Gorbachev to speak on campus tonight

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will speak tonight at 6 p.m. during a World Affairs Council event at Irvine Auditorium. Two hundred University student ticket-holders -- who will have seats at the event thanks to the generosity of a University alumnus -- will have the opportunity to see Gorbachev speak on the post-Cold War world as he is awarded the World Affairs Council's International Statesman of the Year. President Sheldon Hackney will introduce Gorbachev, who will then deliver a speech that will be translated concurrently -- paragraph by paragraph -- from Russian into English. But Gorbachev's current troubles transcend the language barrier. His wife, Raisa, suffered a stroke two years ago and was hospitalized for treatment this Monday in Virginia, where the former Soviet leader was speaking to the University of Virginia. As a result of his wife's fatigue, for which she will receive prolonged treatment in Moscow, Gorbachev canceled two scheduled appearances this week, including one at the Rochester Institute of Technology. But the ceremony at Irvine, which will be followed by an invitation-only dinner reception at the University Museum, is still on for tomorrow -- much to the relief of the hundreds who waited for hours for Connaissance-distributed free tickets. "I'm not surprised," World Affairs Council Vice President Craig Snyder said when told of the long line of students who waited to get tickets, adding that the $20 tickets offered to the public-at-large were sold out almost immediately. Students have expressed great excitement about the world leader's appearance at the University. "This is another major coup for the University," Connaissance Vice Chairperson Guy Raviv said at the time of the announcement. "First we got [Former British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher, then [exiled President Jean-Bertrand] Aristide of Haiti, and now, Gorbachev."