The Stanford Daily

Author: Rahul Kanakia

Opinions Columnist

Articles by this author:

The king of America

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| Americans are starved for royalty, and it shows in the treatment of our presidential candidates.

You're Not Special: The quiet life

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS|

An excess of leisure

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| When I visited Stanford as a prospective freshman, my first impression of Stanford students was that they acted just like the kids in my high school, except they had fewer responsibilities, no adult supervision and lots of disposable income.

Lawsuits are killing the vibe

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| It’s something of a sport for seniors to sit around in our rooms and bemoan how much “cooler” campus used to be back before the Office of Student Activities (OSA) watered down our crazy parties with their rules and regulations.

Words on paper

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I had a terrible time thinking of something to write about this week, but then I opened The Daily and read that the University has finally green-lighted a gender-neutral housing program.

A temple of my very own

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I always enjoy watching public figures crash and burn, and this has been a great year for it: Eliot Spitzer, Larry Craig, Michael Vick.

You're Not Special: Nice guys make bad presidents

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS|

You're Not Special: Money doesn't matter

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS|

You're Not Special: Activists focus on superficial change

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| “President Hennessy is certainly mindful of SLAC’s opinions...

You're Not Special: An ode to Hennessy

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| President John Hennessy is an administrative genius.

You're Not Special: America is for Americans

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| Tolerance is a sham.

Stop. Please. Just Stop

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I really respect the libertarians that I have met at Stanford.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Jan. 8 to Jan. 14, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Jan.

BRIEF: Lantana break-in results in thefts

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Several doors in Lantana were forced open on Monday between 1:30 p.m.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This article covers a selection of crimes from Nov. 20 to Nov. 28, as reported by the Stanford Department of Public Safety’s Public Bulletin.

Education fundraiser reaches out

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Hundreds of people crowded into Tresidder’s Oak Room on Saturday for a benefit concert hosted by Asha Stanford, a student group dedicated to improving education in India.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This article covers a selection of crimes from Oct. 15 to Oct. 23, as reported by the Stanford Department of Public Safety’s Public Bulletin.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Oct. 9 through Oct. 16, as reported in the Stanford Department of Public Safety’s Public Bulletin.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This police blotter presents a selection of crimes from the beginning of the school year, Sept. 19 through Oct. 4, taken from the Stanford Department of Public Safety’s Public Bulletin.

Old Union new again

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| After more than a year of renovations, the new Old Union is finally open.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from May 22 to May 28, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Students react to Kim

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| As campus buzzed with talk about impostor Azia Kim’s involvement in ROTC, a strong majority of more than 40 students interviewed Tuesday said that the ordeal has not shaken their sense of security on campus and that the 18-year-old Fullerton resident who pretended to be a student for eight months should be forced to pay restitution to the University.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| n A large barbecue was reported stolen from the Powwow grounds on May 13.

Illegal Internet users to face fines

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman announced last week that anyone on the University’s network who is caught violating the rules will need to pay a fee to get their Internet connection reinstated.

Thefts plague natl. science buildings

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Early Sunday morning, an improvised security camera set up by graduate students working in the Hansen Experimental Physics Lab (HEPL) captured the image of a thief who may be connected to the string of burglaries that have taken place in a cluster of natural sciences buildings nearby. The video prompted Francisco LePort, a fourth-year graduate student in physics, to distribute an open letter calling for President Hennessy to tighten security at HEPL.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from May 2 to May 5, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Apr. 25 to May 1, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Value of census decreases

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| The future of the U.S. Census — the data set many Americans use to judge themselves and their compatriots — is in doubt, according to participants on last night’s panel “Censuses and Surveys: Still Useful for the Common Good?” Concerns about the privacy of personal information plagued the 2000 U.S. Census, according to panelists, and this public distrust led to a precipitous drop in the Census response rate, which called the accuracy of government statistics into question.

Students duped by bike prank

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Students who found warnings on their bicycles Friday morning that police would aggressively step up bike law enforcement seem to have been the victims of a prank. The notices purported to come from the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (DPS), but police officials denied issuing any such warnings.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Apr.

