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu

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New details emerge about 2018-2019 Sigma Chi housing change https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/07/new-details-emerge-about-2018-2019-sigma-chi-housing-change/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/07/new-details-emerge-about-2018-2019-sigma-chi-housing-change/#respond Mon, 07 May 2018 07:45:29 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140573 Though originally advertised as a “co-op,” the fraternity's house will operate as a “self-op,” and will retain its chef next year.

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New details have emerged about Sigma Chi’s housing situation next year.

The house, The Daily reported on Thursday, will become a tier-three residence open to non-fraternity members for the 2018-2019 school year.

Though originally advertised as a “co-op,” the house will operate as a “self-op,” and will retain its chef next year.

This change follows the end of a Sigma Chi Internationals investigation that precluded the chapter from recruiting a spring 2018 pledge class, leaving the fraternity unable to fill their house with Sigma Chi members.

A private Facebook event with nearly 400 student invitees advertised an “open house” hosted Friday evening for non-affiliated students interested in living in the residence.

According to the event page, students can enter the University draw as usual, and, if accepted as a boarder in the house, can later drop their University housing assignment without a cancellation fee.

The preliminary form students could submit to express interest in the house was due over the weekend.

A flyer posted in group said that while rent — collected by the Alpha Omega Housing Corporation, which owns the Sigma Chi house — has not been finalized, it has been “historically lower” compared to University housing.

A member of the fraternity listed as a host of the Facebook event did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Sigma Chi house to open to non-members after fraternity unable to recruit https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/03/unable-to-recruit-pledge-class-sigma-chi-house-to-open-for-non-affiliates-in-2018-2019-year/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/03/unable-to-recruit-pledge-class-sigma-chi-house-to-open-for-non-affiliates-in-2018-2019-year/#respond Thu, 03 May 2018 08:03:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140456 In the 2018-2019 school year, the Sigma Chi house will become a tier-three residence and allow non-members to live in its Mayfield Avenue house. The change follows the conclusion of an investigation by Sigma Chi International during which the fraternity was barred from participating in spring recruitment, leaving them without a 2018 pledge class.

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In the 2018-2019 school year, the Sigma Chi house will become a tier-three residence and allow non-members to live in its Mayfield Avenue house. The change follows the conclusion of an investigation by Sigma Chi International during which the fraternity was barred from  participating in spring recruitment, leaving them without a 2018 pledge class.

This decision was confirmed to The Daily by Bob Ottilie, chairman and spokesman of the Alpha Omega Housing Corporation (AOHC), the alumni organization that owns the Stanford Sigma Chi house.

A private event posted on Facebook labeled “Pre-Assign Sigma Chi Open House” states that “Sigma Chi is now a ‘co-op’” and next year will be a co-ed house where both fraternity brothers and other Stanford students will reside.

The post notes that it will be a tier-three residence, but does not clarify if this arrangement is for the draw, pre-assignment or both. Ottilie said the house will be fully occupied by Sigma Chi members in fall 2019, after the fraternity recruits its new pledge class next spring.

Sigma Chi President Trey Turner ’19 declined to comment. A member of the fraternity listed as a host of the Facebook event did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment.

Representatives from Residential Education also did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment by press time.

According to Ottilie, the Sigma Chi International Fraternity announced on May 1 that the organization’s Stanford chapter — Sigma Chi Alpha Omega — will retain its charter after the Sigma Chi International investigation.

However, the fraternity will not be able to fill the house without new members.

“We actually have 44 Sigma Chis in the house in the spring,” he said. “But 20 of those [are going to] graduate, so we’re down to 24, [and then] we need 20 new sophomores to take their place. [But] we don’t have 20 new sophomores, because we couldn’t rush.”

The result? Fifteen to 20 students from outside the fraternity will live in the house next year — thus the advertised switch to a “co-op.”

Though the Sigma Chi house is owned by the AOHC, it also requires a charter from the international Sigma Chi organization to remain part of the fraternity.

Ottilie said that the “trigger” for the investigation was the party held at the Sigma Chi house on January 12 at which at least 10 members of Sigma Chi, Pi Beta Phi and the men’s rowing team suspected that they had been drugged by a non-Stanford affiliate.

Following the party and alleged drugging, the AOHC instituted a series of new policies for the house, including an alcohol ban throughout the house.

Next year, when the house consists of both fraternity and non-fraternity members, that ban will remain in place.

“We’re going to be dry, we’re going to stay dry and we encourage others to go dry,” Ottilie said.

Alongside the AOHC and the International Fraternity, the University also has a degree of authority over the residence. However, Ottilie said he doubts that the University would take action against Sigma Chi.

As in previous years, Sigma Chi will sponsor “Summer Chi” this summer, an annual opportunity for fraternity brothers and non-affiliates to live in the house during the summer quarter.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu and Brian Contreras at brianc42 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Assistant DA, civil litigator contest Persky in recall election https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/14/assistant-da-civil-litigator-contest-persky-in-recall-election-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/14/assistant-da-civil-litigator-contest-persky-in-recall-election-2/#respond Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:45:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1138368 Almost exactly two years after being thrust into the national spotlight for sentencing Brock Turner to what many considered an unacceptably lenient sentence, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky ’84 M.A. ’85 will face the June 5 countywide vote that could remove him from the bench.

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Almost exactly two years after being thrust into the national spotlight for sentencing Brock Turner to what many considered an unacceptably lenient sentence, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky ’84 M.A. ’85 will face the June 5 countywide vote that could remove him from the bench.

Following a petition that gained the requisite signatures needed to recall the judge, Santa Clara County voters will decide in the June primary whether to remove Persky from office, and, if he is indeed recalled, who should replace him for the remainder of his term, which would end in 2022.

Cindy Hendrickson ’87, an assistant district attorney, announced her intent to run for Persky’s seat in the spring of 2017. Angela Storey, the other candidate vying for the potential opening, is a San Jose civil attorney who entered the race once the recall was officially added to the ballot.

The recall election will mark the culmination of efforts from the recall campaign, spearheaded by Stanford Law School professor and activist Michele Dauber, and Persky’s corresponding push to be retained. That clash has spurred national debate over how to reconcile judicial independence with judicial accountability and social movements seeking greater justice for sexual violence victims.

The stage for the recall election was finalized in February, when the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors officially placed the recall on the June ballot. 

Two recall-related questions will appear on the ballot: one asking voters whether they want Persky to be recalled, and the second asking whether they would want Hendrickson or Storey to replace the judge if the recall were to pass.

While California is one of nine states permitting recalls of members of the judiciary, judicial recalls are still uncommon: A California judge hasn’t been removed via recall since 1932, and the only other instance of the practice occurred in 1913.

Though California does not stipulate specific grounds for the recall of a judge, proponents of the recall posit that Persky has demonstrated a history of judicial bias that favors athletes and other “relatively privileged individuals” accused of violence against women. Recall opponents dispute these claims, pointing to the December 2016 finding by the California Commission on Judicial Performance that there is no evidence Persky demonstrated bias or misconduct.  

The Daily spoke with Hendrickson, Storey and anti-recall advocates supporting Persky about the candidates’ qualifications, the current state of the race and what a potential recall could mean for judicial systems nationwide.

 

 

 

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Judge Aaron Persky fights recall efforts to retain his seat https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/08/judge-aaron-persky-fights-recall-efforts-to-retain-his-seat-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/08/judge-aaron-persky-fights-recall-efforts-to-retain-his-seat-2/#respond Fri, 09 Mar 2018 00:41:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1138421 After being widely criticized for what many considered an overly lenient sentence for Brock Turner, Judge Aaron Persky ’84 M.A. ’85 faces what his supporters, such as retired Santa Clara County Superior Court judge LaDoris Cordell, admit is an uphill battle in countering the highly visible campaign to recall him from the Santa Clara County Superior Court.

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After being widely criticized for what many considered an overly lenient sentence for Brock Turner, Judge Aaron Persky ’84 M.A. ’85 faces what his supporters, such as retired Santa Clara County Superior Court judge LaDoris Cordell, admit is an uphill battle in countering the highly visible campaign to recall him from the Santa Clara County Superior Court.

“There’s no question it’s an uphill battle,” Cordell said. “We’ll give it the best effort we possibly can.”

The recall effort has garnered big-name endorsements from across the nation, such as from New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, actress Amber Tamblyn and leaders from the National Organization for Women. The campaign also has a strong base of local support, as evidenced by its submission of 94,539 signatures to the Registrar of Voters, well above the 58,634 valid signatures needed to qualify the recall for the June 5 ballot.

Meanwhile, in the months leading up to the recall election, supporters of Persky have publicly disputed the recall campaign’s claims of Persky’s bias in favor of athletes and stressed the potential chilling effect a recall could have on judicial independence.

Cordell said that she has heard anecdotes from lawyers who think the fear of being “Perskied” — facing intense public backlash and the potential of being recalled for an unpopular decision — has already affected judges’ decision-making.

“They’re looking over their shoulders thinking, ‘Oh boy, am I going to be next?’” Cordell said. “That cuts to the very crux of our independent judiciary.”

Michele Dauber, chair of the Recall Persky campaign, pushed back against this assertion, stating that the judges in California are elected and thus accountable to the people they serve. Dauber said she “has faith in the integrity of other judges” not to give overly harsh sentences to individuals, including minorities.

Recall opponents stress that people don’t have to agree with Persky’s sentencing decision in the Turner case — the former Stanford student was sentenced to six months in jail, three years of probation and had to register as a sex offender — to oppose the recall.

“While I might not agree with the outcome of the reason why people are bringing the recall, I know that he was guided and was following, as many judges do, the probation department’s recommendation,” said Ann Ravel, former commissioner of the Federal Elections Commission who previously served as an attorney in the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office. “But if we were to recall every judge that we thought did something that we did not agree with? There probably wouldn’t be very many judges on the bench anywhere.”

All the while, Persky has kept a low profile since the recall campaign began and is prohibited from speaking publicly on pending cases — (including the Turner case, as Turner appealed his conviction in December). In January, Persky voluntarily moved from taking civil cases to serving as a night judge five days a week from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m., a role in which he issues emergency protective orders and search warrants. He requested to be removed from trying criminal cases and was moved to the civil division in September 2016.

“As a prosecutor, I fought vigorously for victims. As a judge, my role is to consider both sides. California law requires every judge to consider rehabilitation and probation for first-time offenders,” said Persky in a rare statement in June, as part of his response to the notice of intention for his recall. “It’s not always popular, but it’s the law, and I took an oath to follow it without regard to public opinion or my opinions as a former prosecutor.”

Persky did not respond to The Daily’s interview request for this article.

In response to the claims of the recall campaign, Cordell pointed to several factors: a December 2016 finding of the California Commission on Judicial Performance that there is no evidence Persky demonstrated bias or misconduct; Persky’s service on the board of the Support Network for Battered Women; and his receipt of the California Association of Human Relations Organizations Civil Rights Leadership Award for his work on hate crimes.

Pointing to, among other factors, the Center for Public Integrity’s ‘F’ rating for judicial accountability in California, Dauber countered that the California Commission on Judicial Performance is “well-known for being a troubled and problematic agency.”

“It could’ve been any judge, but it happened to be him on the Turner case,” said Cordell, who says she knows Persky from seeing him in her court but does not consider him a friend. “He’s always stood up for women, he’s stood up against hate and he has this track record that is an impeccable one until we get to this one case, which he followed the law.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Civil attorney Angela Storey joins Persky recall election as final candidate https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/08/civil-attorney-angela-storey-joins-persky-recall-election-as-final-candidate-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/08/civil-attorney-angela-storey-joins-persky-recall-election-as-final-candidate-2/#respond Fri, 09 Mar 2018 00:37:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1138420 Once the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors officially placed Judge Aaron Persky’s recall on the June 5, 2018 ballot, Angela Storey, a civil attorney based in San Jose, entered the race to replace Persky in the event of a successful recall.

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Once the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors officially placed Judge Aaron Persky’s recall on the June 5, 2018 ballot, Angela Storey, a civil attorney based in San Jose, entered the race to replace Persky in the event of a successful recall.

She will run for the position against prosecutor Cindy Hendrickson — even though Storey actually opposes the Persky recall effort.

“It’s an awkward position, I agree, but it just seems to me that the voters need the choice,” Storey said. “I think it’s important for our judiciary to have a broad range of judges who have specialities in different areas … having somebody who’s done civil, who has some knowledge of criminal, would be a benefit to the bench.”

Storey sees the potential recall as a slippery slope that could prompt judges to hand out harsher sentences in a system that some believe already disproportionately affects people of color.

Storey points to the California  legislative changes — one that broadened the definition of rape and a second that imposed mandatory prison sentences for sexual assault under certain circumstances — resulting from the Brock Turner case as necessary changes to laws that were “wrong,” “antiquated” and “outside of what the community values.”

Civil attorney Angela Storey joins Persky recall election as final candidate
(Courtesy of Angela Storey)

However, she doesn’t think Persky’s decision should be grounds for removal.

“Yes, judges are elected, they are accountable to their constituents,” Storey said. “But as a litigator, I’ve had judges rule against me dozens of times, and I’ve had judges who have made rulings that I thought were just downright wrong, but that’s not necessarily a reason to recall them.”

Storey says her opposition to the recall does not preclude her from supporting survivors of sexual assault — unlike what some critics have implied. She specifically pointed to a comment on a Palo Alto Weekly article attributed to the chairwoman of the Recall Persky campaign, Michele Dauber, which stated that, “Unlike [Storey], [Cindy Hendrickson] has a long career in public service, and she stands with survivors of sexual assault.”

“As a sexual assault survivor, I found that to be very insulting,” Storey said of the comment. “Just because you oppose the recall doesn’t mean that you don’t support these women … [Being assaulted] totally derailed my life, so I understand how traumatic it can be.”

Storey emphasized her view that the election should hinge on each candidate’s judicial capabilities, not on their personal views of the recall issue itself.

“[My candidacy is] more about what are my qualifications and who, in the event of the recall, would be a better, more appropriate judge,” Storey added.

When reached for comment, Dauber, who reiterated her support for Hendrickson, did not explicitly confirm that the comment was hers, but said, “Members of the Santa Clara County sexual assault and domestic violence advocacy community to whom I have spoken speak glowingly of Cindy’s warmth and strong advocacy for survivors, and that is what I was referring to when I said that Cindy stands with survivors of sexual assault.”

Storey, who graduated from UCLA and the Santa Clara University School of Law, worked as a trial attorney for Farmers Insurance before forming a law practice with her husband, Storey & Storey. While the majority of her experience has been with civil cases, where she has served on both plaintiff and defense sides of litigation, she has worked on some criminal defense cases with her husband at their practice.

Storey points to this range of experiences, in addition to her work as a private mediator and temporary judge volunteer for small claims court, as having given her the necessary temperament to be a good judge.

“I found [Storey] to always be professional and prepared,” said personal injury attorney Ram Fletcher, who, in addition to working with Storey in the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association, has also tried cases with and against her. “She has really good temperament and is able to see both sides of the case. I think she’d be a real credit to the bench.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Assistant DA Cindy Hendrickson challenges Persky for seat in recall https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/08/assistant-da-cindy-hendrickson-challenges-persky-for-seat-in-recall-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/03/08/assistant-da-cindy-hendrickson-challenges-persky-for-seat-in-recall-2/#respond Fri, 09 Mar 2018 00:33:42 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1138419 Cindy Hendrickson '87, one of the six assistant district attorneys (DA) on DA Jeff Rosen’s executive team, announced her intent to run for Judge Aaron Persky’s seat last spring, before the recall was officially placed on the ballot.

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Assistant DA Cindy Hendrickson challenges Persky for seat in recall
(Courtesy of Cindy Hendrickson)

Cindy Hendrickson ’87, one of the six assistant district attorneys (DA) on DA Jeff Rosen’s executive team, announced her intent to run for Judge Aaron Persky’s seat last spring, before the recall was officially placed on the ballot.

Now, she is one of two candidates vying to replace the judge — and the only candidate who supports the recall itself.

Hendrickson, who has served as a prosecutor for 22 years and as a civil litigator for five years before that, said she believes it is “very likely” Persky will be removed from the bench — and that the recall is part of a greater system that already holds judges accountable.

“[Judges] should reflect the values of the society they serve,” Hendrickson said, “and as a judge, I will reflect the values of the society that I’m going to serve.”

As the June ballot approaches, Hendrickson has gained the endorsement of Michele Dauber, chairwoman of the Recall Persky campaign.

“Her record and experience is clearly far superior to that of Angela Storey — Cindy is just better qualified,” Dauber said in an email statement about her support for Hendrickson. “I believe that Cindy is a better candidate than Judge Persky based on her record and her values, completely apart from the Brock Turner case.”

Part of that record includes her various roles in the DA’s office — where she has served as a line deputy and in management, specializing in handling cases of domestic violence, elder abuse and sexual assault — experiences that Hendrickson says have prepared her to serve as a judge.

“It has always been part of my job to be fair and objective in evaluating cases,” Hendrickson said. “As the DA, once you become convinced that the evidence paints a certain picture, you may advocate for that position, but in terms of evaluating a case every step along the way, you have an absolute obligation to be fair to the defendant and be objective in your evaluation of the evidence.”

Hendrickson, who attended law school at UCLA following her Stanford undergraduate education, began her campaign by framing her candidacy as offering the people of Santa Clara County a choice — at that time, a choice other than Persky. Now, the people of Santa Clara County have three choices: retain Persky, install Hendrickson or install Storey.

While Hendrickson says she still sees herself as the strongest choice of the three, she thinks the fact that voters have such choice in the first place is good for democracy.

“If you want to have a say in who’s going to be on your bench, who’s going to be making decisions that could affect your life,” Hendrickson said, “you need to go to the ballot box or submit a ballot on June 5, because that’s your chance.”

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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In wake of Florida shooting, Stanford announces it will not penalize applicants for peaceful protests https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/26/in-wake-of-florida-shooting-stanford-announces-it-will-not-penalize-applicants-for-peaceful-protests/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/26/in-wake-of-florida-shooting-stanford-announces-it-will-not-penalize-applicants-for-peaceful-protests/#respond Mon, 26 Feb 2018 08:23:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1137334 In light of recent demonstrations held by high school students advocating for gun reform, Stanford has assured current and future applicants that the University will not consider students’ choice to participate in protests during the application review process.

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In light of recent demonstrations held by high school students advocating for gun reform, Stanford has assured current and future applicants that the University will not consider students’ choice to participate in protests during the application review process.

“Concern has been raised as to the impact if students were to face disciplinary action if their protests takes them away from school, which is often an infraction of attendance policy,” Richard H. Shaw, Dean of Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid, said in a statement posted on Stanford’s admission site Sunday evening. “Given the nature of this national tragedy and the true and heartfelt response of students in expressing their perspectives and expectations, the University will not consider the choice of students to participate in protests as a factor in the review of present or future candidates.”

Shaw’s statement comes as colleges and universities across the country — including MIT, Columbia, Yale and Dartmouth — have assured prospective students interested in participating in peaceful protests for gun reform that disciplinary action resulting from such activism will not negatively affect their admission prospects.

After several universities released statements on Thursday and Friday clarifying that applicants will not be penalized for peaceful activism, the Washington Post reported on Saturday morning that Stanford did not have a statement about such protests.

High school students nationwide have already participated in walkouts and protests in the weeks following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead.

In anticipation of upcoming demonstrations, some high school districts, such as the Needville Independent School District outside of Houston, Texas, have told students that they will face disciplinary action if they engage in protests during school hours.

“One of the important tenets of Democracy is the right of a free people to express their opinion and position on critical national issues,” Shaw’s statement also said. “There has been a phenomenal response from high school students around the nation who wish to exercise this right.”

Several large-scale protests have been organized for the upcoming month, including a national school walkout on March 14 and a march on Washington, D.C., organized by survivors of the Parkland shooting, on March 24.

The admission office is currently reviewing applications for its Regular Decision cycle, and will notify students of their status by April 1.

Shaw’s full statement can be read on Stanford’s admission website.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Sigma Chi house corporation bans alcohol in residence after suspected drugging by non-Stanford student https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/09/sigma-chi-house-corporation-bans-alcohol-in-residence-after-suspected-drugging-incident-by-non-stanford-student/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/09/sigma-chi-house-corporation-bans-alcohol-in-residence-after-suspected-drugging-incident-by-non-stanford-student/#respond Fri, 09 Feb 2018 09:00:22 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1136513 Following an alleged drugging incident last month by a non-Stanford student at an event hosted by Sigma Chi, the alumni organization that owns the Sigma Chi house says it will ban alcohol from the house completely starting this April and has restricted social events that can be hosted there.

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Following an alleged drugging incident last month by a non-Stanford student at an event hosted by Sigma Chi, the alumni organization that owns the Sigma Chi house says it will ban alcohol from the house completely starting this April and has restricted social events that can be hosted there.

The alumni organization, named the Alpha Omega House Corporation (AOHC), also disclosed in a press release to The Daily that it filed the initial police report on Jan. 16 about the incident, which took place on Jan. 12. Sigma Chi, meanwhile, chose not to report to police due to victims’ desire to remain anonymous, the fraternity’s president said.

Trey Turner ’19, the president of Stanford’s Sigma Chi chapter, has also confirmed to The Daily that four members of Sigma Chi — one of whom is a member of the men’s rowing team — were among the alleged victims. The Daily previously reported that at least five members of Pi Beta Phi (Pi Phi) and two members of the men’s rowing team, including the member of Sigma Chi, were affected. The updated count brings the number of alleged victims up to at least ten.

New policies

According to the press release, the AOHC has adopted three new rules regarding alcohol consumption at the Sigma Chi house. First, alcohol will be banned completely in all common areas inside and outside the house, a continuation of a policy enacted in August 2016. Second, beginning spring quarter, the AOHC is modifying room leases to preclude residents of the Sigma Chi house from owning or consuming any alcohol in their rooms. Third, Sigma Chi has been banned from hosting any events in the house aside from chapter meetings until the end of the academic year.

These new policies follow several years of escalating alcohol restrictions for the chapter.  According to a statement on alcohol policy from the AOHC, hard alcohol was banned in the house and restrictions were placed on alcohol consumption in common spaces in 2012. AOHC Chairman and spokesperson Bob Ottilie ’77 told The Daily that the association had instituted what was intended to be a permanent ban on alcohol in common spaces in August 2016.

