printable versionFaculty Senate minutes - October 26, 2006 meeting
At its meeting on Thursday, October 26, 2006, the Thirty-ninth Senate of the Academic Council heard reports but took no actions..
EDWARD D. HARRIS Academic Secretary to the University Minutes, OCT. 26 I. Call to OrderProfessor Sheri Sheppard, Chair of Senate 39, called the meeting to order at 3:18 pm with three sharp taps of her gavel.
II. Approval of Minutes - (SenD#5888)These were approved as submitted, without change or additions. They are available on the web at http://facultysenate.stanford.edu.
III. Action CalendarThis was empty today.
IV. Standing ReportsA. Steering Committee
"First of all," began Professor Sheppard, I'd like to welcome Joaquin Hernandez, who will be our staff writer for the Stanford Daily. Enjoy writing about us, Mr. Hernandez.
"I'd also like to commend you on the strong attendance at our first meeting of Senate 39. There were 44 of the 55 senators here, perhaps a record for first meetings. There were also nine of the 14 ex officio members present. I must say, however, the attendance at my class yesterday was 100 percent…but perhaps that was because I gave a midterm exam.
"I want to summarize the outcome from the group exercise that we all participated in at the first meeting, when we broke up into small groups and generated ideas for topics speakers and agenda items for this year's Senate. There were a number of comments about issues related to faculty and students, particularly around diversity broadly defined as socioeconomic status, race, and gender. There was interest in going beyond the numbers to hear about how success stories of increased diversity are achieved. There were numerous questions about finance… the endowment, the Stanford Challenge, graduate student tuition and the innovation fund. There was interest in discussing growth of the University, the 20-year plan, and the external forces that drive or inhibit growth, and the general use plan.
"Topics related to our infrastructure were suggested, and included concerns about energy use and conservation, computing resources, and how technological advances affect how we teach and how students learn. Several of you wanted to discuss faculty, student, and staff benefits including child care and health care.
"Topics of interest in research included the nuts and bolts of interdisciplinary research and departmental appointments of those involved, how interdisciplinary research can be facilitated, and what are the intellectual challenges and standards for individually designed programs or interdisciplinary programs. On a related topic, a question raised in last year's Senate 38 by Eric Roberts was how Stanford can take a lead in becoming an 'intellectual compass' for higher education. Several of you expressed an interest in a continuing dialogue on research ethics.
"In relation to undergraduate students, there was interest in learning more about residential education, where we are and where we hope to go for both undergraduates and graduate students, how admissions policies may or may not be changing in the future, and what is the real mission of an undergraduate education. Is it becoming too 'vocational' in focus? Are we not pushing our students hard enough and far enough to take chances and explore the edge?
"As you can appreciate, your Steering Committee has a lot of ideas to consider. We'll see how these topics can be integrated with the three themes that we've already expressed interest in studying: graduate education, interdisciplinary research, and undergraduate education. The Senate is a forum for information sharing and discussion and dissemination, as well as a community-building enterprise. It serves as a forum to test ideas, and at the same time it must be a body to ratify policies and approve programs that come out of the seven working committees that report to the Senate.
"We heard a clear message in your comments that you want to have your time be well spent here. You'd like to learn new things and be asked for your input. You'd like to ask questions and be asked questions by the presenters, your peers, the president and the provost. At the next meeting we will distribute yellow papers on which you can add additional topics that come to mind.
"As for the Senate agenda in the near future, in our November 9th meeting there will be a presentation by the Office of Land and Building focusing on some energy and sustainability issues, and there will be a report by Mark Horowitz on the graduate student initiatives that have already begun. On November 30th we'll have an executive session to discuss details of the Stanford Challenge with President Hennessy. Finally, please note that the January 11th meeting in 2007 is cancelled. Now, I'll be glad to answer questions or hear your comments."
Scotty McLennan said that his small group on October 12th had shown interest in discussion of ethics at University-wide scale, not just in research, and Professor Sheppard made a note of that.
B. Committee on Committees
No report today.
C. President's Report
President Hennessy had no reports but was happy to entertain any questions or comments. Professor Cork asked about initial responses from the broader community to the announcement of the Stanford Challenge. President Hennessy said, "We had the announcement on campus, and since the last Senate meeting, we did have our launch in New York, which completed our three-city brief tour. Those of you that have seen the large number of campaign announcements coming out in recent days from other institutions of higher learning will notice that there is a lot of energy in university campaigns now. We do have the highest percentage of progress towards our goals of any of those campaigns, which I think is a good initial estimation of the reaction of our friends and alumni and bodes well for the future. But we still have a long way to go. Perhaps you have read the article that's in the Chronicle of Philanthropy today, or a similar article one in the Chronicle of Higher Education. These stress the importance of large gifts, which, of course, will be critical to our Challenge. But equally important will the ongoing support of our large alumni base.
"We had a spectacular reunion weekend with a wonderful panel presentation. The video of that is now available on iTunes. Ted Koppel chaired it for us and our colleagues, Lucy Shapiro, George Schultz, Bill Perry, as well as several of our alumni, Jerry Yang, Justice Kennedy, and Jean-Pierre Garnier contributed very effectively. Several people said it was the best event they've ever participated in on campus during a reunion weekend. We've also received great feedback on some of the initial gifts that we announced, whether they're the performing arts/music concert hall, the loan forgiveness program, and a new institute on energy efficiency.
