THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO Vol. 61 NO. 27
UB Names Provost Search Committee LUKE HAMMILL Senior News Editor Last week, the newly formed Provost Search Committee revealed its members to the UB community.
ubspectrum.com
Monday, October 31, 2011
Lungs of Tar: A Smoker’s Confession
Charged with finding UB’s next provost – the university’s second-highest position, which was vacated after former Provost Satish K. Tripathi became president – the committee expects that the position will be filled no later than summer 2012. The co-chairs of the committee are Anne B. Curtis, chair of the department of medicine, and SUNY Distinguished Professor David C. Felder, director of the Center for 21st Century Music. The rest of the committee is made up of the following members: Alexander Cartwright – Professor of Electrical Engineering; Vice President for Research Jonathan Dandes – President, Rich Baseball Operations; Member of the UB Council JoAnna Datz – Undergraduate Student, Management and Communications; President, Student Association Michael Glick – Professor and Dean, School of Dental Medicine Bruce Jackson – SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture, Department of English Mia Jorgensen – Graduate Student, Anthropology, Student Representative to UB Council David Milling – Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine; Senior Associate Dean for Student and Academic Affairs, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Makau Mutua – SUNY Distinguished Professor, Floyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar, and Dean, Law School Mulchand Patel – SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry Barbara Ricotta – Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Lois Weis—SUNY Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Margaret Wells – Director, Public Services & Arts and Sciences Libraries, University Libraries Aidong Zhang – Professor and Chair of Computer Science and Engineering Ezra Zubrow – Professor of Anthropology; Chair, Faculty Senate Spectrum reporters, upon placing phone calls to numerous committee members, learned that the committee has been instructed by Co-Chairs Curtis and Felder not to speak to the media about the committee. Curtis and Felder will be the only ones to speak to the press. Curtis answered a few of The Spectrum’s questions via email. “The initial phases of the search will be conducted in confidence, as candidates are identified through a national search,” Curtis said. “Once the initial screening is completed and finalists are identified, they will participate in campus visits that will include a wide variety of university participants. The names of the finalists will be made public at the time of the campus visits.”
Living on campus poses problems for frequent smokers.
KEREN BARUCH Asst. Life Editor
Danielle Villi, a junior communication major, grew up worried for her parents’ health. They were frequent smokers and Villi would crush their cigarettes whenever she could. Now, though, three years into her college career, she has become a fellow smoker. “I would crush their cigarettes, I would throw them out,” Villi said. “Finally they quit, but [then I] started, and I don’t want to blame them and say that they’re a bad influence, but I guess I just grew up around it so I thought it was okay.” UBreathe Free, which was suppose to ban cigarette smoking on UB’s campuses, was instituted in 2010 with the hopes of providing a cleaner and healthier campus for students, faculty and staff. But just one look around and it’s easy to see that it’s a hazy situation. Seventy percent of the tars in cigarettes stick to the cilia in a smoker’s lungs. This tar, similar to the tar used to pave roads, destroy the cilia and leaves the lungs
more open to dangerous substances, such as cancer causing chemicals, according to Ruth E. Stuettgen, a quit-smoking specialist. “I never thought it was gross,” said Samantha Hochstein, a freshman communication major. “I never was the girl who looked at smokers and said, ‘Oh why are you doing that? It’s going to mess up your lungs.’ But when I first tried it, I thought it tasted disgusting. [But] since I kept doing it, I got more used to it.” Most college students start smoking for the social aspect that cigarettes bring them, according to Sharlynn Daun-Barnett, UB’s Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Specialist. “Just when [students are] out, maybe having a drink or relaxing with friends who might also smoke, they’ll have a cigarette, and they don’t consider themselves smokers,” Daun-Barnett said. “Maybe they just drink alcohol and smoke, but soon the two pair, and because it’s so addictive, they start buying their own pack. This eventually leads to them being daily smokers.”
“[Claire is] someone who can smoke two packs a day if she wanted to,” Hochstein said. “She will have a cigarette at any given point in the day. When she has a spare five minutes, she will go have a cigarette. And if she has a spare seven minutes, Claire will tell you it takes her seven minutes exactly to smoke two cigarettes back to back. So of course when I’m with her and she says, ‘oh wanna go outside?’ I’ll smoke more…I smoke more when I’m with people who smoke.” Although Hochstein’s best friend from her hometown endorses her smoking habits, her parents attempt to inhibit them. Hochstein’s parents have found empty packets of cigarettes in her garbage and around her room, and have seen pictures of her holding cigarettes on Facebook. Tammy Hochstein, Hochstein’s mother, dealt with her own father passing away from a smoking related disease when he
was only 50 years old.
Meg Kinsley /// The Spectrum
“She’ll say [to me], ‘someone so close to me died because of smoking, and I can’t imagine losing someone else from the same thing’,” Hochstein said. “It [affects me] and…I think about it when she’s telling it to me, but it’s the same thing like when your mom tells you ‘always wear a helmet when you ride your bike’, and you still go out and you ride your bike without a helmet, even though you know she’s telling you for a good reason and you know the dangers of not wearing a helmet.” Hochstein does not consider the relationship between herself and her cigarettes as an addiction. “I think it’s almost out of habit. In high school it was the same times; I would smoke right when I got out of school and right when I got out of work, and it just followed me here,” Hochstein said “I usually [smoke] right after all of my classes are finished, and then probably right after work, and then mostly on weekends.” Hochstein believes that the reason why she continues to smoke – although she
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Lightning Strikes Twice as Bulls Defeat Golden Flashes Advance to MAC semifinals for the first time in more than a decade
NATHANIEL SMITH Staff Writer
that Sunday’s rematch wasn’t going to play out the same way.
