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:

"There's a norm of reciprocity in nearly every country, the idea that when people do you a favor, you need to pay it back."

--Michael Lynn, associate professor of consumer behavior in the School of Hotel Administration, in a Feb. 15 New York Times article about a new "tipping" service on the World Wide Web.

"Obviously the election of Bush creates a significant negative environment for unions."

--Richard Hurd, professor in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, in a Feb. 12 New York Times article about the current state of the labor movement. His remarks were also reported by Reuters news wire.

"Why is it that the consumer confidence dropped quickly ... We had an economic expansion for a decade, but workers' wages didn't start to go up until the end of the decade. That's because they were afraid -- they didn't want to quite believe that if they asked for a wage increase they might lose their jobs."

--Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, discussing the economic outlook for labor on PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Feb. 2.

"This is a case that not only has a huge legal and constitutional impact but it provokes so many emotional and personal feelings, too."

--Stephen Clymer, professor of law, commenting on a current U.S. Supreme Court case involving pregnant women who were secretly tested for drugs and arrested in South Carolina 12 years ago, in the Dallas Morning News, Feb. 4.

"People are not only sustaining their Hispanic identity but their indigenous identity. The idea that people must give up these aspects of culture in order to be American, to blend into the larger country, are being seen as not necessary. People can retain their cultural identity and yet be part of American life."

--Jose Barreiro, a Cuban-Indian and editor of the Akwe:kon Press, quoted in an Associated Press feature about the efforts of Mexican and Central American indigenous peoples to maintain an identity distinct from "Hispanic," Jan. 1.