New campus blog open to all students

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| On any given day, a reader of the Unofficial Stanford Blog might find a first-person account from one of the living wage fasters, a discussion of the University’s installation art or political commentary from an opinionated student. Since its launch on Feb. 10, blog.stanford.edu has acquired a following, with 33 separate bloggers writing hundreds of posts, 500 unique visitors a day and 11,000 unique visitors since Feb. 28.

Jackson inspired by Chavez

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Rev. Jesse Jackson urged his audience, during yesterday’s keystone speech for the 14th annual Cesar Chavez Commemorative Celebration, to consider the parallels between Cesar Chavez, the labor activist who founded United Farm Workers, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Va. shooting prompts Univ. policy review

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| A new Stanford committee will conduct an evaluation of its emergency protocols in the wake of Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech University. The protocol review, which will be led by Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Livingston, was announced in a statement concerning the massacre by President John Hennessy.

Va. Tech victims remembered by candlelight

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Several hundred Stanford community members gathered yesterday evening at a Memorial Church service for the 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty who were slain Monday by a gunman. Deans of Religious Life Rev. Scotty McLennan and Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann presided over the service.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Apr. 5 to Apr. 11, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Inside the rush process

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Yesterday and Monday, dozens of freshmen and a handful of sophomores descended on the Row to play games, gorge themselves on free food and decide if they want to live with 50 other guys for the next two or three years.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Mar. 27 to Apr. 2, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Inside the rush process

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| By Tuesday, some 200 girls will have chosen to begin the four-day sorority rush process.

FloMo beset by burglaries

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Police are looking for suspects after a spate of finals week and spring break burglaries in Florence Moore Hall and other locations around campus. Rooms in Ujamaa, Toyon and Columbae were also broken into over the break.

Auto burglaries flare up

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| After a series of on-campus car burglaries which began early in February, the Department of Public Safety has issued a number of warnings urging students to lock their car doors and to remove valuables from their vehicles.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Feb. 28 to Mar. 7, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

High-tech equipment stolen

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Tens of thousands of dollars worth of specialized electronics equipment has been stolen from three physics buildings located in the Hewlett and Packard Quadrangle.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Feb. 21 to Feb. 28, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Police Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Feb. 15 to Feb. 20, as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Police-Blotter

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| This report covers a selection of crimes from Feb.7 to Feb.14 as recorded in the Stanford Police Department Public Bulletin.

Residents, police argue ticket spike

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| While some students say they have noticed increased numbers of police officers looking to ticket bicycle-related violations at busy intersections, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) claims that variations in its enforcement are somewhat random and are not due to any new departmental policy.

STAND to spread petition on Sudan

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) plans today to ask students to send letters to Congress, urging lawmakers to expedite the deployment of a 20,000-member peacekeeping force to the war-torn region of the Sudan.

Afroman party nixed

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| There were supposed to be hundreds of people enjoying themselves at Sigma Nu tonight, listening, singing and dancing to the beats of acclaimed rap artist Afroman, famous for his hit 2001 single “Because I Got High.”

Robotics attracts business

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| The delegation was brought to the Bay Area by the Paris Region International Mission Enterprise (PRIME), whose San Francisco office, the first in the United States, is opening today.

Raagapella sings to victory

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Raagapella successfully defended its title at the South Asian A Cappella Championships Nov.

NASA funding to reach stars?

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS|

Students keep rackets swinging, serve up club tourney

By Rahul Kanakia
SPORTS| You first picked up a racket when you were nine.

Building community one student at a time

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Graduate students bring wives, husbands and children with them and leave behind extremely varied work and life experiences. All of this creates unique challenges and opportunities for the Community Associate (CA) program, which attempts to instill a sense of community in University-owned graduate housing.

K-Fed up with B.S.?

By Rahul Kanakia
INTERMISSION| One of the great tragedies of the midterm elections was the way it obscured news of Britney Spears’ and Kevin Federline’s divorce.

Saluting the . . . heroes?

By Rahul Kanakia
INTERMISSION| World War I was a testing ground for anti-heroes.

Oh, the music that we bomb to . . .

