The Spectrum Vol. 70 No. 11

VOL. 70 NO. 11 | NOVEMBER 17, 2021

Q&A with the SA e-board

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‘Stronger together’: International students thrive on women’s tennis team Student-athletes from nine different countries embrace sport, school and each other in Buffalo JUSTIN WEISS MANAGING EDITOR

HUNTER SKOCZYLAS SPORTS EDITOR

On a recent Monday afternoon in November, eight of the nine members of the UB women’s tennis team assembled in the Miller Tennis Center for practice.

With Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” echoing from the loudspeakers, the studentathletes — all of whom hail from countries outside the U.S. — gathered excitedly around their coach.

“Let’s go Bulls,” they chanted in heavy accents.

“Let’s go Bulls,” their coach, Kristen Maines, chanted in return.

Maines, a Western New York native and 2006 UB graduate, is an unlikely choice to lead a team full of international studentathletes. Sporting striped leggings, an

‘People are eager to make friends’: International students reflect on UB experience COVID-19 presents unique challenges, opportunities for international students KYLE NGUYEN STAFF WRITER

Steven Bui spent his freshman year halfa-world away from Buffalo.

The sight of the sunrise creeping over his laptop screen as he clicked off his last class before bed was a daily routine for Bui, who is from Vietnam, 12 hours ahead of New York.

For Bui, who arrived on campus for the first time this semester after taking his classes remotely due to COVID-19 last year, that sight is a distant, albeit unpleasant, memory, and his eyes feel better rested.

Bui is one of thousands of international students at UB who arrived or returned to campus this semester in the wake of a tumultuous year-and-a-half that saw the COVID-19 pandemic shutter college campuses around the globe.

Nearly three-quarters of the way through the current semester, several international students at UB reflected on their experiences over the past year as well as their journey to a campus.

No sleep for the sophomores

Bui and sophomore computer science major Ky Anh Tran, both international students from Vietnam, often occupy empty Academic Center classrooms for

late-night study sessions before heading back to their respective dorms for the night.

Bui, a biochemistry major, says he goes right to bed. He says he wakes up as early as possible each morning to call home and see how his girlfriend and family are doing.

Tran picks up right where she leaves off.

She says she usually spends a couple more hours working in the privacy of her dorm before turning in for the night.

Despite only meeting shortly before the start of the fall 2021 semester, the pair shared strikingly similar experiences prior to arriving at UB. When the university announced there wouldn’t be any in-person classes last year, the decision to attend remotely from home was a no-brainer for Bui. “I still have to stay at one place to study online. Why don’t I stay in my country so that I can still meet with my family [and] my friends as I study?” Bui said in an interview with The Spectrum.

Tran, too, considered the financial benefit of studying remotely from home.

But both students quickly found that doing their studies from their bedrooms could present a whole host of other issues.

“I would say the most difficult thing for us is the different time zones,” Tran said. Synchronous instruction presented particular challenges for Asian and other international students, who were forced to attend classes at odd times of the day.

Classes with required attendance were especially difficult, these students said.

SEE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS PAGE 5

oversized coat and a thick Buffalo accent, Maines looks more like a student-athlete — or a mom who spoils her kids’ friends with treats — than a record-setting coach.

But that may be what endears her most to her team and has made her one of the most successful coaches in program history. Spend five minutes with her, and she’ll demonstrate her patience and approachiveness. She’ll also leave little doubt as to how she’s able to command what is likely the most ethnically diverse college sports team in the country, drawing in ath-

letes from five continents and nine distinct countries.

“From a team dynamic, the sense of family is much stronger, because everyone is leaving what they know to come here, and they’re really reliant on each other,” Maines told The Spectrum in an interview, her voice filled with passion. “This isn’t, ‘I can go stay with my family for the weekend, I’m leaving this weekend.’ They’re here all the time together. Just from a team SEE TENNIS PAGE 6

‘It’s putting our backs against the wall’ UB students, local Starbucks employees push for unionization GRANT ASHLEY SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

The Starbucks on the intersection of East Robinson Road and Niagara Falls Boulevard where Kayla Sterner worked had a “major” bee problem. During one shift, staff captured 14 bees under plastic cups, which lined the back counters.

During another shift, one of Sterner’s co-workers, who was allergic to bees, got stung. The worker was instructed to walk to Tops, buy Benadryl and immediately come back to work.

“She just had to put a Band-Aid on it and hope it would be alright because we were short-staffed, so we couldn’t not have somebody,” Sterner, a UB sophomore psychology major and Spectrum staff writer, said. “If they had had us adequately staffed, then [the response] could’ve been like, ‘Oh, you’re having an allergic reaction? Why don’t you go to the doctor.’ Luckily, it wasn’t bad enough that she needed to go to the ER, but that could’ve easily been the case.”

When Sterner and some fellow UB students who work for Starbucks in the area heard that their co-workers were organizing a unionization effort in several Buffalo-area stores, they joined in.

“I’m very excited for this because I didn’t realize it could get better until the opportunity was shown to us,” Ash Goldenberg, a freshman public health major who works

at a Starbucks store that recently filed for unionization, said. “I had a lot of complaints about the store I used to work at [on Long Island]. There were just so many issues. Then I came to Buffalo, and [my co-workers] were like, ‘Actually, we’re trying to change these things.’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s an option? We’re allowed to do that?’ I’m very excited about it.”

Six Starbucks stores in total are seeking representation from Workers United, a Service Employees International Unionaffiliated labor union. Three Starbucks locations — one on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, another on Camp Road in Hamburg and a third on Genesee Street in Cheektowaga — filed for a union vote with the National Labor Relations Board in August. The NLRB has sent ballots to workers at these stores and is scheduled to count them on Dec. 9, according to WIVB. Three more stores — located on Transit Road in Depew, Sheridan Drive in Amherst and Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga — filed for a vote last week, but no date has been set.

Out of the nearly 9,000 company-owned Starbucks stores in the U.S., not a single one is unionized. That would change if even one of the six stores voted to unionize.

“We don’t have a seat at the table”

Pro-union baristas said that, above all else, they want a seat at the table — literally.

SEE STARBUCKS PAGE 2

2 | Wednesday, November 17 2021 STARBUCKS FROM PAGE 1

“To represent us baristas, they have an empty chair at their corporate meetings,” Sterner said. “Not an actual barista to tell them what’s going on and our concerns, just an empty chair to represent us. We don’t have a seat at the table.”

And once employees have a seat at the table, there are a lot of issues they want to address. Baristas brought up COVID-19 policies, consolidated training periods and “how stressful” working the floor can be as reasons for supporting the union, but some issues stood out more than others.

“We need better staffing, that is so bad,” Goldenberg said. “We’re often short [by] up to three or four people. And then people are showing up to these [job] interviews, and no one’s there to [conduct] the interview.”

Sterner said that while the store she worked at had enough workers, they were frequently understaffed because of scheduling directives. “[Starbucks was] being cheap and not letting our store managers schedule enough of us, even though we had enough people hired, which made no sense,” she said. “We were understaffed for literally no reason.”

Starbucks is aware of understaffing in the Buffalo area and has hired more partners to fix the problem, a Starbucks spokesperson said. The spokesperson also added that store managers are responsible for scheduling their employees.

But those new hires aren’t necessarily good news for Jaz Brisack, a union organizer and barista at one of the first three stores to file for a vote.

“There are a lot of them in the last period, and at my store, long-term partners’ hours are being cut because there are so many people on the floor,” she said. “It wasn’t a necessary hiring decision to bring in that many people. I think, again, the timing is suspicious given the votes that are about to happen.”

Starbucks has followed all NLRB rules, the spokesperson said.

Starbucks has long touted pay raises as a sign of its commitment to workers, but baristas said that what they’ve done so far

FEATURES is only a start.

“It’s great that we’re [earning] above minimum wage right now, but we’re in New York, [one of] the most expensive states to live in,” Goldenberg said. “And it’s not cutting it for anyone. We need better pay.”

Starbucks implemented pay raises of 5% for partners hired before July 2021 and raises of 6% for tenured employees in October, the third raise in the past two years, according to Business Insider.

Those raises were originally supposed to go into effect in January 2022, but Starbucks moved the implementation date forward because the company wanted partners to share in the company’s success, according to the spokesperson.

Vianca Colon-Barreto, an Erie Community College student and barista at the Starbucks in The Commons, doesn’t buy it.

“I see it as a last ditch effort to convince us that, ‘Oh, yes, we’re here to listen to you,’” they said.

The spokesperson disputed that characterization.

Pro-union baristas also said they would like more say over what benefits Starbucks provides.

For example, Starbucks expanded its employee meal and drink credit at the start of the pandemic, allowing employees to get one free food and drink item every day.

Starbucks did away with the daily food and drink credit in early October — meaning employees can only use the benefit on days they work a shift.

Goldenberg described the cessation of the program as a “slap in the face.”

“One, we’re still very much in the pandemic, so I’m not sure why those were retracted,” they said. “And secondly, in the email they said this is based on ‘feedback from our partners,’ as if one of us told them, ‘Hey, we actually decided we want to pay for this on our day off.’”

That feedback came from surveys on the company’s Workplace platform and in-person and virtual meetings in which partners said they would rather keep benefits like isolation pay, according to the spokesperson.

Gianna Reeve, a junior psychology ma-

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum Six Starbucks stores in the Buffalo area are seeking representation from a labor union

jor who works at one of the first Starbucks stores to file for a vote, said she didn’t know anyone who wanted to get rid of the daily food and drink credit and that Starbucks comment forums were “flooded” with negative comments from partners across the country.

“I know partners from my store who were working overtime and still didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from because all their money went to rent, who relied on this benefit,” Reeve said.

The spokesperson further added that Starbucks doesn’t have unlimited resources and couldn’t keep both benefits. They also emphasized Starbucks’ recent pay raises.

