Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:
"The problem with Rifkin personally and his organization specifically is that a very large portion of the material that they put out represents misinformation. It usually contains some pieces of accurate scientific information, which are then put in a context that misrepresents it."
Dale E. Bauman, professor of animal science, commenting on activist Jeremy Rifkin and his group Foundation on Economic Trends in the August issue of Scientific American.
"That was our biggest concern: that the check would be diverted."
Victor Goldberg, a programmer/analyst specialist at Cornell Information Technologies, whose complaint (with his wife Debra, a Cornell graduate student) about receiving unsolicited "Instant Loan" checks from banks in the mail has led to a proposed ban on the practice by the U.S. House Banking Committee, in an Associated Press wire story in the Houston Chronicle on Aug. 13.
"It seems to help people respond under pressure. There is no link between rituals and good luck, but our minds are programmed to look for correlations, and when people find one they assume one thing causes another."
Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology, explaining superstitious rituals like blowing on dice or knocking on wood in the Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 18.
"It's almost a religion with some people. You clearly don't get that kind of emotional involvement with zucchini."
Stephen Reiners, assistant professor of horticultural science at the Geneva Agricultural Station, commenting on the popularity of tomatoes, in a story carried by the New York Times news wire and published in the Omaha World-Herald on Aug. 20.
"It wouldn't be unfair to characterize Mr. Hoffa as being the personification of the old guard Teamster leadership. In fact, he celebrates the legacy of his father and he promises, if elected, he'll resurrect the style of leadership that his father pioneered in the union. There can be no more opportune time for Mr. Carey to run for election."
Clete Daniel, professor of industrial and labor relations, discussing the upcoming Teamsters election in the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 23.
"What we hear women saying again and again is that they don't want to give to the same-old same-old. They want to know how they can make a difference."
Kathy Loehr-Balada, director of the President's Council of Cornell Women, discussing women's alumni giving in the September issue of Glamour.
"People are constantly scanning the system on campus, trying to find systems that have holes."
Barbara Skoblick, security officer in Cornell Information Technologies, discussing hackers breaking into campus computer systems in the Christian Science Monitor on Sept. 3.
"This crater is smaller than some on the Moon or Mars, but it is the largest known in relation to the object that was hit."
Peter C. Thomas, senior research associate in the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, describing the discovery of a large crater on the asteroid Vesta in an Associated Press story published in The New York Times on Sept. 4.