By Rahul Kanakia
INTERMISSION| Like the current war, World War I was started by a terrorist incident.

Foreign films draw audiences

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| After kicking off Wednesday, the United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) screened 31 films spotlighting human rights violations throughout the world, ranging from the U.S. penal system to brain disease in Tibet.

Congress comes to campus

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| With Democrats poised to take back the House of Representatives in two weeks, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) highlighted last night the tough time her party has had on Capitol Hill since the Republican takeover 12 years ago.

A show of support

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Six Degrees sponsored a six-hour concert extravaganza in White Plaza Saturday in an effort to raise human rights awareness, with campus groups manning informational tables as bands Jazz Mafia, K23 Orchestra and Albino played under the Birdcage for a crowd of students, tourists and local residents.

Internationals face uphill battle for aid

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| University financial aid has received an increasing amount of attention across the nation in recent months — from Harvard and Princeton’s decision to drop early admissions because of its alleged advantage to affluent students to a report from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings that the aid application process is too complex.

Op-Ed: A message regarding your junior class presidents

By Lisa Gunn and Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I opened Sunday’s email from Brett Hammon, one of our junior class presidents, with a great deal of excitement.

Fighting disease, one processor at a time

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| When hardcore video game enthusiasts put down hundreds of dollars for a graphics card and are not constantly playing Halo or Half-Life 2, they can now help solve ailments like Alzheimer’s disease.

Robot car to tackle city streets

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Such is the rallying cry of the Stanford Racing Team, composed of nearly forty Stanford faculty, researchers and graduate students.

Spam deletion causes problems with Webmail

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Information Technology Systems and Services (ITSS) began deleting spam-tagged messages rather than delivering them yesterday afternoon to counteract problems with Webmail caused by a mysterious spike in message volume, a move that left some students wary.

Free FLiCKs aims to attract Sunday crowds

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Over the past few years, the managers of FLiCKs have used every trick in the bag to try to fill empty seats. This year, they’ve decided to use a word every college student understands: free.

Jesus Never Lived, Speaker Says

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Questions about Jesus and his life have dominated popular culture in recent weeks with the premiere of “The Da Vinci Code” film, based on the novel that alleges Christ had a child.

How to be a hero

By Rahul Kanakia
INTERMISSION| I can’t believe you tried to taser me. Even the police don’t use these things anymore. The police will nightstick you, they will tear gas you, they will drag you out of your car and beat you.

Grad student diversity under fire

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Yesterday evening the 2006-2007 ASSU Undergraduate Senate heard presentations from a member of the Graduate Student Council’s Diversity Committee criticizing the poor racial diversity in the graduate student body.

Sophomore College admits next batch

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| With the recent release of Sophomore College decisions, hundreds of freshmen learned they will have the unique opportunity to spend three weeks studying a single topic and working closely with a renowned professor.

Judas’ gospel reconsidered

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Two religious studies professors painted a fantastic picture of the Gospel of Judas and the early Christians who wrote it — now labeled heretics by some — at the Stanford Humanities Center last night.

Exiled alum vies for presidency in Maldives

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Last night in the Math Building, a Stanford graduate detailed his return to the Maldives — his homeland — to oppose a regime that has been in place for 28 years.

ASSU talks judicial affairs

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| The ASSU Undergraduate Senate convened last night to discuss the transition from this year’s Senators to next year’s incoming members.

Students face AIDS, take action

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Three Stanford students who took a year off school to raise $1 million for HIV treatment in Africa are seeing their plans blossom this week, as their organization, FACE AIDS, is kicking off its fundraising activities with a series of events.

Florida State prof questions self-esteem

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Contrary to popular belief, high self-esteem does not necessarily lead to increased productivity or better academic performance, according to Roy Baumeister, professor of social psychology at Florida State University, in an article titled “Rethinking Self-Esteem.

Univ. steps closer to demolition of dishes

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| The Dish, Stanford’s popular hiking destination, may stand alone in the near future, as the final roadblock to the University’s plan to destroy the surrounding smaller dishes has been cleared.

