The Spectrum Volume 62 Issue 77

After February CO leak, UB begins to install detectors UB offers brand-new BikeShare program THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

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Volume 62 No. 77

THE END OF SOMETHING Longtime English professor Neil Schmitz retires from teaching ERIC CORTELLESSA Editorial Editor

ALEXA STRUDLER, The Spectrum

Neil Schmitz, a retiring professor, sits in his office in Clemens 439. He hangs pictures on his wall of some of literary heroes such as Mark Twain (picture in hands) and Gertrude Stein. He’s been teaching American literature at UB since 1966.

In 1966, Neil Schmitz arrived to UB as it was occupied by the Buffalo Police Department. Armed officers were dispersed throughout campus and public demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War were frequent and chaotic. The entire university was in a period of revolt.

One morning, a student tapped on his office door.

The student began expounding to Schmitz the dire toll the war was taking on America’s youth. He explained the message of the student opposition and was adamant in demanding faculty participation.

He asked the young professor, firmly and directly: Would he assist the students in blowing up the ROTC building?

“I delayed him and deferred him,” he said. “I was really more concerned, initially, that this wasn’t wise of the students to do.”

He doesn’t recall exactly what he said, but he would like to think “it was something witty.” He does remember feeling dubious.

“There was something fishy about him,” Schmitz said. “I just sniffed it.”

Later, he learned that the student who came to see him that day was an agent provocateur. He was working undercover for the Buffalo Police.

It was nearly half a century ago, as Truman Capote published In Cold Blood and The Monkees was on NBC, that Schmitz – a budding academic, fresh out of Stanford University’s graduate English program – came to Buffalo.

Schmitz has been on the faculty ever since and has earned a place as one of

the most prominent and beloved figures in the English Department. He teaches American literature, focusing on Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and William Faulkner.

Schmitz recently announced this would be his last semester teaching. He has tried to close the door quietly and leave matter-of-factly. He will remain as a professor emeritus but will no longer conduct any courses.

Students lament never being able to take a class with him again, and now, as he walks away, they remember the way he spoke to them personally – and still does. His voice refuses to evade them.

For many, it is an endless encounter, like waves to a beach.

‘A most pleasant business’: The childhood Schmitz grew up in Kaukauna, Wis., an industrial manufacturing town. His father worked in a mill, eight hours a day for all his life. He had a close, affectionate relationship with his mother. He recalls her as warm and smart, but by his own account, his father was not “a happy person” and that their relationship was “terrible.”

“He didn’t drink, which was a good thing,” Schmitz said. “But he was angry.

I grew up with an angry father.”

Kaukauna was working-class through and through, according to Schmitz. Almost everyone he went to high school with ended up working at the local mill.

Throughout his upbringing, there was a prevailing sense that there lay his future. He was consumed with an overarching yet suppressed dismay that he was caught in a dead end.

He discovered literature in grade school. He developed a fondness for reading and like many adolescents, Schmitz escaped into an obsession.

SEE SCHMITZ, PAGE 10

Summer in the Buff Concerts set to rock the 716 during warmweather months

Courtesy of Emma Svensson

MGMT will play at Artpark Outdoor Ampitheater on June 19. General admission tickets will cost $10 if purchased ahead of time.

ELVA AGUILAR

Senior Arts Editor

The mass exodus of college students might begin within the next few weeks, but with six universities in Buffalo, there’s no doubt the student population will still be present. Locals will return to life without classes and those who are staying for summer sessions or employment have the opportunity to roam the Queen City.

Buffalo’s various festivals are an amazing way to learn about the local establishments and restaurants, but for those who prefer musical entertainment – don’t fret. Buffalo’s various venues have already begun announcing their music series such as Thursday’s at the Harbor and Tuesday’s in the Park and Coors Light Wednesday’s at Artpark Outdoor Ampitheater. Check out the biggest shows that have been announced for this summer in Buffalo.

Who: Flux Pavillion featuring Roksonix Where: Town Ballroom When: May 9, 8 p.m., Dubstep DJ Joshua Steele, better known as Flux Pavillion, has quickly climbed the ranks in his genre in recent years. After Kanye West and JayZ sampled his track “I Can’t Stop” for their 2011 album Watch The Throne, the mainstream recognized his talent and the momentum has only increased from there. He will be visiting Buffalo’s Town Ballroom during finals week, so if you need an excuse to unwind after endless all nighters, this is your show. Tickets are currently on sale for $27 and will cost $30 day of the show.

Who: Jimkata Where: Nietzsches When: May 16, 9 p.m.

EDM group Jimkata has visited Buffalo on several occasions and attracts quite the following. The Ithaca,

N.Y.-based band embarked on its Die Digital East Coast spring tour on April 4 and will be making its stop in Buffalo right after gradation. So if you’re looking for some funk to hold you over between the end of the spring semester and the start of summer session, make your way to Nietzsches.

Tickets are on sale for $10.

Who: Bob Dylan Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, 9993 Alleghany Rd, Darien, N.Y. When: July 18, time to be announced After his successful visit to Alumni Arena, the legendary Bob Dylan will return to Buffalo for a performance at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. Fans will get the chance to hear Dylan perform timeless songs such as “Like A Rolling Stone,” “When My Time Comes” as well as tracks on his latest album, Tempest, like “Tangled Up In Blue” and “Visions of Johanna.” This show is open to the public

and tickets will be go on sale May 4 at 10 a.m., and if you were at Alumni Arena when he performed, you’ll know to get those tickets early.

who would prefer the semi-VIP treatment, priority front stage seats cost $25. They will be on sale April 30 on Artpark’s website.

Who: MGMT Where: Artpark Outdoor Ampitheater When: June 19, gates open at 4:30 p.m, show at 6:30 p.m.

This week, Artpark Outdoor Ampitheater announced its lineups for its Tuesdays in the Park and Coors Light Wednesdays with two respectively great lineups. Indie-electro band MGMT is one of the standout names on the Coors Light series, and with jams like “Kids” “Time to Pretend” “Congratulations” and “Electric Feel,” the show is a guaranteed good time. The biggest perk of the series at Artpark is its amazing prices for big names. General admission tickets in advance cost $10 and general admission tickets the week of the show will cost $15. For those of you

Who: Lil Wayne, T.I., Future and French Montana Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center When: Tuesday, July 30 at 7 p.m.

After a rumor-ridden last couple of months, it’s become apparent Lil Wayne needs to get back to what brought him into the spotlight: music. Weezy returns to the stage for his America’s Most Wanted tour, which will also feature rappers T.I. and French Montana and R&B crooner Future.

Tickets are currently on sale, starting as low as $50 and climb from there. So whether you’re on a budget or you’re ballin’, make sure you get to one of the most anticipated rap shows of the summer.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

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Friday, April 26, 2013

More than just rocks

Pegrum Colloquium offers geology students alternative classroom format RONNIE SIMMONS II Staff Writer

Christine Burrill, a first-year graduate student in geology, heard a story about people living in the crater of a volcano in the Canary Island in class that opened her eyes to the world of geology. It wasn’t what she thought.

“Everybody has this image of this geologist with the long beard, a plaid-overall shirt and the hiking boots,” Burrill said. “But people can go into geochemistry and work in laboratories or petrology.

They do really sophisticated analysis, like done to the microscopic level. Your stereotypical geologist is not anywhere near the whole picture in geology.”

Burrill listened to this story and others told by senior-level scientists during Pegrum Colloquium, a weekly lecture series organized

by Christopher Lowry, an assistant professor in the geology department.

The class is named after Reginald Pegrum, the founding faculty member of the geology department, Lowery said. It isn’t a normal class.

Pegrum Colloquium is the university seminar for geology, and it is attended by the majority of graduate students and faculty in the field, but anyone can attend including undergraduate students depending on their interests, Lowry said.

Undergraduate students can also

JIHYUN MOON, The Spectrum

Pegrum Colloquium, a geology seminar class, provides students the opportunity to listen to various speakers talk about multiple aspects of the field of geology.

choose to attend these lectures as a one-credit course.

Lowry, with help from other geology faculty members, chooses and invites a range of speakers for Pegrum Colloquium. He brings in scientists working in the federal government, the public sector, national laboratories and other universities from around the country.

Geology is one of the most diverse fields and courses usually involve viewing PowerPoint lectures and get very in-depth on one topic, according to Burrill. She likes how

this class is different from the average geology class she attends.

Pegrum Colloquium isn’t only about listening to stories, Lowery said. Students who take the class must read a paper written by the weekly lecturer and write a summary of it, along with attending the talk.

“I think as an undergraduate, some of these lectures are very high-level science. So these papers are very helpful for them to understand what the talk is about because it’s a lot of information to di-

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gest,” Burrill said.