At the request of the Stanford chapter, Ottilie says the AOHC agreed to “experiment” with allowing some alcohol back into the house this winter quarter.

“There [were] going to be a limited number of events; we had to agree on security; there had to be a licensed bartender; there had to be a guest list,” Ottilie said. “And they had to register the party with us in advance so we could make sure all the precautions were in place to preclude underage drinking and to protect the guests that were going to come into the residence.”

According to Ottilie, the party hosted at the Sigma Chi house on Jan. 12 did not follow the protocol set out by the AOHC, prompting the new alcohol policies.

“There were apparently two parties that weekend, neither of which were shared with us or approved,” Ottilie said. “And [there was] no evidence that the requirements for a party were met … It wasn’t just not telling us. They didn’t follow any of the provisions; it was a total surprise to us.”

Turner acknowledged that the fraternity had not followed the rules regarding alcohol and social events set out by both the University and the AOHC in hosting the party on Jan. 12, including not registering the party with Stanford.

“Our organization made a mistake in not registering the event,” Turner wrote in an email to The Daily. “We attempted to remain consistent with other University policies in our hosting of the event (sober monitors present, available DD [designated driver], checking IDs at the door), but ultimately that does not change the risk that allowing beer games to be played introduced and our failure to register the event with the University.”

Turner said the new policies being implemented by the AOHC — which encourage the fraternity to hold its social events away from the house and potentially off-campus — will introduce “significant additional cost, but [will] remedy some of the risks of underage drinking and the playing of beer games.”

He did not respond to additional requests for comment about the nature of the new policies and the chapter’s compliance.

In an email to The Daily, Nate Boswell, associate dean of Residential Education (ResEd), said that ResEd is aware that the AOHC has been implementing “its own policies” related to the use of alcohol in the Sigma Chi house. He also wrote that Stanford expects that the AOHC and its tenants comply with and abide by University policies.

“We welcome thoughtful discussion in our campus community about reducing risks associated with alcohol,” Boswell added.

University spokesperson EJ Miranda said in an email to The Daily that the University expects students and student groups to abide by all state, local and federal laws and to follow the University’s Student Alcohol Policy and party planning guidelines, which does not allow alcohol to be served to individuals under the age of 21.

Boswell and other Residential Education staff overseeing Greek life declined to comment on further questions about the enforcement of the AOHC’s updated alcohol policies, referring The Daily to Sigma Chi International, which had not responded to requests for comment at press time.

According to Ottilie, the new AOHC policies regarding alcohol and events constitute “a final decision.”

“It’s not something that will be negotiated, and in the conversations I’ve had with leadership subsequently defending that, they have not brought up the issue,” Ottilie said. “I think they understand that you can’t argue with the landlord … It’s a life-safety issue at this point.”

Events of Jan. 12

After being notified on Jan. 16 about the alleged drugging incident and reviewing reporting from the Fountain Hopper, the AOHC filed a police report that afternoon. According to the AOHC’s press release, the Pi Phi national sorority first informed the Sigma Chi International Fraternity, which then alerted the Sigma Chi local advisors, who in turn informed the AOHC.

The AOHC statement added that the organization was told by the Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) that it was the first to report the incident, four days after it had occurred.

SUDPS declined to comment, citing that the incident was still under active investigation. University spokesperson Lisa Lapin told The Daily in an email on Jan. 16 that Student Affairs also met with SUDPS four days after the party “to file a report as [Student Affairs] … suspected criminal activity.”

Lapin previously told The Daily that the Title IX office issued a “Notice of Investigation” that bars the alleged perpetrator from contacting anyone from the party and bans him from campus and all Stanford-owned property. The Fountain Hopper reported that the suspect is a member of the Dartmouth men’s rowing team, and Dartmouth’s campus newspaper stated that Dartmouth is in communication with Stanford regarding the investigation.

Resident staffers at Pi Phi and Sigma Chi waited until Sunday, Jan. 14 to contact the resident dean on call and personnel at Fraternity and Sorority Life after gathering information and talking to witnesses on Saturday.

The Daily reached out to residential assistants in Pi Phi and Sigma Chi, neither of whom responded to requests for comment.

The alleged drugging was not reported to the police until Tuesday, when the AOHC says it filed the initial report.

Sigma Chi chose not to report the incident, citing the victims’ desire for anonymity.

“Though there was much sentiment in favor of further [prosecution] of [the individual suspected of drugging], no further action was desired by those affected,” Turner wrote in an email to The Daily.

“Our refraining to report the incident to the police was at the request of those who were drugged,” Turner continued. “Everyone was safe, and so the request to refrain from contacting the police was in order to maintain anonymity, as, in the case of a drugging, unlike a sexual assault case, anonymity is not maintained.”

SUDPS spokesperson Bill Larson confirmed that victims cannot be anonymous in drugging cases because the accused has a constitutional right to question his or her accusers.

Pi Phi did not respond to confirm whether the incident was not reported to the police at the request of victims who wanted to remain anonymous.

Turner says that the fraternity handled the incident the following day by procuring a home drug test and informing RAs in Row houses hosting social events that they should remove the suspect if they saw him.

Although the Stanford chapter of Sigma Chi may be subject to uncommon restrictions for a fraternity, Ottilie also emphasized in the AOHC press release that Sigma Chi’s experience is not uncommon.

“This is not a Sigma Chi or Stanford problem,” Ottilie wrote. “There has been a dramatic increase in alcohol consumption on college campuses nationwide, often combined with the consumption of alcohol in a manner that makes it the focus of activities, rather than incidental to other activities … Parents, administrators and alumni need to accept the role they have often played in perpetuating this epidemic, or in failing to effectively address it.”

Despite this, Ottilie acknowledges that AOHC’s new policies are placing Sigma Chi in an unusual position on the Stanford campus.

“I think we’re going to be the only house that’s dry,” Ottilie said. “The fraternity’s got to decide what they’re gonna do: whether they want to be dry [outside of the house] or not. All we’re saying is don’t do it in the house.”

 

Contact Sarah Wishingrad at swishing ‘at’ stanford.edu and Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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Stanford Medicine professor gives up federal nomination after gun control comments stall confirmation https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/07/stanford-medicine-professor-lost-federal-nomination-after-advocating-gun-control/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/01/07/stanford-medicine-professor-lost-federal-nomination-after-advocating-gun-control/#respond Mon, 08 Jan 2018 07:41:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1134671 Stanford Professor of Medicine Dean Winslow was set to become the Pentagon’s top health official for the Trump administration. Then he gave senators his opinion on civilian access to semiautomatic assault rifles.

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Stanford Professor of Medicine Dean Winslow was set to become the Pentagon’s top health official for the Trump administration. But he wrecked his chances during his confirmation hearing by, as he puts it, “blurt[ing] out what was in my heart.

Winslow’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee took place in early November, less than 48 hours after a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, left 26 dead and wounded 20 others. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) had asked Winslow about the military discharge status of the shooter when, as part of his answer, Winslow commented on civilian access to semiautomatic assault weapons.

Stanford Medicine professor gives up federal nomination after gun control comments stall confirmation
Professor Dean Winslow (Courtesey of Wikimedia).

“I’d also like to — and I may get in trouble with other members of the committee — just say how insane it is that, in the United States of America, a civilian can go out and buy a semiautomatic assault rifle, like an AR-15,” he said.

As he feared, Winslow did get in trouble: The committee put his confirmation process on indefinite hold until Winslow ultimately withdrew his name from consideration in mid-December, a move that he publicly announced in a Dec. 20 op-ed in the Washington Post.

While Winslow’s written statement on therapeutic abortions also ruffled the feathers of some committee members and required clarification, Winslow was told that his comments on gun control were what ultimately doomed his confirmation process.

“I’m very disappointed that I won’t be able to serve under Secretary [of Defense Jim] Mattis and serve in the very important position of assistant secretary of defense for health affairs,” Winslow told The Daily. “The fact is, I stand by what I said at the hearing.”

Winslow says he was also surprised that members of the committee felt so strongly about his comments on civilian access to semiautomatic assault weapons that they would not move forward with his confirmation. The rest of the developed world has already recognized the dangers of such access and has put in place common-sense restrictions, he argued.

“It’s a sad comment that unequivocal, unrestricted support of ownership of any type of a weapon has almost become a litmus test for serving in government,” Winslow said.

Nomination

Leading up to his nomination, Winslow had been practicing medicine for over 40 years, including as an Air Force colonel and flight surgeon, positions that sent him to the Middle East on six deployments. Though he has been on Stanford’s faculty since 1998, he joined the faculty full-time in 2013, following a decade of work at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he served as the chair of medicine for two years. He became the vice chair of Stanford’s department of medicine in 2015, the same year that he retired from the Air National Guard.

It was at Stanford where Winslow became friends with now-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who also arrived at campus around that same time to work at the Hoover Institution. Winslow was familiar with the retired general prior to his arrival to Stanford: Mattis had been Winslow’s “boss’s boss” during several of Winslow’s deployments to the Middle East.

“Most people would consider him to have been the very best combat leader of our generation,” Winslow said. “Anybody who is current military or former military would give their right arm to work for General Mattis.”

Once Mattis was nominated for secretary of defense, Winslow says he called Mattis to congratulate him on his selection and offered to serve under him in the Pentagon. Mattis later asked him to officially apply for the position of assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, which entails heading the military healthcare system at home and in theater. Afterward, Winslow went through an interview process and background check before President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate the doctor on Sept. 2.

Hearing

Over halfway through Winslow’s hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Shaheen — dismayed that the shooter from Sutherland Springs, who had a history of domestic violence that the Air Force did not report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, had received a bad conduct and not dishonorable discharge from the Air Force  — asked Winslow whether a dishonorable discharge would have been the proper type of release.

Winslow answered by discussing the Air Force not reporting the domestic violence incident as a “single point [of] failure” before saying that civilian possession of semiautomatic weapons is “insane.”

He was then interrupted by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the committee chairman, who said that Winslow was speaking on something not in his “area of responsibility or expertise.”

Winslow disputes that assessment.

“Senator McCain was correct in that it was completely outside my area of responsibility,” he said. “However I do disagree with him [in that] this certainly is within my area of expertise as someone who’s done six combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

In his op-ed, Winslow pointed to his expert rating in the M-9 pistol and M-16 rifle, in addition to his experiences on his overseas deployments, as evidence of his knowledge on weapons. He also wrote that he views easy access to semiautomatic weapons as a “public-health issue that, as a doctor, I felt compelled to bring to the Senate’s attention.”

Winslow says he brought up civilian access to semiautomatic assault weapons because he intended to make the larger point that one should also look at other issues that contributed to the shooting besides the type of discharge the Air Force gave the shooter and the Air Force’s failure to report his domestic violence incident. In cutting him off, McCain prevented him from making that point, Winslow said.

After McCain’s interruption, Shaheen clarified that she was concerned that the Department of Defense does not view domestic violence as a crime like the civilian system does and that she wanted Winslow to take that issue on if he were to be confirmed. Winslow responded that the type of discharge one receives is more relevant to the work of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, the military’s justice branch, than his post, but later said he would raise the issue up his chain of command.

Senator Shaheen’s and Senator McCain’s offices did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Held confirmation, withdrawal

Two days following the hearing, the committee voted to move along the confirmation process of the three other nominees who testified alongside Winslow, all of whom were confirmed by the full Senate a week later.

Winslow’s confirmation, however, was put on hold. When speaking to reporters, McCain cited members’ concerns over Winslow’s comments on guns and his written statement on access to abortion for women in the military. McCain said that members of the committee had additional questions for Winslow on those topics before moving forward with his confirmation process and that Winslow would have the chance to make his case.

In Winslow’s written answers to a set of advanced policy questions, which he submitted prior to the hearing, Winslow said he believes the military should provide therapeutic abortion services for women — a medical term for abortions that occur when the mother’s life is in danger.

He clarified his answer when asked about it during the hearing, defining therapeutic abortions for committee members and saying he intended to convey that he would not get in the way of federal law, which for decades has allowed military funding and access to abortions only in certain circumstances, including if the mother’s life is in danger.

In addition to reprimanding Winslow for his comments on guns, McCain also responded to Winslow’s stance on abortion after the hearing, saying “I happen to be pro-life and I happen to believe what he said was not pro-life.”

Nevertheless, Winslow says he was told his clarification on the abortion issue was satisfactory, and that the major issue some senators had with him stemmed from his comments on civilian access to semiautomatic assault weapons.

In early December, McCain told the Washington Examiner that despite Winslow’s clarification, members of the committee still had concerns and that he was uncertain whether Winslow’s nomination would ultimately be reported by the committee to the full Senate. Up until his withdrawal, Winslow says he had been in contact with the Pentagon legislative affairs staff several times a week.

With no end to the hold in sight, Winslow called Secretary Mattis on Dec. 10 to express his willingness to withdraw his name from consideration so that the position could be filled without further delay.

“I was willing to withdraw my name from consideration since I thought it was very important that [Mattis] has an assistant secretary of defense for health affairs,” Winslow said. “Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and their families deserve that, and I did not want to be the one standing in the way of filling that position.”

Not seeing a clear path forward for Winslow’s confirmation, Mattis accepted his withdrawal. President Trump has yet to announce a new nominee for the position.

With his nomination withdrawn, Winslow will continue teaching and practicing medicine at Stanford.

“I love being a doctor and I love teaching at Stanford, so it was maybe in a way a blessing in disguise, even though I’m sad that I’m not going to be working for General Mattis,” Winslow said. “That would have been a really wonderful job and I think I could have done a good job in that position.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

This post has been updated to clarify the type of weapons referred to by Winslow.

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Timeline https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/timeline/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/timeline/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2017 22:04:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1131517 IMPORTANT EVENTS IN DAILY HISTORY 1892: The Daily Palo Alto publishes its first issue. 1894: One of the earliest drafts of the ASSU constitution is published in The Daily Palo Alto. 1926: The Daily Palo Alto is renamed The Stanford Daily. 1970: Daily op-ed “Snitches and Oppression” is met with backlash by the administration, eventually […]

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IMPORTANT EVENTS IN DAILY HISTORY

1892: The Daily Palo Alto publishes its first issue.

1894: One of the earliest drafts of the ASSU constitution is published in The Daily Palo Alto.

1926: The Daily Palo Alto is renamed The Stanford Daily.

1970: Daily op-ed “Snitches and Oppression” is met with backlash by the administration, eventually leading to The Daily’s independence from the University.

1971: Palo Alto Chief of Police James Zurcher obtains a search warrant and raids the Daily office in attempt to find photographic evidence related to campus protests. The Daily sues Zurcher in response.

1973: The Daily breaks from the University, forming a non-profit, The Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation.

1978: The Supreme Court of the United States rules against The Daily in Zurcher v. Stanford Daily.

1982: Following Stanford’s controversial loss to California in the final seconds of the Big Game, The Daily distributes fake edition of The Daily Californian around Berkeley’s campus, reporting that officials had reversed the call and Cal had actually lost the Big Game.

1992: The Daily publishes an exposé revealing corruption at the Stanford Bookstore.

1995: The Daily launches its online edition, becoming one of the first college newspapers to publish on the Internet.

2008: The Daily staff moves its operations from the Storke Publications Building to current home, the Lorry I. Lokey Stanford Daily Building.

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN STANFORD, NATIONAL HISTORY

1891: Stanford opens on Oct. 1, 1891, with over 500 students enrolled.

1906: An earthquake of estimated 7.8 magnitude destroys parts of San Francisco and Stanford’s campus, including the Quad.

1918: World War I ends.

1928: Herbert Hoover, part of Stanford’s first graduating class, is elected president of the United States.

1945: World War II ends.

1963: President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas.

1964: The U.S. enters the Vietnam War after Congress approves the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

1968: Members of the Black Student Union interrupt a speech by Provost Richard Lyman, demanding the University do more to combat racial injustice. The University ultimately agrees to meet nine of BSU’s 10 demands.

1969: More than 8,000 people participate in the Vietnam Moratorium, calling for an immediate end to the war. It remains the largest political gathering in Stanford history.

1971: Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo conducts the Stanford Prison Experiment.

1972: Stanford President Richard Lyman removes the “Indians” as Stanford’s mascot.

1977: Two hundred ninety-four students are arrested for trespassing and failure to disperse following a 16-hour sit-in at the Old Union over the University’s investments in South Africa.

1989: The Loma Prieta earthquake causes $160 million in damages to Stanford’s campus.

1992: Donald Kennedy resigns as Stanford president amid allegations of improper government billing.

2000: John Hennessy is appointed as Stanford’s 10th president.

2016: Marc Tessier-Lavigne becomes the University’s 11th president.

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‘It’s just not fair’: An oral history of The Play and Fake Daily Cal issue https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/its-just-not-fair-an-oral-history-of-the-play-and-fake-daily-cal-issue-copy-ep/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/its-just-not-fair-an-oral-history-of-the-play-and-fake-daily-cal-issue-copy-ep/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2017 22:04:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1131636 On Nov. 20, 1982, California shocked Stanford on a last-second miracle that is remembered to this day as one of the most iconic moments in college football history. After Stanford kicked a last-minute field goal to go up 20-19, Cal returned a kickoff for a touchdown with time expiring on a play that involved five […]

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On Nov. 20, 1982, California shocked Stanford on a last-second miracle that is remembered to this day as one of the most iconic moments in college football history. After Stanford kicked a last-minute field goal to go up 20-19, Cal returned a kickoff for a touchdown with time expiring on a play that involved five lateral passes, an errant trombonist and enough mayhem to last a lifetime.

Although Cal won the game, one of the lasting memories from the ordeal was a fake issue of The Daily Californian, Cal’s student newspaper, that members of The Stanford Daily’s staff published four days following the game. The issue fictitiously proclaimed that the NCAA had reviewed the final play and invoked a made-up “Rule 55, Section C” that allowed it to overturn the referees’ decision and award Stanford the victory.

After distributing copies of this fake issue on Cal’s campus, chaos broke out as a large portion of the Berkeley community fell for the hoax. Meanwhile, as news of the prank made its way back to Stanford, Cardinal students shared in a much-needed moment of comic relief as they tried to get over the heartbreaking loss. For their intricate and far-reaching work, these Daily staffers are now remembered for pulling off one of the most famous college pranks of all time.

 

Part I: A memorable game

A once-promising season had turned sour for the 5-5 Cardinal as the team entered the Big Game losers of four of their last six. Nevertheless, a win in the final game of the season at Cal would give Stanford bowl eligibility for the first time in four years.

Tony Kelly ’86, entertainment editor: We weren’t used to having a good football team. Every Saturday, you would go and see [quarterback John] Elway do things that no one else could do on a football field, but we wouldn’t really win that much.

Ivan Maisel ’81, former sports editor: They were still in contention for a bowl game when they got to Berkeley. All the bowl games wanted John Elway because it was John Elway, and everyone knew he would be the first pick in the draft.

In the 85th Big Game, 5-5 Stanford faced off against 6-4 Cal, which was led by first-year coach and former Cal star quarterback Joe Kapp.

Mark Zeigler ’85, writer: It was always played near the end of the season, and Stanford and Cal back then were never any good… This game has no [major] implications, but to me, that made it even bigger because that was basically your bowl game. Basically the entire student body went, and the student section was packed.

Down 19-17 late in the fourth quarter, Elway lined up under center at Stanford’s own 13-yard line. A miraculous fourth-and-17 conversion and a big run from Dotterer helped set up kicker Mark Harmon for a 35-yard field goal with eight seconds on the clock. The kick was good, and Stanford took a 20-19 lead with four seconds to go.

Todd Davies ‘85: I’m looking at the backfield and Elway about to take the snap, and I remember he kind of knelt down, and I thought that was kind of an interesting moment of, like, either praying or reflection or thinking about the task that was ahead. And then he orchestrated this drive that eventually led them to score and it was amazing.

Zeigler: That fourth-and-17 completion that Elway made, I think he would admit was one of the best passes he threw in college and maybe in his career.

Maisel: [Stanford head coach Paul] Wiggin called timeout with eight seconds left, and I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot of time.” But we kick the field goal, and we’re up by a point; what could go wrong?

 

Part II: ‘The Band is out on the field!’

After the go-ahead field goal, Stanford incurred an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and had to kick off from its own 25-yard line instead of the 40. From there, Harmon squibbed a kick to the Cal 45, picked up by Cal safety Kevin Moen. What followed was a seemingly endless cascade of lateral passes by Cal returners trying to keep the play alive.

When a Cal player appeared to go down, Stanford band members and students began to rush onto the field, but the play continued to unfold.

The Cal lateral train managed to get the ball back to Moen at around the 25-yard line. With no defenders left to catch him and a barrage of fans to weave through, Moen charged at full speed toward the end zone, running over Tyrrell as he spiked the ball in celebration.

A hoarse Joe Starkey, Cal’s radio play-by-play announcer, crystallized the moment with his famous call, screaming, “The band is on the field! … The Bears have won! The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!”

Gary Tyrrell ‘83, LSJUMB trombone player: With about two minutes left in the game, that’s when we started heading down to do our postgame concert. That’s why we found ourselves in the back of the end zone in that corner of the stadium while the game was still happening.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see this Cal player running towards the end zone, and I figured he just wanted to get the hell out of here because there’s chaos going on around him. Then I realized, “Oh, he has the ball,” and the next thing I know, I was down.

Maisel: The officials congregated at midfield, and the longer they met, the more my stomach began to sink. If they’re meeting that long, it wasn’t a good sign. The referee signaled touchdown, and Stanford people continued to celebrate because they weren’t paying much attention.

Mike Dotterer ‘84, Stanford running back: I felt like I was an actor on stage. The whole thing was like a Shakespearean play.

Zeigler: Growing up playing a lot of pickup games in the neighborhood on the street, someone would always say, “Last drive, winner takes all,” and then some kid would score and the other team would be like, “No no no, we want one more play,” and that’s kind of what it felt like.

The contingent of Stanford fans was convinced that the referees had gotten the ruling wrong.

Adam Berns ‘84, sports editor: There’s no doubt, and I’ve looked at it many many times on YouTube, that that last lateral was a forward lateral.

