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The Stanford Daily

THURSDAY February 9, 2012

An Independent Publication
www.stanforddaily.com

Volume 241 Issue 7

Co-terms strong as honors theses decline

SUES report proposes capstone projects for seniors
By MARY HARRISON
STAFF WRITER

ALISA ROYER/The Stanford Daily

In recent years, the number of undergraduates pursuing co-terminal degrees has remained steady; by contrast, the number writing honors theses has steadily declined. In response to this data, the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) has proposed several measures to encourage seniors to complete capstone projects before graduation, whether in the form of an honors thesis or another endeavor. Ayodele Thomas, an assistant dean in the School of Humanities and Sciences said in an email to The Daily that the number of students

pursuing co-terminal degrees has remained stable over the past 10 years. The 10 year trend indicates a decline in the number of students completing honors in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Thomas noted. There is no consensus as to the reason for the drop in students writing honors theses. I think there hasnt been enough study of what factors influence the numbers of students applying for or completing these programs to say with any confidence what contributes to the trends, said Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam.

Please see COTERMS, page 7

Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, distinguished visitor at the Haas Center for Public Service, delivered a lecture Wednesday evening on the importance of foreign policy in post-911 United States.

UNIVERSITY

SPEAKERS & EVENTS

Thrun starts webFeingold speaks at CEMEX based university

By NATASHA WEASER
DESK EDITOR

We are playing with fire by thinking that this is all over, warned former Senator Russ Feingold in a speech yesterday evening titled, While America Sleeps: A Wake-Up Call for the Post9/11 Era. Feingold delivered the speech to an audience of more than 200 people at Cemex Auditorium in the Knight Management Center. Larry Diamond, director of the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), introduced Feingold as someone who is deeply troubled by incivility in American politics and has experience that reflects his distinctive blend of concerns in world issues. Feingold, a Wisconsin senator for 18 years, is currently at Stanford as a distinguished visitor at the Haas Center for Public Service during winter quarter. Throughout the quarter he will lead a weekly seminars, mentor students, participate in faculty discussions and give

two public lectures. Throughout his speech, Feingold repeatedly criticized the lack of attention paid to foreign policy in the United States. We are obsessed with the current election over who is up and down, he said. Precious little is being said about our position in the rest of the world. According to Feingold, big money and corruption dominate the U.S. government, which is characterized by divisiveness and stubbornness on both domestic and international issues. If we cannot work on both domestic and international policy, we wont be safe, he warned. We will continue to stumble as other nations use their resources to strategically assert themselves in the world. Feingold advocated a surgical approach to handling international issues, citing a strategy of intervening in Libya as an example that you do not need boots on the ground or complete intervention to complete a goal.

By MATT BETTONVILLE
DESK EDITOR

Computer science professor Sebastian Thrun announced the launch last month of his new online university, Udacity, inspired by the massive response to his Stanford course, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, which was open to the public online this past fall. Contrary to widespread reports otherwise, Thrun will maintain his position as a research professor in the Stanford Computer Science Department. Thrun decided to offer Intro to A.I. online last quarter as an experiment, expecting a turnout of around 500. When more than 160,000 people enrolled in the course, Thrun adapted the course content to the web format using an interactive platform called Know Labs. In a speech last month at the Digital Life Design (DLD) Conference in Munich, Thrun described the experience as life changing, saying that after teaching on such a large and far-reaching scale, he couldnt return to Stanford classes.

SERENITY NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily

UNIVERSITY

Students flock to CS major, classes

By JOSEE SMITH
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Please see FEINGOLD, page 7

Please see THRUN, page 2

UNIVERSITY

Units reflect workload, admins say

Despite student gripes, units found to correlate to difficulty
By CATHERINE ZAW
STAFF WRITER

Navy 101

A somewhat-frequent student gripe is the seemingly weak correlation between number of units and class difficulty or time expectation. However, according to Susan McConnell, professor of biology and co-chair of the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES), a surprisingly strong correlation exists between the number of units a class earns and the time students spend each week on that class. But what exactly is a unit? The bulletin sets out that the average amount of time per unit is three hours; one hour in class and two hours outside of class, said Kirsti Copeland, director of residentially based advising. Of course, in practice the amount of time a student spends on a class varies from student to student, based on a students preparation and investment, and to a certain extent from class to class. Copeland further explained that the instructor of a given course determines the number of units for a course in consultation with others in his or her department.

ALISA ROYER/The Stanford Daily

Please see UNITS, page 5

Lieutenant Commander Manuel Hernandez of the US Navy, a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution, delivered a presentation titled, 'America's Navy is a Global Force for Good' at the Haas Center for Public Service Wednesday afternoon.

Following a near-doubling in 2010, the number of undergraduates majoring in computer science (CS) continues to rise rapidly, with 429 Stanford undergraduates currently declared in a CS major according to an automatically generated list on the Stanford CS website. This increase follows a trend that has been visible since the late 70s and is composed of numerous ups and downs, according to computer science professor Eric Roberts. Roberts attributed the popularity in the 80s and 90s to the idea that no matter what a student was majoring in, he or she would benefit from some kind of computer science background, increasing the number of students who took CS courses. Now, students are majoring in CS because they are excited and engaged, Roberts said. He added that about 90 percent of all Stanford undergraduates enroll in at least one introductory CS class before they graduate. He continued, These students get excited and decide to major in CS. Roberts also confirmed that computer science is the second most popular major at Stanford, after human biology. In an email to The Daily, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Harry Elam added psychology, biology, economics, English, history, international relations and political science to the list of the largest majors by degree conferred in 2010-11. Overall, the School of Humanities and Sciences has seen a slight decrease in degrees conferred in the past twenty years (mostly in humanities and social sciences), with engineering and earth sciences each up, Elam wrote. The Computer Science Department overhauled its curriculum in 2008. Mehran Sahami, an associate professor of computer science, explained some of these curriculum changes. We modified the CS major to allow students to choose a track . . . in CS after completing a small set of core classes, Sahami said. This structure provides students with much more flexibility in the courses they can take for their major. We also allowed for more interdisciplinary work by allowing courses from other departments that are relevant to particular tracks in CS to also count toward the major. Both Roberts and Sahami noticed an increase in undergraduates taking CS courses after the overhaul. We wanted to measure the impact of the curriculum change, so we started paying very close attention to changes in enrollment, Sahami said.We noticed the interest in the department and the number of majors increased substantially.

