Maroon

              THE MAROON ESTABLISHED 1923 V0L.75 NO. 23 FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1997 Loyola University New Orleans Amnesty protests at execution By THERESA RYAN and SARAH SPARKS Staff writers John Brown was killed at midnight on Thursday. Loyola's Amnesty International chapter knew it could not stop the execution, but it still wanted to take action. Wednesday afternoon, the chapter organized a vigil in the French Quarter for Loyola students to protest Brown's execution. Other students travelled three hours to Angola State Penitentiary to protest outside the execution chamber. "Amnesty is against the death penalty because it is cruel and unusual," said Colleen Lynch, anti-death penalty coordinator for the Loyola's Amnesty chapter. "It's torture; under the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this is wrong. "We want students of Loyola to be fully aware of what it going on in their state," Lynch said. Brown was sentenced to death in 1984 for stabbing a man to death during a robbery. A state pardon board ruled against him four to one. Lynch said the jury and pardon board failed to take into account Brown's severe drug addiction at the time of the murder. "What they did to Brown at that meeting was horrible," said Emily Chamblin, president of the chapter. Chamblin said Brown was badgered with questions about how much he told his young son about his crime. Jana Thompson, drama freshman, disagreed. By BETH McGOVERN Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, urged students to become world leaders in the 21st century. SGA members fail to fulfill 27 percent of commitmentsi By PIERCE PRESLEY Staff writer Student Government Association members fulfilled less than 73 percent of the 48 commitments made for the 1996-97 school year. Kevin Casey, SGA president and biology/pre-med junior, and Lee Reid, former SGA president and first-year law student, topped the list of 13 members who failed to fulfill their commitments. Reid wanted to revamp the SGA judicial system as a functional unit of the government. "Really, all I wanted to do was tinker with it a little bit," he said. "1 don't know if [the new congress] will want to change it more or not." Reid said he did institute the position of an ad hoc attorney general, who gives opinions on judiciary matters to streamline the legal process. Casey's commitment was to ensure that all commitments were attempted and 90 percent were completed. "One of the things we tried to do is make UNFULFILLED COMMITMENTS I • Marc O'Brien — to attempt to write a new fight song for the Wolfpack • Penne Russell — to increase participation in the spring book exchange to more than 300 participants • J.T. Hannan — to make oncampus post offices available to ofT-campus students • Dorimar Siverio — to increase attendance at the NO/AIDS walk • Bill Miltenberger — to try to get cash card service at a local late-night eatery Gorbachev speaks on NATO, peace By ROSE FRENCH Copy Editor One-child households, the dislodging of NATO and a increased environmental awareness were issues discussed and endorsed by former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev during a dialogue in Roussel Hall April 17. "I responded with great enthusiasm to speak at the law school here," Gorbachev said, "not only because I am here among colleagues but also in particular because I knew among those who would be listening to me ... would be the students, the young people." Originally approached to hold the prestigious event, Tulane University declined because of a disagreement in the $25,000 price tag for the Gorbachev engagement. Loyola was then asked to hold the dialogue and, after some negotiation, payed $3,000 for the world leader to speak. "It was my understanding that Tulane did not negotiate," said Jim Klebba, law school professor. The earth's environmental status was a main concern addressed by Gorbachev, who believes if current population trends are allowed to continue, by the year 2050, "we may have 12 billion people living on planet Earth," he said. To alleviate this problem, Gorbachev pushed for the acceptance of a one- or two-child household, similar to the controversial familyplanning law in Communist China. "Global population needs to be stabilized and this can only be done by a cultural change, by an educational "Global population needs to be stabilized and this can only be done by a cultural change, by an educational change, and we should at some point have... a trend toward a one-child family... or a two-child family." — Mikhail Gorbachev change, and we should at some point have ... a trend toward a one-child family ... or a two-child family." Mentioning the need for clean water in many countries, Gorbachev said he thinks the environment "will probably be the most important issue on the agenda of the 21st century." Statistics cited by Gorbachev reflected that at the beginning of this century, people consumed 340 cubic kilometers of water annually; today, that number is 4,000 cubic kilometers. "We have come to the brink; I think we may ... have even crossed that brink. Public opinion has not really become aware of the complexity and severity of the crisis. Now is the time for actions and decision-making. If the processes underway today continue, Gorbachev said, in 30 or 40 years "the damage done to humankind Communications department to receive one of four grants By MICHAEL GIUSTI Assistant News Editor Loyola may receive four grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents aimed at enhancing the quality of the equipment and the instruction offered at Loyola, according to Gary Talarchek, director of Grants and Research. These grants have not yet been awarded to Loyola, but, according to Talarchek, Loyola is almost assured of the prizes. "At this point, I have the report from the board of regents that says essentially that these will be awarded to us. We don't have the official documents saying this, though," Talarchek said. Still, he is remaining skeptical about the awards. "I never count grants received until we get an official award letter or a grant contract," he said. The communications department is scheduled to receive the largest grant awarded to Loyola, and the largest See AMNESTY, Pg. 5 See GORBACHEV, Pg. 4 See SGA, Pg. 5 See GRANTS, Pg. 5 Border Song^ ƒĝ . a{J & ;;j. L.r Marooned Staff spends hours putting together award-