The Spectrum Volume 63 Issue 16

Page 1

UB Foundation main topic of first Faculty Senate meeting

UB considers GTA V’s massive impact on society THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

ubspectrum.com

Bachtelle’s passion, personality ignite dreams

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Page

2

Page

6

Page

10

Volume 63 No. 16

Fired-up community meeting explores University Heights crises UB, City of Buffalo, students all opinionated on potential changes to neighborhood LISA KHOURY

Managing Editor

Gloria J. Parks Community Center was packed with concerned University Heights citizens, Buffalo Police officers, students and a UB administrator on Monday night. The area, which is home to thousands of students, is riddled with crime and unsafe housing conditions, but is also a go-to location for student nightlife. Many of the 70-plus community members who attended the meeting were angry with the student-related problems that, they said, have been around for decades. UB, the City of Buffalo and the University Heights Collaborative are coming together and attempting to find a solution. Much of the room’s tension lay between UB and the Buffalo Police. Mickey Vertino, the University Heights Collaborative president who hosted Monday night’s gathering, said the situation near South Campus is “getting out of control,” but urged everyone to not turn the discussion into a “blame game.” There were three main points of contention throughout the meeting: Students shouldn’t live in the Heights without UB guardianship; UB shouldn’t drop its students off on South Campus late at night because many are drunk upon arrival and University Police should patrol the Heights; and Buffalo Police shouldn’t be held responsible for disciplining UB students. Shutting down the 24-hour bus system The UB Stampede bus system has been running 24 hours a day since 2009. Some students call it the “drunk bus.”

Daniele Gershon, The Spectrum

On Monday night, approximately 70 University Heights community members gathered to discuss prevalent neighborhood issues like student partying and its effect on safety. Many concerned residents said UB should take larger ownership of the area because of its large student population, and Assistant Vice President for Government and Community Relations Michael Pietkiewicz (standing, far right) presented UB’s side.

Many Heights residents said it is unacceptable that UB facilitates dropping off intoxicated students near bars or house parties. Assistant Vice President for Government and Community Relations Michael Pietkiewicz, the only UB representative present, said UB’s bus service allows students to go to the library on South Campus that is open 24 hours a day. “There’s an 800-pound elephant in the room, and I will say it,” said Buffalo Police E-district Chief Kimberly Beaty, whose officers patrol the Heights. “On Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night, there are not 800 students going to the library. And it’s creating a problem in this neighborhood.” “And the Buffalo Police shouldn’t be responsible,” a community member added. “Why

can’t the university police patrol the streets?” Pietkiewicz argued that UPD has no jurisdiction in the district. Should UB take a larger role in the Heights? Rosline Righetti, who has lived on Merrimac Street for almost 60 years, said she is “ashamed that UB won’t take more ownership in the Heights.” She said if UB won’t find a way for its police to patrol the neighborhood, it needs to, at minimum, police the buses that drop students off at South Campus. “Last week, when I came home on Friday night, I counted when I was driving [on Main Street] 23 miles per hour, there were over 499 kids at 11:30,” Righetti said. “So when you say, ‘Don’t stop the buses,’ maybe what we can do is, before [students] get on the bus, make sure there’s no

open containers.” Many suggested UB should either not allow students to live in the houses on their own or it should take responsibility for students’ actions. “This is not ‘The Heights;’ this is a family neighborhood,” a community member shouted. “UB is creating a culture promoting it [as student housing].” The woman, who is a permanent resident, said students are bringing down home values in the neighborhood. Fraternities and sororities, some legal, some illegal, rent houses in the Heights. Some Greek Life members host house parties and, recently, because two of three Main Street bars have shut down, more students are flocking to house parties than usual. The concerned woman said she sees “hundreds” of young

SENATE CANDIDATE CLAIMS ELECTION WAS UNFAIR, SEEKS JUSTICE BY SAM FERNANDO

Senior News Editor

Elad Eliahu believes the Student Association cheated him. Last week, Eliahu ran independently for one of the six on-campus senator positions; 593 students voted. He lost by 33 votes to the six HOUSE (Honoring Our Undergrad Student Expenses) Party candidates. Eliahu believes the election was an institutional failure on SA’s part. Eliahu alleges the HOUSE Party harassed him on the election floor in the Student Union while he was speaking with students. He said the members of the party would surround him and tell the students not to vote for him. He also said one member walked a student into the voting room, a violation of election regulations. He said the opposing party slandered his name by telling potential voters he “hated SA” and was not involved in clubs. He accused the party of libel in a Facebook post that said the same thing on the party’s page. The post has since been deleted, he said. After Eliahu filed a complaint early last week, the StudentWide Judiciary (SWJ) penalized the HOUSE Party with an hour off of the election floor, he said.

