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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1990)
Monday, IS The Battalion STATE AND LOCAL f W5RKD r OUK TOP TD/VIG1 "W/TERM ARE. Monday, November 19, 1990 International Week interaction Model U.N. imitates real assembly; students debate terrorism By BRIDGET HARROW Of The Battalion Staff Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nicaragua and Syria are among the 33 countries to be represented at Texas A&M’s first Model U.N. Model U.N. acts out activities that could oc cur during a real U.N. assembly, says Lisa Cash, special assistant to International Stu dent Affairs for Student Government. Cash says Model U.N. will be during Inter national Week in February and is a collabora tive effort by International Student Associa tion, MSC Jordan Institute and Student Government. Sriran Vadlamani, ISA coordinator for Model U.N., says the ISA president’s council voted to have Model U.N. in place of Interna tional Forum to promote interaction between international students and American students at A&M. Vadlamani says international students will be grouped with U.S. students to represent different countries. Assembly members will debate a resolution on terrorism and how the U.N. will deal with terrorist acts, he says. “The countries that have been picked to be represented in the Model U.N. are countries that have been affected by, sponsored, or are in any way connected with terrorism,” Vadla mani says. The five permanent U.N. Security Council "It's a real hands-on, intensive way of promoting international awareness-” - Michael Burguieres, MSC Jordan Institute members — China, France, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and the United States — also will be represented, Vadlamani says. Michael Burguieres, international aware ness director of programs for the Jordan In stitute, says the institute is sponsoring Model U.N. because of the cultural aspect. “It fits in very well with programs the Jor dan Institute wants to participate in,” he says. “It’s a real hands-on, intensive way of promot ing international awareness.” Burguieres says there will be a lot of role- playing during the mock assembly. Students will dress in native costumes of countries they represent, and announcements will be made of countries attacking one another. Students even might speak in their native tongues and use interpreters, he says. Vadlamani says professors also will be avail able as part of a “think tank” to present differ ent scenarios to students. “The Model U.N. should be as realistic as we can make it,” Vadlamani says. “We ask that people have an open mind and represent their chosen countries to their full ability.” Cash says she knows of no other Texas uni versity or college which has held a Model U.N. Many students participated in Model U.N. in high school, she says. “Our Model U.N. will be a balance of emo tions and knowledge,” she says. “Students will have to take on the complete attitude and the whole thought process that go along with the culture they are representing.” Applications for Model U.N. are due Nov. 26, and can be picke up at: • the Student Government office, second floor of the Pavilion • the MSC Jordan Institute booth in the Student Programs Office, MSC second floor • the ISA office, Bizzell basement New editor offers work opportunities By SEAN FRERKING Of The Battalion Staff Fan buys Beatle’s birth certificate HOUSTON (AP) — A 26-year- old Beatles fan who became inter ested in the rock group almost a decade after they broke up paid $18,000 Sunday for singer Paul McCartney’s birth certificate. “I’m just a Beatles freak and I had to have it,” Brian Taylor, of Washington, D.C., said. “It’s a hobby that’s gone a little too far.” After paying Simpson’s auction house a 10 percent fee and Tex as’s 8.25 percent sales tax, Taylor will pay $21,285 for the docu ment. It took less than a minute for Taylor to outbid his two compet itors, one at Simpson’s and one bidding by telephone. The birth certificate took the long and winding road from Liv erpool to Houston via McCart ney’s stepmother, Angela Wil liams, who sold it to an American investor for an unknown amount. The certificate shows that on June 18, 1942, at 107 Rice Lane, James Paul McCartney was born to James McCartney and Mary Patricia McCartney, of 10 Sun- bury Road, Liverpool, England. Government regulators review Gibraltar Savings’ expenditures DALLAS (AP) — Sixteen months after its creation in the nation’s larg est federal thrift bailout, First Gi braltar Bank has been criticized for excessive personal expenses. Government regulators said First Gibraltar, created in 1988, has spent more than $1 million on a private hunting lodge, a plush New York City condominium and a private plane for its senior officers. First Gibraltar last year alone re ceived more than $461 million in taxpayers’ money. It cost $5 billion to bailout the five thrifts from which First Gibraltar was created. Examiners from the Office of Thrift Supervision, the federal agency Charged with regulating S&L’s, criticized the personal ex penses last spring after a routine re view of the Dallas-based institution’s books, the Dallas Morning News re ported Sunday. First Gibraltar chairman Gerald J. Ford defended the questioned ex penses, saying that each was in curred for legitimate purposes. *iffe ~ ' "If* a different set of circumstances, I don’t think these items would have ever been questioned by regulators-” Gerald J. Ford, First Gibrator chairman aid O. Perelman — not the institu tion itself, Ford said. Besides the lodge, condo and jet, regulators also questioned $80,000 spent on a consulting contract with former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros. stances, I