Davies: “Oh my God, we’ve been robbed.” I mean, you know, they said we won the game. The play was ruled dead, and we should have won the game. And now because we’re at Cal, and all the fans stormed the field, they ruled the other way.

Kelly: You don’t live or die with the football team, but it was close, and it was Cal, and it was Big Game, and the last game that Elway was going to play for us. It was a heavy mood in the way that sports can cause a heavy mood for a period of time.

 

Part III: Hatching a plan

With a sense of gloom surrounding the Stanford student body, a group of Stanford Daily staffers saw an opportunity to brighten people’s spirits and needle Cal in the process.

Berns: I really thought that Stanford campus needed something, some kind of revenge for what had actually happened. [The idea for the Fake Daily Cal issue] came to me while I was at the Sunday Flicks, where they would put on a movie at Memorial Auditorium on Sunday evening. Sunday night, it popped in my mind that it would be a brilliant idea to do a fake paper after the game that basically said that the NCAA had given the Big Game back to Stanford.

Zeigler: There was a lot of resistance. It was Thanksgiving week, and people were getting ready to go home, and it was going to take a whole lot of time and money. It was going to require us doing it while we were doing our regular edition. And then there was the whole debate of, “Why are we doing this? Is it going to work? Is anyone going to care? Are we just being bad sports?”

Tom Mulvoy, Knight Journalism Fellow: One of the fellows down there, the EIC named Richard Klinger, was initially quite reluctant. I said to Richard offhandedly, “I think if you don’t do this, 35 years from now you’re going to regret it.”

Zeigler: Adam had to convince me, since I had a lot of stories to write and a lot of schoolwork that week. He said, “Look, in 20 years when we’re sitting on my Greek yacht, you’re not going to remember the tests you missed — you’re going to remember this paper,” and that was what convinced me. I don’t know where he came up with the Greek yacht, but it hasn’t happened, and I’m waiting for my invitation.

After getting the go-ahead from the the EIC and business manager, the small team got to work assembling the entire newspaper from scratch in the span of two days.  

Berns: This was pre-Photoshop, so we had the photo managing editor doctor a photo of the ref calling the play dead. We had a state-of-the-art computer system at The Daily where we could change the type space and things like that, and we had copies of the Berkeley paper so we made it look exactly like the Daily Cal paper down to everything. In really, really small type we wrote that it was a Stanford Daily prank, but it was in such small type that you could barely read it.

Kelly: Mark wrote the most brilliant article that’s in there, which is the interview with Joe Kapp, who was always the kind of coach where one cliche would never be enough. Making up quotes for him like, “Life isn’t fair, I just swear to God it isn’t,” just sounded so perfect and so hilarious for that article in that time.

Zeigler: It was a lot of work since we had to put together literally an entire paper, and we didn’t end up sleeping two nights in a row. The story I wrote about Joe Kapp, I wrote in about 45 minutes at four in the morning. I’m not sure it would have come out that good if I’d had my senses about me.

Mulvoy: I asked if I could take a crack at the lead story — I’d done some sports coverage for [The Boston Globe], so the flow of such a story wouldn’t be a problem, especially if we were going to make it up anyway. Off the top of my head, I made up Rule 55, Section C — took me five minutes.

Berns: We had seen some current event topics in columns in the [real] Berkeley paper, so we wrote humorous topical letters to the editor in the fake paper. We put some fake ads in there. I can’t believe we actually did this — I’m a lawyer by training, and I look back at this and laugh and think, “Oh my God, are you kidding me, we could have gotten in such trouble” — but we put in a two-for-one ad from the Berkeley bookstore [laughs].

Berns: The only people that knew about the paper were the EIC and business manager, me and Mark, the graduate fellow, the photo editor and the guy that laid it out. Everybody was told to say nothing about it.

 

Part IV: ‘Life isn’t fair’

After hours of frantic work to put together the fake issue, the group of Daily staffers drove up to Berkeley Wednesday morning to distribute the newspaper.

Kelly: I had a car at the time that had a Cal Berkeley sticker on it, and that made a lot of difference. I was the one that would end up transporting the issue to campus because it was a car that wouldn’t be noticed on the campus, because it had a bear sticker on the window.

Berns: That morning, at 5 or 6 a.m., we took off with around 15,000 copies of the fake paper to drop off all over campus and in the Berkeley dorms. We got unbelievably lucky in that the Cal paper was coming out with a special double issue before the Thanksgiving holiday, and they ran into printing problems, which we had nothing to do with. Complete and utter luck. The Berkeley paper was eight hours late the day we ended up going up there with the fake Daily Cal, so we were the only paper on the campus.

Zeigler: I had this blue and yellow sweatsuit, and after I got into Stanford, I was like, “I can’t wear this,” so it had been sitting in the back of my closet, but that day, it came in handy.

After distributing copies of the paper across campus, the Daily staffers stuck around to observe the reactions of the Berkeley community.

Zeigler: We’d drop off a stack innocently and then wait 50 yards away, just to see what people’s reactions were. We saw a cheerleader cry and a football player stop in his tracks and sit down. Eventually people would figure it out, but it took them a while.

Kelly: There was this spectacle of the publisher of the Daily Cal collecting armloads of the paper just saying, “What the hell is this?” Meanwhile, people are taking copies of the paper from him while he’s complaining about it.

Berns: [In the fake issue] we had called for an all-campus rally to protest the NCAA, and something like 1,000 people showed up to this fake rally.

Zeigler: People relied on the newspaper to know what was happening, and in a sense we abused that trust, but it’s also a college prank against a rival, so we didn’t really care [laughs]. It was the ultimate example of fake news.

The buzz didn’t end at Berkeley. Upon returning to campus, The Daily was hounded by phone calls from media outlets across the country.

Kelly: By the time we got back The Stanford Daily office that day, somebody had tipped off someone in the media, so there were all these radio stations and TV networks calling, and it was Richard and the sports editors who had to handle all of that.

Richard Klinger ’83, editor-in-chief: The best phone call was from an adult at Cal — someone on the board of the Daily Cal or their faculty advisor — but he was threatening to sue us. He was very upset and said we’d done the paper wrong. My attitude was to let him blow off steam, but I was thinking, “We’re happy to make this a bigger public matter if you want to do that.”

Kelly: They somehow got a copy to CBS in New York. So here’s [CBS sportscaster] Brent Musburger on TV holding up a copy of the fake Daily Cal and laughing and saying, “This is great.”

Berns: I was shocked. I normally watched NFL Today because I was a big pro football fan. I was literally just watching it, and Musberger held up a copy — I don’t know where he got it — and he starts reading the Joe Kapp story, with the “Life isn’t fair. I swear to god it isn’t” quote. I almost fell out of my seat.

Davies: The fact that [Cal fans] could see how we felt in some sense, I thought there was justice in that and that it was an effective way to convey — I thought it was a clever thing at the time.

 

Part V: Remembering The Play and the fake issue

As a whole, the 1982 Big Game is remembered as one of the most absurd moments in the history of the sport.

Maisel: The Play was the original. It still stands as the craziest finish to a college football game in the history of the sport. Anytime a crazy play happens now, people compare it to The Play. The prank was wonderfully and artfully done. It just added to the lore.

Berns: Back in my first year of law school at UCLA, I ended up working for a federal district judge, and I remember I had put the [fake] paper on my resume at the very bottom, and this federal judge happened to be an enormously huge Stanford football fan. When she read this thing, all she wanted to talk about in my interview was the fake Daily Cal. Obviously I got the job.

Dotterer: What [The Daily staff] did was so ingenious. I would have loved to have one of these iPhones with a camera taking pictures of Cal students reading that paper. It took a lot of the sting out of it for people that loved Stanford football.

Klinger: It was well received on campus, and that was the principal reason we’d done it, other than just a sense of justice and aggrievement.

Mulvoy: It was terrific journalism and nothing to do with being on the college level. They did as well as any major newspaper would have done, and it did what it was supposed to do.

 

Contact Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu and Neel Ramachandran at neelr ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘A credit to our alma mater’: 125 years of The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/magazine-a-credit-to-our-alma-mater-125-years-of-the-stanford-daily-copy-ep-needs-byline/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/magazine-a-credit-to-our-alma-mater-125-years-of-the-stanford-daily-copy-ep-needs-byline/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2017 22:04:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1131738 On Sept. 19, 1892, John C. Capron, Carl S. Smith and John A. Keating, the first editors of The Daily Palo Alto — the precursor to The Stanford Daily — articulated their vision for their brand-new news organization, a year after Stanford’s founding. “True it is that the daily will not make a great university, […]

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On Sept. 19, 1892, John C. Capron, Carl S. Smith and John A. Keating, the first editors of The Daily Palo Alto the precursor to The Stanford Daily articulated their vision for their brand-new news organization, a year after Stanford’s founding.

“True it is that the daily will not make a great university, but just as true is it that the daily is one of the signs of a great university,” they wrote. “This is not a paper by a few individuals, acting in a private capacity. It is the organ of the students of Stanford University.”

The Stanford Daily has now been a campus fixture for 251 volumes over 125 years, spanning such landmark events as an editor’s expulsion from the University, a stand-off with student government, dozens of political protests and a decisive push for independence from the University.

During that time, Stanford University has evolved. The beliefs of its students, faculty members and administrators have evolved. Naturally, The Daily and its role in campus life and discourse have had to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of the Stanford community.

As part of that evolution, The Stanford Daily transformed from what was effectively a campus bulletin to an independent news organization. In this feature, we consider those founding editors’ ambitions in the context of the paper’s history — and whether the paper has stayed true to their vision of it becoming the “organ of the students of Stanford University.”

The Daily Palo Alto

The Daily Palo Alto was founded in 1892 under the auspices of the nascent Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU). Capron, Smith and Keating envisioned a nationally conscious publication that would “span the distance between this and other universities.” They also wanted The Daily to serve as a sort of collective bulletin board conveying pertinent information regarding student groups’ and professors’ work.

The early Daily, even if it merely served as that collective bulletin board, was no small feat. According to a story in Stanford Magazine, “President David Starr Jordan and others questioned the need for a student paper.”

Capron, Smith and Keating recalled opposition to the establishment of a Stanford paper just a year after the University’s own beginnings.

“The substance of the cry was, We are a college not old enough nor large enough to support a daily,” they wrote. “We could not disregard the cry… As yet there is no demand for a daily but there is a field for it.”

Despite initial pushback, the ASSU authorized the paper’s creation in one of its very first actions, even before the drafting its own constitution. The close association between The Daily and Stanford student government persisted until the 1970s, when The Daily became independent from the University (by student vote, in another ASSU election).

The paper’s earliest editors in 1892 requested criticism and feedback from professors and students alike regarding the paper’s operations and content. The editors also did not tackle controversial issues related to the University.

The Daily Palo Alto’s earliest iterations unquestionably lauded Stanford — or at least avoided direct institutional criticism. The paper often advertised then-University President David Starr Jordan’s and other professors’ addresses, athletic competitions and events related to student organizations. In this way, the paper’s earliest editions did fulfill the inaugural editors’ vision of a collective “bulletin board.”

In late January of 1906, however, a particularly daring editor-in-chief (EIC) challenged this standard. Ben Allen ’07 penned an editorial condemning roughhousing and drunken behavior among student monitors in Encina Hall, where male students lived at the time. University administrators took issue with the editorial; just six days following the editorial’s release, Allen was forced to withdraw from Stanford by the Student Affairs Committee, which evaluated various disciplinary cases. Allen also had to forfeit his editorship.

Prior to Allen’s dismissal, President Jordan said he would halt Allen’s expulsion should he comply with certain conditions, which included Allen gathering signatures from Encina Hall residents who would pledge to not oppose the proctors in the dormitory. If Allen agreed, he could be readmitted to the University but could not resume his role as EIC of The Daily. Allen declined these terms and was forced to withdraw from Stanford on Feb. 5.

Allen explained that he refused President Jordan’s offer on principle, to take a symbolic stand for The Daily’s agency to criticize Stanford.

“I consider this to be a question of greater importance than my mere personality,” Allen said in an interview with The Daily. “It is a question of policy. How is the student press of this University to be governed? It is because of this that I am taking my present attitude.”

Allen was later allowed to return to Stanford but never regained his position as EIC.

In the spring of 1926, in order to associate itself directly with the affairs of the University and to avoid confusion with The Daily Palo Alto Times, an entirely separate publication founded in 1905, the paper officially changed its name from The Daily Palo Alto to The Stanford Daily by means of a student vote in an ASSU election.

Conflict with student government

Student government’s control over The Daily since the paper’s inception eventually led to conflict over the degree of independence the publication desired from the student body government, which was known at the time as the Legislature of the Associated Students of Stanford University (LASSU).

On March 6, 1957, the editorial staff led a walkout following the LASSU’s 12-to-4 approval of a bylaw change that would allow it to appoint and approve The Daily’s EIC.

According to former LASSU President Robert Freelen ’57 M.B.A. ’59, the conflict arose between the LASSU and The Daily because the LASSU wanted The Daily to prioritize local and campus-specific news over national and international coverage. Freelen claimed that relations between the LASSU and The Daily were generally amicable; still, that difference of opinion between the LASSU and The Daily’s editorial staff on coverage priorities precipitated the legislation that would eventually lead to the walkout.

The University administration ultimately sided with the LASSU. Steve Tallent, assistant to the president of the University, stated that since he was unable to get a ruling on the constitutionality of the Legislature’s proposed amendment from the Law School or the Department of Political Science, the LASSU had jurisdiction to decide the constitutionality of the clause.

“The only thing that permits freedom of the press on this campus is the Legislature’s good judgment,” Tallent was quoted saying in a Daily article.

According to Stanley Gross ’57, who worked as a night editor at the time, Daily staff voted to go on strike to protest what he described as “the government trying to take over the newspaper and … take advantage of [The Daily].”

The day following the walkout, two former EICs wrote letters to the editor, which were printed in the LASSU-published March 7 issue of the paper. Both writers argued that the actions of the Legislature violated the principle of freedom of speech.

“This issue of The Daily marks the end of an era; the shutting off of the only organized voice of independence which has ever existed at Stanford University,” wrote Dick Meister ’56 M.A. ’57.

Helen Dewar ’57 echoed his sentiments, writing that Stanford “[deserves] more than a ‘trade journal’ of the LASSU — a propaganda sheet for the empty shell of what was once a student government.”

Editorial staffers from some college newspapers, including the University of San Francisco’s San Francisco Foghorn and Washington State University’s Daily Evergreen, also backed The Daily’s actions against the LASSU’s move for control.

“As I see it they were perfectly right to stand up for their principle — a principle of a ‘free, enlightened, critical Stanford Daily with no legislative shackles on it,’” wrote Dale McKean of the Daily Evergreen.

Staffers at other college papers, such as UC Berkeley’s The Daily Californian and the UCLA Daily Bruin, sided with the LASSU.

Following the walkout, a referendum was called on The Daily’s behalf; the paper won its cause by a 500-vote margin.

Former managing editor Jim Palmer ’57 L.L.B. ’59 believes that the walkout was early evidence of the rift that would eventually lead to The Daily’s separation from the University in 1973.

“Part of the staff’s concern that they be independent was that they be uncontrolled by the administration or the student administration of the school,” Palmer said. “There was an evident desire to protect the freedom of the press that I think still exists today.”

Felicity Barringer ’72, who served as EIC in the years leading up to The Daily’s establishment of independence, also argued for the necessity of The Daily’s independence.

While the paper often covered issues of student government involving the LASSU, she said, it must be done “with the distance that … is always required of a journalistic organization looking at a quasi-governmental organization.”

Campus protests

Although The Daily was able to resolve its 1957 conflict with the ASSU, friction between the paper and University institutions would only escalate in the years following. In the 1960s and early 1970s, The Daily attempted to navigate a particularly volatile time for both the Stanford community and the country at large — and in doing so, created the conditions under which the newspaper would seek independence.

During these years of turmoil, the paper provided comprehensive news coverage of campus political activity, recording pivotal events and providing a window into the highly charged campus climate at the time.

“There was this whole zeitgeist against the war and against the establishment — against President [Lyndon B.] Johnson and against the government,” said Joseph Rosenbloom ’66, who served as managing editor of The Daily at the time.

He added that there was a growing mood of student activism during the ’60s not only at Stanford, but also at universities across the country, with demonstrations such as the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the start of the feminist movement.

On Jan. 31, 1966, following the resumption of U.S. bombing in North Vietnam, 800 students marched in Stanford’s largest protest to that date, one of many anti-war protests on campus over the course of American involvement in Vietnam.

Faculty also played a significant role in campus political activism; 32 professors and teaching assistants announced their endorsement of the January protest. Several faculty speakers also addressed the massive crowds outside of White Memorial Plaza and Cubberley Auditorium to publicly decry President Johnson’s decision to resume bombing.

Later that year, on May 19, 1966, students participated in a sit-in in Stanford president Wallace Sterling’s office over the administration of selective service exams on Stanford’s campus, which allowed certain students to defer the draft on the basis of intellectual ability.

Seventy-five students marched into Sterling’s office and occupied the lobby; approximately 40 students stayed overnight. The activists demanded a moratorium on the selective service test, which was to be administered the following day.

“It was an example of how more radical measures were being taken by the protesters, so they were escalating their tactics,” Rosenbloom said. “A small minority of students — nevertheless, a very vocal minority — was beginning to act more militantly.”

In 1969, Vietnam protests at Stanford had shifted in focus to the University’s participation in classified defense research for the Defense Department through the Stanford Research Institute.

According to former Daily EIC Philip Taubman ’70 — who now serves as an adjunct professor, Secretary of the Stanford Board of Trustees and Associate Vice President for University Affairs — students actively lobbied the University to ban classified research at Stanford, blocking CIA recruiters and taking part in a sit-in at Old Union.

“Stanford was convulsed in those days,” he said.

On April 3, 1969, members of Students for a Democratic Society staged a nine-day sit-in at the Applied Electronics Laboratory in protest of classified research, which the faculty ultimately voted to end.

The protest eventually turned violent and police arrested several participants.

“It was upsetting to see an institution where vigorous disagreement is of the essence descend into a battleground — literally — over these issues,” Taubman said. “That was heartbreaking for me to see as a student.”

The following academic year saw additional protests against the war. On Oct. 5, 1969, more than 8,000 students, faculty and staff gathered to participate in the Vietnam Moratorium, a nation-wide movement that called for an end to the war.

For the entire day, students and faculty alike participated in rallies, panel discussions and leafleting campaigns to protest the war and discuss issues of foreign policy. This event remains the largest political gathering in University history.

“You had people like me, who were coming from growing up in the ‘50s, in the kind of ‘Leave it to Beaver’ world, and we come to a campus, and there [are] drugs, there’s alcohol, there’s sex, there’s political turmoil,” said Bob Michelet ’72, who wrote for The Daily at the time. “A lot of people were coming into an environment that was extremely different from the one they had grown up in and were trying to figure out: Wow, what’s going on here? It was very exciting.”

Independence

As Daily reporters covered campus political protest throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s and tried to occupy a neutral middle ground between campus activists and the authorities, the newspaper often found itself in tussles with administrators.

Former staffers recall that administrators often felt that The Daily, which had implemented a policy of deleting unused negatives of protestors to protect their identities from police, was too sympathetic towards activists.

But by the nature of the newspaper’s work, said William Freivogel ’71, a former co-editor of the Daily opinions section, reporters could not be revolutionaries. In addition, Daily writers did not necessarily agree with everything the protesters did in the first place.

“It was a real challenge to, on the one hand, tell the goals of the anti-war demonstrators but then to be willing to stand up to their tactics when we thought their tactics — breaking windows, shooting at counter protestors — were wrong,” Freivogel said.

It was against this backdrop that The Daily eventually sought independence from the University, after a clash with administrators made both parties realize such a break was in the best interests of each.

That clash was set in motion on Oct. 2 1970, when The Daily published an op-ed entitled “Snitches & Oppression,” written by Diarmuid McGuire M.A. ’73. The controversy stemmed from a line telling readers to “take care of snitches” and named two students who told the police that McGuire had allegedly broken lights outside the ROTC building during a protest. McGuire penned the op-ed during his 30-day jail sentence.

To Marshall Kilduff ’71, Freivogel’s co-editor of opinions at the time, the language of the op-ed provides an example of the sort of rhetoric that consumed campus at the time — rhetoric that The Daily had a right to publish.

“It was a time when everyone was writing very hot stuff,” Kilduff said. “Very angry, plenty of raw, tough opinions out there. This one I wouldn’t say was typical… It doesn’t age well… But at the time, groups on campus were really upset about things and would say just about anything.”

McGuire said that the language of the piece, while more “explosive” than he meant it to be, was never intended to threaten specific people but rather was trying to warn fellow protesters of the potential dangers they faced. Still, the piece was so incendiary that he was jailed a second time for inciting violence, a sentence that was ruled unconstitutional after he spent another 30 days in jail.

The University administration was not pleased. Then-Stanford President Richard Lyman said in a press conference broadcast on KZSU, the student radio station, that publishing the op-ed was a “journalistic atrocity,” and he saw an “increased urgency” in “making the Daily completely independent,” particularly because the administration might be held liable for any violence incited by the article.

At the time, Freivogel and Kilduff maintained that the op-ed was not meant to incite literal violence, a characterization with which McGuire agreed.

While discussions of independence had previously been “very vague,” according to Freivogel, the issue suddenly came into sharp focus as a result of the op-ed. That winter, 15 staffers and a communications professor convened for two quarters to study the potential pros and cons of The Daily’s independence, eventually producing a 150-page report.

According to former EIC Rich Jaroslovsky ’75, the importance of independence was twofold. First, The Daily’s connection to the ASSU made it vulnerable to student politics, and second, the ASSU’s connection to the University also could threaten staffers’ freedom if administrators threatened to cut off funding or otherwise impinge on the organization’s ability to function.

Meanwhile, as Lyman pointed out, the University could potentially be held liable for the paper’s contents. All of these issues together seemed to point to one solution: legal separation from the University.

Full independence, however, took nearly another two years to achieve. It took effect Feb. 1, 1973, when The Daily established itself as The Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation a nonprofit, which legally disentangled the publication from the ASSU.

