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Stanford Presidents (Poll) - Leftcoast - 04-04-2024

With the selection of a new Stanford President it might be a decent time to look back on our past President's and think about what made them great ... or not so great.  Who's your favorite ... and if you're willing to share, why?  

(No criteria specified - use whatever you use to judge Stanford President's.)

RE: Stanford Presidents (Poll) - qwerty49 - 04-04-2024

LOL can we vote for our most unfavorite? That would definitely be Caspar IMHO.

My bias is obviously for someone who fully supports Stanford sports. No more Euro research eggheads please.

76lsjumb - 76lsjumb - 04-04-2024

Herbert Hoover. My Mom worked for him when she was a student.
(04-04-2024, 02:15 PM)76lsjumb Wrote:  Herbert Hoover. My Mom worked for him when she was a student. (He was a President, after all).


RE: Stanford Presidents (Poll) - Leftcoast - 04-04-2024

I suspect the turbulent 60s and the troubled responses by Stanford would give Caspar some stiff competition for least favorite Stanford Presidents.  

I'm an 80s alum so I'm ill-positioned for taking a position on Stanford in the late 60s, just pointing out that the University was constantly caught wrong-footed in their response and late policy adjustments.

RE: Stanford Presidents (Poll) - jacket3ree - 04-04-2024

I liked Caspar because he railed against USNWR. I didn't like Caspar because he refused to follow through. (He threatened that Stanford would no longer submit data, but obviously they did and still do.)

I liked Hennessey because one of my former professors was serving as a dean when I guest lectured for him and I was introduced. Hennessey seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing, what my lecture was about, and why I bothered to wear a sport coat.

I never liked Kennedy because he spilled a drink on me during that half hour they hosted incoming grad students at the Hoover House and he was kind of an asshole about it. (I may have cracked a joke. It is possible. And he's not the only high-powered person to spill a drink on my shoes. Senator Feinstein did the same during the 100th anniversary block party for the Flood Building in SF. She at least apologized and laughed at my lame joke, which was probably the same lame joke. Grace Slick also spilled a drink on me from the stage once. No interaction on that one.) It also didn't help that he bungled his testimony in front of Congress over the indirect cost recovery controversy, which in turn ruined the front page of the Examiner on my daughter's birth date, because in my family you save the birth date paper. "STANFORD GRILLED IN FRONT OF CONCRESS" I'm pretty sure I tossed it the last time we cleaned out the garage.

MTL seemed like a flaming mess, but I never met the guy or cared to meet the guy.

No opinions on the others.

RE: Stanford Presidents (Poll) - cardcrimson - 04-04-2024

My biggest regret about Kennedy, was that I just missed hitting him with a champagne cork during graduation at Frost. Fortunately, I didn't hit George Shultz who was sitting next to him. . . .

Mudhead - Mudhead - 04-04-2024

(04-04-2024, 05:46 PM)jacket3ree Wrote:  I liked Caspar because he railed against USNWR. I didn't like Caspar because he refused to follow through. (He threatened that Stanford would no longer submit data, but obviously they did and still do.)

I liked Hennessey because one of my former professors was serving as a dean when I guest lectured for him and I was introduced. Hennessey seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing, what my lecture was about, and why I bothered to wear a sport coat.

I never liked Kennedy because he spilled a drink on me during that half hour they hosted incoming grad students at the Hoover House and he was kind of an asshole about it. (I may have cracked a joke. It is possible. And he's not the only high-powered person to spill a drink on my shoes. Senator Feinstein did the same during the 100th anniversary block party for the Flood Building in SF. She at least apologized and laughed at my lame joke, which was probably the same lame joke. Grace Slick also spilled a drink on me from the stage once. No interaction on that one.) It also didn't help that he bungled his testimony in front of Congress over the indirect cost recovery controversy, which in turn ruined the front page of the Examiner on my daughter's birth date, because in my family you save the birth date paper. "STANFORD GRILLED IN FRONT OF CONCRESS" I'm pretty sure I tossed it the last time we cleaned out the garage.

MTL seemed like a flaming mess, but I never met the guy or cared to meet the guy.

No opinions on the others.
agree re Kennedy. He didn’t spill a drink on me but his arrogance put him well into the “kind of an asshole “ spectrum.