State and local 3
The Battalion
Wednesday, February 13, 1991
A&M students publish journal
FREDERICK D. JOE/The Battalion
Economics
publication
generates
interest
By Jayme Blaschke
The Battalion
Two Texas A&M economics
majors prove publishing at the
University is not limited to
journalism students.
Emmanuel Schweikert and
Andrew Matthews established the
economics journal, titled Ceteris
Paribus, in April, and it already has
generated local and national
interest.
Schweikert, journal editor and a
senior from Bryan, began working
on the idea more than a year ago,
and credits hard work and
determination for the journal’s
success.
“Had I known about just half of
the problems we’ve had, I never
would have tried,” Schweikert says.
“It was a nightmare because we
were turned down for funding,
couldn’t get articles. Nothing was
working.”
Once the journal received
funding, everything fell into place,
he says.
“People were shocked with our
first issue,” Schweikert says.
“People were expecting maybe five
or six articles stapled together like
you’d turn into your professor.
“The design, layout and graphics
were surprising,” he says. “They
took us much more seriously after
that.”
Matthews, managing editor and
a senior from Klein, says the quality
of the journal’s articles has earned
respect.
Two A&M senior economics ma
jors have received national rec
ognition for their publication of
“We had a Nobel (winning)
economist, James Buchanan, come
in last semester, and we did an
interview with him,” Matthews says.
“We had a senior economics major
from Harvard who wrote for us,
and coming up we have a plan for
two majors from UT-Austin writing
the economics journal Ceteris
Paribus. It struggled at first be
cause of lack of funding.
as well.”
Continued development of
sources from other universities is
essential to maintain the journal’s
quality level, Matthews says.
Schweikert says despite the
difficulty in getting high quality
contributions, they only jarint
articles with well founded
arguments.
“As long as it pertains in some
way to economics or a related field,
we will publish it,” he says. “We are
not affiliated with the right-wing or
left-wing perspectives.
“We like controversy,”
Schweikert says. “That’s not to say
it’s editorial policy, but we won’t shy
away.”
A strong economics department
at A&M has helped greatly in
getting the journal accepted,
Schweikert says.
“It was easier getting started at
A&M because of the strength of the
department than it would have
been almost anywhere else in the
state,” he says. “The journal might
have gotten started quicker at a
smaller East Coast school, but the
resources wouldn’t be there to
encourage development.”
Matthews says A&M’s resources
have enabled Ceteris Paribus to
become a recognized student
organization, translating into more
impressive achievements.
“Our first run was about 500
issues, distributed mostly to the
economics department,” he says.
“With this issue, we’re printing
1,000 copies for the first time. In
the future, we’re going to target the
business college and liberal arts.
“We really want to become
interdiciplinary, like a corporate
newsletter,” he says.
Schweikert says they were not
limiting their target groups to the
college level either.
“We’re trying to use Ceteris
Paribus as a tool for economic
education at the high school level,”
he says.
Contact with area and statewide
high schools, both public and
private, has been encouraging,
Schweikert says.
“In Texas, almost everyone has
to take some kind of econ. class,” he
says. “We’d like to show students
economics is a lot more than just
GNP and interest rates.”
Ik.
Texas court official
says judicial system
needs major reform
AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas judi
cial system needs “fundamental re
forms” that only lawmakers can ini
tiate, including an overhaul of the
way judges are chosen, state Su
preme Court Chief Justice Thomas
Phillips said Tuesday.
“Only you can initiate the proce
dure to replace an electoral system
that is too partisan, too expensive,
and possibly unlawful with a modern
system of judicial selection that en
hances accountability, independence
and competence,” Phillips told the
Legislature in his State of the Judi
ciary address.
That echoed Phillips’ first such
speech to the Legislature in 1989,
when he advocated a system of ap
pointing judges who would then pe
riodically stand unopposed for elec
tion. The plan would require a
constitutional amendment to be ap
proved by voters.
Phillips, the first Republican
elected chief justice, also said that
ethics legislation should apply to the
judiciary, calling that branch of gov
ernment “most dependent on public
confidence.”
Some current proposals to limit
campaign contributions do not in
clude the judicial branch, Phillips
said.
The chief justice also said the state
should provide full funding for its
courts, rather than requiring reli
ance on local government money.
In this legislative session, Phillips
urged lawmakers to increase fund
ing over the next two years for such
priority items as:
— Adding professional staff, or
increasing staff compensation, to
keep pace with growing caseloads in
appellate courts.
For example, Phillips said, the
Court of Criminal Appeals has 199
pending death penalty cases, and the
average time from filing to disposi
tion of the cases is more than 30
months.
Governor demotes head
of state insurance board
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Ann Rich
ards turned up the heat Tuesday on
the State Board of Insurance, de
moting the current chairman and
continuing her push to place the
agency under the control of a special
panel.
Richards named her lone appoin
tee to the Insurance Board, Austin
lawyer Claire Korioth, as chair to re
place James Saxton.
In her State of the State address to
the Legislature last week, Richards
called on Saxton and the third board
member, Richard Reynolds, to re
sign by Friday.
Both Saxton and Reynolds, who
are holdover appointees of former
Gov. Bill Clements, have defended
their performance and refuse to step
down. Although no longer chair
man, Saxton said he will continue to
serve on the board.
“Two of the members of the
board have been there for a while
and we have not seen the kind of
progress that we need to see,” Rich
ards said in designating Korioth the
new' board chair.
Richards says the board has failed
to warn consumers about financially
ailing or fraudulent insurance com
panies, and has sided with the insur
ance industry in adopting rate in
creases.
: • . • . - . — • • ■ - ; 1
w: t —
Give Your Sweetheart
Flowers Tomorrow..
then
Give 'em a Laugh
on Saturday!
The MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society
is pleased to present
Neil Simon's newest hit
RUMORS
starring Peter Marshall of
television's "Hollywood Squares"
2 for 1 Balcony tickets now available for students
at the MSC Box Office
(Must present student ID, not valid with any other offer)
For more information, please call 845-1234
Give your date something they'll die over...
laughing, that is!
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We also have new swimwear Arriving Daily
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Literary
Arts
ALL
NATIVE AMERICAN WEEK
FEB. 10- 16, 1991
February 12. 1991
Dr. Tom Green
The Role of Storytelling
in Native American
Culture
7:OOp.m. 510 Rudder
February 13 - 15. 1991
Gayle Ross
Native American Storyteller
FEB. 13
7:00 p.m. Native American
Women in Myth and History
8:30 p.m. Voices of the
Spirits: Native American
Ghost Stories 201 MSC
FEB. 14
7:00 p.m. The Language
of Love: Romantic Tales in
the Native American Style
206 MSC
FEB. 15
11:00 p.m. North American
Special Thanks to Multicultural Services