“Independence will mean more work and responsibility for both our editorial and business staffs, but this is a small price to pay for total freedom from the threat of control by the University, the ASSU or any other special interest group,” then-EIC Donald Tollefson ’73 was quoted as saying in a Daily article at the time. “We are very happy.”

Today, The Daily is legally and financially independent from the University and finances its operations through a combination of advertising and circulation revenues as well as annual printing subsidies from ASSU — which also separated from the University in 1995.

For the young reporters who had covered the campus turmoil, debate over how to cover controversial events grounded their future careers. Jaroslovsky, Freivogel and Kilduff went on to become professional journalists, and they all felt that their Daily experiences helped them understand the risks of real-world reporting from an early age, even if the challenges were unpleasant.

“It sensitized me to the fact that news has consequences, and journalism has consequences,” Jaroslovsky said. “You’d better understand what those consequences are ahead of time rather than discovering them after the fact.”

The balancing act

Separation from the University 44 years ago did not put an end to the challenges of balancing scrutiny of the institution with maintaining a relationship with the University administration. In recent years, other campus publications — most notably the anonymously written Fountain Hopper e-newsletter — have also challenged The Daily for the place of go-to campus news source, forcing Stanford’s oldest paper to both explain and re-evaluate its practices.

While The Daily has surfaced important stories over the years, the paper has a ways to go to reach its potential as an investigative force on campus.

One of the paper’s biggest investigative successes came in 1992 when, following his tenure as EIC, John Wagner ’92 conducted an investigation in winter and spring that uncovered an embezzlement scandal in the Stanford Bookstore.

On Feb. 5 of that year, The Daily published Wagner’s article revealing that the managers of the Stanford Bookstore, a nonprofit at the time, had created a private consulting firm to lease a vacation house to employees and then embezzled funds from the bookstore to buy items for said house. From February to May, Wagner wrote a slew of stories chronicling the bookstore’s corrupt practices, Stanford’s attempts to examine the situation and ultimately the California attorney general’s investigation.

Wagner’s penchant for reporting led him all the way to The Washington Post, where today he serves as a White House reporter.

In other cases, The Daily has struggled to stay afront of major developments on campus. In January of 2015, The Daily failed to break the news of Brock Turner’s sexual assault of a woman outside the Kappa Alpha fraternity house — a story that would explode onto the national news landscape in the months and years to follow.

Joey Beyda ’15 M.S. ’15, incoming EIC at the time of the assault, lamented that The Daily initially missed the story amid regularly published police records.

“We were not the first on this story, which is something that I always regretted,” Beyda said. “The [Fountain Hopper] caught it first; they found it in the news blotter in a way we probably should have.”

Since then, the Fountain Hopper has also challenged The Daily on what it perceives as a pliancy toward University officials. In spring 2017, the Fountain Hopper criticized The Daily directly in a series of newsletters, claiming that the paper “[kowtowed] to Stanford’s administration” when reporting on University Title IX issues because The Daily was financially beholden to the ASSU.

The Daily’s Editorial Board disputed allegations that it had obscured facts and defended the paper’s relationships with administration officials — with whom Daily staffers frequently correspond and occasionally meet — as part of its efforts to provide balanced reporting.

“Unlike the FoHo, The Daily has a relationship with administrators, and we are proud of this relationship,” wrote the Volume 250 Editorial Board. “Part of our job as a news organization is to keep the administration accountable, and we have a duty to hear and attempt to understand the University’s account — to include direct quotes from Stanford officials in our articles.”

The Fountain Hopper, which argued in a response that it enjoys “an excellent relationship with many Stanford administrators [who] provide useful sourcing,” declined to comment for this article, referring Daily reporters to previous newsletters and its op-ed published in The Daily.

The Daily’s policies for including those administrative perspectives have fluctuated over the years. In 2012, then-EIC Billy Gallagher ’14 announced in an op-ed that The Daily would no longer accept email interviews — a decision that the paper would later reverse, striving for phone and in-person interactions with sources but wary of excluding perspectives.

While the no-email policy applied to everyone, Gallagher explained in a recent interview that the move was spurred by concerns over communication with the administration.

“We felt like there were some administrators who were really abusing the email interview process, and rather than it being more back-and-forth, answering questions, we were getting basically PR statements in response,” Gallagher said. “It was a tough decision because obviously there’s a lot of administrators and professors [who find it] a lot easier to use email; they’re busy.”

Now, The Daily does employ email, particularly for more factual queries — or when it needs comment on a quick turnaround.

Over the years, the paper has cited its journalistic priorities in breaking at times with administrators’ wishes. In April 2000, The Daily was the first to report that John Hennessy would be selected as the University’s 10th president, going against search committee co-chair John Etchemendy’s explicit request.

“It was one of those things that we thought of it as a truly Stanford University and Stanford student story; if anyone was going to break it, it had to be The Daily,” said then-EIC Ritu Bhatnagar ’01 M.A. ’02.

Dana Mulhauser ’01, the managing editor of the news section at the time, got an off-the-record tip that Hennessy was to be selected, and Daily editors became determined to be the first publication to break the story.

Mulhauser remembers that Daily reporters staked out a local hotel where the board members were staying. Mulhauser later had a private meeting with Etchemendy and the other co-chair of the search committee, who confirmed the tip but said they preferred the presidential news come straight from the press office. The Daily acknowledged the committee’s concerns about breaking the story but decided to go ahead with a piece.

Mulhauser went to Hennessy’s house the night before his selection was to be officially announced to try to get a quote from him. She recalls approaching his home and calling to him while he stood on his porch and she stood by his front gate.

“We were shouting to each other across the front yard and I said, ‘Well, we’ve learned that Stanford is going to name its new president tomorrow; do you have a comment on that?’” Mulhauser said. “And he said, ‘Well, that’s news to me; thank you for letting me know.’ So, I got to tell him he was becoming University president.”

But there is always more The Daily can do. While Gallagher is proud of coverage on tough topics like Title IX and mental health during his tenure as EIC, he noted that it’s challenging to produce stories with impact as a student publication with staff always in flux.

“You always want to avoid being sort of the puff-piece, light feature and do harder-hitting journalism,” he said. “I think that [is] a constant struggle for any student paper because of how much the staff turns over and the unique relationship with subject matter when you’re covering your classmates and professors and staff.”

Echoing The Daily’s mandate as a local newspaper, Theodore Glasser, professor of communication, emeritus — who served on The Daily’s board of directors for 19 years and was chair of the board from 2011 to 2013 — said he hopes The Daily will move towards publishing more articles that are tapped by national news sources.

“I’d like to see more aggressive, investigative reporting — the kind of reporting that distinguishes one newspaper from another,” he said. “I’d like to see The Daily do stories of the kind that get quoted in other publications.”

***

In The Daily Palo Alto’s inaugural issue, its editors wrote in a letter to the Stanford community that they aimed to “make our paper such that it will be a credit to our alma mater.”

For most of its early history, The Daily sought to do “credit” to the University by essentially acting as its bulletin board, for the most part simply documenting public events, sports games and research discoveries.

But by the mid-20th century, the paper had begun to extricate itself from Stanford’s oversight. Accordingly, The Daily achieved editorial independence from the ASSU and ultimately its separation from the University, while working to tell stories that mattered to the Stanford community — even when that meant shedding a negative light on aspects of the University.

One hundred twenty-five years later, this paper is almost unrecognizable as what was once The Daily Palo Alto. Yet if one thing has remained the same — while perhaps not in the way its earliest editors intended — it is The Daily’s mission: to be a “credit to our alma mater.”

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[magazine] Letters from the editors [copy-??] https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/magazine-letters-from-the-editors-copy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/magazine-letters-from-the-editors-copy/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2017 22:04:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1131539 To this day, I don’t know why the managing editor of The Stanford Daily gave a freshman reporter the assignment, but in April 1967, the editor summoned me to his office. “Martin Luther King is speaking at Stanford tomorrow,” he told me. “King has agreed to do an interview with The Daily on the ride […]

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To this day, I don’t know why the managing editor of The Stanford Daily gave a freshman reporter the assignment, but in April 1967, the editor summoned me to his office.

“Martin Luther King is speaking at Stanford tomorrow,” he told me. “King has agreed to do an interview with The Daily on the ride from San Francisco Airport to campus. Can you do it?”

Whatever doubts I harbored about becoming a journalist vanished. I hadn’t completed a full academic year at Stanford, and I was on my way to interview Martin Luther King.

The opportunity said something about the open, non-hierarchal culture at Stanford, and at The Daily. It reflected the generosity of the managing editor, who could easily have done the interview himself. Above all, it made me see journalism as an intoxicating invitation to witness history, to engage national and international issues, to inform the public, and to meet newsmakers and shapers of history.

I found my account in The Daily’s digital archive the other day. The interview ranged across an array of issues, including civil rights, the Vietnam War and politics.

“There is too much sporadic action,” King said of anti-war protests. “A sense of direction is needed… The United States is on the wrong side of the world revolution.”

As The Stanford Daily marks its 125th anniversary, it’s worth pausing for a moment to reflect on the role the newspaper has played at the University since the first issue appeared in 1892. As a source of news and information about Stanford produced by students, it has been the chronicler of Stanford’s evolution from a fragile seedling in the lush garden of American higher education to one of the nation’s leading universities. It has been the recorder of events, small and grand, that marked the memories of hundreds of thousands of students. Even now, with the advent of countless new information sources, The Daily serves as a town square for the airing of divergent views. It remains a robust training and testing ground.

Like all journalism enterprises, The Daily will always be imperfect. But its aspirations are high, and some of the stories it has emphasized over the decades have put a spotlight on matters that needed attention, including an absence of student and faculty diversity, archaic student dress codes, embezzlement at the bookstore and shortcomings in the delivery of mental health care to students.

I had the good fortune to chronicle a fair amount of history as a reporter and editor, mostly for The New York Times. I covered the Cold War from Washington and Moscow, tracked news at the White House, Pentagon, State Department, CIA, NSA and the Kremlin. While working at Time Magazine and Esquire, I wrote about sports, shadowing Muhammad Ali, Reggie Jackson, Dorothy Hamill, Jimmy Connors and other memorable figures.

I learned a lot about journalism growing up by watching my father, who was a music and theater critic at The New York Times. I worked on my high school newspaper in New York City. But The Daily was the irreplaceable crucible of my education. It’s where I learned how to handle the pressure of competing interests at a time of intense student activism and passionate feelings. It’s where I fully understood the importance of accurate, fair coverage, not only because it’s the honorable approach journalistically, but also because it’s the best way a journalist can serve the public interest.

I also learned how to respond to disappointment and rebound from failure. I wrote a harsh story about Herbert Packer, Stanford’s vice provost in the late 1960s, which I clumsily tried to retract after The Daily had gone to press. I couldn’t change the paper, but I went to his campus home at 3 a.m. and left a series of apologetic notes on his front door, doorstep, car and bike. My takeaway from that incident: The best way to avoid wounding someone, and making a fool of oneself, is to produce a fair story to begin with.

I also forged lifetime friendships at The Daily’s scruffy offices at the Storke Student Publications Building, which was demolished a few years ago. There, amidst the paraphernalia of 20th century newspapering — typewriters, carbon paper, spikes, a linotype machine, cigarette butts, crushed beer cans, stacks of discarded paper and a bulletin board where editor critiques of recent editions were posted — I met a fellow student and reporter, Felicity Barringer. Felicity went on to edit The Daily before beginning a distinguished career as a reporter and editor at The Washington Post and The New York Times. We just marked our 46th wedding anniversary.

When The Daily needed a new home some years ago, a project generously subsidized largely by Lorry Lokey, another Daily alum, Felicity and I made a small contribution. A modest plaque noting our gift was placed outside the office of the editor in chief. It reads: “Where we found our calling.”

So it was.

 

— Philip Taubman, Editor-in-Chief, Vol. 155

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[magazine] table of contents https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/magazine-table-of-contents/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/08/magazine-table-of-contents/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2017 22:04:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1131918 DAILY AT 125   06 THE DAILY AND THE COURT Examining the legacy of the 1978 Supreme Court case Zurcher v. Stanford Daily   10 125 YEARS OF THE DAILY A century and a quarter after this publication’s founding, a look at how The Daily, and its relationship with Stanford, has evolved   18 MEET […]

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DAILY AT 125

 

06 THE DAILY AND THE COURT

Examining the legacy of the 1978 Supreme Court case Zurcher v. Stanford Daily

 

10 125 YEARS OF THE DAILY

A century and a quarter after this publication’s founding, a look at how The Daily, and its relationship with Stanford, has evolved

 

18 MEET DURAN

The man, the myth, the legend who makes our paper run

 

NEWS

 

26 THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVIST

Working to preserve and shape the narrative of Stanford’s history — and its future

 

OPINIONS

 

04 LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS

Reflections from current and former Editors-in-Chief, Ada Statler-Throckmorton and Philip Taubman

 

SPORTS

 

22 35 YEARS LATER

A look back at the 1982 Big Game’s infamous “Play” and the ultimate college prank that followed

 

ARTS & LIFE

 

20 ‘WALKING THE FARM’

Rediscovering Stanford through DeMund’s book on campus walks

 

CREATIVE

 

16 TIMELINE

Putting The Daily’s history in context with that of Stanford and the country

 

25 DAILY STAFFERS, THEN AND NOW

Getting to know the work and aspirations of past and present Daily staffers

 

28 SNAPSHOTS OF STANFORD HISTORY

Capturing Stanford’s history through photos taken by Daily photographers

 

30 SPIRIT OF THE DAILY

What The Daily has meant to different generations of staffers

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Q&A with former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/15/qa-with-former-estonian-president-toomas-hendrik-ilves/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/15/qa-with-former-estonian-president-toomas-hendrik-ilves/#respond Mon, 15 May 2017 07:15:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1127484 Toomas Hendrik Ilves served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. This January, he came to Stanford as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. The Daily sat down with Ilves to discuss what he’s been researching.

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Toomas Hendrik Ilves served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. He previously served as the Estonian ambassador to the United States and Canada and later as a member of the European Parliament. This January, he came to Stanford as the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. The Daily sat down with Ilves to discuss what he has been researching at Stanford.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): What made you want to go into academia after your time as president, and why did you decide to come to Stanford, specifically?

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (THI): I’ve been in and out of academia ever since I was young… And of course, why Stanford? Well, Stanford is the one place [where] the three basic interests that I’ve had my whole life come together in a way that doesn’t happen anywhere else…

I’ve always had this interest toward foreign security policy. I remember starting to read about the Soviet Union when I was eight years old; I think I was reading my father’s New York Times. And then [there’s] the parallel interest that has been more broadly in democracy and what is democracy, why is it different, what are the foundations of democracy? That has been a very long-term interest. Especially once Estonia became independent again, it really became a practical issue.

And then a third thing, which is completely serendipitous but has affected me since I was a kid, which was that when I was 14, I had a math teacher who was doing her Ph.D. in math education at Teacher’s College at Columbia. She decided she’d teach us to program, so at 14, I learned how to program… And in fact in college I worked programming, so I made a little money on the side.

So especially after last year’s election year, or after the referendum in the U.K., all these three came together. What is electoral democracy these days? What’s the role of foreign countries, especially Russia in this? And of course, how does it work?

So they all came together because of the external sort of stimuli, but also this is the place. Who’s at FSI? Herb Lin is one of the great experts on cyber security. On democracy, I just walk downstairs and there’s Larry Diamond and Frank Fukuyama. And then there’s Mike McFaul on Russia. Plus all of the other people who are here, but it sort of all comes together here.

TSD: Can you talk through some of the things you’ve been working on since you got here in January?

THI: Electoral democracy has been practiced for 250 years, in some places longer, but it’s one of the three pillars of liberal democracy. There’s free and fair elections, then there’s rule of law … and then there is fundamental rights and freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of association. And what we see is that, thanks to digital technology, the first of those has been broadly compromised. Or at least it has cast enough doubt on it that people wonder whether there are free and fair elections. And where that also comes in is that some solutions to, say, maintaining free and fair elections and stopping fake news impinged upon the third pillar of liberal democracy, which are free expressions.

I identified … five attack vectors. The first thing is hacking, by which I mean going into someone else’s computer. And that’s basically espionage. That has happened before, but … other states are trying to figure out what is going on inside parties, and before I.T. this was much more difficult. Now, many countries probably have engaged in that.

Where this next step comes in is doxing, which is the second vector, which is actually using what you have managed to hack and selectively to publish embarrassing things about one candidate or one party, but not doing it to other parties. And I say parties because we saw in France this was applied to Macron, but there were a host of other candidates who didn’t suffer from this.

The third vector is fake news, which, again, is a very broad category. It’s an overused term. I would actually say false news, just to keep it out of the whole rhetorical blender that we see right now. But it can range from — as what happened with Macron — doxing, and then putting in fake or false emails in there to compromise a candidate, too. This is actually a big change from the way things were done — I mean on the part of people’s attitudes, especially the media. Because there was an earlier case of breaking in, but that was physical, that was 1972, Watergate. And I highly doubt whether … had they succeeded and stolen, say, the Democratic National Committee’s correspondence, whether or not any newspaper would have published them…. It wouldn’t have happened. Whereas we kind of have a different attitude towards if it’s stolen digitally. Then it’s kind of like, oh, it’s okay during the U.S. election that the media willingly, sort of [voyeuristically], gleefully published things that had been stolen, and only on one side.

And then, from there we get to … the instrumentalization of fake news, whether genuine stolen material or just made-up stuff through Twitter bots, which will, every five seconds, repeat over and over and send out in all directions stories that then quickly become trending. We’ve seen this a number of times… There’s this hashtag Syria hoax, which said that there was no sarin attack, which was then multiplied, multiplied, multiplied, multiplied by Twitter bots every five seconds sending these Tweets out and [which] soon rose to the top of the Twitter trending hashtags because it was simply mechanically, robotically manipulated. That’s a fourth vector, which is actually using I.T. to spread this, disseminate these in a big way.

And the last one… In both the referendum on membership in the European Union and very clearly in the case of the U.S. elections, the leave side and the Republican side made use of new technologies that give really granular, individual profiles of voters via algorithms… And algorithms then calculate an ad that you get on Facebook, and it’s called a black ad because no one else sees it, only you see it. And Facebook does not show these ads — you get highly personalized ads, based on data that has been either legally or illegally, we don’t know yet, vacuumed from various data brokers. Now that, I think, really begins to affect democratic free and fair elections.

So it’s a new world. And what I’m trying to do here is figure out what it all means…  And I testified before Congress twice on this, and this does seem to be a matter of concern.

TSD: I saw that you had some experience teaching in the past, so I was wondering if that was something that you would think about doing since you’re once again back at a university.

THI: Well, I don’t know. I keep giving lectures and talks, so, I mean, it’s all one thing, right? It’s just getting up in front of people and talking about it… That’s what I’ve been doing all these years, so it’s not different at all. The difference is, if you teach a course, you need to spread it out a little bit … But given the degree of ignorance about these issues, more broadly, then you have to spend a lot of time reviewing the basics. And I think this is a problem that we have.

There’s a wonderful essay published in 1959 by a physical chemist and literary novelist named C.P. Snow, called “The Two Cultures.” The reality he was describing is that he would sit at Cambridge … with the physicists and chemists and discuss quantum mechanics … and then he would go over to another table and drink with his buddies, the poets and the novelists and the Shakespeare scholars. The problem was, he said, he was the only one who could move between the two tables. And at neither table was there any interest in what was going on at the other table.

And so more broadly, people who come out of the liberal arts don’t have an understanding of science and technology, and the people in science and technology have very little experience with liberal arts and the traditions of a liberal democracy…. What [Snow] wrote the essay [about] was the problem of the university. He was arguing for a more universal education.

Now it’s a problem where geeks [are] designing things without really quite grasping what the implications are, whether it really does fit into the way we do things, and you have lawmakers who don’t have a clue, whose job it is to produce the laws that will regulate digital life. So that’s kind of a big problem I’d say these days.

TSD: I actually wanted to backtrack a little bit and talk about your background in general. I wanted you to talk a little bit more about how being the child of refugees — and also of refugees to America — affected your life as a politician and a leader, but also as a person.

THI: Migration is really a big issue in Europe, and my parents, they fled separately in this three-week interval between the Nazi occupation, where they shot you if [you] tried to escape, and the Soviet occupation, where they shot you if you tried to escape…. During that period, 70,000 people got into boats, made their way across the Baltic Sea to Sweden, and my parents and basically almost everybody who was in the West of Estonia made that trip or had been transported as slave labor in Germany, and then they had found themselves in Germany after the war…. That gives you a different perspective when you read all about these migrants coming across the Mediterranean.

I had the equivalent of a Joint Session of Congress speech: I addressed the whole [European] Parliament — I was the child of refugees. First of all, my parents weren’t always welcomed, but ultimately they sort of found their way and then they came here, and they became very good Americans, and they managed to put their two sons into, respectively, Columbia and Princeton, which is a pretty cool accomplishment for someone a couple years earlier fled two totalitarian regimes. So I would say you should take it easy on these people who are coming in. They in fact may end up being really important citizens in your country.

TSD: Is there anything you miss about Estonia now that you’re here or anything that you appreciate here in Silicon Valley?

THI: Well first of all, there’s a big change after being driven around with a security detail and not being allowed to drive to taking a bus or riding my bicycle to work, which I think is very cool…. What I miss is the functioning digital society. Estonia offers services, and people are dependent upon IT-based services that don’t exist in the United States. And I find the whole architecture here very rickety.

TSD: Is there anything you felt like we didn’t touch on that you wanted to add?

THI: If there’s anything I can offer to Stanford University, I would say you need two-factor authentication, but after the hacks on the phone system in Germany, go over to a chip card. Because you already have IDs… [Holding up his national ID card] This looks like a student ID. That’s my national ID. It just has a chip on it, and I plug it in, put in my code, and it’s very, very secure. You’re halfway there.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Embattled judge in Brock Turner case fights recall campaign https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/01/embattled-judge-in-brock-turner-case-fights-recall-campaign/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/01/embattled-judge-in-brock-turner-case-fights-recall-campaign/#respond Mon, 01 May 2017 09:40:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1126838 After Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky ‘84 MA ‘85 handed down what many have criticized as an overly light sentence in the Brock Turner case, activists started a recall campaign to unseat the judge. In the months following, Persky has pushed back.

