Today Tomorrow
FEATURES/3
THE SENIOR
THESIS SHOW
THURSDAY
The Stanford Daily
May 19, 2011
Top Chef
Students sample and vote on dishes for the Top Chef competition at Sigma Nu. The sustainability-themed contest was held by Stu-
dent Organized Services and featured row staff and student cooks who vied to make the best risotto, salsa and amuse bouches.
NEWS BRIEFS
Police locate firearm
involved in Lag
shooting
By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF
The Stanford University Depart-
ment of Public Safety (SUDPS) is still
pursuing leads in the aftermath of the
May 14 shooting in the Lagunita
parking lot.
According to Stanford police ser-
geant Chris Cohendet, detectives are
following up on statements made by
witnesses and by the suspects who
were taken into custody the night of
the shooting.The suspects attempted
to speed away from authorities in a
vehicle, but were apprehended after
they exited the vehicle and fled on
foot. Police officers examined the
area where the suspects were de-
tained shortly thereafter.
“An officer canvassed the area
and located the handgun along the
path where the vehicle was resting,”
Cohendet said.
Initial statements from witnesses
described the handgun in question as
silver or black. The police found a
two-tone “black and silver handgun”
which seemed to correspond with
these statements, Cohendet said.
Cohendet stated that charges
have not yet been made since the in-
vestigation is still ongoing.At present,
the incident only appears to involve
the “illegal discharge of a firearm,”he
said.
— An Le Nguyen
Two students named
finalists at Student
Oscars
By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF
Stanford led the pack at the Stu-
dent Oscars with two winners,accord-
ing to a press release from the Acade-
my of Motion Picture Arts and Sci-
ences.Anthony Weeks and Theodore
Rigby — both M.F.A students —
were selected for the documentary
category.
Weeks’ film,titled “Imaginary Cir-
cumstances,” follows three actors
with disabilities who are currently
working in Hollywood as they ad-
dress their ongoing struggle for access
and inclusion.
Please see BRIEFS, page 5
Index Features/3 • Opinions/4 • Sports/6 • Classifieds/7
SPORTS/6
An Independent Publication
www.stanforddaily.com
STUDENT GOV’T
ASSU creates diversity board
Executive Community Board
to promote student groups
By ELENA STEPHENSON
ASSU President Michael Cruz ‘12 and
Vice President Stewart Macgregor-Dennis
‘13 are set to introduce the ASSU Executive
Community Board this year,a new body de-
signed to better address issues of diversity
and tolerance on campus.The organization-
al chart on their website places the new
Community Board on the same level as the
traditional Executive Cabinet.
“The main reason for the change is the
fact that diversity/tolerance is an important
issue, but ASSU has had a hard time pro-
ducing results,” wrote Emma Ogiemwanye
‘12, ASSU executive chief of staff, in an
email to The Daily. “The hope is that it will
be 1) a forum to discuss issues and 2) have a
deliverable this year.”
Such a deliverable, she said, would in-
volve the use of ASSU resources to relieve
SPEAKERS & EVENTS
Brinkley tells story behind ‘Cambodia’s Curse’
By KABIR SAWHNEY
DESK EDITOR
In an appearance at the Stanford Bookstore
on Wednesday afternoon, author and communi-
cation professor Joel Brinkley signed copies of
his new book, “Cambodia’s Curse,” offering an
Communication prof. Joel Brinkley autographed copies of his new book, ‘Cambodia’s Curse,’ at the
Stanford Bookstore. The book studies the recent history of Cambodia, one of the poorest nations.
AGGIE SHOWDOWN
Men’s tennis takes on Texas A&M
in critical NCAA Tournament battle
JIN ZHU/The Stanford Daily
the strain on communities organizing nu-
merous programs and initiatives.
The Community Board will consist of a
group of Community Action Representa-
tives (CARs). In order to encompass a
broad definition of “community,” any com-
munity that applied for a position on the
new Board will be represented.
According to an open letter on the Exec-
utive’s website, among the represented
groups are the Queer/LGBT community,
the women’s community, the religious/faith
communities and various ethnic communi-
ties, such as the Native American,
Latino/Hispanic,Asian/Pacific Islander and
Black communities.
A new position, the chair of communi-
ties, will be created under the new board.
Along with the chair of student life, the
chair of communities will serve as the pri-
mary liaison between the Community
Board and the Executive Cabinet. The two
chairs will attend both bodies’ meetings.
Community Board meetings will be held
Please see BOARD, page 5
inside look into the difficulties facing the country
and discussing his research for the book.
Brinkley opened the talk by briefly explaining
the recent history of Cambodia, starting with its
UN-supervised election in 1992.Though the elec-
tion was very successful, with 90 percent of Cam-
bodians voting, the country quickly fell back into
JIN ZHU/The Stanford Daily
72
Sunny
56
Mostly Sunny
73 55
Volume 239
Issue 66
Searsville
comm.draws
local criticism
Critics call for Stanford-only
group to include outside groups
By MARIANNE LeVINE
STAFF WRITER
Stanford recently named five faculty members to a
committee designed to determine the future of Searsville
Dam. The new committee, however, has sparked some
concern among due to its lack of representation from the
outside community or local nongovernmental organiza-
tions (NGOs).
The Searsville Dam project has been a topic of contro-
versy between the University and environmental ac-
tivists in recent years. Environmental activists have
protested the dam’s current interference with the natural
habitat of the steelhead trout, currently an endangered
species.
“I am concerned that at least for now the committee
doesn’t have any outside participation,” said Steve
Rothert, California regional director for American
Rivers, an NGO that has long been concerned about the
fate of the dam. “I recognize this is a very complex and
controversial issue. I recognize this is also Stanford’s
dam. One might argue Stanford should make the deci-
sion, but the dam also affects the community and public
resources that everyone has an interest in.”
Rothert believes the University should seek advice
from those who are not directly involved in the commit-
tee or linked to Stanford to achieve a durable solution.
According to Philippe Cohen, administrative director
at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Stanford intends to
seek advice from public agencies and plans to discuss dif-
ferent ways to engage the outside community in early
committee discussions. He revealed, however, that be-
fore community discussion can begin, the committee
must outline its objectives for the dam.
“I think that Stanford needs to identify what it consid-
ers its highest priorities with regard to the future of
Searsville before engaging the general public,” Cohen
wrote in an email to The Daily. “Without that internal
clarity, there is too much potential for miscommunica-
tion and confusion.”
Cohen explained that communication with outside
agencies is not only important, but also necessary for the
Searsville Dam project. He stated that regardless of the
committee’s final plan, Stanford must obtain permits
from various agencies, including the National Marine
Fisheries Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the
California Department of Fish and Game and the State
Water Quality Board.
“All of these agencies have public comment and out-
reach components which further guarantees that there
will be plenty of opportunity for public input,” Cohen said.
Cohen revealed that the University plans to partici-
Please see DAM, page 2
dictatorship — its current leader, Hun Sen, has
ruled the country autocratically since 1997.
According to Brinkley,Cambodia has become
“invisible” to the outside world.
“The predominant view worldwide has been,
‘Oh, but they’re so much better off now than they
were under the Khmer Rouge,’” he said. “‘No
reason to pay attention any longer.’”
The enduring legacy of the brutal Khmer
Rouge regime, which killed around a quarter of
the Cambodian population during its reign from
1975 to 1979, continues to suppress Cambodian
development up to the present. Brinkley de-
scribed the prevalence of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and other related illnesses in
the country. Between a quarter and half of all
Cambodians who survived the Khmer Rouge
suffer from PTSD and a study revealed that 62
percent of Cambodian emigrants in Long Beach,
Calif. have the disorder, he said.
“Soon that generation will die, you might
think, and everything will okay,” Brinkley said.
“Actually, Cambodia is the only place in the
world where it has been demonstrated that PTSD
and the related traumatic illnesses are being
passed to a second generation.”
Brinkley described the dire state of Cambo-
dia’s economic development — with a per-capita
annual income of roughly $650,the country is one
of the world’s poorest, on par with Bangladesh
and Afghanistan. The result of that poverty is a
state where 40 percent of the country’s children
Please see BRINKLEY, page 2
Recycle Me
2 ! Thursday, May 19, 2011 The Stanford Daily

