Rochester Quotes

“Biologists aren’t alarmed by intelligent design’s arrival . . . because they have all sworn allegiance to atheistic materialism; they’re alarmed because intelligent design is junk science.”

—H. Allen Orr, professor of biology, writing a critical analysis of the arguments by theorists who posit that Darwinian evolution does not adequately explain the rise of life on Earth, in The New Yorker.

The Wall Street Journal

“Clearly more older adults are dying from this than are babies.”
—Edward Walsh, professor of medicine, talking about a study he led that shows the flu-like illness known as RSV, which is often considered a childhood ailment, is far more widespread—and deadlier—among the elderly and adults with respiratory trouble than previously thought.

The New York Times

“It really does start with a polarized electorate. People go there girded to do battle.”
—Richard Fenno, professor emeritus of political science, on a perceived rise in partisanship in the Senate that was highlighted last spring during the struggle over whether to limit filibusters.

The Christian Science Monitor

“The devastation of the nation physically, economically, psychically had a lot to do with [Japanese animation pioneer Osamu Tezuka’s] choice of subject matter—good versus evil, the conflict between humanmade technology and nature, even the basic questions of the meaning of humanity.”
—Joanne Bernardi, associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, commenting on the influence of the Japanese animation style known as animé.

Los Angeles Times

“Doctors are very competitive people at heart, and they don’t like to lose.”
—Craig Narins, assistant professor of cardiology, talking about efforts to create public “report cards” that rate the clinical performance of physicians for some medical procedures. Narins led a survey of New York doctors that indicated physicians sometimes avoid recommending patients receive risky but potentially lifesaving angioplasty because a negative outcome would reflect poorly in their state-administered grades.

Newsweek

“It can change whole life trajectories.”
—Jeffrey Kaczorowski, assistant professor of pediatrics, commenting on the benefits to children when health care programs pay attention to the families in which the children live.