Pombo under fire

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Resources Committee, has recently come under fire for excessive spending on travel that included a trip to Stanford, according to a recent article in The Sacramento Bee.

Hospital awaits OK for Redwood City expansion

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| After purchasing four buildings from now defunct company Excite@Home, Stanford Hospital is planning a major expansion in Redwood City.

Speaker recounts 1906 earthquake recovery

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake remains the second deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Not only was an American city nearly wiped off the map, the earthquake caused three days of continuous fires — destroying five square miles of the city and killing at least 3,000 people.

Speech elicits mixed reviews

By Rahul Kanakia, Denise Sohn and Deborah Sohn
NEWS| Students gathered in residence houses across campus last night at 6 p.m. to watch President George W. Bush deliver his annual State of the Union address.

Groups aim to raise funds at Big Game

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Students anxious to beat Cal can help Stanford take home a more metaphysical Axe by donating money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Pakistan Earthquake.

Faculty debates Initiative

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| At the Faculty Senate meeting yesterday, Civil and Environmental Engineering Prof. Jeffrey Koseff, director of the Stanford Institute for the Environment, delivered a report on the Environmental Initiative.

El Centro Chicano celebrates Day of the Dead

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| El Centro Chicano and MEChA will be hosting the Carnaval de los Muertos tonight at the Old Union Courtyard to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Stanford gets ready for upcoming reunion weekend

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| In less than two weeks the Farm will get another horde of starry eyed visitors in addition to the typical visiting high school students and international tourists.

Harbury named 'genius'

By Rahul Kanakia
NEWS| Stanford added another genius to its rosters last Tuesday, namely Pehr Harbury. The associate professor of biochemistry was just named one of this year’s 25 recipients of the $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the “genius” grant.

The gravy train is out of gravy

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| We’ve come a long way, you and I. And at times like these, I find it best to remember the places we’ve gone. We started off by establishing my credentials, namely that I am in fact smarter than all of you.

The answers are in outer space

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I was quite stumped regarding the topic of this, my last, substantive column. I thought about writing about a whole host of boring things like filibusters and Israel, but none of these had the requisite sexiness.

www.stanfordinvest.com (not a real site)

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| This column has generally been devoted to extreme solutions because those are just sexier. No one would put a plaque at the Alamo saying, “Here 100 patriots held out against Santa Ana for 10 days, then negotiated to the last man.

The Great American Road Trip

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| Jake and Elwood, Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise, Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, Rahul Kanakia — just a few of the people who’ve embarked upon the Great American Road Trip.

Turning jets into free lunches

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| In my last column, I attempted to show that the majority of our wars have not benefited the United States or the world. But if I had left it at that, I would be doing a disservice to my readers, for I did what shrill people have too often done; I will not raise a hue and cry without offering a solution.

Give peace a chance

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| In the United States we tend to believe that our wars result in some kind of net good, that they make the world a better place in general.

Hooray for usury

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| In 1934 the Nye Committee was appointed to figure out why the United States had entered World War I and whether the munitions companies had been behind our involvement.

Social Insecurity

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| There are so many problems with Social Security and Medicare that I could fill this entire column without including a single joke about Soylent Green.

The ownership society

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| Does anyone understand how the economy works, really?

Stop worrying and love the aliens

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I’d like to start this column by telling you to vote for my roommate (who was the star of my column on religion) for the ASSU Undergraduate Senate.

Typing under the influence

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| I write better while drunk. Well, it’s not that I write better, it’s just that writing is boring and it’s much easier to tolerate while drunk.

Incubating Roe

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| Every year, Washington, D.C., my hometown, hosts the annual Right to Life march. And every year a contingent of my school would get a day off to go attend.

The Republicans were right

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| Do elections strike anyone else as counterproductive?

Belief in God — so wrong, yet so right

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| As an atheist, I can state with only slight sarcasm that I am totally in favor of a state-imposed religion, one founded on Christian evangelical doctrines and taught to children at a very young age in public school, from pre-school onward.

My unfathomable alien intellect

By Rahul Kanakia
OPINIONS| It takes a certain amount of insanity for a man to stand up and say that he has the answers. Such men are rarely the ones most competent to lead.