STUDENT LIFE J is for Junkie

Third Eye Blind to play at CoHo
By BRENDAN O’BYRNE
STAFF WRITER
Verizon Wireless has teamed up
with the CoHo to bring San Francis-
co-based Third Eye Blind to campus
for a free concert on Thursday, May
26.The concert is part of Verizon In-
sider’s Coffee Shop Series, a move
by the company to bring local bands
to bay-area coffee shops and pro-
mote its new XOOM tablet.
As part of its marketing cam-
paign,Verizon offered opportunities
for anyone to win free tickets to the
event by testing out the new XOOM
tablet at the Palo Alto Verizon store.
Links to the contest application are
also available on the CoHo’s Face-
book page and on the Verizon Insid-
er site.
“It started about two months
ago,” said Erick Guzman, director of
operations for the CoHo.“We want-
ed to put together an event as our
way of thanking Stanford students
and it sort of fell into place.”
With several hundred tickets
available, the event is large for the
CoHo, which will have to move out
all of its tables and chairs and shut
down its food service for the night.
In an email to The Daily, Nanci
Howe, director of the Student Activ-
ities and Leadership, said the CoHo
has been working with the Depart-
ment of Public Safety, Office of
Events and Protocol, Student Activ-
ities and Leadership and other
groups to ensure the event goes
smoothly.
In addition, Howe said the event
would be treated like a typical con-
cert, thereby requiring its organizers
to abide by University policies re-
garding crowd management, securi-
ty and promotions.
The Third Eye Blind perform-
ance is the latest of a marketing cam-
paign by Verizon targeted at Stan-
ford students. When asked about
Verizon’s motivation for bringing
these deals to Stanford, Jette
Speights,public relations manager at
Tribal Brands for Verizon Wireless,
said Verizon thought the “tech-
savvy, music-loving Stanford com-
munity would be a great fit for the
next program” in the Coffee Shop
Series. Speights added that Stephen
Jenkins, the lead singer of Third Eye
Blind, grew up near the campus and
used to frequent the coffee house in
the days when it operated under a
different management team.
This recent campaign to gain
campus visibility may also be part of
a larger push by Verizon Wireless to
challenge AT&T’s dominance at
Stanford, an observation that has
spawned rumors of a University-
AT&T contract in the past.The mar-
keting push also coincides with the
release of the iPhone on the Verizon
network.
Contact Brendan O’Byrne at
bobyrne@stanford.edu.