Please see COMPSCI, page 5

Index Features/3 Opinions/4 Sports/6 Classifieds/9

Recycle Me

2 N Thursday, February 9, 2012 UNIVERSITY

The Stanford Daily

New Manzanita dorm in the works

By TAYLOR GROSSMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

THRUN

Continued from front page

In his DLD speech, Thrun detailed emails he received from students all over the world, including accounts from people claiming the class had changed their careers, saved their lives or kept them motivated during hard times. There was a guy in the fields of Afghanistan under mortar attack running for his life every day, but he spent an hour at night to do his homework assignments and to learn about A.I., Thrun said in the DLD speech. Thats unbelievable. Udacity, a rebranding and repurposing of Know Labs, is Thruns attempt to reach an even larger audience with his teaching. Currently, the site hosts courses that focus on projects a student can undertake, starting with CS 101: Building a Search Engine and continuing to topics as advanced as driverless vehicle programming. Following the Udacity announcement, confusion arose about whether Thrun would leave Stanford. Thrun resigned his tenure last spring due to his dual roles at Stanford and Google but remains on staff as a research professor, accountable for 20 percent work time, mostly to advise graduate students. Jennifer Widom, chair of the Computer Science Department, said that Stanford enforces a strict limit of two years of absence in any seven-year period for tenured professors. Thrun reached this limit in various leaves of absence spent as a Google Fellow, working on research projects including his famous autonomous car project. He resigned his tenure in April of last year to move into the less-involved research role and contin-

Stanford University plans to begin construction of a new dorm in the Manzanita complex, scheduled to open in 2013, according to the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) report. The report also suggests that the Manzanita dorm may have a theme, although discussions are ongoing and no final decision has been made. The construction of the new dorm in Manzanita represents a confluence of the need for more undergraduate living space and the desire to create residential spaces conducive to reflective and creative work, said Jonathan Berger, music professor and SUES committee member. Berger was the chair of the SUES subcommittee on residential learning. According to other committee members, residence overcrowding is a serious issue at Stanford. The SUES report addresses this problem in its section on the residential life and the state of the current residential facilities. Starting in the 1990s, stuffing became a common practice: Singles were renovated into doubles, and many doubles would be adjusted into triples. Open spaces, such as common rooms, were converted into dorm rooms as well.

The SUES report attributes this problem to the decision to guarantee undergraduates four years of housing, which was not always true of University policy. The University has begun trying to unstuff many residences. For example, the construction of the Munger graduate housing complex enabled Crothers and Crothers Memorial to be shifted to undergraduate use. However, the problem remains acute. According to the report, the significant issue is less the supply of beds than the loss of shared space. In order to improve residential education, SUES has proposed the need to create these communal areas in dorms that enable conversation and activity. Dorms provide both rooms with bed space for students but also common areas for studying, seminars, workgroups, socializing, thinking about life, practicing music, working on creative projects and so on, said Nadeem Hussain, associate professor of philosophy. Hussain has been appointed chair of the task force on residential education. This committee was established by Harry Elam, vice provost for undergraduate education, and Deborah Golder, associate vice provost and dean of Residential Education, and has been charged with developing a residential educa-

tion plan for the new Manzanita Dorm. The new dorm will have state-of-the-art spaces of its own for such purposes, Hussain said, but by providing more bed space it will also allow us eventually to free up common space in other dorms across campus. The SUES report suggests that the design of any new undergraduate housing focus on creating residential learning spaces, an initiative which will begin with the Manzanita residence. Other dorms are also in need of adjustment. The SUES report recommends that existing dorms should be retrofitted to reclaim and expand such spaces, including multipurpose common areas, specialized facilities (e.g., rehearsal rooms, dance and digital arts studios), and classrooms with appropriate technology. Where that is not possible, the university should create neighborhood facilities. Dining areas should likewise be designed and administered with the goals of residential education in view. Depending on how seriously the University takes the SUES proposals, dorms around campus may begin to undergo renovations to enact these changes. Contact Taylor Grossman at taylorgrossman@gmail.com.

STUDENT LIFE

Stanford Memes page goes viral

By BRENDAN OBYRNE
DEPUTY EDITOR

ue at Google. In his DLD speech, Thrun described the effects of the online A.I. experience saying, Having done this, I cant teach at Stanford again. Many interpreted this as a resignation from Stanford, but, in fact, the teaching aspect of Thruns professorship was already purely voluntary. Nothing he said was false, but sometimes its misleading, Widom said. He probably wont teach at Stanford again, but his 20 percent research appointment has no expectation of teaching anyway. Rather, Thrun meant that he intends to redirect his voluntary teaching efforts toward only the new online effort. I feel like theres a red pill and a blue pill, Thrun said in the speech, alluding to a scene in The Matrix. Ive taken the red pill, and Ive seen Wonderland. We can really change the world with education. Although Stanford has offered some courses available online for years, the trend toward online courses has recently grown. In addition to Thruns course, the Computer Science Department offered machinelearning and introduction-todatabases classes through the same program, and Stanford has partnered with Apple to include courses in the companys recent iTunes U revamp. The recently published Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) report cited online distribution of courses as an area to address in the near future, as very limited policies currently exist on the matter. Theres huge stuff happening with courses going online and nobody knows what theyre doing yet, Widom said of the reports call for new policies. Contact Matt Bettonville at mbettonville@stanford.edu.

Local jokes become overnight Facebook sensation

Ralph Nguyen 12 started the Stanford Meme Facebook page at 2 a.m. Wednesday. A few hours later, the page had one hundred likes. By 5 p.m., 15 hours after it began, the page had more than 1,000 likes and most Stanford students Facebook pages were littered with friends reposting and liking the images. The memes poke fun at various stereotypes and aspects of Stanford life, often referencing popular inside jokes or Stanford-specific phenomena. Originally popular primarily on Internet message boards such as Reddit and 4chan, memes have increasingly leaked into mainstream social sites, and in recent months have become more commonplace on Facebook. While Nguyen has been receiving calls from friends congratulating him, he said he is more surprised by calls from potential investors. Its kinda like a fucked-up version of a start-up, Nguyen said. Kids are showing their parents, parents do the whole investment thing, and now theyre giving me calls. University meme pages mark a significant shift to a hyper-local form of this type of comedy and satire, narrowing the memes audi-

ence and often playing on issues much more personal or unique. This is by no means a Stanfordspecific phenomenon many students at other universities have started pages in recent days and weeks. Discussions on Reddit serve as forums for the more sophisticated to complain about people misusing memes on Facebook pages. The response to the Stanford meme page has been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic. Near the end of Wednesday, dozens of new memes were being posted every hour with topics ranging from head football coach David Shaw (Has best QB in country: field goal) to University President John Hennessy (Raises $4.3 billion: announces 3% tuition hike same day.) Many of the memes sport hundreds of likes and dozens of shares, the type of social engagement any corporation would drool over. Ive used the Internet for these types of purposes for several years now and worked this summer as a viral consultant, but to take initiative and have your own stuff blow-up is really liberating, Nguyen said. Several of the memes play off of potentially offensive stereotypes, such as an always-disappointed Asian father who has trouble understanding English (CS106B teach you C++? Why CS106A no teach you A++?). While several complaints have been voiced on the Facebook page, so far responses have mostly been complimentary.