Starbucks made $20.322 billion in gross profit between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021, a 28.43% increase over that same period last year, according to Macrotrends.

“It’s definitely putting our backs against the wall”

Both Sterner and Reeve joined the union’s Organizing Committee, a group of more than 100 partners from stores across the Buffalo area, who are responsible for informing their fellow partners about the union, gauging support in various stores and “fact checking” Starbucks.

Working for the committee is hard work, according to Reeve, but she says it’s paying off.

“We work, we go to school, we have families,” she said. “It’s definitely putting our backs against the wall, but it hasn’t stopped baristas from UB from reaching out, learning more and being interested.

It’s really exciting to see.”

Reeve and a couple other baristas have attempted to maintain that on-campus momentum by painting the bull in front of the Student Union green and placing pro-union signs around campus.

For her part, Colon-Barreto has taken notes for the union at the company’s “listening sessions” with regional executives and pushed back on their anti-union arguments.

“For example, I pointed out that while we appreciate that we’re getting new fridges, new microwaves and new nitro systems, we’ve also needed them for a very long time,” she said. “Even in my short [two years] with the company, ...we’ve always needed new things.

And we’re getting them now because people are trying to unionize... I just point that out.”

Improvements Starbucks has made since the union effort began are not meant to dissuade partners from joining a union, according to the spokesperson, who added that Starbucks holds over 2,000 listening sessions each year and sometimes concentrates those in certain markets.

For her part, ColonBaretto says that Starbucks is “digging its own

ubspectrum.com grave” with the meetings and that she was more supportive of the union after attending one.

Colon-Baretto, Sterner and Reeve have all garnered support for the union by talking with their co-workers on the job.

But the strategy isn’t necessarily risk-free or effective.

“My store did not seem very with it,” Sterner said. “When I have tried to mention [the union], people have been really rude to me. Before my leave, nobody would talk to me because I was guilty by association. It was like I was some big, bad guy when I was just trying to help people.

When there were people who were actually interested, we’d have to be so quiet and low-key [when] talking about it because there was just such a fear factor in the atmosphere.”

Colon-Baretto’s store is less unionaverse, but they’re still careful when discussing the union with their co-workers.

A Starbucks Questions and Answers sheet advises employees who are bothered by union-related “pressuring” from co-workers to contact Partner Relations or Ethics & Compliance. Regional Starbucks executives have flocked to Buffalo-area stores to discuss the union vote with workers and assist on the floor. (Colon-Baretto described the executives as “disruptive;” the spokesperson disputes this.)

But for all her effort, Colon-Baretto says her store in The Commons would only unionize if their “amazing” manager either left the store or publicly supported the union.

But those same students have struggled to balance union organizing and their jobs with school, family, friends, mental health and other commitments. Sterner, unable to keep up with her studies and meet Starbucks’ work hour requirements, quit her job earlier this semester after a leave of absence. Goldenberg has struggled to work 20-30 hours a week while staying on top of his first semester of classes and taking care of his mental health. Colon took a three-week leave of absence over the summer because the stress of their job was getting to them — and she considers herself one of the lucky ones.

“I had my vacation hours saved, whatever,” she said. “I can live that way. Some people can’t. It’s really f---ed up that this job basically has been a chokehold for survival [for some]. I’m one of the more fortunate ones.”

“The first thing I did was text my co-workers back home”

No Starbucks stores outside of Erie County have filed union petitions with the NLRB. But that could change in the coming years, thanks partly to UB students.

“The first thing I did was text my coworkers back home,” Goldenberg said.

“They were really excited about [the union]. They were kind of disappointed that they weren’t a part of it. ...I would love to [unionize Long Island Starbucks stores] because my store in particular has a lot of issues.”

Email: grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com

OPINION

ubspectrum.com

Christmas music gets a bad ‘wrap’ Why I still like Christmas music even though my family imploded on Christmas

REILLY MULLEN EDITOR IN CHIEF

I love Christmas music.

I listen to it year-round. My friends groan when they get in my car in July and Sia’s “Candy Cane Lane” is blasting from my speakers.

But it makes me happy, even though it probably shouldn’t.

In December 2017, my parents separated.

I remember sitting in my room the week before school let out for winter break. I had just gotten home from track practice.

Our house was decorated for Christmas and my three-foot-tall artificial tree, passed down from my grandmother, stood twinkling in my alcove window. I was sitting on my bed, doing some homework or reading a book. My mom walked in and laid down next to me.

I remember thinking it was strange. My mom is not a hugger and, while she was still affectionate growing up, I knew something about the way she held me — arms wrapped around my frame which, after 17 years, had grown taller than her, stroking my hair the way a mother would a toddler who’d bumped her head — meant that something was wrong. Very wrong.

What she said exactly, I don’t remember, but she was leaving and there was nothing I could do about it.

That Christmas morning, my family of five sat around the dining room, strewn across chairs and sprawled out on the hardwood, not knowing how much the others knew about how soon our nuclear family would detonate. I feigned holiday cheer, “oo-ing” and “ah-ing” as we tore open gift boxes and emptied our stockings.

And by New Years, she was gone.

Wednesday, November 17 2021 | 3

Christmas was different after that. My dad usually picks up overtime on Christmas morning. He doesn’t get a tree anymore, so we all meet at my mom’s house.

My parents and siblings descend upon her quiet neighborhood in the late morning.

Her driveway isn’t big enough to fit all of our cars and there’s no streetside parking, so by noon, her front lawn looks like a used car lot.

After she left, I was put in a tough position; the oldest daughter, I felt compelled to, no, obligated to assume the role as nurturer. I pestered my siblings to finish their homework and clean up around the house, stretching myself thin to patch the hole left in our family.

But no matter how overwhelmed and hollow I felt, I knew I would always have the soothing sound of Pentatonix’s “Hallelujah” to sing me to sleep when times got tough.

I guess I find it a little odd that I cling so desperately to the music that reminds me of such a sad time in my life. But there is something so overwhelmingly joyous about festive music.

It’s gaudy and overproduced and gim-

micky, but it’s also so… emotional.

Christmas music almost universally centers around concepts like love, loss, family and friendship. Whether it’s pop hits like Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas,” or classics like “Auld Lang Syne,” Christmas music is dramatic, and that’s why I love it. It can range from upbeat anthems to slow and dreary ballads and all fit nicely into one playlist.

Christmas music is consistent. Sure, it’s the same every year, but that’s also why I love it. While my family and friendships may have changed, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” never will, something I find particularly comforting.

I’ve used it to cope; throwing a holiday mix in my earbuds while walking through school, or blasting it at full volume on my car speakers on the highway has gotten me through divorse, death and heartbreak.

December always passes and with it, the carols that play constantly over department store speakers. The snow melts, and the flowers begin to bloom, welcoming in spring.

But I’m still listening.

schedule, the sorority member who finds themselves fighting to get out of the shadows of their peers, the club president who feels an empty pit in their stomach despite being surrounded by countless others.

I’m talking about myself, someone who has a tremendous support system and is involved with numerous campus organizations, yet experiences many of the aforementioned problems.

We need to reach these students, too.

In fact, I would argue that in certain cases, these students need these resources more than ever. We often see these people as our “strong” friends; there’s no way they need the help, we tell ourselves. Look how many likes they get on their Instagram posts. Look how many people are in their lives. Look how often they go to parties.

There’s no way they can be unhappy.

Just look at them.

But I think that’s the cruel irony here.

Sometimes, it’s the people who look the happiest who are struggling the most inside. As a student journalist, one of my — admittedly upsetting — jobs is to talk to friends and family members after tragedy strikes.

It never fails to amaze me how often I hear these refrains: There weren’t any signs.

I didn’t know they felt that way.

I wish I would have known.

I think it’s incumbent on us as a university to figure out a way to reach these students — the other 75% — who you

can argue maybe don’t need counseling or therapy, but who could still greatly benefit from other programs and initiatives.

I’m so tired of hearing my “strong” friends talk about how much they’re struggling. Not because they’re struggling; that’s normal and acceptable. And not because they’re choosing to open up about their struggles; that requires great courage and I’m always grateful when they do it. But because we, as a university, don’t seem to be doing enough about it.

In my conversations with Brian Hamluk, our new vice president for student life, I have sensed a real commitment to helping these students. In my conversations with Sharon Mitchell, our counseling services director, I’ve sensed a similar — if less pronounced — commitment.

But I want to hear it from President Tripathi and Provost Weber.

Heck, I don’t want to hear it; I want to see it.

I want to see real progress. I want to see real initiatives — mental health first aid, community-building activities that reach all students, Health Promotion programs that students are aware of — come to life on this campus. I want to see a concerted effort to reach these students as they fight unimaginable fights.

Because too many “strong” students are suffering in silence right now. And we have an opportunity to help them.

Let’s not squander that opportunity.

Email: reilly.mullen@ubspectrum.com

The other 75% “Strong” students are still struggling in silence. We have a responsibility to change that.

JUSTIN WEISS MANAGING EDITOR

College has taught me a lot of things: It’s taught me how to write a feature story.

It’s taught me how to understand the distribution of health outcomes in populations.

But more than anything else, it’s taught me that everyone is going through something — and that more often than not, we don’t have the slightest clue.

I’ve written about it in these pages before, but it breaks my heart every time one of my friends opens up about their struggles, not because they had the courage to share their trials and traumas, but because I often had no idea they were experiencing them in the first place.

Sometimes, I had no idea they were struggling at all.

That, to me, is the scariest part of the

conversation surrounding mental health.

So often, when we talk about this topic, we are referring to people with mental illness, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. We’re talking about our friends and family members who have been diagnosed as depressed, or bipolar, or schizophrenic.

And those people deserve the attention.

They deserve the support and resources.

They deserve the world.

But I think we would be remiss not to also mention the other 75% of the population that hasn’t been diagnosed with a mental disorder, but still struggles nonetheless to get through the day. The segment of the population that maybe doesn’t scream “therapy” or “counseling,” but could still benefit from social and communal support.