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After Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky ‘84 MA ‘85 handed down what many have criticized as an overly light sentence in the Brock Turner case, activists started a recall campaign to unseat the judge. In the months following, Persky has decided to push back.

Since launching the “Retain Judge Persky — No Recall” campaign early last fall, Persky has garnered a non-trivial number of endorsements from law practitioners, law faculty and community leaders. If he goes down in the face of a well-funded and popular campaign to unseat him, it won’t be without a fight.

Persky rose to national prominence when he sentenced Turner to six months in county jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on Stanford’s campus in January 2015. Persky also sentenced Turner to three years of probation, mandatory lifetime registration as a sex offender and participation in a sex offender rehabilitation program.

The District Attorney’s office asked for six years in prison for Turner, but Persky followed the probation department’s recommendation. Turner served only half of his sentence due to good behavior in jail and was released on Sept. 2.

Persky’s decision sparked a national outcry from many who believed that the sentence was too lenient, particularly after Turner’s victim criticized the sentence in a letter she read in court. Critics of Persky accused the judge of showing bias toward the privileged, favoring a white male and fellow athlete from his alma mater.

“A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him,” Persky said in a statement that drew criticism, citing Turner’s lack of prior criminal record. “I think he will not be a danger to others.”

If it succeeds, the recall, which is essentially a petition to hold an early election, would put the issue on Santa Clara County’s June 2018 ballot. Then, voters would decide whether to retain Persky or to replace him with another candidate. So far, Persky’s only potential opponent is Cindy Seeley Hendrickson ’87, a Santa Clara County assistant district attorney.

Endorsements

The recall campaign dwarfs Persky’s defense in terms of funding: The former had raised over $400,000 as of last month, while Persky’s counter-campaign had gathered only $64,618 as of the end of last year, according to its latest finance release. The movement to recall Persky has also garnered a host of well-known supporters among political, business and community leaders, from local Congressman Ro Khanna to groups like the National Women’s Political Caucus of Silicon Valley to actress Lena Dunham.

Meanwhile, Persky — who did not respond to a request for comment — has built up his own circle of support. His campaign websites list of endorsements includes the names of retired California Supreme Court Justices, retired, associate and presiding justices on the Court of Appeal and judges on the California Superior Court.

The Santa Clara County Bar Association and the California Judges Association both issued statements within weeks of Turner’s sentencing emphasizing the importance of judicial independence and warning of the dangers that come with trying to recall judges; the bar association said that it opposes the recall.

Last month, Persky’s retainment campaign scored a major, albeit controversial, endorsement from Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. While Rosen publicly stated his disapproval of Persky’s sentencing in the Turner case following the June 2016 decision, the district attorney affirmed that he did not believe Persky should be recalled.

A week after Turner’s sentencing, Persky dismissed a case mid-trial, and Rosen removed the judge from a forthcoming sexual battery case.

“After this [decision to dismiss the case] and the recent turn of events, we lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing in which a male nurse sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient,” Rosen said in a statement.

Two months later, Persky asked to be reassigned from criminal cases; he has been handling civil matters since early September.

In a statement provided to The Daily following his endorsement of Persky, Rosen stated his “allegiance is to Emily Doe and the victims of campus sexual assault.”

“My Office and I have worked to raise national awareness by organizing a campus sexual assault symposium, crafting a ground-breaking protocol on how colleges and law enforcement handle such assaults and changing state law to ensure that future perpetrators are sentenced to prison,” Rosen wrote. “The legacy of Emily Doe’s courage is fewer sexual assault victims and more compassion for sexual assault survivors.”

Rosen did not elaborate in his statement on his rationale for endorsing Persky, though.

According to the “Retain Judge Persky” website, two of Rosen’s predecessors, George Kennedy and Dolores Carr, have also endorsed the embattled judge.

While Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law Michele Dauber leads the “Recall Persky” campaign, which other members of the Stanford faculty have aligned with, some faculty of Stanford Law School have publicly endorsed Persky. In July, 13 Stanford law professors were among the 46 law professors from California universities who signed a letter opposing the recall.

Advocates for and opponents to the recall disagree on two fundamental notions: first, whether or not Persky has displayed a pattern of bias in his tenure as judge, and second, how a recall would align with or depart from the established role of choosing judges through electoral processes. Advocates for the recall have also expressed particular concern over the way cases involving sexual assault are treated in the court system.

A pattern of bias?

The recall campaign’s central argument is that the allegedly lenient nature of the Brock Turner sentencing was not an isolated occurrence; supporters of the recall contend that Persky has shown a repeated bias that disadvantages victims of sexual violence and privileges white men and particularly athletes.

Two of the cases the recall campaign cites include a domestic violence case against a former Foothill College and later University of Hawaii football player, as well as a civil case in which a teenage girl sought damages against a group of De Anza College baseball players who allegedly raped her.

In both cases, Persky’s critics claim he acted unfairly in favor of the defendants: for example, recall advocates argue, by delaying the athlete’s sentencing after he pleaded no contest so that he could play football in Hawaii and by allowing the jury in the De Anza case to see photos of the girl socializing in revealing clothes months after the alleged rape. The photos were part of the defense’s argument that the girl did not have PTSD.

Other sentences of Persky’s that have been criticized as too light include four days in county jail for possession of child pornography and 12 weeks of weekend-only jail for domestic violence that caused physical injury.

Stanford law professors, students and alumni have diverged in their assessments of Persky’s record.

“Having read the arguments on both sides [of the debate over Persky’s bias], I wasn’t convinced there was a pattern of bias,” said David Sklansky, Stanley Morrison Professor of Law and co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. “That is part of why I agreed to support his opposition to recall.”

Dauber, his colleague, frames the situation differently, emphasizing the risks of potential biases in the court system.

“We believe that the history of bias by this judge in cases of violence against women is so obvious and glaring and serious that I’m not sure what benefit there is to waiting six years,” Dauber said, referring to the end of Persky’s current term. “What about all the women who are going to come before this judge over the next six years? They’re entitled to receive an unbiased decision maker as well, and if they draw Judge Persky they will not get an unbiased decision maker, that’s clear.”

Judicial independence

Another point of contention between Persky’s critics and supporters centers on the relationship between judicial independence and democratic accountability, particularly in a system in which judges stand for election.

“I’m very much concerned with the independence of the judiciary,” said William Gould, Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law, Emeritus in the Stanford Law School. “I don’t like the idea of judges being pilloried and attacked and denigrated. We’ve seen some of this subsequent to the Persky incident with President Trump and his reaction to judicial decisions that he regarded as unfavorable to him.”

Opponents of the recall believe that it could make judges fear removal from office if they send down sentences that are perceived as too lenient. That very prospect could make judges err towards harsher sentences, Sklansky said.

“I’m particularly uncomfortable with recalling [Persky] because we think that the sentence [he] handed down is too lenient because I think that in general our criminal justice system is way too harsh, and the brunt of that falls not on white, privileged defendants but on poor, disadvantaged and minority defendants,” Sklansky said. “I think the last thing we should want is for judges to worry in every case that if they oppose a sentence that people think is too lenient … they’ll be kicked out of office.”

Judges at the Superior Court level in California are elected and are subject to reelection every six years. Persky himself ran unopposed when he was up for reelection in November 2016, and thus his name did not appear on the ballot during the election. The deadline to file to run for the seat had passed shortly before Persky sentenced Turner. Following his reelection, Persky’s tenure is slated to last until 2022 if he is not unseated.

While several instances exist of judges losing reelection campaigns after public confidence in them erodes, recall campaigns are expensive and rare. California Superior Court judges have only been successfully recalled twice: in 1913 and 1932.

“It is true that elections are part of our system,” Sklansky acknowledged. “But so is a norm of judicial independence which I think should be respected.”

Judicial and electoral issues

Regardless of the result of the recall, Persky’s sentencing of Turner has elevated the issue of how judges should handle sentencing for perpetrators of sex crimes on both local and national levels.

DA Rosen helped pass a California state law requiring prison time for people convicted of sexual assault of an unconscious or intoxicated individual.

The harder question, says Mark Lemley ’88, Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford, is when should a judge be subject to recall — and whether cases of sexual violence can be a catalyst for that.

“I do think that, both in our society generally and more specifically with this judge … there is a problem that we don’t take sexual violence and sexual assault sufficiently seriously,” Lemley said. “If the message that this [sentence] sends is going out of your way to protect rapists by departing from the law is something that outrages people, that’s a message I’m okay sending.”

Dauber voiced a similar concern.

Some people “just don’t think lenient sentencing in cases of sexual assault is a good enough reason [for a recall], or lenient sentencing in cases of domestic violence,” Dauber said.

However, Dauber is optimistic that the recall will be successful. Initial polls from last June by Capitol Weekly found that 66 percent of voters — including 73 percent of women — supported recalling Persky.

“I think what the recall is doing is that it’s turning violence against women into a voting issue, which it really has not been,” Dauber said. “The recall is providing a means and a mechanism for taking what has been a deeply personal issue and turning it into a public, political issue. I think women have been waiting for that moment … and that’s why I think we’re going to succeed.”

The recall campaign

For the voters of Santa Clara County to have a say in Persky’s tenure, the recall campaign will have 160 days to collect 90,000 signatures, starting in June. Once that allotted time has transpired, the campaign will file the signatures for the county to count; if the requisite number of certified signatures — 58,634 — has been obtained, the issue will appear on the June 5, 2018 ballot, and voters can officially decide to retain Persky or vote for another candidate. Removing Persky will take more than 50 percent of the votes, according to the recall campaign.

So far, Hendrickson is the only candidate to declare her intention to challenge Persky if the petition passes. As a member of the District Attorney’s executive office, she has headed its domestic violence team and has spent 22 years as a prosecutor.

“I feel that the people in Santa Clara County should have the right to decide whether they want Judge Persky to be their judge, to work for them for the next five years,” Hendrickson said. “I think that for the people of Santa Clara County to have a meaningful choice, there has to be a qualified candidate in opposition, and so I’m happy to be that person.”

Proponents of the recall are relying on the support exhibited from initial polling to last until June 2018.

“My sense is that there was a lot of outrage [after the Turner decision], and that will come back, and I think people will remember as the issue comes on the ballot,” Lemley said.

Opponents of the recall, however, retain hope that the issue never reaches the ballot.

“I’m just deeply concerned about those who jump in and say, because they don’t like the way [Persky] resolved this, that he should be removed from the judiciary,” Gould said. “That’s very dangerous for a democratic society.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

An earlier version of this article stated that Persky allowed the jury in the De Anza civil case to see photos from over a year after an alleged assault; in fact, the photos were from less than a year after. A description of the former Foothill football player also stated that he pleaded guilty when in fact he pleaded no contest. The Daily regrets these errors. Information about the De Anza case photos has been updated, and the article now reflects that Persky did not respond with comment. 

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Top three matchups: Stanford vs. Washington https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/29/top-three-matchups-stanford-vs-washington/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/29/top-three-matchups-stanford-vs-washington/#respond Fri, 30 Sep 2016 05:50:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1117450 Tasked with limiting Washington receiver John Ross is junior corner Terrence Alexander, who while far from inexperienced, will have to step up against a guy as fast as Ross to help eliminate the Huskies’ deep threat.

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No. 7 Stanford (3-0, 2-0 Pac-12) vs. No. 10 Washington (4-0, 1-0)

John Ross, WR (Jr.) vs. Terrence Alexander, CB (Jr.)

No. 1 cornerback Alijah Holder’s injury, which will keep him out for the Stanford-Washington matchup, could arguably not come at a worse time for Stanford. To beat Washington the Cardinal will have to contain wide receiver John Ross, whom David Shaw recently called “the fastest guy in the conference every time he’s been healthy.” Beside being really fast, Ross is also the Huskies’ top scorer with 7 of the team’s 25 touchdowns. Tasked with limiting Ross is junior corner Terrence Alexander, who while far from inexperienced, will have to step up against a guy as fast as Ross to help eliminate the Huskies’ deep threat.

 

Ryan Burns, QB (Sr.) vs. Budda Baker, S (Jr.)

Last week, one could argue that Ryan Burns’s arm both nearly lost the game for Stanford and also won it. Burns’ first-quarter interception led to UCLA’s only touchdown of the game, at which point the Bruins took the lead until the 0:24 mark of the fourth quarter. That being said, with just over two minutes to play in the game and no timeouts, Burns put together a clutch final drive, in which he had 5 of his 13 completions on the night as well as 66 of his 137 passing yards, that led to sophomore JJ Arcega-Whiteside’s game-winning touchdown. With its tough secondary — particularly star safety Budda Baker, who, for whatever it’s worth, notched an interception against Stanford last time the two teams met  — Washington will look to force Burns to win the game in the air and lure him to make mistakes. And doing so may not be too difficult: Washington has earned an interception in each game of the season, and Burns has thrown one in each of the last two games.

 

David Shaw vs. Chris Petersen

Thanks to the work of Chris Petersen, Washington has started off the 2016 season with an undefeated record, achieved a top-10 ranking and is a serious Pac-12 title contender (some even have picked them to sneak into the Playoff). Yet a win against the Cardinal is what Petersen and his squad need to legitimize their team and convince the CFB world that the team is worth all the hype it’s received over the past few months. A potential thorn in Petersen’s side is David Shaw, who in his career has gone 20-9 against teams ranked in the AP top 25.

The two coaches’ decision-making on the sideline will no doubt be a factor in this game: Petersen is known for his bold play-calling, while Shaw has historically been more conservative (which, many argue, he exhibited when deciding to punt with 4:40 remaining against UCLA last week; that being said, he’s had his moments). How Shaw manages the game and preps his team to be ready for any tricks Petersen has up his sleeve will play a large part in determining the outcome of this game.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Women’s basketball alumna Nneka Ogwumike named 2016 WNBA MVP https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/27/womens-basketball-alumna-nneka-ogwumike-named-2016-wnba-mvp/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/27/womens-basketball-alumna-nneka-ogwumike-named-2016-wnba-mvp/#respond Wed, 28 Sep 2016 06:17:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1117308 Former Stanford standout and current Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike was named the 2016 WNBA Most Valuable Player, the league announced Tuesday.

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Former Stanford standout and current Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike was named the 2016 WNBA Most Valuable Player, the league announced Tuesday.

The honor comes to little surprise to those familiar with Ogwumike’s play this season: The 2012 No. 1 draft pick was third in the league this season with 19.7 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game on the way to helping the Sparks earn a 26-8 record and No. 2 seed for the playoffs.

Even more impressive than her scoring and rebounding averages was her offensive efficiency: Her overall shooting percentage this season (.737) is the best in WNBA and NBA history, well ahead of the previous WNBA record from 2010 (.6997). In addition, only two NBA players have achieved a true shooting percentage above 70 percent: Tyson Chandler in 2011-2012 (.7081) and Artis Gilmore in 1981-1982 (.7024).

Her 66.5 field goal percentage was also good for second-best for a single season in WNBA history. Ogwumike’s .615 clip from beyond the arc was also a marked improvement from her previous four years in the league, in which she went 7-for-34 from three-point range. In addition, she shot 86.9 percent from the line and averaged 3.1 assists and 1.2 blocks.

“As far as goals go, this honor has always been on a list I wrote down in the back of some journal years ago,” Ogwumike said in a statement. “Dreams don’t sprout overnight, and triumph doesn’t grow from trees. My 2016 season is a reflection of years of being a student of the game, hours of grueling practice, memories favorable and unfavorable, of great teammates and heartbreaking losses on the court.”

A three-time All-American at Stanford, Ogwumike led Stanford to four Final Fours and completed her career on the Farm with an undefeated home record. The Cypress, Texas, native is also one of six Cardinal players to end her career with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

“No one could be happier for her than me,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I’m so proud of her. For me the MVP isn’t just for her play, but for the person she is. She is a great teammate, is resilient, encouraging and positive. It could not happen to someone more deserving.”

Ogwumike is the first Cardinal player to win a league MVP award since John Brodie in 1970, when the 49ers quarterback was named the MVP of the NFL.

Ogwumike plays in Game 1 of the Sparks’ semifinal series against the Chicago Sky this Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT. The game will be shown on ESPN2.

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Field hockey seeks momentum on Northeast road swing https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/21/field-hockey-seeks-momentum-on-northeast-road-swing/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/21/field-hockey-seeks-momentum-on-northeast-road-swing/#respond Thu, 22 Sep 2016 05:51:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1117145 After a 10-day hiatus, No. 18 Stanford field hockey (2-4) returns to the field this weekend, when it will travel to the Northeast to take on Massachusetts and Yale.

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After a 10-day hiatus, No. 18 Stanford field hockey (2-4) returns to the field this weekend, when it will travel to the Northeast to take on Massachusetts and Yale.

Two wins over the weekend could give the Cardinal some good momentum going into the beginning of conference play, which starts next week, and help the team improve its record after a difficult start to the 2016 campaign.

Four of Stanford’s six opponents from earlier this season are currently in the top 10, giving Stanford the highest strength-of-schedule rating in the nation. While Stanford lost each of its games against those top-10 teams, the Cardinal were competitive in all of them: All but one of the matches were one-goal games, including one that went into overtime.

Last week, Stanford shut out Cornell in a 1-0 victory on the road. The Cardinal recorded 11 shots in the first half, finally breaking through the Cornell defense with a goal from junior midfielder Sarah Helgeson. Stanford’s defense took it from there, keeping the Big Red at bay for the remainder of the matchup.

Going into this weekend’s games, Stanford boasts a well-rounded offense, with six players having scored on the season so far. Even against some of the nation’s better goalies and teams, the Cardinal have yet to be shut out this season. Attacker Jessica Welch has had an impressive start to her freshman year on the Farm, leading the team with 3 goals, while fellow freshman Kelsey Bing has exhibited steady play in the cage as well.

While UMass and Yale come into the weekend with winning records, each team’s strength of schedule is markedly lower compared to Stanford’s, and each has not fared too well against ranked opponents (the two teams have gone a combined 0-3 against the top 20).

After starting the season with a pair of losses, UMass (4-3) has won four out of its last five games, including its most recent game, a 3-1 win over Harvard. The Minutewomen have three players who have scored four or more goals this season, with Izzie Delario leading with 13 points (4 goals and 5 assists) and Melanie Kreusch, the team’s top scorer, with 5 goals.

Yale, on the other hand, has lost two of its last four games, including a 2-1 decision to No. 20 Albany. The Bulldogs will also take on Harvard two days before their matchup with Stanford.

The Cardinal will have to limit the production of Carol Middough, who leads Yale with 5 goals, including 2 game-winners. In the goal, Emilie Katz has also posted respectable numbers (1.66 goals against and a .737 save percentage).

The Cardinal will take on UMass in Amherst this Friday at 1 p.m. The team will then travel to New Haven, where it will attempt to complete a weekend sweep on Sunday at 9 a.m. against the Bulldogs.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Top three matchups: Stanford vs. USC https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/16/top-three-matchups-stanford-vs-usc/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/16/top-three-matchups-stanford-vs-usc/#respond Fri, 16 Sep 2016 07:41:24 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1117077 JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR (Jr.) vs. Alijah Holder, CB (Jr.) JuJu Smith-Schuster, a second-team All-American, is undoubtedly one of the Trojans’ deadliest weapons. In the first installment of the Stanford-USC rivalry last season, Stanford had trouble keeping up with Smith-Schuster, who recorded 153 yards off 8 receptions, along with a touchdown. While the Cardinal came up […]

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JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR (Jr.) vs. Alijah Holder, CB (Jr.)

JuJu Smith-Schuster, a second-team All-American, is undoubtedly one of the Trojans’ deadliest weapons. In the first installment of the Stanford-USC rivalry last season, Stanford had trouble keeping up with Smith-Schuster, who recorded 153 yards off 8 receptions, along with a touchdown. While the Cardinal came up with a better answer for him in the Pac-12 Championship Game (i.e., Alijah Holder limited him), Saturday’s matchup will be one Stanford must lock down to help prevent USC from efficiently moving the ball downfield. A positive sign for Stanford? Smith-Schuster has only had 8 receptions in the first two games of the season (1 against Alabama and 7 against Utah State). And in last week’s performance, which included 2 touchdowns, he only notched 56 yards off 7 receptions. Holder, who played shutdown coverage against Kansas State’s top receiver two weeks ago, will look to extend his impressive performance against one of the gems of the conference.

 

Zach Banner, RT (5th Sr.) vs. Solomon Thomas, DT (Jr.)

When USC’s offense and Stanford’s defense take the field, it will feature a matchup of two standouts: USC’s All-Pac-12 first team Zach Banner vs. Stanford’s All-Pac-12 honorable mention and team captain Solomon Thomas. In attempting to pressure USC’s new quarterback, Thomas will have to carry more weight than usual with the probable absence of fellow lineman Harrison Phillips, but Thomas has had his share of success against the Trojans in years past: most memorably, a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown to seal the Pac-12 Championship Game last December. In a marquee matchup with plenty on the line, Thomas will look to be as potent as he has proven he can be against one of the tougher matchups he’ll face all year.

 

Casey Tucker, LT (Jr.) vs. Noah Jefferson, DT (So.) or Rasheem Green, DT (So.)

It’s not a secret that one of the biggest factors that will determine Stanford’s success this season is how well the offensive line, with two of its three new starters replacing a pair of NFL draft picks, will fare. After a strong first half against a talented Kansas State defensive line, the unit showed some inconsistency in the second half. The Tunnel Workers’ Union will have to put together a more complete performance against USC on Saturday. Casey Tucker will face either Noah Jefferson, who is battling a shoulder injury and missed the Utah State game, or, more likely, Rasheem Green. With Christian McCaffrey having destroyed the Trojans in their previous two meetings, Tucker must do his part to make sure the AP Player of the Year can repeat the same dominance he had against USC in 2015.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s water polo sweeps four-game opening weekend slate https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/05/mens-water-polo-sweeps-four-game-opening-weekend-slate/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/05/mens-water-polo-sweeps-four-game-opening-weekend-slate/#respond Mon, 05 Sep 2016 21:36:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1116944 No. 5 Stanford men’s water polo kicked its season off to an undefeated start, posting four double-digit victories over the weekend at the Triton and UCLA Invitationals, both in San Diego, California. The Cardinal (4-0) dominated No. 9 UC San Diego (0-2), their only Division I opponent of the weekend, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (0-2) on Saturday […]

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No. 5 Stanford men’s water polo kicked its season off to an undefeated start, posting four double-digit victories over the weekend at the Triton and UCLA Invitationals, both in San Diego, California.