don’t think these items would have ever been questioned by regulators,” Ford told the News. But his thrift and others remain under tight supervision because of ongoing federal subsidies. The gov ernment pays First Gibraltar to man age undervalued real estate and loans that the government could not afford to take over directly in 1988. Several government officials ex pressed particular dismay with the S&L’s personal expenses. The thrift remains a sensitive issue for the ad ministration because of repeated congressional criticism that it amounts to a sweetheart deal for its Nominated by the Student Publica tions Board as The Battalion’s spring se mester editor, Lisa Robertson says she wants to improve Texas A&M’s student newspaper by creating more opportuni ties for students to gain experience in a professional newsroom setting. Robertson, a senior journalism major from Irving, says she has seve ral ideas for improving The Battal ion and the public’s perception of the student paper. The creation of a new “writing coach” position would be one way The Battalion could improve its overall quality, she says. “Our journalism department does a great job of teaching students the basics of journalism,” she says. “But my plan is for the writing coach to take writers we hire and improve their writing by working with them individually.” She says the writing coach, a posi tion which will be filled by a student, will critique each writer’s stories to help the staff develop more profes sional writing skills. “I think if we improve the writing at The Battalion, we will improve the public’s attitude toward our paper,” Robertson says. “But that’s not the only thing I have in mind to help im prove the quality of The Battalion.” She also says she plans to use non- paid stringers, reporters not on staff, to help cover more of what is happening at the University. She says she believes people will want to be non-paid stringers be cause of the experience the job of fers. “I have plans to hire non-paid stringers because we have so many people who apply for positions on staff and don’t realize they will get paid,” Robertson says. “With this new position, they will get experi ence in a professional setting.” She says she plans to assign stringers to areas where they are most needed. “The Battalion does a remark! job covering what happens ont; us,” Robertson says. “I onlywani cover more of what is going or.; to improve what we alreadyart;| ering.” Robertson has worked for ) Battalion since Fall 1989. Shesi out as a copy editor and was news editor for two semesters was lifestyles editor this semester Graduating in May, Rober. says she wants to pursue a care newspaper journalism and e? tuaily teach. However, immediately afterpt nation, she says she wants to inf as a copy editor during the sum She also says she wants to travd the fall. As Battalion editor, Robert responsible for setting Battalion; icy and representing the papei the public. She will oversee tilt: naging editor and section edi: while also holding meeting; editors and the entire staff. Applications for spring sem; Battalion staff can be obtainei and can be subm; Tubular newsroom through Nov. 27. ‘In a different set of circum- The expense in maintaining the $7,000 per month condominium, as well as the $728,370 hunting lodge is borne by the thrift’s owners — pri marily Revlon Corp. chairman Ron- owners. Ford ran afoul of federal regula tors soon after First Gibraltar was created in the largest deal completed by the now-defunct Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. in its much-maligned Southwest Plan. Under the Southwest Plan, FSLIC merged 88 Texas S&Ls into 15 insti tutions in an effort to stabilize the state’s industry. The plan also sought to rid the state’s thrifts of lav ish lifestyles and bad lending ram pant in the mid-1980s. BATTIPS ry s call BAT FIPS, f he _ 'BaHa]io;| phone line designed to impiti communication between the ne»| paper and its readers. The BATTIPS number is ™ 3315. Ideas can include news storie feature ideas and personality pul files of interesting people. TCH ell KOVSKY’S BOLSHOI BALLET CRICOROVICH COMPANY Company of 60 Direct from the U.S.S.R. Yuri Grigorovich, Artistic Director & Choreographer NUTCRACKER PERFORMANCES Friday, November 23 - 8:00 P.M. Saturday, November 24 - 8:00 P.M. Sunday, November 25 - 2:00 P.M. & 8:00 P.M. Friday, November 30 - 8:00 P.M. Saturday, December 1 - 2:00 P.M. Saturday, December 1 - 8:00 P.M. SPECIAL ADDED ATTRACTION! BEST OF THE BOLSHOI PERFORMANCES FEATURING A MIXED REPERTOIRE AND ACT II OF SWAN LAKE! Tuesday, November 27 - 7:00 P.M. Wednesday, November 28 - 7:00 P.M. TICKETS ON SALE NOW! CALL THE MSC BOX OFFICE (409) 845-1234 OR FOLEY'S IN POST OAK MALL MSC OPERA & PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY Hey Class of '93! It's your turn! Get your picture taken for the 1991 Aggieland! AR Photography 707 Texas Ave., Suite 1 20B Monday - Friday 9-1 2; 1 -5 PAYS CASH FOR USED BOOKS! Redmond Terrace next to Academy Northgate across from Post Office Southgate on Jersey Street Grads, Mods, and Vets Only three weeks left to get your picture in the 1991 Aggieland. AR Photography 707 Texas Ave., Suite 120B Monday - Friday 9-12; 1-5 DALLAS 0 started to me! rapper Vanilk No. 1 on the p' In a copyr News describi Ice’s record-cc The 22-yea existence full tumble street culminating w nated by your white. But numen per known as Turner High fluent North I The studen Winkle. Vanil saying that to Nerd J Staz/au ANCESTO AUb OOt Feck Texs WASHIN( prosecutors i to give major cases in Sou priority they congressiona day. The repor ment Opera commerce, o affairs also si quent travel Justice Depai las, where t large investig task force. “This con