SPEAKERS & EVENTS

Professors share ‘Visions of Tomorrow’
By ELLORA ISRANI
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Stanford 2020 “Visions of To-
morrow” Symposium brought seven
professors to Dinkelspiel Auditori-
um yesterday to speak about the sig-
nificance and future of their respec-
tive research.
Event organizers Danny Crich-
ton ‘11 and Adam Adler ‘12 de-
scribed the event as a “debate over
‘consilience’ — the idea that all of
the diverse departments at this Uni-
versity are universally connected.”
“In an increasingly specialized
world, we want to show that no one
academic discipline is most impor-
tant,”Adler said.“The future will not
be made of ‘techies’ and ‘fuzzies.’”
Highlights included associate
professor of computer science
Mehran Sahami’s “Grand Chal-
lenges and Immense Impacts of
Computing,” which delineated the
need for more computer sciences
majors at U.S. universities given the
three-to-one job-to-graduate ratio
in the field.
“I chose that title because it was
sufficiently general and vague that I
could talk about whatever I want-
ed,” Sahami said. “What I want to
talk about is the lack of wizards in
the world . . . At a certain point
there’s so much technology under
the hood that it appears like magic.”
He showcased various recent in-
novations at Stanford — including a
self-driving car and the original
google.stanford.edu — as examples
of computing as “an accelerant for
growth” which “allows this kind of
magic to happen.”
He also mentioned the recent de-
cline in the number of computer sci-
entists, but juxtaposed this with the
83-percent increase in students that
Stanford’s department has seen in
the last two years due to its curricu-
lum restructure to focus on the holis-
tic context of computing. Addition-
ally, more than 1,600 students took
either CS 105 or CS 106A this year.
“Back in 2000 we were partying
like it was 1999, partially because it
was really close to 1999, but 2005 —
not so much,” he said. “Every single
person from every single computer
science department, including the
very worst student from the very
worst department, can get a job.
What can we do? Say ‘Come to com-
puting, we’ve got cookies!’”
Director of Iranian Studies
Abbas Milani spoke on “Iran, Islam
and Modernity: The Future of the
Middle East.” He hypothesized two
situations of international relations
that could exist in 2020.
“Imagine a world where the non-
proliferation treaty (NPT) has col-
lapsed,” he said. “There are esti-
mates that by then, if there is no
NPT, there will anywhere from 30 to
40 countries with nuclear bombs . . .
Imagine that radical Islamists from
the Muslim brotherhood have won
power in regions in Pakistan and in
Libya and [that] the Hezbollah is the
absolute ruler in Lebanon.”
“The other scenario: there is no
country in the Middle East that has a
nuclear bomb,”he added.“There are
secular democratic governments.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has
finally been resolved . . . [Scholars]
Please see VISIONS, page 5

JIN ZHU/The Stanford Daily

Filmmaker Corey Davis spoke about the issues behind crack addiction dur-
ing a panel talk after the screening of his film, J is for Junkie. Following the
film, panelists discussed what determines whether an addict can recover.

DAM
Continued from front page
pate with the San Francisquito
Creek Joint Powers Authority to
ensure that the committee remains
in contact with communities that
are most vulnerable to changes in
the watershed. These floodplain
communities include East Palo
Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
“The steering committee as
composed brings such important
and diverse expertise bear on this
complex issue that, I think, for the
first time there will be opportuni-
ties to explain in ways that water-
shed residents can understand the
various and complex processes
that are at play when thinking
about the future of Searsville Dam
and reservoir,” Cohen said. “At
some point . . . some town-hall
type presentations will be essential
— that includes an enhanced ef-
fort at explaining what the risks
are in the various options.”
Cohen also expressed concern
about the risks the committee’s de-
cisions will have on the Jasper
Ridge Biological Preserve, where
the dam is located.
Despite Cohen’s assurance that
the committee will eventually in-
volve community members,
Rothert said that as of publication,
Stanford has not contacted Ameri-
can Rivers.
Rothert described the absence
of outside community members
within the committee to be “gen-
uinely perplexing.” Despite this
concern, Rothert remains hopeful
and views the formation of the
committee as a sign that the Uni-
versity is finally confronting a
long-ignored problem.
“We’ve been trying to engage
Stanford in a meaningful evalua-
tion of the dam and its impacts and
how to eliminate its impacts for
about 10 years,” Rothert said. “It’s
our view that the University has
never taken seriously the impact of
the dam on the steelhead trout and
their critical habitat. I’m hoping
formation of this committee signals
a new approach to the problem.”
Contact Marianne LeVine at mlevine
2@stanford.edu.

