[Goose]

There’s a vicious cycle here:

Litigation ==> CYA draconian “standards” ==> Less margin for “behavioral error” ==> More “transgressions” ==> stricter “enforcement consequences” ==> Increased stress and related litigation

Pick your starting point. 

Bottom line: LSJU feels it has to be a prescriptive nanny state to reduce its exposure to litigation.

I do agree that exposure to litigation is part of the "justification" for the nanny state at Stanford, but I think the real driver is that the administrators involved see the nanny state as a desired goal in itself. Litigation is the excuse, but "helping young people make good life choices" is the real driver. It greatly helps that this goal increases the size of the respective empires involved. It also helps that the definition of "good" is the administrator's, and nobody else gets a vote. This current of thought was always present at Stanford,even back in the 60s when I was there. Fortunately, both the faculty and the students had enough clout (and cared enough about the issue) to generally slap it down. That is no longer the case, and the virus has spread unchecked.

[Goose]

There’s a vicious cycle here:

Litigation ==> CYA draconian “standards” ==> Less margin for “behavioral error” ==> More “transgressions” ==> stricter “enforcement consequences” ==> Increased stress and related litigation

Pick your starting point. 

Bottom line: LSJU feels it has to be a prescriptive nanny state to reduce its exposure to litigation.

I do agree that exposure to litigation is part of the "justification" for the nanny state at Stanford, but I think the real driver is that the administrators involved see the nanny state as a desired goal in itself. Litigation is the excuse, but "helping young people make good life choices" is the real driver. It greatly helps that this goal increases the size of the respective empires involved. It also helps that the definition of "good" is the administrator's, and nobody else gets a vote. This current of thought was always present at Stanford,even back in the 60s when I was there. Fortunately, both the faculty and the students had enough clout (and cared enough about the issue) to generally slap it down. That is no longer the case, and the virus has spread unchecked.