VOL. 70 NO. 8 | OCTOBER 20, 2021
Q&A with Vice President for Student Life Brian Hamluk
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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
Zodiaque Dance Company returns for first in-person show since March 2020
UBSPECTRUM
Garba Night triumphs as a celebration of joy during a time of uncertainty
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‘I missed the deadline by a day’:
Over 30 international students have their F-1 visas revoked Students say email confusion, lack of communication contributed to the termination JACK PORCARI SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR
ALEX FALTER SENIOR ARTS EDITOR
On Sept. 28, 37 international students had their F-1 visa statuses terminated for failing to submit an I-94 form within 30 days of their arrival on campus, thus revoking their legal immigration status. An I-94 form is a document detailing the arrival and departure of all-non U.S. citizens from the U.S. International Student Services reached out over email to spread awareness of the upcoming deadline with students, according to the university. In multiple interviews with The Spectrum, impacted students said these email reminders didn’t always make it to the intended receiver. Dai Jing*, a junior accounting major, was among those directly affected. She cited UB’s lack of communication as a reason why she overlooked such an important deadline. “The most important emails [were] sent to our other email, not our UB email, [our] other emails we’d use when we applied for
UB,” Jing said. “Some of us don’t regularly check our [personal] emails.” In a statement, UB said it is aware of the situation and has dealt with issues like this in the past. “It is not unusual to have anywhere from 15-30 students terminated from the program each year,” the university said. UB has more international students on campus this year than last because many international students took courses remotely in 2020-21, the university said in a statement about enrollment last week. “UB is obligated to create an institutional standard for reporting this information to the Department of Homeland Security within 30 days from a student’s program start date. This includes proof of a valid F-1 entry into the U.S.” According to sources with knowledge on this matter, around 27 Chinese students were impacted by the terminations. The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) became aware of the incident on Sept. 30 and notified the Consulate General of China in New York soon after. Additionally, CSSA has since posted a summary of what happened to inform students of their potential status change. After the summary began circulating, “We had students contacting us about their status as well as some lawyers who were willing to do counseling for the students,” CSSA said. “UB’s ISS office works diligently to
avoid terminating students… Those students who were terminated did not attend pre-arrival webinars, read pre-arrival newsletters, e-forms and emails, or attend immigration sessions. All of these educational opportunities explain the process, and how to comply with these regulations,” the university said in its statement. In addition, CSSA confirmed the lack of uniformity when ISS informed students of their status changes. “Some had holds [on their student accounts], some did not, the email notice was not sent to the accurate email address — some [students] did not receive their fi-
Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum International Student Services provides support
nal notice in either one of the email they have on file, but in an email that they never officially provide to UB at all,” CSSA said. “One of the department directors also brought up that it would be great for ISS to inform the department, so they can help supervise their students when it comes to completing the international students check-ins.” Emails are typically a less utilized form of communication in China compared to other nations, according to the BBC. Pranav Misra*, a freshman economics SEE VISAS PAGE 4
for international students at
UB.
SA plans on holding Fall Fest, will use leftover funds for ‘big’ Spring Fest Plans for the Comedy Series are similar; Gala ‘going to happen’ GRANT ASHLEY SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR
The Student Association is planning to hold Fall Fest this semester, but the event will likely be smaller due to COVID-19 restrictions, room reservation issues and vendor capacity problems, according to members of the SA e-board. In a sit-down interview with The Spectrum, the e-board acknowledged the possibility that it won’t be able to hold Fall Fest this semester. In that event, the SA will likely host “different, smaller events” throughout the fall semester, according to SA Treasurer Austin Wolfgang. Either way, leftover funds from this semester will “most likely” be used to host a larger-than-average Spring Fest and Comedy Series next semester, according to the e-board. “We are still venturing into what we can and can’t do,” SA president Nick Singh said. The SA hasn’t charged any expenses to its $250,000 fest production account or $55,000 comedy production account as of the time of publication, according to the SA General Ledger, but the e-board says it has spent months trying to plan the events despite numerous difficulties. “There was the question of COVID-19 guidelines for quite a while — longer than what maybe students had known about — with big gatherings especially,” Wolfgang said. “And then there’s also the question of trying to get room reservations [from the university]. As our clubs will tell you, it’s very hard to get room reservations, and SA is having the same [problem] as all our clubs are. We go through the same process to get those reservations.” Wolfgang specifically cited the SA’s
troubles in reserving large spaces, such as The announcement follows Singh’s SepAlumni Arena, due to the high demand. tember comments that the SA was in the Singh says his administration considered “planning stages” of putting on Fall Fest holding Fall Fest outside to avoid room and the Comedy Series. That statement scheduling problems, but ultimately decid- raised questions about whether Fall Fest ed against that due to the cold weather and or the Comedy Series would be held at all. because their outdoor tent vendor ceased The SA didn’t hold an in-person Fall operations. Fest, Spring Fest or Comedy Series last That isn’t the only vendor-related issue year due to COVID-19, although the SA the e-board has faced; COVID-19-related held online events like a paint night with supply chain and employment issues have rapper Lil Yachty. also created headaches, according to the eFall Fests of years’ past have featured board. performances from Pop Smoke, Gun“With the [Family Weekend] carnival, we had to use a couple new vendors because vendors had gone out of business, or they didn’t have the staff to provide their normal level of service,” Wolfgang said. “Trying to get all of that together [for Fall Fest] has been quite difficult on shorter notice.” The Comedy Series has been equally difficult to plan due to the same problems, Singh said. “It’s a whole process,” Singh said. “We need the [comedian], we get the date, then we reach out to the managers, then we reach out to [SA Council] Coordinators, then we reach out to contract, then reach out to [SA] Production. So it’s a lot of things, ...compared to, [for] example, having one DJ or somebody come in.” Singh also confirmed “for sure” that the SA is actively planning and will host a Winter Gala since “that was much further out” from the start of the semester. Alexander Brown / The Spectrum Gunna performs at Fall Fest in 2019.
na and DaBaby, Childish Gambino and Queen Naija. Recent Comedy Series headliners include John Mulaney, Trevor Noah and Nick Offerman. “We had students away [from campus] for a year,” Singh said. “We have a whole year group of students who don’t know what campus life is. We need to... make that experience [happen for them]. ...We are trying our best to make stuff happen.” Email: grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com