Return to Compass Features for July 15, 1997
The following quotes from Penn professors and others appeared in publications across the country and around the world.
"He who pays the piper calls the tune and the tune is starting to get sung according to what industry wants."
-Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics, talking about medical findings often being withheld from the public for the greater financial gain of scientists or pharmaceutical companies (Boston Herald, Tuesday, April 15).
"The notion that immigration is going to destroy the fortunes of blacks or low-income Americans doesn't hold true."
-Robert Inman, a finance professor at Wharton, about the conventional wisdom that immigration hurts communities economically (Dallas Morning News, Sunday, May 18).
"Race camouflages issues of class and privilege that affect not only people of color, but working-class and poor whites and all Americans who are financially challenged."
-Lani Guinier, a law professor, talking about the merits of President Clinton's proposed national dialogue on race (Associated Press, Sunday, June 15).
"[It's] just an absolutely horrifying predatory machine."
-Peter Dodson, paleontologist, talking about the newly discovered prehistoric carnivore, Giganotosaurus, believed to be even larger and more vicious than the ever popular Tyrannosaurus Rex (Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, May 16).
"Unfortunately, most communities fighting resegregation will find it an uphill slog."
-Douglas S. Massey, professor of sociology, talking about the difficulties of creating a racially mixed and diverse community. (New York Times, Sunday, May 18).
"There was probably a blurred line in ancient Egypt between what was an actual pet and what was an outdoor animal that people may have fed."
-Denise Doxey of the museum's Egyptian section in an article about studies on the pets of ancient Egyptians (Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, May 24).
"You seem to assume that Americans are rational. On the contrary, I think they're mad and always have been. It's a loony country."
-Paul Fussell, professor emeritus, talking about the obsession Americans have with the sex lives and private activities of celebrities (Los Angeles Times, Sunday, June 15).
"Whether you're dealing with children or adults, you need to develop trust and respect their autonomy."
-Ryda Rose, an education professor, in a story about the possibility of managers learning leadership and motivational techniques from teachers who successfully handle small children (Investor's Business Daily, Thursday, May 15).
"I think the ethical issues really boil down to, Should we be making babies without consent? If so, for whom?"
-Arthur Caplan, commenting on the fast growing trend of women taking sperm from men who have died unexpectedly in order to have children later on (Houston Chronicle, Friday, May 30).
- assembled by Sunil Kumar
Return to Compass Features for July 15, 1997