Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 3, 2003|Volume 32, Number 5

In the News
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"The fact the U.S. is coming back to the United Nations at this point is itself an indication the U.N. did not become 'irrelevant.'"

-- James S. Sutterlin, lecturer in political science, about the U.S. call for U.N. support in Iraq, "U.S. Sets Stage for Likely U.N. Comeback," The New York Times, Sept. 14, 2003.

"Every day, journalists struggle to reconcile two clashing professional mandates. On the one hand, their stature rests on a reputation for fairness and objectivity; if they appear to be taking ideological shots at a president, their credibility suffers. Yet they also hearken to the muckraker's trumpet, the injunction to scrutinize and challenge the powerful. One principle calls for restraint and even-handedness, the other for skepticism and zeal."

-- David Greenberg, lecturer in political science, in his article "Calling a Lie a Lie: The Dicey Dynamics of Exposing Untruths," Columbia Journalism Review, Sept./Oct. 2003.

"It makes sense that as [African-Americans] got our names from the slave masters, we carried the slave owners' blood, their religion and their customs, that we should have adopted and adapted their music. There are more descendants of Highland Scots living in America than there are in the Highlands -- and a great many of them are black."

-- Willie Ruff, adjunct professor at the School of Music, on the roots of "good news" music in African-American churches, "Gospel Truth: Hebrides Invented Church Spirituals," The Independent (London), Sept. 20, 2003.

"The U.N. definition [of genocide] outlaws acts committed 'with the intent to destroy' a group as such. Genocide may fall short of extinction. In criminal law, moreover, 'intent' does not equal 'motive.' One of Hitler's motives was to destroy the Jews directly, but other perpetrators have pursued different goals -- conquest (Indonesia in East Timor), ethnic cleansing (Serbs in Bosnia), communism (Stalin and Pol Pot) -- that resulted in more indirect genocides."

-- Ben Kiernan, the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, in his article "Killing With Intent," The Age (Melbourne), Sept. 6, 2003.

"This will be the first time in American history where someone who is said to have done a good job is being fired because the board is paying him too much."

-- Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, associate dean of the Yale School of Management, about the downfall of New York Stock Exchange chair Richard A. Grasso, "Chairman Quits Stock Exchange in Furor Over Pay," The New York Times, Sept. 18, 2003.

"This time around, the candidates in California have already invested heavily in a short campaign. Their competing strategies have been designed to reach a climax on the Oct. 7 election date. If they had known they would have to compete until March, they would have conducted their campaigns very differently."

-- Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, about the ruling that California must delay the recall election for governor, in his article "The Vote Must Go On," The New York Times, Sept. 17, 2003.

"[American composer Aaron Copland] wanted to reach people with music that was not too difficult to understand."

-- Vivian Perlis, senior research associate at the School of Music, "Tracking the Muse Within the Maelstrom," The Washington Post, Sept. 18, 2003.

"Like him or not, [Yasser] Arafat is regarded by many, and probably most, Palestinians as their leader. Executing him, punishing him, expelling him simply raises his prestige."

-- Paul Kennedy, the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History, in his article "Expelling Arafat is a Nutty Proposition," New Haven Register, Sept. 17, 2003.

"I have a child in college. And what I care about is whether she's learning about the difference between Plato and Aristotle ... the difference between Michelangelo and Rubens. I don't care whether the professors are voting for Bush or Gore."

-- Bruce Shapiro, lecturer in Yale College, about a call for colleges to hire more conservative professors, "Group Attempting To Attract More Conservatives to College Professorships," "Hannity & Colmes," Fox News Network, Sept. 16, 2003.

"Given the fact [those killed in the World Trade Center] have no known graves, there is no way in which the traditional modes of pilgrimage to the site to separate from a loved one who has died can be realized."

-- Jay Winter, professor of history, on the creation of memorial stones in numerous cities, "Memorials Seek To Set Victims' Lives in Stone," The Associated Press, Sept. 6, 2003.

"There is something very beautiful in the English language. You have the word 'play.' We don't have that word in Spanish. We have 'obra,' which has more to do with work. 'Una obra de teatro' -- a work of theater. But in English, you say 'play' and you say 'players,' which is quite lovely."

-- Nilo Cruz, lecturer in playwriting at the School of Drama, "Unveiling of Broadway-Bound 'Anna' Focuses Attention on Playwright Nilo Cruz," New Haven Register, Sept. 21, 2003.

"Employers don't want to hire people they don't think are qualified, simply because of their skin tone. There's no evidence that I'm aware of that they actually lower their hiring standards to diversify their workforce."

-- Peter Schuck, the Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law, "Virtual Integration; Advancement for Minorities is Less Than it Sometimes Appears," The Record (Bergen County, NJ), Sept. 15, 2003.

"The most important thing teachers learn is that they need to have passion and it has to be genuine. It isn't something you can fake. Students can tell whether you care or not."

-- William Rando, director of the McDougal Graduate Teaching Center, "Think of What Inmates' Need To Learn, Not About What You Need To Teach; Correctional Teaching is Caring About How the Inmate Will Learn," Correctional Educational Bulletin, Sept. 19, 2003.

"Unlike other technologies, artificial intelligences are not merely tools. They are potentially independent agents. ... Such machines would be capable of independent initiative and of making their own plans. Such artificial intellects are perhaps more appropriately viewed as persons than machines."

-- Nick Bostrom, lecturer in philosophy, in his article "When Machines Outsmart Humans," Futures, Sept. 2003.

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

F&ES to get 20% of its electricity from wind power

Program will help train future leaders in patient-oriented research

Student helped strengthen neighborhoods in her hometown . . .

Heading for 'Jeopardy!'

SOM professors' study on mutual funds gets renewed notice

Rule of law is slowly advancing in China, ambassador asserts

Yale endowment reaches record high in last fiscal year

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer joins School of Music faculty

Experts on air pollution and energy systems join the F&ES faculty

Conference to explore the future of globalization

Team learns sugars produced by cancers may help disease spread

Events mark the centennial of Russian composer

Intersection of architecture and psychoanalysis to be explored

Exhibit honors theologian who helped shape American psyche

Study: Caregivers, patients often disagree over health decisions

Universities should ensure global access patented new medicines . . .

New Yorker publisher to discuss how the magazine got its 'mojo' back

Symposium celebrates career of biochemist Donald Crothers

Homeless benefit from combination of services, says study

Robert Macnab, noted for his research on bacteria, dies

Two studies aim to help smokers quit the habit

True Blue tradition

Campus Notes