[2006alum]

Hello, I am a cal fan & current student at Cal. I know that might make me enemy #1 here, but I heard the news of MTL resigning and wanted to see what Stanford fans' reactions were. In case it provides you with any interest, a lot of my friends (both at Stanford and at Cal) had been quite perturbed by the overarching movement that the administration had implemented to curb 'fun' and everything. To me, what attracts kids to stanford and drives much of it's success is the generally free spirited, hacky, almost anarchical nature of some of the exploits that students used to get up to. I have several friends who graduated from Stanford years ago (and have gone on to found companies, lead organizations, etc) that retell stories from their days on the Farm that are mostly around students having fun/mischief- maybe breaking the explicit "rules" of the university in some instances but all in good fun. To see the crackdown, almost Orwellian in nature (what was up with that ridiculous list of non-PC words that people weren't supposed to use?!) was really sad and almost made me think that Stanford was losing some of the elements that make it special/attractive.

In any case, I hope whoever leads your university next will reverse this course of action and return the university to an excellent academic institution that also has a whimsical, spontaneous nature- not an academic overlord that drops the hammer of authority on everyone and everything constantly. While I hope to smoke y'all every year on the field, I have a lot of respect for you as an institution and look forward to seeing a rebound. Cheers.

Thanks for stopping by, appreciated your generous praise for Stanford, and I agree with many of your sentiments. The administration has really been squashing the fun over the last few years, to the point that I fear much of what I loved most about Stanford (and which you accurately have described as what has made it unique among top flight research universities) will have been lost, with no current members of the student body to pass along the traditions, culture, and legacy to future classes. I'm very hopeful the BOT picks someone who understands what makes Stanford Stanford to lead it next.

(And FWIW, I am a dual Stanford/Cal grad, so while Stanford will always have my heart, I similarly share a great deal of appreciation for what makes Cal Cal -- except when it comes to rivalry games, when the weenies must be squashed!!)

[2006alum]

Hello, I am a cal fan & current student at Cal. I know that might make me enemy #1 here, but I heard the news of MTL resigning and wanted to see what Stanford fans' reactions were. In case it provides you with any interest, a lot of my friends (both at Stanford and at Cal) had been quite perturbed by the overarching movement that the administration had implemented to curb 'fun' and everything. To me, what attracts kids to stanford and drives much of it's success is the generally free spirited, hacky, almost anarchical nature of some of the exploits that students used to get up to. I have several friends who graduated from Stanford years ago (and have gone on to found companies, lead organizations, etc) that retell stories from their days on the Farm that are mostly around students having fun/mischief- maybe breaking the explicit "rules" of the university in some instances but all in good fun. To see the crackdown, almost Orwellian in nature (what was up with that ridiculous list of non-PC words that people weren't supposed to use?!) was really sad and almost made me think that Stanford was losing some of the elements that make it special/attractive.

In any case, I hope whoever leads your university next will reverse this course of action and return the university to an excellent academic institution that also has a whimsical, spontaneous nature- not an academic overlord that drops the hammer of authority on everyone and everything constantly. While I hope to smoke y'all every year on the field, I have a lot of respect for you as an institution and look forward to seeing a rebound. Cheers.

Thanks for stopping by, appreciated your generous praise for Stanford, and I agree with many of your sentiments. The administration has really been squashing the fun over the last few years, to the point that I fear much of what I loved most about Stanford (and which you accurately have described as what has made it unique among top flight research universities) will have been lost, with no current members of the student body to pass along the traditions, culture, and legacy to future classes. I'm very hopeful the BOT picks someone who understands what makes Stanford Stanford to lead it next.

(And FWIW, I am a dual Stanford/Cal grad, so while Stanford will always have my heart, I similarly share a great deal of appreciation for what makes Cal Cal -- except when it comes to rivalry games, when the weenies must be squashed!!)