Many of the memes serve as interesting and unique insights into aspects of life at Stanford not always vocalized by students. One student suggested Nguyen make an account on the popular micro-blogging site Tumblr to gather all the pictures in the same place (which they later did), and Nguyen has been contacted about putting all the pictures on Pinterest, a popular photo-blogging site. Nguyen has reached out to several of his internet-savvy friends to

Please see MEMES, page 5

The Stanford Daily

Thursday, February 9, 2012 N 3

FEATURES

LIGHTING
UP LIVES M
By LUCAS OSWALD
ore than 5,014 companies founded in the last several decades have been the progeny of Stanford community members, according to the Wellspring of Innovation Project.While many of these companies fall squarely in the tech industry of Silicon Valley, several Stanford graduates have founded organizations that tackle social and environmental issues elsewhere. One of these graduates is Ned Tozun B.S.01, MBA07, who found his true calling by utilizing his entrepreneurial skills to found d.light, which designs affordable and durable solar powered LED lights for people in developing countries with no or limited access to electricity. As a computer science and earth systems double major, and later a graduate of the Graduate School of Business (GSB), Tozun never saw the need to narrow down his interests into a single profession. Instead he decided to use his interdisciplinary education and diverse skill set in design, engineering and business to create his own start-up. After obtaining his undergraduate degrees, Tozun worked as an engineer for seven months before dabbling in a few start-up ideas. During the same time period, Tozun and his fianc did volunteer work with HIV/AIDS patients in Africa. I found doing work that had a social impact to be deeply meaningful and fulfilling, Tozun said, explaining that his work had a very significant impact on his view of the world. Tozun described how returning to Silicon Valley to work on technology startups failed to give him the same feeling of fulfillment. I started to look for a way to blend my skills in the start-up tech world with what I really felt I was called to do, he said. While Tozun was researching the needs of the developing world, he met his future co-founder Sam Goldman MBA07, a former Peace Corps volunteer. Goldman had discovered a need in the developing world that could be filled by modern technology. In slums and villages around the world, he noticed, inefficient, dangerous and expensive kerosene lamps are the main source of light.With innovations in LED and solar technology, Goldman found that better solutions existed. With experience from a few start-ups and a greater familiarity with issues in the developing world under their belts, Tozun and Goldman attended the GSB to explore their entrepreneurial ideas. Tozun said he chose the GSB for its social entrepreneurship focus and for a single class at the Institute of Design, Design for Extreme Affordability. After taking the class, Tozun and Goldman went to Southeast Asia to assess the need for affordable technology in the region. The amount of money people were spending on kerosene lighting was insane, Tozun said. People really wanted better technologies, but they werent well distributed or available [at] affordable prices. The pair decided to spend their year designing a business strategy to meet this demand for modern lighting in the developing world. They launched d.light in 2008. Last year, Tozun and Goldman were featured on the Impact 30, Forbes firstever list of 30 top social entrepreneurs. What has proved the most challenging for the pair is operating in distant markets and catering to customers who have very particular needs for their products. These needs can prove almost impossible to conceive from behind a

Courtesy of Ned Tozun

Ned Tozun B.S. 01, MBA 07 founded d.light with fellow alumnus Sam Goldman MBA 07. Stanford community members have founded more than 5,014 companies over the last several decades, according to the Wellspring of Innovation Project.
desk in Silicon Valley. When Tozun and Goldman realized that their company would not be able to reach its full potential from the United States, the pair split. Tozun is based Shenzhen, China, overlooking production and design, and Goldman is based in India working on marketing and distribution. Tozun emphasized human-centered design, effective distribution networks and targeted marketing as key pillars in d.lights operation. According to Tozun, marketing was crucial because customers, especially those living below the poverty line in rural areas, were unlikely to be aware of the benefits of a solar-powered portable lamp. Tozun mentioned that even those customers that had seen solar powered technology before were disenchanted by their unreliability. It was through customer education on the part of d.light that the company gained a footing in the developing world. d.lights products are distinguished by their durability and simplicity. I think our products are the best products in the market, Tozun said. But in the end its the distribution and the marketing side of the business that will really give us long-term value. Tozun credits his success to the time he spent at Stanford. At Stanford, you have such an amazing diversity of world-class departments, he said. To have people coming together from different backgrounds and disciplines, but with a shared sense of wanting to change the world, thats how the really good stuff ends up getting started. Contact Lucas Oswald at loookas@stanford.edu.

SERENITY NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily

FROM RESEARCH

TO RETAIL

National Science Foundation program trains students to bring ideas from lab to market, bridging commercialization gap
By ARIELLA AXLER

ith projects such as implantable drug infusions to control chronic pain and laser-treated hydrophobic surfaces to reduce ice buildup on aircraft wings, the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) is taking scientific innovation from the lab to the market. The federally funded National Science Foundation (NSF) program made its debut on the Stanford campus in the fall. I-Corps is the first NSF program that assists scientists and engineers in creating start-ups by transitioning their ideas and inventions into a viable business. I-Corps takes the most promising research projects in American university laboratories and turns them into start-ups, translating them from research with business potential to the market, said program director Errol Arkilic. When the NSF launched I-Corps in July 2011, it selected lab projects from around the country that it identified as the best candidates for commercialization and tapped Stanford, as a worldrenowned Silicon Valley innovation powerhouse with expertise in turning research into business success, to help lead the program. The NSF approached Stanford management science and engineering professors Steve Blank and John

Feiber to lead the I-Corps training program. Collectively, the professors have more than 70 years of venture capital experience. Blank and Feiber co-teach Engineering 245: Technology Entrepreneurship and Lean Startups, a class recognized by the NSF as one of the best examples of course instruction and methodology for start-up development in the nation. There has always been a gap between studies in a lab and commercialization, Blank said. Stanford is proficient at turning research into commercialization. According to Blank, bridging the gap between science and engineering is increasingly becoming a common framework for the commercialization of new technologies. The intermediary step between lab research and commercialization has fallen in the domain of the private sector, with minimal government interaction in the process of company development. Engineering 245 is based on the Lean LaunchPad approach to start-ups advocated by Blank. Lean LaunchPad is a strategy of applying the scientific method to entrepreneurial business development. This lean method involves plotting out a canvas for the business model, and then testing the hypotheses in a real-world setting. Similar to a scientific experiment, groups then review and assess the efficacy of the technique,

refine the method and repeat the process until they find success. The only truth is market truth, Arkilic said. The course that Professor Blank has constructed is the vanguard of how to teach entrepreneurship and help companies reach commercial recognition. Engineering 245 was taught to the ICorps participants online, but the class is also offered to the Stanford community in winter quarter. The course focuses on topics such as value propositions and core ideals, which Feiber and Blank emphasize form the fundamental groundwork for successful start-ups. After outlining practical expense models and combining demand, revenue, resource and expense considerations, teams can begin building profitable companies. The goal wasnt to get funding, it was to change the trajectory of the teams development, Blake said. We want to get inventions to a state where they can commercialize, license or start a company. This fall, the first I-Corps program included 21 teams from across the country. Participants represented schools including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Nebraska, UCLA, the University of Southern California and the University of Connecticut. While some start-up incubators concentrate on specific industries, I-

Corps business prototypes are from a wide range of sectors strategically assembled by NSF. These sectors include environmental efficiency solutions, economic data collection tools, medical gadgets and aerospace engineering. Through the program, teams gain the support system to turn test models into tangible products and enterprises. The way to increase the success rate of a company is to put a network around a particular project, Arkilic said. Advisors, mentors and people with scar tissue keep companies from making stupid mistakes. The course concentrated not on a tangible success measurement, but rather sought to foster a new skill set in the participants. We want students to focus on the marketplace and on the customers, not on the science, Feiber said. Students have said to us that they now feel proficient at doing a set of things they didnt appreciate before the course. Feiber is enthusiastic about the progress I-Corps has made thus far, given that 19 teams participating in the first I-Corps program have gone forward with company development. NSF was ecstatic, Feiber said. They think it is one of the best things that has ever happened to the scientific community. Contact Ariella Axler at aaxler@stanford.edu.

