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BY BARBARA PALMER Visitors rode bicycles, jumped on shuttle buses, roller-bladed and even rode in a horse-drawn carriage at Community Day Sunday, but the preferred mode of travel seemed to be via stroller. Hundreds of children -- both in and out of strollers -- were among the thousands of people who participated in activities including a children's carnival, a health fair, athletic activities, educational demonstrations, lectures, tours, cultural performances and entertainment, the rededication of Memorial Church and a Founders' Celebration. When 3,000 free flying discs had been distributed by 1 p.m., three hours after the event started, "it was clear to us that we had many more visitors -- especially children -- than last year," said Kate Chesley, associate director of University Communications, which organized the event. About 6,500 people attended the 2002 Community Day, inaugurated as an open house for residents of neighboring communities and blending family-oriented and educational activities with the traditional celebration honoring university founders Jane and Leland Stanford. A new event this year was a Fun Run/Walk to benefit the East Palo Alto YMCA, which drew more than 200 participants and began at the stadium at 9 a.m. Founders remembered At 10 a.m., a crowd of 375 people gathered in Memorial Church for a rededication of the century-old church in a service patterned after its original 1903 dedication. After the service, university and church officials; visiting dignitaries from Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Mountain View; clergy and visitors were greeted by Jane Stanford -- portrayed by drama lecturer Patricia Ryan in a black Victorian dress and veiled hat. Ryan stood in the center of the Main Quad, near a Native American drum and a string of Buddhist prayer flags fluttering in the wind -- part of a "Peace Village" children's exhibit on world religions. "The church is the Kohinoor, the crown jewel, in the setting of the entire university," said Ryan, quoting from Jane Stanford's own words and then adding a few of her own: "May this noble building be a place of inspiration and nourishment for generations to come." A procession of about 200 people led by the Green Street Mortuary Band of San Francisco continued through the center of the campus and down Palm Drive for a ceremony at the Mausoleum, where the Stanfords and their son, Leland Jr., are interred. (Ryan and her husband, Ron Madson, who portrayed a top-hatted Leland Stanford Sr., traveled part of the way in a carriage.) A 45-minute program at the Mausoleum included Provost John Etchemendy and student Mojan Movassate laying a floral wreath inside the tomb; a South African song sung in Zulu and English by student vocal group Talisman A Cappella; and remarks by President John Hennessy, student Mark Otuteye and the Rev. Scotty McLennan, dean for religious life. Visitors lined up afterward to tour the tomb; Founders Day is the only day of the year the Mausoleum is opened. Organizers of Community Day this year centered most activities near the Main Quad and lengthened event hours, after visitors last year said they'd had difficulty getting to all events. Still, there was a lot to take in for Mimi and Matt Leary of Palo Alto, who were on campus with their daughter, Drew, who reported her age as "three and three-quarters." Shortly after noon, Drew had a flower painted on her cheek, a couple of Stanford fake tattoos on her arms, and hands spattered with the red and blue paint she was applying to a clay vaso at a booth operated by Gamma Zeta Alpha, a Latino-interest fraternity. Drew had already made a wand, won a pinwheel, been fitted for a bicycle helmet at the health fair and watched a Thai dancing demonstration, her mom said. "We've been headed to the kids' [carnival] area for two hours," said Mimi Leary. Pony rides, a petting zoo and a dunk tank were big draws at the children's Community Carnival, run by the Haas Center for Public Service. "It's supposed to be warmer!" said student volunteer Ellen Edenberg, as she waited in a chilly breeze for her shift inside the tank to begin. Most of the hopefuls lined up for a shot at dunking the students were boys; Lena Chew, a second-grade girl from Costano Elementary School in East Palo Alto, was one of the few to successfully hit the mark. War, labor issues on people's minds While a carnival atmosphere prevailed near Serra Mall, weightier matters were not far from many people's minds -- as evidenced by the large audience assembled to hear former Secretary of Defense William Perry discuss national security issues. Perry, the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor and a senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies, said that even though the United States is the world's most dominant nation, it still needs the cooperation of other nations for its own security. "To get that cooperation requires us to display, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, 'a decent respect to the opinions of mankind,'" he said. Without commenting directly on the current war in Iraq, he said war should always be "the very last option." He also asserted that the current administration's elevation of military preemption to the "centerpiece of our military strategy" is a "huge mistake." Los Altos Hills resident Lois Hogle, 89, co-founder of the Committee for Green Foothills, said Perry "has really fine ideas, and he couldn't express them all." Dorian West, a 28-year-old graduate of Stanford, agreed. "He refrained from making direct criticisms of the war while it was in progress," West said. "One thing Perry mentioned is that we're the first nation that has avoided the temptation to become imperialistic, and I sort of worry that may be what's beginning here." Near Littlefield Center, Stanford workers and their families joined students and community activists for a rally protesting the lack of affordable health care, low wages and lack of job security for subcontracted workers. "We consider the families of workers to be our community," said student Leticia Ramirez. "We think Stanford should make a real commitment to workers." Union officials, clergy and students spoke from the back of a truck before leading a march that circled the Oval. About 250 participants chanted slogans including "This is what community looks like." Representatives from the groups spoke with President John Hennessy and Isaac Stein, chairman of the Board of Trustees, near a tent set up for conversation with visitors. "We all recognize these are difficult times, but I think some of the issues are issues that go well beyond Stanford, health care being a great example of that," Stein said. "It's a national problem that Stanford can't automatically solve." Gordon Earle, vice president for public affairs, said: "Everyone is welcome at Community Day, as are all points of view. We want people to participate and say whatever is on their minds. Stanford believes it treats its workers well, but any time people want to talk to us about labor issues, we are glad to listen." The 'magic' of science Learning -- what Stanford is all about -- was the focus of exhibits centered near the Science and Engineering Quad. Stanford Chemistry Club students performed "magic" by pulling iron out of fortified breakfast cereal with magnets, imploding soda cans and freezing carnations and bananas in liquid nitrogen. Nearby, physicists and volunteers from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center explained (and demonstrated) how it was possible for a person to safely lie down on a bed of nails, while another nail-embedded board was placed on the person's chest and topped off with a cement block that was then struck with a sledgehammer. "The trick is getting on the bed of nails slowly. You don't want to sit down," said sledge-wielder and physicist Michael "Mo" Olson, who explained that by distributing a person's body weight equally over hundreds of nails, the amount of pressure exerted by each nail would be reduced to the point where contact wasn't painful. (Or was barely painful, according to Neil Calder, director of communications, who volunteered in the experiment.) "The concrete block is an important part of the demonstration because the hammer's energy is dissipated by the breaking of the block and the violent redistribution of the concrete fragments. The block, in large measure, actually cancels out the effect of the hammer," Olson said. The demonstration drew laughing, gasping crowds all day. "We don't want to teach particle physics, we just want everybody to have a good time," Calder said. Events closed at 4 p.m., but visitors lingered, playing catch in the Quad and trying on African clothing with the help of students working at the Kuumba Dance Ensemble booth. "I had several conversations with people who said they liked the academic component -- and the fact that they could just come and have a good time. When you add it all up, it was a great day," Earle said. John Sanford contributed to this story.
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Connor Williams, son of Rita Williams, the Didactic Curriculum Coordinator at the Primary Care Associate Program, had balls of fun at Community Day. Photo: L.A. Cicero
Provost John Etchemendy and undergraduate Mojan Movassate helped lay a wreath at the Mausoleum where the Stanfords are interred as part of Founders’ Celebration. Photo: L.A. Cicero |
Stanford Report, April 9, 2003
