Quotes, statements, bon mots, and noteworthy utterances from the campus and beyond
20 November 2008
"Now everyone on the team will have to play by the rules, and I think that will be a good thing."
James Wilcox, James J. and Marianne B. Lowrey Professor of Business, commenting on President-elect Obama's proposed regulatory prescriptions for the financial-services industry. San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 9
"I nearly had a heart attack."
Assistant Adjunct Professor of Astronomy Paul Kalas, recalling his reaction to the discovery by his Berkeley team of Fomalhaut b, the first "exoplanet" (one that orbits a star other than our sun) ever photographed.
Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13
"This is not a Doomsday report."
Adjunct Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics David Roland-Holst, characterizing "California Climate Risk and Response," a report he co-authored that attempts to put a pricetag on the anticipated effects of global warming in the Golden State.
Los Angeles Times, Nov. 14.
"There's no reason why we should get the leftovers of education."
Zaira, an undocumented Berkeley student, at a campus event last week calling for passage at the state and federal levels of a "Dream Act" that would provide financial support for such students.
Berkeley Daily Planet, Nov. 14.
"If the focus is a religious group that is not going to change its doctrine and has no power over public policy, then what you get is a backlash, not a movement."
Associate Professor of Sociology Stephen Vaisey, on the prospects for a national movement in support of gay marriage. San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 15
"We are not in Hundred Days territory."
Professor of Public Policy Robert Reich, noting that many constraints would prevent President Obama from taking FDR-like action in the early days of his administration.
The New Yorker, Nov. 17
"You're going to find a lot of people wanting to enter higher education who can't."
Center for the Study of Higher Education researcher John Douglass, commenting on the concerns of community-college leaders that the CSU system's decision to turn students away because of budget woes may increase enrollment pressures on the state's two-year schools. Contra Costa Times, Nov. 17
"It's part of a debate that's gone on as long as there has been philosophy or science."
Professor Emeritus of Linguistics Paul Kay, commenting on research showing that when infants learn the name of a color, the function of color perception shifts location in the brain, from the right hemisphere to the left. Associated Press, Nov. 18
"[Bob Woodward] has become a very prosperous member of the kind of celebrity crew that you see on Larry King. That may be good. That may be bad. But that's not investigative reporting."
Professor of Journalism Lowell Bergman, commenting on the status of the Washington Post reporter whose reporting on Watergate made him famous.
Contra Costa Times, Nov. 18