Maria Figueroa, director of labor and policy research at the Worker Institute, says, “In addition to getting low pay, they don’t get enough work from each of the applications, so they have to work for at least three or four of them, and there are more workers than the market can hold.”

Vanessa Bohns, associate professor of organizational behavior at the ILR School, notes that charismatic people often boost other people and that “People tend to perk up when you talk about them.”

“Whittle it down to the folks who are being prosecuted and either prosecute them or don’t, but don’t just hang on to them,” says Joseph Margulies, professor of law, about prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, associate professor of applied economics and policy, says, “Maybe the best way to ensure food security is not necessarily for small-scale farmers to grow their own food, but being able to get an education and work in a sector where they can buy that food.”

Kenneth Roberts, professor of Latin American politics, says, “Like legislatures in Brazil and Paraguay, Peru’s congress ‘weaponized’ the impeachment tool for transparently self-interested political goals – and Peruvian society has risen up to hold the ringleaders accountable.”

Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute, discusses her work in hunting for life on other planets.

“In the wake of the current spike in Covid hospitalizations, calling the labor market for registered nurses 'cutthroat' is an understatement,” says Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations. “Even if the health care sector can somehow find more beds, it cannot just go out and buy more front-line caregivers.”

“Mrs. Montgomery’s case presents compelling grounds for clemency, including her history as a victim of gang rape, incest, and child sex trafficking, as well as her severe mental illness,” says Sandra Babcock, clinical professor of law.

Sergio Garcia-Rios, professor of political science, says, “We might … disagree about whether Trump’s economy has really helped minorities, but some of them do believe that for their jobs, for their families, Trump is the answer.”

Karl Pillemer, professor of human development, provides advice on how to handle the various tensions around the table, virtual or in real life, this Thanksgiving.

Provost Mike Kotlikoff is one of the featured guests in this piece. Kotlikoff discusses Cornell’s successful testing regime and the importance of testing asymptomatic individuals.

John H. Blume, director of the Law School’s Death Penalty Project, anticipates that once Biden takes office in January, he will impose a moratorium on federal executions and call for a study of the death penalty.