"We obviously have a long way to go and it will take a lot of work to get there. But the enthusiasm that we've seen so far has been remarkable."
Professor Sheppard expressed thanks to the President for that update, and looked forward to hearing more at the November 30th executive session.
Provost's Report
"Provost Etchemendy," she queried, "do you have any reports or announcements?" Looking somewhat sheepish, the Provost said, "I'm afraid I don't. I'll try harder next time!….But I also will entertain questions and try to answer them."
Professor Sheppard spoke first. "Well John, Ted put an interesting magazine on your desk." "I saw it," acknowledged the Provost, "the premier issue of 02138, Harvard's flashy new publication. The Harvard alumni have decided that the Harvard Alumni magazine is not adequate for them, and so they've decided to launch an independent magazine. Some of you may have seen the rather snide article about it in the New York Times a while back. In contrast, our alumni enjoy Stanford Today."
Professor Cook asked about "…progress with the new child care center that's under construction, that was supposed to be on the golf course and got moved." All the golfers in the Senate were startled, and the Provost was also puzzled. "It was supposed to be on the golf course?" He did go on with an update, however. "The new child care center was delayed much longer than I would have liked because of problems trying to find a location for it. The problems had to do with, frankly, neighbors or potential neighbors not wanting it near them. That was actually quite frustrating. We eventually decided that we would locate it in a place that was not on our original list of locations. It will be in Escondido Village, close to Serra and El Camino Real. There will be ground breaking fairly soon. It won't take long to build, I believe."
Professor Eaton segued with, "Since somebody opened up a building topic, the Munger project appears to be stalled. It accumulates trash and dirt and things, but not buildings."
The Provost corrected him. "Well, there is a hole there! But let me explain. The Munger project has been broken into three pieces. The first piece is utility infrastructure, and it's proceeding apace. The building of the underground parking garage is also proceeding. It is the building of the actual dorm structures that we have currently on somewhat of a hold. The opening will be delayed by a year. And the reason for that is a really quite unexpected increase in the contractor's estimate for the cost of the building. We're experiencing that with a lot of our projects, because all materials costs are going through the roof. We're working on this, but in the interval, we were not prepared to sign off on the contractors' estimates at the levels they had come in."
There were no more questions for the Provost, and Professor Sheppard thanked him for the explanations and answers.
D. Senate Forum
"The next item is Senate Forum", said Professor Sheppard. "It is a chance for senators to stand, or remain seated, and make a statement about an issue, not necessarily related to the University, but one that is of concern to them. John Rickford, when he was chair of the Senate, started the Forum. We have decided to keep it on the agenda for a few meetings to see if you want to take advantage of having an opportunity to say something." A cough or two followed, some shifting of chairs, but no hands were raised.
"We'll try again next time!" said Sheppard.
V. Other ReportsA. Annual Report of the Committee on Research (SenD#5874)
Professor Sheppard said, "I very much want to welcome Professor Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, my colleague in the School of Engineering, who, last year and for three prior years, was the chair of C-Res. She will present a summary of the committee's activities during 2005-06."
Professor Pate-Cornell began. "Thank you, Madam Chair. We addressed three topics, research misconduct, export controls, and the public meeting of C-Res.
"Research Misconduct - After recommendations by the Committee, the Senate approved modifications about Stanford policy on allegations, investigations, and reporting to incorporate new federal definitions. The federal Office of Science and Technology Policy [OSTP] has defined 'research misconduct' as follows: fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. This has been accepted so that the focus is on research. The Senate approved the modifications as well as changes in definitions on May 25, 2006. The policy as amended is posted on the Stanford web site at http://rph.stanford.edu/2-5.html.
"Export Control. Here we had two objectives. One was to monitor possible regulatory changes. And the other was to assess what could be a potential negative impact on U.S. research universities. So what was happening? At the end of '04/'05, the Commerce Department proposed new regulations that would have been oppressively restrictive, and in particular, would have required export licenses for international students who make use of certain technology. Stanford participated in national discussions in response to those proposals. And as a result, there was a delay of the implementation by the Department of Commerce, which we welcomed. An Advisory committee that included members from universities, industry and government has been set up to examine further questions related to national security and research.
"Additional concerns for the committee were dealing with the current requirements of the State and Commerce Departments on exports going overseas, and sanctions and trade embargoes established by the Treasury Department. We would have needed to check exports going overseas against lists of embargoed and restricted parties, countries, et cetera, which would have been very difficult.
"The Committee met with Stanford's newly-appointed Export Control Officer, Steve Eisner, and considered the following:
1. Federal regulations on sharing of reagents with researchers overseas, 'space-qualified' hardware being sent to an international collaborator, or traveling with encryption hardware.
2. The need for export licenses if foreign nationals are to use controlled information or software from a third party.
3. The restrictions on travel to embargoed or sanctioned locations, as well as sharing of encryption code through overseas distance learning."
Open Public meeting of C-Res. This meeting, required by the current charter of C-Res, was held on May 25, 2006. Unlike these open meetings held in the late '60s, when the faculty was consumed with discussion about indirect cost rates, there were very few visitors in attendance. As a result, the new C-Res has been asked to consider revision of the committee charter to make it unnecessary, unless there are compelling reasons, to have such an open meeting.
