Stanford is at a crossroads right now, because it could take its immense wealth and influence to clean up the Valley and, if it did so, that would be a great th

Stanford is at a crossroads right now, because it could take its immense wealth and influence to clean up the Valley and, if it did so, that would be a great thing for everyone. What other institution would be capable of bringing the moral leadership that the Valley needs? (You can't say, "you, Michael O. Church". While technically correct, you'd need to get people to listen to me. In 3000 years there may be a NoSQL database named after me, just as there is one for Cassandra now.) Stanford has clout and wealth and immense power. It also has (despite the bad ones who get lots of press) a lot of really good people in its student body and professoriate. Unfortunately, these resources aren't being used right, because the culture of the Valley is anti-intellectual, status-driven, clubby, and run through with every dark aspect of human nature that universities were supposed to educate and elevate humans out of. It needs to show moral leadership rather than caving in to crass commercialism. It could start by de-degreeing some bad actors, and making it public. Evan Spiegel's earned it with his frat-boy era behavior, and Lucas Duplan with that stupid fucking name (Clinkle) and that picture of him with the fat stacks. I'd go further. Caught red-handed in age discrimination? Degree's gone, and professors will be disciplined if they refer students to you or invest in you. Put stack-ranking in your company? Congratulations, you're no longer an alumnus, and the reason why will be made public. Stanford isn't a bad institution at all, but it needs to show some leadership if it wants to gain the respect of the East and the North. It very much can. Plenty of the professors and classes are top-notch already.