The New School Tie of Stanford’s President

Like all college and university presidents, Stanford’s Gerhard Casper wears many hats: top administrator, leading fund-raiser and all-around campus booster.

Casper also wears many neckties, and thus recently took on yet another role: tie designer.

The problem was, he didn’t like the official Stanford tie. It had a redwood bisecting a block S, which sounded fine on paper. But it looked to him like a crude dollar sign. “Rather gross,” he called it.

So the big man on campus went to work. Under his direction, the new silk President’s Tie was born. It is Cardinal red with a Stanford shield and blue diagonal lines inscribed with the school’s motto in German: “Die Luft der Freiheit Weht,” which translates as “The Winds of Freedom Blow.”

It’s a hot seller at $39.95--proving far more popular than the less expensive old school tie. And Casper rarely leaves home without it.