Professor Paté-Cornell was pleased to turn over the chair duties of C-Res to the very tall Bernd Girod, and wished the '06-'07 committee well. She then asked Dean Bienenstock, whose term as Dean of Research will end on November 1, 2006, for his comments on the past year.
Artie Bienenstock was pleased to do so. "David McCormick was appointed by the White House to examine the export regulation problem. He went out to the universities to gather information, and consequently, decided that, on balance, it would not be a wise idea to introduce the export controls, but rather to formalize a high-level national commission to look into it. That commission had its first meeting recently. We don't know what the outcome of that will be. But it includes very good people from the universities. Subsequently, McCormick went to the White House as the White House's person in the National Security Council on export control.
"For those of us who spent time in Washington, it takes guts to tell the inspector general of an agency you're not going to do what's recommended by the inspector general. It really was a thoughtful and brave act on his part. And those things happen in the government…every once in a while!"
Professor Falkow asked, "Does the University have a policy for technologies like synthetic biology that's coming to the fore? And if not, why not?" Professor Pate-Cornell answered, "Because it is my understanding that it is going to take a while to get it." Professor Bienenstock added, "I think my successor, Ann Arvin, will deal with that. We have formed a separate committee for stem cell research issues."
With no other questions, Professor Sheppard thanked the entire C-Res for its "…good works, and especially Professor Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, for four years of very able service, and Artie Bienenstock, who has served us in many roles for many years including the past three years as Vice Provost and Dean of Research and Graduate Policy."
The Senators agreed, sustaining a long applause.
B. Report from the Director of Athletics (SenD#5889)
Sheri Sheppard introduced the next report. "Now we go from the research lab to the playing field, to have a report from our new athletic director, Bob Bowlsby and to welcome him to California. He is the Director of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation, a component of our University life that a lot of students partake of."
Mr. Bowlsby, looking very much the image of a CEO, spoke clearly and effectively. First, he noted the football play diagram put on the white board by the Academic Secretary, regarded it for a moment, and said, "Thank you….This isn't out of our play book. But at this point, we're willing to try anything!
"Thank you for the opportunity to be here. I hope I can be a frequent visitor and that we can have an active dialogue between our department and the Senate. I hope you'll call upon me anytime I can provide information or be of service to you.
"We have a large organization, about 250 employees. We are referred to as the Department of Athletics most frequently, but much of our time, effort, and resources goes to other things as well. Forty of our coaches are instructors in the classroom for the physical education classes that are held on campus. We operate 20 sports clubs in addition to our 35 varsity intercollegiate programs. We have dozens and dozens of clubs and special-interest organizations that are run through the recreation portion of our program.
Wellness initiatives
"Right now, one of the initiatives that is having a campus-wide impact is the Stanford Wellness Initiative. Eric Stein, our Director of Recreation, is working with five other entities on campus to put together a university wellness program utilizing our facilities and our programs, and also drawing upon complementary programs in a wide variety of other areas around campus. The 'wellness environment' is powerful here. We have an excellent medical center. We've got improving recreation facilities.
"But the other side of the coin is that as long as there's a section of the newspaper devoted to sports and as long as there are news, weather, and sports at 6:00 and 10:00, you'll probably hear more about the athletics program than the other components of the University.
"We hope that we can be a significant enhancement to the University. Obviously, we're not fundamental to the mission of the university. But we can make it a little more fun, and provide an opportunity for our students to have experiences outside the classroom. We are very much about education. I continue to believe that after 30 years in this business that intercollegiate athletics and our various recreational and club sport activities provide a leadership laboratory that's not available very many other places on campus. I'm proud of this, and I'm very excited about being at Stanford.
Bowlsby background
"Just as a little bit of background, I have been the director of athletics at the University of Iowa for the last 15 years. My background is in recreation. It's been fun for me to get back to my roots, so to speak, and participate in helping to develop the recreation program on our campus. I've spent all but four years of my life in Iowa. So if you think that I'm undergoing a bit of a transition, that may well be a very significant understatement. We are now living in a home on campus, a little rental, that is somewhere akin to the last house I lived in as an undergraduate!"
After the laughter had subsided, Mr.Bowlsby admitted, "We're working our way through it! My wife and I drove out from the Midwest, 12 hours, 12 more hours, and eight final hours. She said, 'Gee, it's a long ways out here.' And I said, 'Honey, you're going to love it when we get out here, because the weather is 78 degrees every
day, and there's never any wind.' The first day we're out here, it's 55 degrees, raining, and blowing like crazy. She told me, 'This is just another lie you've told me.' Now, five weeks into it, I'm pleased to tell you that she's doing very well, and so am I.
Details of the varsity program
"Let me say that we have a much broader program than what might be readily apparent. And as I mentioned, 35 intercollegiate sports, 19 for women, 16 for men, about 850 student athletes; probably 550 of those are on some form of athletic aid. From the standpoint of a snapshot of the program, for as long as the statistics have been kept, the student athletes' graduation rate has been within three percentage points of the student body at large. and the average mean grade point average for our program has been within a quarter of a percent of the general student body. Our student athletes are more like the general student body than any other institution I'm aware of in the entire United States. We should always be very proud of that. It's a very, very rigorous lifestyle for these kids. Many of them are swimmers, for instance. They are up at 5:00 in the morning, they're in the pool at 5:30, they're off to class by 8:00 a.m., and they come back and do another workout later in the day. It's very much not for the faint of heart. Most of our sports, for better or worse, have developed into 12-month-a-year undertakings.