The Cardinal (4-0) dominated No. 9 UC San Diego (0-2), their only Division I opponent of the weekend, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (0-2) on Saturday with 15-5 and 15-3 victories, respectively. Against UCSD, Cody Smith got Stanford on the board during the first 90 seconds of the game, after which the Cardinal would score another 5 unanswered goals. The run came to a halt with the Tritons’ first goal of the day with three minutes to play until halftime.

UCSD’s offense made minimal strides to chip away at the score in the third. While the Tritons scored 3 of their 5 goals in that quarter, it would not be enough to stop the bleeding: Stanford netted the ball 9 times in the second half alone, which ended with a 4-0 Stanford run in the final four minutes of the game.

Stanford’s defense shined on UCSD’s powerplays, as the Cardinal only allowed the Tritons to score a single goal off of their 10 extra-man opportunities. On the other end of the pool, Stanford took advantage of its own 10 powerplay opportunities, in which it scored 6 of its 15 goals.

Junior Oliver Lewis, the Cardinal’s new starter at goalie, ended the day with 11 saves and only 5 goals allowed. Fellow juniors Mitchell Mendoza and Smith combined for 6 of Stanford’s 15 goals, while freshman Bennett Williams notched 2 in his first career game with the Cardinal.

Stanford’s second match on Saturday was more of the same for the Cardinal, which jumped out to a 10-0 start — with Mendoza scoring 4 of those goals  — before Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finally got on the board with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter. After the Stags narrowed Stanford’s lead to eight with 3:37 to play, Stanford scored four more goals to close the game with a 12-point victory.

The Cardinal completed the weekend sweep in San Diego on Sunday: Five Cardinal scored braces against Chapman, while Smith added 5 of his own, to lead Stanford in its 18-1 onslaught over the Panthers. Freshman goalie Andrew Chun notched 9 saves in his first collegiate match and another 8 against Redlands later in the afternoon. Against the Bulldogs, sophomore Blake Parrish led all scorers with 6 goals on the way to the Cardinal’s 15-4 win.

Stanford will return to the pool on Saturday, when it hosts No. 8 UC Irvine at 1 p.m. at Avery Aquatics Center.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Top three matchups: Stanford vs. Kansas State https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/01/top-three-matchups-stanford-vs-kansas-state/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/09/01/top-three-matchups-stanford-vs-kansas-state/#respond Fri, 02 Sep 2016 04:47:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1116907 Jordan Willis, DE (Sr.) vs. A.T. Hall, RT (Jr.) A senior defensive lineman, Jordan Willis will look to take advantage of any inexperience or lack of chemistry displayed by the Cardinal’s offensive line. As one of the elite pass-rushers in the Big 12, he led the Wildcats with 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss […]

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Jordan Willis, DE (Sr.) vs. A.T. Hall, RT (Jr.)

A senior defensive lineman, Jordan Willis will look to take advantage of any inexperience or lack of chemistry displayed by the Cardinal’s offensive line. As one of the elite pass-rushers in the Big 12, he led the Wildcats with 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss in 2015. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Willis will be directly facing newcomer A.T. Hall, who has taken over Casey Tucker’s position at right tackle with the latter moving to the left side. Hall will have to step up to limit the potency of Willis, a pick for the Preseason All-Big-12 team and the Wildcats’ leading sacker from 2015, to protect quarterback Ryan Burns in his first career start.

 

Byron Pringle, WR (So.) vs. Alijah Holder, CB (Jr.)

After moving up from Butler Community College this past season, Byron Pringle’s performance during camp was so impressive that he’s usurped all of the other guys at the position to become the Wildcats’ No. 1 wide receiver, providing Kansas State a much-needed deep threat. It’ll be a solid challenge for Alijah Holder, the Cardinal’s No. 1 cornerback from the young group (that has only one senior on the entire roster). The flashes of brilliance Holder showed last year (a pick-six against UCLA, shutting down JuJu Smith-Schuster during the Pac-12 Championship) serve as a preview of what he’s capable of in the top CB spot.

 

Bill Snyder vs. David Shaw

Stanford Stadium will welcome one of college football’s most legendary coaches, Bill Snyder, Friday evening. With him will be a Kansas State team that is sure to be prepared and have some sneaky weapons in tow (the Wildcats have the best special teams unit in the country, with the most non-offensive touchdowns in the nation since 1999). On the other side, David Shaw will be striving to direct the team away from back-to-back lackluster season-opening performances. All eyes will be on him as the team’s new offensive line and quarterback debut, with expectations that he builds upon his creative play-calling from 2015.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Football preview: Linebackers https://stanforddaily.com/2016/08/28/football-preview-linebackers/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/08/28/football-preview-linebackers/#respond Sun, 28 Aug 2016 21:04:07 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1116807 Compared to other positions, there are perhaps the most question marks surrounding the Cardinal’s linebacker unit going into the 2016 season. That being said, the linebackers have the potential to be a solid crew that helps this year’s Cardinal defense become one of the best in recent memory.

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This is the eighth of a 12-part preview of the 2016 football season. Part 1 focused on the running backs and fullbacks. Part 2 featured a roundtable on the offense. Part 3 focused on the tight ends and receivers. Part 4 focused on the offensive line. Part 5 focused on the quarterback. Part 6 featured a roundtable on the defense. Part 7 discussed the defensive line.

In a nutshell

Compared to other positions, there are perhaps the most question marks surrounding the Cardinal’s linebacker unit going into the 2016 season. That being said, the linebackers have the potential to be a solid crew that helps this year’s Cardinal defense become one of the best in recent memory.

The unit, however, will undeniably look and work differently than it has over the past few years. For one, there will be no Blake Martinez, nor Kevin Anderson, two rocks of the defense who wrecked havoc on opposing offenses in seasons past. (Martinez’s production in particular will be very difficult to make up for; he alone had 140 tackles last season.) Along with these departures, the competition at both linebacker positions, particularly inside linebacker, has been pretty even.

The result: Linebackers will rotate through much more frequently than in recent years.

“Going in, I don’t know if we necessarily wanted that,” said defensive coordinator Lance Anderson. “At that position [inside linebacker], we hoped there would be a couple of guys that stepped forward and maybe one or two we roll in after that…But it’s been so competitive and so close that there’s about six guys right now who are all going to rotate through.

“At some point during the season, we may pare that down a little bit,” the coach added. “Right now, everything’s so close that we’re going to have to rotate guys through and see what they do in games.”

Kevin Palma and Jordan Perez, who split time with each other last season alongside Blake Martinez, are two of the more experienced returning inside linebackers and, if they progress as expected, could carve out prominent roles this season among the relatively inexperienced unit. They also could share time with Bobby Okereke who, after a quiet first year on the Farm, has markedly developed over the spring and summer to earn a spot in the rotation. Similar parity has left Noor Davis, Sean Barton and Craig Jones competing for playing time.

The outside linebacker situation is more settled, with senior captain Peter Kalambayi, the team’s leading returning tackler, and junior Joey Alfieri likely taking the top two spots. Behind those two guys will likely be senior Mike Tyler, who impressed on the limited reps he saw last season, and sophomore Casey Toohill, who redshirted his first year but has had a strong offseason and is expected to see the field this fall.

Having such a large rotation has its drawbacks, sure. More people rotating in means less reps for each individual and may prevent defenders from getting into a rhythm. At the very least, it does show the depth that Stanford has in the linebacker unit.

Joey Alfieri (32)
Junior Joey Alfieri (right) appeared in all 14 of Stanford’s games last season, during which he notched 40 tackles and 7 for a loss. Along with teammate Peter Kalambayi, Alfieri is expected to start as one of the Cardinal’s outside linebackers in 2016. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Who’s returning?

Peter Kalambayi (OLB) – While many aspects of the Cardinal’s linebacker usage remain in question, there is one certainty: Peter Kalambayi. Kalambayi started all of last season’s games and is the leading returning tackler from the linebacker corps (he had 52 in 2015). His leadership on the field is also of note, as he was named one of the team’s five captains for the upcoming season. The senior has already racked up a few preseason awards (he has spots on the Phil Steele All-Pac-12 preseason first team, Athlon All-Pac-12 preseason second team, and the Butkus Award watch list).

This season, however, the Cardinal defense may expect more from Kalambayi than in years past. His pass rush hasn’t been as much of a factor as it was for other Cardinal outside linebackers in recent years. (For example, Trent Murphy had 25 sacks in his final two years on the Farm, while Chase Thomas had 16 in his. Kalambayi, on the other hand, only notched 4.5 last season after a meager 6.5 in 2014.) With a more experienced secondary behind him, this year is as good as any for Kalambayi to help bring back Stanford’s aggressive pass rush that used to rank among one of the best in the nation.

Joey Alfieri (OLB) – Kalambayi won’t be completely alone in heading the outside linebacker unit. Junior Joey Alfieri returns for the 2016 with a year’s experience under his belt, during which he split time with Kevin Anderson and gained extra reps when the then-fifth-year senior went down with an injury. Lance Anderson seems pleased with Alfieri’s progress over the past year and his performance during training camp, progress that will be necessary to replace the instinctual run support of Kevin Anderson.

Mike Tyler (OLB) – Tyler’s stats might not pop out on paper (17 tackles in 12 games played last season) but he made sure to make his presence known when he did get on the field last season. He was second on the team in sacks with five despite seeing limited playing time, which, coupled with a strong offseason, suggests a promising year for the senior. Just take the word of the pulse of The Daily’s football coverage, Do-Hyoung Park: “He’s my second pick for breakout player on defense this year. He’s so good.”

Kevin Palma (ILB) – The Cardinal will look to Kevin Palma, the most experienced returning inside linebacker, to run a tight ship on the field in 2016. Hansen recently called Palma “one of our field generals,” and following the Spring Game David Shaw said he has “really stepped his game up.” Palma enters the season with 44 tackles in tow from 2015, including eight games with at least three tackles, after having split time with Perez last season.

Jordan Perez (ILB) – Whereas six-foot-two, 251-pound Palma has typically played with better gap integrity in run support, the lighter Jordan Perez did better last year against slot receivers and covering 4-WR and 5-WR sets. He’s also put on some weight during the offseason, which could make him a more versatile linebacker this fall.

Noor Davis (ILB) – Davis was sidelined for the first half of the 2015 season with a lower leg injury, but came back to appear in seven games. It was a sort of microcosm for his career: Despite high expectations that tagged Davis, a four-star recruit, as having the potential to become one of Stanford’s next great inside linebackers, he hasn’t been able to fulfill that dominant role due to injuries. This year, assuming he’s able to remain healthy and can stand out among the rest of the competition at the position, could be a step in the right direction for Davis. He’s one of the older ones in the linebacker unit (one of the few fifth-year seniors, and, if he can take advantage of his physicality and improve his on-field vision, could carve out a sizable roll on the defense.

Craig Jones (ILB) – What stands out about Jones is more than the way he plays the game. Coaches have cited him as someone they can just trust to have out on the field. Whether it be on the scout team or special teams, Jones, a former walk-on, has worked ferociously to earn playing time and the respect of his peers, leading Coach Shaw to reward him a scholarship last season. Along the way, he has become one of the team’s more reliable special teams players and could see time in the inside linebacker rotation this fall.

So. cornerback Alameen Murphy (23) and Fr. inside linebacker Mustafa Branch (31) / Photo by Sam Girvin
After impressing on special teams, sophomore Mustafa Branch (left), who has been lauded for his instincts, could see increased time this season in the rotation for inside linebacker. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Newcomers to watch for:

Sean Barton (ILB) – Sure, Barton hasn’t seen a snap on the field in his Cardinal career (he redshirted this past season after he arrived back from his two-year LDS mission to Benin), but that hasn’t stopped the coaching staff from singing his praises. His instincts and physicality, along with a solid offseason (he impressed in the Spring Game with 7 tackles, second-best on the team), may help earn him some playing time this season. Once he sharpens his technique, he could eventually be part of the Cardinal’s answer to replace Blake Martinez’s production.

Mustafa Branch (ILB) – After seeing time on special teams (and offense!) last year as a true freshman, Branch is in the mix for playing time at inside linebacker. His greatest strength? Hansen has called him the “most instinctive of our inside backers.” That being said, his small stature (five-foot-11) could be a limiting factor in his progression.

Bobby Okereke (ILB) – Okereke’s 7 tackles in 11 games last season may not look too exciting, but what should speak louder than last year’s results is his progress report from the offseason. Although he was already one of the best athletes in the group, the coaching staff was looking for Okereke to learn the scheme in order for him to be featured in playing time discussions. And he did just that this offseason. Hansen said he “may have had the best spring of anybody,” as he not only developed physically but was also able to grasp the scheme, making him a much more consistent player on the field and someone the coaching staff can choose to rotate in with greater confidence.

Curtis Robinson (OLB) – While there will surely be some players who earn playing time in front of him this season, keep a look out for Robinson over the next few years. The freshman, a four-star recruit, was a consensus top-10 outside linebacker and, after some more time under Lance Anderson and Shannon Turley, could emerge as a strong edge rusher for the Cardinal.

Sr. inside linebacker Blake Martinez (4) / Photo by Sam Girvin
A piece of the Cardinal defense the team will greatly miss in 2016 is Blake Martinez, who last season recorded a whopping 140 tackles, good for fifth-best in the nation. Questions have emerged over who will replace Martinez at inside linebacker, and it is likely that a rotation of up to six players could be used, at least at the beginning of the season. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Key departures

Blake Martinez (ILB) – If there’s one player on defense who Stanford will miss the most this season, it very well may be Blake Martinez. The inside linebacker and 2015 captain has moved onto bigger and better things (i.e. smashing men on Sundays after he was picked in the fourth round by the Green Bay Packers), but it may take awhile for a linebacker as talented as Martinez to make his way into a Cardinal uniform. Martinez’s 140 tackles last season not only led the team, but were over 30 more than Shayne Skov and AJ Tarpley ever had in a season at Stanford, and were also fifth in the nation.

Kevin Anderson (OLB) – Another graduation loss the Cardinal were hit with was that of Palo Alto native and outside linebacker Kevin Anderson. The captain and two-time All-Pac-12 honorable mention played in every game sophomore, junior and senior years before being hindered by injuries in 2015, keeping him out of four of Stanford’s 14 games. Nonetheless, he proved to be a valuable part of the Cardinal’s pass rush unit and recorded 40 tackles in 10 games. After initially signing with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent, he was released and picked up (and then released) by the Steelers.

 

Depth chart for Kansas State (released Sunday, Aug. 28)

OLB

Peter Kalambayi

Casey Toohill

 

OLB 

Joey Alfieri

Mike Tyler

 

ILB

Kevin Palma

Noor Davis

Mustafa Branch 

 

ILB

Bobby Okereke

Sean Barton

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford Olympians bring home a record 27 medals https://stanforddaily.com/2016/08/22/stanford-olympians-bring-home-a-record-27-medals/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/08/22/stanford-olympians-bring-home-a-record-27-medals/#respond Mon, 22 Aug 2016 12:00:56 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1116735 The 2016 Summer Olympics officially came to a close on Sunday, and with it, 39 past, present and incoming Stanford athletes will return from Rio de Janeiro after having represented 10 countries in the games. Sixteen Stanford athletes earned a school-record 27 medals across 20 Olympic events, ranging from swimming relays to the pole vault. […]

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The 2016 Summer Olympics officially came to a close on Sunday, and with it, 39 past, present and incoming Stanford athletes will return from Rio de Janeiro after having represented 10 countries in the games. Sixteen Stanford athletes earned a school-record 27 medals across 20 Olympic events, ranging from swimming relays to the pole vault.

Women’s swimming:

Stanford’s contingent in women’s swimming dominated the Rio Games. Incoming freshman Katie Ledecky captured national attention as she became the second woman ever to sweep the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle events in the same Olympics. After anchoring the silver-medal earning 400-meter freestyle relay team — which also boasted Stanford teammates junior Simone Manuel and senior Lia Neal — Ledecky’s first individual medal came in her record-breaking 400 free. She followed that up with a victory in the 200 free and then another gold and world record in the 800 free, in which she jumped out to a huge lead and beat the silver medalist by 11 seconds. Ledecky’s quintet of medals, a record for a Stanford affiliate in the Olympics, also included a gold in the 800 free relay.

Ledecky wasn’t the only Cardinal swimmer to make headlines. Participating in her first and only Olympics, Maya DiRado ’14 came away from Rio with four medals, including three individual medals. DiRado’s first gold came from the 800 free relay, but her other gold, in the 200 meter backstroke, came with extra meaning: She earned it in what will likely be the final race of her career, beating the favorite, Katinka Hosszu from Hungary, by six hundredths of a second. Her other two medals came from the 400-meter IM (silver) and 200-meter IM (bronze).

After helping Team USA win the 400 medley relay, Simone Manuel made history when she became the first African American to receive an individual medal in swimming with her first-place finish in the 100-meter free. She capped off her Olympic moment with two silvers in the 50-meter free and the 400 free relay.

Women’s water polo:

Coming off of a gold medal win in the London Olympics, people had high expectations for the U.S. women’s water polo team going into Rio — expectations that the squad met if not surpassed. Across their fives games of competition, the women outscored opponents by a 73-31 margin, including a 12-5 onslaught against Italy in the gold medal match.

Captain Maggie Steffens ‘17 led all scorers in the tournament, totalling 17 goals, and was named MVP for the second Olympics in a row. Kiley Neushul ‘15 added 10 goals, including three in the final, while incoming freshman Makenzie Fischer scored seven and Melissa Seidemann ‘13 notched three. The quartet was responsible for 50 percent of Team USA’s goals during the tournament.

Volleyball:

One of the most celebrated Olympians of our time and the most decorated beach volleyball player ever, Kerri Walsh Jennings ‘00 paired up with April Ross for the Rio Games after the retirement of Walsh Jennings’s former partner, Misty May Treanor. Walsh Jennings, a three-time gold medalist, lost the first Olympic match of her career in the semifinals against Brazil’s second-seeded pair, but she and Ross bounced back to secure a bronze medal. The bronze marked Walsh Jenning’s fourth consecutive Olympic medal.

On the indoor volleyball court, Foluke Akinradewo ‘09 helped lead Team USA to its third consecutive medaling in volleyball, as the team won bronze after finishing 7-1 in the tournament. It was the second Olympics for Akinradewo, a middle blocker, who, after suffering from an injury during the semifinals, returned for the bronze-medal match and contributed 13 kills, 2 blocks and an ace.

Brothers Erik and Kawika Shoji (‘12 and ‘10, respectively) were part of the U.S.’s medal-earning squad that came back from a 0-2 set deficit against Russia to win bronze, only the second time the U.S. men have medaled since 1992. Erik started the entire tournament as the team’s libero.

Fencing:

No American fencer had medaled in Olympics for 32 years prior to Rio. And for foil, it had been even longer (56 years). But Alex Massialas ‘16 made sure to change that. After advancing to the finals with a 15-9 semifinal victory over Great Britain’s Richard Kruse, Massialas fell to Italy’s Daniele Garozzo, 15-11. But his defeat in the finals still earned him a historic silver medal. The success kept on coming for the two-time Olympian; he was also part of the U.S. trio who won bronze in team foil, the first time the U.S. had won a medal in the event in 84 years.

Rowing:

Elle Logan ‘11 rowed in the seven seat on her way towards helping Team USA’s women’s eight win the eight A Final. With the team’s first-place finish, Logan became the first female rower to win three Olympic golds. The U.S. women’s eight has been utterly dominant, in fact unbeatable, over the last 10 years, with Logan being part of the senior team since 2008.

Track and field:

Katerina Stefanidi ‘12 beat out Team USA’s Sandi Morris in the pole vault after clearing 4.85 meters. Her victory made her the first Cardinal woman to win an Olympic track and field event in Stanford history. She was also the only Cardinal to medal for a country other than America, as she represented Greece during the games. She earned Greece’s first medal in track and field since the country hosted the Games in 2004.

Equestrian:

While equestrian is not a varsity sport at Stanford, the school can now say it is home to an Olympic medalist in the sport: Lucy Davis ‘15. Davis and her three teammates earned the U.S. a silver medal in team show jumping, sandwiched by gold-medalist France and bronze-medalist Canada. Davis and her horse, Barron, performed particularly well leading up to the final round, earning zero penalty points.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Strong side: Mission, faith help shape Dallas Lloyd into team leader https://stanforddaily.com/2016/06/09/strong-side-mission-faith-help-shape-dallas-lloyd-into-team-leader/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/06/09/strong-side-mission-faith-help-shape-dallas-lloyd-into-team-leader/#respond Fri, 10 Jun 2016 06:04:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1116075 Lloyd is used to being the odd one out on the team itself. He’s a Mormon, the only married player on the team and a former missionary who spent two years in Chile before coming to Stanford.
But it’s those very idiosyncrasies that have shaped him into the football player he is today, someone who deserves to be up on that billboard.

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If you take a drive down the 800 block of El Camino Real, it’s impossible to miss the massive billboard at the road’s intersection with Galvez Street. On the billboard these days are close-up shots of four Cardinal football players in a row, uniformed but helmetless, their intense expressions obligating passersby to, as the billboard advertises, buy their season tickets for Stanford home games.

Working right to left, you have Solomon Thomas, expected to be the rock of the Cardinal’s defense this upcoming season; Michael Rector, the Cardinal’s primary returning wide receiver; Heisman finalist Christian McCaffrey, the face of Stanford football after becoming the spark of the offense; and on the far left, rising fifth-year senior, safety Dallas Lloyd.

Lloyd may appear to be the odd one out on this billboard. While he was the team’s primary strong safety last season and played in all 14 games, he’s not as lethal on defense as Thomas, not as dominant or illustrious as McCaffrey (though no one really is) and probably not as well-known as Rector.

Beyond the billboard, Lloyd is used to being the odd one out on the team itself. He’s a Mormon, the only married player on the team and a former missionary who spent two years in Chile before coming to Stanford.

But it’s those very idiosyncrasies that have shaped him into the football player he is today, someone who deserves to be up on that billboard.

