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January 12, 2001Volume 29, Number 15



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In the News

"[T]he 'will of the people' that politicians are constantly prattling on about does not precede the political process. Rather, it is constructed by that process."

-- Knight Professor of Constitutional Law & the First Amendment Jack M. Balkin in his article "The 'Will of the People' is a Legal and Political Fiction," latimes.com, Dec. 11, 2000.

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"Everybody knows that adjectives are entirely relative, yet scientists pick up these adjectives and use them on scales like they are absolute."

-- Professor of surgery and epidemiology & public health and psychology Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, "Researcher Challenges a Host of Psychological Studies," The New York Times, Jan. 2, 2001.

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"We still don't know what kills neurons. The fundamental thing is preventing the death of neurons. How to prevent that, nobody knows."

-- Associate professor of pathology Dr. Jung H. Kim, "Genetic Discoveries Are Only Part of the Alzheimer's Research Puzzle," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 25, 2000.

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"About two million times a year people use guns defensively. Few realize that some of the public school shootings were stopped by citizens with guns."

-- Research affiliate at the Law School John R. Lott Jr., "What We Can Do After Wakefield," The Boston Globe, Dec. 28, 2000.

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"Very few children of age 3 or 4 have the cognitive capacity to attribute meaning to abstract symbols, like written words. Even for the rare ones who do, most teachers agree that time is better spent learning behavior needed in school, like listening, taking turns and getting along with others."

-- Sterling Professor of Psychology Edward Zigler about the proposal that Head Start be changed into a reading program, in his op-ed article "The Wrong Read on Head Start," The New York Times, Dec. 23, 2000.

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"[E]ver since the 17th century, doctors have had this notion they'd like to be able to make the body completely transparent. And thanks to combinations of what we call functional MRI, which actually shows activity, chemical activity included, and CAT scans and PET scans, I think we're going to reach the point where, indeed, we will be able to tell every abnormal process of the body within moments of putting the patient right into a chamber."

-- Clinical professor of surgery Dr. Sherwin Nuland, "Dr. Sherwin Nuland of Yale University School of Medicine Discusses Medical Advances Affecting Quality of Lives Over Next Century," The Today Show, Jan. 1, 2001.

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"Nobody could challenge [Yugoslavian dissident Vlado Gotovac's] primacy in moral leadership, which he retained to the end. He belonged to the school of Central European dissidence that put primacy on individual example -- on the importance of disassociating oneself from tyranny. He believed that the individual mattered. This is his greatest heritage in a country that is morally ruined after decades of dictatorship, war and corruption."

-- Bradford Durfee Professor of History Ivo Banac, "Vlado Gotovac, a Voice of Freedom in Croatia, Dies at 70," The New York Times, Dec. 11, 2000.

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"[Tech stocks] went up so much in 1998 and 1999 that people presumed that they should keep on going up."

-- Professor of the practice of finance Roger Ibbotson, "Nasdaq's Big Lesson for Investors Is That Diversification Still Matters," The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2, 2001.

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"In terms of getting controversial Supreme Court nominees through Congress, in terms of getting controversial programs through Congress, the next president will have great difficulties."

-- Alfred Cowles Professor of Government and Political Science Rogers Smith, "Analysts Expect Next President Will Be Forced to Moderate," ABCNEWS.com, Nov. 16, 2000.

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"Among the 40 top business leaders I interviewed for an upcoming book, the word 'quality' wasn't mentioned once as a major strategic challenge. No wonder; they are obsessed with boosting short-term share prices, reaching new markets at warp speed, and ramping up scale through mergers or alliances."

-- Dean of the School of Management Jeffrey E. Garten in his article "The War for Better Quality is Far From Won," Business Week, Dec. 18, 2000.

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"It is going to take at least five years to get to a level where a high-k can be introduced into manufacturing. People are getting more pessimistic about that."

-- Professor of electrical engineering and applied physics Tso-Ping Ma, "High-k Material Sought to Replace Silicon Dioxide," Electronic Engineering Times, Dec. 18, 2000.

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"There is no theoretical limit to [clocks'] accuracy, which is one of the things that makes them such an exciting challenge."

-- Associate professor of physics Kurt Gibble, "U.S. Timekeepers Don't Have a Second to Lose," USA Today, Dec. 18, 2000.

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"It's a good time to go back to Longfellow. Modernist absolutism and intolerance have lost their once fierce hold in the academy and a new openness to variety holds out a friendlier hand to traditional metered verse. New interest in Robinson and Frost may be a harbinger of better times for Longfellow."

-- Neil Gray Jr. Professor of English and American Studies Alan Trachtenberg in his book review "Longfellow's Radical Americanism," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 10, 2000.