The segment of the population — the entire population, really — that suffers from loneliness, normative stress and grief, and yet is often cast aside because those aren’t classified as mental disorders by the DSM-5.

The segment of the population that often struggles in silence.

I’ve reported extensively on mental health, and it never fails to astound me just how many people are affected by these ailments. I’m talking about the international student adjusting to a new country and the domestic student struggling to fit in — but also the student-athlete who is overwhelmed by their rigorous training

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2021 VOLUME 70 NUMBER 11 CIRCULATION: 3,000

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Anyone interested in joining The Spectrum’s editorial staff can email Reilly Mullen at: eic@ubspectrum.com.

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Reilly Mullen

Email: justin.weiss@ubspectrum.com

SPORTS EDITORS Anthony DeCicco, Sr. Hunter Skoczylas

MANAGING EDITORS Justin Weiss Dan Eastman, Asst.

MULTIMEDIA EDITORS Sabrina Akter-Nabi, Sr. Sai Krishna Seethala, Sr.

NEWS EDITORS ENGAGEMENT EDITOR Grant Ashley, Sr. Jack Porcari, Sr. Natalie Doller, Asst.

Julie Frey, Asst.

ARTS EDITORS Alex Falter, Sr. Kara Anderson, Asst.

Jenna Quinn, Sr. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Paolo Blanchi, Sr. Jiayi Zhang, Asst.

FEATURES

4 | Wednesday, November 17 2021

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Q&A with Vice Provost for International Education Nojin Kwak New VP discusses building an international community, enrollment numbers GRANT ASHLEY SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Nojin Kwak became vice provost of international education this August, replacing John Wood, who had served as interim vice provost since 2018.

In his new role, Kwak is overseeing International Enrollment Management, International Admissions, International Student Services, the Office of Study Abroad Programs and the university’s Singapore campus, among other offices and programs.

Kwak sat down with The Spectrum last week to discuss his aspirations for a more robust on-campus international community, what he’s learned from speaking with international students and how his personal experience as an international student have informed his work.

The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

The Spectrum: I know you’ve only

been here for four months, but what initiatives have you enacted so far?

Nojin Kwak: “I have three broad

[goals]: One is expanding faculty research in global and international areas because great research is connected to giving really valuable experiences for students, who are learning from those who do state-of-theart research. My second area is expanding global experience opportunities on campus and abroad. These are really important for students. Because of the pandemic, I really wasn’t able to do much on campus in terms of really having a robust [study abroad] program, but we’re putting a lot of effort into thinking about the future of study abroad. We are thinking a lot about how we can expand faculty-led study abroad programs, so that there’s a connection between what you learn in the classroom and what you experience abroad.

The third one, which is also very important, is wellbeing and inclusion, including the well-being of the international members of the university community. ...There are a lot of real, psychological challenges that students, faculty and staff have when they come and join the university community, so we are exploring many different ways to help them transition. And I started exploring mental health because that’s particularly important for international students. And another [aspect of well-being is] inclusion. [We have to figure out] how we could have this sense of community membership equally felt by all students, where it doesn’t matter where you’re from.

I have a lot of experience with engaging [different] student groups, and when they come together, they learn from each other and benefit from that. International students are not guests. There’s no primary members or secondary members, we are [all] members of a community. I was an international student many decades ago, and I’ve tried to reflect on what I experienced as a student coming from South Korea.

That’s the first time that I was surrounded by people I really didn’t know and who were very different from me. And there was a sense of being lonely, a sense of longing for my home country and pressure to fit in. So there are challenges in addition to the academic challenges of studying in a foreign language. So, I try to reflect on my own personal experiences and how my role here could be at least a positive factor for student experiences. …[And] everybody is an international student. ...Being ‘international’ is not a label for a particular group. All of us are international; we are part of an international community. Once we realize that being ‘international’ isn’t a label for a particular group, that it’s more or less a shared identity, that’s when we have really meaningful conversations.”

TS: Could I ask you a little bit

about some of the specifics of what you’ve done to achieve some of these goals? I know you’ve only had the job for four months, but what have you done to expand global and international research or pursue your other goals?

NK: We launched a pilot program, it’s

called the international faculty launch committee. It is designed to support and provide a system for international faculty in their first years [at UB] with a confidential and supportive environment. We launched two pilot committees, one is in the engineering school, the other is in the College [of Arts and Sciences]. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s meant to show that there is a community of support for international faculty when they start their careers here. We’re also examining various on-campus practices. For instance, student orientation for domestic students happens throughout the summer. International students cannot be here throughout the summer. They can only [come] within 30 days from the start of semester, so they cannot participate in regular orientation and may not get the same experience. So, I’m working with Student Life [to figure out] how to provide the same experience for international students going forward.”

TS: How often do you meet with

students?

NK: “I do not meet [with them] as much

as I would like. That’s limited. I do not teach, so that’s one limitation. I have my research lab in the Department of Communication. Our meeting is every week, so I meet members of our group every week, and at times I stop by the department to talk to students or faculty. But that’s an area that I would like to [improve in].”

TS: Do you have any plans to talk

to more students?

Courtesy of University Communications Nojin Kwak, UB’s vice president for international education, sat down for an interview with The Spectrum last week.

could be more supportive of international students. ...But because my office is the one that’s really committed to that cause, obviously, we have to take leadership.”

TS: International enrollment is

up this year as compared to last year, but it’s been declining for the past couple of years. Why do you think that is?

NK: “There’s a significant increase, if you look at the last 10 years, until 201617. Then there’s a little bit of decline. But these two years are very unusual because they’re during the COVID-19 pandemic, so I think we need to disregard all of these numbers. That decline was not huge, and [most other] schools experienced declines in the last couple of years. It’s probably fair to characterize it as declining numbers, but it didn’t increase as much as it did in the past. It’s a plateau, almost. But if you look at the COVID-19 years, it went down significantly. So, this will be interesting. It’s a very important time to think about the future because... what the picture will be like in the next two to four years is to be known. So, I cannot really predict what’s going to happen, however, the effort to recruit international students will continue.”

TS: Can I push you on that a lit-

tle bit? You said that the decline

NK: “I want to talk to [more] interna- wasn’t significant, but it was

tional students particularly. I have my own experiences, but my experiences are from a while ago. I spent a significant amount of time interacting with students at [the University of] Michigan because I was a department chair, and I taught as well…

I wasn’t able to continue that, at least up to this point at UB. But the challenge here — or excitement here — among students might be different because they are at a different institution. First, I want to reach out to the student groups here and see how they perceive their life experience here and what they want to see.”

TS: Loneliness and isolation have

been long-standing problems among international students at UB. What are you hoping to do or what have you done to address this?

of stops. We don’t know what the future is like based on just that graph, but there will be an effort to understand what’s happening. And as a new person coming in here, I’m interested in long-term trends, why something is the case and what we could do better. And although recruitment is different from student life, they are interconnected. If your life here is not really that encouraging, then you may not recommend UB to other students who want to come to the United States. Wellbeing, inclusion and giving space and time are all interconnected.

TS: UB is receiving less money in

state aid, and international students generate a lot of revenue for the university. Is this an area of concern for UB administration or for you?

NK: “So, personally, I think the mission

of the university is giving students an education and not trying to monetize students. I’m trying not to change the course of action, just because we look at students as money. That’s really wrong, and I don’t think we have that philosophy here. What I think is really important is not to set a certain [enrollment] number as a goal, but to set a certain goal in education quality and reach that goal. I saw this as a department chair in my previous role. You want to increase your major enrollment, but if you really invest in quality education in terms of classroom experiences, internship opportunities and networking with alumni, then somehow more students want to join your department.”

happening before the pandemic, and our ranking in universities with the most international students has declined over the past 15 years. Do you think there’s a TS: I know this isn’t necessarily bigger problem here? your job per se, but are you feelNK: “I cannot really pinpoint what the ing pressure from other people reason was, but that’s something that uni- in administration to increase inversities are aware of. ...The Open Doors ternational enrollment?

Report with international enrollment data will come out soon. We were 27th [in terms of international enrollment] last year, and we’re 27th this year. So, at least if there is a decline in UB’s ranking, it kind

NK: “No, I don’t experience that pres-

sure.”

Email: grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com

NK: “Well, so far, I’m still thinking about what to do. In my former institution, we gave space, time and a sense of ownership to students, so that they could share their unique experiences and unique culture.

Cultural events work really well. ...I fully intend to do that. I think they worked at Michigan, so I really want to explore that [here].”

TS: Have you had conversations with other administrators about this problem?

NK: “...There is not a meeting where I do not have a conversation about how we

Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum UB’s International Student Services is located in 210 Talbert Hall.

ubspectrum.com INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS FROM PAGE 1

Tran said she twice overslept a class that was scheduled to begin at 3 a.m. and found that remote learning was slowly consuming the boundaries of her life.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t think that I was functioning normally as a normal person, because originally, I had a bedroom and a study room, but then I just moved all my stuff from my bedroom to my study room,” Tran said.

Bui also had mandatory classes that took place at 2 and 3 a.m., though he said that the workload was light enough that he had no trouble keeping his grades up. Still, he maintained that the schedule took a heavy toll on his health.

“I had really few sleep hours, like about four hours a day,” he said. “Some days I [would] get enough sleep, about six hours, but some days, the lowest sleep hours I got was about two hours for a day.”

While his night classes allowed him to sleep during the day, Bui refused to allow his academics to distract him from his social responsibilities and the time he had to spend with his family before departing for the U.S. “I had a lot of things to do with my family and my friends back in high school. We had a project about our memories in high school so they came to my home very often in the freshman year. I couldn’t sleep during the day because of my social life,” he said.

Tran worked tirelessly to ensure that her academics wouldn’t slip despite a daunting freshman workload. She took 19 credit hours in her first semester, followed by 18 credit hours in the spring.

