Editor’s Note
Four years ago, when I first set foot on this sunny, spacious campus, I had no idea what I wanted to study, let alone pursue as a career. Little did I think that one day I wouldn’t be able to see myself doing anything but political journalism.Like most freshman, I was undeclared and hadn’t ruled out any field. At first, I sought to explore Stanford’s renowned science and engineering departments. But as I looked around, I mostly saw older students who were passionate about — and had seemingly found success in — everything from taking part in Silicon Valley’s startup culture to conducting groundbreaking research to vying for admission to law or medical school. Even as I realized that I much preferred the social sciences and humanities to STEM fields, there wasn’t any club that really stuck out to me. I strove to find a way to satiate my desire to engage in our political system without actually being a politician, to serve the public meaningfully and, if possible, to do so through writing. I may not have known it at the time, but it seems that all along I had always wanted to be a journalist.
My high school didn’t have a newspaper, and Stanford doesn’t have a journalism major for freshmen to explore. So it wasn’t until I became a sophomore, began to study political science, and started writing for the Stanford Daily and Stanford Politics (then called Stanford Political Journal) that I found something that invigorated me the way other activities stirred my peers.
Stanford Politics was founded the previous year — a year marked by, arguably, the most heightened level of political activism and engagement on campus in recent memory — so when I joined the new publication, it felt something akin to what I assume it’s like to be a part of a startup. Our co-founder, Jason Willick, had just graduated and begun a career in professional opinion journalism, and our next editor in chief, Truman Chen, was intent on making Stanford Politics a home on campus for thoughtful commentary about serious issues. I appreciated them and the mission, but I also wanted Stanford Politics to do more.
By creating and co-hosting the Stanford Politics Podcast my sophomore year, I hoped to provide an outlet for students like myself to be able to have conversations about contemporary issues with peers, professors, and even public figures like Cory Booker and Barney Frank (two of my first interviews as a student journalist). Then during my junior year, I was fortunate to be an intern at POLITICO Magazine, a publication I had been an avid reader of and admired. Through that amazing opportunity, in addition to everything else it offered me, I got to see how a professional newsmagazine is actually made. Returning to Stanford last year, I set about working to bring some of what I saw in D.C. to Stanford, particularly by launching Stanford Politics Magazine and The Monday Memo email newsletter.
This issue of Stanford Politics Magazine is, thus, a big one for me. Not only is it the final issue of this academic year, but it is also my last contribution to a student journalism scene at Stanford that has given me some of the most fulfilling experiences of my last four years.
Being editor in chief of Stanford Politics has been one of the most endlessly exhausting though eminently rewarding roles I’ve had. When I took over last spring, I sought to remake our identity and image on campus from a niche publication of bipartisan think pieces to a mainstay of student journalism. While I can’t say that it’s been easy and that we haven’t got room to grow, I can say that I’m extremely proud of what we’ve done.
Stanford Politics Podcast is still running, and the new hosts and producers who have taken over since my initial involvement two years ago have had on a number of amazing guests this year, including Congressman Adam Schiff, former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, and former Hillary Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle.
Our November cover story — an exposé of Peter Thiel and the Stanford Review network he’s maintained — was deemed “the most read and shared politics article from across the web” the day it was published and was later recognized as one of the best pieces of local reporting of 2017, an honor few student publications can lay claim to.
We were also the first media outlet to report on #MeToo allegations against former Stanford professor Franco Moretti last November, and our continued coverage of the issue — from our January cover story on Stanford’s complicated history with sexual violence to an original and exclusive op-ed by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson about how women can fight back — has been impactful. An open letter that 40 representatives of student government, community centers, and more, published in Stanford Politics to demand that the University administration use a different campus climate survey was even cited by a provost in a February announcement of new plans to focus on the very course of reform asked for by those advocates.
Not to mention, we’ve kept up, and arguably even grown, our reputation as a thought-provoking source of Stanford commentary — from publicly criticizing the University’s approach to discourse to inspiring “op-ed wars” about the state of student media.
During my four years at Stanford, I’ve been proud to see what Stanford Politics has become as a publication, especially during my tenure as editor in chief. But Stanford Politics is not a one-man-show.
As early as this fall, when staff writer Roxy Bonafont stayed up all night to report fully, factually, and fairly on Robert Spencer’s controversial speaking event on campus, to just recently, when our new magazine director Nathalie Kiersznowski spent countless hours laying out and designing this latest print issue, I’ve witnessed firsthand how much work each and every member of the Stanford Politics team has done — and continues to do — to make us what we are.
This issue alone is the result of so many individuals’ efforts. Roxy and Jack Herrera worked tirelessly — after hours of interviewing his friends, his family, and John Rice-Cameron himself — to profile the man who’s become the face of the Right on campus (and who also just so happens to be Susan Rice’s son). But with a subject who other publications have treated as simply a talking-point-generator, Roxy and Jack have painted a committed ideologue who has stepped out of the shadow of his celebrity parentage to make make a name for himself as Stanford’s top politico.
Similarly, senior staff writer — and something of a media reporter of late — Lucas Rodriguez did a deep dive on the mysterious campus muckraker known as the FoHo, while freshman staff writer Thomas Pfeiffer looked into a subset of the Stanford population that many might overlook when it comes to politics: student athletes. Lastly, our annual “Politicos” feature is the kind of piece that shows that there are people all around us who, whether or not you agree with their intentions, are working to make an impact both on campus and around the world.
A few years ago, when I was looking for my own way to make an impact, I found a home in Stanford Politics and in journalism more broadly. The years since have been a wild ride, especially with the election of a president who denigrates the field, but I’m nonetheless certain that this is what I’m meant to do. And I hope younger generations of Stanford students also find that calling, because real journalism — doing the work of both investigating and informing — is more necessary than ever.
I’m excited to see where Stanford Politics goes forward from here, and I’m more than confident in my successor, Daniela Gonzalez, and managing editor Jake Dow, both of whom are extraordinarily competent at what they do and have been central parts of Stanford Politics the last couple years, to take this publication to even greater heights.
Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna
Editor in Chief, Stanford Politics
Contents
The Fountain Hopper’s Inflection Point
Is the campus newsletter’s tabloid-inspired, agenda-driven history what makes it special or what’s been holding it back?
Lucas Rodriguez
2017 – 2018 Politicos
The Most Influential Undergraduates at Stanford
SP Staff
JOHN-RICE CAMERON WANTS TO MAKE STANFORD GREAT AGAIN
Roxy Bonafont & Jack Herrera
Locker Room Talk?
Inside the Politics of Stanford Football in the Age of Trump
Thomas Pfeiffer
Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna, a senior studying political science, is the editor in chief of Stanford Politics.