Koichi Kamoshida /// Bloomberg News
Although the historic 8.9-magnitude earthquake that devastated the Fukushima prefecture of Japan occurred thousands of miles away from Buffalo, some UB students and their families were personally affected by the disaster.
Disaster in Japan Ripples to Buffalo The Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo WEDNESDAY EDITION v March 23, 2011 Vol. 60 No. 64 v ubspectrum.com
CAS Dean Search Continues
JENNIFER HARB and DANNIELLE O’TOOLE Senior Life Editor and Asst. News Editor
layer shifted beneath another), caused a great amount of friction, according to Greg Valentine, a geology professor at UB.
When the devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami shook Japan on March 11, its effects truly rippled halfway around the world. The University at Buffalo has approximately 89 students from Japan, according to International Education Services, many of whom were personally affected or had families impacted by the disaster.
“Stress builds up in the rocks until they snap, which is what makes the earthquake. The rock layers move very suddenly, which causes the overlying water to move as well…which causes the tsunami waves,” Valentine said in an email.
The earthquake was one of the most powerful ever recorded. The Richter Scale is logarithmic, which, for example, means that a level eight earthquake is 10 times more than a level seven, or 100 times more powerful than a level six.
Open meetings underway Candidates for dean of the College of Arts and Sciences are in the process of conducting open meetings with faculty, staff and students at UB.
Sayaka Ishida, a senior in the School of Management, has family in the Fukushima prefecture, where the earthquake hit. However, her father was in the Iwate prefecture at the time of the earthquake and tsunami.
The first round of open meetings with faculty and students began Tuesday with candidate Charles E. Mitchell. Mitchell is currently a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the department of geology. He is the director of graduate students in his department and has assumed roles on the President’s Review Board since Fall 2010 and on the Honors Council since Fall 2008. The second round of open meetings will begin Thursday morning for candidate E. Bruce Pitman with an open meeting with faculty beginning at 9:30 a.m. in 120 Clemens. Additionally, there will be an open meeting with all students Courtesy of Douglas Levere beginning at 4:10 p.m. in 104 Knox Hall. Each meeting will be one hour Bruce McCOMBE, Current CAS Dean long. For more information on the CAS Pitman is currently the associate search, visit www.buffalo.edu/casdean for research in the CAS, a pro- search. g fessor of mathematics, and an adjunct professor of mechanical and Email: news@ubspectrum.com aerospace engineering.
“He saw the big tsunami coming from the ocean and destroy everything. It was so scary looking at houses on fire flowing on big waves. Many people were trying to run away from it, but some people were too late or stuck in a traffic jam,” said Ishida in an email. “After the earthquake and tsunami, he thought that it was better to go home than stay there…but he said it was really hard because streets and bridges are destroyed and gas stations and convenience stores are closed. It took about 20 hours to go home.” The earthquake happened when the solid rock layer beneath the floor of the Pacific Ocean slid beneath the solid rock that makes up Japan. This sliding, or “subduction” in this case (because one
SUNY Chancellor Endorses Tripathi’s Candidacy Presidential search coming to a close LAUREN NOSTROSenior News Editor SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher announced on March 17 that she has recommended Provost Satish K. Tripathi as UB’s 15th president. The SUNY Board of Trustees must approve Tripathi’s nomination, and Zimpher has asked to hold a special meeting with the board around April 1 to consider Tripathi’s recommendation. The Presidential Search Committee “unanimously and enthusiastically” recommended Tripathi for the position, according to a letter from Jeremy M. Jacobs, chairman of the UB Council and Presidential Search Committee, posted on March 17. Jacobs has only released statements on behalf of the committee via email to faculty and on the Presidential Search Committee’s website. Zimpher named Tripathi as UB’s officerin-charge, effective immediately. Tripathi will assume all of the responsibilities and authority of UB’s president. Courtesy of University at Buffalo
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On March 11, The Spectrum published an article on speculations surrounding the
