American Entertainment 1982

Chapter 299 We are different

At five o'clock in the morning, Tommy was dressed in a morning jogging outfit, sitting on the back seat of Sophia's bicycle, wandering slowly on the path that Stanford University President Donald Kennedy must pass.

"I have no problem with you chatting with our principal during the morning jog, Tommy. It's just that you are wearing morning jog gear at the moment. Why didn't you take a step and asked me to carry you on my bicycle?" Sophia pedaled. A bicycle, complained unhappily.

Tommy held a page in his hand and was flipping through it. On it was a list of support for some computer and Internet research projects at Stanford University in the name of him, Jason or the company. Hearing Sophia's complaint, Tommy didn't even look up. said:

"As long as our principal, Donald, is not on a business trip, he will run ten kilometers on campus every morning, rain or shine. I only run five kilometers. If I force myself to run with him for too long, my knees will be injured, so I must ensure that Try to use the five-kilometer morning run to talk to the other person as much as possible, and I am saving you. That woman Quinn slept in the same bed with you and Suzy last night, and she must have drank a lot of beer. You have to do whatever you want, but remember, Sophia, same-sex riots are also harassment. If you are willing, I can ask Delia to help you blackmail Quinn for a large amount of money, and we will use the money to help you with breast augmentation."

“Wait a minute, how did you know that Quinn would touch me?” Sophia turned her head suspiciously and looked at Tommy behind her.

Tommy looked at the nouns on the paper and said, "Because that's what I would do if I slept in the same bed as you."

"The world is not full of bad people like you, Tommy. Quinn didn't harass me and Suzy. We just talked about the changes at Stanford in the past few years and then went to bed." Sophia rolled her eyes at him and said.

Tommy raised his head and looked at Sophia in confusion: "That's it?"

 “That’s it.” Sophia said firmly.

Tommy got close to Sophia, sniffed the scent on her long hair, and found that there was no scent of perfume on Quinn's body, and then said regretfully: "We were just talking about the changes at Stanford, why did you lock the door and close the curtains? What a waste? Jason and I ran to the living room several times in the middle of the night under the pretext of drinking water. We passed by your door and listened for a long time. Your actions of closing the door and drawing the curtains are strictly speaking fraud."

While the two were talking, in the distance, Stanford University President Donald Kennedy, wearing a dark blue sportswear, slowly appeared on the road.

Tommy immediately jumped off the bike and started to warm up on the spot. When the other party came closer, he stepped over and greeted him: "Good morning, Mr. Kennedy, I am..."

"Tommy, I haven't suffered from Alzheimer's disease yet, so I won't forget your name so easily." The old man slowed down his running speed and said with a smile: "Good morning, Tommy, and over there Classmate Sophia O’Connor.”

Stanford University President Donald Kennedy announced from the first day he took office at Stanford University that as long as he is healthy and does not leave campus, he will run in the morning on campus every day, and encourages everyone to also run in the morning to exercise.

 And if you have any issues that are not convenient to talk about in a formal setting and you want to talk to him alone, just wait for him on the way to your morning jog, and then they can communicate while jogging.

From existing education problems in schools, to reforms in certain colleges, and even teachers encountering pressure at work, students feeling anxious due to excessive academic pressure, and even how to get a girlfriend, in short, as long as you are willing to get up early, and If you are willing to treat this skinny little old man as a sincere listener, then you can talk to him about anything.

At the beginning, many people stayed on the road he had to pass for his morning jog, chatting with him, complaining, talking about work, the reform of undergraduate majors carried out by Stanford University in the past ten years, and the promotion of equality for minority students. , prohibiting the influx of drugs into the campus, and alleviating the discrimination against female teachers at work. Most of them were reported to him by faculty or students during morning jogs, and he then held a meeting to discuss them carefully. related changes introduced.

This method that allows everyone at Stanford to have a relaxed conversation with the president without other interference has been going on for ten years since he was hired as the president of Stanford University by the Board of Regents in 1980.

The longer he has been the principal, the fewer students and faculty members accompany him on his morning runs. That is because this principal is very responsible and has effectively solved many problems. Even the most picky students or teachers must admit that, Donald Kennedy was the president who talked the most with students in the history of Stanford. Since he came to Stanford, Stanford has undergone earth-shaking changes.