Burrill said students receive feedback to improve their writing, which is not done in other geology classes. This feedback will help the students if they choose to pursue a master’s degree because they have to write a thesis and proposals for grants.

At the seminar, students and other attendees are welcomed by doughnuts, bagels and soda upon arrival and socialize for about 15 minutes before the lecture begins, according to Burrill. Lectures usu-

ally last around 45 minutes and are followed by a question-and-answer period.

Students are exposed to a broad range of current research from professionals, spanning topics like volcanology, climate change, environmental geology and energy.

This was the reason Eric Rayner, a senior geology major, decided to take the class.

“I had hoped to gain some insight as to what different career paths might offer me or what topic would pique my interests,” Rayner said.

Students have the chance to speak directly to the lecturers and ask them personal questions about the journey to their current positions, which could influence their decisions following graduation.

Rayner aims to get experience in the field before continuing his studies toward a master’s degree and plans on continuing to attend Pegrum Colloquium next semester.

The latest speaker was Paul M. Basinski, the vice president of geology and geophysics for Ardent Exploration in Houston, Texas, who holds a geology degree from UB. He currently works in the exploration and production of oil and gas.

Basinski gave a presentation with the theme of innovation and discovery, which he asserted should not only be used by geologists, but also in life.

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

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Opinion

Friday, April 26, 2013 ubspectrum.com

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in Chief Aaron Mansfield Senior Managing Editor Brian Josephs Managing Editor Rebecca Bratek Editorial Editor Eric Cortellessa News EDItors Sara DiNatale, Co-Senior Lisa Khoury, Co-Senior Sam Fernando, Asst.

Rachel Raimondi, Asst.

LIFE EDITORS Rachel Kramer, Senior Lyzi White Lisa Epstein, Asst.

Sharon Kahn, Asst.

ARTS EDITORS Elva Aguilar, Senior Lisa de la Torre, Asst.

Max Crinnin, Asst.

SPORTS EDITORS Joseph Konze Jr., Senior Jon Gagnon Ben Tarhan Markus McCaine, Asst.

PHOTO EDITORS Alexa Strudler, Senior Nick Fischetti Satsuki Aoi, Asst.

Aminata Diallo, Asst.

CARTOONIST Jeanette Chwan CREATIVE DIRECTOR Brian Keschinger Haider Alidina, Asst.

PROFESSIONAL STAFF OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Helene Polley ADVERTISING MANAGER Mark Kurtz Danielle Abrams, Asst.

Luke Nuttle, Asst.

ADVERTISING DESIGNER Joseph Ramaglia Ryan Christopher, Asst.

Haley Sunkes, Asst.

April 26, 2013 Volume 62 Number 77 Circulation 7,000 The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ubspectrum.com. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.

The Spectrum is provided free in part by the Undergraduate Mandatory Activity Fee. The Spectrum is represented for national advertising by MediaMate.

For information on adverstising with The Spectrum visit www.ubspectrum.com/advertising or call us directly at (716) 645-2452.

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Mo money, mo problems If stipend cuts are being made, SA E-board should take a hit, too The SA budget for next year was announced Wednesday night at the Senate meeting. It includes the total student stipend portion of the budget being reduced from $255,450 to $181,000. Meanwhile, the individual stipends for president, vice president and treasurer will remain at $12,000 per academic year.

The treasurer writes the SA budget and the Senate later approves it. All appeals must be written and submitted by Friday at 5 p.m., and the Senate will consider them on Sunday before approving the final budget.

What presented itself on Wednesday night, as the budget was initially announced, is a problem of leadership from those in the highest offices of SA. There is an egregious gap between the top officials’ stipends and the allotments going to all other students.

The next-highest paid position is chief of staff, which receives a maximum of $4,500 a year – $7,500 less than the E-board members.

SA leaders have vocalized their intentions to be transparent about all proceedings and to make sacrifices on behalf of the student body. They have expressed a desire to reduce spending in order to avoid another

deficit, but when the cuts needed to be implemented, the sacrifice did not fall on those at the top. $12,000 – roughly $400 a week – is well above a fair amount of money for a college student to earn over the course of an academic year.

Anna Lubitz, president of Stony Brook’s Undergraduate Student Government, receives an $8,000 stipend. Binghamton SA President Mark Soriano receives a stipend of $4,000. Geneseo SA President Carly Annable gets $1,750.

It is poor leadership to demand specific cuts to areas of the budget but to be unwilling to take a hit yourself. Even a symbolic cut of $500 a semester would have made a statement.

The voice of the student body should care about the student body.

Over the course of UB’s most recent SA election, a common sentiment expressed by students was that SA doesn’t really affect many students’ college experiences. This most recent incident is an example of the way students should be paying attention to how SA operates and how decisions made by those elected can impact the institution – which by extension impacts students’ lives.

The top positions are expecting too much. If they were serious about avoiding a deficit as their primary concern, they would reduce their own stipends as well.

One of the issues that should be brought to students’ attention is that the budget for each academic year is formulated by the preceding year’s officials. In other words: Nick Johns, Lyle Selsky and Siddhant Chhabria will not be implementing their own budget. They maintain the budget their predecessors put in place.

The majority of the work of the SA E-board has more to do with maintenance. After a year of experience and learning the mechanics of how a budget works, they are able to devise a budget that those taking their place can manage.

It should be stated that Johns serves on the Finance Committee and played a role in drafting this budget – protecting his upcoming stipend. The problem remains that too much money is going to those in these positions, and the concern for the student body that has previously been articulated was not demonstrated with this decision.

When complaints were brought to the Senate Wednesday night, Johns responded with animosity to the notion that he shouldn’t be making that much. He said he was “insulted” by the assertion that he would be overpaid.

Senators have responded to The Spectrum they feel the insinuation was that if he wasn’t getting paid the $12,000 stipend, he would not be doing his job.

That is probably not the idea you had of the man you voted for during the elections – the guy who campaigned on the premise he was a “normal” college kid in touch with average students’ lives.

How many average students do you know making $6,000 a semester for their on-campus positions?

It is a problem that at this point there is already a gap between Johns’ rhetoric and his behavior.

Email: editorial@ubspectrum.com

Moving forward across the border

New immigrant stipulations are step in right direction Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee began conducting hearings over the near-850-page bill drafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators designed to overhaul the immigration system.

The most important element of the bill that we want to see the Senate embrace is a systematic approach of providing immigrants a pathway to citizenship. The new bill includes implementing new border security measures and a national government program that verifies the legal status of new workers.

While this nation should institute a policy that enables immigrants to become citizens and fully functional members of society, there should also be scrupulous attention to our borders.

One of the aspects of the bill’s proposal to provide a pathway to citizenship is by imposing a penalty of $500 and making immigrants pay any back taxes, along with a host of additional taxes and fines during a peri-

od of 10 years or more. The benefit of this is that it accumulates a high amount of federal revenue.

This increased amount of money coming into the federal government can help pay for the costs of tightening security and instilling new surveillance technology and more border agents.

The process incorporated into the bill encompasses much of what the Dream Act proposed. There could be a quicker way for immigrants to earn citizenship who have been here since before they were 16.

We also believe that children of immigrants and students should have access to federal benefits and programs dealing with education and health care. We think it is time for the federal government to embrace a group of people who can contribute to our society.

Immigrants can contribute greatly to the economy. That is why we think it is essential to repair a broken system.

This bill provides many opportunities for immigrants in this country to begin the process of gaining citizenship and living out the lives they desire. While it will need to go through the Senate, there are many elements of it that deserve to be incorporated into the bill that the House will have to eventually reconcile with.

The main points we stress are: a transparent and simplified way for immigrants to become citizens, heightened and improved security, federal benefits and opportunities and sufficient background checks on all eligible citizens.

The plan set forth in the bill holds that anyone who has committed a felony or three or more misdemeanors will not be eligible for the program. We were initially concerned that some of the eligibility requirements might be too stringent, but these requirements are fair.

It is absolutely necessary to have background checks and requirements for all people requesting visas

or any immigration benefits.

What matters most is improving and simplifying the program that grants access to citizenship based on a host of fair but necessary requirements.

The United States has a responsibility to immigrants – plain and simple. John F. Kennedy declared this country, “a nation of immigrants,” and it is important that we embrace that and recognize it.

At its heart, this is a human rights issue, and it is written in our Constitution and nation’s principles that all men are created equal.

We need an immigration system that acknowledges this and celebrates it.

This most recent bill begins to further our founders’ vision.

Email: editorial@ubspectrum.com

‘Realizing UB 2020’ draft still not enough

The Spectrum offices are located in 132 Student Union, UB North Campus, Buffalo, NY 14260-2100

REBECCA BRATEK Managing Editor

On April 12, Provost Charles Zukoski released the second draft of his ‘Realizing UB 2020’ plan.