"Many of our student athletes come to campus with great expectations. They want to participate in the Olympics, or they want to be on a U.S. world team, or they want to go on and play professionally. We support these goals, and believe that they are a highly desirable byproduct of a quality athletic experience on campus. But, in truth, we are really about trying to help 18-year-old adolescents become 22 or 23-year-old adults and in the process, have a great athletic experience. Our classrooms may have a maple floor under them, or grass, or water in a pool. But it's a great thing when students that are thirsty for the knowledge and instructors who are passionate about teaching it come together and converge. It's a wonderful thing to come to work every day, because that population of 1100 people are really excited about what they're doing.
"For the past 30 years we have had at least one national championship every year. In nine years where we've had four national championships. We've had a couple other years where we've had five or six, six only once. Last year, we had three national championships: women's cross country, women's tennis, and in synchronized swimming. I have yet to see a synchronized swimming event. Let's see the hands of those who have."
Quite a few hands flew up, President Hennessy's among them, and he added, "I would recommend it. It is really spectacular."
Bowlsby said, "Kendra Olson has promised to give me a quick primer on synchronized swimming. What I can determine so far is that they can really hold their breath a long time! Last year we had 19 teams out of the 35 finish in the top ten in the country. We've won, as most of you know, the last 12 Director's Cups. Our coaches and athletes deserve a great deal of credit for this.
The big sport challenge
"But I wouldn't be here if I didn't also think we can win in football and men's basketball and track and field and baseball and a lot of the other things that we haven't done as well in recently. That's a major challenge for me.
"At Iowa, some of the things that were very easy are relatively difficult here. Filling the football stadium is a good example. There are also items that are in the absolute reverse. And so, after 15 years at one institution, I was persuaded that this was a great new challenge for me. And I certainly wasn't looking for a job when John called me. But when I came here, it doesn't take one very long to recognize what a special place this is. It is a special place to which I wanted to come and complete my career, a long time from now, I hope. It is this unique convergence of world-class academics and world-class athletics that really excites me about the challenge.
A big budget and its problems
"Now, a little bit more of the nuts and bolts of the program, in which we spend about $73 million a year. It's not a small enterprise. About $16 million of that is student athlete aid that's paid back to the University in one way or another. All but about six million of that comes from generated revenue sources. That $6 million is allocated to us from the General Fund and from other University sources to run our recreation and physical education programs. The remainder comes from Pac 10 distributions, earnings from endowments, gate receipts, guarantees in revenue sharing, and annual contributions.
"In the last five years DAPER has had significant budget problems. I'm spending a substantial amount of time trying to work our way through these. They are not insurmountable. Our institution's commitment is as it should be: broad-based programming. We want as many students, faculty and staff as possible participating at all levels of our various sports and recreational undertakings.
I don't think you'll see us discontinuing any sports anytime soon. But we need to work hard to make sure that we're sustainable. We've built a lot of nice big, new facilities, and we've got great programs in place. We have terrific endowments, the largest in all of intercollegiate athletics. We've done a great job on major gift fund-raising. But right now, we're balance sheet rich and checking account poor. By comparison with where I have been for the last 15 years, about 94% of what we spent every year at the University of Iowa - about $62 million a year - was derived directly or indirectly from football and men's basketball. Here, it's a much healthier, about 60/40. But, make no mistake, the vitality that comes from people willing to pay to go into the football stadium has a profound effect on all of our other sports. Therefore it's important that we do well there. It's also important that since most of that other 40% is derived from our endowment earnings and our annual fund-raising, we get those right as well.
"There are some situations that we don't have some of the regular, traditional revenue sources that other institutions have. For example, we don't charge for parking at events. We have made a decision that we're not going to have advertising signage in our facilities. I happen to think it's the right decision. We actually pay here to have our programs in football and men's and women's basketball on the radio whereas the last contract I signed when I left Iowa was a nine-year, $70 million contract for radio rights and some modest stadium signage.
"Institutionally, Stanford has made a lot of great decisions relative to what we're going to do and what we're not going to do with our athletics program. We're not going to cut corners on the academic experience of our student athletes. We're going to minimize commercialism. We're going to work very hard to fund ourselves in ways that reflect favorably on the University.
Recruiting students and coaches…a large challenge
"Among the challenges we have is recruiting. We have a narrow profile relative to most other institutions. And there are some people competing in intercollegiate athletics right now who take student athletes whom you couldn't add two of their SATs together and get into Stanford! And some of them are at institutions that we're aligned with" President Hennessey added, "We might even complete with them from time to time." Bowlsby smiled wryly at that, and continued in this vein. "The task really is the same for all of our coaches. It's more difficult in some sports than in others. We have to go into East Overshoe, Kentucky, and convince the kid that's good enough to play at Ohio State or Tennessee, who is also bright and excited enough to come to Stanford and flourish, that he or she ought to come here and make a lifetime difference for himself or herself. That's a very difficult thing. You're talking to people in their home state trying to convince them to leave home and come to a place far away. I think that if we can get them here, they will quickly learn what I learned, that Stanford is a special place that will make a profound difference in their lives.
