[82lsju]

I don't recall the last time I read anything about Stanford Athletics from the University President...

from the Stanford Magazine

In the first months of my presidency, the Israel-Hamas war and its ramifications on campus have occupied the largest share of my attention. Not far behind is intercollegiate athletics and the historic change that is occurring nationally.
...
Fortunately, I have been able to rely on the advice of Professor Condoleezza Rice, trustee emerita Mariann Byerwalter, ’82, and a new Athletic Affairs Committee to chart a course that navigates these dynamics and stays true to our values while minimizing the financial impact of the transfer to the ACC.

https://stanfordmag.org/contents/stanfor...-tradition

I hate to say it, particularly on a board devoted to Stanford Athletics, but it seems like his priorities are misplaced.  I can understand the Israel/Hamas war because it has had a very significant downstream impact on questions of campus discourse, free speech, student safety, etc.  You would expect it to occupy a lot of time *right now* with the knowledge that its saliency will pass (though the need to address issues uncovered by it will continue).

While I welcome some attention at the highest levels on collegiate athletics, I worry that in the large scheme of things, it is the tail that is wagging the dog. We should not strive to become a University the Football team can be proud of (to paraphrase Dr. George L. Cross).  It seems to me that issues like student experience (of which sports are one of many aspects), mental health, academic integrity, admissions (in light of the recent Supreme Court decision), broader changes in the place of elite academic institutions in society, not to mention ongoing issues around fundraising, budgetary allocations, etc. that a president always has to deal with, are more important questions for a College President than collegiate athletics and should probably be consuming a proportionate amount of time.

BC

of course he's only interim President for likely another few months so not sure what he writes in the Stanford Magazine matters all that much, we'll see what his successor has to say....

I did find it interesting that there is now a "new Athletic Affairs Committee", which I had not heard of, I wonder who is on it and what their charter is.

Some googling turns up one possible member

- Marisa Brutoco https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbrutoco/

she lists it as a role starting in Dec 2023

she joined the BoT In Oct 2023

https://news.stanford.edu/report/2023/08...w-members/

Marisa Brutoco is a partner at Sheppard Mullin’s Orange County and Silicon Valley offices and a team leader of the firm’s national technology transactions team.


Brutoco was previously in-house counsel at Amazon, Google/YouTube, GoPro, and Apple, as well as outside counsel at Wilson Sonsini and Davis Wright Tremaine.

She serves on her firm’s national pro bono committee and was a founding member of pro bono committees at previous technology companies. Brutoco is a member of her office’s diversity and inclusion working group and is active in the firm’s national Latinx group.

Brutoco has served on the SAA Board of Directors, as the SAA board liaison to the Stanford Associates Board of Governors; the Stanford Athletic Board; Stanford’s Lifelong Engagement and Advocacy for Development (LEAD) Council; and the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors, and as co-chair of the Stanford Law School Silicon Valley Law Society.

Brutoco received the Stanford Associates Governors’ Award in 2023.

Brutoco was a founding board member of the Santa Clara University-based Institute of Sports Law and Ethics and served on its executive committee. She is on the board and volunteers as a strategic advisor for the regional chapter of ChIPs, a national nonprofit advancing women in intellectual property and technology law and policy.

Brutoco earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford in 2000 and her law degree from Stanford in 2004. She lives in San Juan Capistrano, California.

not sure how this committee differs from the BoT "Special Committee on Athletics.""

https://boardoftrustees.stanford.edu/committees/

[82lsju]

I don't recall the last time I read anything about Stanford Athletics from the University President...

from the Stanford Magazine

In the first months of my presidency, the Israel-Hamas war and its ramifications on campus have occupied the largest share of my attention. Not far behind is intercollegiate athletics and the historic change that is occurring nationally.
...
Fortunately, I have been able to rely on the advice of Professor Condoleezza Rice, trustee emerita Mariann Byerwalter, ’82, and a new Athletic Affairs Committee to chart a course that navigates these dynamics and stays true to our values while minimizing the financial impact of the transfer to the ACC.

https://stanfordmag.org/contents/stanfor...-tradition

I hate to say it, particularly on a board devoted to Stanford Athletics, but it seems like his priorities are misplaced.  I can understand the Israel/Hamas war because it has had a very significant downstream impact on questions of campus discourse, free speech, student safety, etc.  You would expect it to occupy a lot of time *right now* with the knowledge that its saliency will pass (though the need to address issues uncovered by it will continue).

While I welcome some attention at the highest levels on collegiate athletics, I worry that in the large scheme of things, it is the tail that is wagging the dog. We should not strive to become a University the Football team can be proud of (to paraphrase Dr. George L. Cross).  It seems to me that issues like student experience (of which sports are one of many aspects), mental health, academic integrity, admissions (in light of the recent Supreme Court decision), broader changes in the place of elite academic institutions in society, not to mention ongoing issues around fundraising, budgetary allocations, etc. that a president always has to deal with, are more important questions for a College President than collegiate athletics and should probably be consuming a proportionate amount of time.

BC

of course he's only interim President for likely another few months so not sure what he writes in the Stanford Magazine matters all that much, we'll see what his successor has to say....

I did find it interesting that there is now a "new Athletic Affairs Committee", which I had not heard of, I wonder who is on it and what their charter is.

Some googling turns up one possible member

- Marisa Brutoco https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbrutoco/

she lists it as a role starting in Dec 2023

she joined the BoT In Oct 2023

https://news.stanford.edu/report/2023/08...w-members/

Marisa Brutoco is a partner at Sheppard Mullin’s Orange County and Silicon Valley offices and a team leader of the firm’s national technology transactions team.


Brutoco was previously in-house counsel at Amazon, Google/YouTube, GoPro, and Apple, as well as outside counsel at Wilson Sonsini and Davis Wright Tremaine.

She serves on her firm’s national pro bono committee and was a founding member of pro bono committees at previous technology companies. Brutoco is a member of her office’s diversity and inclusion working group and is active in the firm’s national Latinx group.

Brutoco has served on the SAA Board of Directors, as the SAA board liaison to the Stanford Associates Board of Governors; the Stanford Athletic Board; Stanford’s Lifelong Engagement and Advocacy for Development (LEAD) Council; and the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors, and as co-chair of the Stanford Law School Silicon Valley Law Society.

Brutoco received the Stanford Associates Governors’ Award in 2023.

Brutoco was a founding board member of the Santa Clara University-based Institute of Sports Law and Ethics and served on its executive committee. She is on the board and volunteers as a strategic advisor for the regional chapter of ChIPs, a national nonprofit advancing women in intellectual property and technology law and policy.

Brutoco earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford in 2000 and her law degree from Stanford in 2004. She lives in San Juan Capistrano, California.

not sure how this committee differs from the BoT "Special Committee on Athletics.""

https://boardoftrustees.stanford.edu/committees/