In theory, this draft, when finalized, will bring monumental changes to how this institution operates, grants degrees and prepares students for life outside the campus; it aims to bring “excellence” to all faculty, staff and students over the next five to 10 years.

But, in its current form, the draft still reads as a plan for the plan, with little concrete or tangible evidence of how exactly the university plans to meet its ambitious goals of revitalizing UB and the surrounding Buffalo community.

The newest draft includes four institutional goals, which basically stress that UB wants to be bigger and better and wants to be bigger and better than universities all over the world. But how will UB accomplish that? How long will it take?

In short, the university wants to overhaul the way students learn – stressing the importance of a liberal arts-style education. Five themes – health, innovation, justice, humanity and the environment – will be implemented into all disciplines to ensure all students are better prepared to be citizens of the world.

These five themes will help lead to eight ‘core learning outcomes’ for every student, which basically means every UB graduate should be able to think critically, collaborate with people throughout different fields and cultures, communicate well and stand up through struggles and adversity – all while having pride in this institution.

These are lofty goals and I hope that when I graduate in two weeks, I can say I already fit this ‘UB student prototype.’ I hope my degree will open up doors, and I really hope my education prepared me well for the “real world.”

It just seems this document isn’t sure how to achieve these goals just yet. It has ideas, but it doesn’t seem to know how to put them into practice. The university has three ideas – to go with the five themes and eight learning outcomes – for program requirements that each student will have to complete in order to graduate.

As if roughly 50 credit hours of general education classes aren’t already enough, each student will have to complete an “experiential learning” program, be involved in some sort of international experience and

complete a “capstone course offering.”

When reading through this document, because it didn’t have any specific details on what each student will need for these three requirements, I put it in terms of the major I chose: English.

First, a student needs experiential learning. The draft defined this as “activities that apply their degree program’s content in a real context outside of the classroom.” I’m assuming this sort of thing will be given as class credit, which led me to think of The Spectrum.

I’ll bet most of you didn’t know The Spectrum offers a three-credit English class – ENG 394 – in which we, the editors, and our adviser teach basics of journalism and writing.

Our students, the staff writers, are essentially taking a job at the paper for credit. Same goes with our editors. Instead of monetary compensation, you can collect up to 18 credits of English electives, which come in handy when you’re trying to meet the 120 credit hours needed to graduate.

Students also need international experience. The document is pretty hazy on how this one is accomplished, because unless UB plans to pay for almost 20,000 undergrads to study abroad, not everyone is going to be able to go study in Singapore or Australia or England.

If we’re talking about just studying more international cultures, again, look at my English degree requirements; in order to graduate, I need

four semesters of a foreign language.

I think this could be reasonable for all disciplines.

For a capstone course, I thought about all my honors-student friends working on their theses. As it stands, not all UB students need to complete a thesis to graduate, but I can see the good in some sort of thesis-type project or class to culminate four years of study.

While the university improves curriculum (even if we’re not sure how that will be done yet), it plans to hire 250 new faculty members while replacing 250 who will leave – 500 spots total. UB is expanding downtown into the medical corridor, reviving the South and North Campuses and improving all kinds of infrastructure.

I’m not sure if this will all change by 2020, but I hope it does. I hope UB accomplishes these goals and more because I do want to see my soon-to-be alma mater succeed and I want my degree to look more attractive to future employers.

But first, give me examples on how UB will do this. Twenty pages of flowery language and abstract ideas just isn’t cutting it. May 15, the day the final Realizing 2020 draft is set to come out, is rapidly approaching.

Email: rebecca.bratek@ubspectrum.com

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Friday, April 26, 2013 ubspectrum.com

News

SA Senate and Assembly each meet, plan for next academic year

Senate On Wednesday, Student Association President Travis Nemmer and Treasurer Justin Neuwirt presented a proposed SA budget for the 201314 academic year to the SA Senate.

The proposed budget breaks down the entire $3.7 million budget, including how much is allocated for club, entertainment and office budgets, student stipends and other SA needs.

Neuwirt sent a letter to every SA club informing them of the amount in their budget next year. Each club has an opportunity to appeal the amount by emailing or handing a letter to Neuwirt by 5 p.m. on Friday. The Senate Finance Committee will process the appeals and the committee will present its findings to the Senate at the final Senate meeting on Sunday.

The budget will be adjusted and approved at the meeting.

Assembly The SA Assembly met briefly on Wednesday night for the last meeting of the semester. Speaker Steven Jackson led the meeting, and it lasted approximately 10 minutes.

Jackson urged the few members in attendance – as many were at the Senate meeting – to join Assembly again next semester under incoming speaker Melissa Kathan, whom Jackson believes will lead the Assembly in an effective and handson way.

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

After February CO leak, UB will begin project to install hard-wired detectors LISA KHOURY

Senior News Editor

Next week, UB will begin installing hard-wired carbon monoxide detectors in Richmond Quad, where a carbon monoxide leak poisoned at least 10 students and sent five of them to the hospital on Feb. 17.

On Feb. 17, the two plug-in CO detectors in Richmond were missing when a hot water boiler malfunctioned and created the lethal gas. It spread throughout the dorm, and now UB is taking precautionary measures that surpass state code.

Vice President for University Communications Joseph Brennan told The Spectrum in February that UB passed the annual fire control and prevention dormitory inspection in October. This means the detectors had to have been present in October.

But UB did not have documentation proving it passed until this past Monday. There is normally a brief gap between the end of the inspection and the receipt of the certificate, said Joseph Raab, the director of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S).

In February, UB installed eight wall-mounted, battery-operated temporary detectors in Richmond, though it is only required by state law to have two on the ground floor (where the source of carbon monoxide is located). Now, there are also tamper-resistant detectors outside of room 588B, 578B, 475B, 481B, 378B and 375B, according to Brennan.

Raab told The Spectrum in February that EH&S would conduct weekly inspections to ensure the detectors won’t go missing again.

EH&S has been conducting inspections at least once per week, according to Raab.

Aaron Mansfield, The Spectrum

After a carbon monoxide leak in Richmond Quad poisoned 10 students on Feb. 17, UB took extra precautionary measures to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. Next week, it will begin installing hard-wired detectors in Richmond Quad and then continue to do so throughout all North and South Campus dorms. The mission will be finished by the end of summer.

Early next week, hard-wired detectors will replace the current battery-operated detectors in Richmond. The new detectors will be a combination of fire detectors and CO detectors. The project is expected to be finished in two weeks.

After Richmond is complete, all of North Campus will receive the same detectors. The entire project will be finished by May, according to Raab.

Department of Geography

SUMMER 2013 COURSES

Session J (May 20-June 28, 2013) GEO 101 EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE I M – F 9:40 AM - 10:55 AM

* Sequence satisfies General Education’s Natural Sciences requirement

GEO 103 GEOG OF ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ONLINE GEO 281 WEB BASED GIS ONLINE *Both components (lecture and recitation) must be taken in the same semester

GEO 330 DYNAMICS OF INTL BUSINESS M W 6:30 PM - 9:40 PM GEO 334 INTL ENV & COMM PROBLEMS ONLINE For further details, please check the department website: http://www.geog.buffalo.edu

Session M (July 1-August 9, 2013) GEO 106 EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE II M – F 9:40 AM - 10:55 AM (Lecture) LAB – GEO 106 Lab T R 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Both components (lecture and lab) must be taken in the same semester

**GEO 211 UNIVARIATE STATISTICS M- F 12:35 PM -1:50 PM (Lecture) LAB- GEO 211 T R 2:00 PM- 3:00 PM

Both components (lecture and lab) must be taken in the same semester * Sequence satisfies General Education’s MathematicalSciences requirement

GEO 333 BASES OF WORLD COMMERCE M W 6:30 PM - 9:40 PM GEOGRAPHICAL INFO SYSTEMS T R 6:30 PM - 9:40 PM (Lecture) GEO 481 [Undergrad] or GEO 506 [Graduate] LAB – GEO 481 T R 5:00 - 6:20 PM Both components (lecture and lab) must be taken in the same semester

UB will then begin installing the hard-wired detectors in South Campus dorms, which Raab said will be finished by the end of summer.

The endeavor is “beyond what’s required by code,” Raab said.

For each residence hall on North and South Campus, UB will make an approximately $1,300 upgrade to the fire panel (the electronic panel computer that controls the fire alarm system for the building) and will spend about $750 to pro-

gram the fire panel in each dorm.

Each detector is roughly $175.

Richmond’s two plug-in detectors were each approximately $40.

UB’s goal is to never have an incident like the one in February.

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

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Friday, April 26, 2013

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Reaching beyond the doors of the ER HealthiER gives UB students opportunity to become well-rounded doctors HANNAH BENDER

Freelance Writer

Amy Rockwood noticed a problem. She realized many patients using the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) emergency room shouldn’t actually be there.

