A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

g their responsibility for years . '' She said that law schools have been provid

ing sign language interpreters and other special services since a 1977 federal d

isability act went into effect . `` When they got out of law school and went for

 the bar exam review , they 'd say , `` Hey , where 's my interpreter ? Where 's

 my simultaneous transcriber ? ' ' ' Mayerson said . Under the consent decree , 

Bar/Bri also agreed to educate its staff about the needs of disabled students an

d include information about auxiliary aids and services in its advertising .

 LONG BEACH , Calif. . They wanted a role model , a teacher , a motivator of you

ng people to issue the final rousing challenge to the class of '94 at California

 State University , Long Beach . And there he was at the podium Friday morning ,

 an unlikely sight in black robes and mortar board instead of Dodger blue Tommy 

Lasorda . Mills College in Oakland , Calif. , wasn't as lucky filling its commen

cement marquee . After rejection by Oprah , Whoopi and Chilean-born author Isabe

l Allende , the all-female school settled for Alice Waters , the owner of Chez P

anisse restaurant in nearby Berkeley . She used the occasion Sunday to warn abou

t the hazards of fast food . `` She was available and that 's how we settled on 

her , '' said Sharon Jones , executive director of college relations at Mills . 

With more than 3,500 schools hunting graduation speakers this year , administrat

ors must stalk eye-catching names for months and put the grip on influential alu

ms to avoid stifled yawns and even embarrassment at commencement time . Lasorda 

was the first choice for Long Beach 's College of the Arts even though the longt

ime manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and diet-drink pitchman never attended co

llege . His strongest higher education credential is an honorary membership in t

he Valparaiso University alumni association , but that was of no concern . The i

dea , was to sprinkle a little Dodger glory on the program and make the point th

at sometimes art imitates baseball . `` It 's very difficult to get into the maj

or leagues and it 's very difficult to get into a Spielberg film , '' said Howar

d V. Burman , chairman of the theater arts department . In what may be the only 

graduation covered by ESPN , the professor of the clubhouse talked about what it

 takes to succeed in life ( nope , it 's not a split-finger fastball ) . Accordi

ng to Jay San-Martin , the student body president , Lasorda 's anecdotes and ban

quet-circuit wisdom was a hit with the 600 aspiring Pacinos , Baryshnikovs and V

an Cliburns . `` Students have been flailed , for lack of a better word , in the

 past by speakers , who although intelligent or renown in their field , have not

 necessarily had a good connection with the student class , '' said San-Martin ,

 whose position has required him to sit through seven commencement addresses so 

far this year . `` Tommy has the ability to make that connection and he did toda

y . '' In 1947 , George Marshall elevated the standards for commencement speeche

s when he chose Harvard University 's graduation exercises to reveal his plan fo

r redeeming postwar Europe . For the most part , however , college officials say

 they are just happy to find speakers that bridge the gap between the profound a

nd the popular . The problem is that the small circle of instantly recognizable 

people who can do that President Clinton , his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton , act

ors such as Edward James Olmos are too busy to honor all but a few invitations .

 High-demand speakers such as poet Maya Angelou , who charges $ 20,000 , are too

 expensive for schools with paltry budgets or only honorary degrees to offer . (

 Begin optional trim ) Some Stanford seniors complained because President Gerhar

d Casper invited a former alum and distinguished Yale law professor , Stephen Ca

rter , to speak at the June ceremony , instead of Angelou , author Scott Turow o

r David Letterman . A student newspaper editorial lamented that the Palo Alto , 

Calif. , school could not attract a heavyweight for the graduation of its 100th 

class . In a bizarre twist , University of Southern California 's graduation pro

gram May 6 did not list an official commencement speaker . The reason : Two of i

ts honorary degree recipients , producers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas , as