***

Most of the 11,000 football players across the 128 FBS schools follow a similar path: Get recruited, sign with a school, show up to college the summer after you graduate from high school to prepare for the fall football season and, if you’re lucky, earn some playing time right off the bat.

A small fraction of these players — 147 from last year’s FBS teams — deviate from the norm: They put their football careers aside and went on two-year missions before heading off to college.

The vast majority of these former missionaries go to school at BYU, Utah State or Utah, though 11 of them play at Pac-12 schools (specifically Stanford, Oregon State, Arizona and Arizona State). Six of the 147 former missionaries are in school out in California, and three of those six — rising junior Brandon Fanaika, rising sophomore Sean Barton and Lloyd — are at Stanford.

Unlike that of other schools that were recruiting him, Stanford’s coaching staff was supportive of Lloyd’s decision to spend two years on a mission before arriving at the Farm; thus, while Lloyd, recruited as a quarterback, was part of the 2010 signing class, he wouldn’t come to Stanford until 2012.

After getting past the recruiting hurdle, the challenges had just begun for Lloyd.

While some missionaries get called to serve within the United States, others, such as Lloyd, spend their two years in a foreign country. He was initially excited to have been matched with a Spanish-speaking country, since he knew some Spanish.

“When we landed in Chile, I got off the plane with all these other missionaries from the United States. We heard people speaking Spanish and I was like, ‘This is not what they taught me in the United States … this is not Spanish. This is not ok,’” Lloyd said. “I couldn’t understand anything.”

Along with not being able to see his family for two years, he was allowed to email his loved ones just once a week, on Mondays, for only an hour. No phone calls, texts or social media were permitted throughout the mission, though he could Skype his family twice a year, on Christmas and on Mother’s Day.

There was no one with whom Lloyd could throw around a football, and the areas where he lived did not have any gyms. Instead, his workouts consisted of running through the streets in the early morning before his studies started at 8:30 a.m. He had to convince his companion, a person he’d be paired with for as little as six weeks or as long as three months, to come along for his morning workouts, even if the companion had no desire to work out.

The missionaries would spend nine hours a day talking to Chileans on the streets, trying to teach them about Mormonism, but they were not typically well-received. While some Chileans would kindly decline to speak with them, others would tell them to get lost (“gringo, go home”). People would often invite the missionaries to their homes but would be absent when they arrived later that day.

Stray dogs would chase after the missionaries — there was a running joke that you couldn’t complete your mission without being bitten by one of them. At one point Lloyd couldn’t sleep for two weeks because he was so uncomfortable from the fleas that were eating him alive at night. People would throw rocks at Lloyd and the other missionaries, and once, a group of teenagers spat on him.

“It was so hard. It was so hard, looking back on it…” Lloyd said. “If you can go on a mission for two years, you can do anything.”

***

Spending two years on a mission instead of coming straight to Stanford seemed at first to be a setback for Lloyd’s football career.

Lloyd arrived at the Farm for the 2012 season, one year removed from the Andrew Luck era. As Kevin Hogan earned the starting quarterback job from then-starter Josh Nunes, Lloyd did not see any action. Things weren’t much better his sophomore year: He got the ball twice in the Cardinal’s first game of the season against San Jose State — the first time in the second quarter, rushing for 7 yards, and the second time fumbling the ball early in the fourth. After that, he would appear in six other games and only get the ball four more times in 2013, recording 26 total rush yards on the season. He never passed the ball that year.

“It was really frustrating,” Lloyd said. “I was upset at myself and I let these thoughts of doubt come into my mind, like, ‘If I [hadn’t] gone on a mission, then I would have been able to come straight to Stanford.’”

With Hogan’s spot at quarterback seemingly secured for the next two years and Lloyd’s prospects not looking promising, Lloyd even considered transferring from Stanford.

“I realized they were all just excuses,” he said. “They were justifying the fact that I wasn’t getting it done.”

“It’s really sad that those two years, the best two years of my life, became an excuse for why I was so frustrated,” he added. “Looking back, it had nothing to do with those two years. I was a better person and football player because of those two years.”

Instead of choosing to transfer or spend the remainder of his career on the bench, Lloyd turned his efforts to finding an alternate way to get on the field and contribute towards the team’s success: He would make the switch from offense to defense — from quarterback to safety — in his junior year.

After having finally gotten a grasp of Stanford’s offensive playbook, considered one of the most complex in college football, Lloyd had to completely switch gears and start over, learning new techniques, changing his diet, turning to film and relying on his older teammates — “Jordan Richards was the best. I had so many questions… He was so annoyed with me, I’m sure.” — to show him the ropes.

“It was really hard,” Lloyd said. “I hadn’t backpedaled since high school — which was like five years ago. I felt like a freshman again.”

Defensive backs coach Duane Akina, who had had experience coaching players who transitioned from offense to defense, came to Stanford at around the same time that Lloyd made the switch and helped him get used to his new position. Former Cardinal and NFL greats Richard Sherman and John Lynch, who both switched from offense to defense during their careers, offered their advice and helped him realize that his offensive foundation would not go to waste — in fact, it could actually be used to better analyze opposing offenses.

After playing in nine games as a junior, Lloyd finally had the opportunity in 2015 to make a name for himself: He appeared in all 14 games and, with fellow former offensive teammate Kodi Whitfield, filled the role of the Cardinal’s primary safeties. Lloyd’s 55 tackles were third-best on the team behind NFL-bound Blake Martinez and Aziz Shittu.

“I just felt like it was all meant to be,” Lloyd said. “I knew just like anything else that my experience was going to be what I made it.

“The platform was there and the work was there for me,” he added. “I just took advantage of it.”

***

Before he decided to go on a mission, Lloyd had reached a point where he knew he was at a crossroads with his faith: He was either in or out.

“I reflected upon the experiences I’d had in my life … the best moments that I’ve had, which have been when I’ve been serving other people or loving other people,” Lloyd said. “Despite all the trials and the [internal] storm that was going on, I felt peace and happiness deep down inside when I believed in Jesus Christ and when I tried to follow Him.”

And that’s why, despite all the difficulties from those two years, going on his mission was one of the best times of Lloyd’s life.

“From the outside, I wasn’t getting anything out of it,” Lloyd said. “But every day, you go out and you talk to people on the streets, you get to know them, you ask if you can come teach them. You talk to them about their families, you go into their homes and see what they’re like. It was the most amazing thing.”

Along with the people the missionaries would approach on the street, they got to know Chilean Mormons. The Chileans would have them over for lunch, their biggest meal of the day, or would come over for “family home evenings,” once-a-week get-togethers that allowed the Chileans to get to know the missionaries and learn more about Mormonism.

The missionaries wouldn’t have to teach the Chileans about their faith to serve them: Lloyd recalls weeding a woman’s yard for the entire day, even though she said she didn’t want to hear anything about Mormonism.

“Literally, it’s 24/7, you’re just focused on helping other people,” Lloyd said.

One day in particular stands out to him: Six families had signed up for appointments for the afternoon, but when Lloyd and his fellow missionaries arrived at their homes, no one was there. The same day, a stray dog had attacked one of the guys Lloyd was with, and people had thrown rocks at the group. They were about to go home but took a minute to pray, asking to find someone that they could help as the day closed. They looked up when they were done and saw on the street ahead a single house with its light on.

They approached the house and called out to see if anyone was home. A woman peeked out the window and her eyes went wide; she explained to the missionaries that she had just been praying for help — her husband was planning to leave her and her young son the following day.

“There were moments like that throughout my whole mission that made all of the days where horrible things happened or where nothing happened despite our hard work so worth it,” Lloyd said.

“That was probably the happiest period of time I’ve ever had.”

***

For his first two years at Stanford, Lloyd approached football in a way that is probably unrecognizable to most of his teammates today.

“My first two years here, I got really focused on myself and was really unhappy,” Lloyd said. “I [have] all these hard stories from my mission, but at the end of the day, those were two of the most happy years of my life because I wasn’t focusing on myself, I was focusing on other people. I finally had a wake-up call that that [also] applies to football.”

He figured out how to apply what he had found to be so beautiful about his mission — focusing on others instead of himself — to football: not simply by switching from quarterback to safety so he could contribute to the team, but by becoming a leader for the defense and the team as a whole.

“He definitely does everything in his power to make it so that other people are appreciated,” linebacker Noor Davis said. “He goes out of his way to help people.”

“He’s really our comfort blanket back there,” fellow safety Whitfield said. “He has the ability to calm everyone down if things aren’t going [well] and to inspire people.”

Lloyd even stepped up to become the holder for field goals this past season after kicker Conrad Ukropina asked him to assume the role with the graduation of former holder Ben Rhyne.

“He dedicated himself to it when he really didn’t have to. He was going to start at safety, regardless,” Ukropina said. “He doesn’t have to work that hard, but he does.”

Already during this offseason, Lloyd is one of two seniors who helped organize a meeting among the leadership of the team to discuss the mentality they want to have going into summer workouts and ways in which to better help the younger players prepare for the upcoming season. He’s also planning to hold casual film sessions for the defense throughout the summer. His teammates already speak of him as a strong possibility to be one of next season’s captains.

***

“If you apply too much of Mormonism to football when you’re on the field, you’re not going to get along very well,” Lloyd said. “You won’t stand a chance.”

That may be true to a certain extent — it’s difficult to apply the peace-loving tenets of Mormonism to a game as brutal as football. But the ways in which Lloyd’s faith has shaped him as a player — one who can respond to obstacles and come out better from them, one who constantly puts others before himself — are undeniable.

The parallels go deeper, too.

To Lloyd, Mormonism also offers a promise for what is to come after life on earth: a knowledge that he can be with his family — his wife Libby, his parents Casey and Angie, and his siblings Jake, Ellie and Savannah — and friends, forever.

“I think about all the relationships that I’ve built while I’m here on earth, and I don’t want those to end,” he said. “It just doesn’t feel natural, it just doesn’t seem right for all the knowledge that we’ve acquired, all the experiences that we’ve had, to come just to an abrupt end… I have hope in that.”

Those same relationships are what says he’ll most take away from his five years at Stanford.

“My teammates, I love them. They’re such amazing people,” Lloyd said. “My coaches, my classmates, all of them have just touched me, inspired my life.”

Lloyd names gratitude as one of the things that’s made him happiest.

“Whenever I’m complaining or moaning and groaning because of workouts, or because I’m waking up early, or because I have to eat healthy … I just need to take a step back and realize how amazing this is and how grateful I am to be able to run around, to have a body where I can play, to have coaches and teammates and [to spend] time with such amazing people on campus that I never would have met [otherwise].”

These moments often manifest themselves in the middle of football games.  

“I just have a second to look around, at the camera that’s floating down, to look at a hundred thousand fans and my teammates and the other team,” Lloyd said. “I just take a deep breath and just realize how beautiful this whole experience is and how lucky I am to be out there.”

***

In the final months of his mission, people told Lloyd that if he had worked his hardest and put his heart into everything he did, leaving would be one of the most difficult parts of the experience.

He doubted it. He was excited to finally see his family after two years, to get back to football and to start his life at Stanford.

But when he got on the plane to leave, he looked out the window at the Andes and started crying.

“I’d given my all for these people and had so many amazing experiences. And I didn’t want to go home,” he said. “I know it’ll probably be the same thing when I’m done here.”

Two years of his mission and four years of Stanford later, Lloyd finds himself nearing another ending: to his Stanford education and possibly his football career.

There’s plenty of work to do up until then: The players have a few weeks until their grueling summer workouts start, and then before they know it, the season will be underway. Lloyd, who has been accepted into a co-term program in the communications department, will return to the field as a fifth-year senior, looking to build upon his performance last season as he leaves his final mark on the Farm.

“I’m afraid to think about the day when it’s all said and done,” Lloyd said.

He pauses. “For now, I just want to leave my all. I want to have no regrets.”

He shifts from Stanford back to his mission — a transition he makes often, though one that seems natural, seamless. He describes how his last few months in Chile were the best because he worked his hardest and with the most urgency.

“I know the same thing is going to apply here,” Lloyd said. “I know it’s going to be the best seven months.”

His next two sentences are still about Stanford — but they are just vague enough that they might mean something more.

“I never want to leave. This is the best life.”

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Philippou: What this year in sports and sports journalism taught me https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/22/philippou-what-this-year-in-sports-and-sports-journalism-taught-me/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/22/philippou-what-this-year-in-sports-and-sports-journalism-taught-me/#respond Mon, 23 May 2016 05:02:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1115540 It’s truly hard to believe that with the quarter winding down, my sophomore year is coming to a close. This school year in particular will always stick with me. From September through January, I was The Daily’s managing sports editor, which was the most grueling yet rewarding experience I’ve ever had; it was the year I fell […]

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It’s truly hard to believe that with the quarter winding down, my sophomore year is coming to a close. This school year in particular will always stick with me. From September through January, I was The Daily’s managing sports editor, which was the most grueling yet rewarding experience I’ve ever had; it was the year I fell in love with college football, started spending way too much time on Twitter and tried to take my writing to the next level by becoming a columnist; overall, it was the year I realized that sportswriting is my passion and that I want to pursue a career as a sports journalist.

With The Daily’s weekly production winding down and my study abroad plans taking me off campus in the fall (abroad = D.C. — I’ll be participating in Stanford in Washington. Yes, I will be missing football season. Yes, I may be freaking out about it.), this will likely be my last column for awhile. While I could comment on this week’s hot issue or some topic relating to sports journalism, the sentimental side of me couldn’t help but take a look back at what I learned from this transformative year.

So without further ado: what this year in sports and sports journalism taught me about sports, myself and life.

1. It’s always worth asking instead of automatically assuming people will say no.

I used to fear that people, particularly professional athletes or journalists, would always say no if I asked to interview or meet up with them — probably because I thought they wouldn’t respond to a lowly college journalist like me. The prospect of being rejected or ignored made me nervous to reach out to these individuals, but by and large, I’ve found that all of this was in my head. If I had let this fear get the best of me, I would never have interviewed Christen Press after the World Cup or Josh Garnett after he had been drafted. I would never have thought to ask some of the sports journalists I look up to to get coffee and give me feedback on my stories. I wouldn’t have developed a go-getter mindset that pushes me to not be afraid of striving for what may seem unrealistic.

2. I am terrible at making sports bets.

I currently owe three different people Jimmy V’s meals from losing bets on the Ravens, Orioles and Stanford women’s tennis. I’d like to think I’m pretty good at predicting what happens with sports, but when there’s a meal on the line, I just need to stay away.

3. Twitter is fun, but don’t waste hours upon hours on it.

As much as I love Twitter, I cringe trying to estimate the hours I spend on it (instead of, you know, doing homework, getting to class on time, etc.). That being said, Twitter is a fantastic way to receive news and build a voice in sports media — the latter of which I’ve been trying to develop over the past few months. While Twitter and I won’t be breaking up anytime soon (especially when I’m in D.C. and will need a way to stay connected to Stanford sports from 3,000 miles away), I want to make sure I never forget that the ethos of sports is not on Twitter, but in the people and teams we cover.

4. Impulsivity can turn out to be a really, really good thing.

I was in the press box at the Pac-12 Championship game when I pulled up Stanford men’s soccer’s quarterfinal game against Wake Forest on my laptop. Five seconds later, Stanford scored the game-winning goal in OT to send the team to the College Cup (the Final Four). Another 10 seconds later, I texted The Daily’s COO to see if we had the money to send me to Kansas City (Missouri) to cover the team. A few hours later, I sent my parents a text somewhere along the lines of “Can’t believe we beat USC! Also, can I go to Missouri for the men’s soccer final four?”

A few days later, I sat in the airport on my way to Missouri and started to question my decision. I was costing The Daily hundreds of dollars to go, alone, to Kansas City and was risking going all the way there for less than 12 hours if the team were to lose in the semis … and I probably could’ve just watched the game from the comfort of my home. What had I gotten myself into?

Turns out I had gotten myself into the midst of history: Stanford — the eight-seed in the tournament — would go on to win its semifinal game in PKs and then crush Clemson in the national championship game, earning the program its first-ever national title.

I could have just watched and written recaps of the games from my couch. But then I would have missed out on some amazing BBQ, witnessing in person the team I had covered since preseason win the NCAA championship and giving head coach Jeremy Gunn a hug after the game (he went for the handshake, I went for the hug … this may have crossed some professional boundaries, but totally worth it). I wouldn’t trade any of that for my couch.

5. It’s ok to be that annoying girl who always takes pictures, because you can end up with pics like these, and that’s totally worth it.


IMG_5045

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6. Tell the tough story, especially if it sheds light on something that you think is wrong.

In a recent conversation with a colleague of mine, I realized that not enough of sports journalism, including the journalism at this paper, tells the tough stories, or the ones that may make certain people or programs look bad. Part of this phenomenon is rooted in the fear that such negative press will cause teams to cut off an outlet’s access. I think at the college journalism level, however, it’s more of a matter of having your peers — who may be your friends off the field or with whom you became friends through your coverage — turn on you if you report something unfavorable. 

This tendency of sports journalism has bothered me for a while now, yet when I had an opportunity to do my first real critical piece on Stanford Athletics — in which I called for the softball coach to be fired — I’d be lying if I said I  wasn’t paranoid (though perhaps irrationally so, since there hasn’t been precedent) that I’d receive pushback from the athletics administration. And this was a piece in which I argued for something better for student-athletes.

As a journalist, it’s scary to write things that make people look bad, especially if you have professional or personal ties to them. But it’s important to remember that that’s why you’re there and that what you’re saying is important — and that otherwise, it might not be said at all.

7. Don’t be deterred by what’s wrong with the world; try to focus on what’s right.

In a lot of my columns, I’ve focused on how sports or sports journalism needs to improve, because as I immersed myself more and more into the industry, I began to see firsthand what was wrong with it. In turn, these realizations have sometimes made me hesitant to pursue a career as a sports journalist: How could I be a sports journalist if I want sports media to be more critical, yet so many journalists seem to be complacent with being mouthpieces for the teams they cover? Is this something I can reconcile if I choose such a career?

While these issues are important to recognize, my fear of them should not deter me from doing what I love. For one, there are signs that the industry is going in the right direction — some of the journalists I’ve talked to have reassured me that there’s a place for critical reporting in the industry. The emergence of prominent women in sports media such as Jessica Mendoza, Ramona Shelburne and Katie Nolan, just to name a few, has reminded me that I can make it in an industry that has been historically male-dominated. In addition, the support I have received from my colleagues at The Daily, readers and Twitter followers and even professional journalists has given me faith that while I may face roadblocks as I work to improve sports media, there will be more people along the way who try to raise me up than bring me down. And if I’m not happy about how things are, who’s to say that I can’t be the one to change them?

 

Going to miss Alexa Philippou? Send her a (temporary) farewell note at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu or follow her on Twitter at @alexaphilippou to keep up with her never-ending sports commentary.

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Huang, men’s golf place first at NCAA regionals https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/20/huang-mens-golf-place-first-at-ncaa-regionals/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/20/huang-mens-golf-place-first-at-ncaa-regionals/#respond Fri, 20 May 2016 08:27:38 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1115483 It could not have been a better week for Stanford men’s golf, as the team breezed to a first-place finish at the NCAA Tucson regional championships. The Cardinal’s top-five finish sent them to the NCAA championship at the end of the month, where they will be one of 30 teams to compete for the national […]

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It could not have been a better week for Stanford men’s golf, as the team breezed to a first-place finish at the NCAA Tucson regional championships. The Cardinal’s top-five finish sent them to the NCAA championship at the end of the month, where they will be one of 30 teams to compete for the national title. 

The Cardinal’s dominant performance — they finished 31 under par (274-284-275), with the next closest competitor finishing at -17 — was spearheaded by four players finishing in the top 10. In his first collegiate win, sophomore Franklin Huang beat out teammate Maverick McNealy, the No. 2 collegiate golfer in the nation, by two strokes with a 12-under-204.

“I had the putter going throughout the week, and it was nice to be able to go out and play knowing the rest of the guys would put up a good number,” Huang said.

Senior David Boote (-4) and sophomore Jeff Swegle (-3) came in at eighth and tied for ninth, respectively.

The only Stanford golfer to fall outside the top 10 was freshman Brandon Wu, who finished 6 over par and tied for 40th place.

The team’s win comes off its strong play over the past two months: After earning third place in the Goodwin at the end of March, Stanford swept the Western Intercollegiate in mid-April and a few weeks later came out on top in the Pac-12 championships, posting 29 strokes better than second-place Cal.

“I’m really excited that our team kept the momentum we have had over the past month,” head coach Conrad Ray said. “Franklin was stellar this week, along with many of his teammates who had chances to win today. The Gallery was very demanding, and doing well on a course like that creates confidence for what lies ahead at the NCAA championships.”

The Cardinal either won or came in second in each round, ensuring them a first-place lead over all three days. Stanford was able to jump out to a quick lead in the tournament, when it finished Monday with four golfers under par and besting second-place UAB by nine strokes. The team continued its success on Tuesday, going 4 under par to extend its lead, making Stanford one of two teams to finish under par on the day. On Wednesday, the Cardinal continued their momentum to complete their victory.

In addition to No. 1 Stanford, the other top four teams at the event — No. 24 Oregon (-17), No. 37 University of Alabama, Birmingham (-7), No. 13 California (-2) and No. 12 Wake Forest (-1) — advanced to the NCAA championships.

The Cardinal will have a little over a week to prepare for the NCAA championships, in which they will seek to bring home the program’s ninth national title and its first since 2007. Play will begin May 28 and wrap up Wednesday, June 1 and will take place in Eugene, Oregon.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu or Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Philippou: Give Hanson the axe https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/19/philippou-give-hanson-the-axe/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/19/philippou-give-hanson-the-axe/#comments Thu, 19 May 2016 08:56:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1115350 These score-lines are Stanford softball’s 24 conference losses from this past season -- the first time a Pac-12 school has gone winless in the sport since 1994. That’s right: The Cardinal ended their season with an 0-24 record in the Pac-12, as well as a 13-35 record overall. Furthermore, they were run-ruled in 10 of their 24 conference games, losing by 8 or more runs before the games were ended early by mercy rule.