Rockwood, a licensed master social worker (LMSW) at ECMC’s University Emergency Medical Services, said there is a lack of primary care providers in Buffalo. So, patients visit the ER for non-emergent issues.

In May 2012, Rockwood won a $2.7 million state grant regarding health care costs and their correlation to health improvement in local citizens. She used it to create the program HealthiER to educate citizens on self-managing their issues that come with chronic health problems instead of relying on the ER. “The [traditional] health system sort of ignores the social determinants of health,” said Anthony Billittier IV, an attending physician at ECMC, assistant professor of emergency medicine at UB and dean of the School of Health Professions at D’Youville College.

“The reality is that the root of their problems is seated in their socioeconomic environment.”

Rockwood believes social factors play a major role in health care. Her experience in the social aspect of medical care in Buffalo caused her to notice the area is severely deficient in primary doctors.

She feels this lack of availability turns into an absence of education and resources, forcing patients who would usually be able to self-manage their chronic illnesses – like diabetes, high blood pressure or arthritis – to visit the ER every time their condition flares up. Rockwood saw the grant as a perfect opportunity

Courtesy of ECMC

ECMC now has a program called HealthiER, which consists of house visits to people in Buffalo to educate them on health care.

Many citizens use the emergency room instead of self-managing their issues that come with chronic health problems, and social workers, doctors and UB medical students are attempting to change that.

to help take some of the pressure off Buffalo’s emergency rooms.

Liza Pomerantz and Juliana Wilson, residents in the UB School of Medicine, will work with the program over the summer and conduct house visits of patients with chronic illnesses. The visits will encourage patients to keep themselves as healthy as possible while exposing the doctors to other parts of health care that are not taught in the classroom.

Heading the design proposal, Rockwood brainstormed with Billittier. She delivered the proposal in June and received the grant a few

weeks later.

In a mere three months, Rockwood and her team created HealthiER and transformed the program from an idea in her head to a functional organization with a trained staff, ready to enroll patients.

The program’s employees are known as “community health workers,” individuals living in the same areas as the patients HealthiER plans to reach. Rockwood feels that using members from the community to help the public allows them to make a connection that is impossible to have between the doctor and patient.

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Community health workers will contact patients who live in the City of Buffalo and have visited the ER at least twice in the past year. These individuals often have chronic problems that are difficult to manage, usually due to a lack of resources or poor education about their conditions, according to Billittier.

The community health workers will work with the patients, assisting in giving the patient access to a primary care provider, health insurance applications and other medical services if needed. These connections will serve to educate patients

and connect them with resources that allow them to manage most of the symptoms of their illnesses without a trip to the doctor’s office.

“Once we send patients on their way, we won’t actually leave them,” Billittier said in an interview for ED Management, a medical publication. “The community health workers will do what they can to make patients’ lives better, so they will have better health.”

For Rockwood, the best aspect of HealthiER is its involvement of all facets of health care. HealthiER combines the social aspects, usually not addressed by an ER doctor, with the medical aspects seen insides the doors of the emergency room.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for the collision of the medical and scientific side of human care and the human service and social service side of human care to come together to treat patients in a holistic way,” Rockwood said. “They can be exposed to the whole person and take care of them that way.”

While the program allows doctors to view patient interaction in a different light, Rockwood also believes student involvement, from all fields, is pivotal. UB’s medical students will be engaged, assisting on-call doctors with house visits to learn about social and economic correlations to health problems.

Rockwood believes this is a great way to learn the many facets of providing health care and what it truly entails.

Rockwood hopes the program will lead to well-rounded health care in the future when the students themselves are doctors.

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

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6

Friday, April 26, 2013 ubspectrum.com

Life

GOING GREEN: ONE BIKE AT A TIME UB offers brand-new BikeShare program to students, faculty

Jihyun Moon, The Spectrum

Powered by Social Bicycles, UB BikeShare offers students innovative way to get around both of UB's campuses through a GPS-enabled bike sharing system.

ALYSSA MCCLURE

Staff Writer

UB is the first university to use GPS tracking technology for students to come together as a biking community.

BikeShare at UB offers students, faculty and staff the option of renting bicycles instead of bringing their own to campus. By using GPS technology, participants can track and rent a bike conveniently using a computer or mobile device.

UB’s Office of Sustainability and Office of Parking and Transportation Services have partnered with N.Y.-based company Social Bicycles and BikeShare, a community organization in Buffalo, to implement a new and innovative bicyclesharing program on campus.

“The idea is to give people a healthy, green option for short trips around campus, with the goal of promoting better health and reducing the amount of vehicular traffic, especially for intra-campus jaunts,” said Jim Simon, UB’s sustainability engagement coordinator, in an email.

Participants find and reserve the nearest bicycle using the Buffalo BikeShare website and then have 15 minutes to get to the bike and punch in the PIN code given to them. Once the rider unlocks the bike, he puts the U-lock on the holster and is free to pedal away.

The user needs to return the bicycle to one of the BikeShare-designated bicycle racks on North or South Campus. On North Campus, BikeShare hubs are located between the Ellicott Complex and Greiner Hall, between Alumni Arena and the CFA, between the Student Union and the Commons and at the junction of Capen, Norton, and O’Brian Halls. On South, BikeShare racks can be found near the intersection of Hayes Road and the Main Circle, according to UB’s website.

To lock up bikes when they’re done, riders use the same PIN they used to unlock their bike. The code will reset once the transaction has been completed. After a bike has been returned, other users can see that it is available and go to the location to rent the bicycle.

The rider’s first hour of use is free of charge. Each additional hour costs $3, and the maximum number of consecutive hours one can rent a bike is 24. In order to partake in BikeShare, faculty, staff and students need to pay an annual fee of $30.

In BikeShare’s current beta-testing phase, in which operators are collecting data from users to make the system better and ensure that the GPS technology is working correctly, the annual fee has been reduced to $10.

Simon believes the GPS technology incorporated in UB’s BikeShare adds a new dimension to the idea of bicycle sharing. He said with technology as “such a large part of our lives these days, the mobile and computer access will meet students where they are.”

UB is the first university in the country to use this GPS system to power a bicycle-sharing program, according to Simon.

The bikes are standard cruisers with an internal drive shaft designed to decrease the possibility that a rider’s pants or socks will

become covered in bicycle grease.

The bikes also have a metal basket on the front of them for ease of transportation. If a rider encounters a flat tire or discovers a mechanical issue while riding the bike, they can press the “repair” button on the keypad, which will alert BikeShare maintenance there is a problem and someone can come to fix it, according to UB’s website.

Buffalo BikeShare was developed by a team at Buffalo CarShare, a local non-profit launched by six UB students and recent graduates in 2009. The original plan was conceived in 2007, according to Buffalo BikeShare’s Creighton Randall.

“I competed in [the UB Panasci Entrepreneurship Competition in 2007] as an undergrad with three other engineering and business students,” Randall said. “The concept evolved in graduate school considered how the program could best serve Buffalo, a city in which nearly a third of households don’t own a car. It’s great to see our work come full circle and see UB become a lab for this innovative transportation solution.”

BikeShare partnered with Social Bicycles, which is based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the company provided the bikes and the technology.

“BikeShare at UB demonstrates how the university can partner and integrate with our broader community, as well as leverage our student and faculty research to create solutions that move us toward a sustainable future,” Simon said.

So far, BikeShare has been accepted well by the UB community. In the four weeks the program has been running, over 200 people have signed up, according to Randall. He says BikeShare is “thrilled” to be partnering with UB and the current testing on campus will provide the company with valuable information to expand the system in the coming months and years.

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

Summer 2013 Faculty led programs to explore careers and academic paths – Register to participate!

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ubspectrum.com

Friday, April 26, 2013

7

One book at a time: Talking Leaves World Book Night 2013 BETHANY WALTON Staff Writer

April 23 is marked in history as the day both Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the world-renowned Don Quixote, died. Now, it is also a day in which 25,000 people can be seen handing books to strangers all throughout the night in the United Kingdom, United States and Germany.

Jonathan Welch, owner of local bookstore Talking Leaves, thinks this is a great way to improve literacy in the community. The bookstore participated in this year’s World Book Night.

World Book Night started in the U.K. and Ireland in 2011 and has become an international event dedicated to providing books to people who may not have access to bookstores or libraries and to individuals who are not avid readers. Every year, an independent committee of authors, publishers and booksellers chooses a selection of about 30 books to hand out around the country.

Volunteer “givers” from the community choose a “giver site” before April 23 and can choose one title they would like give out on World Book Night.

On the night of April 23, these givers make trips around their regions to hand out 20 free copies of whatever title they picked.

This year’s selection included works such as Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, and Michael Perry’s Population 485 – some of Welch’s favorites. They spanned genres such as mystery, history and humor. About 500 books were given out in the City of Buffalo alone and many givers passed out books on the city’s West Side, Welch said.