BRINKLEY
Continued from front page
are stunted from malnutrition and
10 percent are wasting.
He pointed to endemic corrup-
tion in the government as a signifi-
cant contributor to this problem
and said that Middle Eastern dicta-
tors like Hosni Mubarak and
Muammar Qaddafi are “squeaky
clean” when compared to Hun
Sen’s regime.
“The only overweight people
you will find anywhere in the nation
walk the halls of government,”
Brinkley said.“Many of them live in
mansions the size of hotels. I did a
rough calculation of the size of the
deputy prime minister’s mansion —
I estimated it to be around 60,000
square feet.”
Because of Cambodia’s unique
situation and national mentality,
Brinkley said he doubts the country
will ever experience an uprising
similar to what is being seen in the
Middle East today. He contrasted
two recent national surveys, one
that asked about people’s current
condition and another that asked
for their satisfaction with their lives.
Only 3 percent of Cambodians re-
ported that they were “thriving,”
with 22 percent saying they were
“struggling.” However, 75 to 80 per-
cent reported in the second survey
that they were satisfied with their
lives and that their country was
going in the right direction.
Brinkley concluded his talk by
discussing why the outside world,
the West in particular, should give
more attention to Cambodia. Be-
yond ensuring accurate oversight of
the $1.1 billion in aid that goes to
the government every year, he said
a strong Cambodia could help in the
United States’ search for allies to
counterbalance a rising China.
“China is virtually buying [Cam-
bodia], spending many billions of
dollars building roads, bridges, dams
and infrastructure so that they can
get their trucks to natural resources
without any hectoring about democ-
racy and human rights,” he said.
“Shouldn’t it be important to hold
on to a state right in the center of
Southeast Asia?”
Contact Kabir Sawhney at ksawh-
ney@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily
FEATURES
IN THE THICK OF A THESIS
By ARMINE PILIKIAN
T
hesis-writing time? You mean
crunch-time, ugly-time, deep-deep-
thoughts-time, blood-sweat-tears-
time, days-without-showering-
time, girl-don’t-even-think-about-
naptime time? Indeed, word association
might be one way to go about writing a thesis
— choose a topic, break it down into about 17
different parts, pick one, write 50 pages on it
and have it represent your entire undergrad-
uate career.
Undertaking such an endeavor takes in-
tensive planning, a strict schedule and a heavy
dose of determination. Some students start
preparing as early as sophomore year. Chris-
tine Kang ‘11 started planning at the end of
her sophomore year.
“It really helps to start early; then when
you come across something inter-
esting you can say,‘Oh, okay. I want
to write about that’,” Kang said.
Kang came across her topic, cor-
porate insurance poli-
CAROLINE MARKS/The Stanford Daily
cies, while completing a directed reading in
her junior year. She is analyzing various insur-
ance policies to see what they reveal about
the corporate governance of companies.
After Kang’s professor encouraged her to
take on the topic, the only problem was trying
to narrow it down.
“It’s just one paper, so it has to be a really
directed question, testable and manageable,”
Kang said.
Kang took several classes geared towards
helping honors students to help work out her
research plan, especially a thesis-timeline.
“Everyone has their own timeline, which is
what’s hard about the thesis,” she said. “But
the honors seminar gives you a lot of sup-
port.”
Even though students follow different
timelines, friends still manage to find time to
commiserate together. Irys Kornbluth ‘11
gave her friends cred-
it for keeping her
motivated.
“Talking to other people who are writing the-
ses about their struggles is a really important
way to move forward,” Kornbluth said. “You
have to realize that these frustrations are to-
tally common.”
According to Kang, one of the more popu-
lar resources used by toiling thesis writers is
Google Scholar, a specialized search engine.
Kang used it at the beginning of her work to
evaluate the scope of her topic.
“You get a sense of different angles other
researchers have taken,” Kang said. “Then
you focus on that small aspect of it.”
For Valentin Bolotnyy ‘11, finding that
small aspect to define was one of the more dif-
ficult parts of the process. Bolotnyy only start-
ed to zero in on a specific angle of his topic
two months ago.
“I was looking at broad questions that
people don’t really even look at in their Ph.D.
dissertations,” Bolotnyy said.
Thursday, May 19, 2011 ! 3
Bolotnyy’s initial topic, the mortgage cri-
sis, was much too broad.
“What you end up accomplishing is a lit-
tle underwhelming given what you’ve set out
to do,” he said. “You’ve set out to answer
why the financial crisis happened, why the
mortgage crisis happened, but you end up
tackling just one little part of it. Though
when you get down to that smaller part, it’s a
lot easier.”
A narrow topic, however, still presents a
daunting time commitment. Bolotnyy
spends 30 to 40 hours per week on his thesis,
and the hours increase with each passing
week. But despite the long hours, both
Bolotnyy and Kang believe the process is
worth it.
“It changed the way I look at the materi-
als I study in classes . . . When you’re asked
to produce something original, it really tests
your understanding of what you’ve been
doing this entire time [in class],” Kang said.
The process revolves around understand-
ing how theories apply to the real world, re-
searching a topic thoroughly and experienc-
