This book is the product of three years of reporting and writing and 250+ interviews with students, CEOs, VCs, Nobel laureates, scientific sleuths, professors, and three Stanford presidents and three provosts.
Pre-order now:
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/760317...
The news is out! HOW TO RULE THE WORLD will be published by Penguin Press on 5/19—about 3 weeks before my graduation.
From slush funds to yacht parties to fraud, the book captures Silicon Valley’s training ground as never seen before.
Meet the kids learning to rule the world.
“Admired and envied, lionized and attacked, Dr. Baltimore spent most of his life in the scientific limelight, a towering figure of modern biology.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...
Hard to think of a Stanford figure considered more beloved…
Andrew Luck “learned there were no shortcuts in turning around a program that was 1-11 when he committed and 11-2 when he left.”
Now he has to do it again.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/654...
The Stanford Daily and @thefireorg.bsky.social have filed a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration's actions have unconstitutionally chilled free speech.
www.thefire.org/research-lea...
Read more here:
nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
chronicle.com/article/geor...
washingtonpost.com/education/20...
The Trump administration opened four investigations into George Mason University, targeting its president over diversity programs.
The faculty senate put out a statement in his defense, reaffirming, "Diversity is our strength."
Now the DOJ is investigating them, too.
Stanford has joined an amicus brief in support of Harvard, emphasizing the importance of university research.
Essential and utterly damning reporting from Anna Yang in The Stanford Daily today.
"A student reported her rapist to the University. Two years later, the perpetrator was suspended."
This case is harrowing and the process at Stanford remains incredibly broken.
stanforddaily.com/2025/05/20/s...
Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College.
This article is 1000% accurate to my experience of Stanford. Since Gen Z is already the least media literate generation by several metrics, I do think the fear of reduced critical thinking is quite real.
nymag.com/intelligence...
The Internet, far from the utopian ideal technologists envisioned, is really, truly the ultimate cesspool. Yay humanity!
Example 80000000:
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/n...
Stanford is a notable holdout from this statement condemning Trump’s “political interference” and “overreach.”
The letter was signed by the presidents of more than 185 universities, including peers like Princeton, Yale, MIT, UPenn, etc.
www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
In the rush to publish, something may have been overlooked...
Trump—in exploiting his power to force opponents to bend to his will or be effectively barred from practicing law in federal court—claims the firms “have affirmed their strong commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession.”
Kirkland is known as one of the most conservative big firms and provided a number of Trump’s DOJ appointees. It was targeted for “illegal hiring practices” because of attempts to improve diversity.
(White men still account for >70% of leadership positions in most law firms.)
More top law firms, including #1 Kirkland Ellis ($7.2bn in revenue last year) and #2 Latham Watkins ($5.6bn in revenue), have caved to Trump demands.
Trump has now extracted nearly $1bn from law firms, blackmailing some for effectively no reason apart from the fact that he can.
On his first day as NIH Director, Stanford prof Jay Bhattacharya oversees an immense bloodletting.
This comes as last month alone the NIH canceled 700+ grants, began eliminating thousands of staff, scrapped its scientific integrity policy, etc.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Also this week, Stanford announced the Search Committee for its next Athletics Director. And it won its first ACC championship, woman’s gymnastics.
Eventful week for the Cardinal, where the future of athletics is veryyy much in flux.
Full write up from ESPN here:
www.espn.com/college-foot...
bsky.app/profile/tab-...
Reich, a veteran of the sport, became the first NFL head coach since 1970 to be fired in *two* back-to-back seasons—first from the Colts in 2022, and then from the Panthers in 2023 after a 1-10 start to the season.
Stanford has hired Andrew Luck’s former coach, Frank Reich, as interim head football coach in the wake of Troy Taylor’s firing.
With the team already underwater (3-9 the last two years), and several players entering the draft portal this week, Reich’s year may not be fun.
Post-WWII, the US public-private-university partnership has been one of our great strengths. Now it's under threat.
"Research has found that every $1 invested in r&d returns about $5 in economic gains, a figure that likely understates the true return."
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...
Kudos to @espn.com for uncovering this!
It seems especially important considering there has so far been no clear outcome from the second investigation—which concluded in July.
Both he and senior associate athletics director Matt Doyle were warned after the first investigation uncovered “inappropriate conduct.”
The second investigation concluded the problem was ongoing. “I do not find any excuse” for Coach Taylor’s behavior, wrote the investigator.
The veteran lawyer who conducted the second investigation said he’d never experienced “this palpable level of animosity and disdain” for a university compliance office.
Coach Taylor apparently tried to oust an NCAA compliance officer who warned him of rules violations and repeatedly harassed her.
Stanford’s head football coach was found to have engaged in “inappropriate, discriminatory” ways in TWO separate investigations into his “hostile and aggressive behavior.”
He remains on the job.
www.espn.com/college-foot...
Thanks for finding this!
Given the crash here not long ago, all I can say is that I’m grateful to the captain and desperately hope that air travel continues to be safe and well-managed in this country.
The flight was UA 1449.
So I was on a flight into DCA tonight when we had to abruptly abort our landing because, the captain said, another smaller, slower craft had been routed directly in our path. Flight logs show we were just 200 feet above the ground.
Earlier today the LA Times had AI-generated counterpoints to a column from @gustavoarellano.bsky.social. His piece argued that Anaheim, the city he grew up in, should not forget its KKK past.
The AI "well, actually"-ed the KKK. It has since been taken off the piece.
www.latimes.com/california/s...