Although the event runs the risk of decreasing the store’s book sales, Welch believes that its benefits outweigh the potential cost. “[It] is a risk that we are willing to take,” Welch said. “It is a seed planting thing – you plant seeds and a lot of them don’t sprout, but some do, and that just means that you are creating a generation of people who are interested in books and reading, and there’s no downside to that.”

Perian Liaug, The Spectrum

Talking Leaves hosted this year’s World Book Night, an annual event that aims to give books to people who may not have access to them.

The goal of World Book Night is to “seek out adult readers wherever they are, in towns and cities, in public settings or in places from nursing homes to food pantries, low-income schools to mass transit,” according to World Book Night’s website.

Welch saw World Book Night as an opportunity to improve literacy within Buffalo and Talking Leaves joined the effort.

While it is just one of a few bookstores in the area that help with World Book Night, Welch said being a “giver site” was a natural decision for the bookstore and he can see the impact it’s making.

“[We have] has always been a part of the literacy effort,” Welch said.

“As a book store, we are all about getting people to read and emphasizing the power of language, the power of reading and the power of words in all kinds of ways. Reading strengthens character and opens up windows to the world that, in a sense, you don’t have without reading. It was just a ‘how can we say no’ sort of thing.”

All books chosen for World Book Night must meet certain criteria, according to Welch. The books must be contemporary – written by authors who are still alive – or established classics. The books also

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must span a range of different cultures and genres and must meet a reading level from four through fifth grade and above.

Each book is marked as a special free edition that cannot be sold; individual authors make no money by sharing their books.

Although World Book Night is making an increasing impact on the world, Welch said one of its biggest challenges is spreading the word and getting national and local coverage.

While national publicity in the United States has improved from last year’s efforts – the event was covered on The Today Show and NPR – he said it is nowhere near the amount seen in the U.K., but they hope to improve on it within the next few years by holding public events.

In Welch’s opinion, World Book Night not only benefits those who receive the books, but also benefits the givers. By learning to approach different people with the

same book and persuading them to read it without knowing them personally, givers face an interesting challenge.

Welch has heard first-hand accounts from people in the legal system about how books have helped victims of child abuse and violence escape from their immediate situations for a short time and how special they feel when they receive the books.

While Welch would like to see the impact of World Book Night grow in Buffalo and around the world, he said Talking Leaves is dedicated to improving literacy through any method possible.

With upcoming book and poetry readings in May at the bookstore, Welch said “the issue of literacy is [a] constant … all-the-time affair” and the effort will not stop any time soon.

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

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Friday, April 26, 2013 ubspectrum.com

Arts & Entertainment

A Phoenix reborn KIERA MEDVED

Staff Writer

Artist: Phoenix Album: Bankrupt!

Release Date: April 22 Label: Glassnote Grade: C After four years of waiting patiently, indie rock fans can finally enjoy Phoenix’s newest album release, Bankrupt!

Phoenix rose to power after its incredibly successful album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which poured through international radio airwaves in 2009. Songs like “Lisztomania” and “1901” were on repeat and brought the band into the spotlight. “1901” spent 31 weeks on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart, eventually bouncing its way up to the coveted No. 1 spot.

The Parisian quartet spent two years in both New York and Paris meticulously recording the album after ending their tour in 2010. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix set an impressively high bar for the band to reach on its next album, and after waiting several years for it, fans may have to set their expectations a little lower next time.

The song “Entertainment” has been making its way around the world, preparing fans for an undoubtedly fantastic album. It has an exciting pre-chorus build up and foot-tapping drumbeat, but it may sound a little too familiar. Admittedly, the album is the same musi-

Phoenix misses the mark with newest output, Bankrupt!

cal formula as Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix from start to finish, but with a different song title for each track.

Songs like “S.O.S. in Bel Air” and “Drakkar Noir” are so similar in style and design that it’s difficult to tell them apart. Mid-tempo speed, playful lyrics and crazy drumming may make great songs when standing alone, but put the Bankrupt! on shuffle and you’ll be listening to one song, maybe two.

Few songs stand out among the heap of predictable songwriting and vision. “Chloroform” slows it down a bit to create a trancelike world of colorful sound. The groovy keyboard on the song may make the track a standout for fans.

Lead vocalist Thomas Mars has obviously been having more fun with songwriting, and fans will appreciate that with this album. The song “Oblique City” pokes fun at commercialization of products and brands.

“I wanted out of the Biblical bets/Oblique city credentials/It’s everything that I’ve ever known/Coca-Colas, Rosetta Stone,” Mars sings.

It’s too much of the same, however. Newer fans to Phoenix may enjoy the synth-heavy, indie pop rock that’s becoming so popular, but those who have stuck with the band since before 2009 are in for the same musical template Phoenix seems to be comfortable with.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

COURTESY OF GLASSNOTE

King Wizard’s return to rap Kid Cudi: Indicud album review Cudi has become about as big as his ego in the popular music sphere. Only a person who Staff Writer possesses his raw narcissism could start a pop hip-hop album with three minutes of indusArtist: Kid Cudi trial electro-grunge followed by a song titled Album: Indicud “Unf**kwittable,” which is four minutes of Label: Wicked Awesome Cudi shouting into the mic as a kazoo-like inRelease Date: April 16 strument fills the background.

Grade: B+ But that’s Cudi’s effect. His music seems unintelligible and totally offensive to anyone Kid Cudi occupies an interesting place in musically inclined, but “Unf**kwittable” is a popular music – while some consider his lyr- successful song because of its vanity. Cudi ics shallow and without merit, everyone lis- rightfully rewards listeners who sit through tens to him. He’s made fun of by other artists, the near-seven minutes of tracks one and two like Childish Gambino in his song, “Back- with “Just What I Am,” the first single on the packers,” but he’s all over pop radio and MTV. album.

On April 16, Cudi released his third stuSure, the track is auto-tuned to an immeadio album, Indicud, to very positive critical ac- surable extent and the lyrics are not very intelclaim. The album features a diverse range of lectually stimulating, but the song is infectious music styles, varying from minimal electro with a hook consisting of “I need smoke/I hip- hop to post-R&B auto-tuned radio hits. need to smoke/I wanna get high y’all.”

The results coalesce into a rather strange, but If Cudi’s about one thing, it’s definitely fresh and overall welcomed album. about smoking weed and his songs continue For Cudi fans, Indicud is an easy pill to swal- that blunt-toting soundtrack tradition that below, though it leaves a slightly odd aftertaste. longs in the stereo of a parked, hot-boxed ’92 The album is different, pushing the borders Toyota. of Cudi’s sound to include a more diverse The album continues in a similar style with range, and the composition and production is “Young Lady” and onto track five, “King spot on. Cudi produced the album along with Wizard,” which begins with Cudi shouting Dennis Cummings and Hit-Boy, and the re- out to his fans and family. The track has a sult is shockingly distinct and fresh. minimalist kick-snare beat and synth overEven for those who dislike Cudi, or per- tone, and if you can get over the sheer idiocy haps listen to his music, the album is worth of the lyrics (“What if life’s a lie?/I push the a listen. lames aside”), the song is dripping with style.

PETE SHAPIRO

COURTESY OF WICKED AWESOME

SEE KID CUDI, PAGE 9

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ubspectrum.com

Friday, April 26, 2013

WEEKEND IN BUFFALO

For the cool-breeze hipster:

For the Excrement Enthusiasts

For the Frugal Foodies

What: DIIV w/ Starred and Valleys Where: Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St., Buffalo, N.Y. 14202 When: Friday, doors open at 7 p.m doors, shows starts at 8 p.m.

What: Urinetown: The Musical Where: Center for the Arts Drama Theatre When: Friday at 7:30 p.m, Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

What: Restaurant Week Where: Participating Restaurants Throughout Western New York When: Through April 28

DIIV is a superb indie rock band that has garnered a lot of praise from fans and critics alike after the release of its 2012 album Oshin.

DIIV will be playing at The Tralf on Friday night for a show that promises to be exciting and atmospheric with tasty vibes. The Tralf is normally a 21-and-over venue, but this show will be open for all ages. Fans of the band can get to know the opening act, Starred and Valleys, and those who aren’t yet familiar with DIIV are in for a lovely treat.

This weekend, Broadway comes to UB in the form of Urinetown: The Musical, a “raucously funny” play that depicts America in a time in which water is scarce, and the use of private restrooms are strictly forbidden. Citizens must resort to public restrooms in order to do their business, and business is exactly what excretion has become – the government charges people to use these public restrooms. If people don’t comply with the laws, they are arrested and sent away to Urinetown. The play, which has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical, is sure to keep audiences laughing throughout. Tickets are $10 for students and seniors and $20 for the general public.

