Soundbites

Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:

"Males that have a larger repertoire and can sing longer . . . can hold the best territories and attract more females."

--Ron W. Rohrbaugh, extension associate in the Laboratory of Ornithology, on the nationally broadcast radio program, Science Update, June 13, answering a listener's question: "Why do birds sing in the early morning?"

"It's not a symptom of a failing female body. It's a temporary condition that occurs early in pregnancy when fetal demands are small and would not be a major drain on a woman's resources."

--Paul W. Sherman, professor of neurobiology and behavior, in the June 6 New York Times on the health benefits of morning sickness.

"'True love' is the post-infatuation stage, which not every couple reaches. It's characterized by calm contentment rather than wild excitement and by more realistic than idealized views of each other."

--Cynthia Hazan, associate professor of human development, quoted in a May 15 Los Angeles Times feature on love. Hazan said it takes 18 to 30 months for a "true love" bond to form.

"We need a values revolution in this culture. We need quality of life to be more important than the bottom line. We need a new definition of the bottom line. For me, the women's movement provided such a purpose. To realize you were making a difference, changing history. It was exciting. Fun."

--Betty Friedan, feminist leader and distinguished visiting professor in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations' Institute for Women and Work, in a profile of her life and work, in The New York Times, May 11.

"You start off with a preconceived notion that things will be set up in an honest fashion, and you function accordingly. With that mind-set you can have more surprises."

--Harold Bierman Jr., the Nicholas H. Noyes Professor of Business Administration, in an article about some staff at nonprofit agencies succumbing to greed, in the Albany Times Union, May 7.

"The president should not make a deployment decision based on unsupported assertions by the Pentagon that the national missile defense system can deal with countermeasures. ... The president should only move forward with deployment of a system that has been successfully and repeatedly tested against a credible threat."

--Kurt Gottfried, Cornell professor emeritus of physics, and alumna Lisbeth Gronlund, M.S. '85, Ph.D. '89, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an opinion column stating that the Pentagon's proposed national missile defense system will not work, in The Washington Post, May 3. Gottfried chairs the board of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Gronlund is a member.

"Our study should have been called, 'It's great to be an underwriter.'"

--Roni Michaely, associate professor of finance, Johnson Graduate School of Management, in an article on a 1999 study by Michaely and a colleague showing that underwriters made 22 percent of their IPO profits from trading and inventory profits in the first three months after the initial public offering, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 30.

"For these blue-collar workers, overtime is a chance to get a bit more of the economic pie."

--Samuel Bacharach, J. McKelvey-A. Grant Professor in ILR organizational behavior and director of the Institute for Workplace Studies and Smithers Institute, in an article on his study finding that union workers are working more overtime, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 24.

"The AFL-CIO has moved to a more genuine international position. It's clearly driven by the phenomenon that we call globalization for shorthand, and the fact that even though the U.S. has the largest single national economy in the world, we can't just go it alone."

--Lance Compa, senior lecturer in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Detroit News and Free Press, April 16.