Not being able to spend time with her family was also a mental struggle.

“I literally only met them during lunch, dinner and dessert,” Tran said. “I didn’t take any vacations during that time — no breaks.”

It all began to take a physical and mental toll on her, she says.

“I lost a lot of weight during my first year. I didn’t have any social life at all and I was depressed last year,” she said. The experience pushed her to the brink. “I kind of wanted to drop out of CS [computer science],” Tran admitted.

Like the thousands of other UB students who trudged through the year without a

FEATURES moment’s respite, Bui believed he would have benefited greatly from a break. UB took away spring break last year because of the pandemic, much to the chagrin of its students “I think having a break during that time would [have] really helped,” Bui said. “Like one or three weeks that I can balance my sleep schedule and regain my health. Just a little bit of refreshment during the year.”

Tran cited human interaction as an important component to staying mentally healthy during the pandemic. Bui says he could sense the impact virtual learning had on the behavior of students in his classes.

The pandemic and its subsequent changes affected a particular aspect of Bui’s experience as an international student: learning English. Though Bui by this point had a decent grasp of the language, he found opportunities to improve his speech harder to come by online.

“The most affected class by the pandemic is [the] ESL [English as a second language] class because the class is supposed to be designed so that classmates practice speaking and talking with each other. And like, the whole thing is online, like we only communicate by Zoom,” he said. “Only the professor is talking and no one will talk.”

Bui thought he might at least get to engage with his peers more prior to or immediately following class, but found neither them nor his professors willing.

“We don’t have free time before and after class so that we can have a chance to

communicate with each other which really affected the chance to practice English,” he said.

Tran says that although she believes UB tried to integrate international students into school, it was difficult to meaningfully connect with the UB community online.

Bui and Tran have found it much easier to get involved since arriving on campus.

UB’s decision to hold in-person classes meant the two could finally travel to the U.S., having secured a visa long before Vietnam’s vise-like grip on COVID-19’s spread kept it off of U.S. travel restriction lists.

Both have hailed viable sleeping arrangements as being essential for their renewed health. “[My lifestyle] is more healthy and balanced, but the food here — I mean, they are understaffed, so to get healthy food is really hard. Back home, my mom just cooks and I eat it,” she said. Appreciatively, she continued. “But one more thing is that the sleeping schedule is much better here at UB.” Bui says that living in the dorms has made a big difference for him — not only for his social life, but for his English, as well.

“I think I got the most English practice through my roommate, and the friends that I made when going to dinner around the dorms,” Bui said.

Tran also observed that being on campus has enhanced her social life.

“People are eager to make friends in

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum International students, like domestic students, returned to campus in droves this semester.

Wednesday, November 17 2021 | 5 person rather than make friends virtually,” Tran said. “And so far, I have really great friends.”

Bui says he continues to make it a point of spending time with his family, albeit virtually.

In the wake of these events, Bui and Tran take care to monitor the situation while living their new lives in the U.S. “I still worry about my relatives,” Bui said. “I call them every day to make sure that they know how I’m doing here and I know how they are doing there.”

What’s next for international students at UB? UB was experiencing a drop in international enrollment, even prior to the pandemic. But the emergence of vaccines and the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions worldwide has contributed to a slight reversal in those trends.

“A majority of international students could not travel to the U.S. last year and deferred their admission to this year,” Lee Melvin, vice provost for enrollment management, said.

As UB anticipates an influx of international students in coming semesters, students share words or warning and encouragement.

“Don’t be afraid to talk to your friends, because I noticed that most international students were afraid to speak out because they thought their accents cannot help them to get to know the newer students,” Tran said. “Just don’t be afraid to speak out and reach out to professors if you need help.”

Freshman computer science major Andrew Kadmiri similarly advocates for international students to stand their ground and confidently speak out, especially when it comes to anxiety around the all-too-familiar foreigner tag.

“You could just feel the discomfort of like, this is not where I belong. It’s not my country, so I can’t feel as comfortable,” Kadmiri said. “But generally, one [piece of] advice I would give to incoming international freshmen is to just not be afraid of putting yourself out there and just thinking of yourself just as equally as any other person.”

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

International students face difficulties adjusting to college Students whose second language is English reflect on struggles JULIE FREY ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Before coming to UB, Anelya Nazarbayeva didn’t know Buffalo wasn’t a neighborhood in New York City.

But for Nazarbeyeva, a polyglot and the daughter of Kazakh diplomats, this was the first in a line of surprises. Her biggest surprise — and challenge — was just how difficult it was to keep up with all the English being spoken around her.

Nazarbayeva had been fluent in English for three years prior to enrolling at UB, but she still struggled to keep up with the speed of her classes and the niche academic vocabulary she was being exposed to in the classroom.

“My first year, I was struggling a lot,” Nazarbayeva said in an interview with The Spectrum. “ I took nutrition and I took political science classes, and I couldn’t understand [what] they would say. So I spent a lot translating... [I was] spending a lot of time in the library.”

Nazarbayeva isn’t alone in her struggles.

The Spectrum spoke to multiple other international students who say they have struggled to keep up with the English being spoken in the classroom, despite some of them being fluent or near-fluent in the language. UB has programs to support these students while they are freshmen, but the university has few resources past their first year.

Nazarbayeva said she would write down

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum Students walk around campus on a recent weekday. There are more than 4,400 international students at UB.

words her professors used that she didn’t recognize. After lectures, she would spend as much time as she did in the classroom trying to figure out what certain words and concepts meant.

“I understood my professors, but in the beginning, I had a hard time focusing when

they would speak very fast,” Nazarbayeva said. “Like, ‘Oh my God, this is too fast for me. Can you like, slow down?’”

Nazarbayeva is not a stranger to new languages: she is fluent in Russian, Kazakh and English. She also knows some French and Arabic and is currently learning Span-

ish and Italian. One day, she hopes to be a translator.

UB currently hosts 4,426 international students — 1,424 of whom are underSEE ADJUSTING PAGE 8

SPORTS

6 | Wednesday, November 17 2021

ubspectrum.com

TENNIS FROM PAGE 1

dynamic, it’s such a strong group, which is a huge advantage when you’re playing a team sport.”

The team hasn’t had a domestic player since 2018-19, when two Buffalo natives took the court for the Bulls. The current roster features athletes from Armenia, France, Greece, Columbia, Turkey, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan and South Africa — countries as different as the athletes who hail from them.

“It’s actually pretty good,” Azra Deniz Comlek, a junior international trade major from Istanbul, Turkey, said about the group’s dynamic. “We learn the other countries’ cultures and it’s really fun [to be in this environment].”

“You’re asking questions to the worst English speaker,” her friend and teammate, Ambre Amat, an Antibes, France native, interjected.

“That’s f—ng true,” Comlek said, laughing.

This team dynamic — on full display at practice, but also off-the-court — is the result of Maines’ “three-pronged triangle,” which is put to the test when she hits the recruiting trail. The coach who is affectionately called a “second mom” by her players talks fervidly about finding good athletes, students and people.

“I’ve said this from the beginning: you can be a phenomenal tennis player, but if one of the other pieces isn’t here, this just isn’t going to be the right fit,” Maines said.

The team’s reliance on international student-athletes is born from a desire to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. Often, the highest level high school tennis players from the New York area dream of playing at high level schools, like the Ivies or the southern elites.

Playing year-round on outdoor courts and in front of ivy buildings is quite alluring for domestic high school tennis recruits; Maines, UB’s record-holder in career singles and doubles wins, says she once wished to play for a major program, too.

With that in mind, Maines says she often has no choice but to look overseas in order to “consistently win championships in our geographic region.” The Bulls won 2017 and 2018 MAC titles and went 4-0 in fall play this year. Other UB coaches, like those on former football coach Lance Leipold’s staff, have communicated similar recruiting strategies.

But Maines says she also looks overseas for an equally virtuous reason: her international student-athletes take great pride in their academics.

“My philosophy as a coach is that you’re a student-athlete,” Maines said. “You’re not just coming here to play tennis. And that is a big draw for a lot of tennis players, especially our international ones. Typically, they’re very well-educated kids. So having academics be first and foremost, that’s a big part.”

The women’s tennis program posted a

Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum Eight of the nine members of UB’s fully-international women’s tennis team gather around head coach Kristen Maines during practice.

school-record 3.937 GPA last semester and landed a program-record six players on the Academic All-MAC Team. But it’s not just outsiders who’ve noticed; the athletes on the team have recognized, and embraced, their title as students.

“We’re nerds,” Lolina Schietekat Sedas, a junior industrial engineering major from Mexico City, said. “When you’re in the same environment where everyone else is studying, you feel like you have to study too.”

“We didn’t even realize we were doing that well either [until we saw our cumulative GPA],” Comlek said. “I’m the laziest person ever and yet I still study sometimes [because of my teammates].”

“I’m not coming all the way here [to the U.S.] not to do my best,” Gabriella Akopyan, a fifth-year business administration major from Yerevan, Armenia, said.

“Since we’re all athletes, we’re super ambitious and that helps as well.”

The women’s tennis program has built a reputation as a high achiever in the classroom. Maines says recruiters — many prospective student-athletes now employ recruiters, or recruiting agencies, to help connect them with programs — will only send her staff student-athletes who are as committed to the former portion of that phrase as they are the latter portion.

“In the first email, most kids will send out [their] SAT score or high school GPA,” Maines said. “If you’re not a good student, I don’t care how good of a player you are — I’m not even going there.”

Nikoleta Antoniou-Karademitrou, the team’s captain and a senior psychology major from Volos, Greece, says the group’s desire to succeed in the classroom stems from the privilege they are afforded

Paolo Blanchi / The Spectrum The UB women’s tennis team features student-athletes from nine different countries.

as student-athletes.

