Speaking to parents of undergraduates on Friday morning, President Jonathan Levin noted the unique and special environment that Stanford offers its students.

“The kind of culture and spirit of the American West – where we’re located – it just opens up your mind to different opportunities,” he said.

He explained that at Stanford, students can explore their interests and different ideas, meet different people, and experience different cultures and ways of thinking. “That is an extraordinary thing, and to me that’s really at the core of what it is to be a student at Stanford.”

Levin’s remarks, delivered at Memorial Auditorium before a packed audience of Stanford parents, marked the beginning of Family Weekend, the annual gathering for parents, guardians, and relatives to explore life on the Farm. He was joined by Provost Jenny Martinez and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Michele Rasmussen for a discussion on how Stanford supports students.

The event was moderated by leaders of the Associated Students of Stanford University, President Diego Kagurabadza and Vice President Divya Ganesan.

A fruitful partnership

Levin, who took office in September after serving as dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, said his job is to find ways to support the breadth of excellence across campus. But he acknowledged that American higher education is being tested. “We’re facing, in a way, quite a lot of challenges,” he said, citing threats to federal research funding and diverse campus communities, and diminishing trust in American universities.

“I just want to communicate to all of you just how seriously we are taking all of that right now, and what a point of emphasis it is for us, and how important it is for everyone involved with this university – and all of the great universities in the country – to be attentive to that so we can rebuild and renew the contract that we have with the country that’s allowed us to create an environment like this,” he said.

Levin described the longstanding social contract between American universities and the nation, noting that after World War II, the federal government developed a strategy to ensure the U.S. remained the global leader in innovation by investing federal funds in basic research at universities that, in turn, supported private enterprises.

“There is probably no university in the country that has done that more successfully than Stanford,” he said, noting the many innovative companies launched by Stanford alumni.

In recent years, universities have become a flashpoint in the debate over free speech rights. Martinez, who teaches constitutional law, likened Stanford’s approach to free speech to its approach to research – emphasizing curiosity, openness to different perspectives, and the willingness to accept being wrong as key to discovery.

“It’s that open-mindedness and curiosity that pushes the frontiers of science forward, and that’s the attitude we want to cultivate in our students,” she said.

Asked about her vision for social life at Stanford, Rasmussen said she sees students as the main drivers of the campus culture. “I see very much that our role in student affairs is to provide the necessary supports and guidance and advice to let students determine what their social life should look like,” she said. “I have been so impressed by just the ingenuity, the entrepreneurship, the great ideas that students are constantly having about how they can create their own fun, and that is exactly the kind of environment that I want to support.”

Question and answer

During the question-and-answer portion of the event, a parent asked how Stanford is protecting the rights of students amid recent federal policy changes that have had notable impacts on American colleges and universities.

Levin acknowledged the significant impact of federal decisions, such as the Supreme Court’s ruling against race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions. He noted a decline in underrepresented minority students, particularly Black students.

“It was very disappointing,” Levin said. “Many years of work and effort had gone in over the years to try to build up representation at the Stanford campus, and we’ve always viewed that as an important priority for the university to do that.”

He emphasized that it is a “central value” of the university to protect the ability of students and faculty to have open discussions on campus and explore different ideas.

He also stressed that student events, activities, cultural centers, and other traditions on the campus are a “very central element” of the educational experience at Stanford and are supported by students’ freedom of expression and freedom of association.

President Jonathan Levin talks to an attendee. | Andrew Brodhead

When asked about how Stanford is helping students navigate the challenges and opportunities of AI, Levin asked Ganesan to respond. She shared a personal anecdote about exploring ChatGPT’s ability to write a paper and realizing that she could do better. “I don’t want to be a B+ or ChatGPT+ student – I want to be myself with original thinking and ideas,” Ganesan said.

The real value of a Stanford education, she continued, is the focus on curiosity and original thinking, “this idea that we’re thinking things that no one, not even a ChatGPT, has thought before – that’s the real value of this education.”

When another parent asked Levin about his vision for Stanford’s future, he said he wants Stanford to remain open to new ideas, to more people from around the world, and to new innovations.

“This is an incredible, incredible time for discovery on the campus, with all of the advances in artificial intelligence and data and computation that are going to revolutionize so many fields,” he said.

In his closing remarks, Levin noted that many faculty have shared how impressed they are with the level of student engagement, preparation, and willingness to debate and wrestle with difficult questions, compared to their experiences teaching during the pandemic. Levin said the feedback has been a “high point” for him this year.

“I was hopeful about that coming into the year, and it’s been wonderful to see that playing out with your children,” he said.