ked not to be billed as commencement speakers , although they offered limited re

marks , a school spokesman said . In the game of lining up speakers , the Milwau

kee School of Engineering claimed a minor public relations coup in February when

 it induced actor James Doohan , who played `` Scotty '' on the original `` Star

 Trek , '' to give the winter commencement address . Doohan was invited and give

n an honorary degree , school officials said , because he had inspired a generat

ion of Trekkers to study engineering . Fortune and luck shined on Whittier ( Cal

if. ) . College , however a personal plea from its president during a London tri

p a year ago led to Friday 's extemporaneous commencement address from Anglican 

Archbishop Trevor Huddleston , an anti-apartheid activist who stood at Nelson Ma

ndela 's side during the recent South African presidential inauguration . ( End 

optional trim ) A commencement address is important because it helps defines bot

h school and student , said Harvard education professor Arthur Levine . The coll

ege lays bare its institutional values by selecting a speaker and the speech its

elf becomes the `` last lesson '' for students heading into the cruel world , he

 said . Most important , though , the show must go on . Some college officials f

ind themselves resorting to old-fashioned networking , cajoling and persistence 

to snare a name commencement speaker . At Mills , for instance , administrators 

went to work months ago to sign-up any one of the candidates forwarded for consi

deration by the senior class . ( Begin optional trim ) The list included Texas n

ewspaper columnist Molly Ivins , talk show host Oprah Winfrey , actresses Whoopi

 Goldberg or Emma Thompson , California State Treasurer Kathleen Brown , authors

 Ursula K. Le Guin and Sandra Cisneros , and restaurateur Waters . Jones , the M

ills administrator , said calls to Winfrey 's Chicago production company reveale

d she was `` getting married and didn't want to do anything more than concentrat

e on that . '' Jones then tried to reach Goldberg , whose hometown is in nearby 

Berkeley . `` I actually knew Whoopi 's mother and someone else knew where Whoop

i 's mother shopped , they knew the neighborhood in which Whoopi 's mother lived

 and the church she attended , '' said Jones . But when Goldberg 's mother volun

teered the phone number for Goldberg 's agent , the college learned that the sta

r was busy filming three movies at once . Mills officials faxed a December lette

r to Allende , who lives in nearby Marin County , only to find out she was on a 

tour promoting three new books . With time running out , Mills officials called 

Waters , a celebrated organic food environmentalist who made headlines when she 

once tried to break Clinton of the hamburger habit . ( End optional trim ) At Lo

ng Beach , Dean Wade Hobgood said Lasorda was a unanimous choice . `` There were

 a half of dozen names mentioned and Tommy 's name rose to the surface , '' Hobg

ood said about a meeting with his department chairmen earlier this year . Hobgoo

d said college administrators singled out Lasorda , in part , because his daught

er had graduated from the dance program in 1977 . In addition , the chairman of 

the theater arts department had earned favor with team management with his play 

`` Boys of Summer , '' a musical about the old Brooklyn Dodgers that is now head

ed for off-Broadway . A Dodgers official said Lasorda readily agreed to speak , 

because the team was scheduled for a day off . But Burman , who is also a Dodger

 season ticket holder , said he sealed the deal by going to an early morning bat

ting practice and making the commencement pitch personally to Lasorda . Using an

ecdotes about determination , Lasorda never mentioned the word `` art '' in his 

talk but in something of a locker room speech , he exhorted graduates to perseve

re and `` outwork your competitor . '' `` You are going to face a lot of challen

ges , you are going to be in a world that if you are not fully prepared , like m

any , you will fall by the way side , '' he said . `` But what you have learned 

here in this beautiful , wonderful university will carry you through for the res

t of your life . ''

 WASHINGTON Thirteen senior White House officials Friday volunteered to chip in 

to help a fired senior aide repay the government the cost of his helicopter trip

 to play golf near Camp David , and the White House acknowledged that a second h

elicopter took part in the outing . In his resignation letter released Friday , 

the aide , David Watkins , was unrepentant . `` I firmly believe that my actions

 were in fulfillment of the responsibilities of my position , '' said Watkins , 

who was head of the White House Office of Administration . Watkins , a longtime 

Arkansas friend of President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton , sai