“When you come as an international [student] and have to take English exams, you appreciate the responsibility that you have and you know that you’re supposed to work, so that’s what we do,” she said.

“We all have career plans outside of athletics, so we try to achieve that.”

gram is led by four seniors — Akopyan, Antoniou-Karademitrou, Germany native Pia Schwarz and Taiwan native Hsin-Yuan Shih — and four juniors. Only one player, communication major Mariana Carvajal Torres, is a sophomore.

Athletes rarely transfer out; only a handful have left the Queen City before gradu-

We’re nerds. When you’re in the same environment where everyone else is studying, you feel like you have to study too.

This group isn’t just academically-inclined; it’s also really tight-knit and genial.

Comlek mentioned that on trips to restaurants, Maines has to repeatedly ‘Shush’ them because they can be so rowdy. The team is also “always singing,” according to the athletes who were bobbing their heads to the music while comparing tennis to ping-pong during practice.

Putting together a team full of international students doesn’t come without its growing pains. Maines says her athletes often struggle with homesickness, and that many yearn for food from their home country, especially during their freshman year, when they’re living in the dorms and rarely have options outside of U.S. fare.

But these athletes are greeted by a robust support system upon arrival in the U.S., in the form of their coaching staff, UB Athletics and, perhaps most importantly, their teammates.

The team’s motto is “STRONGER TOGETHER,” something the Athletics department has since adopted. The pro-

ation over the last half-dozen years.

The players have helped each other with their résumés and letters of intent, Maines says. “All of them are involved,” she said, referencing the group’s companionship.

Recently, Maines invited her team to her home for an annual Christmas celebration.

While the athletes were excited to eat traditional meals and enjoy each other’s company, they had one particularly emblematic question: “Are we doing Secret Santa?”

“Yes,” Maines said. “We’re doing Secret Santa.”

“They just really enjoy spending time with each other,” Maines said. “You don’t see that with every tennis team. When someone is struggling, when someone is succeeding, everyone rallies around them.

The sense of family we have created despite being from all over the world is special and unique. We have a special group of young women.”

Email: justin.weiss@ubspectrum.com Email: hunter.skoczylas@ubspectrum.com

ubspectrum.com

FEATURES

Wednesday, November 17 2021 | 7

UB’s French Club comes together to celebrate all things Francophone Founded just before COVID-19 hit the U.S., the club returns stronger than before ALEX FALTER SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

On a recent Tuesday night, nearly a dozen students moved nimbly through the silent corridors of Clemens Hall, as they searched for clues written in French.

The Battle of Saratoga, read one of the hints.

The rooster, read another one.

This wasn’t a French-inspired spinoff of The Da Vinci Code. Rather, it was a typical, biweekly meeting for UB’s French Club, one of 12 new clubs recognized by the Student Association this semester.

The club has earned a reputation for being welcoming and inclusive, bringing in students who are interested in celebrating all things French and Francophone.

Founded in January 2020 by senior French and political science major Sophie May and senior French and music performance major Julia Port, the club came out of May’s experience with the French Club at Le Moyne College, in Syracuse, which she previously attended.

“Everyone at the French club in Le Moyne was so nice and welcoming, they just all loved French. I wanted to have that same feeling when I came here, especially since UB is such a STEM-oriented school,” May said. “I really wanted to find my niche and find [other] people who are passionate about French.”

After spreading word of the organization through various French classes, May and the rest of the e-board, aided by UB’s Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, began to move forward with planning events and initiatives. “[RLL] were super supportive and they were super helpful with reserving a room and helping us fund certain activities,” May said. “And there was actually a lot of interest among French students, so we had a good turnout.”

For members like club secretary and junior communication and French major Adam Dounane, who discovered the club after hearing May speak in class, the club has been a valuable way to connect with other people who share his interests.

“This is the only chance outside of class for people to connect with each other,” Dounane said. “I’m a junior and I haven’t met another French major, or even a minor, in my year.”

Despite uniting under this common interest, the club’s members vary widely in

Courtesy of UB French Club UB French Club members pose for a photo.

skill level. But members say the differences in their abilities bring them closer together.

“The dynamic is very supportive and non-competitive, as you might expect with a bunch of French majors, but it’s a lot of patience,” Dounane said. “The all-around community, I think, is the biggest thing that keeps us all together.”

Due to the pandemic, the club held its meetings on Zoom during the 2020-21 school year, although they were able to meet in-person once for a showing of the French version of “Halloweentown.” With limited options for online group activities available, the club played its fair share of French Kahoot and Jeopardy, games members say helped keep their skills sharp.

“We also provide an English translation, if you need help with that, Courtesy of UB French Club but we do have a lot of things that UB French Club members gather for dinner this semester at Mon Ami Restaurant. are in French and we also do a lot about the house,” Eubank said. “We got to “I think that trying to take a positive of French cultural awareness,” May thing from a very dark colonial past is resaid. “Not only are you improving your ac- do a whole tour of the mansion.”

The e-board is making it a point of tak- ally important, and not to try and paint the tual language capabilities, but you’re learning about Francophone culture, not only ing input from all its members, regardless French as this very scary people, because not many people view them like that,” in France, but in other Francophone na- of their ability to speak the language.

“We definitely are open to suggestions Dounane said. “But I think taking advantions around the world.”

Since reuniting on campus this semester, for our group,” Dounane said. “We have tage of the connections that history leaves the club has hosted a variety of monthly people from [French] 101 or [who] even behind, gives [us] a chance to meet more adventures, frequently taking its members [have] no French experience, all the way people.”

Dounane hopes he can still take his felbeyond the confines of campus and into to native speakers, and so suggestion definitely plays a big role in that.” low members out for a French baguette the barrage of unexpected French culture But that doesn’t stop Dounane from one day, but he’s more than open to enfound in Western New York.

For the club’s inaugural outing, mem- shouting out May for all her hard work in gaging with other cultures, and expresses bers traveled to Mon Ami Cafe and Res- getting the club off the ground these past interest in sharing, for example, a bowl of pho with the Vietnamese SA. taurant, a French resturaunt in Buffalo, two years.

“Sophie, she fights like hell,” Dounane In just its first few months as an SA-recwhere members immersed themselves in said.

“It’s the kind of thing where we’re ognized club, the French Club has already France’s rich array of cuisine. For Dounane, it was a chance to finally try one of always looking for more events and her made lots of progress — and plans on dosuggestions go a long way.” ing lots more. E-board members express France’s most iconic dishes: Ratatouille.

Next Saturday, club members plan to interest in selling merchandise and say they “I can say my life is complete now,” Dounane jokes, explaining that the club visit Poutine & Cream on Hertel Avenue. can’t wait to receive an actual budget from The club has previously worked with SA — their funding hasn’t kicked in yet. looks for any chance “to experience While only around a dozen students atFrench [culture] or, more broadly, Franco- other student groups and has raised awareness for matters that go beyond Francotended the most recent meeting, the club’s phone culture.”

The club’s self-described most exciting phone culture. Members have sent cloth- email list spans approximately 30 people, outing took place in Albion, NY at Maise ing and cards to Afghan evacuees residing with May attributing lower attendance to Albion: an old French mansion from the in Buffalo, and have even been visited by workload.

“With finals, [attendance] is very ran1800s, renovated to pay homage to all as- a student hailing from the country. On Halloween, they worked with Friends of dom,” May said. “It can be like 15 to 20 pects of French culture.

Michelle Eubank, a senior biomedi- Ukraine to exchange cultural stories about [people], it depends on every meeting.”

Members on the e-board hope to bring cal sciences major and the club’s trea- the holiday. While Dounane notes that surer, says they were excited not only by Ukraine is not known for celebrating Hal- students together for an outdoor day of the various French items on sale, but by loween, he mentioned they found the time baguette fencing, which, according to Eubank, is “exactly what it sounds like.” how much the club members enjoyed the to discuss many Ukrainian superstitions.

Dounane hopes they can continue col“We just have to figure out which growhole experience.

“I was surprised. Everyone was really laborating with other clubs in the future, cery store sells the most robust baguette,” excited about everything. They were not particularly other cultural clubs represent- laughed Dounane. only looking to buy things, but they talked ing countries that were once colonized by Email: alex.falter@ubspectrum.com to the owners about their experiences and France.

FEATURES

8 | Wednesday, November 17 2021 ADJUSTING FROM PAGE 5

graduates. The majority of these students come from India and China. Students also come from countries like South Korea, Turkey and Canada, among dozens of others, many of which don’t recognize English as the national language.

UB receives three times as much tuition revenue, on average, from international students, graduate students and out-of-state students than from in-state undergraduate students, according to the school’s Annual Operating Budget Report for 2020-21. But decreasing international enrollment totals have presented the university with financial challenges.

Despite its reliance on international students for tuition revenue, UB offers these students few English learning resources past their freshman year.

UB’s English Language Institute, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is housed in the Graduate School of Educa-

tion, is intended to bridge the gap between textbook English and conversational English, according to Tim Cauller, ELI’s director.

“All students come here with a varying amount of [English language skills] because everyone is a pretty advanced user of English by the time they get to UB,” Cauller said. “But there’s a gap between their textbook classroom knowledge that they have from English classes back home.”

The ELI offers courses to international students based on their standardized English language fluency tests, which indicate whether they should be placed into ENG 100Z or ENG 105Z — the latter of which counts toward the Communication Literacy 1 requirement for the UB Curriculum — or ENG 411Z. The “Z” code indicates that the course is specifically reserved for international students and is taught by professional English as a second language teachers.

The university requires the vast majority of international students to submit an English fluency exam, according to Cauller. Students can choose between TOEFL — Test of English as a Foreign Language — IELTS — International English Language Testing System — PTE — Pearson English Language Tests — and DET — the Duolingo English Test.

UB’s average TOEFL score for accepted freshmen was 82% in 2020-21, while SUNY Binghamton’s average accepted TOEFL score is 80-95%, according to its website.