The sun is finally coming out in Buffalo, and with the arrival of warm weather comes the desire to end hibernation and explore the outdoors once again. Fortunately, annual Restaurant Week in Western New York has fallen perfectly in line with the return of the season, so those looking to get out of the house and explore have an overwhelming amount of options when looking for places to nosh.

The list of participating restaurants includes over 30 local favorites, including Fuji Grill on Maple Road and the famous-but-pricey Buffalo Chophouse. With many restaurants’ special offers starting at only $20.13, Restaurant Week is the perfect chance to get out and eat your way through Western New York.

READ THE REST AT UBSPECTRUM.COM

Continued from page 8: Kid Cudi “Immortal,” opens up with a sample of Adam Sandler shouting, “I am the smartest man alive!” from a scene in the film Billy Madison. It totally seems appropriate for the feel of the album. Cudi’s slow, reflexive flow really shows through on this track with a big beat that sounds like it was recorded in an airplane hangar.

Cudi brought some familiar artists to the album, along with some odd artists. Kendrick Lamar raps on “Solo Dolo Part II,” while Too

$hort is featured on “Girls.”

Old school hip-hop fans will be happy to see RZA show up on track 12, “Beez” – a tribute to the legendary “Killer Beez” of the WuTang Clan. RZA has one of the coolest styles in the industry and his production is what legends are made of. If Beowulf had a hip-hop soundtrack, RZA would produce it.

Other tracks like “Brothers,” “Burn Baby Burn” and “Lord of the Sad and Lonely” all share a similar sound: bass-heavy, big beat

electro hip-hop.

Indicud doesn’t really have a weakest link. It’s a pop album for MTV, and it’s a kickass hip-hop album for rap fans. Listeners looking for a new, fresh addition to their hip-hop playlist will be satisfied, and those not yet inundated in Cudi’s weedsmoking electro-beat style will be contented as well.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

9

Continued from page 12: Baseball Torgalski has made sure his team understands just how close the MAC is at this point in the season. There are three teams behind the Bulls with eight or more wins, which means one bad weekend could drop the Bulls from their place atop the standings to third or fourth.

The Bulls can’t look past Akron, either. Despite the Zips holding the worst overall record in the conference and winning just six conference games, they have beaten every conference foe they have taken on at least once.

“There is still a long way to go and we haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Torgalski said. “They know that; we know that we have

to keep taking care of business and try to make it a special season.”

The Bulls seem to be building on their momentum as they extend their series-winning streak deeper into the season. If they continue winning, it won’t be long until they clinch their secondstraight MAC Tournament berth.

“Every time we step on a field, our goal is to win a game and I think they’re starting to believe it more and more,” Torgalski said.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Canal Park.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Continued from page 12: Rugby After wins against American International and Lock Haven, UB’s Flying Squirrels (10-0) have earned their first appearance in the USA Rugby Final Four.

In the past eight years, the Flying Squirrels have captured three Division I New York State Championships. The Squirrels moved to Division II in 2012 and claimed a Division II Empire State Championship in the fall.

The team finished undefeated in conference play in the fall season, which concluded Oct. 27.

Buffalo shut out six of its nine opponents, outscoring them 368-35 in the fall, qualifying the Squirrels for the 2013 Women’s Collegiate Division II National Championship in the spring.

USA Rugby decided to hold this year’s playoffs in the spring.

The layover could have hindered the Squirrels’ momentum, but they claim it has not.

“We had a really nice spring season last year and everybody was excited for the fall,” Huber said.

“You could tell right from the first time we had practice, from the end of August into the fall, the energy was really high. The girls really wanted to work hard.”

Cash for books We buy over one million different titles.

The Squirrels opened the tournament with a 44-17 win against Stone Hill University April 6, followed the next week by a 19-10 win against American International and a convincing 49-0 win over Lock Haven in the national playoffs.

The wins set them up for the first Final Four appearance in the program’s history.

They are two wins from becoming national champions. The excitement is hard for the athletes to contain.

“I have never been more stoked about anything in my life,” Fritz said. “I’ve been waiting four years for this and I have never been more excited to go, especially with this group of girls. We are so dedicated to each other and dedicated to the team, and we have the best teamwork, the best heart out of any team in the country, and we deserve to win.”

The Flying Squirrels will head out to Stanford, Calif., for their semifinal matchup against Washington State May 3.

The game is slated for 10 a.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

ubspectrum.com

10

Friday, April 26, 2013

Continued from page : Schmitz “As a kid, I read some books that really knocked me out,” he said. “I thought they were really superb. I loved reading. Reading was an escape. Now, kids escape into games.

The only escape, though, when you were in a small, rural village in Wisconsin in the ’50s, was through a book.”

He read the classics and familiarized himself with much of canonical literature by an early age. Everything changed, though, when he first encountered Hemingway at age 15.

“In the 1950s, every red-blooded American youth read Hemingway,” he said. “You couldn’t escape him.

He was – he was just there.”

He first read the short story collection In Our Time and was immediately transfixed.

Most of the stories center on protagonist Nick Adams and take place in the American Midwest. It begins with the short vignette On The Quai At Smyrna and reads like an interview. An unnamed narrator – a British officer – recounts the horror of watching Greeks retreat Smyrna following a Turkish defeat during World War I. He describes seeing dead babies in the water and his narrative voice is submerged in a sort of double-irony.

When Schmitz teaches it in class, he elucidates for students the irony of denial pervasive throughout the story – not letting the awful truth in, the emotional force of the massacre.

“There were plenty of nice things floating around,” the narrator says.

“It was a most pleasant business.”

The opening story introduces In Our Time as a work of profound disillusionment.

When Schmitz first read it, however, he never considered the question: Where exactly is Smyrna? Years later, he pursued it.

Initially, he was primarily captivated by Hemingway’s form of expression.

“His prose,” he said, “is bewitching in its simplicity and its beauty.”

Hemingway is noted for his succinct, economical phrasing. It leads the reader down a path of exploration. Schmitz became stimulated by a style that recognized that what the writer leaves out is as important as what he or she puts in.

Hemingway claimed the true dignity of an iceberg is derived from the fact that seven-eighths of it is under water. He hit on that principle in his writing, and for Schmitz, it was his introduction to the power of subtext and exposed a new method of navigation through the world.

There was a process of interpretation that could take place while reading literature that could bleed into other areas of life. He began to recognize the act of reading as more than just an escape, but a way to figure out the world and what he wanted to do.

He probably could not have imagined then that he would be teaching that short vignette and its subsequent stories for the entirety of his adult life.

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‘The surface burned off the ground’: The beginning of a career In high school, Schmitz became intent on absconding his small Wisconsin town. He knew that making it to a university would be a major step. The bookish adolescent developed into an intellectual. In many ways, he was wounded into literature.

Through constant engagement with books, he began to recognize a realm of possibilities outside Kaukauna.

“There was a village atheist in town who got a hold of me and was giving me philosophy books,” he said. “He was the father of this girl I was interested in. He was like a radical; no one else in town was doing all this.

He had a library, for example, and I remember being impressed by that.

You would go into this guy’s house and he would have bookshelves and bookshelves with books on them – that he had actually read.”

Like many of Hemingway’s heroes, Schmitz enrolled in the armed services. At age 17, he joined the Air Force. He served for four years before enrolling as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin on the G.I. Bill.

“That was my way out,” he said.

“My escape.”

He majored in English. He began to love the 17th century – John Donne and John Milton – and was convinced that would be his field of literary scholarship.

After four years in Madison, Schmitz got accepted into Stanford, where he began studying under the tutelage of an American scholar, Irving Howe.

Howe was a New York City intellectual and had written a number of important books. By the time he had arrived at Stanford, he had been very politically involved with the left. Schmitz took a class with him on Twain and practically switched overnight; he decided to change his course of study to American literature.

Schmitz wrote his dissertation on politics in the American novel, focusing on Thomas Jefferson, Henry Adams and Twain.

While at Stanford, he was confronted with Stein and Faulkner, which changed his life. He met them each with resistance but later embraced them fully.

These specific writers connected to each other for Schmitz. They were modernists and demonstrated how deeper meanings often reside beneath the surface of things.

‘The sensible decision’: The profession of teaching When he got to UB, it was one of the most exciting and dynamic English departments in America.

The faculty included renowned poets such as Charles Olson, Robert Creeley and one of the most important literary critics in the world, Leslie Fiedler. The department had gained an international reputation as a hub of literary activity and an avantegarde center.

ALEXA STRUDLER, The Spectrum

Neil Schmitz has been teaching Ernest Hemingway every semester. He relishes passing his works on to the younger generations.

Schmitz began teaching the writers he loved and admired most. He has taught them over and over again, introducing classic American writing to the younger generations.

