“We’re making history here, and students should be aware of that. We’re in the forefront of what we have strived to be.”

– Eastern Washington University student Victor Rodriguez, a member of the search committee that recommended three finalists, from whom the EWU Board of Trustees named Rodolfo Arevalo president of Eastern, the first Latino to hold such a position at any of Washington’s public four-year institutions of higher education.

“They have the people over in Olympia who are so far removed from the field making these decisions. They need to come over here and see what the situation is.”

– Social worker Edith Vance, saying nothing significant has been done in the 11 months since she was attacked with a machete to protect caseworkers who have to face sometimes volatile parents involved in child-abuse complaints.

“We have to reaffirm that the people who are in positions of leadership have the credentials, the moral credibility to lead.”

– Republican Congressman Thaddeus G. McCotter of Michigan, calling for a full disclosure of all House GOP leaders’ relationships with lobbyists.

“The book is about drug addiction and alcoholism. The emotional truth is there.”

– Author James Frey, saying it doesn’t matter that portions of his best-selling memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” turn out to have been fabricated.

“I will simply tell you that we expect our leaders to lead by example, but we do not expect them to give up their individual rights as people.”

– Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defending a decision by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, former commander at the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who invoked his right against self-incrimination and announced he won’t testify in court-martial proceedings against two soldiers accused of using dogs to terrify detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

“Please do not name this bill after my daughter.”

– Floridian Mark Lunsford, father of a 9-year-old girl whose abduction and murder are the inspiration for a piece of Washington state legislation, dubbed “Jessica’s Law,” telling lawmakers in Olympia that the measure isn’t tough enough on sex offenders like the one who killed his daughter.