"When COVID-19 hit, she was in charge of the university's "operational response" to the pandemic, including chairing the policymaking committee."

I have wondered who approved the absurd decisions at Stanford regarding outdoor recreation. Although it was quickly understood that it was perfectly safe to exercise outside without a mask, for the first 8 months or so of the pandemic, Stanford would not even allow people not associated with Stanford to ride their bicycles through the campus! Then for all of 2021 and well into 2022, Stanford required everyone walking the telescope loop to: (1) wear a mask and (2) walk the 14 foot wide loop road in the counter-clockwise direction. For two years into the pandemic, Stanford issued these absurd rules while pretending to "follow the science."

And then, of course, Stanford has been requiring students to get covid shots and multiple boosters up to the present, even though with omicron it was understood by early 2022 that (1) boosters based on the original Wuhan virus gave no immunity to getting covid and (2) the risk to young people of serious illness and death is comparable to that from seasonal flu and about 1000 times less than the risk to an 80-year old.

Persis Drell was a very competent physicist. Physicists are taught to look at the big picture and think with both precision and intuition about the physical world. The buck on these policies stopped with her. How could she have approved these useless and misguided restrictions and mandates?

I don't think she's leaving her post because she inconvenienced some Dish walkers. Under MTL and Drell, Stanford has had far too many missteps on issues core to Stanford's mission. I applaud the change, and suspect that it is a step toward a future announcement of MTL's retirement once a new Provost is in place. From there, Stanford would have a fresh set of leaders who will hopefully oversee better decisions and outcomes than Drell and MTL delivered in their collective tenure.

I agree with Duveneck and will add that a new Athletic Director would be another step in the right direction for Stanford.