4 N Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Stanford Daily

OPINIONS
MODERN MANNERS

Are you friends with the Internet?

Established 1892 Board of Directors Margaret Rawson President and Editor in Chief Anna Schuessler Chief Operating Officer Sam Svoboda Vice President of Advertising Theodore L. Glasser Michael Londgren Robert Michitarian Nate Adams

AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Managing Editors Brendan OByrne Deputy Editor Kurt Chirbas & Billy Gallagher Managing Editors of News Jack Blanchat Managing Editor of Sports Marwa Farag Managing Editor of Features Andrea Hinton Managing Editor of Intermission Mehmet Inonu Managing Editor of Photography Amanda Ach Columns Editor Willa Brock Head Copy Editor Serenity Nguyen Head Graphics Editor Alex Alifimoff Web and Multimedia Editor Nate Adams Multimedia Director Billy Gallagher, Molly Vorwerck & Zach Zimmerman Staff Development

The Stanford Daily

Incorporated 1973 Tonights Desk Editors Matt Bettonville News Editor Jacbob Jaffe Sports Editor Natasha Weaser Features Editor Alisa Royer Photo Editor Charlotte Wayne Copy Editor

recently got an email from WordPress.com. Howdy, it began. After the substantive content, I was granted permission to disregard it: If you dont care, just ignore this email. :) The message closed with Cheers, WordPress.com. This is what business communication has become in the 21st century. One could argue that an informal tone is natural for such a blog host. But 10 years ago before the word blog entered our vocabulary we might have called WordPress.com a web publishing service, in which case its business would have sounded a lot fancier. It seems the Internet is casual because we have made it that way. Internet companies are colloquial in a way that traditional businesses rarely are. PayPal is a company that I have trusted for financial transactions and the storage of very personal information. The only brick-and-mortar institution that receives this level of trust from me is my bank. When I go to the bank, they call me Mr. Mandell even though I am only 21. This feels weird because I am not used to it, but at least I know that they respect me. PayPal begins its emails to me with Hello Jeffrey Mandell, an incongruous mix of the formal (my full name) and the informal (Hello). Is PayPal going along with the relaxed culture of the Internet, or do they simply have no idea how to begin a letter? Youre supposed to start with, Dear So and so. For a more respectful tone, say, Dear Mr./Ms./Dr. So and so, and for a more intimate one, write, Dear Sobut not Hello. It would seem somebody at the PayPal headquarters has to know these rules. Then again, theres Facebook. In addition to always greeting you with Hi, Facebook has the silly habit of ending its emails with Thanks, even though there is nothing in the content of the message that indicates what they are thanking you for. The word thanks does not actually mean anything to them; it is just how they end emails. This stylistic quibble is probably not worth harping on too much, but I do think that excessive thanking dilutes the meaning of gratitude and encourages a false and unearned sense of closeness. Its obviously okay to say hey guys or whatever else you want when you are greeting your friends by email. My friends say things like sup baby dogs and what up fellow soldiers. But when businesses are communicating with clients, the style should be a little more restrained. Luckily, the protocol for more formal writing has already been invented. So why doesnt it get used? My theory is that Internet companies, from PayPal to Facebook to Amazon, feel that their relationships with us have gotten close enough to dispense with formalities. Collectively, they know almost everything about us from spying on our browsing behavior, purchase history, ad clicks and friend networks. The communication lines between company and client are always open, and an email to a user is just a drop next

Jeff Mandell

It seems the Internet is casual because we have made it that way.

to a steady stream of personal information flowing the other way. From the perspective of these companies, writing Dear User would be like writing Dear Big Toe; the electrical tendrils that connect us have created an intimacy where a simple hello suffices. As the Internet becomes ever more central in our culture and our daily lives, we should ask for a healthy distance from the virtual businesses we patronize. I dont want to be on first name terms with Facebook or any other nonhuman entity. We appreciate web companies, and in some cases we like and even admire them, but that does not mean that we are friends. Jeff would like to incorporate your questions, comments and complaints about etiquette at Stanford into future columns. He appreciates your thoughts, which can be sent to jeff2013@stanford.edu.

Tenzin Seldon Rich Jaroslovsky

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 reached at (650) 721-5803, and the Classified Advertising Department can be reached at (650) 721-5801 during normal business hours. Send letters to the editor to eic@stanforddaily.com, op-eds to editorial@stanforddaily.com and photos or videos to multimedia@stanforddaily.com. Op-eds are capped at 700 words and letters are capped at 500 words.

SEEING GREEN

First mis-impressions
KAIKOURA, N.Z. After addressing my postcard to Julie, I read the caption one last time. Mountain lupin is a beautiful, but highly damaging, introduced weed, it began, describing the purple flowers forming the foreground of the cards mountain scene. When I first found the card, Id debated its purchase. As an ecologist, shouldnt I be sending images of native New Zealand species? But Kaikoura is a tiny town with limited gift shops, each with a limited postcard selection. Plus it was a beautiful photo, and representative of what Id seen in New Zealand. Honestly, I was impressed the card even mentioned lupins foreign nature. Despite how often non-native species feature in representative images of a place, we rarely acknowledge that they really shouldnt be there. Sometimes introduced species even become iconic. Hawaiis guava trees are nasty weeds; plumeria comes from Central America.Although we expect pork at luaus and shade from palm trees, we forget that pigs (introduced by

Holly Moeller
Fortunately, this decision isnt mine to make. Ill happily avoid the mess of conflicting practical matters, scientific opinions and cultural identities. Still, such issues raise questions for all of us who grew up in a human-modified world thats changed perceptibly within our own lifetimes. Often, managers marshal crews of weed whackers and brigades of rodent trappers to chase an idealized image of a place thats neither practical nor appropriate. Sometimes the goal is the most naturallooking system; other times aesthetics favor charismatic species. Recently, weve begun managing for functional ecosystems, which cycle nutrients or photosynthesize or interconnect in ostensibly ideal ways. There seems to be a common theme, though, and thats the desire to reproduce some fixed vision of how things should be.We want to restore places to match a glorified memory, and hold them unchanged indefinitely. What could be more human than wishing to hold the places dearest to our hearts constant? What could be more human than wanting something we cant have? As Ben Franklin quipped, nothings certain in life but death and taxes. Everything else changes including our natural systems. Plants and animals evolve sometimes unpredictably. They adjust their behaviors and ranges according to shifting environmental conditions (with a new twist thrown in by climate change). And as we know from Hawaii, California and New Zealand, our views change too. We form new baselines from our observations as we grow up, and as we travel to places outside our former experience. So we are confronted with two extremes: to fight desperately and in vain for constancy, or to surrender to global homogenization, accepting the attendant waves of species invasion and native extinction. Obviously, the answer lies somewhere in between. And its different in every case, depending on how you feel about the smell of eucalyptus. Send first, changing or lasting impressions to Holly at hollyvm@stanford.edu. No foreign plant seeds, please!

