by Ben Canning
Back to Stanford University: Changing Lives Since 1891
Ultimately, Stanford University can be viewed as a gathering of a dynamic set of relationships that both defines and is defined by the people, buildings, time, space, geography, and relations that comprise the artifact.
Stanford the Machine
While Stanford can be viewed as a machine similar to the Pyramids of Giza, this view of the university seems to put the university in a more static light. Like the bureaucratic machine that built the pyramids there is an ultimate goal or product (motivated individuals with the knowledge and abilities needed to improve the world), but unlike the bureaucratic machine of Giza, there is no center of authority that largely determines the process by which the product is produced. While the president and administration can be seen as this center of authority, this largely ignores the myths, traditions, activities, and culture that are created by the students. Whether it is Full Moon on the Quad, the belief that “Stanford students don’t date,” or secret snowflake, these things have just as much influence in defining Stanford as the administration. The Pyramids of Giza were created by a machine that was rather static. Once in place there was little input by the “parts” in shaping or altering the end product. What is meant by this is that the peasants and people who made up the machine had little input in the end result due to the nature of a bureaucratic machine. The “parts” of Stanford each have significant input in the end product, themselves. Each Stanford alumna is created by the student or person that entered the university and was transformed into the alumna. Stanford is in some sense an incubator.
Stanford the Incubator
The analogy of Stanford as an incubator captures the utopia or The Stanford Bubble aspect of it. Students enter this sheltered world that was designed specifically as a place for growth and development without being exposed to the harsh elements of the outside world. It is in this environment that students are nurtured and given access to all of the resources necessary for growth and maturation. They are able to test their abilities on a minor scale by starting student groups, taking classes, and being involved in various extracurricular activities and intellectual pursuits. They are given a limited range in which to become accustomed to their new form before entering the world, much like a baby is able to clench its fists, kick its feet, and move around within its mother’s womb. However, this analogy fails to take into account the way in which students are as much a part of Stanford as are the buildings, land, and classes.
Stanford the Human
The best analogy of Stanford as a whole would be a human being. Like a person, Stanford consciously shapes the environment in which it is situated in ways that better serve its interests. Like a human it is a collection of systems, organs, tissues, and cells that each operates independently, but are dependent on each other to exist and function as a presence or artifact in the world. While at any give moment Stanford may appear to be dynamic, the inner workings are consistently moving, shaping, and recreating themselves within the framework of the body. Over time Stanford too grows and matures as a whole, shifting ideologies, growing larger, toning down, or fattening up as it sees fit. Much like any person, Stanford has a name and reputation that precede it and much like any person its parts can choose to be identified as part of the greater whole or just as an anonymous example as in the case of students being afraid to drop the “S-Bomb.”
To further understand this concept, picture a pair of lungs that belong to Bob. Someone could take an x-ray of them without labeling them as Bob's. They can be studied by doctors, athletes, and ordinary people by whom they will be judged based on their qualities. If they see a lot of dirt or filth they can assume they come from a smoker or someone exposed to a lot of air pollution, while if they look clean, and healthy they can assume that they are from a runner or someone very health conscious. However, the picture can also be labeled, in which case people can judge Bob’s lungs based on their qualities or based on their knowledge of Bob. These people can place the lungs as part of Bob’s body. Without even looking at the x-ray, they may declare Bob’s lungs healthy and clean after seeing Bob run and every other day in the gym. Yet, the person viewing the x-ray may never realize that Bob’s lungs are actually in an unhealthy state due to his smoking habit that he quit only a year ago.
The Body Dissected
Without this specific gathering called Stanford University, students may have been free to say what college they attend and casually date to their heart’s content, but this would also have overarching effects on the world by altering the shape, experience, and path that several generations of emerging adults took in life. More specifically without creating myths, legends, and traditions Stanford would viewed as just an academic powerhouse rather than a unique college experience. Without the bubble, students would not have the same amount of time and energy to devote to their academic and extracurricular interests. Without the overarching belief, “Stanford students don’t date,” students may be more assertive and a receptive to casual dating while at Stanford.
Similar to any person, Stanford exists in a time and a place, more specifically Palo Alto from 1891 to the present. It is a gathering of people, policies, buildings, land, reputation, and much more. While this gathering is essentially defined by these items it also in turn defines them and shapes them to fit into the greater whole. This can be seen in the creation of urban myths about Stanford’s origins in order to place it as a rival to Harvard rather shaped by Harvard’s president. In the dating scene, students are as much a propagator of the non-existent Stanford dating scene as they are a victim of it. In all, Stanford University is a dynamic artifact that continues to adapt and change with time.
This image sums up the relation Stanford University and its constituting bodies.
