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Volume 63 No. 79
A trans-historical man
Professor Braun’s retirement is beginning of a new chapter in globe-trotting journey JORDAN OSCAR Arts Editor
It’s 1982 – a year after the communist government in Poland instituted martial law, censoring the arts and forcing many playwrights, directors, artists and intellectuals to begin working illegally through a cultural underground. Fifty people are crammed into the living room of a Polish home. In front of them, in the adjoining dining room, sits a row of actors – their faces illuminated by desk lamps and candles. Everyone knows the risks and potential consequences of being there, but they have still gathered to observe the reading of Kazimierz Braun’s “Valesa.” “Valesa” is the first of two plays Braun produced illegally through the Polish underground. “It was like a bad dream,” Dr. Braun said of martial law. “A nightmare.” “Valesa” was a premonition; he began writing its plot about what could happen if martial law were declared over Poland before it actually occurred. Braun faced intensified cultural oppression and had to persist through confrontations with the communist government from 1981-85. He moved out of Poland in ’85 to find work. None of it made him consider quitting on his lifelong love of
Yusong Shi, The Spectrum Dr. Kazimierz Braun has directed 150 plays around the world; the walls of his office are adorned with the books he published on theater and posters of his productions.
theater, though. Whether he was on the stage, directing actors and helping them understand their role within a play or embracing the “gypsy life” and moving to direct various productions all over the world, Braun was constantly moving throughout his life. He didn’t settle down until he came to UB 29 years ago. Still, his passion for passing on his knowledge of theater has kept him active as a professor in UB’s Department of Theatre and Dance. To date, “Kaz,” as many people know him, has directed more
than 155 plays around the world, written 50 books about theater and its history and received more than 20 awards – including a Golden Owl award in Vienna, a Chivalry Cross, the Officer’s Cross and the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic. He has also received Guggenheim and Fulbright awards. Braun’s production of “The Tempest,” which opened in the Center For the Arts’ Black Box Theater in March, was his last at UB. After the 2014-15 academic year, Braun will retire.
*** To understand Braun today, it’s essential to understand his past. He was born to two well-educated parents in 1936, in Mokrsko Dolne, a province of Kielce, Poland. His father was a lawyer and graduate of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where his mother also graduated and studied Polish literature. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the town where Braun and his family lived became occupied. They were expelled.
“Our house was incorporated into Germany and we were expelled as Poles,” Braun explained. A year before the war had begun, Braun’s family had a summerhouse built in the Polish countryside, which became their refuge for five years during the war. There, Braun was homeschooled by his parents, who immersed him in the world of literature, poetry, theater and religion. From a young age, Braun read poetry, which he would recite during family reunions and gatherings. “My parents organized [an] artistic and cultural life [for us] … we had a home theater in which we, the children, performed and of course we did a lot of reading,” Braun said. A family full of actors, playwrights, pianists and other intellectuals surrounded him. His uncle, Jerzy Braun, was a playwright, poet and philosopher who became a leader of the Polish underground during World War II. Another of Braun’s uncles was an actor who would visit the summerhouse to recite and perform various plays. One of the Braun family’s biggest inspirations was Braun’s aunt, Jadwiga Domanska. Domanska was an actress who starred in several plays and was a SEE BRAUN, PAGE 4
Student Association rewind
Year included resignations, policy overhauls, invalidated election AMANDA LOW & SAM FERNANDO
News Editor & Senior News Editor
The Student Association had an eventful 2013-14. From multiple resignations to constitutional amendments, SA has implemented structural changes and gone through controversy that started almost immediately. In the fall, President James Ingram, Vice President Evan Chen and Treasurer Sade Cadle will run SA. Below is a round up of this year’s biggest student government headlines. President resigns less than one month into academic year Sept. 18, Student Association President Nick Johns resigned. Vice President Lyle Selsky became interim president. Johns was accused of a litany of offenses, including inappropriately accepting gifts, mishandling SA funds, hiring personal friends over more qualified candidates, being absent from important events, falsifying documents, mistreating staff and harassing Chief of Staff Jennifer Merckel. The Spectrum printed an article Sept. 9, “The president’s end?” which publicized the accusations. In the weeks prior to his resignation, SA higher-ups were circulating a petition to impeach Johns for his alleged wrongdoing. The petition had reached more than 2,000 signatures – 2,541 were needed for impeachment – by the time he stepped down. In a statement to The Spectrum announcing his resignation, Johns called the allegations “ridiculous” and said, “Although I know I could have definitely beat
Spectrum File Photo March 28, 2013, Nick Johns wins the SA election. Johns resigned Sept. 18 after many SA members accused him of a litany of grievances.
Aline Kobayashi, The Spectrum Oct. 9, Sam McMahon fist pumps upon hearing his presidential victory.
all of these charges based on my strong evidence to refute these claims, I also know that a prolonged conflict would create fundamentally irreparable fractures in the structure of the SA.” The re-election for president was slated for three weeks later. Sam McMahon wins re-election Oct. 9, Sam McMahon was elected SA president. McMahon was the SA office manager and one of the people who came forward in opposition of Johns. He received 1,087 votes, beating SUNY Delegate Mohammad Alwahaidy, his closest opponent in the six-person election,
by 309. McMahon said the re-election process was proof that SA’s checks-and-balances system was intact. He said fixing problems that exist in the leadership of the organization shows the system is working. In his platform, McMahon promised a new holiday shuttle service that would take students to and from the Buffalo/Niagara International Airport. Within his first week in office, the shuttle system was in place. Vice president resigns just before spring semester Jan. 22, SA Vice President Lyle Selsky resigned, citing family rea-
Aline Kobayashi, The Spectrum March 27, president-elect James Ingram celebrates as he and his Value Party sweep the 2014-15 SA election.
sons for his leave. Selsky was the second person from the Spirit Party to leave office. “Over the past several months a lot of hardship has befallen upon my family,” he said in a written statement. “To continue being Vice President would do the student body a disservice when I know I will not be able to give 110%, which is what you the students expect of your government.” McMahon appointed Judy Mai, a senior health and human services major, to fill the vice president seat. Thirteen SA Senate members voted ‘yes’ to the appointment at the first Senate meeting of the spring semester,
Feb. 2. Mai has been active in SA for four years, holding positions as an SA office manager, senior office manager and club services director. Senate passes six constitutional amendments in one meeting Feb. 23, the Senate passed six and tabled one of seven amendments in less an hour during a meeting. The approved amendments: removed the distinction of on- and off-campus senators; changed staff appointment procedures; extended the president’s term until the end of the school year; altered election dates and vacancy election policies; officiated university policy in StudentWide Judiciary (SWJ) rulings; and revised the process of money transfers. The Senate decided to table the fourth amendment, which specified certain Senate powers. Senator Ali Ahmed believed there was not enough discussion on the multiple amendments. Former SA President Travis Nemmer said time of discussion at the Senate meeting “doesn’t factor too much” into the decisions as long as they were given the “appropriate attention.” Value Party sweeps SA election March 27, the Value Party swept the elections for the 2014-15 school year. Presidential and vice presidential candidates James Ingram and Evan Chen, respectively, won the positions with 1,201 votes – 250 more than their opponents, Erin Lachaal and Myriam Diomande of the Impact Party. Sade Cadle ran for treasurer with the Value Party and won the SEE SA, PAGE 7