In the News

The Chronicle’s biweekly column In the News offers a digest of commentary and quotations by a few of the University faculty members, students and alumni who have been headlining the news in recent weeks. Because Chicago faculty members are some of the most frequently quoted experts, space allows publishing references to selected examples. To read many of the full newspaper articles mentioned in this column, visit the In the News column at the University News Office Web site at: http://www-news.uchicago.edu/.

Robert Pippin, the Raymond W. and Martha Hilpert Gruner Distinguished Service Professor and Chairman of the Committee on Social Thought and Professor in Philosophy and the College, was the subject of several stories that reported on his being a recipient of a new Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award (See Chronicle story, Page 1). Pippin, who specializes in the study of modern German philosophy, was interviewed about his award for stories carried by the Associated Press Newswires on Tuesday, Nov. 6, and published in the Wednesday, Nov. 7 Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

A new cancer treatment that combines gene therapy, angiogenesis inhibitors and radiation therapy, which was invented by Ralph Weichselbaum, the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor and Chairman of Radiology & Cellular Oncology, was the subject of a Wednesday, Nov. 7 Chicago Tribune story. Weichselbaum and his team of cancer researchers, who recently announced their results of the treatment following a clinical trial, said the treatment is promising, though the results of the study are preliminary. “Certainly this is very early data with just a few patients, but the important thing is the concept: You can control gene therapy with radiation,” said Weichselbaum.

Randal Picker, the Paul and Theo Leffmann Professor in the Law School, was quoted in three stories that reported on the 18 states that are opposing the settlement made between the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft Corp., following the software company’s antitrust case. The 18 state attorneys general are arguing for tougher language to be written into the settlement agreement. Drawing from an earlier antitrust dispute with Microsoft in 1995, Picker said in a Tuesday, Nov. 6 Wall Street Journal article: “The precise language is critical and could easily be subject to multiple interpretations.” Picker also was quoted in Friday, Oct. 26 and Tuesday, Nov. 6 stories published in the Chicago Tribune.

Ian Foster, Professor in Computer Science, was quoted extensively and photographed for a Monday, Nov. 5 New York Times article that reported on scientific collaborations between researchers and technological advances being developed between businesses. Foster is co-director of the Grid Physics Network, or GriPhyN, a system that can be used in real time by researchers working on experiments that require vast amounts of computational power. “Working in a collaborative fashion like this requires people to adjust in a variety of ways. It concerns learning to be open and sharing things with your colleagues in the belief that the final benefit you will gain will be greater than if you don’t.”

Kevin Murphy, the George Pratt Shultz Professor of Economics and Industrial Relations in the Graduate School of Business, and Gary Becker, University Professor in Economics and Sociology, co-wrote an op-ed that quantified the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. economy. The op-ed, which appeared in the Oct. 29 Wall Street Journal, described the losses to the United States’ economy in both physical and productive assets following the attacks and the effects of possible future attacks. “These calculations do not justify complacency because they assume that the U.S. will take more effective measures to reduce terrorism. Besides, bad economic policies in response to the terrorist threat could easily magnify the damage. Nevertheless, the economic future of the U.S. is still highly promising.”

Jack Goldsmith, Professor in the Law School, and Bernard Meltzer, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Law School, who served as assistant trial counsel at the Nuremberg International War Trials, co-wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Wednesday, Nov. 7 issue of the Financial Times. The two law professors wrote that a swift and tightly controlled trial conducted by a military commission would be better than using the civilian court system or an international tribunal for bringing to justice the terrorists responsible for the attacks on America. “The military response to September 11 suggests a military solution to the problem of justice. Nations have for centuries established military commissions to try to punish officials of belligerent nations who violated the laws of war.”

The opinions of John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science and the College, and Robert Pape, Associate Professor in Political Science and the College, about military air strikes and ground-troop operations in Afghanistan were noted in a Saturday, Oct. 27 New York Times article, in which Mearsheimer also was quoted. Mearsheimer also wrote an op-ed that was published in the Sunday, Nov. 4 New York Times, was interviewed on NPR’s Special Coverage program, produced by WBUR-FM radio in Boston, and was quoted in a Thursday, Nov. 1 Christian Science Monitor story. In that story he said, “To defeat the Taliban and crush Al Qaeda is going to require large-scale American ground forces. The Taliban has given every indication that it is in for the long run and will be a formidable foe against the Northern Alliance and our [U.S.] Special [Operations] Forces.”

Robert Calvin, Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship and Marketing in the Graduate School of Business, was interviewed for a story published in BusinessWeek Monday, Nov. 5. The story reported on small businesses that are thriving in a “post-September-11 America,” and those that are striving to survive. “It’s a challenge not everybody will be able to meet,” said Calvin. “Every time there’s a disaster, small companies are pushed over the edge. They are not diversified, and so they suffer the most.”