native Hawaiians more than 1,000 years ago) demolish the native forest floor and that coconut palms probably accompanied the first human settlers. Back home, I associate California with the smell of eucalyptus trees, and I think iceplant (which carpets the coast) is beautiful. I find it hard to accept that these two species are among our worst weeds, and that I should revile them accordingly. Imprints of sight and smell are hard to shake. Now, here in New Zealand, a new twist: Some of my favorite North American conifers Douglas-fir, Monterey pine and Lodgepole pine are nasty invaders. Pines in particular are taking off through New Zealands grasslands like wildfire. Except that theres hardly any wildfire in New Zealand. Indeed, thats why pines are so successful. When the Maori burned parts of the native forests to clear the land, the original trees, having evolved in a nearly fire-free environment, were slow to return. The grasslands that replaced them are now iconic:

Theyve persisted for 500 years or more, predating European settlement and acquiring a novel set of human-introduced plants and selfintroduced birds. Enter the foreign pines, many of which were planted to stabilize the steepest slopes in the wake of the Europeans wave of fire clearing. But once the pines started creeping into grasslands, they became species non grata. Never mind the human origins of those very grasslands: Theyve been ingrained into the Kiwi sense of place, and must therefore be defended. The practical ecologist in me wonders how much Id be willing to pay to clear whole hillsides of pine, as New Zealands Department of Conservation is doing now. If the area was originally forested, why not let pines settle there? Pines are fire-followers their seedlings grow fast but require high light and all but absent tree cover. So the pine forests will last only for a single generation. Perhaps, though, theyll form a sheltered steppingstone back to native forest.

The Stanford Daily

Thursday, February 9, 2012 N 5

Patel added. I have many friends who became majors because of that class. Some of my friends take CS because they want to do a startup in the future. Both professors also attributed part of this increase in students choosing to major in CS to the economy. There are tremendous economic opportunities in computer science, Sahami said, adding that there is an enormous demand for those who graduate with CS skills. After the economic crash in 2007, computer science was the only option for some students, Roberts said, adding that other options for students disappeared as demand for jobs in business decreased during the downturn. While many students are choosing this major and graduating with this degree, the demand is still outstripping the supply, Sahami said. We still see the numbers continue to grow. Its amazing how few people we are training relative to the jobs available, Roberts said. He added that the CS department doesnt drive anyone away because of this high demand. According to a Daily article published Jan. 11, the CS department has been trying to increase female student involvement in CS courses after CS106A. While he said he is not sure if there has been a noticeable increase in interest from female students, Roberts said that the courses are becoming more balanced in enrollment between the sexes. It is important to raise the numbers . . . and have more women entering the field, Roberts said. Contact Josee Smith at jsmith11@ stanford.edu.

COMPSCI

Continued from front page

Two years after the overhaul, there was a near-doubling of CS majors, he added. Both Roberts and Sahami talked about the appeal of introductory CS courses, such as CS106A, that pull undergraduates in and result in them deciding to major in CS. These courses change someones efficacy, Roberts said. So that they can do more things at once. Roberts added that the introductory courses allow for a very tangible way for the students to see change and improvement in their skills, especially when creating applications for the class. Sahami expressed a similar view. It is about the notion of empowerment of what someone can do in computing, he said. Someone with an idea and computer skills can build something. James Nam 14 said he enjoyed CS106A when he took it last year. I wanted to do more research in CS so I declared my first year, Nam said. He attributed the number of job opportunities available for CS majors as a reason for declaring. Jay Patel, 14, was thinking about majoring in CS when he came to Stanford. Ive been playing around with computers for a long time now, since fourth grade, he said, so I came in knowing I wanted to do something with computers. Right from the beginning, CS106A did a really good job of making people excited about CS,

UNITS

Continued from front page

Some departments have a typical number of units for each class and instructors then gear the amount of work they assign to that unit load, she said. Sharon Palmer, associate vice provost for undergraduate education, recently conducted a study that looked at student reports of hours per week spent on work outside of class per unit of credit. These were based on end quarter evaluations, and the study was limited and preliminary. The overall average for all undergraduate courses was very close to the Registrars guideline of two hours per week outside of class per unit of credit, Palmer stated in an email. There was, of course, some variation between

department or program averages, and considerable variation between individual class averages even within the same department. But overall there was much less discrepancy between units than anecdote would suggest. However, Copeland noted, any advisor hears anecdotally that particular courses are more or less work than their allotted units. This year, ME 101, an engineering class that is notoriously one of the most time-intensive classes at Stanford, was upgraded from three units to four units. This process has no standard operating procedure, however, and Copeland stated that there is no established frequency for the reevaluation of units. Units would be likely be reevaluated if the faculty become aware that their course is radically more or less work than is expected per unit, she said.

When asked about how this would impact the engineering department, Copeland answered, From my perspective as an advisor, the more profound impact of raising the units in a particular course is encouraging students to take fewer courses in the quarter when they have that course, and therefore creating a more balanced and reasonable schedule. In my personal experience, it is better to use the unit count as an initial suggested guideline and to work with each student individually to help him or her determine if what he or she has chosen for the quarter is a reasonable load, Copeland said. So with most students, I dont have a conversation about the equity of units per se, rather what is appropriate for them in that quarter after they have reviewed the syllabi. Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 @stanford.edu.

MEMES

Continued from page 2

help him handle the page. Shane Savitsky 12 (a Daily staffer) and Kazuma Gunning 12 are helping create memes and set up the Twitter and Tumblr accounts. Its been a good year for Nguyen so far. His Shit College Freshmen Say video garnered more than one million views on YouTube, and his comedy channel JustCallMeMrRight is the No. 1

viewed channel in the Comedians category. While making money from this endeavor might be difficult, Nguyen has other concerns, as well.When asked whether the popularity has changed his life, Nguyen shrugged and smiled. Love life is still terrible, he said.As one of the Stanford memes that twists Boromirs famous quote in Lord of the Rings pointed out, One does not simply date at Stanford. Contact Brendan OByrne and bobyrne@stanford.edu.