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"My guess is he would have said, 'That's typically American. We have to fight it out. People have been against us for a long time, they've never understood us.'"

-- Sterling Professor Emeritus of History Peter Gay about what Sigmund Freud would think of today's efforts by psychoanalysts to raise the profile of the profession, "Effort to 'Market' Freud Failed Miserably," The Boston Globe, Dec. 18, 2000.

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"For some charities, universities, museums, etc., repeal of the (estate) tax might substantially reduce both bequest and lifetime transfers, which avoid both income and estate taxes."

-- Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law Michael Graetz, "Charitable Giving: Good But We Can Do Better," The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 21, 2000.

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"The idea that the Constitution requires absolute perfection and uniformity of standards in counting ballots is novel, to put it gently. Americans have always been asked to put their 'X' marks in boxes, and human umpires have had to judge if the 'X' is close enough to the box to count. On election day, different umpires in different precincts have always called slightly different strike zones. If these judgments are made in good faith and within a small zone of 'close calls,' why are they unconstitutional? If they are unconstitutional, then every election America has ever had is unconstitutional."

-- Southmayd Professor of Law Akhil Reed Amar in his article "Should We Trust Judges?" latimes.com, Dec. 17, 2000.

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"The next time around, the problems generated by our obsolete electoral college may dwarf our present unpleasantnesses."

-- Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Bruce Ackerman in his article "Keep Election Fixes to Middle Ground," latimes.com, Dec. 18, 2000.

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"It says more about I. M. Pei than it does about the president."

-- Dean of the School of Architecture Robert A. M. Stern about the design of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, "For Presidents, An Architecture of Power," The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2000.

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"A real balance must be struck between the public's demand for rapid information and publication in medical journals -- an inherently slower process."

-- Assistant professor of internal medicine Dr. Cary Gross, "Early Release of Trial Results Could Be Harmful, Researchers Say," Medical Industry Today, Dec. 14, 2000.

"This takes not just time but psychic energy. It's as if I'm teaching it for the first time each year."

-- Chair of the Department of Astronomy Charles D. Bailyn about his introductory astrophysics course for non-science majors, "Syllabus," The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 15, 2000.

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"The entire New World was based on African slavery and a large number of the jobs in France and England were dependent on slavery. Fortunes were made all over the place either directly from the selling and labor of slaves or insurance or clothes and food and all the things that slave owners needed to outfit their slaves to work."

-- Sterling Professor of History David Davis, "Law on 'Slave Insurance' to Debut Soon; Human Rights: Firms in the State Must Disclose Any Policies They Issued in the 19th Century. Advocates Say the Nation Must Come to Grips With Its History," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11, 2000.

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"African Americans have learned how to be angry in a disciplined way. Outrage is not productive, but anger is."

-- University Chaplain The Reverend Frederick J. Streets, "Election Recount Fiasco Galvanizes Black Community," New Haven Register, Dec. 15, 2000.

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"Mr. Putin cannot restore the Soviet Union, but he can reassert control over the Caucasus and Central Asia and pursue troublemaking foreign policy unless the U.S. and Europe obstruct him. Inexplicably, the Clinton administration doesn't even try."

-- Adjunct professor of political science William E. Odom in his article "The End of Glasnost," The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 13, 2000.

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"As the Violence Against Women Act ruling and the election cases make plain, the decision to conclude that either the federal or state courts have jurisdiction does not flow from nature or from some simple reading of a few lines from the Constitution. Humans -- nine justices -- draw that line. And unfortunately, not always consistently with their own prior rulings."

-- Arthur Liman Professor of Law Judith Resnik in her article "In the Eye of the Beholder: States' Rights, Federalism," latimes.com, Dec. 13, 2000.


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Scientists find debris from ancient galaxies in Milky Way

Team identifies 168 young stars in nearby Orion complex

National Humanities Medal awarded to historian Morgan

'Up With a Shout!' will celebrate Judeo-Christian songbook of psalms

Study: Anti-depressant use renews cell growth in critical area of brain

Recently honored expert shares views on health care policy

New deans are appointed at two colleges

Exhibit explores how the past serves as inspiration for contemporary Asian artists

Post-war corporate landmarks are focus of events


MEDICAL SCHOOL NEWS

Noted visiting faculty members to present talks

Drama School students to stage political satire that was once suppressed in Russia

Yale Opera presents epic of love, intrigue

Mexican cabaret artist brings 'rowdy' show to Yale Rep

Concert to feature 'America's greatest living composer'

Blue-White World: A Photo Essay

CMI offers grants for interactive media projects that bolster learning

Bulldogs to meet Fighting Irish at Coliseum

Campus Notes

In the News

Yale Scoreboard



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