"Among the other challenges, we have the same that every last one of you have, attracting and retaining staff. The cost of living is high. Our salaries are competitive with those around the country, but the money just doesn't go as far in this market as it does in some other places. We see indications that we're getting young staff with young families who want a Stanford experience as a stepping-stone to something else.
"We expect to participate fully in the Stanford Challenge. I would like to put another $100 million in place for endowment. One of the commonly held misconceptions about our program is that all of our grants and all of our coaches' positions are endowed. They are not. We would be in a lot better shape if they were. We want to create a stratified annual giving program that will bring more structure to the way we raise money. For example, we need to grow the DAPER investment fund by probably 25 or 30 million so that we can begin to invest in the ways that they did in the '80s and '90s and assist our program.
"We have built all these big, beautiful facilities, and we need to establish a facilities maintenance and refurbishing account of $25 - 30 million so that we put away in perpetuity the funds that it takes to make sure that we keep our facilities in the excellent shape they're in right now.
"In addition, we've got some individual facilities that are pretty expensive to run. The red barn's a good example. You don't get into the horse business without spending a little money. The old adage is, 'You can make a small fortune in the horse business, as long as you start with a large fortune.' We're finding that to be true!" The Provost, in particular, appreciated that comment.
The Band!
"An additional thing that I've been spending a lot of time on, and I would have to tell you that I've spent as much time in four months as I did in the previous 30 years… is band issues!….My only question is, how long will it continue? I'm told that it'll be ongoing, ongoing.
"We have some things that are more difficult here than they are other places. But they are doable. And I certainly wouldn't be here if I didn't believe that!"
Questions and Discussion
Chairperson Sheppard began by introducing Professor Ellen Markman the faculty athletic representative to DAPER. Professor Markman began by saying, "I think that you are saying we probably shouldn't make horses an alternative to bicycles in terms of cost effectiveness, right?" Bowlsby had to agree. Professor Sheppard then reminded Mr. Bowlsby that he had offered the football stadium as a place for a Stanford Faculty Senate meeting but after the budget woes discussion, was concerned that it would break the Senate's bank to do so. Mr. Bowlsby reassured her…no charge.
Do athletes get excess perks?
Theo Milonopoulos was given the floor. "I'm the ASSU student rep. I've really benefited from the recreational and athletic facilities. I'm enrolled in gymnastics and trying to go to Arrillaga Rec Center, even though it hardly shows. I'm also a proud member of the red zone and the six-man team. So I, as do my fellow students, recognize the hard work and sacrifices that make Stanford athletics great. But I also worry that the benefits that athletes receive are disproportionately greater than what the disenfranchised students, the majority who make a similar commitment to arts, to research, and other campus activities, receive. The athletes receive substantial discounts on textbooks, they have more enticing food options and dining halls, receive special access, free printing and study spaces. What can we do as a university to show students that commitments to service in the arts, public service, and research and other fields, are equally valued?
Bowlsby responded, "First of all, I would say that I need to visit with you about some of that. Because several of those would be considered NCAA violations…." Mr. Milonopoulos backtracked a bit. "Even if what I am saying is probably false, it is the perception that students do have."
Mr. Bowlsby agreed that the perception is out there, and he continued. "I think I could capably argue either side of your statement. Our student athletes work very hard. We operate training tables for them not because they want a separate dining facility, but because their nutritional requirements are different than those of the average student. A 310-pound offensive lineman needs different portions and different foods than the rest of us, and you don't want to get your hands between their plate and you! In addition, they finish practice late in the day, and would miss dinner in the residences. Books are provided to them as part of their scholarships. You know, in some parts of the country there are those who say, '…student athletes should be paid, they're bringing in this large amount of money.' I certainly don't believe that. I think they do this as a recreational activity, and it's certainly not a vocation. But there are those who think student athletes should unionize and boycott and should be getting a whole lot more than what they get.
"In contrast, I think what we work hard on is trying to make sure that within our program the perquisites are equitably distributed, and that student athletes of all genders and all sports participations are fairly treated.
Opinions of DAPER in the university community
In response to a question from Professor Chang about the opinions of the faculty and students of DAPER, Bowlsby said, "I personally could not have felt any more welcome in arriving here. It's been a wonderful four months. I also think that there is a very good culture here at Stanford that pertains to athletics. It is largely because the organization, over a long period of time, has met its obligations within the context of the University. The coaches have brought students to campus who have graduated, they've been good citizens and 'mainstream' students for the most part. There are some situations in which we assist them, and there are some times that they must miss lectures or miss days of class, and thus will need special assistance. On the whole, I think Stanford is a very nurturing place for student athletes. I'm sure that there are classrooms where a student athletes walk in and are not identified as such. I suspect that our campus has a small percentage that is seriously anti-athletics. I think there's probably a small percentage that is seriously too goofy about athletics. And I think there's probably a very large majority in the middle that believes that athletics are done properly."
The ethics of industry connections
Professor Rehm had a question about an ethical issue that had, the Senate learned, been of concern to him for some time, "… the 'corporatization of athletics', issues of logo-wearing and sponsorship." His particular concern was the partnership between Stanford and Nike, the branding issue, the perception because the Nike logo is attached to the Stanford logo on all the apparel from footwear to wristbands. In addition to the broad concern, he was concerned about an athlete who might have concerns about Nike labor practices. "As our new athletic director," he asked, "do you see this as a problem? And considering the students who might be troubled by the conjunction of this advertising on their person, how do you guarantee that they feel comfortable in bringing up their concerns that this particular conjunction could be an educational opportunity for them to learn something about labor practices or the relationship between athletics and commercialization. So, specifically, is there a problem with corporatization in athletics? Is there a problem with Nike/Stanford relationship for athletes? And if these problems exist, what do you do to make them go away?"