6 N Thursday, February 9, 2012

SPORTS
By DANIEL LUPIN
STAFF WRITER

The Stanford Daily

ROLLING SOUTH
previous two Friday night matches against now No. 1 UCLA and No. 5 Penn State, the No. 4 Cardinal has shown resilience on Saturdays, outlasting top-15 opponents No. 14 UC-Santa Barbara and No. 8 Ohio State in consecutive weekends. Following the impressive sweep of BYU, Stanford (7-2, 4-1 MPSF) now hopes to continue its momentum and avoid the ever-pesky letdown match this weekend in southern California against conference foes No. 9 Long Beach State (5-4, 1-3) and No. 11 Cal State Northridge (3-6, 1-4). We had a big weekend against BYU and were certainly proud of the two wins we got in Provo, but like our coach always says, its the MPSF and every match is just as important as the next, said senior captain Brad Lawson. A balanced attack, run smoothly and efficiently by senior setter Evan Barry, has been the calling card for Stanford thus far this season. Lawson and sophomores Brian Cook, Eric Mochalski and reigning MPSF Player of the Week Steven Irvin all average at least two kills per set and have a hitting percentage above .300. As a result, Stanford has easily outhit its opponents thus far this season, landing 36 percent of its swings in contrast to its opponents 29.2 percentage. Barry leads the NCAA with 12.26 assists per game. Led by senior libero Erik Shoji, Stanford has out-dug its opponents, averaging nearly a dig and a half more per set (9.00 to 7.55). Shoji currently ranks third in the nation at a 2.73 digsper-set clip. Long Beach State figures to present a challenge this Friday night in a rematch of last years MPSF quarterfinal, which the 49ers won. LBSU has a stingy defense thanks to a starting lineup that features three players 6foot-7 or taller, helping to hold opponents to a lowly .236 hitting percentage this season. Seniors Jim Baughman and Brad Hemmerling, as well as sophomore Taylor Crabb lead the 49ers attack, with each averaging better than 2.5 kills per set. Running the show is sophomore setter Connor Olbright, who assists on an impressive 62.5 percent of his sets. He, along with Crabb, was a teammate of Cook, Irvin and Mochalski this summer on the U.S. Mens Junior National Team that placed fourth at the Junior World Championships in Brazil. Although the 49ers have struggled somewhat in league play thus far this season, Long Beach State is a different team at home. Stanford will have to be the first team to defeat the 49ers inside the iconic Walter Pyramid this season, and snapping Long Beachs three-match win streak will clearly be no easy chore. Well be facing Long Beach in a rematch of last years MPSF quarterfinal, and for those of us who were on last years squad, thats a strong motivating fac-

Jack Blanchat

CARD TRIES TO STAY HOT AGAINST SOCAL FOES

Last weekend, the Stanford mens volleyball team got exactly what the doctor ordered: a road sweep of the previously topranked BYU Cougars. Despite having dropped its

NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily

The block of Brian Cook (left) and Gus Ellis (right) helped the Stanford mens volleyball team take down former No. 1 BYU in back-to-back matches. The Cardinal will look to keep the momentum going this weekend.

Please see VOLLEY, page 7

DESPERATE CARD TRAVELS TO UCLA

STANFORD FACES CRUCIAL ROAD TEST
By ANDERS MIKKELSEN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Fresh off a disappointing home loss to Arizona, the Stanford mens basketball team is back on the road for rematches with UCLA and USC. The Cardinal (16-7, 6-5 Pac-12) currently sits three games back of conference-leading Washington and needs to complete a season sweep over both teams to stay in the hunt for the Pac-12 title. First up for Stanford is UCLA. The Bruins (13-10, 6-5) have been one of the most disappointing teams in the country so far. As the preseason pick to win the Pac-12 and the No. 17 team in the nation, they were expected to cruise to the NCAA Tournament. Yet between the 1-4 start to the season and the dismissal from the team of Reeves Nelson, UCLAs leading scorer and rebounder last season, the potential dream season has instead turned into a nightmare for the Bruins. UCLAs last meeting with the Cardinal ended in dramatic fashion, with Stanford forward Josh Huestis blocking a potential game-winning jumper by UCLAs Lazeric Jones with three seconds left on the clock. Stopping Jones will definitely be a priority for the Cardinal. The guard leads UCLA in both points per game and assists per game, with 13.3 and 4.4 respectively. Jones scored a career-high 26 points in the teams last meet-

ing and will be looking to put on another show in front of his home crowd. For Stanford to beat the Bruins again, it must continue its strong work on the boards. The Cardinal has been outrebounded just four times this season, and has been especially dominant in terms of offensive rebounding. Stanford may catch a break, as UCLA forward Travis Wear missed the teams last game with an ankle sprain and is questionable for tonight. The big man is second on the team in both scoring and rebounding. His absence would be a major blow to the Bruins, as Wear, his twin brother David Wear, and center Joshua Smith provide frontcourt depth few can match. The three average 16.3 rebounds combined per game, and would definitely put up a fight for control over the boards. With Travis Wear hobbled, Smith has stepped up in a big way. The sophomore had the best game of his college career last Thursday against Washington, posting a career-high 24 points to go with nine rebounds. Two nights later, he had 19 points and five rebounds to lead the Bruins over Washington State. After tonights test against UCLA, the Cardinal will travel to USC to take on the bottomdwelling Trojans. USC (6-18, 110) has been a far cry from the team that made the NCAA Tournament last year, posting the programs worst season in recent memory. The Trojans have

o here we are in mid-February, the most awful time of the sports year. Football season is over, the eternity that is the NBA season is only half-over and were still a few weeks away from March Madness. But despite the fact that nothing that interesting is going on in the sports world, that doesnt mean theres any shortage of athletes saying stupid things, most notably Giants running back Brandon Jacobs. After Tom Bradys receivers (read: Wes Welker) couldnt quite hang on to his perfect passes on Sunday, Bradys wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was caught on video saying, My husband cannot f-ing throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I cant believe they dropped the ball so many times. To anyone who watched the game, this was a reasonable (albeit passionate) critique of the Patriots receivers performance. Enter Brandon Jacobs. During the Giants championship parade on Tuesday, Jacobs offered his critique of Bundchens comments, saying, She just needs to continue to stay cute and shut up. You go, Brandon. Youre the man. Everybody knows that when you rush for a whopping 37 yards in the Super Bowl, you get to say whatever petty, sexist things you want to the national media. After all, Jacobs is the NFLs arbiter of telling people to shut up. After the Giants beat the Jets in week 16 this season, Jacobs told the media that he told Jets head coach Rex Ryan, Wait till we win the Super Bowl . . . And I told him Ill punch him in the face. [Ryan] needs to shut up, Jacobs added later. Hes a great coach, I take nothing away from him. He comes from a great coaching family. But he needs to shut up. Now, Jacobs has at least stood up and apologized for his comments, but after running his mouth all season long, youd think that he would know better than to say something so patently stupid to the New York media. He of all people should know just how viral and gossipy things are in the City That Never Sleeps, considering how he set off the Giants-Jets firestorm that dominated ESPNs airwaves in December. Personally, I dont see where Jacobs got the chip on his shoulder that allows him to talk so big. Perhaps he knows that hes one of the softest running backs in the NFL and needs to justify his awful play on the field with his even worse trash talk. His 571 rushing yards this season were good enough for the 40thmost yards in NFL, well behind guys like Darren McFadden, who played in seven games this year. Jacobs even finished with fewer rushing yards this year than Timothy Richard Tebow (and Jacobs somehow managed to finish with an even worse completion percentage than Tebow as well). Altogether, Jacobs dumb comments should be a reminder to all athletes that you cant just talk trash about whatever you want. Just like a politician or a businessman, if you talk to the media and you say something that would make a Mad Men character blush, you will get excoriated for it, and you deserve to be raked over the coals. Just because you backed up your trash talk and ended up with your second Super Bowl ring in five years doesnt mean you get to say whatever you want in fact, you should be far more circumspect about what you say to reporters, considering that they are now putting a mic in your face and expecting that you will say something dumb. So Brandon, I have just one more thing to say. Youve been running your mouth a lot this year, so let me run mine: Stop acting like a 14year-old and start using that mouth to kiss the shoes of everybody who actually contributed to the Giants Super Bowl run this year.You might want to start with Eli Manning, Justin Tuck, Mario Manningham and Jason Pierre-Paul. Then give your appreciation to Wes Welker, Kyle Williams, Tony Romo and Jason Garretts clock management skills. And after youre done doing that, youd be best served to take your own advice: Shut up. Jack Blanchat knows you wont excoriate him for his opinions. Ask Jack what excoriate means at blanchat@stanford.edu or follow him on Twitter @jmblanchat.