ing a rapid evolution of one’s academic in-
terests. Kornbluth appreciates the chance to
devote herself to a topic she feels passion-
ately about. Her research topic is the role of
cultural identity in the design practice of
fashion designers.
“Getting to have so much time to work on
something that I’m so interested in is great,”
she said. “And it’s cool to see a study that I
helped design come to fruition and to have
that insider’s perspective. Generally, it’s a
great way to step back and think about the in-
dustry I’ll be going into before I actually enter
it.”
Most important to the keen thesis writers
is the rush of creating a work in its entirety.
“You feel like you’re adding something
new to the field, an element of discovery, an
element of ingenuity,” Bolotnyy said.
And ultimately, if you’re going to be put-
ting in gargantuan amounts of effort, time and
emotional weight, you better love what
you’re doing.
“Do it,” Kornbluth said. “It’s for you and
no one else.”
Contact Armine Pilikian at arminep@stan-
ford.edu.
4 ! Thursday, May 19, 2011 The Stanford Daily

OPINIONS
S EEING G REEN The Stanford Daily
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V
ICTORIA, BC — I spend a
lot of time fear-mongering
when I write a column. I
think about the world’s numerous
problems and how to convey them
in non-technical terms. I list the
ways these problems affect us di-
rectly and brainstorm metaphors
for their severity. Most of these tid-
bits don’t make it into the final
piece, but my columns do fall large-
ly on the gloomy side.
So, when I looked at the sched-
ule for the second International
Marine Conservation Congress
(IMCC), I was surprised to find the
conference’s first day dedicated to
conservation success stories.
Upon further reflection,it wasn’t
hard to come up with a long list of
happy conservation outcomes. But
the list of woes seems far longer. So
why, then, did an eminent group of
marine scientists and conservation-
ists earmark an entire day for the
“win” column?
Partly, I’m sure, to give all of us
hope in increasingly frightening
times. And also to remind us to fold
that hope into our stories, so that we
can continue to motivate others’
conservation efforts with the prom-
ise of eventual success.
Those of us at the IMCC share a
common passion: the oceans, their
fate and changing that fate for the
better. Our sense of the relative im-
portance of the key threats (over-
fishing, pollution, ocean acidifica-
tion, etc.) may vary and our
methodologies for addressing them
(research, advocacy, politics) are
equally variable. But for most of us,
our passion defines us.
At the ripe old age of 24, though,
I’ve finally figured out that not
everyone cares about my passion.
(It’ll take another 24 years for me to
figure out why they’re so misguid-
ed.) Of course, I’ve also gotten bet-
ter at figuring out why everyone
should care — the obvious result of
many hours spent thinking and talk-
ing about the things I’m invested in.
We tend to care a lot about
things that are close to us: the local
weather, for example, the syllabus
for our term paper, how our grand-
parents are doing and why our in-
credible best friend still can’t get a
Head Graphics Editor Features Editor
Theodore L. Glasser Kathleen Chaykowski Jin Zhu
Managing Editor of Features Alex Atallah
Michael Londgren Photo Editor
Web Editor
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Holly Robert Michitarian Managing Editor of Intermission Wyndam Makowsky Copy Editor
Staff Development
Moeller Jane LePham Zack Hoberg
Shelley Gao Managing Editor of Photography Business Staff
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selves to care? Sales Manager
Communicating science in the pres- Contacting The Daily: Section editors can be reached at (650) 721-5815 from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. The Advertising Department can be
ent day — of climate change and reached at (650) 721-5803, and the Classified Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5801 during normal business hours.
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about balance. The fear balance.
Scare tactics can be effective —
to a point.We’ve known since child-
hood that fear of punishment is a
formidable motivator. So we tell
people that they don’t want their
children to be spanked by sea level
rise. They don’t want their favorite
vacation spot to be confiscated.
But as an environmental com-
munications professor once told
me, “You need to scare people. Just
not so much that they shut down.”
Climate change, when we really
meditate on it, is totally overwhelm-
ing. The impacts are terrifying, but
the prevention steps are equally
paralyzing. How can we possibly
“get off” of fossil fuels? How can we
transition into a sustainable econo-
my when we hardly know what
“sustainable” means?
Taken aback by the magnitude
of the problem, many people re-
spond by ignoring it or by denying
its existence. So the conservation
community has taken to spitting out
bite-sized pieces of advice. “Drive
less, bike more.” “Offset your car-
bon emissions.” “Buy fresh, buy
local.” Climate change has been wa-
tered down for general consump-
tion, and the drink is becoming pop-
ular.
Losing your audience is the same
as saying nothing — except that
you’re frustrated and out of breath.
But it can be equally frustrating to
watch people feel vindicated when
they remember their canvas shop-
ping bag or when they choose one
vegetarian meal out of five. Mostly
we tell ourselves,“something is bet-
ter than nothing,” but sometimes
T HIS C OLUMN I S I RONIC
that something distracts us from the
real issues at stake, gives us a false

