the Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo, Since 1950
The S pectrum ubspectrum.com
Volume 62 No. 37
Monday, December 3, 2012
UB makes first land purchase for new medical campus
UB’s top 10 professors
Story on page 2
Story on page 5
Money talks in every language
International students bring over $108 million to local economy CALEB LAYTON Staff Writer Not many UB students would say attending college is cheap. But for Siddhant Chhabria, it’s especially expensive. This semester, Chhabria, a junior economics and finance major, will pay over $9,000 for tuition, over $5,000 for housing and receive $0 in federal or state financial aid. “Including food, housing and tuition, I’d say I pay around $30,000 a year,” Chhabria said. “[And] I’m not on any financial aid policy.” Chhabria is a native of India, and like most international students, he is not eligible for government aid. Like all international students, Chhabria must find room and board away from home and must pay out-ofstate tuition – which is two-and-a-half times more expensive than in-state tuition. International students at UB contributed more than $108 million to the local economy during the 2011-12 academic year, according to an Association of International Educators (NAFSA) report. That’s more than $20,000 per person. The relatively high cost of attending UB has not kept prospective international students from enrolling. Last year, 5,357 international students enrolled at UB, making the school the 19thlargest population of international students of any university in the country. The NAFSA report indicates the large number of international students who attend UB are an economic boom for Western New York. “The amount of money [international students contributed], there aren’t a lot of companies in Buffalo that have a payroll that high,” said Stephen Dunnett, vice provost
for International Education. UB has successfully drawn international students to campus after decades of advancing university influence over seas. In 1979, UB became the first American university to set up an exchange program with China. Today, Chinese students make up the largest percentage of international students at UB.
double the cost an international student pays at UB. “Because it’s a state school, UB’s tuition is lower than any other school that [an international student] would go to,”
Reimon Bhuyan /// The Spectrum
UB has over 5,000 international students. Siddhant Chhabria, left, makes up part of that number and contributes to the over $100 million international students bring to the local economy. Mira Pandya, right, explains the draw Indian students feel toward American degrees.
UB also has an established executive master’s of business administration school located in Singapore, which is ranked in the top 15 executive training schools in Asia. “UB’s reputation is higher internationally than it is here,” Dunnett said. “We take very good care [of our international students]. We help them with a lot of their dayto-day activities ... and we have all kinds of activities to better integrate them into the university.” International students’ attraction to UB is also the result of UB’s status as a public university, which makes its tuition low compared to other American universities. New York Univeristy and University of Southern California – two private universities with a high enrollment of international students – both estimate their cost of attendance to be over $59,000 per year, nearly
Chhabria said. “And it’s a big campus with a lot of opportunity, so for the tuition that we’re paying it’s definitely worth it.” The $108 million UB’s international community generates is a small part of the impact international students have on state and national economy. International students contribute over $2.5 billion to the state economy and $21.8 billion to the national economy, according to the NAFSA report. Nationally, the number of international students has gradually increased over the past five years. In 2008, UB had less than 4,400 international students and has since climbed over the 5,000 mark. U.S. universities currently enroll 764,495 international students – the most ever, according to USA Today.
From the track to the mat Sophomore wrestler Waste doubles as drag racer
MEG LEACH Staff Writer When sophomore wrestler Jake Waste was 8 years old, he didn’t just dream of slamming opponents on the mat. He wanted to slam his foot on a steel pedal and feel the rush of going 0-100 mph in a matter of seconds. Waste has made his name known by dominating on the wrestling mats of Alumni Arena as one of the Bulls’ top wrestlers this season. However, in his hometown of Ramsey, Minn., he’s one of the best that the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) has to offer. The NHRA is a drag racing governing body. Most racers, like Waste and his father Jason, test their skills on the drag racing track. It’s one of the largest motorsports associations in the world, with over 40,000 licensed drivers. Waste’s calm perspective on the track is the same edge he has when he walks onto the wrestling mat. Waste finished an impressive 24-9 last year and narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament. He finished third at the Mid-American Conference Championships. The exchange from the track to the mat is always the same theme for Waste: collected in the face of excitement.
Courtesy of Jake Waste
Sophomore wrestler Jake Waste (left) tinkers with his “baby”: a ’69 Camaro z28. He has been drag racing cars in the NHRA since he was 8 years old. He's traveled to Iowa, Colorado and everywhere in between.
Waste’s college career keeps him away from the garage but not off the track. He flies home for the holidays and small periods over the summer. His time at home is devoted to the track and the garage, where the family builds their cars. For Waste, racing is a part of the family business. His grandfather, Bob Waste,
Inside
started racing long before Jason was even born, when the sport was in its infancy. Jason developed a strong devotion for all things steel and horsepower. The love of racing was passed down like an heirloom from grandfather to father to son. Continued on page 2
Students say young people in foreign countries are drawn to American universities because degrees from America present more opportunities. Mira Pandya, president of Indian Student Association and a senior biological sciences major, said degrees from America give intenational students “an edge.” “If they choose to go back home, they’ll have an advantage over any students that chose to stay within the country,” Pandya said. “They could be offered better positions, better jobs." One of the main reasons Chhabria came to study in the United States was the esteem Indian families hold for American universities. “[Going to an American school] is considered very prestigious,” Chhabria said. “Parents will say, ‘Oh, my son is studying in America.’” UB gains more than a financial advantage from attracting international students to Buffalo. The university would have trouble preserving its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs without its international students, who tend to study those majors, according to Dunnett. “One of the biggest benefits of international students is in the STEM fields,” Dunnett said. “Not as many American students go into science and math. It would be hard to maintain those programs without international students.” International students’ contribution to the local and national economy is expected to continually increase in the coming years, due to the continued increase of Chinese and Saudi Arabian students studying in the United States. Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Possible UB alumnus arrested for selling drugs out of ice cream truck A pharmacy technician, who appears to have attended UB, was arrested on Wednesday for selling drugs from an ice cream truck he drove through Cheektowaga last summer. Abraham I. Reinhardt, 23, allegedly sold prescription painkillers, hallucinogenic mushrooms and marijuana. He was arrested on Wednesday afternoon after a four-month investigation from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, The Buffalo News reported. The pharmacy student currently attends St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. A LinkedIn account under the name Abe Reinhardt lists him as a 2012 pharmacology and toxicology graduate from UB and a student assistant in the UB Health Sciences Library, where he started working in Sept. 2010. It also says Reinhardt is a pharmacy technician at Rite Aid in Tonawanda, while The News reported he is a pharmacy technician at a Rite Aid in the Rochester suburbs. Dale M. Kasprzyk, a resident agent in charge of the DEA’s Buffalo office, told The News the instant the DEA heard Reinhardt had access to children through his ice cream truck route, the federal agents accelerated their investigation of him. The federal agents searched Reinhardt’s college apartment in Rochester after securing a federal search warrant. Continued on page 2
Opinion 3 Arts & Entertainment 4 Classifieds & Daily Delights 7
Sports 8