The specific manifestation of being recognized by students is that even though Donald Kennedy has not yet stepped down from office and retired, he has been voted by many students in various polls about the ranking of Stanford presidents, and that he has transformed Stanford University from a regional university in financial trouble. , developed into a financially sound company, and even created Silicon Valley. Wallace Sterling, who helped Stanford University win the title of "West Coast Harvard", was tied for first place.

After all, the development of the past ten years has made Stanford University no longer need the label of "West Coast Harvard", which obviously reflects Harvard's popularity. Last year, Stanford University ranked firmly fifth in the national university rankings, with a total alumni endowment fund of up to 20%. billion, leaving all the Ivy League schools behind.

The total amount of donations amounting to two billion US dollars shocked universities across the United States. Many university-related magazines specially launched investigations for this purpose. After the investigation, it was found that although the total amount of donations from Stanford University alumni to their alma mater was not comparable to that of Harvard and Yale, it was However, the number of individual donations made by graduating alumni and the total number of donations made by graduating alumni have begun to exceed each other.

This is all the credit of Donald Kennedy. After all, when he first took over Stanford University, Stanford University was also widely publicized by other universities for the scandal of the "Stanford Prison Experiment", making fun of the fact that rich children can enter Stanford by spending money, and legally ravage those poor people. Classmates and newspapers even ridiculed that he, an expert in human biology, would personally be responsible for reformulating the plan of the "Stanford Prison Experiment" to bring it into a more complete and cruel 2.0 era.

Which university today says it doesn't envy Stanford's changes? It's a lie. The previous Stanford Medical School was too small and the equipment was aging. Donald Kennedy directly persuaded the school board to raise funds to build a new medical school. Universities across the United States are poaching medical schools at high prices. Relevant professors and all hardware facilities were upgraded to world-class standards. Once the new medical school was completed, the faculty and hardware rankings directly entered the top ten in the United States.

How could those medical students who graduated here not donate? After all, when many alumni graduated, Stanford Medical School was unknown. They could only be compared with graduates of other well-known medical schools in various competitions. Now, overnight, Graduating from Stanford Medical School is no longer a demerit, but a plus. After graduation, my alma mater has created more opportunities for me, so of course I have to give back to Stanford after I make money.

Also, only 5% of students at other universities can receive financial aid or subsidies from the school, while at Stanford after Donald Kennedy's reforms, this proportion is as high as 33%, that is, 33 students for every 100 students. If you have received a financial subsidy from Stanford University, if you have excellent grades and don't want to have to work part-time after class to affect your studies, it doesn't matter. As long as your transcript is impressive enough, the school can help you extend your tuition loan, and also provide a variety of financial benefits linked to your grades. Subsidy to ensure you devote more energy to your studies. How come these students who rely on various subsidies provided by Stanford University to complete their studies are not grateful to Stanford University after graduation? How can they express their gratitude? Donate to it.

It is with this donation that Stanford becomes stronger and stronger, and the ratio of teachers to students changes so fast that it is unbelievable.

For example, when Tommy entered Stanford University, Stanford University had 8,300 students, but only 337 tenured professors. Now, Stanford University has 9,700 students, but only 337 tenured professors. The number of professors has exceeded 950, and every ten students have a tenured professor to teach and answer questions.

"Tommy, don't talk to me about your too-professional issues. Just talk about relaxed topics between friends. I need to keep a clear head. A few guys from the Foreign Ministry in Washington are coming to see me in the morning. I You have to save your energy to deal with those guys." Donald took the initiative to express his request before Tommy could speak.

 He ​​may not remember other students, but Tommy Hawke, who donated a medium-sized library to Stanford during his tenure, how could he not remember it.

Moreover, in the past few years since graduation, this guy has been donating money every now and then. For a while, it was so frequent that when the school board held a meeting, they couldn't help but joke that Tommy was like those who went out to rob during the cowboy days of the West. The lawless people only kept part of the money to replenish their guns and ammunition, and took the rest home to let Stanford's family raise other brothers and sisters, ensure that these little guys grow up, go out with him to rob houses, and let him go from there. A lone gangster quickly transforms into a Stanford gangster.

"Did the Ministry of Education come to quarrel with you again? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has something to do with you, and Stanford has no intention of breaking away from the United States and declaring independence." When Tommy heard the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he thought that the president had said something wrong. Donald Kennedy could not be If you really want to meet and talk with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it should be with officials from the Ministry of Education.

