“I think you’re doing a big disservice for kids by holding them back, because they’ll get bored.” Nicholas Colangelo, Myron and Jacqueline Blank Professor of Gifted Education, College of Education, suggesting that school systems do not advance gifted and talented students as much as they should (Delmarva [Maryland] Daily Times, May 1).
“There’s no indication that the winners of the [Nigerian] civil war are ever going to let us have a life of our own. Ibo culture is being undermined.” Emmanuel Enekwechi, senior staff psychologist, University Counseling Service, and president of the Biafra Foundation, working for the freedom of people in his country’s breakaway region (Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2).
“[Transcendental Meditation] classes are expensive, and all behavioral interventions require considerable effort to learn, and time and discipline to maintain. My guess is that they represent the best therapy for only a small percentage of patients with hypertension.” Arthur Hartz, professor of family medicine, Carver College of Medicine, adding a verbal asterisk to his study that finds Transcendental Meditation is highly effective in reducing the rate of death from cardiovascular disease in people with high blood pressure (The New York Times, May 3).
“As you put more and more buttons on the steering wheel, it can be confusing. There’s not a lot of research that looks at what happens when you get multiple systems in the car...and what happens when people make mistakes.” John D. Lee, associate professor of industrial engineering, College of Engineering, worrying about driver distraction that may come with an increasing number of control buttons popping up on the newest steering wheels (Detroit News, May 4).
“If you’re going to write some unconventional stuff that’s going to challenge people’s thinking, you may damn well need to publish the things yourself.” Ed Folsom, Carver Professor of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, noting that new interviews with the poet are unearthed about once a year, including one recently discovered in which Whitman advises two aspiring writers not to become poets (The New York Times, May 6).
“[Tom] DeLay being toasted by conservative fat cats ought to be the last image his backers want to convey right now.” Peverill Squire, professor of political science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, commenting on a dinner thrown for the conservative House majority leader by more than 800 DeLay supporters (Los Angeles Times, May 11).
“There are probably some students who will be titillated by the title. They will be disappointed.” Jay Clarkson, graduate teaching assistant of communication studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, assuring concerned legislators and taxpayers that his fall course examining pornography in popular culture will not promote smut or provide cheap thrills for students (The New York Times, May 18). |