Mr. Bowlsby started by saying, "Well, I think you don't make them go away. Long before anybody was paying anybody to wear Nike or any other corporate logo, uniforms had logos on them. Sometimes it was Russell, sometimes it was Adidas, sometimes it was something else. But there have been logos on uniforms and shoes and balls and other things for decades. At this time the benefits to us from Nike are substantial. The lot in life for about 30 of our 35 teams is made significantly better by the Nike sponsorship that we have at Stanford University. The number of logos on the apparel is small.
"To answer your specific question, I've never really thought about what happens if you have a student athlete who objects to the labor practices. However, I think the first thing I would tell them is that I toured 17 Nike plants last January in Vietnam and China. Since I grew up in a manufacturing environment. I know about safety considerations and I know about ventilation, and I know about housing conditions. And in all 17 plants, I saw nothing that troubled me. Nike has been way ahead of the curve relative to labor practices. While their wages may not be consistent with a living wage in Palo Alto, they are they are leaders in their communities."
Professor Rehm followed up by reference to a New York Times article published several weeks ago pointing out that in China, Nike, among others, led the fight against a proposed law to allow unions and ways to clean up sweatshops. "The long and short of it is, you would think that if Nike were a leader in this story they would have applauded the effort to try to actually take national care for their workers instead of simply handing them over to people who wanted to locate their factories there. I found it intriguing that Nike was listed in the article as one of the companies that was lobbying very heavily against this effort by the Chinese government."
"Given the Chinese government's history in human rights," retorted Mr. Bowlsby, "they may be better off with Nike!"
Provost Etchemendy waded into the discussion now, pointing out that he and Professor Rehm had many discussions about this about four or five years ago when the Nike contract was being renewed. "I have not toured Nike factories, although I did consult a faculty member who did. I also sat across the table from the person who was at that point the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said to me, 'I only wish that the other companies, the other apparel companies, were up to the standard of Nike,' and that Nike is the leader in the industry.
"I, as Rush will remember, wrote an e-mail to every one of the athletes in the DAPER program and asked them to express any concerns they had to me and that it would not get back to their coaches. I asked them to let me know what they thought about the contract. Did they think it was good for their sport? Did they want us to continue the contract, or did they not? In summary, I did not have one athlete who thought we should not continue or renew the Nike contract. And I had about 100 replies that were supportive of it, or in some cases, sort of shrugging and saying, 'It seemed okay to us, and we like the equipment.'
"Rush knows that I believe that we did our due diligence. And, yes, we have a contract with a commercial apparel company. It does provide us with an advantage, namely, the equipment that they provide to our teams. And I believe that…and this is not an advertisement for the company…that Nike is among the leaders in the industry for human rights. And I also believe that our student athletes prefer to have the Nike contract and to get the benefits from that contract."
Recruiting…and the competition
Professor Van Horne asked, "Can you tell us Stanford's policy with respect to junior college transfers, particularly into the football program? I have the impression that we prohibit junior college transfers. I wonder if it's a matter of finding academically qualified students or if there's a straight prohibition against junior college transfers."
Mr. Bowlsby answered, "I'm not aware that we have such a prohibition, but I think we would have difficulty finding appropriately prepared junior college transfers." Provost Etchemendy pointed out, "We do take junior college transfers into the University. I don't think we've ever taken a junior college transfer in the athletics program." Mr. Bowlsby added, "The national graduation rate for athletes going into four-year schools from junior colleges is about 20%. And they tend to have 'citizenship problems', and they certainly have academic problems. As a statement of philosophy, I don't think that it's the way you want to build a program. But I guess there's no prohibition, per se."
The breadth of the undergraduate program and opportunities
Dean Long thanked Mr. Bowlsby for his presentation and spoke not only as a faculty member but as "…the mom of a Stanford student who's had a chance to be part of one of the teams. I wanted to respond in acknowledgement of the concern from the students about the symmetry of attention to athletes and others, and to point out, first, with respect to the arts, I think there's a broad agreement that Stanford wants to do a lot more to make opportunities possible and to facilitate student participation and to recruit more students in the arts. And so that's one of the features of the Arts Initiative, which is part of The Stanford Challenge.
"The other is that although I don't think we do enough yet, we actually have made a big advance in the last ten to fifteen years on the research front. Every time we give a research award that pays tens of thousands of dollars so that an undergraduate can work in a laboratory, it might not look like exactly the same thing, but we're making it possible for a student to do something that is going to be very meaningful to them, very similar to what an athlete does with his or her scholarship. There's a need for many hundreds of thousands of dollars of endowment for every one of those. The very successful campaign for undergraduate education raised a lot of support precisely because I think the faculty recognized that we want to support our students with extraordinary talent, because we know that they're just working their hearts out for all of these other aspects as well.
"So, I think you'd find broad support among the faculty and administration for improving the support and attention to other kinds of talents among our students." Having directed her comment towards Mr. Milonopoulos, this student was grateful.
Practice time commitment and the balance of studies and training…is it excessive?