“He’s very patient with students and gets a lot of loyalty in return,” said Mark Shechner, an English professor emeritus. He reflects on Schmitz as “a rare combination of both a serious scholar and gentle person.” Shechner thinks Schmitz is so discernibly decent a human being that students can’t help but develop an affinity for him.

Gabrielle Goldstein, a senior theater design major, has taken two courses with Schmitz.

“I always thought he was a brilliant teacher,” she said. “He really engages the class; I like the discussion-based element to it. It’s just like having a conversation with him and he’s always adding contemporary elements.”

Schmitz teaches Hemingway every semester. Depending on the course, he will alternate the specific text he uses, but most often, he starts with In Our Time and the mystifying On The Quai at Smyrna. He always starts by asking the class what he originally neglected to ask himself: “Where is Smyrna?”

It is always the very first question he asks – never has a student had the answer.

He assures them not to feel bad – people didn’t know Smyrna at the time Hemingway wrote it. That is the point, Schmitz says: The story has everything to do with our American innocence – we don’t know about Smyrna.

“He asks us to check online to find Smyrna on a map,” Goldstein said.

“No one can ever find it.”

It took Schmitz years to discover that Smyrna is actually Ismear.

“One of the most ancient Greek cities,” Schmitz said. “St. Paul passed through. It was destroyed after the First World War. As Hemingway knew, there is a buried historical subtext for that piece – the fact that the British were the guilty ones, not the Turks there.”

Goldstein said he always relates the historical significance of the story to what’s going on in the world currently and introduces it as personally didactic.

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“He shows how it relates to the narrator’s psyche and it prepares you for the journey he wants you to take down Nick Adams’ soul,” she said.

Adams is a character who grows up in the suburbs of Illinois and later returns from war, needing to find a reason to live. In the final story, The Big Two-Hearted River, he finds the redemptive power of nature as regenerative. The early stories, however, are about a struggle between father and son.

“All those early Nick Adams stories are about the father who is a failure,” Schmitz said.

Adams is an anguished character.

In Our Time suggests the nobility of living comes from having the courage to endure and the need for finding temporary relief in idyllic peace.

Schmitz then transitions into Tender Buttons by Stein and believes his greatest gift to students comes out of it. The book is divided into three parts and its meaning is embedded in its exotic wordplay. It’s about the marriage of Stein to Alice B. Toklas.

Schmitz calls its groundbreaking final paragraph, “The Ode to Joy of American Literature.” Its basic lesson comes down to a preposition: notwithstanding.

“I brought ‘notwithstanding’ to the students,” he said. “I consider that a gift – the value of notwithstanding.”

Over the course of the paragraph, the preposition appears six times as Stein justifies her way of life.

“In my own experience, notwithstanding matters greatly,” he said.

“Doing something despite, doing something that is wrong, in order to be happy. That is huge.”

Living as lesbians was not easy for Stein and Alice. It was disapproved of by many of their friends – including Hemingway.

Schmitz points out to his students that Hemingway had four failed, miserable marriages. His literature is cloaked in the impossibility of love – as something that is always doomed.

But Stein and Alice have the type of marriage we should all aspire to – a marriage of collaboration, a division of labor that is agreed upon – according to Schmitz.

In the period of writing Tender Buttons, Stein would stay up late writing it out by hand and Alice would wake up early and transmit it onto the typewriter, he tells his class.

Schmitz embellishes the relationship.

“Gay marriage is set up as an ideal,” he said. “They’re getting married despite the fact that the straight world despises them or ridicules them. Anybody outside the normative understands this. You have to make your life despite what other people say.”

Many students have been inspired by his courses. In a way, his lessons teach them some of the possibilities of life. Oftentimes, students feel a yearning to return.

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After learning Schmitz was stepping down, Goldstein said, “I’m devastated. Truly devastated.”

‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past’: Family history “I am a materialist and an atheist and all – let me say that,” Schmitz said. “Nonetheless, I still believe in magic.”

One of his biggest achievements in academia was his class on family history.

After his mother died, an ancestor hitherto barely mentioned in the family’s oral history suddenly reappeared and addressed Schmitz directly. When his mother died, he was given a little book that was started by an ancestor in 1886. The ancestor was not his grandmother but his grandfather’s first wife. Her first entry was, “I married Neil Schmitz.” He is named after his grandfather.

“There was this whole diary,” he said. “I had this theory that I extrapolated from all this: Every time a parent dies, there’s two deaths, maybe even more than that.”

Schmitz theorized that when a parent dies, an ancestor goes into oblivion.

“When that parent dies, they take with them some knowledge of an ancestor and that is the last trace of that person,” Schmitz said. “If your mother has a notion of who your grandmother was, or who your greatgrandmother was, and when your mother dies, the only person left who knows her name, her face, her stories – was your mother.”

Schmitz encourages his students to seek out their own histories and has discovered that sometimes students can come up with things they don’t want to know.

He incorporates his theory when he teaches Faulkner. As I Lay Dying, he declares, is a family history. When students search in-depth through their own ancestry, they begin engaging in their own personal novel.

“It is the largest and most complicated novel you could ever read,” he said. “Doors are shut all over the place.”

And that has been perhaps the metaphor of his teaching career – opening doors. He’s been doing it his entire tenure and always starts by laying the groundwork with his same opening question.

A Farewell to Arms: Leaving the building As Schmitz prepares to exit the stage, he has been actively writing.

He keeps a blog and there are rumors that a novel is in progress.

He has seen many changes in his 47 years at UB. It has been a long time since anyone asked him to help detonate a building. Students like Goldstein recognize that his history is part of the university’s history.

Now that she knows her class with him this semester will be his last, she feels she, too, shares a special part in it.

On Jan. 15, Schmitz took the long, familiar walk from his sequestered office on the fourth floor of Clemens Hall to the first session of his last class ever.

As he reached the front of the classroom, he dropped his book and papers on the desk. He looked up to a sea of young faces – some new, some recognizable.

As the class fell silent, awaiting the professor’s address, he asked them gently: “OK,” he said. “Who can tell me, where is Smyrna?”

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

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11

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Crossword of the Day

HOROSCOPES Friday, April 26, 2013 FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

ACROSS 1 Where vows are exchanged 6 Coolidge's vice president Charles 11 NFL signal-callers 14 River to the English Channel 15 Battery terminal 16 Abu Dhabi's country, for short 17 Antarctic bird 19 Be on the side of caution?

20 PC linkup letters 21 LLC, in the U.K. 22 One of the Siamese twins 23 Dance in the streets 27 What Ray Lewis played 29 Zsa Zsa's sister 30 Tears 32 Brown building?

33 Pulp fiction gumshoe 34 Agitated fits 36 Protests gone awry 39 Writing liquids 41 "Do well!"

43 Abbr. that can replace a lot of things 44 "No Country for Old Men" co-director Coen 46 Sounder of mind 48 Artist's choice 49 "It's a pity!"

51 Truth or ___

52 Do the final step of 53 Glue relatives 56 Passes on, as wisdom 58 Abraham found one caught in a thicket 59 Significant time in history 60 All eternity, poetically 61 "Hail, Caesar!"

62 Child born May 1, 2002, on Nov. 1, 2012 68 A pop 69 It comes before penta70 Cake section 71 Serpentine letter 72 Leg of a military march 73 Court reporter, e.g.

DOWN 1 "What would you like to know?"

2 Wahine's gift 3 Type of foil or can 4 ___-Saxon 5 Auto mechanics' jobs 6 John's "Blues Brothers" co-star 7 Director Lee 8 "___ you mind?"

9 Corrected, as text 10 Summon 11 Beloved figure in England 12 Tractor shelters

Edited by Timothy E. Parker April 26, 2013 FLUSHED WITH PRIDE By Paul D. Vance 13 Material that's worsted for wear?

18 California oak 23 Adjust one's shoelace 24 Happening 25 Sidewalk destroyers 26 Cinematic spectacles 28 U.S.-Canada border lake 31 Home extension?

35 Six-Day War battleground 37 "In your face!" is one 38 Coasters with runners 40 Shopper's incentive 42 Named formally 45 "No, No" girl of Broadway 47 Undoes, as an amendment 50 Area between curbs 53 ___ myrtle (shrub) 54 Downspout sites 55 Present-day hero?

57 One who's attained Nirvana 63 Renowned Dadaist Jean 64 "Sorry, laddie" 65 "Got it," to a tar or gob 66 Dawson or Deighton 67 Big round hairdo, in slang

TAURUS (April 20May 20) -- You may not be able to shake the lasting effects of something that happened quite some time ago. A friend can help you lighten up some.

GEMINI (May 21June 20) -- A primary relationship is undergoing a rather dramatic change. You have what it takes to lead others out of trouble. Give a little more.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- You may be reminded of something you had let go of only recently -- and today is the day to reclaim it in no uncertain terms.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You may not be able to get to where the action is, but a friend or loved one is able to bring the action to you. Let the fun begin!

