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 are literally thousands of things trying to become the craze of the moment. Naturally, all can't succeed. There are lots of things just as good as Pokémon that don't make it. It has to have something intrinsically engaging."

--Robert Frank, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, discussing Pokémon mania in The New York Times, Dec. 4.

"I am haunted by ginseng."

--Robert L. Beyfuss, agent with the Greene County Cornell Cooperative Extension program, talking about his research in wild ginseng cultivation and his efforts to promote its planting as a cash crop for upstate farmers, in The New York Times, Dec. 1.

"That's the pattern. It isn't the holiday season that is a pattern as much as timing your strike when it has the most impact."

--Richard Hurd, professor of labor studies in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, commenting on the trend toward labor strikes in New York City during the holiday season, in The New York Times, Nov. 30.

"I think that investors traditionally, by default, will say 'yes, we'd prefer a profitable company,' but not if they know it's at the expense of getting that company to be way bigger a little bit further down the road."

--Stephan Paternot '95, of theglobe.com, in "Online Pioneers: The Buzz Never Stops," a "C.E.O. Round Table" discussion in The News York Times, Nov. 21.

"It's different from the '60s. By using the massive influence universities have -- not only in their investing, but in their purchasing and contracting -- we can set standards that corporations will have to uphold if they want to take advantage of universities' money."

"They did an outstanding job of explaining why the company should support this and what benefits it would have to us, as a university and a stockholder."

--Josh Glasstetter (top quote), senior student and founder of Students for Socially Responsible Investing at Cornell, and Fred Rogers (bottom), senior vice president and chief financial officer, discussing student activism relating to university investments, in The New York Times, Nov. 17.