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Theo Baker

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Theo Baker
Born2005 (age 20–21)
District of Columbia
EducationStanford University (BA)
OrganizationThe Stanford Daily
Parents
Websitehttps://theobaker.info/

Theo Baker (born 2005)[1] is an American journalist. He was a student journalist at The Stanford Daily, the student-run, independent newspaper of Stanford University, until 2024. In 2023, he became the youngest recipient of the George Polk Award for his reporting that led to the resignation of Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Baker is the son of journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

Early life and education

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Baker is from the Washington, D.C., area[2] and is the son of journalists Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker.[3][4][5] His paternal great-grandparents were Greek immigrants who anglicized their surname from Bakirtzoglous.[6] He attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[7]

He matriculated at Stanford University in 2022, when he was 17, and joined The Stanford Daily. He graduated in June 2026 with a degree in History and Computer Science.[5]

Reporting

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As a freshman reporter at The Stanford Daily, Baker began publishing stories in November, 2022, about accusations that Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne was an author on research papers containing altered images, leading to a formal investigation from the university.[3][2][8] Baker learned about the accusations through the scientific review website PubPeer and brought them to scientific integrity expert Elisabeth Bik.[2] A lawyer representing Tessier-Lavigne sent letters to Baker, describing his reporting as "replete with falsehoods."[9]

In July 2023, the final university report found that Tessier-Lavigne's research "fell below customary standards of scientific rigor and process" but did not constitute fraud.[10] Baker subsequently published another story that the investigating panel did not grant some witnesses anonymity, so they were unable to testify because of active non-disclosure agreements.[2] Tessier-Lavigne announced his resignation as Stanford's president on July 19, 2023, with multiple major news outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, saying it was a direct result of the Stanford Daily stories.[10][11]

In late March 2024, an article by Baker titled "The War at Stanford" was published in The Atlantic.[12][5] The article discussed the response of Stanford University to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, arguing that the attack was not adequately condemned. Similarly, Baker asserted that pro-Palestine students' rhetoric led to antisemitism and created a culture of fear for Jews on campus.[12] The article also mentioned an instance where a Stanford student allegedly advocated for violence against President Biden.[13] The student's naming was denounced by some, such as journalist Glenn Greenwald, as a form of doxxing.[14] The article was criticized by others on the basis of its portrayal of student protestors, alleging a biased narrative ignoring islamophobia and the plight of Palestinians.[15] Jonathan Chait later published a piece in New York Magazine responding to this criticism, suggesting progressive attacks were motivated by viewpoints outside the mainstream and that critics were espousing "illiberal left-wing thought".[16]

Baker took two terms off in his junior year to write a book about Stanford titled How to Rule the World, published by Penguin Press in 2026.[5]

Awards

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In February 2023, The Stanford Daily received one of the 2022 George Polk Awards for its reporting on Tessier-Lavigne, the first time an independent, student-run newspaper has won the award.[17][18] The Polk Awards gave Baker a "Special Award", making him the youngest ever Polk awardee.[3][18] He has also received a James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.[1]

Personal life

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Baker has said that he was raised as a secular Jew and discovered when he was a teenager that dozens of relatives had died in the Holocaust.[5]

Some media articles alleged he was a "nepo baby", benefiting from the status of his parents in the journalistic world.[1] He rejected the criticisms, saying while he was fortunate to have good role models, he strived to keep his parents' influence "entirely separate" from his reporting.[19] He told Teen Vogue that he had previously said he would never become a journalist but changed his mind to "feel connected to [his] late grandfather, who passed just two weeks before [he] started at Stanford, and who would always sit down and talk about his time doing student journalism."[20]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 Tucker, Jill (July 19, 2023). "Meet the Stanford student whose reporting led to resignation of president Marc Tessier-Lavigne". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Purtill, Corinne (July 21, 2023). "Q&A: How this Stanford freshman brought down the president of the university". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Robertson, Katie (February 20, 2023). "New York Times Wins 3 Polk Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  4. ↑ Asimov, Nanette (February 17, 2023). "Student paper: Scientists say study by Stanford president contained false data". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Asimov, Nanette (December 12, 2025). "He toppled Stanford's president as a freshman. Now he's written a tell-all about the university". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 13, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Eleftherios Baker Obituary". The Washington Post. 2023 – via Legacy.com.
  7. ↑ Bonos, Lisa (July 30, 2023). "Meet the student who helped boot the president of Stanford". Washington Post. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  8. ↑ Allen, Barbara (December 11, 2022). "The Stanford University president is under investigation, and student journalists are a large part of the reason why". Poynter. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  9. ↑ Luna, Itzel (July 28, 2023). "The Resignation of Stanford's President Shows the Importance of Student Journalism". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Saul, Stephanie (July 19, 2023). "Stanford President Will Resign After Report Found Flaws in His Research". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  11. ↑ Svrluga, Susan; Stripling, Jack (July 19, 2023). "Stanford president will resign after questions about research". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Baker, Theo (March 26, 2024). "The War at Stanford". The Atlantic.
  13. ↑ Clark, Jeffrey (March 26, 2024). "Stanford student called for Biden's assassination for advancing 'genocide' of Palestinians, classmate claims". Fox News.
  14. ↑ Greenwald, Glenn. "The Atlantic Doxes Pro-Palestine Students w/ Nepo Baby, Theo Baker". YouTube.
  15. ↑ Lennard, Natasha. "Pro-Israel Advocates Are Weaponizing 'Safety' on College Campuses". The Intercept.
  16. ↑ Chait, Jonathan (March 28, 2024). "Does the Left Think Young Left-Wing Protesters Matter or Not?". Intelligencer.
  17. ↑ Jones, Tom (July 20, 2023). "A Stanford student paper's excellent work leads to a major resignation". Poynter. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  18. 1 2 Sze, Kristen (July 20, 2023). "Stanford freshman's determined reporting leads to investigation, president's resignation". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  19. ↑ Hall, Ellie (March 9, 2023). "This 18-Year-Old College Journalist Could Bring Down Stanford University's President". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  20. ↑ Retta, Mary (July 21, 2023). "This Stanford Freshman's Reporting Brought Down the School President". Teen Vogue. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
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