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Japan has endured a series of earthquakes in the past, so the country has been relatively prepared. From a number of accounts, the shaking was moderate and did not result in complete destruction. “Over the last 40 years, Japanese building codes have been very strict and require very sturdy construction of buildings,” said Thomas Burkman, director of Asian studies at UB. “Even in this 9.0 earthquake, buildings fared fairly well in the earthquake. The great loss of life came from the tsunami for which Japan was less prepared.” Tsunami waves move incredibly quickly, sometimes up to 500 miles per hour in deep waters, but slow down as they approach the shore because the sea is shallower. The back of the wave, which is still in deeper waters, is moving quicker than the front, which causes the water to mount as it approaches land and stay on shore for longer periods of time, according to Valentine. “[Tsunamis] occur in that area every 1,000 years or so. There is little to do other than have sufficient warning (they had about 20 minutes) to move to higher grounds,” said Michael Constantinou, a civil, structural and environmental engineering professor, in an email. “There is very little to do other than build elevated structures or just build away from the shoreline
Presidential Search Committee’s lack of adherence to SUNY’s Guidelines for Conducting a Presidential Search. However, a SUNY press official said that these guidelines are not set in stone for each individual presidential search. “It was communicated to the campus community early on that the search committee would conduct a confidential process in order to attract, retain, and successfully recruit the best possible candidates,” said David K. Belsky, SUNY press officer and director of new media, in an email. “The Presidential Search Guidelines are intended to be just that, guidelines, not law.” Step 10 of the SUNY Guidelines states that once finalists are selected, schools are required to schedule campus visits for each of the remaining candidates and are to publically announce the names of those left in the running. UB’s Presidential Search Committee did not follow this step. Faculty members and students alike have not supported the lack of transparency in the presidential search. “The UB Presidential Search Committee ignored the SUNY Trustees guidelines for a presidential search in two ways: they prevented the UB faculty from electing six representatives to the committee, and they denied the entire UB community the opportunity to meet with finalists,” said James Holstun, professor of English, in an email. Holstun is referring to Step 2 in the Preliminary Steps in the Search Process Guidelines, which states that unless otherwise
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where waves are stronger.” Masaharu Iburi, the uncle of Akari Iburi, a junior English major and a Spectrum staff writer, lives in the town of Mikuni in the Niigata prefecture on the west coast of Japan. Although the earthquake struck Japan on March 11, he did not hear about the situation until March 15 due to his distance from the disaster. However, when predictions of another earthquake in the Japan Sea arose, his concern mounted quickly. “We didn’t trust what the government was telling us about the situation. We knew they weren’t being honest with us,” Masaharu Iburi said. “I really believed Japan was going under; it wouldn’t survive a second earthquake. The whole country is in panic.” Shortly after the earthquake and tsunami struck, news of a radiation leak from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant surfaced. Masakazu Iburi, another uncle of Akari Iburi, believes that the damage from the radiation and tsunami will take at least 20 years to clean up. “Japanese people have, let’s call it, a nuclear allergy because of their own experience with atomic bombs and knowledge of the consequences of radiation are very widespread,” Burkman said. Ishida’s family currently lives in the Fukushima prefecture and is considering moving to another area that is not affected by the radiation. They are currently saving light, gas, food, water, paper and many other supplies. “It is really scary to live in such a close area from that nuclear power plant,” Ishida said. “The government decided not to sell any milk and vegetables from these affected areas… there are not
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agreed upon in advance by the chancellor and council chair, the search committee shall consist of four members of the council (including the chair), six members of the full-time teaching faculty of the campus, one student, one alumni representative, one campus-related foundation representative, one academic dean, and one professional or support staff member. “We can all hope that the next UB president will aspire to a more democratic and less corporate way of doing things,” Holstun said. “This isn’t a promising start.” Some students do not support the administration’s apparent lack of concern for the student community.
“This pick indicates that the UB administration is continuing to work to privatize the university, raise tuition, and treat students as dollar signs,” said Robert Earle, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate, on the UB Reporter’s website. “Moreover, this process was done in such a closed-door way that students had absolutely no say in the matter. I hope that some action can be taken to reverse this decision and democratize presidential searches in the future. Students deserve a voice; it is our education.” The officer-in-charge was unavailable for comment. Tripathi wants to respect the SUNY process and wait until the SUNY Board of Trustees formally confirms him as president at next month’s meeting, according to John DellaContrada, assistant vice president for media relations at UB. g
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