And I Would Walk 5,335 Miles . . .

date.In other words,proximity rules
our passions. That proximity can be
physical, intellectual or emotional.
Either way, the closer something
hits to home, the more likely we are
to respond.
That’s part of the reason we’ve
been so slow to address global envi-
ronmental threats. Sure, carbon
dioxide levels in the atmosphere are
rising — fast. Sure, some mysteri-
ous models say that the climate will
change, and the oceans will acidify
(and actual, tangible evidence is ac-
cumulating, too). But these changes
are incremental, so gradual that it
would be impossible for you and I
to perceive a change on our own,
the way we notice when the temper-
ature drops 20 degrees Fahrenheit
overnight. And the effects are
equally incremental: glaciers don’t
melt overnight and coral reefs don’t
dissolve in a day.
So how do we bring these effects
home? How do we motivate our-
sense of security and allows us to
push a serious problem to the backs
of our minds.
Our challenge, now that the ma-
jority of Americans acknowledge cli-
mate change, is to keep the ball
rolling. We have to know our audi-
ence and the changing state of their
knowledge. We must reward success
without indulging complacency. We
must continue to push the bound-
aries of our communication,to intro-
duce new issues and their solutions.
The IMCC, bolstered by a first-
day jolt of hope, carries on with an
optimistic tone.The ocean is in trou-
ble, but these people are busy find-
ing solutions and communicating
their passion. At least here, in this
moment, in this place, the future
looks dim. A long way from bright,
but still better than black.
Holly welcomes rays of hope and
lasers of criticism via email at hol-
lyvm@stanford.edu.
Ba Da Da Da
O
n Wednesday morning, I
woke up here in Oxford to a
Facebook feed filled with
friends excitedly discussing their
housing assignments for next year.
Super thrilling, right? With time dif-
ferences, I had figured I probably
wouldn’t see my housing assignment
until Wednesday night — at best.
Thank God for technical glitches
from the Housing department.After
wrangling with Axess for the better
part of 15 minutes, I finally was able
to log into the Housing website.
Now, this climactic moment had
been kind of soul-crushing for me
the past two years: I ended up in
Naranja sophomore year (had been
hoping for Toyon) and rode a beauti-
ful #2846 into Loro this year (FloMo
again? Really?).Though housing for
both years ended up working out,
this was my time to use Tier 1. Next
year will be my senior year — my
last stand at Stanford. I didn’t want
things to be just “okay”and end up in
717 or Timbuktu or something. So
imagine my surprise when I checked
my housing results to see that I had
ended up in Xanadu with a draw
number of #12.TWELVE.This is the
stuff of legend. Quite honestly, I
think I might have won Stanford.
And so, my assignment in
Xanadu led to me checking out the
house via Google Maps — even
though I’ve been inside more times
than I can count.You know,I was just
excitedly theorizing about where my
room might be and what kind of
ragers I could potentially throw
there. Just the usual stuff. I’ve want-
ed to live on the Row for so long that
it’s kind of surreal to know that I’m
actually going to be living there —
especially in the exact house I’d been
hoping for.
But then,a weird thing happened.
My Google Maps exploration of
Xanadu led to a Google Maps explo-
ration of the entire Stanford campus.
I was just zooming around checking
out all of the places where memories
have been made for the past three
years.That Google Maps session led
me to browse Stanford’s Wikipedia
page.From there,I inexplicably got a
strange craving for a 4x4 from In-N-
Out.
This all brought upon a realiza-
tion: I really miss Stanford. I don’t
mean that in an “I hate Oxford, and I
wish I was back on campus” kind of
way. I’m having the time of my life
here, all while learning so much and
making tons of new friends. No, I
think I finally just realized how much
Stanford has become my second
home. It’s just weird to think how so
many of the people and things I care
about are concentrated in one small
slice of California. It’s also weird to
think that I had never set foot on
Stanford’s campus prior to 2008, yet
it can still mean so much to me now.
I’ll tell you, going abroad has
Shane
Savitsky
This is the stuff of legend.
Quite honestly,I think I
might have won Stanford.
been a rather interesting experience
thus far. It’s forced me to reconsider
my thoughts about the way I ap-
proach academics at Stanford. It’s
been like freshman year all over
again in terms of making friends. It’s
also forced me to put words like
“cheers” and “quid” and “loo” into
my everyday lexicon. Yet more than
anything, being here in Oxford has
really helped me to learn to appreci-
ate things I take for granted back at
Stanford. I miss the weather. I miss
lending library facilities (Oxford li-
braries are reference only). I miss
Lag Late Nite. I miss all of my best
friends, especially when a huge por-
tion of them will be graduating in a
few weeks. But above it all, I miss the
Farm. It’s where everything that’s
good or bad in my collegiate life has
taken place — the place where I’ve
been able to make my proverbial
“stand.” It’s been the place where
I’ve been allowed to create my own
little niche in the vast cosmic uni-
verse. Like I’ve said already, it’s my
second home.
So I guess it’s a good thing that I’ll
be spending this whole summer on
campus then, right?
Shane isn’t quite sure whether it’s good
he’ll be on campus this entire sum-
mer? Email him your thoughts and
reminisces about Stanford at savit-
sky@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily Thursday, May 19, 2011 ! 5
VISIONS
Continued from page 2
are starting to go back to the Middle
East because they’re finding out
that’s where they can be more pro-
ductive.”
Other speakers included bio-
engineering department chair Russ
Altman, history professor Londa
BRIEFS
Continued from front page
Rigby’s film, “Sin Pais (Without
Country),” tells the story of a couple
who, after living in the United States
for 20 years, are deported to their na-
tive Guatemala.
In the coming month, Academy
members will vote to select Gold,Sil-
ver and Bronze medal awards. Last
year, one Stanford filmmaker team
won a bronze medal in the documen-
tary category. This year’s awards will
be presented June 11.
— Ivy Nguyen
Gambhir to
head radiology
department
By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF
Radiology professor Sanjiv
Gambhir will be the new chair of the
School of Medicine’s department of
radiology.
Gambhir, an expert in molecular
imaging, was trained in physics, ap-
plied mathematics, cell and molecu-
lar biology, medicine, nuclear medi-
cine and molecular imaging. His cur-
rent research focuses on finding ways
to identify and manipulate molecules
to study processes such as cancer and
cardiovascular disease in the body.
Prior to coming to Stanford in
2003, Gambhir spent 20 years at
UCLA, where he served as the di-
rector of the Crump Institute for
Molecular Imaging and vice chair
of the department of molecular and
medical pharmacology. Today, he
heads the Division of Nuclear Med-
icine and director of the Molecular
Schiebinger, English department
chair Jennifer Summit, classics pro-
fessor Ian Morris and communica-
tion professor Clifford Nass.
The event was funded by an
ASSU Executive Action Grant as
well as the office of the Vice Provost
for Undergraduate Education and
co-sponsored by several campus or-
ganizations.
Contact Ellora Israni at ellora@stan-
ford.edu.
Imaging Program at Stanford. He
also heads the Center of Cancer
Nanotechnology Excellence.
As chair, Gambhir plans to facili-
tate more collaborative projects and
establish ties with SLAC and sever-
al other Stanford departments. He
will begin this position on Sept. 1.
— Ivy Nguyen
BOARD
Continued from front page
once a week and will have two main
goals, Ogiemwanye said. The first of
these goals is to share what CARs
are working on in their respective
communities. A second objective is
discussing sensitive issues related to
diversity and tolerance and generat-
ing “innovative ways” these issues
can be addressed in the Stanford
Community.
More specifically, these issues
might include advocating on behalf
of the “first generation community,”
opening up new community centers
and forging a stronger connection
between student-athletes and the
ASSU,Ogiemwanye stated.She em-
phasized, however, that the Com-
munity Action Representatives
would have significant input in de-
termining the committee’s activities.
Ogiemwanye also mentioned the
Executive’s hope that, in addition to
helping the Stanford communities
manage their variety of initiatives,
ASSU resources will be able to facil-
itate integrated projects between
different communities.
Applications for the Community
Board were due by this past Tuesday
and more details about the board
will be released in the coming weeks.
Contact Elena Stephenson at stele-
na@stanford.edu.
6 ! Thursday, May 19, 2011 The Stanford Daily

SPORTS
THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Jacob
Jaffe
Fields of Failure

Cardinal and Aggies tangle in Texas-sized showdown

By ALEX ECKERT
STAFF WRITER
Draft and
Now it gets interesting.
Tonight, the eighth-seeded
Stanford men’s tennis team hosts
lottery
both silly
ninth-seeded Texas A&M in the
NCAA round of 16 — and there
might not be two hotter teams in
the country right now than the
Cardinal and the Aggies.

