THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
ubspectrum.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Volume 62 No. 57
*Editorial*
Dear President Tripathi, It’s your turn to talk about the Heights
We are tired of one-sided conversations and unanswered phone calls, of turned cheeks and of the ticking time bomb that is the University Heights. So today, we want to make a deal: We are reserving Friday’s front page for you. You have the opportunity to say whatever you want about the problems in the Heights, how you feel UB should or should not handle it, respond to students’ concerns or write whatever comes into your head. By emailing your response to the address at the bottom of this editorial, you guarantee a spot to answer the criticisms that your school is facing without fear of censorship or spoiled words – a spot to instill faith in the student body. However, if we don’t receive anything from you by 10 p.m. on Thursday, the front page will remain blank. Sometimes nothing speaks louder than silence. We are faced with short deadlines and quick responses day after day, so we realize this isn’t a lot of time. But we are tired of waiting. This is The Spectrum’s second editorial of the school year regarding the University Heights district of Buffalo. In October, we made a call for action to UB, encouraging – nay, pleading – with the school to make a push to take care of the living conditions that UB’s off-campus residents are subjected to and that UB so willingly endorses as alternative, affordable housing. In case you failed to notice (but we know you didn’t), Monday’s paper was dedicated to the area. Our eight-page issue was almost
Your students do not need guardian angels, completely occupied by a comprehensive outline of the crime but it does seem like at this point they need and conditions in the Heights. We a miracle to actually get and hold your athad interviews with international tention. Crime after crime and violation students who had few other op- after violation, students are told just how tions besides their unsafe, unten- little the school is willing to do to help ded homes. We had other residents Heights residents. Black told The Spec– current and former – who felt trum if a student feels unsafe where strong enough about the matter he or she lives, that person needs to to share their own experiences of move. To him, that choice is as simple as the choice of drinking alcohol break-ins and gunpoint robberies. And not once have we heard back or the time you pick to go out (yes, from you. Not one single word. that is actually what he compared it We’ve seen you jump at the oppor- to). Meanwhile, somebody else is maktunity to answer questions about school-wide expansion and even ing the choice to break your windows gave a full interview to a Spectrum or steal your money. staff writer on state funding for the These are not isolated inciCenter of Excellence for Materi- dents or uncommon als Informatics earlier this month occurrences; this is (and you responded quite quickly, at what happens in the that). This is your school and these Heights – rather are your students and hearing your frequently, in fact, thoughts on the negative aspects of and increasingly the former that hurt the latter has so. Robbery numbeen an impossible mission. You bers have gone and your staff want pats on the down since 2008, back when something good hap- but crime – includpens but pass the blame on nega- ing homicide, rape, tive press. robbery, assault, larceny It’s becoming increasingly evident burglary, that we are being played, but we are and vehicle theft – not the victims of this game; the remains unchained. victims are all the students who are Five hundred twenbeing misguided and misinformed ty-three crimes in by a school that is supposed to have the Heights in 2008, their best interests at heart. It’s sup- 523 crimes in the posed to be a school that will pro- Heights in 2012. tect them, yet Dennis Black, your And enough stuvice president of University Life dents who live there and Services, has said you’re “not in feel unsafe and want done the protection business” and you’re something “not guardian angels that can travel about it. with 40,000 people wherever it is Continued on page 3 they are or wherever they go.” Art by Jeanette Chwan
Henderson finds home on stage Tony-nominated actor directs play at UB SARA DINATALE Senior News Editor
Nicholas Fischetti /// The Spectrum
Buffalo residents and UB students play pick-up basketball in Clark Hall Tuesday afternoon. A man pulled a gun following a pick-up game Monday.
UB will not yet provide answers about South Campus gunman University Police and Clark Hall employees refuse to release any information regarding the man who pulled out a handgun in the South Campus gymnasium at 3 p.m. on Monday. The whereabouts of the suspect, who is not affiliated with UB, have not been made public. However, UPD has a “strong lead” on who the suspect is, according to UB Spokesman John Della Contrada. The perpetrator was last seen leaving the east side of Clark Hall. Della Contrada said it is believed the man left campus. The incident was an isolated occurrence, and the university community is not at risk, UB Alert
released at 8 p.m. on Monday. Students received the initial alert via email and text at 3:37 p.m. The man pulled out a handgun during an argument regarding a pick-up basketball game, Della Contrada said. Whom he was arguing with is not public information at this time. The suspect is described as a black male wearing a green and black hooded sweatshirt, grey shorts and black and white sneakers. Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Inside
Stephen McKinley Henderson found his third family in theater. His mother – a single parent who had two children in her teens – was unable to support him herself and gave him to another family. The reason: poverty. Henderson, now 63, had to cross state lines on the bridge from Kansas into Missouri to see his mother and siblings, which eventually included two sisters. Henderson, who was the only child to the couple that raised him, craved a greater sense of belonging. He found his answers on the stage. And in theater, he’d eventually find great success, a Tony nomination for his role in Fences, an unforgettable relationship with its Pulitzer-winning playwright August Wilson and work with renowned actors in theater and film. Since 1987, Henderson, a professor UB’s Department of Theater and Dance, has been splitting his time between the stage and the classroom. His most recent acting credits include the Oscar-nominated film Lincoln and Aaron Sorkin’s HBO show The Newsroom. He is currently in the midst of directing UB’s production of Forgiving John Lennon. But Henderson’s life fits together in the realm of theater; he believes that every experience he’s encountered prepared him for the next one.
Opinion 3 News 4
Aminata Diallo /// The Spectrum
Professor Stephen McKinley Henderson, second from left, in black, directs students in Forgiving John Lennon. Henderson has a rich career in theater and film. He recently appeared in the Oscar-nominated film Lincoln.
Michael Dempsey, a sophomore theater performance major who is in Forgiving John Lennon, pointed out there are celebrities and there are artists and Henderson, whom he described as humble, is an artist. “The first day we had rehearsal, we had a table reading,” Dempsey said. “When he walked in, he sat down and said, ‘Yes, I was in Lincoln. Yes I was Tony nominated, but let’s never talk about that ever again.’” Henderson jokes, “It takes 20 years to become an overnight suc-
Life 8, 9
cess.” He put all that time in and then some. But Henderson understands the value of a journey – it is an actor’s fuel. “So much of your life is the only pallet of colors you have to dip into; you have got to paint with your experiences,” he explained. He can captivate a crowd on stage or “he can hold you spellbound” with stories of his past experiences, according to friend, colleague and former UB professor Anna Kay France. Continued on page 6
See more on Henderson, Forgiving John Lennon and the Buffalo theater scene on pages 10-11.
Classifieds & Daily Delights 13
Arts & Entertainment 10,11 Sports 14