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0-2. 2-11. 0-8.
1-15. 1-9. 2-3.
9-13. 0-8. 1-2.
3-5. 1-6. 0-8.
0-13. 6-8. 0-9.
1-10. 0-1. 5-11.
1-9 . 5-6. 4-10.
0-9. 2-5. 5-10.

These score-lines are Stanford softball’s 24 conference losses from this past season — the first time a Pac-12 school has gone winless in the sport since 1994.

That’s right: The Cardinal ended their season with an 0-24 record in the Pac-12, as well as a 13-35 record overall. Furthermore, they were run-ruled in 10 of their 24 conference games, losing by 8 or more runs before the games were ended early by mercy rule.

This season’s winless conference record comes on the heels of the program’s similarly disastrous 2015 campaign, in which the team ended the season 17-37 and 2-22 in conference, marking the program’s worst conference record since 1995. That is, until this year.

When looking at the past two years’ results out of context, some people may consider them a fluke, or believe that the players are simply “that bad.” But this is far from the case.

In her two years as head coach, Rachel Hanson has only amassed 30 wins over 102 games (30-72) and two wins in 48 conference games (2-46), a Pac-12 win percentage of less than 5 percent.

Stanford softball did not used to be this way. Prior to the 2015 season, the program had 18 consecutive winning seasons. Before 2014, the Cardinal had appeared in the NCAA Tournament for 16 consecutive years. In 2014, the team narrowly missed the tournament with a 30-25 record.

On Sunday, this year’s Cardinal watched every other Pac-12 team get selected for the NCAA Tournament, as Stanford was the only Pac-12 school not to qualify; last year, only Stanford and Oregon State sat out.

To put it simply, Hanson’s inability to win since arriving at Stanford two years ago is unacceptable for an athletic program that calls itself the “Home of Champions.” And this is why she should be fired.

At this point, Stanford Athletics has made no indication that Hanson will be replaced. When asked whether there had been any changes to the team’s coaching staff, Stanford Athletics told The Daily that “nothing has changed in regards to Rachel [Hanson] or the coaching staff’s status.”

Hanson’s tenure as head coach followed the resignation of former head coach of 18 years John Rittman in May 2015. As The Daily and other outlets reported, former softball players and parents approached Muir that month, bringing allegations — ranging from favoritism to NCAA violations to unresponsiveness regarding an inappropriate relationship between a trainer and a player — against him.

After hearing about the meeting, many players who were not in attendance called some of the allegations “petty” and others “merely silly.” The player accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with the trainer called the claims against her “disgusting and untrue.”

Following an investigation by the athletics department, which at least half of the team described as “not thorough,” Rittman announced his resignation. Hanson, who had previously coached at University of Dallas and Dartmouth College, was hired two months later.

Although Rittman has never discussed why he left Stanford and the University maintained that it is legally required to keep personnel matters confidential, SFGate attributed sources close to the athletic department with saying that “most Stanford teams are now expected to contend not just for postseason tournaments but for national championships.”

Under Hanson, softball has not come close to contending for either.

There are certain things about Hanson’s two years as head coach that on the surface could exonerate her lack of success.

Her two years at Stanford are arguably not a large enough sample size to justify her replacement. It sometimes takes time for a coach to establish his or her footing in a new program.

Two years of not simply mediocre but dreadful play, however, should be enough for any athletic director to remove a coach from her position. Firing a coach after one year of bad play may be considered impulsive; but doing so after two seasons, with the second one being worse, is legitimate and necessary at a place like Stanford.

And there is precedent for it: Before Jim Harbaugh rolled around to campus, Walt Harris went a combined 6-17 over two seasons before he was sacked as head coach of the football team.

While some people may point to the efforts of then-senior football players as being critical in forcing Harris’ removal, some softball players have already publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Hanson’s leadership.

In interviews with The Daily last year, three players said the following about Hanson and the program under her stewardship:

“If there was a freshman coming here, if I could let them know not to come, I would,” one said.

“Honestly, I don’t think Coach Hanson is qualified enough to be coaching at this level,” another said. “[She’s] in over her head.”

“The sad thing is, a recruit is coming here in the hopes of elite athletics and prestigious academics,” a third player said, “not knowing that they are about to sacrifice so much for so little.”

It is unlikely that a winless conference campaign has inspired greater confidence in her coaching abilities.

Even then, Hanson could blame the past two seemingly cursed years on other factors: the split among players over certain players’ involvement in Rittman’s resignation, which led to deep infighting on the team; lack of depth in the circle; or even a scarcity of talent that she had to work with.

None of these factors hold up when looked at more closely.

The Daily’s investigation of the team’s infighting found that most of the anti-Rittman players graduated after the 2015 season, suggesting that a split within the team was more likely a factor during Hanson’s first year as coach, rather than this season.

Having two pitchers this season did not reward the team with a lot of depth. Yet unlike last season, in which the team’s pitchers were plagued with injuries and position players had to take over in the circle, Stanford had two healthy starting pitchers in 2016 — and still couldn’t win a conference game.

Ironically, the team won more conference games last year with position players as pitchers than this season with its two starters.

In addition, the argument that Hanson had no talent to work with this year is far from the truth.

She had senior Kayla Bonstrom, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2013 and a second team All-American during her junior year.

She had junior Kylie Sorenson, an All-Pac-12 Second Team and All-Freshman Team selection during her freshman year, as well as a finalist for the NFCA Freshman of the Year award. Sorenson was also an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection in her sophomore year.

She had senior Jessica Plaza, who has previously played on the U.S. national team and was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection during her freshman and sophomore years.

Despite this talent, Stanford’s offensive performance has declined rapidly under Hanson’s leadership. After Hanson was hired, all nine starters from 2014 were maintained; yet in her first season as coach, the team’s batting average dropped from .316 in 2014, under Rittman, to .277. And while team dynamics could partially explain that drop, this year’s team batting average dropped another 40 points to .235.

She has also demonstrated an inability to develop incoming players. This year’s freshman and sophomore classes, comprising the players who have come into the program with her as the head coach, all hit below .240 this season. Everyone who hit above that standard (five players) had played at least one year under Rittman.

Hanson has also had her share of promising talent come into the program that has not developed under her guidance: Two former top-50 recruits from the sophomore class — recruits from Rittman, no less — hit under .200 this season.

Hanson’s incoming recruiting class of nine may seem as a sign that the program is moving in the right direction. But Hanson’s inability to develop new players and failure to take advantage of the talent she already has make the prospects of her reversing the crumbling trajectory of the program (for which she is at least partially responsible) inauspicious. (Not to mention that the recruits may stop coming or more players will quit if the failures of the past two years continue.)

Replacing Hanson might seem like an infeasible task and thus a reason to retain her for now — after all, who would want to take over at a program that seems to be in shambles? The very fact that Stanford softball could be that unappealing of a place to coach — particularly after years of success — is enough to prove the direness of the situation.

After going winless in conference, the team’s performance can only get better. And maybe as time goes on, things will improve for the team. But a coach that goes 2-46 in conference and 30-72 overall in her first two years at helm — and one who has demonstrated an inability to develop players to their full potential — suggests that the team’s record could improve, but not to the point at which it could seriously and consistently compete in the Pac-12, earn spots in NCAA Tournaments and contend for national titles.

***

In the best athletic program in the nation — one that has won 128 national titles and 21 Directors’ Cups, and one that has embraced all-around excellence as its defining standard — every sport and every student-athlete should be put in the position to succeed. Keeping Rachel Hanson as the head coach of the Stanford softball team would not ensure such success for the program.

It is not fair that the expectations of a winning culture cannot be promised to the student-athletes in every one of Stanford’s 36 varsity sports.

It is not fair that student-athletes who come to Stanford, expecting to compete in the NCAA Tournament and contend for national titles, are led by a coach who has won two conference games in two years.

And it is not fair that these softball players have to deal with such inadequacy in their collegiate playing experience — the zenith of their competitive careers, for which they worked so hard for so long to reach — and that the program’s profound failure will be part of their lasting memories of the sport they love. They deserve better.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Lacrosse ends season with 14-8 loss to USC in NCAA second round https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/17/lacrosse-ends-season-with-14-8-loss-to-usc-in-ncaa-second-round/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/17/lacrosse-ends-season-with-14-8-loss-to-usc-in-ncaa-second-round/#respond Tue, 17 May 2016 07:49:02 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1115165 They say that the third time’s the charm, but that proverb didn’t prove true Sunday afternoon in USC’s L.A. Memorial Coliseum, when No. 9 Stanford women’s lacrosse (15-5) fell to No. 5 USC (20-0) for the third time this season in the NCAA second round. The 14-8 defeat ended Stanford’s tournament run and its hopes for a […]

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They say that the third time’s the charm, but that proverb didn’t prove true Sunday afternoon in USC’s L.A. Memorial Coliseum, when No. 9 Stanford women’s lacrosse (15-5) fell to No. 5 USC (20-0) for the third time this season in the NCAA second round. The 14-8 defeat ended Stanford’s tournament run and its hopes for a first-ever trip to the Final Four.

Sophomore midfielder Dillon Schoen (22)
Dillon Schoen (above) was one of two Stanford players to score two goals apiece in the Cardinal’s second round match against USC, but the Trojans’ potent offense would prove to be powerful on the way to a 14-8 USC victory. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

In the program’s seventh appearance in the NCAA tournament, the Cardinal advanced to the second round — after beating James Madison 9-8 on Friday — for only the second time in school history, though both games ended in losses. With the win, USC became the first team from the MPSF to make it past the second round of the tournament.

While Stanford’s top three goal scorers were limited to a combined 3 goals — Kelsey Murray had two, Anna Salemo had one and Kelly Myers went scoreless — others stepped up to challenge the Trojan defense, which boasts the fewest goals allowed per game in the nation. Yet USC’s offensive explosion — which included hat tricks from three different players, including star Michaela Michael — would be the defining factor that lifted the Trojans over the Cardinal.

The Cardinal uncharacteristically struggled with draw controls in the first half, winning only four of 12 before Alexandra Crerend took over in circle after halftime. The switch helped Stanford win the ball off draw controls in second half (9 of 12). Stanford also struggled with turnovers, recording 8 in the second half alone and preventing it from establishing offensive rhythm.

Although USC scored first, Murray and Dillon Schoen gave Stanford a 2-1 edge with 22:42 to play in the half, the only lead the Cardinal would secure throughout the game. USC’s offense went into high gear after that point, as the Trojans responded with a 6-2 run to close the half, which included 5 unanswered goals over a span of 12 minutes. While Mackenzie Tesei and Salemo stopped some of the bleeding, getting Stanford back on the board with goals off a free-position shot and a man-up situation, USC would close out the half with a somewhat comfortable 3-point lead.

A goal from Alex Poplawski less than a minute after the second half started brought the Cardinal within two, the closest the team would get to catching up to the Trojans for the rest of the game. USC put together another string of 4 unanswered goals to stay ahead for good. While the teams traded goals over the final 17 minutes, the damage had been done, advancing the still-undefeated Trojans to a quarterfinal matchup against Syracuse and ending Stanford’s season.

Despite their early exit, the Cardinal ended the season with a top-1o ranking for most of 2016 as well as their second NCAA win in program history.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Crazy last-second goal sinks Stanford in national title match https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/16/crazy-last-second-goal-sinks-stanford-in-national-title-match/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/16/crazy-last-second-goal-sinks-stanford-in-national-title-match/#respond Mon, 16 May 2016 08:17:33 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1115153 For the second straight year, the women’s water polo national championship was decided by a single goal and a pivotal play in the final 15 seconds. Last year, Stanford came out on top, with Kiley Neushul netting the game-winning goal on a penalty shot following a controversial call. This year, the Cardinal weren’t as lucky.

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For the second straight year, the women’s water polo national championship was decided by a single goal and a pivotal play in the final 15 seconds.

Last year, Stanford came out on top, with Kiley Neushul netting the game-winning goal on a penalty shot following a controversial call.

This year, the Cardinal weren’t as lucky.

Despite a ferocious comeback that saw Stanford tie the game with 11 seconds left, USC’s Stephania Haralabidis fired the ball from nearly halfway across the pool — past the Stanford defense and goalie — into the top left corner with six seconds left on the clock. The goal handed USC an 8-7 championship win, dethroning the defending champion Cardinal and denying them a third straight title and a fifth in six years. The victory also completed the Trojans’ undefeated season, its second in program history.

“Just by force of will, to score those last two goals…That speaks volumes to the character of this team and to their resilience,” said head coach John Tanner after the game. “They never once thought for a second that we weren’t going to win.

“I loved how we kept fighting back. Their spirit was unreal.”

The Cardinal, which had lost to USC in the teams’ three previous meetings this season, saved their strongest performance against the Trojans for last.

While Stanford had only scored six, three and five goals against USC the first three times they played, the Cardinal were able to put together their best offensive performance yet in their attempt to derail the Trojans, netting seven goals — four on power plays — against a suffocating USC defense.

Stanford’s defensive effort, particularly Julia Hermann’s performance in goal, cannot be understated, either. The junior keeper recorded 11 saves in response to USC’s 27 shots, while Stanford’s defense held USC to only three first-half goals despite giving up seven of its 12 turnovers prior to halftime.

Things looked bleak for the Cardinal when USC’s Brianna Daboub put the Trojans ahead 7-5 with 52 seconds left in the final quarter, but out of a Stanford timeout, Hermann connected with Gurpreet Sohi off a long pass, which the senior passed off to freshman Kat Klass for a quick goal.

“Honestly, at that point, your instinct just kicks in,” said Sohi about the play. “I wasn’t thinking about a lot. I got a great pass from our goalie on my right hand, and I looked at the cage and then at Kat [Klass] and I knew what to do.”

A strong defensive stand and save by Hermann on the next play set up Klass for her second goal in that final minute, which she skipped past the USC defense and goalie to the tie the game and seemingly send the Cardinal into overtime.

Yet Haralabidis’ last-second heroics would produce the goal — her fifth of the day — that would define the 2016 NCAA Championship.

“Each time they needed a goal, [Haralabidis] delivered,” Tanner said. “She’s an Olympic-level player. She provided us with a ton of challenges today. That last goal was a sublime shot.”

After USC drew first blood with a goal less than two minutes after the start of the game, the Cardinal, via sophomore Shannon Cleary, responded with one of their own off a power play. USC would go up at halftime 3-2, but a goal from freshman Madison Berggren, the first of her brace, would tie things up at 3-3 with 5:32 to go in the third quarter.

USC would go on to score three of the game’s next five goals, keeping a minimum of a one-goal lead, leading up to Daboub’s shot with 52 ticks left in the fourth.

The Cardinal never led in the match, and prior to Klass’s goal with 11 seconds left, had only been tied with the Trojans for less than a minute, following Berggren’s goal early in the third quarter.

While Berggren and Klass contributed two goals apiece, some of the Cardinal’s main goal-producers from the rest of the season were limited: Junior Jamie Neushul, who led the team in goals going into the NCAA Tournament, was held scoreless on her three shots, while Sohi and junior Dani Jackovich were also shut down and only recorded a combined three shots.

Despite a heartbreaking last-second loss, Stanford got closer to winning the title than many water polo fans expected.

After several roster losses to graduation and Olympic training, the team struggled against some of the top competition in the regular season, recording losses to UCLA, California and two to USC before falling to the Trojans in the MPSF Championship.

The team’s five losses leading up to the NCAA Tournament were the most the program has given up since the 2008 season, but none of that mattered when the Cardinal arrived in Los Angeles, where they cruised past UCSB in the quarters, handedly took down No. 3 UCLA in the semifinals and competed until the final seconds against the clear favorites to win the national title, USC.

After several current and former Cardinal water polo players will compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Stanford’s squad will return to the pool in January, when it will compete for the program’s sixth national title.

 

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Philippou: Addressing the gender gap in sports journalism https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/16/philippou-addressing-the-gender-gap-in-sports-journalism/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/05/16/philippou-addressing-the-gender-gap-in-sports-journalism/#comments Mon, 16 May 2016 07:23:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1115132 The other day, I met with one of my favorite sportswriters, Stewart Mandel, at a local Starbucks to get advice on how to make it in sports journalism, since that’s what I’m fairly certain I want to do with my life these days. I left our meeting feeling super inspired, but there was something that […]

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The other day, I met with one of my favorite sportswriters, Stewart Mandel, at a local Starbucks to get advice on how to make it in sports journalism, since that’s what I’m fairly certain I want to do with my life these days. I left our meeting feeling super inspired, but there was something that made me feel a bit nervous to throw myself head-first into the world of sports media: the lack of female sportswriters in the industry.

The dearth of women sportswriters can partly be attributed to the lack of women in sports media as a whole — yet this gender disproportionality is even more acute when it comes to sportswriting. The most prominent women in sports media (think: Erin Andrews, Holly Rowe, Doris Burke, my beloved Katie Nolan) tend to not be writers, but are TV personalities or sideline reporters.

The 2014 Associated Press Sports Editors Racial and Gender Report Card shed light on the severity of the lack of female sportswriters: It gave APSE newspapers and websites their fourth consecutive “F” grade for gender hiring practices. Earning an “F” constitutes that no more than 22 percent of employees were women, but the actual statistic reflects an even more dire situation: Only 14.6 percent of sports staffs are made up of women, while only 9.6 percent of sports editors are women.

At many sportswriting meccas, women are not on staff or do not write the most important stories. For example, none of Sports Illustrated’s senior writers are women, and the content that women do contribute to the magazine often lacks substance compared to pieces written by men. Although ESPN The Magazine’s new editor-in-chief is a woman, men still overwhelm the magazine’s masthead, and online coverage of major sporting events, such as Super Bowl 50, across various publications remains dominated by male writers.

Calls for greater inclusion in sports media don’t simply have a basis in the fight for gender equality; they are business-driven, as well. More women than ever before are watching sports (and not just because they find the athletes attractive); in fact, 45 percent of NFL fans are women.

An evolving audience thus demands that more women sportswriters, and sports journalists, be included in the industry and contribute to the conversations at hand. Female sportswriters also have the opportunity to contribute different perspectives in their writing and reporting from their male counterparts, particularly when it comes to discussing sensitive topics such as domestic violence. Overall, diversifying content helps a publication separate itself from competitors.

To justify the lack of female sportswriters, some sports fans use the excuse that “women don’t play X sport, how can they possibly comment on/analyze it?” Not only do I think that argument is complete B.S. (and sexist… how often have you heard that argument used against a male commenting on a sport he hasn’t played before?), but sportswriters (female and male) tend to be trained journalists and not former athletes in the first place.

As an aspiring sportswriter, the lack of women sportswriters scares me — it makes me wonder whether I will be hired by a sports publication in the first place, or if I do, how I will fare, or make a name for myself, in an industry that’s overwhelmingly dominated by men. It’s discouraging, to say the least, but will not stop me from pursuing my dream.

Some sports journalists — mostly women, although some men — have called out this disparity in the past. But much of the conversation focuses on calling out the lack of women in the industry and why it’s important to address the issue, not necessarily where to go from here. Although the reasons why this trend is occurring are uncertain (statistics aren’t available to show whether publications simply aren’t hiring women sportswriters or whether women aren’t interested in this niche of sports media in the first place), that is not reason enough to not try to address this discrepancy.

Changing these numbers, especially in an economically struggling industry such as sportswriting, won’t come from sitting back and expecting things to get better over time; publications need to actively take on this issue, and it’s time for them to actually do something about it.

To include more women sportswriters on staff, journalism outlets should adopt a version of the Rooney Rule called the Ralph Wiley Rule that would require organizations to interview at least one woman for an open position. The policy would open the interview and hiring processes up to people that employers might not have considered or personally known. It doesn’t mirror affirmative action in the sense that hiring practices would not overtly favor women; employers would still be expected to hire the most qualified candidate, but rather, the policy seeks to include more women in the interview process, something that would ultimately lead to the hiring of more women.

News outlets should also take steps to actively recruit female sportswriters from college publications. To facilitate this process, publications can form partnerships with college journalism schools or college publications, which can benefit both aspiring sportswriters as well as the publications themselves.

Many former college athletes that go into sports media opt for the broadcasting route. To use a Stanford grad as an example, Jessica Mendoza, one of the best softball hitters in collegiate history, became the first woman in the booth for ESPN’s MLB broadcasts in 2015, and six months later was promoted to a full-time analyst for Sunday Night Baseball.

If publications can actively try to recruit collegiate athletes to produce written content, some of them will likely make their way into the field and add valuable and unique analysis and perspectives as former athletes. (Stanford’s own Ramona Shelburne is a fantastic example of a college-athlete-turned-sportswriter — if you haven’t read her stuff yet, you need to.)

Yet no progress in getting more women in the industry will occur if the environment that female sportswriters face does not improve. Eighty-five percent of women in sports media reported that sexual discrimination is a problem for women in sports media, 87 percent agreed that female sports journalists have a tougher job than male sports journalists and 60 percent reported that female sports journalists are not taken as seriously by fans/consumers as male sports journalists. These findings serve as factors that not only have pushed women to leave the industry, but also as reasons women do not want to join it in the first place.

The disrespect female sports journalists receive does not simply come from Internet trolls (as seen in the recently released #MoreThanMean video with Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro). It can come from athletes, coaches, team executives and even fellow journalists (I’ve experienced the latter myself). Sports media organizations must hold themselves and their employees more accountable to ensure that sexual discrimination and harassment are not tolerated in their workplaces and seek to support their employees when they are mistreated by individuals from the teams they cover.

Having to face this harassment if I choose to become a female sportswriter has made me question my potential career path — I firmly believe that I shouldn’t be demeaned for doing what I love. But for the treatment of women sports journalists to improve, there will need to be more women in sports media in the first place — in other words, women commenting on and analyzing sports must be normalized.

Without a doubt, women have made major strides in the sports media and sportswriting industries. It is important to keep in mind that decades ago, women were not even allowed in the locker room; women now have more opportunities than ever before to follow and excel at careers in sportswriting and sports journalism.

It would be naïve, however, to assume that there is not more progress to be made. For greater equality to be achieved, and to make the industry more appealing to hopeful female sportswriters such as myself, organizations will have to take a look at every aspect of the job process to ensure that women can get hired and also choose to stay in the industry.

 

Welcome Alexa to the Cameron Miller Club, a club dedicated to taking down injustices in sports one column at a time, at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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