Stanford (20-5, 5-1 Pac-10)
comes in riding a 12-game win-
ning streak and handily won its
first two matches of the tourna-
ment, defeating Army 4-0 and
No. 25 Washington 4-1.
Texas A&M (29-5, 5-1 Big-12)
recently claimed the Big-12 tour-
nament championship, defeating
Oklahoma in the finals, and it
hasn’t given up a single point in
its last five matches. The Aggies
also had an auspicious start to
their tournament, defeating both
No. 34 Louisiana State and Al-
corn State by counts of 4-0.
Senior Greg Hirshman ex-
pects the match to be as good as
advertised.
“I haven’t looked into a lot of
their players, but I know that
we’re eight and they’re nine, so
it’s going to be a tough match,”
Hirshman said.“When you play a
team in the top-10 it really comes
down to a couple of points here
and there. Not just in individual
matches, but in the entire team
match.
“When you look back to the
[ITA National Indoor Champi-
onship], where we went 1-2,
every match was 3-3 in singles
and came down to who won the
doubles point,” Hirshman con-
tinued. “It’s going to be one of
those matches that it comes
down to a couple of points and I
SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily think having the home court will
Sophomore Matt Kandath (above) and the Stanford men’s tennis team welcome the Texas A&M Aggies to the Farm
Thursday night for a duel to determine who will advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tennis Championships. Please see TENNIS, page 8
T
he fates of millions of dol-
lars,years of media coverage
and many young men’s
lives, all decided by a few
tiny, hollow balls weighing
about a tenth of an ounce.
Nope, for once I’m not talking
about Ma Lin or any other legendary
Chinese ping-pong players. It’s not
even the SAE beer pong tournament.
No, it’s something much more widely
known,and something much more pa-
thetic than either of these.
It’s the NBA Draft Lottery.
Anyone who turned on ESPN a lit-
tle early on Tuesday night before
Game 1 between Dirk Nowitzki and
the Thunder got the treat of one of the
oddest spectacles in sports before the
game itself tipped off.
For those of you that don’t know,
the NBA uses a different system from
the other major sports leagues to de-
cide the order of its draft. Instead of
making the order depend solely on the
teams’ records and playoff perform-
ances in the previous season,the NBA
holds a lottery to decide the order for
all the non-playoff teams. Teams with
worse records still have the best chance
to get earlier picks, but there is much
more randomness thrown in.
And, in this era where computers
can sort random numbers and display
the results in the blink of an eye (Stan-
ford’s housing draw apparently not in-
cluded), it’s only natural that the NBA
uses . . . ping-pong balls?
Please see JAFFE, page 8

SPORTS BRIEFS
Should Stanford advance out of the regional, the
team would travel to face the winner of the Tuscaloosa
Region, which includes No. 2 seed Alabama, Jackson
State, Memphis and Chattanooga.
First pitch between the Cardinal and Tigers is sched-
uled for 6 p.m. at Smith Family Stadium on Friday night.

— Jack Blanchat

Women’s golf in 20th place after first day

of NCAA Championships
The Stanford women’s golf team is in 20th place
after the opening round of the NCAA Championships,
shooting 308 (+20) when paired with Washington and
Florida yesterday. The Cardinal sits 19 strokes behind
first-place UCLA’s mark of 289, which is one above par
at the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas.
Sophomore Sally Watson, last year’s ninth-place fin-
isher, led Stanford with a score of 73 in the opening
round and is tied for 23rd after the first 18 holes. She
had just one birdie and two bogeys to put her one over
SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily the par mark of 72.
Junior shortstop Ashley Hansen (above), the 2011 Sophomore Kristina Wong and junior Lila Barton
Pac-10 Player of the Year, leads the Cardinal into the first recorded Stanford’s next-best scores, and are tied for
round of the NCAA Championships this weekend. 81st after shooting 78 in the first round.
Brittany Altomare of Virginia leads all individuals
with a 69 in the opening round, good for three under par.
Softball starts NCAAs, Hansen wins Stanford will be paired with Washington and Florida
Pac-10 Player of the Year again for today’s second round. All three teams will be
teeing off on hole No. 1.
The Stanford softball team earned an at-large bid in
to the NCAA Tournament on Monday, grabbing the — Nate Adams
No. 15 overall seed and the honor of hosting one of the
16 regionals.
In addition to the Cardinal’s postseason berth, No.
19 Stanford (38-15) received more good news on
Wednesday when junior shortstop Ashley Hansen was
named Pac-10 Player of the Year.
Hansen is just the second player in Cardinal history
to earn the honor, and she did so mostly through her
otherworldly offensive numbers. Hansen batted an un-
believable .506 for the season — 63 points higher than
the next player than the next-best batting average —
and she also led the Pac-10 in hits (88), doubles (24),
slugging percentage (.833) and on-base percentage
(.568).
Hansen was one of just eight players to be earn All-
Pac-10 Conference honors, as she and sophomore
pitcher Teagan Gerhart were named to the First Team.
Junior centerfielder Sarah Hassman and sophomore
second baseman Jenna Rich earned Second Team acco-
lades, while senior pitcher Ashley Chinn and freshman
outfielder Corey Hanewich were named honorable
mentions.
The talented Cardinal hosts Pacific (38-17) on Fri-
day in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament,
and should the Cardinal overtake the Tigers, it will
square off against the winner of Nebraska (39-12) and
Fresno State (34-17) on Saturday.
Stanford defeated Pacific by a score of 6-1 in a
matchup earlier this year in Stockton, and the Cardinal
is 21-10 all-time against the Tigers.
The Tigers earned a spot in the tournament by win-
ning the Big West Conference this season, their first-
ever conference championship. This is Pacific’s first
NCAA Tournament berth since 2007. Stanford Daily File Photo
Meanwhile, Stanford is making its 14th consecutive
tournament appearance, and in that span the Cardinal The Stanford women’s golf team is in 20th place after
has won six regional titles and made two appearances in the first round of the NCAA Championships in Bryan,
the Women’s College World Series, in 2001 and 2006. Tex. The Card trails current leader UCLA by 19 shots.
The Stanford Daily Thursday, May 19, 2011 ! 7

