Theo Baker: Uncovering Power and Money at Stanford University

While just a freshman reporter at The Stanford Daily, Theo Baker reported on accusations about Stanford’s president that culminated in his resignation. For his investigative reporting, he became the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious George Polk Award. Now, Baker comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to tell a story of money and power and excess for teenagers at Stanford—slush funds, shell companies, yacht parties. He arrived at Stanford impressed with the atmosphere—and the stratospheric level of academics. But he says he soon discovered a culture that embraced corner-cutting, access with few safeguards to catch bad behavior.  He concluded that Stanford was less a school than a business and a training ground for Silicon Valley’s global businesses; the school had an annual budget nearly twice that of Harvard or Yale and higher than those of 116 nations. And Baker says the Stanford students deemed the next trillion-dollar startup founders were the prime product; for them there were secret societies, “pre-idea” funding offers, and social calls from billionaires, all with the expectation that these young people would soon join the ruling elite. At the top of this operation was Stanford’s president, and Baker will share how he learned about and pursued the story that would bring down the president of such an elite institution amid allegations of research misconduct. Join us to hear the entire gripping story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices