News Sources: Chinese Product Safety

The "made-in-China" scare has sparked toy recalls and U.S. Senate investigations. Tackling product safety problems will require a combination of tougher regulation of China's manufacturers, importer vigilance and more inspections. But are America's bargain-minded masses willing to spend more for safety? Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find then online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Barry Schwartz - Dorwin P. Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, Swarthmore College - Schwartz is the author of The Costs of Living: How Market Freedom Erodes the Best Things in Life. He is an expert on the social and psychological effects of the free market on moral, social and civic concerns and in the rising hostility in American public life.

Margaret Maurer-Fazio - Associate Professor of Economics, Bates College - Maurer-Fazio's current research focuses on labor-market issues in China. With a wide network of Chinese contacts, she travels extensively in China with students, teaching environmental protection and economic development issues.

John A. Conkling - Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Washington College - Conkling is internationally recognized for his work in pyrotechnics, the high energy solid state chemistry responsible for fireworks displays, road flares and other sound and light generating systems. Executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, he wrote federal safety regulations governing fireworks and is technical consultant to Chinese fireworks manufacturers.

This Horse Is a Winner

Robert Olmstead worked for about 10 years on a book that tells the story of a 14-year-old boy who leaves his home in search of his father, a soldier in the Civil War. The book, Coal Black Horse, has now earned the associate professor of English at Ohio Wesleyan University the 2007 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction.

Accounting Rules a Prime Source of Sub-Prime Woes

There's a key element missing in the media coverage of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, says John D. Rossi, III, associate professor of accounting at Moravian College. He says special accounting rules known as QSPE's - "the result of a good lobbying job on the part of the lending industry"- allowed lenders to hide from responsibility and accountability.

News Sources: Senate Scandals

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea to lewd conduct in an airport restroom is the latest in a long history of congressional sex scandals. Is this merely another example of the old aphorism that "power corrupts," or is there more involved? Either way, what can voters do about it? Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Joe Knippenberg - Associate Professor of Political Science, Oglethorpe University - Knippenberg teaches "Love, Sex and Politics," where the class examines the salacious surface of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal by investigating the relationship between the deepest human longings and political life.

Michael Johnston - Professor of Political Science, Colgate Unversity - Johnston has studied ethical and attitudinal dimensions of politics for nearly three decades, and is a frequent commentator on politics and international corruption and development issues. Johnston is a consultant and researcher on corruption, civil society and good governance for the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and ASIA foundation. He has served as director of the Colgate Center for Ethics and World Societies.

Bernard Murchland - Professor of Philosophy, Ohio Wesleyan University - Murchland has published more than 100 articles and reviews and has authored five books with interests in the philosophy of social values and society, existentialism, business ethics, and American philosophy. His writings have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal and Change magazine.

Who Discovered America: A Novel Theory

Mount Holyoke College geologist Mark McMenamin's theory about who really discovered the Americas (hint: forget Columbus or the Norsemen) has served as the topic of scholarly articles and college courses. But now McMenamin's idea has appeared in a completely new venue-the latest novel by one of the nation's leading adventure writers: Clive Cussler.

Five Books to Read Before You Die

What one book would you recommend people read before they die? That question was put to the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. The results reveal a diverse group of authors - Fitzgerald, Woolf, Alighieri, Donne and Scarry.

News Sources: "Kid Nation" Controversy

"Kid Nation" has been billed as a Lord of the Flies for the reality TV generation. But the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced it was investigating reports of the show's alleged abuse of children, starting with a 12-year-old girl who was burned on her face while cooking unsupervised. Four other children were given medical treatment after drinking bleach. AFTRA contends that the children, and other amateur contestants on reality shows - apparenlty are not protected by the National Code of Fair Practices for Network Television Broadcasting. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Edward Lorenz - Professor of Political Science, Alma College - Lorenz is a research consultant for the National Commission for Employment Policy, and can offer a perspective on child labor laws and social policy.

Cathy M. Johnson - Chair of Political Economy, Williams College - Johson's work focuses on how children are represented politically in the United States and how public policy is made on their behalf.

Ronald Lembo - Associate Professor of Sociology, Amherst College - Lembo's newest book is Thinking Through Television: Viewing Practices and the Social Limits to Power. He teaches and writes about the sociology of mass media and mass culture, news and entertainment systems, and media corporations.

Truth - A Wartime Casualty?

In today's military, you don't get truth from the top, says DePauw communications professor Ken Bode. A retired general retorts that military brass may not all be pillars of virtue, but the public still trusts the military more than the media.

Orr in"The 11th Hour"

Oberlin College faculty member and noted environmentalist David Orr appears in Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature-length eco-documentary, 'The 11th Hour." Besides being interviewed and appearing in the film- which just opened in this country in limited release - Orr served as an advisor, He assisted the directors in identifying specific themes and experts and reviewing final cuts—the culmination of 150 interviews with 70 commentators.