Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 2, 2008|Volume 36, Number 28|Two-Week Issue

In the News

“We could, if we’re wise, have a bountiful, beautiful environment, or we could ruin the place. And I don’t think it’s going to take 100 years to find out which path we’re on.”

— James Gustave Speth, the Carl W. Knobloch Jr. Dean of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy, “Earth Day Hasn’t Lit Fire Under U.S.,” Connecticut Post, April 21, 2008.

“When you have a skill in autism, typically you have one skill. Maybe 10% of people with autism will have one of these unusual abilities.”

— Dr. Fred Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center and the Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, about the extraordinary mathematical or memory abilities of some individuals with autism, “Gift of Life Becomes Transplant Tragedy,” “American Morning,” CNN, April 2, 2008.

“White Southerners explained to Northerners that they lynched only when they had to: when black men threatened, assaulted and raped white women. [Nineteenth-century African-American journalist Ida B.] Wells was determined to expose that lie. ... Sometimes, Wells declared in print, the man was not ‘a despoiler of virtue,’ but had succumbed ‘to the smiles of white women.’ Her editorial in Free Speech, the black weekly she co-owned in Memphis, led white residents to destroy the newspaper’s office and threaten to kill her. ... Wells used words to fight white Southern lynch mobs, an indifferent white Northern public and, sometimes, black critics who felt that her outspokenness undermined their agenda. Southern white supremacy was cruel and crazy, and she was the rare person who could see beyond the cultural insanity in which she was immersed. For that she paid dearly.”

— Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, the Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History, in her review of Paula J. Giddings’s book “A Sword Among Lions,” “She Would Not Be Silent; The Woman Who Brought Lynching to the World’s Attention,” Washington Post, April 13, 2008.

“The pedagogy of business education is going to have to change even as we try to address new topics such as globalization and sustainability. The new generation has grown up to process knowledge differently. They would rather read 20 one-page snippets than one 20-page article, even if the information is the same.”

— Joel Podolny, the William S. Beinecke Professor of Management and dean of the School of Management, “Moot but Advantageous; A Coveted Qualification Turns 100 Still Seeking To Prove Its Full Worth,” Financial Times (London), April 7, 2008.

“On the heels of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation and the media frenzy over the delicious irony of a zealous reformer brought down by the kind of illicit activity he’d crusaded against, the British tabloid News of the World broke an even juicier story about Max Mosley, the patrician president of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, which governs Formula One racing. Mosley’s entire five-hour escapade was caught on tape —direct to YouTube — in all its baroque details. Not just one prostitute, but five! Not just sex, but S&M! Not just S&M, but Nazi choreography, complete with SS costumes and bad German accents! It all makes Spitzer’s romp with a Jersey girl seem banal — and unimaginative.”

— Laura Frost, associate professor of English, in her article, “S & M and Tea; When It Comes to Sex, Be Careful in Judging the Affairs of Others,” Los Angeles Times, April 11, 2008.

“The celebrity aura of many contemporary CEOs is the product of their own constant myth-making more than it’s anchored in their level of performance.”

— Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for executive programs and the Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management, “CEO George David Will Pass Top UTC Job to Successor,” Hartford Courant, April 6, 2008.

“With the world population still growing at over 1% a year, we will need more farmlands and green revolutions. Experts speculate that at best, 10% more arable land may be found in Brazil and Sub-Saharan Africa. But climatalogical vagaries and a lack of investment complicate efforts to access farmlands in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Brazil, new farm land can only be created by clearing the Amazon rainforest, raising the risk of drought. Increasing food output on the existing land would require more intensive cultivation and, yes, unpopular genetically modified crops. Industrial farming would certainly increase carbon emissions, thickening the canopy of greenhouse gas, which has grown silently since the Industrial Revolution.”

— Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online and director of publications at the Center for the Study of Globalization, in his article, “Outpacing Resources,” BusinessWorld (New Delhi), April 11, 2008.

“As a physician specializing in adolescent medicine, I talk with parents every day who feel they just don’t have the skills or the courage it takes to have the ‘big talk’ about sex with their child. ... In fact, parents who hope to help their teens stay healthy should avoid relying on a one-time ‘big talk’ about sexuality. ... It is important to think of a parent’s role in their child’s sexuality education as a process of many conversations over time. Just establishing that it is OK to ask about topics of sexuality goes a long way in creating closeness and an open dialogue.”

— Dr. Sheryl Ryan, associate professor of pediatrics, in her article, “Don’t Take ‘Eeww’ for an Answer: Talk to Your Kids About Sex,” New Haven Register, April 13, 2008.

“We need not treat the right to keep and bear arms exactly the same as the right to freedom of speech. Indeed, each of the fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights is treated according to different tests, and indeed, there are many different tests that apply to First Amendment rights.”

— Jack Balkin, the Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment, in his article, “Yes, It Is a Right for Individuals To Own Firearms Under the Constitution, That Is,” Omaha World-Herald, March 22, 2008.

“Blogs are still in their infancy. Most are terrible, but I think the form has promise. ... Instead of writing in a diary every night and locking it with a key, a blogger writes online and hopes that tens of thousands of strangers will read his words. I wouldn’t be surprised if 10 or 20 years from now, the blog is a genre with some distinguished practitioners.”

— Anne Fadiman, adjunct professor of English and the Francis Writer-in-Residence, “An E-Mail Interview with Clifton Fadiman’s Daughter,” Hartford Courant, April 13, 2008.

“All the [‘status of forces agreement’ between Iraq and the United States] includes on its face is promises to grant immunities to U.S. military and private military forces, a permission for U.S. troops to be present in Iraq and an agreement that detainee operations can continue. [Iraqis] might rightly wonder what exactly they are getting in the bargain.”

— Oona Hathaway, associate professor of law, on the as-yet-unratified agreement forged between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, “Can Iraq’s Parliament Fight Back?” Truthout.org, April 18, 2008.

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

Findings may explain how cancer spreads

Students learning to blend economic savvy and environmental . . .

Outreach programs showing city students science is . . .

Students demonstrate energy-harvesting designs

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Alumnus Stephen Pitti named new master of Ezra Stiles College

Former Norwalk mayor Alex Knopp chosen to head Dwight Hall

Study identifies factors that predict premature babies’ survivability . . .

Center celebrates decade of shaping graduate student life

Library acquires alumnus’ images of a changing Iowa

Staff member’s Mt. McKinley climb will support cancer research

Carlotta Festival showcases work of graduating playwrights

Celebrated writers will discuss their craft in Yale Library talk

Researchers trace chlorine’s irritative effect to a specific nerve receptor

Student Research Day to feature prize-winning presentations . . .

Inaugural James Weldon Johnson Fellow to research . . .

Researcher Kenneth Pugh, a reading specialist, is appointed . . .

Conference to explore psychosocial and physical dimensions of . . .

Memorial service for Dr. Steven C. Hebert

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes