America is on fire. Or, at least it is in A24’s latest feature film, Civil War (2024). In the Alex Garland war flick, set in the near-present, we see a vision of the nation where a violent civil war has broken out between the Loyalist States, the Western Forces (an unlikely pairing of Texas and California), and the Florida Alliance.  The film does not give the viewer much information about the catalyst for this catastrophic war, only hinting that the film’s fictitious President (Nick Offerman) broke with precedent by taking a third term. Instead, it drops us directly into the middle of a ..read more

This week, Columbia, Yale, and NYU have seen massive anti-Israel protests that have rocked their campuses, resulting in dozens of arrests and the cancellation of classes. Mere months ago, Harvard and UPenn ousted their presidents after refusing to condemn antisemitism and failing to protect Jewish students. Columbia's president may be next to go as the university’s classes go hybrid, Israeli professors are locked out of campus, and mob rule seems to have taken over—all at a school known for its robust Jewish community.  This debacle at Columbia University, most of all, epitomizes the rap ..read more

Campus politics at Stanford have been revolutionized in the past several years by a popular movement bemoaning lackluster student life on campus. But what critics of Stanford’s lack of fun cannot complain about is a lack of funds for student programming; Stanford’s Undergraduate Senate gave over $3 million in funds to 129 verified student organizations on campus for the 2023-2024 academic year. This money ensures that student clubs, organizations, and initiatives have the financial support they need to enrich the experience of their members.  But the question remains: With all this money ..read more

As my third year at Stanford comes to a close, many of my friends are considering the eternal Stanford question: to coterm or not to coterm. Coterming would mean stapling a year-long master's degree program to your regular B.A. or B.S., usually taking the form of a fifth year. (For overachievers, a coterm can be completed in the fourth year.) The program’s popularity is why Stanford measures its six-year—not the standard four-year—graduation rate.  While still a master's program, the coterm is more of an "undergrad plus" than a traditional master’s program in its own right. Though some c ..read more

Jo Boaler is the infamous “mathematics education” professor of Stanford known for charging underfunded school districts $5,000 an hour to advise them to drop middle school algebra classes. In recent weeks, she has acquired a newfound notoriety for her “reckless disregard for accuracy,” even garnering the attention of Elon Musk for her antics. In a state in which only one third of students meet basic mathematics benchmarks, Boaler was a chief architect of the 2021 California Mathematics Framework. The document advocated the further degradation of California’s educational standards by supportin ..read more

Last month, I had the delight of turning twenty years old in the midst of Stanford’s final exam season. My greatest joy over the past two decades, besides family and friendship, has been to grow up alongside the country I call home, watching its still-nascent history unfold with tremendous speed. Time just seems to pass more leisurely outside its borders. In 2004, the year I was born, less than a quarter of American adults subscribed to home broadband that beamed the internet into their living rooms; today, 80 percent have subscriptions. Of the minority without broadband, three-quarters use t ..read more

Grades serve two purposes: to motivate students and to assess their level of understanding. However, they are counterproductive in both realms. Grading incentivizes busywork, corrupts students' motivations, and proves unhelpful in assessing their understanding. If the purpose of education is to fill students' minds with true ideas and to shape them into clear-thinking, disciplined, and attentive adults, then the gradebook ought to be abolished. Even without grades, most Stanford students would turn in their best work on useful assignments. Some would do so only because they are workaholics; t ..read more

The past few years have seen scandal after scandal harm the Stanford administration’s reputation. From its handling of COVID-19, to the resignation of our President, to the "death of fun” on campus, we can’t seem to catch a break. Yet, despite the lament of many students, we have seen progress in recent months. The administration is planning to rebuild the heart of campus, even taking student feedback this time! On-Call Café has been a resounding success. The “Abolish Greek Life” movement has rightfully fallen off the face of the earth. However, there still remain some simple steps the admini ..read more

In the 1950s and 1960s, the land around Stanford University became home to companies and people who built the foundation of the innovative world we now know of as Silicon Valley. Since then, trillions of dollars in value have been created by iconic entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and hundreds more.  Along with making people rich, Silicon Valley’s startups have led to growing national influence, economic advancement, and regional autonomy. The Valley’s rise posits the question: How could it be replicated in other parts of the world? Many have tried a ..read more

For the better part of a year, Stanford has searched for a new president following the public, scandal-ridden resignation of Marc Tessier-Lavigne. While a twenty-member Presidential Search Committee looked for his replacement, the former dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, Richard Saller, served as interim president. We thank President Saller—who recently sat down for a lengthy interview with the Review—for his stability and sanity during a year of great upheaval. But as this tumult subsides, we are excited that 51-year-old Jonathan Levin, current dean of the Graduate School of Bus ..read more