Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 13, 2007|Volume 35, Number 25

In the News
X

"[When budgets are tight], everyone shifts to what I call 'safe science.' They shy away from the paradigm-shifting discoveries that really move science into the clinic."

-- Dr. Stephen Strittmatter, the Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology, "U.S. Scientists Press Congress To Boost NIH Funding," The Lancet (UK), March 31- April 6, 2007.

"Cybertalk is about as governable as Iraq, and the First Amendment allows for most other expression, making the United States a very loud place. For every interest group that says it's being silenced, for all the people who think they're not permitted to talk back to power, there are the real rest of us for whom the din is deafening. The firstness of the First Amendment trumps everything that competes with it. ... The neighborhood rumormongers of yore could cause enough trouble in a small town, but the unpoliced World Wide Web is really a mess. It's unpoliced, which demands that we be better people, gentler and more humane. Because if not we will surely all go mad."

-- Elizabeth Wurtzel, student at the Law School, in her article, "Trash Talk," Washington Post, March 19, 2007.

"I do think, on balance, kids [diagnosed with autism] are doing better. Twenty-five years ago, when I did my first follow-up on adults I'd diagnosed as kids -- kids who never had any intervention -- only about 2% could live alone, hold a job. But since we started mandating education and services, we're seeing more independent kids. I'd say that 2% has become more like 20."

-- Dr. Fred Volkmar, the Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry and director of the Child Study Center, "Understanding Autism; The Truth Behind the Hype and What You Need To Know Now," Parenting Magazine, April 2007.

"[World War I] created the American century. It was when the country became the broker of international affairs."

-- Jay Winter, the Charles J. Stille Professor of History, "'One of the Last': WWI Vet Recalls Great War; 90 Years Later, Its Impact Endures in Iraq and Beyond," USA Today, March 28, 2007.

''There's something that happens when you see the work of art that doesn't happen when you see a reproduction.''

-- Jock Reynolds, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Yale Art Gallery and adjunct professor of the history of art, on the Art Gallery's classrooms, which allow students to study artworks close-up, "On College Campuses, A Crop of Galleries," The New York Times, March 28, 2007.

"Indeed, many current civil rights leaders fetishize the form of dissent most associated with the civil rights movement. They confuse principle with tactics. They behave as though marching and petitioning the government for redress of grievances is the only principled response to the maldistribution of burdens and benefits in our democracy. And they bristle at other forms of dissent, tactics designed to reach the shared goal of equality under law for all Americans. For many, it is either the old way or no way at all."

-- Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., associate clinical professor of law, and Eddie S. Glaude Jr., in their article, "Rethinking the NAACP," Washington Post, March 21, 2007.

"[Colonial preacher Jonathan Edwards believed in] the notion that there's a select number of what's called the elect that God has preordained for salvation, and in its most radical form there's also a select number that God has foreordained for damnation .... [O]ver the years he's been, along with Cotton Mather, the person who personifies Puritan repression and kill-joyism."

-- Kenneth P. Minkema, executive editor of the Works of Jonathan Edwards and adjunct assistant professor at the Divinity School, "The Bible Belter," New Haven Register, April 1, 2007.

"Healthcare is the most wasteful area for bad bets. Although Americans accept the need for triage medicine on the battlefield, we bridle at rationing healthcare, particularly where a patient is a bad bet through no fault of her own -- say, because she suffers from a debilitating, treatment-resistant condition. Advocates for those who suffer from specific diseases fight hard to keep payers from cutting off resources. Critical features of our healthcare system -- insurance coverage, professional ethics, doctors' 'can-do' spirit, free-rider problems, special-interest groups -- push government to place big chips on bad bets."

-- Peter H. Schuck, the Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law, and Richard J. Zeckhauser, in their article, "Good Programs vs. Bad Apples," Boston Globe, March 26, 2007.

"People tend to end up with partners who match them in physical attractiveness."

-- Margaret Clark, professor of psychology, "Are You Hot Enough? Dating Web Site Targets 'Fit, Good-Looking' People," Associated Press, March 22, 2007.

"[When looking for athletics as a tool for training in the late 1800s, Japanese universities] considered martial arts, but with martial arts, there was too much emphasis on the individual. It didn't teach the right lessons. Baseball has the one-on-one confrontation of the batter and the pitcher, similar to sumo wrestling, and yet it is a team game, which involves the sacrifice of the individual for the team. ... In a sense, baseball there is like football here. Just like football here began as a collegiate game at Yale and other elite schools, baseball there began at the elite colleges and retained that purity for a long period of time. Professional baseball was considered cheap and tawdry."

-- William W. Kelly, the Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies and chair of the Department of Anthropology, "East Moves West; History Firmly Rooted in Concepts of Team, Discipline," Hartford Courant, April 1, 2007.

"Fifteen years ago, there was a misperception that women did not suffer heart disease as much as men. Now we know heart disease is the greatest killer of both men and women."

-- Carolyn Mazure, professor of psychiatry, director of Women's Health Research and professor of psychology, on efforts to preserve funding for the federal Office of Women's Health, "In Iraq Bill, DeLauro Makes a Statement; Backs Funding of Women's Health Agency," Hartford Courant, March 29, 2007.

"The relationship between the amount of (nursery school) care a child receives and behavioral problems may not be due solely to the child care, but to parents working longer and later hours, the stress and home difficulties that may go along with those work conditions, and other factors related to families that need to work difficult hours.''

-- Walter Gilliam, assistant professor of child psychiatry and psychology, "How Even Costly Nurseries 'Still Breed Aggression,'" Daily Telegraph (UK), March 26, 2007.

"Back in the days of typewriters, the mother of Monkees guitarist Mike Nesmith got tired of retyping to correct mistakes. So Bette Nesmith cooked up the first batch of Liquid Paper in a blender and poured it into a nail-polish container. She eventually sold the business to Gillette for $48 million. To come up with great ideas, you just need to pay attention to things that annoy you."

-- Ian Ayres, the William K. Townsend Professor of Law, and Barry Nalebuff, the Milton Steinbach Professor of Management, in their article, "Do You Have A Better Idea?" Parade Magazine, March 25, 2007.

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

Program celebrates town-gown ties, diversity

Charlie Rose of PBS to present Fryer Lecture

Study: Early estrogen therapy may reduce cardiovascular risks

In Focus: Women Faculty Forum

Exhibit celebrates centennial of Yale benefactor Paul Mellon

Three congregations to demonstrate ancient tradition of line-singing

Geologist Jun Korenaga is honored for his research on the Earth's mantle

Alumnus describes how life's challenges have also been a 'gift'

Vivian Perlis honored as chronicler of American music

Three award-winning alumni writers will read from their works

Yale Opera to stage classic operetta in a new style

Homage to director Rossellini will highlight program on Italian cinema

'Biodiversity and global change' are focus of Peabody event

Traditional calligraphy by Chinese student featured in benefit exhibition

Kristin Savard wins this year's Hockey Humanitarian Award

Campus Notes