Jacobs needs to follow his own advice

MIKE KHEIR/The Stanford Daily

Please see MBBALL, page 7

Sophomore guard Aaron Bright (above) and the Stanford mens basketball team have struggled of late, losing four of the past five games. The Cardinal now must hit the road to play UCLA and USC.

The Stanford Daily

Thursday, February 9, 2012 N 7

true road games. If Stanford has MPSF- and national-title aspirations, this weekend should be one where the Cardinal takes care of business. On paper, Stanford has too many weapons for either Long Beach State or Cal State-Northridge to contend with, even while on the road. Beating teams in the lower half of the conference standings on the road will be a crucial task moving forward, especially considering the Cardinal gets to finish with 11 of its final 13 matches at home. Stanford will take on Long Beach State on Friday and Cal State-Northridge on Saturday, with both matches beginning at 7 p.m. It is the teams second-tolast road trip before returning to the Farm for a six-match home stand. Contact Daniel Lupin at delupin @stanford.edu.

VOLLEY

Continued from page 6

tor, Lawson said of the Cardinals season-ending defeat a year ago. On Saturday, the Cardinal will be charged with the task of slowing down the Cal State-Northridge Matadors, a team that plays two setters and has six players averaging at least a kill per set. The Matadors are led by freshman Julius Hoefer, who ranks third in the NCAA among freshmen with 3.53 kills per set. Northridges other featured hitter is senior Matt Stork, who averages 2.63 kills per set. Like Long Beach State, Northridge has found much more success at home this season. The Matadors are 2-0 in Northridge despite having lost all five of their

WOMEN HOST TROJANS

STANFORD, USC MEET AT MAPLES
By TOM TAYLOR
SENIOR STAFF WRITER

MBBALL

Continued from page 6

won just one of their last 12 games, losing by an average of 12.5 points per game, and have more losses this year than in any year since 1994-95. The Trojans are led on offense by sophomore guard Maurice Jones, who averages 14 points per game. The guard also averages 38.4 minutes per game, by far the most in the Pac-12. In fact, he has played the entire 40 minutes in eight of USCs 24 games, as well as 49 minutes in an early-season overtime loss. The tough schedule could be taking a toll on Jones as the regular season comes to a close, which could account for his single-digit point totals in each of USCs last two games. The Trojans have also had major injury issues this year, los-

ing five players to season-ending injuries. Their two leading rebounders, Aaron Fuller and DeWayne Dedmon, are each out, leaving them with no frontcourt depth. Just two big men remain on the roster, forward Garrett Jackson and little-used center James Blasczyk. Look for Stanfords Josh Owens and Huestis to try to exploit this depleted USC roster. Stanford needs to battle hard in both games in its quest to earn one of the top four spots in the Pac-12 Tournament and the first-round bye that comes with it. Head coach Johnny Dawkins said that the Cardinal has a lose and go home mentality, which may be just what Stanford needs in order to replicate its early-season success. Stanford tips off against UCLA at 8 p.m. tonight and will face USC at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Contact Anders Mikkelsen at amikk@stanford.edu.

The Pac-12 Conference comes full circle at Maples Pavilion tonight, with the USC womens basketball team visiting the Farm for a rematch of the opening game, which took place in Los Angeles at the end of December. Since that 61-53 victory for Stanford at the Galen Center, the two teams have had very different seasons. In tonights contest the No. 4 Cardinal (20-1, 11-0 Pac-12) will be looking for its 17th straight win and the opportunity to tighten its grip on the top spot in the conference, while the Trojans (12-10, 6-5) are coming off a narrow home loss to Washington and are currently in a three-way tie for fourth place. Stanford leads the all-time series

against USC 48-19, and has won the last nine meetings, stretching back to the 2007-08 season when the Trojans edged the Cardinal with a 7372 in Los Angeles. In the Cardinals last time out, Stanford destroyed Arizona 91-51 in Tucson. For the third time this season, junior forward Joslyn Tinkle outscored the Ogwumike sisters, setting a new career high of 22 points and tying her career best with 11 rebounds. It is hard, though, to ignore what senior forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike and sophomore forward Chiney Ogwumike bring to the Card. They may not have made the headlines in the Arizona game, but still hit double figures in points, with Chiney Ogwumike grabbing her fifth straight double-double. USC also has its own sister act to count on in senior guard Briana Gilbreath and redshirt junior guard Stefanie Gilbreath, but the comparison to the Ogwumikes is perhaps unfair. Briana Gilbreath leads the

Trojans in points with 12.2 per game, but her sister is only playing in her first full season after sitting out three full years due to two ACL tears and playing only limited time last season as a result of additional injuries. Unfortunately, Stefanie Gilbreath is not the only Trojan to have struggled with serious knee injuries, and graduate student guard Jacki Gemelos, a northern California native in her sixth year (and the nations top recruit in 2006), will again be absent from the lineup after suffering her fourth ACL tear last December. The Ogwumike sisters each have three Pac-12 Player of the Week awards this season and are first and third in both shooting and rebounding in the Pac-12, with Nneka ahead in points per game, 20.3 to 16.8, and Chiney leading in rebounds per game, 12.4 to 12.1. The Trojans, however, may have greater depth in shooting.While the

Please see WBBALL, page 8

WOMENS SWIMMING AND DIVING

By GEORGE CHEN
DESK EDITOR

Season finale pits Card vs. Cal

The stage has been set. In the grand finale of the regular season, the No. 8 Stanford womens swimming and diving team will square off against No. 1 California at the Avery Aquatic Center this Saturday. The Golden Bears are coming into the meet with an undefeated dual-meet record while the Cardinal is 8-1, with the sole loss coming against No. 2 Florida. Despite Cals current status as the best team in the nation, Stanfords lower ranking doesnt reflect the teams recent tenacity in defeating higher-ranked opponents. Two weeks ago, the womens swimmers upset No. 5 Arizona at home, and just a week ago they took down No. 7 USC on the road. Whats even more impressive is that in both of these wins, the Cardinal had already competed in another meet the previous day. The upset-minded Cardinal hopes to pull off one last shocker against the top team in the country and end Cals bid for its first undefeated regular season since 2006. Cals lineup certainly looks formidable across the board. Three Golden Bear swimmers already have automatic NCAA qualifying times a feat that not many college swimmers have accomplished during the regular season. Leading the way for Cal is junior Caitlin Leverenz, considered to be one of the best swimmers in the nation. At the 2011 NCAA Championships, she placed in the top five in three individual events. She also swam the breaststroke legs of the teams 200 and 400 medley relays, both of which won the national title. So far this season, Leverenz has already clocked automatic NCAA qualifying times in five individual events. One of the best matchups in Saturdays showdown will be between Leverenz and Stanfords sophomore Maya DiRado. As elite national swimmers, the two stars are alike in many ways. Although DiRado and Leverenz specialize in different strokes, they both own some of the nations fastest times. DiRado is currently the fastest swimmer in the 200 backstroke by more than seven-tenths of a second while Leverenz co-owns the fastest time in the 200 breaststroke. Whats even more interesting is that DiRado and Leverenz overlap in their strengths. As two of the countrys premier individual medley swimmers, DiRado has the nations second-fastest time in the 200 individual medley, a full second ahead of fourthranked Leverenz. In the longer 400 individual medley event, Leverenz ranks second, just one place ahead of DiRado. Drawing out their similarities even further, DiRado was named the 2011 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year while her slightly older competitor won the same award in 2010. Another key matchup to