d `` there simply was no effort on my part to use White House or military equipm

ent for personal or recreational purposes '' and that his `` sole motivation was

 determining how you could utilize Camp David more frequently . '' The president

 told Watkins in a response that `` I understand your reasons '' for resigning a

nd thanked Watkins for his `` accomplishments large and small '' at the White Ho

use and for his `` loyal friendship . '' In a separate letter , White House Chie

f of Staff Thomas F. `` Mack '' McLarty , who is among those contributing to rep

ay the cost of the helicopters , called Watkins 's decision to take the flight t

o play golf `` an unfortunate error . '' Watkins , who left the White House Frid

ay , was reprimanded last year for his role in the firing of White House travel 

office staff members . The aides contributing to the repayment fund included nea

rly the entire senior White House hierarchy , including the two deputy chiefs of

 staff , Philip Lader and Harold Ickes , special counsel Lloyd N . Cutler , seni

or advisers George Stephanopoulos and David R. Gergen and communications directo

r Mark Gearan . Clinton on Thursday said he was `` very upset '' one White House

 official described him as `` furious '' when he learned that Watkins and Alphon

so Maldon Jr. , director of the White House Military Office , had taken one of t

he presidential helicopters to New Market , Md. , Tuesday afternoon for the golf

 outing . The president promised that the cost to taxpayers would be repaid . On

e White House source said the idea of having White House staffers contribute to 

the repayment fund arose when Watkins balked at paying the full amount . An adve

rtising executive in Little Rock , Ark. , before joining the White House staff ,

 Watkins is worth more than $ 1 million , according to his financial disclosure 

statement . Gearan described the repayment effort as a `` gesture of friendship 

to Mr. Watkins and Mr. Maldon. '' Another official said that only Watkins is con

tributing to defray the cost , but could not provide any dollar amount . Maldon 

is being reassigned elsewhere in the administration and was not asked to repay t

he costs because he was acting at Watkins 's direction , the official said . Ask

ed whether the decision of senior staffers to help out Watkins suggests that his

 action is not taken seriously , Gearan said , `` That would be a misread of the

 situation . '' Rather , he said : `` We accept that he acted in good faith but 

recognize there was an error and he has resigned. . . . His colleagues are being

 supportive . '' The White House could not provide an estimate for the cost of t

he flights , but the military estimates the cost at $ 2,380 for each hour of fli

ght time . The helicopter that carried Watkins and Maldon , flew for about 30 mi

nutes to Camp David in Maryland 's Catoctin Mountains and then 15 minutes to the

 golf course . It then returned to Washington and flew back to the golf course t

o pick up the pair at the end of their round , meaning flight time of more than 

two hours . The White House said the military also would be reimbursed for the c

ost of a second helicopter , but said it could provide no information on the sec

ond craft 's flight time . Gearan said that helicopter was on a `` training miss

ion '' but acknowledged that it would `` probably not '' have flown had the firs

t helicopter not been in the air . White House officials initially denied report

s of other golfers that a second helicopter was involved but later Friday acknow

ledged that the second one had flown up to Maryland .

 SAN FRANCISCO Former police officer Tom Gerard , who fled to the Philippines af

ter he was accused of spying for the Anti-Defamation League , pleaded no contest

 Friday to one charge of illegally accessing police computer records . Gerard 's

 plea brings to a close the spying scandal that rocked the prominent Jewish civi

l rights group last year and outraged thousands of people and activist groups ta

rgeted by the league 's private intelligence operation . Gerard , a onetime CIA 

agent who voluntarily returned from self-imposed exile to face charges , is the 

only person to be prosecuted in the scandal . He will serve 45 days in a work ca

mp and pay a fine of $ 2,500 . Last fall , San Francisco District Attorney Arlo 

Smith agreed not to bring charges against the Anti-Defamation League after the g

roup promised to pay up to $ 75,000 to Smith 's office to fight hate crimes . Ge

rard , who at one point was an intelligence officer with the San Francisco Polic

e Department , was accused of tapping into police computers and giving confident

ial information on hundreds of people to Roy Bullock , an undercover operative f

or the ADL . Bullock has admitted that the two of them sold some of the informat

ion to an agent for the South African government . Bullock , who was never charg

ed , also used data from Gerard in amassing intelligence files for the ADL on ne

arly 10,000 people and 950 groups , ranging from the Klu Klux Klan to the NAACP 

. After the FBI began investigating the case , Gerard fled to the Philippines an

d resigned from the force . He left behind a briefcase filled with such items as

 false IDs , information about Central American death squads and a black executi

oner-style hood . From the Philippines , he threatened to expose illegal CIA sup

port of death squads if he was prosecuted for his role in the ADL case . Last mo

nth , a San Francisco judge dismissed felony charges against Gerard after the FB

I refused to provide wiretaps and investigative files in the case . Because the 

issue could have been tied up on appeal for years , both sides agreed to the mis

demeanor plea bargain . To prevent the theft of confidential data in the future 

, Smith said , the San Francisco Police Department will require all computer use

rs to have a personal password .

 SOUTHGATE , Calif. Eisenhower , Churchill and their troops were pursuing him 50

 years ago . But they gave up the hunt for Hitler on Friday in South Gate . Lead

ers of an 800-member veterans group planning to have an Adolf Hitler look-a-like

 take a mock drubbing from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and Prime Minister Winston Chu

