X
"At one time, when corporate titans went down, they went down hard. Who could be more insulated from risk than today's CEO? There's never been a group
of people richer or more protected from the vagaries
of the economy."
-- Jacob Hacker, professor of political science,
"Insulated from Risk," Boston Globe, Jan. 12, 2007.
§
"It was the worst possible thing they could do to [King George III, who suffered from temporary dementia due to a blood disorder]. He was aware of what was happening to him -- it was not as if he was living in this schizophrenic world. He would dress as if he were going to be holding court while he was confined. He made a fuss about people who were going to see him, who of course never came. It's terribly sad. He's somebody who's trying so desperately to connect with things that were in his world while he was healthy."
-- Marc Verzatt, lecturer at the School of Music, on the opera "The Mad King," about the 18th-century British monarch, "Courting the Avant-Garde," Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 6, 2007.
§
"J. Marion Sims, a leading 19th-century physician and former president of the American Medical Association, developed many of his gynecological treatments through experiments on slave women who were not granted the comfort of anesthesia. Sims' legacy is Janus-faced; he was pitiless with non-consenting research subjects, yet he was among the first doctors of the modern era to emphasize women's health."
-- Alondra Nelson, assistant professor of sociology and of African American studies, in her review of Harriet A. Washington's book, "The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present," "Unequal Treatment; How African Americans Have Often Been the Unwitting Victims of Medical Experiments," The Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2007.
§
"If the migrant workers needed by the American economy were allowed to enter legally through an orderly process of increased quotas -- for temporary and permanent migration -- practically all of the negative aspects associated with the immigration of low-skilled labor would cease. ... A realistic, market-based immigration policy would not only destroy, for the most part, the raison d'etre of the criminal gangs now profiting from illegal immigration but would also make it possible to apply more and better resources to preventing the entry of individuals with truly criminal intentions. In other words, if economics counts, it's better to make good laws than pernicious walls."
-- Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Center for the Study of Globalization, professor in the field of international economics and politics, and adjunct professor of forestry and environmental studies, in his article, "Migranomics Instead of Walls; Ernesto Zedillo on Using Market Forces To Fix Failing Immigration Policy," Forbes, Jan. 8, 2007.
§
"What we need is a national ranking system for state election-law practices -- call it a Democracy Index. ... It would offer cold, hard numbers and comparative data in place of atmospherics and anecdotes. It would provide bottom-line results in place of subjective judgments. It would let reformers talk like corporate executives, not starry-eyed idealists. And, most important, it would enable the voters to hold election officials accountable for their missteps. In the end, a ranking system would work for a simple reason: No one wants to be at the bottom of the list."
-- Heather Gerken, professor at the Law School, in her article, "How Does Your State Rank on 'The Democracy Index'?" Legal Times, Jan. 1, 2007.
§
"Just like we know from studies on tobacco and alcohol and other topics, nutrition research funded by the industry systematically favors industry. Companies would not spend millions of dollars paying scientists if there were no return. The money buys science consistently in favor of industry."
-- Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, professor of psychology and of epidemiology and public health, "Beverage Studies May Follow the Money Too Closely; Analysis: Industry Funding Yields Favorable Research," USA Today, Jan. 9, 2007.
§
"Historians have been trying to expand the whole notion of what constitutes evidence. ... [Looking] at materials of all sorts -- artifacts, furniture -- that is a burgeoning new front in historic research. Paintings are and should be a part of that process."
-- John Demos, the Samuel Knight Professor of American History and professor of American studies, on a book that uses artist Thomas Eakins' paintings as a clue to his sexuality, in his article, "A Life in Pictures; William S. McFeely Uses the Artist's Paintings To Tell the Story of Thomas Eakins," Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 2007.
§
"When we look back on 2007, there is a good chance that it will be remembered as the year of the global big bang, ushering in a new boom in financial deals from mergers to buyouts to IPOs, in unprecedented numbers and scale, with a quantum expansion of deals across national borders. Whether this phenomenon lasts or whether it ends in a collapsing financial universe -- well, that's another question."
-- Jeffrey E. Garten, the Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business, in his article, "Let the Good Times Roll," Newsweek International, Jan. 8, 2007.
§
"Bluegrass music represents a wonderful way to teach students about patterns of population migration, the coming together of different musical traditions of different ethnic groups and of celebrating virtuosity and excellence with roots in local Kentucky culture. Many scholars have worked on bluegrass music from historical and anthropological perspectives as well. The structure and harmonies of bluegrass also provide opportunities for discussions of music theory."
-- Peter Salovey, dean of Yale College, the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, professor of epidemiology and public health, and a member of Professors of Bluegrass, a band of Yale students and faculty, about a proposed International Bluegrass Museum in Kentucky, "Colleges Explore Bluegrass Music Courses: WKU May Offer Workshops for Teachers," Messenger-Inquirer (KY), Jan. 14, 2007.
