Monday Memo #36: The Admissions Scandal and a New Issue of Stanford Politics Magazine
This year’s second issue of Stanford Politics Magazine is out now, available online everywhere and in print at various locations on campus today. And, of course, here’s your bi-weekly update.
Stanford Politics Magazine: April/May 2019
Description: Stanford Politics’ April/May 2019 magazine cover.
100 Years of Hoover: A History of Stanford’s Decades-Long Debate over the Hoover Institution
ROXY BONAFONT, EMILY LEMMERMAN, & LUCAS RODRIGUEZ
Description: Hoover Tower in black and white.
Image Credit: Stanford University Archive
In this issue’s cover story, senior staff writers Roxy Bonafont, Emily Lemmerman, and Lucas Rodriguez delve into the past, present, and future of one of Stanford’s most controversial and least understood entities: The Hoover Institution. Through interviews with key figures such as Provost Persis Drell and the institution’s Director, Thomas Gilligan, along with deep dives into university archives and past Hoover features from campus publications like The Daily, this piece aims to highlight recurring patterns in the debate surrounding Hoover while clarifying the institution’s role on our campus.
Testing the Peace: How Brexit Affects the Possibility, and Danger, of Irish Unification
NATHALIE KIERSZNOWSKI
Description: Two women walking past a mural commemorating the Troubles in Belfast.
Image Credit: Runemaker
In her second piece for Stanford Politics, Magazine Director Nathalie Kiersznowski discusses the potential impact of Brexit on Irish Unification.
Asian-America’s Diversity Problem
KYLE WANG
Description: A protestor holds up a sign that reads “Harvard Stop Asian Quota.”
Image Credit: WHOISJOHNGALT
In “Asian-America’s Diversity Problem,” Kyle Wang questions the label “Asian-American,” noting that this categorization often fails to represent all Asians.
Thinking Beyond ‘The Farm’: Rural Engagement and Stanford Admission
THOMAS PFEIFFER
Description: A farm in rural Nebraska.
Image Credit: Carol M. Highsmith / Wikimedia Commons
Stanford calls itself "The Farm," but does it live up to this name? In this piece, Thomas Pfeiffer highlights the disconnect between Stanford's engagement efforts with rural students and its self-proclaimed moniker.
Admissions saga continues, Stanford rescinds sophomore
Stanford has rescinded the acceptance of sophomore Yusi Zhao, whose family paid $6.5 million to consultant William Singer as part of the “sweeping college admissions fraud” scandal. That $6.5 million was “far more than any of the parents named in the case ... Neither she nor her parents, who live in Beijing, have been charged.”
According to The New York Times:
“At a court hearing in March, the lead prosecutor in the admissions case, Eric S. Rosen, said that Mr. Singer had tried to get Ms. Zhao — whom Mr. Rosen did not identify by name — recruited to the Stanford sailing team and created a false profile of her supposed sailing achievements. She was ultimately not recruited, but Mr. Rosen said that she was admitted to Stanford partly on the basis of those false credentials and that, after her admission, Mr. Singer made a $500,000 donation to the Stanford sailing program.”
Zhao is no longer a student here.
Director emeritus of Stanford University Press shares an insider’s perspective
“The near-execution of Stanford University Press is no surprise,” director emeritus Grant Barnes writes. “For years it has been on death row. A five-year plan, another five-year plan, an execution date, a reprieve … death by a thousand cuts. That’s what the university’s publishing business has been going through, and it represents the culmination of a process that began when I was director, during the 1980s and early ’90s.” Barnes attributes that attitude to the Stanford administration’s questionable enthusiasm for the humanities:
“To be a great university, the humanities and social sciences were needed but not necessarily central. Ditto for the university press.” And for the humanities and the press to recover from that neglect, “Stanford University Press has a long way to go to catch up to the reputation of its parent university. That was not the case in days of yore, and it will require removal from death row, years of hard work, and major investments to bring it back.”
And In Case You Missed It…
ASSU senate rejects "cumbersome" student org requirement (Barry / Stanford Review)
George Mason law prof explains why cuts to Stanford University Press are wrong (Somin / The Atlantic)
UVA grad, Rhodes scholar to attend Stanford Law School on Knight-Hennessy scholarship (Kelly / UVA Today)
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