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Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - 82lsju - 09-18-2019

Quote:Jane Stanford Way, a pedestrian and bicycle mall, will run across the front of the Stanford campus from Campus Drive West to Campus Drive East, and the university’s official address will change from 450 Serra Mall to 450 Jane Stanford Way.

https://news.stanford.edu/2019/09/18/naming-jane-stanford-way-moves-ahead/

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - cardcrimson - 09-18-2019

Will commenting on this violate the terms of use policy for the CARDboard?

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - admin - 09-18-2019

Not if it's kept Stanford related and doesn't resort to epithets.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - Papa John - 09-18-2019

OK, I'll go first. I'm a life-long Catholic who lived in the former Serra House from 1980-82 (draw number somewhere north of 4000), and I have no problem with Serra Mall being renamed for the founder of the University. In fact, I've always been confused as to why a secular university would have the name of a Catholic figure in its address. Maybe the impetus for  this decision was political correctness, but that's not a reason to discount it out of hand. This change makes sense for non-political reasons, IMO.

(Hope I didn't violate any protocols of the board.)

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - cardcrimson - 09-18-2019

Years ago, when the Stanford student body was voting on what the mascot/nickname should be after Indians was retired, President Donald Kennedy wouldn't allow Robber Barons to be on the ballot, even though it was a fairly popular choice at the time. Too demeaning to founders Leland and Jane was the reasoning. In the ensuing vote, circa 1981, no majority was clear, so Kennedy (later of bed sheets, yachts, and antiques fame), edicted that the color Cardinal was to be the official mascot and nickname.

With the current focus to rename streets and dorms away from Father Serra due to his treatment of native Californians (is Father Lasuen next, btw?), perhaps now is the time to re-evaluate Leland Stanford, as well. What would be more fitting than to be the Stanford Robber Barons? After all, that's exactly what the Stanfords were. Anything else, would be a historical whitewashing.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - qwerty49 - 09-18-2019

Mrs Stanford's arbitrary cap on (500) female admissions had long-lasting impact on the University, far longer than the 1930's when it was repealed.  All the way through at least the 1960's there was a strict ratio in place for female admits.

I know it's not nice to bite the hand that has fed you, but.....wow, what a terrible ruling on her part.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - martyup - 09-18-2019

Old, tired, and still demeaning.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - 82lsju - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 02:02 PM)qwerty49 Wrote:  Mrs Stanford's arbitrary cap on (500) female admissions had long-lasting impact on the University, far longer than the 1930's when it was repealed.  All the way through at least the 1960's there was a strict ratio in place for female admits.

I know it's not nice to bite the hand that has fed you, but.....wow, what a terrible ruling on her part.

in case you missed this article on the 500 woman cap in the Stanford Mag last fall

Quote:Why Jane Stanford Limited Women’s Enrollment to 500

And what happened next.

https://stanfordmag.org/contents/why-jane-stanford-limited-women-s-enrollment-to-500

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - Goose - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 01:41 PM)Papa John Wrote:  OK, I'll go first. I'm a life-long Catholic who lived in the former Serra House from 1980-82 (draw number somewhere north of 4000), and I have no problem with Serra Mall being renamed for the founder of the University. In fact, I've always been confused as to why a secular university would have the name of a Catholic figure in its address. Maybe the impetus for  this decision was political correctness, but that's not a reason to discount it out of hand. This change makes sense for non-political reasons, IMO.

(Hope I didn't violate any protocols of the board.)

Totally agree. Whatever her faults, Jane Stanford had a lot to do with founding and running Stanford. Fr. Serra had essentially nothing to do with it. Giving Mrs. Stanford the honor of a major "street" makse sense, no matter what other issues may be involved, IMHO.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - Papa John - 09-18-2019

I'm not saying that Jane Stanford Way is preferable to Serra Mall because Jane  S. was a better or worse person--by whatever metric one adopts--than Junipero S. I *am* saying that Jane Stanford Way is a more logical address than Serra Way for Stanford University.