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22) -- Give someone a treat and you'll receive a treat in return. Take care that you don't let someone else get the better of you during the p.m. hours.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 22) -- The opportunity to relive a past glory must not be passed up today. You'll have the chance to prove that you did indeed belong on top.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23Nov. 21) -- You may have to draw the line today after someone does something that you simply cannot excuse or condone.

Stand up for your principles.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Sharing may be overrated at times, but today you'll certainly want to get something off your chest -- with friends around.

FALL SPACES ARE

GOING FAST RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -It's time to conduct your own investigation into something happening around you that you cannot fully control or understand.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- You can intervene on someone else's behalf today and solve a key problem before it threatens to take over his or her life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You may not know just where to focus your attention or your energies today. Perhaps it is best to follow another's lead.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You'll be able to face a certain fear directly today, and in the end say proudly that you have conquered it and can put it behind you.

12

Sports

Friday, April 26, 2013 ubspectrum.com

Star sprinter’s transfer to UB leads to championships, records on the track

Courtesy of UB Athletics

So far this season, junior sprinter Miles Lewis has set records and set the tone as the track and field team’s leader. But he never would have started running if it weren't for being challenged to a race in middle school and catching the eye of a coach.

TOM DINKI

Staff Writer

Junior track star Miles Lewis might not have ever become UB’s “top dog” if he hadn’t accepted a challenge in middle school.

A member of the track team challenged him to a race behind the school building. Lewis gladly accepted his opponent. He hadn’t just won the race, though; Lewis had caught the eye of the middle school track coach.

The coach approached Lewis, asked him to join the team and jumpstarted his career as an elite athlete.

As his track career progressed and offers to run at the collegiate level came in, Lewis was faced with a second challenge that would alter his life: Where would he attend college?

He originally committed to Virginia his senior year of high school, but Lewis began having second thoughts about going far from his home in Coram, N.Y. “I just wasn’t ready to go away to school,” Lewis said. “I needed to be closer to home, so I ended up at Long Island University.”

Despite having success at LIU and being a part of the 4x100-meter Northeast Conference championship team in 2010, Lewis felt he belonged somewhere else. That’s when he got in touch with Buffalo men’s track and field head coach Perry Jenkins.

Jenkins recalls receiving an email from Lewis, telling him of his interest in transferring from LIU. Jenkins said Lewis was ready for a change and came to train at UB to see what the school was like.

Lewis, however, still had some second thoughts about venturing far from home. He thought of transferring to Northeastern, which is located in Boston, Mass. – closer to home.

Luckily for the men’s track and field team, he changed his mind at the last minute and decided UB would be the better fit for him – largely because of Jenkins.

“He’s just a really cool guy,” Lewis said. “I didn’t feel all the pressure that I did at a lot of other institutions, so I really wanted to come here once I got in touch with coach Jenkins.”

Lewis’ decision to come to Buffalo proved to be a crucial one for the Bulls. He became a star, winning the Mid-American Conference

title in the 200-meter sprint and earning first-team All-MAC honors in 2011-12. He also got his name in the record books with his time in both the 100-meter and 60-meter dashes.

“I like that it’s pretty laidback here,” Lewis said of UB. “I like to not be too stressed out.”

Despite being a high-profile athlete and leader on the team, Lewis is described by teammates, coaches and family as easygoing.

Jenkins sees his relaxed sprinter as a role model for the younger athletes.

“He brings the best out of everybody,” Jenkins said. “Especially the freshmen because he’s the upperclassman of the [sprinters]. It’s good to have a role model for the freshmen and the high school kids coming in, and right now [Lewis] is their role model.”

Freshman jumper Austin Price said Lewis and the team bond away from the track as well – from having dinner together in the Student Union to going on team outings to Lasertron. Price describes Lewis as the nicest kid he knows and likens Lewis to a human encyclopedia when it comes to track.

Lewis has not always been passionate about track. Adria Lewis,

his mother, said Lewis had a knack for running since a young age, but he’s had to develop his dedication and practice methods through the years.

“As time went on, he’s gotten more aware of everything that comes along with running,” Adria said. “Early on in his running, he probably wasn’t quite as dedicated to training as he is now.”

Lewis said he began to take the sport more seriously after winning his first meet during his junior year at Newfield High School. It was at that point his coaches recognized his talent and began to push him to further dedicate himself to track. Lewis attributes his love for the sport to one coach in particular: Newfield track coach Michael Granatelli.

“Coach Granatelli basically taught me everything I know,” Lewis said. “He kind of motivated me to stick with the sport. I didn’t really enjoy it at first, but he helped me find that love of the sport.”

Now Lewis is described by his teammates and coach as a dedicated athlete who is hard on himself and is always determined to be ready for competition. His hard work has been recognized, as he won the men’s track Top Newcomer Award

last season.

Lewis is dedicated to academics in addition to athletics.

“I wish most of the student-athletes were like Miles,” Jenkins said.

“He’s so dedicated and determined and so positive about being the best you can be as a student-athlete.”

Lewis credits the UB track program with not causing him any excess stress, adding he only wants to stress about academics.

Lewis’ parents attended all of his meets in high school, but with his transfer and move upstate, they’re not always able to watch him in person now. But Lewis still has his parents’ guidance with him when he heads out onto the track.

“They call me up every week before I run,” Lewis said of his parents. “They tell me I can be the best and not to worry about it, and they always give me support.”

Lewis’ transfer has turned out well for him and the Bulls. He has found happiness in Buffalo.

“Right now, he’s the top dog,” Jenkins said. “Not only on campus, but also in the conference.”

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

On the road again Baseball team travels to Akron after home-opening sweep of Kent State BEN TARHAN

Sports Editor Nick Fischetti, The Spectrum

The women’s rugby team is just two wins away from its first national title. The squad begins its journey on May 3 against Washington State in the Final Four of the 2013 Women’s Collegiate Division II National Championship Tournament.

Women’s club rugby team on its way to Final Four JOE KONZE JR

Senior Sports Editor

There is a row of 10 players holding rucking pads – blocking shields – ready to absorb a hit.

Coach shouts “Fire” and 10 other players rush toward the bags.

Thud, grunt.

After the drill ends, the players hustle back to their positions for another round.

“Fire” reverberates around the field, and the players attack the pads once again.

Thud, grunt.

These are the sights and sounds of a women’s rugby practice at Buffalo. The voice belongs to head coach Kristen Huber, who has deep roots in the rugby communi-

ty of Western New York as the vice president of women’s college rugby in the New York State Rugby Conference.

Her intensity and enthusiasm is engrained in the practice, and her leadership creates a camaraderie that is contagious.

The team is on the verge of its first National Championship in club history. Huber, whose nickname is “Red,” is a large reason for the team’s transformation.

“She knows so much about rugby,” said Claire Fritz, a senior health and human services major and forward on the team. “Not just about how to run a team, but also how to play. She’s been the main catalyst in getting us pumped.”

SEE RUGBY, PAGE 9

A little more than halfway through its conference schedule, the baseball team has already matched the school record for conference wins.

The Bulls (21-17, 11-4 MidAmerican Conference) have catapulted into first place in the MAC East division after a sweep of defending MAC champion Kent State (20-20, 9-6 MAC) last weekend.

This season has been full of firsts for head coach Ron Torgalski’s squad. The Bulls have already won more games than they did last season and are just two wins away from the school record. But the season has included disappointments, too.

Buffalo is 1-6 in games played during the week – something Torgalski acknowledged has been an issue over the past few seasons.

While everyone has been focused for conference games this season, every player isn’t mentally there for the midweek games, according to Torgalski.

“For us to be a good team, our approach has to be the same every time we step out on the field,” Torgalski said.

Poor midweek play has been one

Joe Malak, The Spectrum

After sweeping conference rival Kent State last weekend and claiming sole possession of first place, the Bulls are headed to Akron to take on the Zips.

of the only negatives for the Bulls since they started conference play.

Despite playing four of five series away from Buffalo, the Bulls have won every weekend series and, after last weekend’s sweep, hold a perfect 3-0 home record against conference opponents.

The Bulls’ four series wins to open the conference season were particularly important, according to Torgalski. Those games were pivotal to dictating the Bulls’ success this season because they came before they played a single home game.

Torgalski believes the Bulls proved a lot in those series, and the

confidence has carried through to this point in the season.

“We grind it out and we come to play, and they showed it again this weekend, grinding out three onerun games against what is supposedly the best team in the conference,” Torgalski said.

Because poor weather forced Buffalo to play two of its four conference home series out of town, the squad has only one conference home series remaining. This weekend, the Bulls will travel to Akron (9-29, 6-9 MAC) to take on the Zips in another MAC East showdown.

SEE BASEBALL, PAGE 9