Aline Kobayashi, The Spectrum

Elad Eliahu, the only candidate who was not elected in last week’s Student Association Senate election, believes SA has cheated him. He alleges the Student-Wide Judiciary and SA influenced the election in the opposing party’s favor.

SWJ sanctioned the penalty on Thursday with only 40 minutes remaining in the election, according to Eliahu. SWJ Chief Justice Christian Zyla did not respond to The Spectrum for comment by the time of press. Eliahu believes if SWJ had penalized the HOUSE Party earlier during the election, he would have had more time to speak with student voters – a task he said was difficult when six members of the opposing party were on the floor. He said SWJ wasn’t “competent” and didn’t “do their jobs at all.”

Eliahu filed approximately 10 complaints to SWJ, and he is unsure of which accusation it penalized the HOUSE Party for. Chad Hladki, the former election and credentials chair who held that position last week during the Senate election, said SWJ didn’t do its job. He said both parties filed about 10 complaints each, and he thinks the results of the election might have been different if SWJ had responded to all of the parties’ complaints. Hladki added, however, the HOUSE Party’s allegations against Eliahu weren’t sanctioned either – except for a 20-minute

penalty because Eliahu had given a speech in the beginning of one of his classes, a violation of the election rules. Hladki said it was a “legal election” because SWJ didn’t respond to all of Eliahu’s complaints or all of the HOUSE Party’s complaints. He said the outcome was “a totally valid result.” Hladki believes Eliahu’s problem with the election results doesn’t have anything to do with the election process; he thinks it has to do with the position Eliahu put himself in by running independently. “The biggest thing [Eliahu] was upset about is the fact that it was one [versus] six,” Hladki said. “There is nothing illegal about that. He applied as an independent candidate and that is not anyone’s fault. And he ran a great campaign, even though he was alone. “His interpretation of unfair treatment and poor campaign practice is just because of the fact that, inherently, six versus one is not easy. If you don’t have your own team of six to back up the six that are trying to make you look bad, what else is there to say? It is literally a fight.” SEE ELAD, PAGE 2

people partying in her neighborhood, and she suffers from sleep deprivation from their loud gatherings. She said if the students don’t leave, she might have to. “Trust me, you don’t want to lose homeowners like me who have doubled our home properties,” she said. “This should be stopped yesterday.” UB has five apartment complexes on North Campus, which is located in Amherst, but it has no apartment complexes on South Campus, which is located in the city. Herman Huntley, a resident of 63 Englewood Ave. for 10 years, lives next to a “party house” of male students. He said, this semester, they’ve had parties with “close to 100 people in the backyard and basement” every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. “If you’re building the apartments in Amherst, keep your kids in Amherst,” Huntley said. “I want UB to have more accountability for its students.” Are students the problem? Many of the concerned residents said students are corrupting the neighborhood. Vertino, who used to be a landlord in the area, said his former student renters put a keg that was saturated with beer on the first floor, which caused the floor to sag. In the basement, he noticed the main beam on the ceiling was cracked. If people walked through the upstairs, the basement ceiling could have caved in, he said, adding that students were frequently in that basement. “We’re not focusing on holding the students accountable for their actions – it’s a loving act,” Vertino said. “We don’t want them to go into dangerous situations.” SEE THE HEIGHTS, PAGE 2

Student Association presidential candidates announced The time period to submit a petition for a spot in the Student Association presidential election closed at 3:30 p.m. Monday, with seven students making the ballot. The candidates are Mohammad Alwahaidy, Kyle Davis, Jessica Honan, James Lopez, Sam McMahon, Amber Potter and Michael Simons. Students who wanted to run needed to be enrolled full-time (taking at least 12 credits), collect signatures and person numbers from 200 students and have an overall GPA above 2.0 and a GPA above 2.0 in his or her last semester. A presidential debate between the seven candidates is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday in the Student Union Theatre. The election will take place from Oct. 7-9. email: news@ubspectrum.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.