"I see a great future for beautiful pinot noirs [and possibly other grapes in the Finger Lakes region]. Before, people didn't know how to grow reds and make red wines here. They're learning now. We have six promising pinot noir clones at the station that will soon be going out for planting trials at various vineyards."
-- Thomas Henick-Kling, associate professor of enology at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, discussing the improvement of Finger Lakes red wines after a Fox Run pinot won top awards in the New York Wine Classic, in The New York Times on Aug. 27.
"Make it clear you're shopping around. Many hotels have a lot of leeway, but you really have to push them."
-- Tom Kelly, associate professor of hotel administration, on negotiating the best room rate at a hotel, in the August 1997 Smart Money magazine.
"The public's sympathies are different from 10 years ago. The '90s have produced huge skepticism about the motives of management, about stagnant wages and the astronomic rise in C.E.O. pay. That has made a lot of people think maybe unions aren't such a bad idea compared with corporate executives."
-- Harry Katz, the J. Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining, discussing the future of the labor movement in The New York Times on Sept. 1.
"Those of us who do the laundry don't get enough credit for the technical decisions we make every day. Some very serious science goes into doing the laundry."
-- Kay Obendorf, professor of textiles and apparel, commenting on the science of laundry in the September 1997 issue of Smithsonian.
"It is fun to get the new toys, but when everyone in your circle gets them, it is no longer so special. It is money that could have been saved, or used to fix the potholes in the streets, or to build more schools and bridges and highways."
-- Robert Frank, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics and Public Policy, commenting on the surge in sales of luxury and high-end items to upper-income families, in The New York Times Sept. 14.
"It's a puzzlement. In my head, at this point, it doesn't mean we're actually going backward. It's more a slowdown, a plateau, a consolidation after a period of rapid social change. The concern is what's happened to that robust upward trend we had for so many years, and what's going to happen in the future."
-- Francine Blau, the Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations, discussing the growing wage gap between men and women, in The New York Times on Sept. 15.
"This is a philosophical issue that goes to the heart of why we punish people. His claim is, 'I didn't really harm people very much because they didn't get hurt very much,' but that doesn't affect his personal culpability one iota."
-- Steven Clymer, associate professor of law, discussing the sentencing of John G. Bennett Jr., whose Foundation for New Era Philanthropy allegedly bilked hundreds of nonprofit organizations out of $135 million (he pleaded no contest to federal charges), in a news article filed by the Dow Jones News Service on Sept. 15.