Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 11, 2008|Volume 36, Number 25

In the News

“There is a disconnect between whites and blacks about what it feels like to be a victim of mundane discrimination. There is a tendency to say, ‘These mundane things are nothing like the past,’ but the lived reality of bearing that weight — the frustrations and indignities — that is a major source of the disconnect.”

— Richard Eibach, assistant professor of psychology, “Unequal Perspectives on Racial Equality,” Washington Post, March 24, 2008.

“[The West has a] long, tragicomic history of trying to civilize and modernize the East. ... The most ambitious of Western conquerors in that region, [Napoleon] set about to impress the Egyptians with a demonstration of French technology: an elaborate launching of his hot air balloon, painted in red, white and blue. Unfortunately, it crashed and burst into flames. The Egyptians, no doubt, were shocked and awed.”

— Amy Lynn Chua, the John M. Duff Jr. Professor of Law, in her review of Anthony Pagden’s book, “Worlds at War; The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West,” “Divided and Conquered,” The New York Times, March 21, 2008.

“With tobacco, there’s just one product, and a small number of companies involved. With food, there’s thousands of products and thousands of companies. It’s hard to know exactly how to change [laws affecting the industry’s impact on public health].”

— Kelly Brownell, professor of psychology, of epidemiology and public health, and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, “States Battle Obesity Epidemic with New Laws,” American Medical News (IL), March 17, 2008.

“Over the long run, the costs to France and to Europe of Napoleon’s monumental ambition — indeed megalomania — were enormous. The disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 is particularly significant in this respect. ... Napoleon’s Grand Army lost 370,000 men to death and another 200,000 to Russian captivity. When Bonaparte returned to Paris, a military bulletin cheerfully announced: ‘The Emperor’s health has never been better.’ That was true enough, and Napoleon blithely began to rebuild his armies for the next campaign. Napoleon once said, ‘A man like me does not give a damn about the lives of a million men.’ For a million people, however, the romance of the emperor’s adventures led simply to death.”

— John Merriman, the Charles Seymour Professor of History, in his review of Philip Dwyer’s book, “Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769-1799,” “The Little Man Who Started These Great Wars,” The New York Sun, March 26, 2008.

“I think over time these aspects of hip hop — the ego, the pride — corporate America realized they could use it as a big selling point, a marketing tool. Now, in the mainstream, [hip-hop stars are] ushered in that direction, to be even more egotistical.”

— Nicholas Conway, lecturer in the Residential College Seminar Program, “The Kanye Dilemma,” National Post (Canada), March 25, 2008.

“The FDA was given approval for more inspectors and analysts [on imported food], but there’s no coordination with foreign food suppliers and it’s hard to inspect all containers. The goal of terrorism is to get people worried. It can be very random. Terrorists only have to tamper with one container on a cargo ship.”

— Minh A. Luong, assistant director of International Security Studies and lecturer in the department of history and at the School of Management, noting that food safety is the biggest terror-related threat, “Analysis: Experts Assess Terror Threats,” Middle East Times (Egypt), March 26, 2008.

“Of course there’s a humorous side to the subject of poo. But what isn’t as well known is that you can learn about your health by looking in the bowl.”

— Dr. Anish Sheth, clinical fellow in internal medicine, “What’s Your Poo Telling You? Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Gastrointestinal Health,” Canada.com, April 1, 2008.

“The intellectual justifications that Sepulveda gave, in the 16th century, to justify the conquests of the Indian lands are, almost word for word, the same ones used for colonization, and the ones that are given today for what is called intervention. ... Sepulveda’s arguments were as follows: the others are barbarians, we must protect the innocent (whom the barbarians massacre) — constant justification for all interventions — and, finally, it is necessary to permit the diffusion of universalism, supposedly universal values. At that time, it concerned evangelization and the expansion of the Christendom. Today, these values are ‘freedom and democracy.’ But they are in fact the same thing.”

— Immanuel Wallerstein, senior research scientist in sociology, “‘European Universalism Is Used to Justify Imperialism’: An Interview with Immanuel Wallerstein,” Monthly Review (VA), March 26, 2008.

“If our international allies have no assurance that we’re actually going to keep our word, then they have much less incentive to keep their word when they’re being obliged to do something.”

— Harold Hongju Koh, the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law and dean of the Law School, about a Supreme Court ruling that treaties are only binding if their language explicitly says so, and that a president, acting on his own, cannot make a treaty binding on U.S. states, “States Not Subject to All Treaties, High Court Rules,” “All Things Considered,” National Public Radio, March 25, 2008.

“[F]or all the benefits that are touted around breastfeeding, when you do a really good study, it’s very hard to find the kind of tremendously powerful benefit that people have been claiming. I’ve always argued that breastfeeding is probably better only based on kind of a sense of nature. That humans surely know how to make milk for their own babies better than soys or cows do. But that may not necessarily be true.”

— Dr. Sydney Spiesel, associate clinical professor of pediatrics and clinical professor of nursing, “Study Puts Breastfeeding Benefits in Question,” “Day to Day,” National Public Radio, April 1, 2008.

“[The public] should realize that transplantation is a risky business which is not guaranteed to be risk-free. We are taking organs from a dead person and putting them into another person to attempt to save their life. Many people don’t like to shake hands, share a glass, etc. In transplantation, we are taking an organ from one into another. I think we have gone beyond sharing a glass with a stranger.”

— Dr. David Cronin, associate professor of surgery, “Gift of Life Turns Deadly,” Abc13.com (TX), April 2, 2008.

“Chaos will follow our withdrawal [of U.S. troops in Iraq]. The path to stability — whether we stay or leave — will be bloody. Once you have broken Iraq, there is no way to put it back together without further violence. The real moral choice we face is: Are we going to risk more American lives or fewer?”

— William Odom, adjunct professor of political science, “Retired Generals Question Iraq Surge ‘Success,’” CNSNews.com (VA), April 2, 2008.

“[Russian leader Joseph Stalin] is a man who received correspondence literally two years beyond his death in 1953. The question of studying Stalin has moved beyond, from love him or hate him, to literally why Russians still revere him after he killed 20 million people in the Gulags and six million in the famine.”

— Jonathan Brent, associate director and editorial director of the Yale University Press, “Yale Builds Digital Archive of Soviet Dictator’s Life,” Hartford Courant, April 2, 2008.

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

Study shows rare genes have big impact on blood pressure

Yale volunteers once again to lend a helping hand to city non-profits

Studies suggest women, but not men, lose status in . . .

Branching out

Info still pending on gathering of governors

Scientists’ crystal structure provides view of RNA splicing mechanism

State grants will advance stem cell research by Yale scientists, center

Scott Strobel wins prestigious award for his multidisciplinary . . .

Scientists link asthma to a mutation in the gene that also . . .

'Lift Every Voice and Sing'

Librarian of Congress to open new exhibition on medical inventions

Researchers’ study sheds light on the effect of random . . .

Michael Gasper named a Carnegie Scholar for his examination of . . .

Yale Opera’s production rife with deception, mystery

Visitors to Peabody Museum can learn fun facts via new audio tours

Composer Claudio Monteverdi’s works focus of concerts, conference

Exhibit features drawings and remarks from Tanner Lectures

New business trends in biopharmaceutical industry to be . .

Jazz concert celebrates the life of Stanton Wheeler

Campus Notes