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:

"Surely if there were two or three tremendously visible and very national Republican leaders who were acceptable to both the right and the moderate Republicans, there would be less need to idealize Reagan."

-- Michael G. Kammen, the N.C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture, commenting on the GOP's unfulfilled search for a national leader who can retake the White House, in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 8.

"Cornell was founded as a non-sectarian institution. No one theological perspective will dominate the debate about the great pumpkin."

-- Provost Don M. Randel, commenting on the McGraw Tower pumpkin question, on ABC News, March 7.

"Nerd harassment."

-- Phrase used by John Bishop, associate professor of human resource studies, to describe the taunting endured by hard-working students in many American schools, in Investor's Business Daily, March 6.

"This dark matter is not some novelty item. We need this stuff. Right now, it's on the top 10 list of the things we'd like to find."

-- Martha Haynes, professor of astronomy, discussing scientists' search for the "dark matter" that they theorize is holding the universe together, in the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, March 2.

"Our goal is to develop a database of food processing information and a menu of about 100 primarily vegetarian recipes based on crops raised in space."

-- Jean Hunter, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering discussing her research project of developing foods that astronauts can prepare in space habitats in The Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 19.

"Who cares?"

-- Mary Beth Norton, the M.D. Alger Professor of American History, commenting on a Florida man's proposed rule in the Miami school district that students not pause between the phrases "one nation" and "under God" when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, in the Miami Herald, Feb. 17.