Here are the current addresses of some private universities in California:

Stanford--450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
University of Southern California--3551 Trousdale Pkwy Los Angeles, CA 90007
CalTech--1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125
Pomona College--333 N College Way, Claremont, CA 91711
Claremont McKenna College--888 N Columbia Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
Azusa Pacific University (religious)--901 E Alosta Ave, Azusa, CA 91702
Pepperdine University (religious)--24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263
Harvey Mudd College--301 Platt Blvd, Claremont, CA 91711
Loyola Marymount University (religious)--1 Loyola Marymount University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Occidental College (founded as a religious school)--1600 Campus Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Santa Clara University (religious)--500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053
University of the Pacific--3601 Pacific Ave, Stockton, CA 95211
University of San Francisco (religious)--2130 Fulton St, San Francisco, CA 94117

As far as I can tell, of the schools I cite above, only LMU has an address that includes religious figures in the street name.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - cardcrimson - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 03:27 PM)Papa John Wrote:  I'm not saying that Jane Stanford Way is preferable to Serra Mall because Jane  S. was a better or worse person--by whatever metric one adopts--than Junipero S. I *am* saying that Jane Stanford Way is a more logical address than Serra Way for Stanford University.

Here are the current addresses of some private universities in California:

Stanford--450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
University of Southern California--3551 Trousdale Pkwy Los Angeles, CA 90007
CalTech--1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125
Pomona College--333 N College Way, Claremont, CA 91711
Claremont McKenna College--888 N Columbia Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
Azusa Pacific University (religious)--901 E Alosta Ave, Azusa, CA 91702
Pepperdine University (religious)--24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263
Harvey Mudd College--301 Platt Blvd, Claremont, CA 91711
Loyola Marymount University (religious)--1 Loyola Marymount University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Occidental College (founded as a religious school)--1600 Campus Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Santa Clara University (religious)--500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053
University of the Pacific--3601 Pacific Ave, Stockton, CA 95211
University of San Francisco (religious)--2130 Fulton St, San Francisco, CA 94117

As far as I can tell, of the schools I cite above, only LMU has an address that includes religious figures in the street name.

Religion aside, Serra was probably the most important person in California's history.

And btw, El Camino Real, aka The King's Highway, is the road (or series of roads) that connects the 21 Spanish Missions

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - BobK - 09-18-2019

Close crimson, but not all missions. Sonoma? The one near Jolon?
Just saying.
Satnford's first nick name was Cardinal, 1892.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - terry - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 03:46 PM)cardcrimson Wrote:  Religion aside, Serra was probably the most important person in California's history.

But he had nothing to do with Stanford's history, which is more to the point IMO.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - Goose - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 03:46 PM)cardcrimson Wrote:  Religion aside, Serra was probably the most important person in California's history.

I would say that is arguably true. It isn't appropriate to name nothing after him. I think naming 280 after him is fine. I didn't think it was bad to name an important street at Stanford after him. However, I think changing the name to honor Jane Stanford is a good idea. It does no disrespect to Fr. Serra in an of itself. Possibly some of the people arguing for a name change believe that naming it after Serra was horrible, while naming it after the wife of a robber baron is merely bad, and therefore an improvement. I am not in that camp.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - cardcrimson - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 04:05 PM)BobK Wrote:  Close crimson, but not all missions.  Sonoma?  The one near Jolon?
Just saying.
Satnford's first nick name was Cardinal, 1892.

From Wikipedia, and corroborated on several other sites:
El Camino Real (Spanish; literally The Royal Road, often translated as The King's Highway), sometimes associated with Calle Real (within the US state of California), usually refers to the 600-mile (965-kilometer) road connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California (formerly Alta California), along with a number of sub-missions, four presidios, and three pueblos, stretching at its southern end from the San Diego area Mission San Diego de Alcalá, all of the way up to the trail's northern terminus at Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, just above San Francisco Bay.
(09-18-2019, 04:31 PM)Goose Wrote:  
(09-18-2019, 03:46 PM)cardcrimson Wrote:  Religion aside, Serra was probably the most important person in California's history.

