New dorm | The Stanford board of trustees approved early plans for a fourth dorm in the Manzanita complex, the University announced. The 121-bed, $20.5-million building would join Lantana, Kimball and Castaño halls and be the first new dorm on campus since 1992. The project must get approval at several more stages ahead of a targeted opening date in September 2012. Trustees also approved construction of a $4.6-million child care center on Olmsted Road and designs for a $48.1-million research building, to be funded by the federal government, at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Hospital expansion | The proposed $3-billion expansion of Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital would cause 14 “significant and unavoidable impacts” in Palo Alto, a Draft Environmental Impact Report found. Another 30 impacts could be mitigated. The Palo Alto Weekly detailed the report, Stanford’s rationale for expansion and what some characterize as its improved relationship with city officials.
Overheard | “If Hastings is correct, a student who does not even believe in the Bible is entitled to demand to lead a Christian Bible study.” — Michael W. McConnell, director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center and Hoover senior fellow, arguing before the Supreme Court in April on behalf of UC-Hastings College of the Law‘s Christian Legal Society. The court ruled on Monday that the school may deny the student group official recognition if the group does not admit any interested students, including the gay students it bans. The ruling is here (PDF).
Honors | John Taylor Ph.D. ’73, the oft-quoted Stanford economist, is one of four winners of this year’s Bradley Prize for “promotion of liberal democracy, democratic capitalism, and a vigorous defense of American institutions.” The award comes with $250,000. Taylor is an economics professor and a Hoover senior fellow.
ASSU | The Undergraduate Senate held an emergency online meeting on Saturday to approve guest speaker reimbursements for Stanford Friends of Tibet and to confirm nominees to the Publications Board. Unofficial minutes are here.
The weekend in sports | Landry Fields ’10, former captain of the Stanford men’s basketball team, was drafted on Thursday night to the New York Knicks. The Pac-10 scoring leader last season, Landry went in the second round of the NBA draft and 39th overall.
Follow The Daily | Twitter, Facebook, daily e-mail digest.