Professor Koseff spoke next. He also thanked Mr. Bowlsby, with whom he has played some golf, and welcomed him to Stanford. His observation was that "…over the last 20 years, there's no less commitment among the student athletes to their class work, but there is a level of exhaustion that has increased, that has become, I fear, unsustainable. And so my question is, what is driving it? Is it the motivation? Or is the increased pressure coming from coaching, not intentionally, but perhaps because of increased pressures that they feel to perform, to issues that you talked to such as the budget, or justifying their existence in a challenged budgetary environment? The concern I have is how much quality time student athletes have remaining to dedicate to their studies when they are putting so much time into their training."
Mr. Bowlsby nodded in agreement. "I share your concerns. And I think it's particularly acute at a place like Stanford, although you see it at any university where a student athlete comes into a highly competitive environment. They are on their own, many times for the first time in their life. They are challenged in ways they haven't been challenged previously athletically, and they are challenged in the classroom. And their lifestyle is one that is very structured. There isn't any question about that. I worry about it in our environment. There are lots of stories of people surviving over long periods of time on three or four hours of sleep a night. And that's very difficult to do, even to the point of being dangerous, when you're talking about a physical activity. We are spending a lot of time with the new sports medicine facility, planning what we're going to be doing. But one of the things that I believe we ought to be spending time on is resting techniques, rehabilitation from competitions, and transitions back into the academic world. A student who has a Sunday afternoon basketball game all of a sudden must transition back into classrooms on Monday morning. You know, you're not going to be the same as the person who went to bed at a decent time on Sunday night.
"In addition, travel gets to be a real challenge for these kids. We occasionally have them taking final exams at a proctored site away from campus. And those things are all very, very difficult. I do think coaches probably push because they're seeing students be pushed at other institutions. In addition, the student athletes are pushing themselves." Many faculty were nodding in agreement to all this. The new A.D. continued. "If we told them not to train, they're still going to train. When it's dead week and when it's finals week, they're all getting a workout on their own. We don't have any mandatory things, but they're all getting a workout on their own.
"Also, we wonder where the breaks come, especially for some of our gymnasts and swimmers and others who are not only participating at the collegiate level, but participating on the world university teams and the World Games or in some cases the Olympic teams. It is more than worthy of close supervision. It is our responsibility to do that, to make sure coaches aren't going too far, that student athletes aren't going too far, and that we arm students with the tools to deal with the pressure. A student athlete could get to the edge of the cliff and fall over before anybody knows it.
Professor Eaton followed up on Jeff Koseff's question. "There are NCAA rules about how many hours students can practice, twenty hours per week, I believe.
"Simultaneously there has been growth in things like captain's practices and things like this that are not coached, and you mentioned athletes working out on their own. Are these being monitored to stay within the twenty hour limit?" "Yes," answered Bowlsby, "those are countable activities." Eaton continued. "I'm curious to what degree the department is monitoring individual coaches who are extremely competitive people and are trying to win. I watch athletes in my engineering classes. I don't think too many of them really work out only 20 hours a week. I think 25 is more common."
Mr. Bowlsby pointed out that, "…it varies. Janet Evans left Stanford because she couldn't train at the level that she wanted to train within the 20 hours. Football never goes over the 20 hours. There are other sports, like gymnastics or golf, where they spend a lot of time. If you're going out and hitting balls and then playing nine holes, you may have five hours consumed in one day. Yes, we have to watch those things very carefully.
"At Iowa, we kept logbooks. It is arguable whether it's the right way to do it when you have professional people that know the rule. Should my staff have to be out there sneaking behind the bushes and counting the minutes?" He finished this segment with assurance that with the quality of coaches and students he has found here have the proper philosophy and methods that would evolve to manage this problem.
The health of the rest of the community
Professor Sheppard next recognized Professor Cyert. "I'm curious… how healthy are our students who are not the student athletes? Are they getting what we would consider a good amount of physical activity and exercise or stress reduction?"
Bowlsby did not know, but pointed out that the wellness initiative at Stanford is intended to get at these factors. "We are providing classes and will provide more on stress management and weight reduction and sleep management and lifestyle management. Those kinds of things are all available, as well as everything from acrobatics to yoga. We have ten or twelve different kinds of martial arts classes that are available and clubs. But if the health of the general community has not been assayed, it would be a good thing for us to do." He also emphasized that since the weather is generally so good here, the outdoor opportunities for hiking, running, roller blading are used by many people, and data on numbers and quantity of activity of these is difficult to obtain.
Marcia Stefanik said that Carol Petrofsky from the Vaden Health Center where she is the Director of Health Promotion, "…does provide information, at least in one of our courses, on the health status of those kinds of undergraduates. And I think it would be valuable to have a report on the health of the Stanford students from Carol in front of this body. They collect information about health habits, exercise, and things like that."
Can athletics elevate a whole family?
Luis Fraga had an interesting observation and a question. "I've been suspicious that one of the unique contributions that athletics make here is the significant number of first-generation college-educated students that are brought in through a variety of our sports teams. Does DAPER keep any records in combination with the admissions office or by team or some appropriate way of what percentage of new recruits are actually the first members of their families to attend college? I think it's an underappreciated aspect of what athletics can contribute to an institution like this one."