I would say that is arguably true. It isn't appropriate to name nothing after him. I think naming 280 after him is fine. I didn't think it was bad to name an important street at Stanford after him. However, I think changing the name to honor Jane Stanford is a good idea. It does no disrespect to Fr. Serra in an of itself. Possibly some of the people arguing for a name change believe that naming it after Serra was horrible, while naming it after the wife of a robber baron is merely bad, and therefore an improvement. I am not in that camp.

Not knowing a whole lot about SU history, I do know that Jane controlled a whole bunch of the goings on during the early times at the University. And I'd imagine she had influence about a whole lot of other things. One would guess that she probably approved of, if not developed, the naming of the streets and buildings around the early campus after important people in California's history, such as Serra, Lasuen, Burbank, Jordan, Branner, Palm, etc.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - BobK - 09-18-2019

Agree of course my point only that the Kings hiway is 30-40 miles from several missions

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - terry - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 05:09 PM)cardcrimson Wrote:  Not knowing a whole lot about SU history, I do know that Jane controlled a whole bunch of the goings on during the early times at the University. And I'd imagine she had influence about a whole lot of other things. One would guess that she probably approved of, if not developed, the naming of the streets and buildings around the early campus after important people in California's history, such as Serra, Lasuen, Burbank, Jordan, Branner, Palm, etc.

I would put people such as Jordan and Branner in a different category. They were Stanford's first two presidents. Unlike Father Serra, they had intimate connections to Stanford. It makes sense that there are buildings named after them.

There are a few Stanford places that bear the names of California historical figures who had no Stanford connection. As far as I can remember, most (not all) of those places are in Stern Hall -- Twain, Larkin, Donner, Burbank, Muir (now Casa Zapata), and Serra (now Sally Ride). Jane Stanford died 40+ years before those buildings were built, so she didn't have any say in naming them. The donor whose name is on the complex, Lucie Stern, died two years before those buildings were opened in 1948; I don't know whether she had any influence in naming them. 

The idea of naming Stanford places after non-Stanford figures in California history apparently didn't last. For example, there's nothing named after Walt Disney, William Randolph Hearst, Jack London, Joe DiMaggio, or Steve Jobs. :-)  

I don't see any compelling reason that Stanford should name things after people who had no connection with the university. It wouldn't bother me if the university were to rename Larkin, Twain, Burbank, Donner, or Lasuen. For example, I think it would be more appropriate to honor John Steinbeck, who attended Stanford, than Mark Twain.

I think it made sense to rename Serra Mall as Jane Stanford Way. Jane was instrumental in the university's history, and there's nothing important named for her elsewhere on campus. This seems overdue.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - Goose - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 06:43 PM)terry Wrote:  I think it made sense to rename Serra Mall as Jane Stanford Way. Jane was instrumental in the university's history, and there's nothing important named for her elsewhere on campus. This seems overdue.
Totally Agree.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - muiron - 09-18-2019

(09-18-2019, 07:15 PM)Goose Wrote:  
(09-18-2019, 06:43 PM)terry Wrote:  I think it made sense to rename Serra Mall as Jane Stanford Way. Jane was instrumental in the university's history, and there's nothing important named for her elsewhere on campus. This seems overdue.
Totally Agree.

I am not upset at getting rid of the Serra names. I don't like the demonization of Serra, applying today's standards for a very different past, but neither do I particularly like the canonization of Serra - but the latter is not my call. He had brobdingnagian amount to do with California history but nothing directly with Stanford.  I'm willing to let him go.

BUT I will be more than made if the University goes after the Jordan or (Lewis) Terman names.  Palo Alto's school district renamed two schools away from them because they were "eugenicists." As were many people, left and right, in the 1910s and 1920s.  And Lincoln was, by today's standards, an extreme racist. I can accept, grudgingly, ahistorical judgments on people not connected intimately with the University.  But not with Jordan, a crucial figure in our history (and a pacificist, BTW) or, somewhat less so, Lewis Terman.

RE: Serra Mall will be renamed Jane Stanford Way - 76lsjumb - 09-18-2019

I just figured somebody made a mistake.  I thought everything these days had to be named [or-renamed] "Arrillaga" ... :-)