Nicholls State University - La Pirogue Yearbook (Thibodaux, LA)

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And, now presenting . . .cont. When the election was set the third week of january. Lloyd DeMers. a psychology sophomore, faced Kelly Lafont. a general studies freshman who previously served in the senate as a business senator. The contrast of the two candidates marked the election: DeMers had not been actively involved before the elec- tion. while Lafont had already spent a year within the SGA. But DeMers received the backing of the outgoing SEB personnel. . DeMers came away with an easy victory over Lafont. immediately bringing in a group of committee chairper- sons new to the Student Entertainment Board. Working with DeMers were Ric Olivier, sophomore, concerts: Mike Higgins. junior, lectures: and Tim Kelly, freshman, public- ity. DeMers' first task after being sworn in on a Wednesday was a Thursday show featuring comedian Steinberg, who had cancelled an earlier showing due to physical exhaus- tion. The show was scheduled before DeMers' election. As DeMers recalled after the two-show performance, The only work left to be done was the scheduling of Steinberg and the reservation of Peltier Auditorium. The concert was moved into Talbot Theatre and the SEB got the help of Greg Mullins, assistant professor of speech and technical director for the campus theatrical productions. Two students, David Guidry and Nicky Mau- cele. handled the lighting and sound, respectively. free of charge. Steinbergs sharp comments the holds a master's degree in Englishj on Nixon, college life and his well-known mad psychiatrist routine made him a huge success with the capacity crowds. Financially, the SEB took a beating. los- ing S3.575 since student tickets were only 50 cents. But DeMers and his chairmen had the same opinion as past SEB personnel: produce an enjoyable show for the students, without worrying about making a profit. For the remainder of the spring semester, a budget of 824,236.95 was submitted to the Student Senate, a budget which would later cause a controversy. With the announcement of NBG's Saturday Night 's scheduling a special live Mardi Gras show from New Orle- ans. three weeks later an attempt was made to book john Belushi and Dan Ackroyd for a comedy show. At the last minute Ackroyd pulled out and his agent wanted to sub- stitute Michael O'Donahue, a writer and former contrib- utor to National Lampoon, for the same price - 34.000 Citing this and other demands tprivate limousine, no student contactl the board cancelled the show in the interest of the students, who. they felt, would not be get- ting a fair deal. Three weeks later. at the March 15 meeting of the Stu- dent Senate. SGA President Danny Gavell read a one-line statement from Lloyd DeMers resigning as SEB director. Dt-Mers did not attend the meeting. DeMers' final act was to reimburse the SEB for half of his monthly salary tS02.50j since he worked only 15 days tilllVlilt't1l1. DeMers later said there were many reasons for his resig- nation. but the most important were problems within the SEB itself. I was disappointed in some of my committee chairmen, he said, not mentioning names. My judgment was lacking in some of the people I chose, he explained. Lack of volunteers and what DeMers considered negli- gence by some of his chairmen added more work than he could handle. He added he receives support from Gary Whipple, Student Union director, and Bill Borskey. SEB advisor. Disappointment in his own performance and fail- ure to carry through some of his projects added to the frustration, he said. The remaining chairmen gathered and elected freshman Tim Kelly to serve as interim director until a regular elec- tion could be held to fill the remainder of DeMers' term, which would have ended in December. In the seven weeks of his term, DeMers and his chair- men did manage to schedule a semester's activities of entertainment. Coffeehouses were continued with Frank Hall and john Hiatt in the Student Union. Edward Rosenfeld delivered a lecture on How to Get High Without Drugs, which covered areas from medita- tion to hyperventilation. More dances were added, includ- ing joining the nation-wide trend of discos. In the cinema field. handled by Olivier, movies included David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth, George Segal in Blackbird, The Lost Honor of Katrina Blum, Steppenwolf, and the rock opera Tommy. For Freak Week. a double feature of Reefer Madness, a semi-seri- ous look at the evils of marijuana in the '30s, and High on the Range were shown. Andrew Antoine, concerts chairman, booked one con- cert for the spring semester, an outdoor affair featuring two or three bands. This concert and band for the annual spring ball came up before the senate the weekaafter Dem- ers' resignation, which led to a complete review of the financial books of the SEB. When interim chairman Kelly went before the senate, he announced there was not enough money for the dance band. or enough for the concert, featuring Crack the Sky. Figures released by SGA treasurer Dave Doherty, responsible for keeping the SEB's financial records, Sain S2.483.91 remained unbudgeted in the concerts account -- when S3.800 was needed. Questions by the senators centered on DeMers' use of money. including equipment purchases and paying work- ers with petty cash. Kelly said he did not know of the pur- chases. which included a tape deck and turntable, until after they had been made. but he felt they were needed. DeMers explained Borsky and Doherty had to know of the purchases, since both had to sign the checks to buy the equipment. SEB checks are not valid without both signa- tures. Petty cash, instead of checks, was used to pay workers because of the problems of getting the checks, DeMers contended. He added all transactions were marked in a ledger book kept by Borskey. The solution put together by SGA President Gavell, Kelly and Vic Lafont. SGA financial committee chairman, involved moving money from the lectures and phone accounts and the entire SEB reserve to put up 53,817 for the concert. Money for the spring ball came from various accounts within the SGA itself at Gavell's suggestion. Other questions about movie expenditures and the loca- tion of equipment were answered the following week. Per- haps the biggest irony of the affair was the cancellation of