Cauller noted that support for international students through the ELI does not extend past the three courses offered during students’ first year at UB, but he seeks to expand resources going forward.

While English is commonly spoken as a second language in most Asian countries, it is not the primary language. This means that students like An Vo, a senior finance and data analyst major, may still struggle

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum Some international students have expressed difficulties in keeping up with the English spoken in the classroom.

ubspectrum.com with their coursework. “[The adjustment to learning in English] was definitely so challenging in the beginning and sometimes even now,” Vo, a native Vietnamese speaker, said. “I was first able to listen and understand the professor speaking about 60-70% [of the time]. I still [had] to pay extra effort to completely understand the lectures. However, as time went on and with the perfect environment of having everyone speaking English [around me] and forcing myself to think in English, I started to get more comfortable and was able to think and speak faster.

“As my education level goes on, there’s still hardship along the way. I remember recently I almost burst into tears because of a very long and advanced reading about finance. My reading started to get more complicated. The terminology in the major is more advanced. So I think I have to try harder every day.”

Vo also says she stopped speaking English as frequently because of the pandemic, which has made it more difficult to converse now that things have opened up.

“As a bilingual, at first I usually have to think before I speak,” Vo said. “There’s times when I can’t come up with the right words to say. I remember it definitely happened a lot during COVID-19. Many activities were limited, I barely [spoke] English and [started] to think in my own language more. This made me struggle when I tried to speak fluently in English [again].”

Sanskriti Bansal, a freshman economics major, who has studied and learned in English for years, says she struggled in class at UB. “I’ve studied in an English medium school ever since [childhood],” Bansal said.

“However, catching up with the American accent was hard. I had to pay utmost attention to grasp the difference between, say, can and can’t. With masks projection has been tough. Not having developed the accent makes it harder for native American [speakers] to understand what I say.”

Grant Ashley contributed to the reporting.

Email: julie.frey@ubspectrum.com

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UB alum calls attention to Asian hate through printmaking

Mizin Shin teaches the importance of allyship, interconnectivity through her art JACK PORCARI SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

When Mizin Shin was an MFA student at UB in the mid-2010s, her printmaking focused less on social justice issues, and more on traditional art.

But in the wake of the Stop Asian Hate rallies that swept across the U.S. last year, Shin decided to switch her focus to the “Spoken and Seen #UseYourVoice” spontaneous art campaign she launched in March.

“Truth is it’s always been like that,” Shin told The Spectrum in an interview, in reference to Asian hate. “It’s just been more violent [recently], and more revealed in public. I don’t think my work [at UB] was a lot about social justice. To be honest, this is the first time I’m making my voice heard strongly through my artwork. As an Asian, I want somebody to see this message and feel the same way.”

According to recently updated FBI data, Asian hate crimes rose 73% in 2020, disproportionately higher than the 13% across-the-board increase in hate crimes nationally. Shin started her campaign with a simple Instagram post captioned “#sto-

pasianhate” on April 1. It featured Shin holding her handmade print. Soon after, one of her friends contacted her to purchase one.

“So I immediately changed the path of my prints,” Shin said of her first sale.

“Instead of just posting, I thought about selling this work and then raising money to support other organizations supporting AAPI communities.”

Shin was actually never planning on becoming a printmaker — or any form of artist. The way she tells it, it was an accident waiting to happen.

Born and raised in Ulsan, South Korea, Shin remembers her mother teaching her how to draw and paint by the age of seven.

As the years went on, her passion for art grew and she wanted to continue her work professionally as a full-time artist.

But this desire came with parental reservations.

“My mom is a painter and then it’s funny that she didn’t want me to go to art school which was very interesting. She wanted me to go become a teacher because teachers in Korean public schools are highly respected and well-paid,” Shin said.

Her journey started after she saw a large

Wednesday, November 17 2021 | 9

Courtesy of Mizin Shin Mizin Shin poses in front of her exhibit at the Western New York Book Arts Center.

black printing press on a high school tour of what would become her alma mater, Hongik University in Seoul.

“I applied for printmaking after I saw the giant press, because for me at that time I felt like I had been doing paintings for a while,” Shin said. “I really loved printmaking, it really suits my personality, my work ethic — it’s very process-based and I love watching how things are made.”

After finishing her undergraduate studies in Seoul, Shin moved to Buffalo in 2015 to receive her master of fine arts.

At UB, she says, “Faculty didn’t treat me as an international student and they didn’t eliminate me as one of the candidates who could get more opportunities.”

Shin earned a TA scholarship and valuable life mentorship from Jeff Sherven, a UB art department instructor in the Print Media division.

“When I was in a program, there was a huge printmaking conference, and they changed the location each year,” Shin said.

I wanted to go but, as an international student, I can’t work and then I don’t have money, so he [Sherven] really supported a kind of program where students can participate in that kind of conference.”

Without crucial financial support from Sherven and others like Adele Henderson, UB’s program head of Print Media, Shin says she couldn’t have gotten a graduate fellowship in her second year in the program. Immediately after graduation, Shin taught as an adjunct professor at UB for a few semesters, before moving to Rochester in 2019.

In March 2020, Shin’s work took on a new direction.

After the devastating Atlanta spa shootings, the media shined a national spotlight on Asian hate crimes across the country.

For Shin, printmaking was an outlet to spread awareness about these issues during a time of great emotional hardship.

“I was having some depression issues around April. And then, while I was printing, it became a therapeutic process for me,” she said. “There’s so many good people who want to support and there’s a good amount of responses [to my work] so that kind of makes me be like, ‘OK, the world isn’t so bad, there’s still good people out there who want to help other people.’

So that helped me a lot to see things a little bit differently.”

From March to October, Shin put all her other projects on hold to focus on “Spo-

The Spectrum Editorial Board & Staff

ken and Seen #UseYourVoice,” promote allyship and raise money for AAPI communities. Shin felt a need to act because in her view, an increase in publicity surrounding these issues didn’t mean they were solved.

Shin used a technique called blind embossing to make the custom prints seen in the campaign. Her process entailed lasercutting custom acrylic sheets and pressing 100% cotton paper into the frame to create an ink-free, embossed design. With the help of mutual friends and her community, Shin was able to find volunteers to translate the words “Use Your Voice” into 18 languages, including Arabic, Burmese, Tagalog, Tigrinya, Slovak and Serbian.

“I wanted to include more languages because when it comes to social justice issues, some people think they have to be the direct victims to talk about the issues, which I think is not really a proper way to approach the issues,” she said. “Just because you’re not Asian, it doesn’t mean that you cannot talk about this.”

Shin recently collaborated with the Western New York Book Arts Center and Stitch Buffalo, a local nonprofit dedicated to economically empowering refugee and immigrant women through textile manufacturing, to create beaded cloth pins for the cause. Right now, prints are exchangeable for a donation to organizations helping Asian communities and pins can be purchased at Mirabo Press, an independent printmaking studio that Shin cofounded in Buffalo. Shin hopes to secure a grant in order to expand her campaign to include other forms of media, like lawn signs, to increase visibility.

“I’ve been covering all the materials and the shipping fee, so I’m a little bit concerned about my budget, because I just donate all my money in 100%, all the donations go directly to the organizations.

So, I hope I can sustain, and then I can continue this,” she said.

No matter what form her campaign takes in the future, Shin hopes to be a positive voice for change at UB and beyond.

“I really hope that students, especially the international students, if they’re struggling with something, I hope they don’t think that they’re the only ones who are feeling that way,” Shin said. “A lot of people probably went through similar struggles.”

Email: jack.porcari@ubspectrum.com

JACK PORCARI

SR. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

GRANT ASHLEY

SR. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

ALEX FALTER

SR. ARTS EDITOR

NATALIE DOLLER

ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

JENNA QUINN

KARA ANDERSON

SR. ENGAGEMENT EDITOR

ASST. ARTS EDITOR

JULIE FREY

ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

SABRINA AKTER-NABI SAI KRISHNA SEETHALA

SR. MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

SR. MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

ANTHONY DECICCO SR. SPORTS EDITOR

DAN EASTMAN

HUNTER SKOCZYLAS SPORTS EDITOR

ASST. MANAGING EDITOR

REILLY MULLEN

EDITOR IN CHIEF

JIAYI ZHANG PAOLO BLANCHI

SR. CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ASST. CREATIVE DIRECTOR

JUSTIN WEISS

MANAGING EDITOR

10 | Wednesday, November 17 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

ubspectrum.com

Fun, funk and firsts The Buffalo Chips return to Slee Hall for the first time since the start of the pandemic KARA ANDERSON ASST. ARTS EDITOR

Clad in groovy glasses and retro outfits, the singers overwhelm the stage with good vibes and funky dances, every moment and accessory touched with personal flair.

A buzz of excitement fills Slee Hall, melding voices together into lyrics and instruments.

An energetic crowd waves its hands in tandem to the beat of “Leave the Door Open,” by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak as the “What the Funk” concert kicks off with a bright spot of talent and joy.

“What the Funk” marked the Buffalo Chips’ return to in-person performances at UB for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The all-male a capella group performed on Nov. 13, accompanied by Chips alumni; Ithaca College’s all-male a capella group, Ithacapella; and MCs, Intisara Brittan-Karshud and David Eve. With presale tickets costing $6 for students, $10 for non-students, and $12 at the door, with lines going out the door.

The concert celebrated the Chips’ past work and represented many firsts for the group: the first in-person concert at UB in nearly two years, the first time having guest MCs and the first senior send-off since COVID-19 began.

In returning to the stage, the Chips and MCs were confronted with a flurry of emotional highs and lows.

“When you’re on a concert stage, that’s your only opportunity to really showcase yourself,” Simon Wu, assistant business manager and second year medical physics Ph.D. student, said. “You have to have everything memorized, the attention’s on you — it’s a lot of pressure.”