rchill impersonators at a D-Day anniversary celebration say the enemy is no long

er invited . `` We couldn't find a decent Hitler , '' said Bob Stane , president

 of the B-17 Combat Crewmen & Wingmen 's Association , which is co-sponsoring th

e event at the South Gate Post Office . `` But then , there never was a decent H

itler . '' The veterans said they plan now to hunt instead for Gen. George Patto

n and President Roosevelt look-a-likes who can give the event a more festive loo

k . The uninviting of the enemy is probably just as well , considering the dimen

sions the D-Day gathering was taking Friday . What began two months ago as an in

formal commemorative stamp-canceling ceremony for veterans at the post office ha

s mushroomed into a celebration that is now attracting local , state and federal

 officials , a marching band , an ROTC drill team and military color guards from

 the four branches of the military . `` We 're honoring WWII veterans , so why n

ot do something splashy ? '' said South Gate Postmaster Prescilla Buckley , who 

has ordered a tent and folding chairs and convinced the local Rotary Club to bri

ng refreshments for hundreds . Veterans who actually hit the beaches during the 

June 6 invasion of Europe are being invited to autograph commemorative cachets p

ostmarked with a special `` D-Day June 6 1944-1994 50th Anniversary '' cancellat

ion stamp and tell war stories , she said . The absence of Hitler probably willn

't bother the Sir Winston Churchill impersonator that the veterans have invited 

. That 's because he 's a scowling English bulldog that the veterans say may be 

kept busy licking stamps during the celebration . Dog owner Diane Wuertemburg sa

id her bulldog whose real name is Archie may show up wearing a miniature English

 bowler hat for the occasion . But Eisenhower look-a-like Robert Beer may be dis

appointed . He is a civil engineer who tried to enlist during WWII but was assig

ned instead by the government to ride herd on the production of U.S. warplanes a

t Lockheed and Hughes aircraft plants . Beer said he learned he was a dead-ringe

r for Ike in 1943 when Eisenhower was named supreme commander of Allied troops f

ighting Hitler 's Nazi forces . `` The day he was appointed I came to work and a

 newspaper with his picture in it was on my desk and I thought it was me , '' Be

er said .

 NEW YORK Last Wednesday , United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghal

i denounced the international community for not sending troops to end the fighti

ng in Rwanda , where an estimated 200,000 people have died . He was right to con

demn world leaders for their inaction , but wrong to believe that a U.N. peaceke

eping force is or was the answer . Quite the contrary . The efforts of Boutros-G

hali and others to expand the military role of the United Nations are partly to 

blame for the failure of the international community to develop effective ways t

o prevent such violent conflicts as is in Rwanda . The root cause of the problem

 is the belief that the end of the Cold War opens the door for the United Nation

s to take on ever more responsibility for international peace and security . Thi

s ambition is an article of faith among a small but outspoken group of internati

onalists who regard the U.N. . Charter as a sacred text that was regularly defil

ed by superpower antics during the Cold War . It was also fostered by world lead

ers , especially by former President George Bush , who see the world body as a c

onvenient way to conceal unilateral desires beneath a cloak of international leg

itimacy ( as happened in the case of the Persian Gulf War ) and to shift respons

ibility for troublesome conflicts in nonstrategic places to others ( as happened

 in the case of Angola ) . Finally , the new role was embraced by many relief an

d human-rights organizations that saw it as a means to transform the body into a

 vehicle for humanitarian intervention . Unfortunately , the results of U.N. mil

itary adventures have been disastrous . The Bush administration 's cynical manip

ulation of the Security Council during the Gulf conflict has greatly increased d

istrust of the United Nations in many Third World countries . The misguided huma

nitarian intervention in Somalia has created a general reluctance to get involve

d in other conflicts . The U.N. 's role in military decisions regarding Bosnia h

as complicated and endangered the organization 's humanitarian operations there 

and weakened the credibility of NATO threats to deter Serbian aggression . Now ,

 disagreements over U.N. military-deployment plans and a lack of troop commitmen

ts have become an excuse for inaction in Rwanda . Some analysts contend these pr

oblems can be solved by a series of reforms , among them , adding new permanent 

members to the Security Council ; strengthening the U.N. . Secretariat 's abilit

y to plan and supervise military operations ; creating a standing U.N. military 

force , and establishing criteria for humanitarian intervention under Chapter Se

ven of the U.N. . Charter , which authorizes military action in response to thre

ats to international peace and security . This is wishful thinking . Few of thes

e reforms are likely to be approved by the U.N. membership . Even if they were ,

 it is doubtful that they would produce the outcome their proponents covet . The

 effective use of force requires a degree of consensus and resolve that the Secu

rity Council can only muster in extreme circumstances . The Gulf War and interve

ntion in Somalia were the exceptions that proved the rule . In both instances , 

without American leadership , the United Nations would not have acted or been ab

le to act in the ways it did . None of the reforms now being recommended would c

hange this reality . But even if a significant U.N. military capability could be

 created , it would be a mistake to move down this path . If an attempt were mad

e to use such a force to stop the fighting in Rwanda , or Angola , or any of the

 other civil wars now raging , it would risk involving the United Nations in pro

tracted guerrilla wars . To believe otherwise would require a naive faith that t

he parties to these conflicts would be prepared to give up their objectives and 

bow to U.N. demands without a fight . At the same time , it would be equally nai

ve to believe that a U.N. force would have any more success in ending civil wars

 than the United States had in Vietnam . Just as important , military interventi

on would make it impossible for U.N. officials to maintain the impartiality that

 is usually essential to the success of diplomatic mediation efforts and humanit