Page 8A
---
Wednesday, September 18, 1996
Bird's EyeView
THE NEW YORKER
MARCH 20, 1984
A WEEKEND IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
GARDEN STREET, NEW YORK, MAY 15, 1984
THE NATIONAL GUILD FOR SAFETY AND HOME COURTS
UNION ASSOCIATION
THE LONDON EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
THE FILM ASSOCIATION
NEW YORK POST
THE NEW YORKER
ARE YOUR SENATORS DOING A COMPLETE JOB?
STUDENT
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SENATE
Office hours?
A meeting every two weeks. One hour a week in the office. It doesn't sound like much in the way of commitment. But every year there are those who have problems with it. Some just don't follow through on their rledge.
That is why last week, standing before her colleagues in Student Senate, Alicia Vause issued a stern reminder to KU student senators.
"A majority of you are not fulfilling your office hours," Vause told them. "It's important to keep them. Let me know what you plan to do."
As Student Senate Executive Secretary, Vause tracks the attendance at University of Kansas Student Senate meetings and ensures that senators are holding office hours.
Senators are asked but not required to keep one office hour a week. They also are not allowed to miss more than three meetings a semester.
One month into the fall, with only one meeting in the books,
Vense reports mixed results.
"There were only three senators gone with unexcused absences," Vause said of the first meeting held last Wednesday. "That's very good."
As for office hours:
"Not everyone has been doing that." Vause said. "But it is still early in the semester, and people are working on their schedules."
Working on schedules or not, senators taking their duties lightly. "I rest it later."
Missing too many meetings can mean expulsion from the senate. Role is taken at the beginning and end of each senate meeting. If a senator is gone at the beginning of the meeting, but they're at the
end of the meeting, it is recorded as half an absence. If the senator never shows it is recorded as a full absence.
Recorded as the Senate rules and regulations state that attendance is recorded on a per semester basis. Any senator who has two unexcused absences or three total absences, excused or not, is put on suspension.
if the senator fights the suspension they must go before the Senate Executive Council. If the council finds that the senators have good excuses for missing, the suspension is waived.
If a senator does not fight the suspension or the council does not buy the senator's excuse, the senator is kicked out.
Liberal Arts and Sciences senator Scott Sullivan likes the system.
likes the system.
"It's a good system that gives people a second chance," Sullivan said. "I'm not sure that there is a better way to do it."
Missing the first meeting were Robin Fisher, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, Sara Collas, graduate senator, and Byron Cohen, off-campus senator.
Cohen is aware of the policy but said he will rarely attend an entire meeting. He is involved in Natural Ties, a group that sponsors mentally retarded individuals. It meets at the same time as student senate.
student senate.
"I don't want to give that up because it is very important to me."
Cohen said of the group. "I have been doing it for three years. So I have struck a deal with the people in student senate office."
The deal Cohen said he struck was that as long as he is present when role is taken, then he would not be in danger of losing his seat.
The attendance policy may be a tool to get uninterested senators to the meetings.
Ward Cook, a returning Nunemaker senator, said as the year goes on, attendance at meetings will drop. "I feel that it is too bad to have an attendance policy
reel that it is too bad to have an attendance policy and enforce it," Cook said. "In an ideal world these people should be some of the most dedicated at the University. But that is not always the case."
A more prevalent problem is the lack of senators holding office hours. Senators are supposed to tell Vause which hour they will work each week and then sign in during that hour.
Sullivan, a second year senator and chair of the University Affairs committee doesn't keep office hours.
"I don't have office hours because I am a committee chair and it is not required." Sullivan said.
Office hours are not required of any senator by Senate rules and regulation. But Cook said that they were an important part of the job.
JOB:
"They are not essential to keep student senate running," Cook said. "But if a constituent wants to talk to you about something, it is nice if they can call the office and know when you will be in."
Student Body Vice-President Jaime Johnson is considering making office hours mandatory. But for now he is putting that on hold
"There are times of the year when people get busy or lose interest and office hour attendance goes down," Johnson said. "But right now I have decided to give them a couple of weeks and see how it goes. I may not get around to writing that legislation. I don't see office hours as the most important thing to being a senator."
Being early in the semester it is impossible to tell how many senators will be kicked out and how many will just stop coming. But there will be some senators who will give up on their commitment.
there will be some sense in "There are always going to be some people who are doing this for the wrong reason," Sullivan said. "Those who don't care about it or get bored will end up, one way or another, leaving."
