Tulane University - Jambalaya Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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An Official Sponsor of The 1988 Olympics The XV Winter Olympics in Canada be- came known for several things that were un- common to Winter Olympics before them. Winds known as the Chinooks blew into Cal- gary carrying in 60 degrees below zero tem- peratures. The speed-skating event moved indoors for the first time. The daring flips, turns and jumps by freestyle skiers were seen as a demonstration event for the first time in Olympic history. U.S. hopefuls of 1988 were Debi Thomas (ladies figure skating), Brian Boitano (men ' s figure skating), Dan Jansen (speed skating). Josh Thompson (biathalon), and the 24 members of the U.S. hockey team, all heroes in the American public ' s eye. The United States Hockey team carried the optimism with which they left the 1980 Winter Olympics. The hockey team pre- viously known as the miracle on ice spent six months working with the talent and expe- rience of the. 1988 team, practicing against college teams and Soviet select squads. The competition was tough against the Soviet bloc countries and the U.S. finished in sev- enth place. The American public fell in love with Dan Jansen, the speed skater from Wisconsin. He had dedicated the Olympics to his sister Jane who died of leukemia on the morning of the 500 meters race. The pressure of a gold medal performance in the race combined with the recent tragedy led Jansen to a disas- trous fall going into the first turn of the oval. The hearts of America went out to him. Dan gave it another shot, determined not to give up. He was on a world record pace entering the final turn of the 1000 meter race, several days later, and in an unfortunate twist of fate, Jansen fell for a second time. Bonnie Blair became the only hope for a gold medal in the speed skating events. The U.S. was able to salvage a gold and two silvers in this event. Figure skater Brian Boitano went from second best to world best in one spectacular evening. His long program in the Olympic Saddledome was almost flawless, enabling him to edge out hometown favorite Brian Orser. It was Orser who defeated Boitano in the World Championships in Ohio the year before. On the women side, the competition be- tween Debi Thomas and Katarina Witt was felt by everyone and was exacerbated by the fact that both had chosen the music from Carmen. It was a sad disappointment for the U.S. when Debi Thomas fell twice during the long program, placing her in third place. Witt won first place and Canadian Elizabeth Manley surprised everyone by coming in second. The most impressive nation during the three-week competition was the Soviet Union. Their display in the nordic events, especially cross country skiing, may never be repeated. During the cross country events, the Soviet Union took seven out of the 13 medals to be won. There was no sur- prise in hockey either, as the Soviets swept through the tournament to the gold medal. In July of 1988 the United States will try to regain its standing in the international sports community. The Summer Games to be held in South Korea will be America ' s chance for redemption. The United States, which is always strong during the summer games will have an opportunity to face the Soviets and Eastern bloc nations for the first time in 12 years. • — Peter Brown and Sandra Rohde 62 National Trends

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f ■M STOCK MARKET SUMMARY 2650 2600 2500 2400 2300 2200 2100 2000 1900 1800 i° ' t° 1700 Ik SifciSssrfici lis OCTOBER 1987 When asked about the present economic status of the United State one must step back and reflect and then comment that on the surface we are doing just fine, but at the crux the economic miUeux in which we hve in is not performing at an optimal level. Evidence of this problem was brought out on October 19, 1987 when the Dow Jones plummeted a record 22.6% in what many critics described as a sudden drop. The market resisted fur- ther fluctuations due to the Federal Govern- ment ' s addition of liquidity as soon as the problem arose. The cause was an over valu- ation in the market place with a combination of trade imbalances which led to an exagera- tion of the weakness of the dollar and all around uncertainty, said Louis H. Katz, treasurer of Tulane University. As far as Tu- lane investments are concerned the univer- sity did incur a loss, but relative to the mar- ket, the endowment performed rather well, in more general terms, as of June 1987 Tu- lane ' s endowment was $213 million, but as of December of that same year its total dropped to $191 million. Had we liquidat- ed in the end, as of August, the value would still have been $216 million, commented Katz. He then remarked, as a result of the crash , support for next year fell close to 10%, but recent improvement has catalized growth again, provided the market contin- ues to perform well. History Is Repeated When Stock Market Falls On Black Monday The university on a whole did not exhibit large losses because of its reallocation of in- vestments prior to October 19. We reposi- tioned investments because of the Market ' s volatability and uncertainty. The Market was over priced, Katz said. Tulane ' s remarkable loss of only 10% was a result of a shift in assets which took place earlier in May of 1987. It was at that