Lang makes almost no enemies in the classroom, where colleagues say his vigorous, interactive teaching style creates an electricity for learning. Many letters in The File begin with a quick paragraph thanking Lang for old classroom experiences.
Two years ago Lang's first-year calculus students spent a semester compiling a file of their own, collecting outrageous quotes from the professor and distributing them on the last day of the course. The file, entitled "Quoted Out of Context," has Lang telling students:
O"Brain control, that's what you need to learn."
O"Get your high on factoring to your heart's content."
O"Thank God I've got The New York Times to take my mind off of you!"
Lang says that "whenever I've had to make the choice, I've reverted to mathematics." But chances are he will not stop the A-21 fight anytime soon. "I didn't go out looking for this trouble," he says. "They came looking for me, screwing up my environment."