FEINGOLD
Continued from front page
We have a single-by-singlecountry approach of tackling issues, he said. The discussion was never focused on the broad landscape. Feingold emphasized Africas importance in the fight against terrorism, bringing attention to extremist groups in Africa such as alQaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Feingold cited Somalia as a state tainted with piracy and also discussed the emergence of an alQaeda chapter and strong connections to Yemen, an example of a failure in U.S foreign policy. According to Feingold, there has been a trivialization and neglect of foreign policy, particularly by the right in U.S. politics. He pointed to how the idea of American exceptionalism is often linked to American foreign policy, something he deemed foolish. I believe that the U.S. can remain the leading nation in the world, he said. But we cannot

keep briefly waking up from our slumber to yell out,We are number one! and then go back to sleep. Feingold encouraged Americans to be more involved as global citizens, particularly by learning languages. After the talk, audience members posed questions on an array of topics ranging from the U.S. role in Egypt to intervention in Syria to the possibility of an Iranian attack. In response to a question on why the United States is disliked in some regions of the world, Feingold responded saying, I think it has to do with the U.S. support of nations with tyrannical regimes. It breeds a situation where people can be sucked into protest or worse, violence. Mr. Feingolds sincerity was obvious and he gave a number of cogent reasons for greater engagement beyond our borders, said Aaron Sekhri 15, who attended the lecture. His emphasis on the need to become world citizens and challenge ourselves in spheres alien to us was inspiring. Contact Natasha Weaser at nweaser@stanford.edu.

Please see SWIM, page 8

COTERMS

Continued from front page

Over the same period of time [as the honors declined], there has been an increase in two other programs: co-terminal degrees and minors, said Susan McConnell, biology professor and co-chair of SUES, referring to an increase in co-terminal degrees and minors over the past two decades, despite the high numbers stabilizing in the past 10 years. McConnell also stated that one would need to conduct a more indepth study into honors programs to be sure of the reasons behind their decline in popularity. The Commission Undergraduate Education (CUE) report published 17 years ago stated that about one in four students wrote an honors thesis. This figure is now closer to one in five, according to McConnell. [The SUES report] is not suggesting in any way that every student should do an honors thesis, McConnell said. My main interest is in ensuring that as many students as possible have the opportunity to engage in a culminating experience . . . rather than in increasing the number of honors students per se, Elam said. McConnell echoed Elams sentiment. We would like to see every senior do some sort of capstone . . . that doesnt have to be a research based honors thesis, McConnell said. There are a number of ways in which students can have this kind of experience, including honors and other kinds of final project experiences, Elam said. He noted

that there are already many engineering programs that require students to complete some sort of final project. Both Elam and McConnell emphasized the fact there is no movement to require senior honors theses. In keeping with Stanfords culture and students, the emphasis will be on multiple options that students can choose from according to their interests rather than mandating particular forms or disciplinary distributions, Elam said. The SUES report, presented to the Faculty Senate on Jan. 26, suggested the creation of a residential research college which would have an atmosphere conducive to collaborative learning and writing research-based theses. McConnell said that responses thus far from faculty regarding the SUES proposals have been very positive. [In] both the faculty and the University administration theres a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, McConnell said. The SUES report cited the new format of the political science honors thesis as a potential model for the rest of the University. The program is different from other honors programs in that it takes place over the course of two years as opposed to just one. [Reviewing the curriculum] is a new way of infusing energy into the curriculum and thats clearly happening, McConnell said of the potential for positive change from the SUES report. Overall, she added, the response has been that there is energy, enthusiasm, and a renewed commitment to undergraduates at Stanford. Contact Mary Harrison at mharrison15@stanford.edu.

8 N Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Stanford Daily

WBBALL

Continued from page 7

Ogwumikes are the only Stanford players shooting in the top 30 of the Pac-12, USC has more balanced scoring with four players in the top 30: senior guard Ashley Corral, sophomore forward Cassie Harberts, Briana Gilbreath and junior forward Christina Marinacci. With 13.0, 12.1, 11.3 and 10.1 points per game, respectively, their combined contribution outweighs that from Stanfords sisters.

SWIM

Continued from page 7

watch for will be the sprint-off between Stanford senior Sam Woodward and Cal senior Liv Jensen. The two accomplished veterans have both been critical to their respective teams success in dual-meet situations and are expected to be individual national title contenders come March. In comparison to each other, both swimmers are ranked in the top five in the 50 freestyle, with Jensen second and Woodward fifth. But not to be outdone, Woodward has the countrys second-fastest time in the 100 butterfly. On the diving board, Stanford sophomore Stephanie Phipps will carry the burden against a deep Cal diving squad. At the Cardinal Diving Invitational in mid-January, Phipps outscored senior Molly Hayes, Cals top diver, in both the one-meter and three-meter springboard events. Considering that Cal has three divers who already have NCAA regional-qualifying scores, Phipps will likely have to repeat those victories if Stanford hopes to cancel out Cals depth. The showdown between Stanford and Cal will begin at 1 p.m. this Saturday at the Avery Aquatic Center. Contact George Chen at gchen15 @stanford.edu.

Stanford leads the all-time series against USC 48-19

On three-point shooting, too, USC could look for an advantage. It currently leads the Pac-12 in shooting percentage from outside the arc at 35 percent, nine places ahead of Stanfords 26.4. USC hits 6.36 shots from downtown per game compared to Stanfords 4.73, and Corral leads the conference with 2.91 threes per contest. She now tops USCs all-time list with 282 three-pointers. Interestingly, the situation in three-point defense is the complete opposite:The Cardinal is first, allowing only 24.1 percent, and the Trojans are 10th with 32.1. Should USC manage to nullify the presence of Stanfords forwards and succeed in keeping it outside, or should the Card achieve the same with the Trojans, these two statistics will be directly tested. Across the Bay, in the other game tonight between southern and northern California teams, third-place UCLA (12-10, 7-4) will face second-place Cal (17-6, 8-3). While fans of Stanford womens basketball may be focused on the action on campus, the result of this other contest could be significant. Should the Card win and Cal lose, Stanford would have a four-game lead with just six to play. The contest between Stanford and USC starts at Maples at 6 p.m. tonight. Contact Tom Taylor at tom.taylor@ stanford.edu.

MEHMET INONU/The Stanford Daily

Senior guard Lindy La Rocque (above) and the No. 4 Stanford womens basketball team look to continue their recent hot streak when USC comes to town. The Cardinal has won 16 straight and is 11-0 in Pac-12 play.

The Stanford Daily

Thursday, February 9, 2012 N 9

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10 N Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Stanford Daily