[CTcard]

"Athletic admission is separate from the general pool so there will be no effect. There are slots for athletes and there are slots for everybody else. Alternatively Stanford could disband its athletic program."

There is no guarantee that it will be ever thus.
...

The next Gerhard Casper is out there somewhere.

I don't want to stop you from enjoying your anxieties, and indeed there are no guarantees of anything, but from what I can see the fundamental interest in competitive sports at Stanford and the essentially separate admissions track is on fairly substantial footing. In fact, the only main discussion I have heard in recent years about de-emphasizing big time sports at Stanford was from disgruntled football fans during the Buddy/Wlat years; which still seems to me more dramatic whining than any kind of serious proposal.

I know we all only hear voices from our own worlds, but since the arrival of Harbs and a happy football fan base I haven't heard any discussion yearning to de-emphasize sports at Stanford; and I know many of the usual suspects - like foreign born faculty members.

Casper himself, I think, is an example of the robustness of the role of big-time sports at Stanford. As far as I could tell, he did indeed seem somewhat bewildered by the whole American thing of high level sports in universities and was not pro-sports. However, during his time (1992-2000) we say a reasonably high level of football success under Willingham, the rise of the golden era of mens basketball, and a Sears Cup every year (well, every year starting in 1994-5, the second year of the cup).

If you want to look for a possible fly in the ointment of our athletic success it would be the next Robin Mamlet -  though I would maintain that even she was a lesser issue to a series of inadequate coaches.


[ I am not quite sure how much your concern is about a separate admissions track for athletes and how much general issues of athletic success at Stanford. I was assuming the latter. Even in the Ivies, admissions for athletes is essentially a separate track.]

[CTcard]

"Athletic admission is separate from the general pool so there will be no effect. There are slots for athletes and there are slots for everybody else. Alternatively Stanford could disband its athletic program."

There is no guarantee that it will be ever thus.
...

The next Gerhard Casper is out there somewhere.

I don't want to stop you from enjoying your anxieties, and indeed there are no guarantees of anything, but from what I can see the fundamental interest in competitive sports at Stanford and the essentially separate admissions track is on fairly substantial footing. In fact, the only main discussion I have heard in recent years about de-emphasizing big time sports at Stanford was from disgruntled football fans during the Buddy/Wlat years; which still seems to me more dramatic whining than any kind of serious proposal.

I know we all only hear voices from our own worlds, but since the arrival of Harbs and a happy football fan base I haven't heard any discussion yearning to de-emphasize sports at Stanford; and I know many of the usual suspects - like foreign born faculty members.

Casper himself, I think, is an example of the robustness of the role of big-time sports at Stanford. As far as I could tell, he did indeed seem somewhat bewildered by the whole American thing of high level sports in universities and was not pro-sports. However, during his time (1992-2000) we say a reasonably high level of football success under Willingham, the rise of the golden era of mens basketball, and a Sears Cup every year (well, every year starting in 1994-5, the second year of the cup).

If you want to look for a possible fly in the ointment of our athletic success it would be the next Robin Mamlet -  though I would maintain that even she was a lesser issue to a series of inadequate coaches.


[ I am not quite sure how much your concern is about a separate admissions track for athletes and how much general issues of athletic success at Stanford. I was assuming the latter. Even in the Ivies, admissions for athletes is essentially a separate track.]