§
"There are lots of bad ways for Congress to respond to President Bush's escalation in Iraq. But there is one good way: Set a price tag on the long-run cost of the war -- say $500 billion -- and tell the president that he won't be getting a penny more. ... Setting a long-term ceiling is the only step that will force the president to recognize that the American people are no longer willing to give him a blank check for an endless series of mistakes."
-- Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, in his article, "This War Needs Price Controls," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 10, 2007.
§
"Five or 10 years ago, it used to be that private company CEOs wanted to return to the public markets because they wanted to run their own ship, not have private equity managers second-guessing their decisions. ... [However, today] you regularly hear public company CEOs talk about how they can make two or three times the money [in private companies] in what they feel is half the effort because they don't have the same degree of scrutiny."
-- Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management and senior associate dean at the School of Management, "Private Firms Lure CEOs with Top Pay," The New York Times, Jan. 8, 2007.
§
"A Shabbat clock [to turn off the respirator of a terminal patient who stated in a living will that he doesn't want his life to be prolonged artificially] is a great solution. Israel is the only country in which there is a difference between passive and active euthanasia. The Dutch experience of wholesale active euthanasia is a disaster. A quarter of the doctors there have done euthanasia without their patients' consent."
-- Dr. Sherwin Nuland, clinical professor of surgery, "Writing Books on Medicine Can Be Therapy," Jerusalem Post, Jan. 13, 2007.
§
''There seems to be a correlation between sunny days -- days with low cloud cover -- and higher stock price returns. ... If there is any psychology involved, it's not the man on the street in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, etc. It seems to be associated with the people who are making the market in New York City. [I]f a few people are grumpy because it's a rainy day, and they control billions of dollars, maybe they are the marginal investors [affecting day-to-day prices]."
-- William N. Goetzmann, the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies, "A Tepid Winter Warms Some Wallets," The New York Times, Jan. 14, 2007.
§
"Why would more and more children be developing ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] as time goes by? There is no reason to think genetic vulnerability to the condition is changing. The environment, however, is changing a lot. Our children are invited toward hyperactivity by school days increasingly devoid of all physical recreation, as schools struggling to comply with requirements of the "no child left behind" legislation jettison physical education and recess. No child left behind is leaving too many children on their behinds all day long."
-- Dr. David L. Katz, associate professor adjunct in public health practice at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, on the four-fold increase in the diagnosis of ADHD among youngsters, in his article, "Too Much Medicine, or too Little Health?" New Haven Register, Jan. 15, 2007.
§
"The manifestations of autism are extraordinarily heterogeneous, from people who have profound mental retardation to individuals who are very gifted; individuals who don't talk at all and individuals who talk too much; individuals who are so socially isolated that if you observe them in a school, you see them running the periphery fence of the school all day, if you let them. And then there are individuals who are very much trying to make connection with the world, but they are unable to do so."
-- Dr. Ami Klin, the Harris Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry, "A Look at an Autistic Savant's Brilliant Mind," National Public Radio, Jan. 15, 2007.
§
"Just 10 minutes of an active and distracting activity breaks the flow of rumination and lifts people's moods. This leads them to think more clearly."
-- Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, professor of psychology, "Feel Better Soon with Basic Steps To Lift Spirits," Times Union (NY), Jan. 15, 2007.
§
"[I]t is impossible to 'miss the globalization boat' if domestic policies are appropriately modified; i.e., there are always niches that provide export opportunities if the commodity classification is sufficiently disaggregated in the labor-intensive export arena -- no special donor preferences or subsidies required."
-- Gustav Ranis, the Frank Altschul Professor Emeritus of International Economics, in his letter to the editor, "Catch the Globalization Boat with Niche Export Opportunities," Financial Times, Dec. 28, 2006.
§
"Speech is a critical pathway for social meaning. It's as important as the air we breathe. When you take somone out of the matrix, the auditory hallucination is like a phantom-limb response. ... Invented stories are ways for the brain to create a social reality that is lacking in real life."
-- Dr. Ralph Hoffman, associate professor of psychiatry and assistant medical director of the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, noting the relationship between social isolation and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenics, "Researchers Look Into Treating Auditory Hallucinations with Magnetic Fields," New Haven Register, Jan. 22, 2007.
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale delegates to visit China
Team casts new light on roots of primate family tree
Study boosts theory that a virus causes 'mad cow' disease
Recent graduates tackling key Yale projects as Woodbridge Fellows
Federal grant to fund ongoing, multidisciplinary research on autism
Coliseum collapse was barely a blip, seismologically speaking
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
Edward Kamens is appointed as the Sumitomo Professor
Frances Rosenbluth is designated the Damon Wells Professor
Martin Bresnick is named the Charles T. Wilson Adjunct Professor
Yale Journalism Initiative to provide support for summer work
Divinity School events to explore the Black church . . .
Symposium will examine 'The Ethics of Photography'
Third annual blood drive pits Bulldogs against Crimsons
In Memoriam: Asger Hartvig Aaboe
Drug company Marinus is focus of seminar
Dr. Edward Chu . . . appointed as deputy director of the Yale Cancer Center
Campus Notes
Yale Books in Brief
Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News
Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines
Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases|
E-Mail Us|Yale Home