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And, now presentin . . . cont. Of course, whatever a hypnotist does next is interesting to Watch. Seven hundred students crammed in Peltier Auditorium to watch james Mapes, a hypnotistfactorf psychic researcher, perform. Using an experiment which my manager cut out of my act six months ago, Mapes borrowed and sealed a S100 bill in an envelope and had a student mix it with four oth- ers. Mentioning that the trick had already cost him 391320, the man who holds a master's degree in theatre arts and psychology, ordered four envelopes burned and opened the fifth to reveal the S100 bill. Mapes appeared as relieved as anyone else to see the money in the envelope. The second half of his show involved picking 16 stu- dents at random and after hypnotizing them, performing various experiments on them. Among the experiments were sampling a 10095 powerful marijuana joint, in real- ity a normal cigarette: imagine yourselves nude, then imagine that the audience was nude: and watching a kid- die show at age nine, then transforming it to a tear jerker. Mapes' closing suggestion was for the students to enjoy going to class, have plenty of energy and get better grades. His suggestion was at an appropriate time: the week before midterm exams. A third lecturer who drew an interested crowd was from the National Assassination Bureau, who talked on Who Killed IFK? Examining all of the already known evidence, the speaker also pointed to recently disclosed memos about Lee Harvey Oswald and revelations of CIA work both inside and outside of the United States. The only major attempt at a rock concert came in Octo- ber, with the scheduling of a Canadian singer Gino Vanelli. Vanelli had been the only profit-making concert for the SEB in the previous spring. But the scheduling itself of Vanelli worked against the success of the concert, since the contract was confirmed only six days before the actual Civic Center concert and only after he had made appearances in New Orleans. Still, the SEB did not take a bath financially and lose any great amount of money. The next month, concerts chairperson Ray Roy came back with Valdy and the Hometown Band and Frank Hall in a Peltier Auditorium concert. The entertainment board continued the revival of the '60's Coffeehouse, having a single performer or duo come into the Student Union for afternoon shows. Mark Henley, who had led the way, returned again for a show, along with Miesberg and Walters, themselves col- lege students who had graduated into musical performing. Nat Kerns, dance chairperson, had the task of searching for bands which would attract students. Several added attractions of low-cost beer and sometimes free admission helped in crowd attraction. One of the major arrangements of the dance committee was to co-sponsor with the SCA and alumni federation a dance featuring Madonna in a ballroom of the Louisiana Superdome after the Third Annual River Bell Classic foot- ball game between Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana University. But the fall SEB was not without its conflicts. Andrew Sioux Hill attempted to schedule three speakers, a civil rights spokesperson, a Ku Klux Klan leader and an Ameri- can lndian Movement KAIMJ representative, for one eve- ning. Due to scheduling problems, Hill was only able to secure Bill Wilkinson, grand wizard of the KKK to speak one night, with the hopes of presenting the others at a later date. Threats of violence, demonstrations and other possible action caused the cancellation of Wilkinson's talk, not helping the SEB's lecture series. David Steinberg, a topical comedian who had hosted the Tonight Show on NBC. also cancelled the second half of his tour, including Nicholls, when his doctor put him in the hospital for physical exhaustion. Another speaker of sorts gave the SEB problems, when comedienne Lily Tomlin walked out on her second show in Peltier Auditorium. Financially, the entertainment board didn't make a profit, but this was not the major goal of Lyons or his chairpersons. No admission was charged for Berger or Mapes, while Tomlin tickets were only SB2. The conclusion of Lyons' term as SEB director gave no hint at the problems and changes which would follow the next semester. The first hint came with the November election of a new SEB director, or rather the lack of an election of one. Although most students and SGA officials thought it would be a simple transition to a new Student Entertain- ment Board, it took three months and two elections to bring it about. The first election on Wednesday, November 17, could have served as a hint of the problems which would follow the SEB in the spring. The SCA judicial Board, supervisor of the election, declared it null and void, also throwing out two consitutional amendments in the same election. The reasons given by board chairman Al Suffrin were lack of publicity, negligence of poll workers to maintain order, lack of guidelines for write-in ballots and illegal campaigning. Only one student officially filed before the deadline, but two other students attempted write-in campaigns, which led to rumors of ballot stuffing. Although Suffrin did not put the blame on the Student Senate, he noted that almost 802, of the poll workers were senators. Without even enough time to re-schedule the election before final exams, it was postponed until january. Even before the new SEB director had a chance to take office. part of the spring semester budget was allocated. SEB advisor Bill Borskey scheduled a one-month budget to provide entertainment until the new director could be chosen. SEB

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