point that the university shifted its total investments from 75% to 65% in equities, and at the present moment it is considering an even further cut to 55% if it is able to find other alternative invest- ments. Such alternative investments consist of putting money into international equities. The result of this mode of diversification would yield prompt high returns because of the current devaluation of the dollar. In fact, at the present moment Tulane ' s foreign in- vestment in equities is 23%. Unfortunately, investing abroad did not help the school dur- ing the catastrophic fall because on the whole most of the foreign markets yielded low returns that day. There weren ' t any buyers only sellers that is why it all just stopped, remarked Katz on the incident. While on the one hand Tulane saved face in the stock market crash, the United States ' economy did not fair well as a result of it. On the aggregate every one was in some way or form aifected. Although the occurrence of October 19 did not end in a redramatization of 1929, it did add a greater factor of insta- bility which in the long run will affect con- sumer spending. I don ' t think it will have major effect on the domestic economy, but it did add more uncertainty and this alone will not move us into recession, nor into depres- sion, added Katz. However, he went on to comment that on the whole the United States ' economy is not doing well in that it is not being driven by the typical factors . He followed up by stating that if the economic growth which we have experienced over the last eight years would have occurred with- out the tremendous debt the nation has in- curred, then one would be able to say that it was wonderful. In closing one should keep in mind Peter G. Peterson ' s article entitled The Morning After in the October issue of The Atlantic when he said as a gloomy re- minder and warning that we face a future of economic choices that are far less pleasant than any set of choices we have confronted in living memory. • — Mario A. de Castro National Trends 61

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The Roemer Revolution A Change for Louisiana V Farintts Governor Roemer ' s plans for change in Louisiana include a major reform in the budget, in an at- tempt to eliminate the state ' s deficit. In the end, it was everything that no one expected. Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, despite receiving 28 percent of the open primary vote and therefore qualifying for the Nov. 21 runoff, announced he would withdraw from the race for governor of Louisiana. The governor, it would seem, realized the inevitable. This was a race he could not win. People began to speak of voting for ABE- Anyone But Edwards. He trailed all of his opponents in head-to-head polls by at least 15 points. Anyone who makes the runoff should kill him, Larry Keller, an aide to U.S. Rep. Bob Livingston, was quoted as saying several days before the election. It ' s like running against Adolf Hitler. The tough race for the capital had truly begun two years ago when Edwards, on trial for racketeering, had been acquitted and vowed he would seek an unprecedented fourth term as governor. All the polls indicated the race was tight from the beginning. No more than five points separated the five candidates for most of the race. While the order of the candi- dates in the polls changed almost weekly, one thing did not change. Buddy Roemer was running last. From the beginning, Roemer had vowed not to accept special interest money, not to go into debt and promised to run a serious campaign for governor in a way that no one had previously done. Two weeks before the election most observers had this response — Roemer ' s campaign was not serious. By 9:30 p.m. there was little doubt as to who would make the runoff. Buddy Roemer and Edwin Edwards had begun to pull away from the pack and the pollsters predicted they would meet in the runoff. With slightly more than 30 percent of the vote in, Loyola pollster Ed Renwick called the race a history-maker. I ' ve never seen anything like it. Some present suggested that Edwards was brooding over his lower-than-expected showing in the election. But when the Gov- ernor emerged, it was not a combative Ed- win Edwards that addressed supporters. People Began to speak of Voting for ABE— Anyone But Edwards I have determined, being the politician that 1 am . . . that under the circumstances since 1 did not run first it would be inappro- priate for me to continue in this election, the man who had been the dominant force in Louisiana politics for fifteen years told the crowd. Edwin Edwards is not a man who takes losing elections well. He last lost in 1954 when Raymond J. Laborde defeated him for student body president of Marksville High School. Coincidentally, Edwards did not win his hometown of Marksville — Roemer did. The similarities between the Edwin Ed- wards of 1971 and Governor-Elect Buddy Roemer are startling. Both are viewed as re- form candidates, both have approximately five years of congressional experience and neither was a part of the established political regime when elected. For his part, Roemer is optimistic. 1 put the challenge out — they can ' t stop it now. Most people in America will never come to Louisiana. They ' ll know us only by our repu- tation. We ought to tell America we are free at last, he said. • — Jonathan Epstein 63