The quarrels between our principal and William Bennett, the Secretary of Education under President Reagan, were so frequent that they almost became a weekly drama. If there was no news about the two quarrels in education or university-related newspapers and magazines in a given week, readers of the newspapers would only suspect that it was. It's not that the newspaper editor was lazy and forgot to publish it, so he would never doubt that the two people didn't quarrel this week.

The feud started in 1985 and continued for more than three years until the Minister of Education was replaced.

The reason for the quarrel is that Stanford University needs to be more open to absorb students of all ethnic groups from all over the world, and William Belt is a member of the Republican neoconservatives and has always disagreed with the plan proposed by Stanford University.

Of course, Stanford University won in the end, which is why the Stanford campus and Silicon Valley are now filled with a large number of Asian computer industry practitioners.

"No, I'm not wrong, it's the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently finalizing Gorbachev's itinerary plan with the Soviet Union for Gorbachev's visit to the United States next month. The other party has proposed to visit Stanford University during the visit. They want to hear from me. My views on this, and want to know something about it through me, what research successes at Stanford University can be shown to him, what research successes need to continue to be hidden, and what kind of welcome banquet to arrange for the other party." Donald Kennedy said with his neck He wiped his sweat with the hanging towel and said.

Gorbachev is going to visit the United States and also visit Stanford University?

Tommy had no memory of this matter in his previous life, but this did not prevent him from immediately putting away the professional questions he was preparing to discuss with the other party, and continued to ask the principal in a casual tone: "Why did the other party ask the principal?" Come out to visit Stanford? Yale and Harvard should seize this opportunity at all costs."

"I don't know. The only thing that is certain is that he will not discuss the Stanford Prison Experiment with me, because I told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the phone that if the other party dares to raise this topic in front of me, whether it is with good intentions or bad intentions, I will treat him Tell a joke about Soviet people queuing up, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promised to ensure that this will not happen." Donald said as he ran: "Have you heard this joke? A Soviet worker queued up to buy bread, and after queuing for most of the day, it was not his turn yet. , so he angrily said to the people behind him: I've had enough, you hold a seat for me, and I'll kill Gorbachev! Then more than two hours later, he came back and helped him occupy the place. The person in the position asked excitedly: Have you killed Gorbachev? He said: No, there are more people queuing up to kill him than queuing up to buy bread."

After finishing the joke, Donald didn't hear the response from Tommy beside him. When Donald turned around, he found that Tommy had turned around and ran quickly towards the original road: "Tommy, you are running in the wrong direction."

"Run slowly, Mr. Principal, keep a clear mind. I will come back to accompany you when I have time. Now, I suddenly remembered something more important." Tommy waved his arms to the Principal without looking back, and continued to move towards Sophia. Run to the location.

Sophia was leisurely riding a bicycle to enjoy the scenery of her alma mater in the early morning. Tommy suddenly ran back in a hurry and took out her mobile phone from the women's backpack on her back. This action startled Sophia, and she quickly used her legs to support the bicycle to avoid falling: "What happened! Tommy! Be careful!"

"Nothing, I'm going to call Susan and ask her to ask Professor Rice to come out and meet together. That black woman is a Soviet expert and an adviser to the president. The principal doesn't know it now, but she must know that Gorbachev escaped. The reason for coming to Stanford." Tommy dialed Susan's number in his hand, and seemed to be answering Sophia's question, but also talking to himself.

Hearing the words Soviet Union and Gorbachev, Sophia looked at Tommy in confusion and asked: "Aren't you going to talk to the principal about avoiding routing deadlocks, global adaptive routing and wormhole routing switching computer network projects? ? Why did the topic suddenly change to the Soviet Union?"

"Let's see if there is any chance to sell all Stanford's products to the Soviet Union before other companies do. If necessary, it is not impossible to send a batch to the Soviet Union like the **** Red Devil Murdoch." Tommy said Lee said, urging Susan to answer the phone quickly.

"Aren't you afraid that because of this kind of behavior, you will end up being scolded as a Soviet spy like Murdoch?" Sofia asked with a smile and looked at Tommy who had an anxious face.

In the cool morning breeze, Tommy said seriously: "It's different. Murdoch from Australia must be a spy when he does this. I just do this in the hope that the Soviets can use American computer systems to get better results." Understand American values ​​and increase America’s influence in the world.”

 (End of this chapter)