Critical Volume
Music reviews by Robert Moczydlowsky
rmoczudk@falcon.cc.ukans.edu.
When Social Distortion finished the 18-month tour after the 1993 release of the band's critically acclaimed fifth album, Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, lead singer Mike Ness faced an unexpected rush of personal and professional problems.
"In the span of a couple of months I went to my grandmother's funeral, lost a close friend to a tragic accident, and started this huge legal battle over the rights to our first two records," he said. "It wasn't a real good time to be me. I was suddenly centered on something I wasn't attracted to, and that was this ugly court case."
Social Distortion's legal battle centered on the band's 1983 release Mommy's Little Monster and the unrelated album that followed two years later. Ness was reluctant to discuss the details of the court settlement, but he did say that his band won complete ownership of the albums' master tapes and that the band's early singles, released mainly on seven inch vinyl in the early 80s, now can be found on a new compilation from Mainliner Records.
photograph from
"We eventually got the whole legal thing behind us, and that helped," he said. "Unfortunately, right about that time I buried my grandmother. Before we could concentrate on making another record, I had to stop and live life for awhile. Otherwise, what was I going to write about — the last tour?"
Ness' search for a new set of experiences ultimately led to the band's choice of studios for their work on White Light, White Heat, White Trash. After tracking some of the early demo tapes in the band's home studio in Los Angeles, Social Distortion relocated to New York City.
relocated to New York is really a lot of what this record is about, music-wise." Ness said. "I stopped listening to as much rockability and Hank Williams and turned back more to Los Angeles punk rock and the Clash and some of the more popular bands right now. I also started going to see bands again, and that really helped. We went into the studio knowing that this record would be really important to our future, and we wanted to make a record that wouldn't bury us. Musically, this record shows more what we can do, rather than what we like to listen to."
Unlike the band's previous two records, which also were released on Epic Records and were not a part of the band's legal battle, White Light, White Heat, White Trash does not lean heavily on late 1950s country or rockability. Instead, this record embraces a decidedly punk sound, though most songs do incorporate an intricate set of chord changes and guitar solos. Gone are Ness' trademark guitar pick slides at the start of each song, which instead open with seven
Social Distortion's latest album cover
measures of feedback or a high-hat count down.
Also new to the band is drummer Chuck Biscuits, who played in several long-standing punk outfits, including D.O.A. and the Circle Jerks, and most recently toured with Danzig.
Of course, no Social Distortion album would be complete without the band covering one of their favorite songs. The same goes for White Light, White Heat, White Trash, but this time the cover song — a blistering punk version of the Rolling Stones' Under My Thumb — appears as a secret bonus track that closes the album.
The album's first single, I Was Wrong, has been in heavy rotation on both the Lazer
Satchel The Family (Epic Records). Last week, we talked about some of the outside influences that have shaped the more experimental sound on Pearl Jam's latest record. One such influence was the band Brad, which was formed by Regan Hagar
and MTV for the last two weeks. Though the record was released only yesterday, this early airplay is a pretty safe indicator that this record will be a sizable hit. That ought to be enough for Mike Ness and company to have some fun, for a change.
Social Distortion White
Light, Light, White Heat, White
Trash (Epic/5160 Records).
Overall, out of 10:7.
In 1995, Satchel signed a contract with Epic Records and released an album that was met with critical acclaim and sluggish record sales. Even though the album made several magazines' Best of 1995 lists and band toured with the Afghan Whigs, public interest in Satchel remained minimal.
Shawn Smith and Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard in 1993.
After the Brad album Shame was released, Smith and Hagar recruited John Hoag and Mike Berg to form a more permanent band, Satchel.
However, the band has released an album that should change all of that. Though Gossard still plays onstage with Satchel occasionally, he has taken on the role of producer for the band's latest record The Family, an atmospheric mix of keyboards and guitar that will push most listeners' perspective of the Seattle sound to new levels.
Satchel, The Family
If you've heard the new hard-to-find Brad record, or if you enjoy albums that can reverse the tension of a long day or a rough night with subtle harmonies, get this record soon. That way you can say you knew about Satchel before all the record stores and radio stations started marketing the band with that annoying little sticker that says "Satchel: The band produced by and featuring members of Pearl Jam."
Overall, out of 10:9
NOTE: Submissions should be addressed to Critical Volume, care of the Kansan, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. All local submissions will be reviewed.