Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 23, 2007|Volume 35, Number 19

In the News
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"Music is a human art. I can't imagine anything worse than the public sitting at home with buds in their ears listening to CDs and never going out to a live concert."

-- Robert Blocker, the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of the School of Music and professor at the School of Management, "Yale's $100 Million Gift Will Give New Haven Even More 'La Bohemes,'" New Haven Register, Feb. 11, 2007.

"The waves of scandal in Britain show the need to press forward with constitutional redesign. ... In considering structural reform, Britain can learn from countries that have similar legal traditions. India's constitution creates an independent election commission and accords its chief executive the status of a supreme court justice. In spite of India's deserved reputation for corruption, the system has been effective. Whatever else can be bought and sold in India, the commission regularly delivers a relatively honest vote count."

-- Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, and Susan Rose-Ackerman, the Henry R. Luce Professor of Law and Political Science, in their article, "Britain Needs a New Agency To Fight Corruption," Financial Times (U.K.), Feb. 1, 2007.

"[The health provider handling a procedure and the one handling anesthesia] should not be the same person, and you should make sure they're not the same person. If you're doing a colonoscopy, you can't be focused on managing the airway."

-- Dr. Zeev Kain, professor of anesthesiology and of pediatrics, on new guidelines that say outpatient centers should ensure they have sufficient staffing before sedating pediatric patients, "Is Your Staff Prepared To Monitor a Sedated Child?" Same-Day Surgery, Feb. 1, 2007.

"[In studying hotel workers, I was interested in] this sort of imperative to really pamper the guest, as well as the obviousness of the fact that the guests were many, many, many times wealthier than the workers themselves. And what I found was that it's certainly true that workers will vent and complain about individual guests. But really, the more important thing, I think, is that guests really treat these workers very well, which I was surprised by. They tipped them. They're gracious to them. They're thoughtful. Sometimes they even bring them gifts and there are many frequent guests in luxury hotels with whom interactive workers can develop friendships or sort of ongoing relationships. And that's the thing, I think, that allows workers to not think so much about their subordination to guests but rather to think of themselves as equal to guests."

-- Rachel Sherman, assistant professor of sociology, "Low-Paid Work in the Lap of Luxury," American Public Media, Feb. 6, 2007.

"I wish I could be optimistic [about improved federal funding for scientific research] but we're talking about $3 billion to $4 billion deficits. You're not going to balance the budget by starving this country's science investment, in fact you're going to do just the opposite."

-- Dr. Myron Genel, professor emeritus of pediatrics, "Spending Squeeze Drives U.S. Scientists Abroad," Financial Times (U.K.), Feb. 1, 2007.

"Throughout most of the 20th century, utilities promoted higher and higher levels of consumption as a guarantee of their own profitability. So did real estate developers, who pushed for more and more new construction. Often subsidized by federal tax breaks, sprawl increases demand for energy used in lighting, heating and cooling, as well as in transportation. Thus the United States, with about four percent of the world's population, is now responsible for a quarter of the world's non-renewable energy consumption every year."

-- Dolores Hayden, professor of architecture and of American studies, in her article, "Broadwater: Floating Folly," New Haven Register, Feb. 4, 2007.

"Primates tend to have really kind of mobile joints, so that they can wrap their hands and feet around branches. The whole skeleton of primates is really kind of re-packaged for tree living."

-- Eric Sargis, associate professor of anthropology, "Primates 10 Million Years Older Than Thought," Chinaview.cn (China), Feb. 6, 2007.

"For several months, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and a number of top guns on Wall Street have been screaming that U.S. capital markets are losing their competitiveness to London and Hong Kong. ... This is an odd time for Wall Street to be whining. Merrill Lynch chair and CEO Stanley O'Neal just received a $48 million compensation package for last year, and he wasn't even the top earner among his peers. Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns have recently announced the highest profits in their histories. The New York Stock Exchange has just bought Euronext. Wages in the U.S. financial services have been rising faster than in most other sectors. This doesn't sound like an uncompetitive industry to me."

-- Jeffrey E. Garten, the Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business, in his article, "Global Investor: Why Worry, Wall Street?" Newsweek International, Feb. 12, 2007.

"There are incredible comeback stories. When celebrities have gotten themselves in huge problems, it's really been critical to show that their contrition is authentic. Janet Jackson is an example of someone who didn't pull it off well. When they use the 'if' word -- 'if I've done something wrong' -- they're not going to make it out of there."

-- Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of executive programs at the School of Management and the Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management, "You're Fired. Now What?" Forbes, Feb. 5, 2007.

"People running those investment banks have a lot of money and need to invest their own money as partners. If you're a bank partner and invest internally, you can watch your own money and participate in the investment decisions made by the hedge fund. It gives you more transparency, more control and more access to the hedge fund managers."

-- Jonathan Macey, the Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance and Securities Law, "Hedge Funds Acquisitions: Good for Returns?" HedgeWorld Daily News, Feb. 5, 2007.

"People don't sit down and have an organized meal today. Eating is something you check off."

-- Marlene Schwartz, research scientist in psychology, "McDonald's 24/7; By Focusing on the Hours Between Traditional Mealtimes, the Fast-Food Giant Is Sizzling," BusinessWeek, Feb. 5, 2007.

"People are overly optimistic about how they will behave in the future. They believe they will have self-control later, but they usually end up choosing the more tempting option when it is time to make that choice. ... [One implication of this might be] if someone is deciding how honest to be on his tax return this year and thinks about it in terms of having to file every year in the future, it may lead him to be less moral this year and, for example, take liberties with deductions."

-- Ravi Dhar, the George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing, and director of the Center for Customer Insights, "Consumers' Self-Control Today Is Influenced by Choices They May Make Tomorrow Finds Yale School of Management Study," Bolsamania (Spain), Feb. 1, 2007.

"So many people in our society take reading as a proxy for intelligence. If you're a very good reader you must be very smart and if you're a slow reader you must not be very smart. But many people with dyslexia are excellent at thinking outside the box, simplifying and problem solving. They can't memorize material and regurgitate it the way others can. They have to really understand it."

-- Sally Shaywitz, professor of pediatrics, "Dyslexia Begins When the Wires Don't Meet," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 11, 2007.

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

Study: Fertility defect linked to commonly used plastic

Yale appoints chief diversity officer

James Bundy named to second term as School of Drama Dean

Scientist honored for pioneering research using 'elegant genetics'

Workshops on applying to college to be held for low-income students

In new posts, Yale librarian Hammond will work to promote . . .

Hockey player and her coach to participate in championships

Event celebrates Rabbi James Ponet's 25 years of service

Three faculty writers to present readings of their creative works

Play restores dignity to true-life 'freak show' icon

Dr. Joshua Copel is lauded for congenital heart block research

Symposium will explore the ministry of . . . Henri Nouwen

'Legally Female' to explore status of women in legal profession

Contemporary printmaking is the focus of Yale Art Gallery symposium

Performance of 'The Moving Forbidden City' to highlight . . .

Campus Notes