Wu wasn’t the only one who felt the thrill and strain of performing for an audience again.

“Having that adrenaline rush again, like that feeling of, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m about to perform,’ but also like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m about to perform!,’ just feels really great,” freshman musical theatre major Jeremy Meyers said.

For others, the return to the stage presented more excitement than nerves.

“I felt like I was about to go and play in the Super Bowl or something,” Matthew Pestinger, a structural engineering gradu-

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum The Buffalo Chips have earned a following at UB for their smooth

ate student said.

The concert showcased music from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queen, and the Chips and the MCs expressed a deep sense of gratitude for in-person and maskless shows.

“I think the pandemic has made everything so stressful and uncertain,” Eve said.

“So to have that night to give people some music and happiness and to just chill out and feel like everything’s OK for a little while was really fun to do.”

Amid the excitement and trepidation, the Chips noted there were certain hurdles in adjusting to the workload and pressure that came along with returning to an inperson format.

“It was definitely a shock for a lot of the members in our group just to be like, ‘Oh, this is the amount of work we have to put in again,” senior media study major and business manager Eric Devore said.

With eight of the 17 members having never performed at Slee Hall before, the production of “What the Funk” required nearly half of the Chips to learn tasks such as sound checks and mic talks.

“It was really entertaining for me to watch them [the new members] run around like chickens with their heads off,” Pestinger said. “It was really fun to tell the newbies to do stuff again.”

Along with this good-natured ribbing, the newest Chips had to perform “Say So” by Doja Cat with only 15 minutes of preparation.

sound and impressive arrangements.

“That was interesting,” Meyers said, regarding the experience. “But I think that’s part of the fun and I think the audience really got a kick out of it. I can’t wait to do it to next year’s [members].”

In riding through these ups and downs together, one thing remained constant, according to the Chips: their unity as a brotherhood.

Where the Buffalo Chips felt especially connected to one another, was in their final song, the senior send-off for graduating Pestinger.

The song was performed following the intense and bone-chilling performance of “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac, with Bologna as the soloist. Following the performance, the Chips came forward to take their bows, presumably ending the show.

That was, until the audience began to shout, “One more song!”

Re-entering the stage, the Chips remarked that, “We forgot about Cubed,” Pestinger’s nickname.

Thus began their rendition of “You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I’ll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds,” by Mayday Parade.

Long before they retook the stage, the Chips knew this particular song would be the hardest of the night, as they said their goodbyes to a beloved member.

“That’s why we did this song last and covered the rest first,” Bologna said. “So that way we get the tear-jerker out of the

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum The “What the Funk” concert was the group’s first in-person performance at UB since the start of the pandemic.

way at the end.”

The Chips were right that the final song would be a tear-jerker. Members wiped away tears before the singing began and spoke about what made Pestinger special to the group.

“I wasn’t crying because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m sad that I’m never going to be able to sing on the stage again,’” Pestinger said. “It was, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not going to be able to sing with these guys like that.’”

For the Chips, this wasn’t just a moment of farewell to a friend, but a family member, a brother.

“When I think of the Chips, I think of Matt and I think of the other people that have been in the group maybe this whole time,” senior environmental engineering major and marketing manager Clayton Markham said. “So it really is like taking a piece of that group away.”

The Chips finished their night with a group hug, the sounds of muffled crying still coming through the microphones as the lights came back on.

Despite the bittersweet emotions the Chips felt during the performance, they said that coming back to an in-person format was a positive and necessary experience, one that brought them even closer together.

“Being on the stage felt like I was home again,” Meyers said.

Email:kara.anderson@ubspectrum.com

ubspectrum.com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Wednesday, November 17 2021 | 11

​​​​Five extraordinary movies from around the world Spanning generations, these films are unlike anything from American cinema ALEX FALTER SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

The U.S. has dominated the film industry over the past century. Boasting widely-recognized talent, high-budget sequences and millions of dollars in sponsorship, Hollywood’s plethora of adventures rarely bore.

But sometimes, they lack the classier nuances seen in films around the globe.

International films, which are typically less bogged down by the restrictions of giant studios and investors, have historically presented a much more creative look into cinema, eschewing the cookie-cutter audience-pleasing adventures of the U.S. for stories that manifest an original idea and make it relatable, regardless of its level of realism.

If you find yourself looking to take a break from standard U.S. cinema, look no further than The Spectrum’s list of the top international flicks.

Snatch (2000)

Nonetheless, the culmination of these elements creates a picture reminiscent of “Pulp Fiction,” with “Snatch’s” MacGuffin being a diamond in place of the former’s iconic briefcase. One of the most inventive caper-films released before or since, “Snatch” is sure to delight and confuse on first watch. Luckily, the quotes and stories of Turkish, Boris the Blade, Frankie Four-Fingers and many other characters are even better on multiple viewings, further helping one understand the jokes and everyone’s place in this storyline.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

awkward to the downright disastrous.

But don’t be fooled by the sciencefiction concepts. At its heart, Mamoru Hosoda’s classic film is about what it means to grow up, and the consequences of Makoto’s actions mixed with the stress of high school and finding oneself take her down an emotional rollercoaster that is sure to leave audience members in tears. This perfect mix of ideas and genres perfectly encapsulates what anime is all about, fusing reality into something which could never be put into live-action and taken seriously.

M (1931)

not for the faint of heart. While many films choose to simply vilify the antagonist, “M” differs immensely as it takes viewers into the mind of said killer and attempts to evoke empathy as he admits his painful duality in trying to hold back his dangerous urges.

A film unlike many, “M” is one of the best examples of realistic horror, eschewing demons and ghosts for a horror-thriller that could truly occur in any viewer’s hometown.

England Released at the dawn of the new millennium, “Snatch” may seem more congruous with Hollywood films because it was originally in English. But director Guy Ritchie ensures anything but, as he crams the plot with numerous interconnected storylines, hilariously hard to understand accents (courtesy of Brad Pitt) and an assortment of talented actors before their primes, including Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro and Vinnie Jones.

Email: alex.falter@ubspectrum.com

Breathless (1960)

France “Breathless” is cooler than soft-serve in December. Telling his story in a concise filmmaking style, director Jean-Luc Godard abruptly cuts from shot-toshot when necessary, as the film effectively gives its audience just enough to know what is happening without overstaying its welcome.

Centered around a protagonist who would make Humphrey Bogart’s jaw drop to the floor, “Breathless” is one

8 ½ (1963)

Italy Directed by the Italian icon Federico Fellini, “8 ½” tells the story of fictional director Guido, as he attempts to cure a bout of “director’s block” at a resort.

Over the course of Guido’s time with lovers and film crew members, Fellini treats viewers with a fantastical array of dream sequences that manifest the stresses that plague Guido’s psyche,

of the most casual masterpieces ever released, maintaining a level of coolness in its characters and soundtrack while still keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.

Across its 90-minute runtime, Godard tells a tale of love, betrayal and noir, never shorting on excitement or adventure. By the film’s end, viewers are sure to be in awe as they wish they could live a life as adventurous yet casual as Michel Poiccard — the protagonist in this French new-wave cinema.

while simultaneously showcasing a beautiful escape from reality alongside the creeping thoughts and ideas he wishes to avoid in his everyday life.

A genuine example of what can happen when a filmmaker’s imagination runs wild, “8 ½” is a film unlike any other, providing a most savory blend of reality and thought, which results in a level of originality not often seen in the arts.

Japan The only animated film on this list, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” is a masterpiece in the otherwise hackneyed coming-of-age genre, as it tells the story of a high school female named Makoto Konno.

After inadvertently discovering the ability to teleport back in time, the protagonist finds herself getting to fix dozens of moments, ranging from the

Germany One of the darkest films to ever grace the silver screen, “M” was also one of the final German expressionist films released before many of the country’s filmmakers migrated to the U.S. in order to escape occupation from the Nazis.

Telling the story of a child-murderer and the town and criminal underworld’s desperate attempt to stop him, “M” is

Campus CVS slated to close in January Convenience store serves students, community members JACK PORCARI SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

The CVS located in The Commons may close in January, people with knowledge of the situation told The Spectrum Tuesday.

The popular convenience store serves as a crucial resource for many students and community members, especially those without easy access to transportation. The Spectrum spoke to students and employees who expressed concern that closing the campus CVS would negatively impact the student body.

UB currently offers the Mall and Market Shuttle to Walmart and the Boulevard Mall every Saturday. The university also arranges for Wednesday bus trips to Wegmans.

But for some students, this isn’t enough.

“It’s really accessible and it’s really easy to go to CVS instead of having to take that bus,” freshman occupational therapy major Ariana Mikaya said. “I used to go there like every Wednesday to get anything that I needed.”

Christopher Muñoz Guzmán, a sophomore business administration major, says that the closure of the campus CVS would be “detrimental” to campus life.

“That’s where I go to get my medicine when I’m sick on campus,” Guzmán said.

“I don’t have transportation to go to the store, so even getting essentials like chargers or toothpaste is always critical.”

Shannen Kauffman, a CVS employee for the last 4 ½ years, was so peeved by the potential closure that she spoke to The Spectrum about it on-the-record Tuesday — even as she risked losing her job.

“I genuinely do believe that if a lot of people express outrage [and] concerns to the [CVS] customer service line, they might reconsider closing the store,” Kauffman said. “This is the only store I want to work at so CVS is effectively taking my job away anyway. So that means that I’m risking getting fired, [and] it’s a risk I’m willing

to take.”

Employees were informed of the closure at a “mandatory staffing meeting” on Sunday at noon. The district manager told employees that the “store was lucky to even make $100 in a day” during the pandemic, leading to its anticipated closure.

“She hit us with this really difficult news and it was hard for her, too,” Kauffman said. “Like, she and the other upper level managers and leadership were absolutely shocked. They didn’t know what to say because who really knows what to say when

the store has been there for so long?”