A lot of attention has been given to the women’s soccer team and the considerable improvement it have made since last season. But all the improvement in the world means nothing if the Bulls (12-4-4, 5-3-4 Mid-American Conference) fold in the playoffs. Buffalo fought through a wild game against Kent State (12-8, 6-6 MAC) and willed its way to a 2-1 victory in Sunday’s MAC quarterfinals. The win marks the first time the Bulls have made it past the quarterfinals since 2000. The Bulls defeated the Golden Flashes last Thursday using a strong defensive performance by their midfielders and defenders. However, head coach Michael Thomas warned his team
“We talked about it being a completely different game going down to their field,” Thomas said. “I told them not to make any assumptions based on Thursday’s game, and [Buffalo] came out believing that it was a completely different team.” Thomas’ premonition came true, as this game was far more physical than the first. Both teams combined for 33 fouls, 13 more from last game’s total. Kent State was all over Buffalo. The Golden Flashes made seven shots on goal after getting just one in the previous game. Their newfound aggressiveness paid off in the second half. Kent State forward Jaclyn Dutton scored on a 22-
The Bulls are continuing to break new ground as they advance to the MAC semifinals for the first time in 11 years with their 2-1 victory over Kent State. Yan Gong /// The Spectrum
Halloween, Unmasked Continued on Page 2
The public campus visits will be in contrast to last year’s presidential search, which drew criticism for being conducted in total secrecy. The initial phases of this year’s search will be conducted in confidence “out of respect for the candidates in their current professional positions.”
This perception evokes feelings of vulnerability and anxiety, which prompt individuals to look for ways to manage these feelings, whether by watching a horror film or dressing up as a monster, according to David Schmid, associate professor and associate chair of the English department.
Dr. Ilene Nagel, head of the higher education practice for Russell Reynolds Associates (a private firm describing itself as a “provider of senior-level executive search and assessment”), will aid the committee in its search. Nagel was involved with last year’s presidential search as well. Curtis said that the ideal candidate will have “an earned doctorate (or comparable academic degree),” administrative experience, and the ability to “work effectively with major regional foundations and industrial partners,” among many other qualities.
In Hochstein’s case, friends were the primary cause of her early smoking career. Claire Chapin, a freshman at SUNY Albany, is Hochstein’s best friend that shared her first cigarette with her during their junior year of high school.
“We’re fascinated and intrigued by the ‘freedoms’ that monsters seem to possess; that is, they are free from social conventions, from routines and responsibilities, and from needing the approval and recognition of their peers,” Schmid said.
Halloween may literally scare the pants off of some people, but research shows that it’s all done for the thrill, vulnerability, and feelings of anxiety. Nyeri Moulterie /// The Spectrum
NATALIE LICATA Staff Writer
The current interim provost is Harvey Stenger, formerly the dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. When asked whether Stenger was the favorite for the permanent position, Curtis said that internal candidates will be treated equally with external candidates. Heart racing, you start to wonder why
Weather for the Week: Monday: Few Showers- H: 53, L: 39 Tuesday: Mostly Sunny- H: 55, L: 39 Wednesday: Partly Cloudy- H: 57, L: 46
Society’s fascination with the macabre stems from the perception that the world is an extremely violent and unpredictable place.
In addition to the adrenaline rushes these movies induce, they also make us contemplate the worst scenarios that can happen to us, Schmid said.
A 2007 study conducted by Eduardo Andrade and Joel B. Cohen of the University of California found that watching scary movies is a way to experience both positive and negative emotions simultaneously. Strangely enough, as negative and absolutely horrific images play across the screen, the person watching the film is actually also experiencing positive emotions, according to Andrade and Cohen. Before the magic of Halloween was glorified by cinema, the pagan holiday was a time to pay last respects to souls and bid them farewell as they departed for the other world, according to Stevens. In Western Europe, on the evening before these services, ghosts, demons, and witches were allowed free reign outside of local villages. To keep them from entering the communities, treats were laid outside the town, which provided the foundation for what is known today as trick-or-treating. Over time, the holiday has evolved into a day when people can reverse the roles and impersonate the supernatural, and
I N S I D E
you even started watching the horror
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Research done by the University of Utrecht has identified various motives for viewing horror films, including the need for excitement, the desire to feel intense emotions, and distraction from everyday concerns.
“When we are scared, the brain triggers the ‘adrenaline rush,’ which energizes us to flee from the danger; that gives us a pleasant feeling as it leaves us, and it can be sort of addictive,” said Phil Stevens, Jr., a professor of anthropology. “That's the fear of witches and other evil creatures, and the same sensation [is] triggered by horror movies, which keeps us coming back to them.”
movie.
It’s a scene you probably saw over the past week: a grotesque monster is on the hunt. Suddenly, the music you’re hearing hits a sharp note that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. A helpless victim scrambles to find a safe haven, but fails.
Indulging in our fascination with the scary and spooky provides exposure to things that frighten us, but in a controlled setting. We are exposed, but not harmed, according to Schmid.
“The scariest scary movies are ones that seem like they could really happen to you, like murderers hiding in your house or something like that,” said Liz Hennessy, a junior environmental science major.
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