Professor Bowlsby noted that the University administers a partly serious and a partly humorous survey to each of the incoming freshmen athletes and that piece would be a good thing to ask. "That question may be on there, but if it is, I haven't seen the aggregate data. I do know that of the 130 or so that came to a welcome dinner and filled out the paperwork, about a third said that they were left-handed, about two-thirds said they were right-handed, and one claimed to be amphibious!" An unrecognized senator allowed as how this frosh must have been a swimmer.
Professor Fraga went on, more seriously, to mention that "… the Admissions Office, I'm sure, has those data. It wouldn't take too long for them to provide it."
Cycling - not an intercollegiate sport, but a dangerous one, on campus
Moving from intercollegiate athletics and general recreation, Dean Pizzo focused on the health hazards to cyclists and pedestrians on campus. The students do not wear helmets, for the most part, and at night, few have lights. "I think there is a real issue," he continued, "that's not yet resolved. It is the nighttime and virtually no use of bike lights. For those of us who live on campus and drive on campus, this is really serious. I can tell you that I have literally participated in a rescue of students who have been knocked over by cars, three this past year," a statement that seems well beyond his expected chances of witnessing such crashes. "And, you know," Dean Pizzo continued, "I've been involved in calling 911 to get them to the hospital. This is because you cannot see them!" It became obvious to all that riding a bicycle in the visual proximity to Dean Pizzo increased one's chances of being hit by a car.
"I have brought this up before," continued Phil Pizzo. "I know that the President and Provost have taken some actions on it. If it requires a death of a student to make this a real issue, that's an end result that's simply too great, a price too much to pay. We must move on all levels to try make it a rule for students who are driving bikes without lights to not do so, for their safety and wellness as well as the health of pedestrians."
President Hennessy asked to make a comment on that. "I think you probably all know that we have done our best to try to force the use of lights. We've been giving away free lights to low-income students. But I think some of you may have seen a recent op-ed piece in the Daily that disparaged any activities by our public safety officers to enforce the light requirement. I think that anyone who drives in this area has come across a bicyclist who has come out of nowhere with no light and only by good fortune did you miss hitting that individual. It is an ongoing problem, and I just think we are going to have to continue to try to educate our students better about their own health. They should wear helmets, and for that matter, so should runners, Phil!"…. This was a comment directed at the Dean who often is up and running before most of us are awake in the mornings.
President Hennessy moved to a related point. "I think we will also have to do some work on intersections that are particularly dangerous to see what we can do to route traffic. In some places, of course, we just can't do anything about it. The crossings of Campus Drive at various places are where the real challenges are." Dean Pizzo agreed, adding, "You can be walking on campus and be run down by a cyclist." It was pointed out by the President that one could be tripped by a curb on campus, as Dean Pizzo was last summer.
Professor Spiegel asked why it could not be mandated that students at least have reflectors on bikes, and the President assured him that this already was a state law… and at that point Dean Pizzo pushed for a state law demanding that every cyclist have a headlight.
The outcome of being an athlete at a premier university
Professor Prober steered the Senate back to Mr. Bowlsby's presentation, which he described as being "…a very informative and spectacular presentation….Are there long-term data on athletes and what they ultimately do, such as obtaining graduate degrees, superb career pathways, and leadership roles? I have the untested hypothesis that athletes, in fact, have demonstrated leadership potential in participating on their teams, and at an institution such as Stanford that has superb academics as well as athletes, that the successful student athlete would have a career advantage in the long term. Wouldn't it be a great opportunity for us to analyze those data and if the conclusion were in fact validated, it would be an important message for other schools that Stanford competes with them on the athletic field but that they don't compete with us on the academic field."
Mr. Bowlsby agreed. "I don't know if it has been done or not. That's another good thing to check into. We frequently say that coming to Stanford is not a four-year decision but rather a 40-year decision. Or said another way, we're going to work your tail off for four or five years and then you're going to reap the benefits for 40 or 50 years. And I do think the rigors of the student athlete experience are a great investment in a prosperous future. One of the things I was told by Miles Brand, the president of the NCAA when I took this position was, 'We, meaning intercollegiate athletics, really need the Stanford model to prevail and succeed and prosper.' If I didn't believe that the student athlete experience was life-changing, I'd have been out of this business a long time ago."
Professor Eaton mentioned the existence of a senior survey put together by Earl Koberlein for which there has been a fairly high response rate enabling the University to learn where the athletes are going, at least at the outset, as well as getting an indication of their satisfaction with the various aspects of Stanford.
Professor Sheppard gave the last opportunity to speak to Professor Andrew Fire, who noted that the "80 hour/week rule" for all postgraduate residents in training has been in affect for several years, but that numerous specialties have been lax in adhering to it, just as do certain coaches with the 20 hour/week training limits for varsity sports.
Thanks, Bob Bowlsby
At that point Professor Sheppard thanked Bob Bowlsby for his presentation. Senators agreed that Stanford had recruited an athletic director whose philosophy about intercollegiate athletics, physical education, and recreation fit nicely with the principles embraced by most of the faculty and administration…and they were pleased that he was among us. He was given ample applause.
VI. Unfinished and New BusinessNone could be found.
VII. Adjournment
This occurred by unanimous consent at 4:50 pm, and Professor Sheppard urged everyone to go out and exercise…which was something that she herself was about to do.
Respectfully submitted, Edward D. Harris, Jr. M.D. Academic Secretary to the University