[Goose]

David Packard played football at Stanford, if he was still alive I wonder what his take on this would be?  Friends and relatives who are still connected to the university through employment, consultant or volunteer activities have stated that at times it seems that the goal of the administration is to produce the next "Apple-Microsoft-Google-Amazon" creation and everything else can take a back seat.

I believe it has always been true that the goals of the University administration have never been directly aligned with creating a world-class institution of higher learning. One may say when Jane Stanford was alive it sort of was, but as we now know even she was often at odds with the "management". A private university whose founders/sponsors are dead is a unique institution. There are absolutely no checks and balances on what can become the goals of the administration. Even the "founding grant" can be and has been overlooked when convenient. I think in most of those cases it was for the best. Stanford has managed to become a very good university despite the lack of oversight. That is the good news. We can only hope that the current administration continues that. Often I think Stanford succeeded in the past not because of the administration but in spite of it. Given the OP's take on what is apparently the current set of goals (which I don't doubt for a minute), I hope our luck continues.

[Goose]

David Packard played football at Stanford, if he was still alive I wonder what his take on this would be?  Friends and relatives who are still connected to the university through employment, consultant or volunteer activities have stated that at times it seems that the goal of the administration is to produce the next "Apple-Microsoft-Google-Amazon" creation and everything else can take a back seat.

I believe it has always been true that the goals of the University administration have never been directly aligned with creating a world-class institution of higher learning. One may say when Jane Stanford was alive it sort of was, but as we now know even she was often at odds with the "management". A private university whose founders/sponsors are dead is a unique institution. There are absolutely no checks and balances on what can become the goals of the administration. Even the "founding grant" can be and has been overlooked when convenient. I think in most of those cases it was for the best. Stanford has managed to become a very good university despite the lack of oversight. That is the good news. We can only hope that the current administration continues that. Often I think Stanford succeeded in the past not because of the administration but in spite of it. Given the OP's take on what is apparently the current set of goals (which I don't doubt for a minute), I hope our luck continues.