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8 ! Thursday, May 19, 2011
TENNIS
Continued from page 6
be a big help in getting those key
points.”
Despite the tough competition
ahead,there are plenty of good signs
for the Cardinal. Four teams that
Stanford has defeated remain in the
field — No. 2 USC, No. 12 UCLA,
No. 14 Cal and unseeded Tulsa,
which defeated No. 13 Texas in one
of the only upsets of the early
rounds.
That being said, all five of the
Stanford’s losses came at the hands
of teams still alive in the tourney.
Perhaps the best sign for the Cardi-
nal is the advantage Hirshman inti-
mated: this is their court.
Stanford has played exceedingly
well at home this season, going 15-1
with a lone loss coming in a nail-
biter to second-seeded USC. Hirsh-
man believes that playing at home
will play a huge factor going for-
ward.
“I think getting a lot of people
out supporting us will definitely
help,” Hirshman said. “Even if the
team is slightly worse, fans may in-
spire them to get the win and the
reality is that there is no team, if
any, that is much better than us in
this whole tournament. That’s why
home court advantage is so big in a
lot of pro sports. When teams are
roughly evenly matched, seemingly
little factors make a big differ-
ence.”
Both Hirshman and head coach
John Whitlinger are looking forward
to playing in front of bigger crowds,
not just because they can lift a team
to victory, but because the matches
provide some of the more memo-
rable experiences that a young play-
er can have.
Even in last weekend’s matches
— especially against Washington —
the crowd at Taube Tennis Center
JAFFE
Continued from page 6
That’s right, your favorite team’s
first-round pick (who am I kidding,
you’re probably a fair-weather Lakers
or Heat fan; you don’t care about the
lottery) depends on which ping-pong
balls are randomly chosen in a highly
official, secretive process. Hey, if it
works for other lotteries, why not the
NBA?
As silly as this seems, the random-
ness makes sense for the NBA. After
all, no other major sports league relies
so heavily on the power of one or two
star players.Think about it,in any other
league,even a player as talented as Le-
Bron James wouldn’t be able to win a
Download the
Stanford Daily iPhone
App Today
The Stanford Daily
was one of the loudest of the season,
and the crowds will only get bigger if
Stanford keeps advancing.
Whitlinger talked about the last
time Stanford hosted the NCAAs.
“I know in 2006 how inspiring it
was when the place was full and we
played Duke,” said Whitlinger. “It’s
something that the guys will never
forget . . . I hope we get to the point
where the guys can experience
something like that.”
Despite having optimism on its
home courts, the team is also
painfully aware of what happens if it
loses. Stanford has lost in the round
of 16 in both of the past two seasons
— to UCLA last year and eventual
champion USC the year before that.
As a senior, Hirshman views this
tournament as especially meaning-
ful.
“We’re going so strong right now,
but if we lose on Thursday, it’s over,”
he said. “We’d have nothing. Espe-
cially for the seniors on the team —
for me, Alex [Clayton] and Ted
[Kelly] — if we lose that’s the end of
college tennis for us.That’s obvious-
ly not something we want to happen,
and there’s no better way to go out
than on a win.”
“If you think back to when Pete
Sampras won the U.S. Open and
then retired, he went out on top.
That’s what Ted,Alex and I are real-
ly looking at as seniors. Everyone
wants to win and show what all our
hard work was for, but it is especial-
ly meaningful for us seniors.”
If the Cardinal manages to win
tonight, it most likely will play top-
seeded Virginia — a team that has
not lost all season — in the next
round.
There will be men’s tournament
action all day today at the Taube
Tennis Center,with matches starting
at 9 a.m. and culminating with the
Stanford-Texas A&M match at 6
p.m. tonight.
Contact Alex Eckert at aeckert@stan-
ford.edu.
title by himself.He’d probably have to
team up with some of the other best
players in the league just to have a shot.
Can you imagine that happening in the
NBA? Oh wait . . .
In any case, after a massive specta-
cle that involved some of the most
awkward, pointless interviews of all
time (“Hey John Wall, what are your
chances at getting two straight No. 1
picks in Washington?”“It all depends
on luck.”), the order is set. The Cava-
liers, trying to rebuild from He-Who-
Must-Not-Be-Named-But-Was-Just-
Named-In-The-Last-Paragraph,
earned the rights to two of the top four
picks. And the way the NBA Draft
works, especially with this year’s class,
the Cavs have roughly a 10 percent
chance at getting a decent NBA player
in the first round.
Think about it — this year’s top
two picks in most people’s minds and
mock drafts consist of a guy who was
hurt most of last year before coming
back in time to lead Duke to an upset
loss in the NCAA Tournament (Kyrie
Irving) and a guy who 90 percent of
the country didn’t know about until
that same game (Derrick Williams).
And those are the best prospects
available. Other top-10 options in-
clude a guy who didn’t play organized
ball for the past year,a guy who might
not want to leave Europe for contract
reasons and a guy who averaged 6.3
points per game in Spain this year.
While this class is particularly lack-
ing in flashy names (and good players),
it is in some ways par for the draft
course. Looking back, the draft is as
much of a crapshoot as the lottery.
Names like Sam Bowie,Darko Milicic
and Greg Oden are ingrained in the
collective basketball mind as warnings
and,in some cases,laughable mistakes.
But before you go bashing draft
blunders, take a closer look at old
drafts. Take 2007, when Greg Oden
was still Greg Oden-with-knees.Now
it seems silly to think of taking Oden
over Kevin Durant and Al Horford,
who were the next two picks.But back
then,who knew?
Who knew Oden would have more
surgeries than playoff games by this
point? But when you look deeper at
that draft, though, you see even more
of the unpredictability of drafts in gen-
eral.After Durant and Horford, there
were exactly zero players taken that
year that have made an All-Star or All-
NBA Team.
Marc Gasol, one of the stars in the
Memphis Grizzlies’ surprising playoff
run this season,was taken 48th overall
that year. He was seen as a lesser ver-
sion of his brother Pau, and as a for-
eigner, most teams didn’t know exact-
ly what to make of him.As it turns out,
the 10 guys picked immediately before
him in that draft have started 78 NBA
games — less than a full season — in
their careers combined (Gasol outdid
that mark this year alone). Gasol’s
2,934 points in three seasons are over
double the 1,182 points scored by the
other 10 in their careers.
In 2007,what separated Gasol from
Kyrylo Fesenko, Stanko Barac, Sun
Yue, Chris Richard, Derrick Byars,
Adam Haluska, Reyshawn Terry,
Jared Jordan, Stephane Lasme and
Dominic McGuire?
NBA executives didn’t know.
Would you?
Jacob Jaffe drew third overall. So did
Michael Jordan.Find out other similar-
ities at jwjaffe@stanford.edu.