Sydney Duval, a sophomore media study major, says she was going to go to CVS Monday to pick up her essentials.

“I don’t feel like going all the way down to South [Campus] 30-40 minutes, there and back, just to get basic needs,” she said.

Duval added that she gets “half ” of her basic items from the campus CVS, and that residence hall convenience stores won’t be able to fill that void.

CVS and The Commons are both private entities. UB does not have any juris-

diction over the decision-making process.

The Spectrum reached out to director of marketing and communications for Campus Dining and Shops Raymond Kohl, who didn’t respond in time for publication. Kauffman said she hopes students and parents reach out to CVS, to urge the business to reconsider its decision.

“This is the only store I want to work at so CVS is effectively taking my job away anyway. So that means that I’m risking getting fired, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Email: jack.porcari@ubspectrum.com

Dan Eastman / The Spectrum The CVS located in The Commons may close in January, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

SPORTS

12 | Wednesday, November 17 2021

ubspectrum.com

Men’s Basketball Felisha Legette-Jack Last week in UB Athletics

Women’s Basketball Women’s Volleyball WOMEN’S BASKETBALL BEATS CANISIUS BY 60

WOMENS VOLLEYBALL DROPS TWO AGAINST NIU

Women’s basketball (1-0) defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins (0-1), 102-42, in its home opener last Tuesday night at Alumni Arena.

The Bulls quickly asserted control, clutching the lead for all but one minute of the game. UB held a staggering 34-point lead at halftime over its crosstown rivals.

UB saw a balanced scoring attack, with multiple players ending up in double digits. Redshirt fifth year forward Summer Hemphill recorded the 24th double-double of her career with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Bulls mounted a 51-17 lead at halftime while also flaunting a perfect free throw percentage and a strong 43.6% from the field. On defense, UB only allowed four points in the second quarter and six points in the fourth.

The Bulls will travel to Paradise Island, Bahamas to participate in the Battle 4 Atlantis against the nation’s highest-ranked team, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, on Saturday. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. and the game will be streamed on Flohoops.

Women’s volleyball (12-7, 5-12 MAC) dropped back-to-back matches against the Northern Illinois Huskies in Dekalb, IL on Friday and Saturday.

The Huskies won by a score of 3-2 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday.

UB pushed the Huskies to five sets but were unable to pick up the victory on Friday night. The match produced scores of 25-21, 24-26, 25-22, 13-25 and 15-11. The Bulls served an impressive nine aces during the match, with junior middle blocker Courtney Okwara and freshman outside hitter Maria Futey earning three each.

Saturday’s match saw a similar result as NIU won by a score of 2518, 25-21 and 25-16. The Bulls came close to the Huskies in the second set and trailed by a mere four points but couldn’t capitalize. Sophomore right side hitter Emma Gielas led the Bulls with a team-high 11 kills while Futey followed with seven.

The Bulls will have a chance at redemption in their final regular season game of the season against the Akron Zips (10-19, 4-12 MAC) Wednesday at James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron, OH.

KAYLA STERNER

LILY MEEK

STAFF WRITER

STAFF WRITER

MEN’S BASKETBALL GETS FIRST WIN IN ROAD OPENER

SYRACUSE RETIRES FELISHA LEGETTEJACK’S JERSEY

Men’s basketball (1-1) defeated the University of North Texas (1-1), 6966, Monday night at the UNT Coliseum in Denton, TX. Senior guard Maceo Jack led the team in scoring with 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range.

The Bulls continued to run their offense through senior forward Jeenathan Williams, who made his presence felt all night with a well-rounded 14 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Senior point guard Ronaldo Segu had another impressive performance, contributing 17 points and four assists while shooting 64% from the field.

Senior forward Josh Mballa rounded out UB’s “Big 3” with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

North Texas senior guard Mardrez McBride pushed the Mean Green up four at the half with three threepointers in a row.

The tide shifted in the second half, when North Texas went on a 10-1 run to take an 11-point lead with 8:51 remaining.

The Bulls responded, and in the final eight minutes of the game, UB hit 5-of-9 three pointers to end the game on a 15-6 run and secure a 69-66 victory on the road.

UB will return to Buffalo for its first home game of the season against the Rider Broncos (2-1) Saturday. The game will be aired on ESPN3.

On Sunday afternoon, UB women’s basketball head coach Felisha LegetteJack became the first female athlete to have her jersey retired by Syracuse University.

The former Orange standout had her jersey retired in front of 3,000 fans inside the legendary Carrier Dome at halftime of Syracuse’s game against Notre Dame. Her No. 33 jersey is the 22nd retired number in Syracuse history and joins 15 men’s basketball and six football players hanging from the Carrier Dome rafters.

Legette-Jack ranked first in Syracuse women’s basketball history in points, rebounds, field goals made and free throws made at the time of her graduation in 1989.

A three-time All-Big East selection and 1985 Big East Freshman of the Year, Legette-Jack is one of three players in school history to score more than 1,500 points and grab more than 900 rebounds in a career.

Now in her 10th season with the Bulls, Legette-Jack hopes her jersey retirement can be an inspiration and a message to women across the country.

“It’s never been about me as a student-athlete, it’s never going to be about me now,” Legette-Jack said.

“But if it can mean something, I hope that getting my number raised up in the rafters can mean that women matter.”

BRENDEN WOLD

ANTHONY DECICCO

STAFF WRITER

SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

Moaz Elazzazi / The Spectrum Freshman guard Georgia Woolley (4) takes a shot during UB’s 98-43 preseason victory over Daemen last week.

How daily one-hour drives for practice turned Georgia Woolley into a cerebral athlete The Brisbane, Australia native has already made an immediate impact for women’s basketball HUNTER SKOCZYLAS SPORTS EDITOR

n her senior year of high school, Brisbane, Australia native Georgia Woolley drove over an hour each day just to attend basketball practice.

Woolley, a freshman guard on UB’s women’s basketball team, is one of two Australian athletes on the women’s club — Melbourne native Casey Valenti-Paea being the other — and one of six international athletes in the program. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack says she knew early on in the recruiting process the impact Woolley could have on her team, thanks to her 6-foot frame, pure drive and love for the game.

“We’re very fortunate to have this young lady in our program,” Legette-Jack said.

“She’s what you call a cerebral player. She can analyze the game in her head and the game moves in slow motion for her. She can play three different positions, whether that’s the two, three or four, and she’s just a smart lady on both the court and in the classroom.”

Despite Woolley’s dominance on the court, Legette-Jack says her foosball — otherwise known as table football, around the world — skills aren’t nearly as impressive.

“I think the main thing she struggles with is beating me in foosball,” LegetteJack said. “She tries so hard and I do feel

bad because I don’t let anybody beat me. I don’t know if they don’t have Foosball in Australia or something but she played me and it just didn’t work out well for her.”

Although Legette-Jack’s success over her 10-year coaching career at UB is surely alluring to incoming recruits, Woolley chose the Queen City school because of her passion for the game and her belief that she could become the best version of herself under Legette-Jack’s guidance.

“All I heard was that Coach Jack was passionate about everything,” Woolley said.

“And that was the main thing that really made me want to come here. She was passionate about the game and her program and I just really wanted to be a part of it.”

The basketball scene in Australia has grown larger and more competitive over the last few years, which naturally creates stronger and more talented athletes in the process.

During her senior year tournament, Woolley proved why she deserved to be playing Division-I basketball, as she averaged 43.1 points, 19.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.3 blocks per game.

Despite posting those impressive numbers at just 18 years old, Woolley credited her teammates’ talent as the reason for her success.

“I didn’t go to a big school or anything like that but everyone on my team was

just really athletic,” Woolley said. “Everyone played their roles so well and we really worked well as a team both offensively and defensively. They just made scoring so easy for me.”

It was not only Jack who influenced Woolley’s decision to come to UB, but former star athlete Stephanie Reid, as well.

Reid, a Melbourne native, was one of the program’s most impactful Australian athletes. Reid graduated in 2018 as the program’s record-holder in career assists and was the catalyst for the team’s Sweet 16 run that year.

Woolley’s connection with Reid influenced Legette-Jack to reach out and begin the recruitment process. Reid and Woolley played against each other in an Australian pro-league game and Reid was blown away by her skills.

“Steph and I played against each other in one of our pro-league games and after the game she reached out to Coach Jack about me,” Woolley said. “She said, ‘Oh, you need to recruit this girl. She scored heaps of points on me.’ And that’s how it all started. I worked out with Steph individually a couple times before coming to Buffalo and she’s the reason I learned so much about Coach Jack and her passion in the first place.”

When Woolley first arrived on campus, it was summertime and there were only two other teammates there to welcome her.

Making the move from Brisbane to Buffalo can be a daunting experience because

of the time zone and cultural differences.

But also — and especially — the weather.

The lowest recorded temperature in Brisbane last year was 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

The lowest recorded temperature in Buffalo last year was 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

Is Woolley ready for the snow?

“No,” she immediately said.

“I saw snow after our first game and there was only a little bit,” Woolley said.

“I do think it’s really cool and I like it but once it starts getting really cold, I’m not going to enjoy it. It doesn’t get that cold in Australia.”

Woolley’s already made an indelible impression on the coaching staff and the rest of the team, scoring 11 points and grabbing three steals in the Bulls’ home opener against Canisius. Woolley is a lock to see regular minutes in the rotation as a freshman and has high expectations for her team this season.

“There is no ceiling for this team,” Woolley said. “We want to get past the Sweet 16 like we have in the past with Stephanie [Reid]. We want to win the MAC and I want to bring what I got like my three-point shooting and length. I want to learn things from the seniors like Summer [Hemphill] and gaining her experience and knowledge.”

Email: hunter.skoczylas@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @HunterSkoczylas

Moaz Elazzazi / The Spectrum Freshman guard Georgia Woolley (4) shoots a free throw during UB’s 98-43 preseason victory over Daemen last week.