the Independent Student publIcatIon of the unIverSIty at buffalo, SInce 1950
the S pectrum ubSpectrum.com
volume 62 no. 14
WedneSday, october 3, 2012
Catching up with Warde
A look inside UB’s paintball community Stories on page 6
Story on page 12
Memorializing Danny Chen UB honors the one-year anniversary of a soldier’s suicide LISA EPSTEIN Asst. News Editor
COURTESY OF THE CHEN FAMILY
Danny Chen was dragged from his top bunk in the middle of the night, his head hitting the floor first, knocking him unconscious. He was dragged across 40 yards of gravel into the middle of a courtyard, scraping and bruising his back, while being taunted and physically attacked by his fellow soldiers. The Asian American teen was tormented relentlessly by superiors, and witnesses did nothing. This was what Private Chen lived through serving in the U.S. Army. On Oct. 3, 2011, Chen committed suicide in a guard tower on his base in Afghanistan. He was 19 years old. Danny was accepted to UB but never attended the university Eight Greek organizations and 17 SA clubs are commemorating the servicemen and all soldiers who passed away because of bullying or hazing in the Danny Chen Project. The event, organized by senior urban policy major Nelson Yu of the
Asian American Student Union (AASU), is set to raise awareness about anti-bullying and hazing in general. Yu said that the event, which will be held on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Knox 20, is for everyone. “This not only can happen to a soldier, but it can happen to a basketball player, a football player, a regular high school student – it can happen to any one of us,” Yu said. When Yu became president of his club, he planned on doing more events to reach out to the public and connect with events like the Danny Chen Project. Danny’s cousin, sophomore art major Banny Chen, attended part of the trial of Sergeant Adam Holcomb, who was found guilty on July 30, 2012 of assault and battery and two counts of maltreatment for using racial slurs and dragging Danny over 40 yards of gravel. “[Witnesses] said they saw Danny the whole time and he wasn’t struggling, so they guessed that he was unconscious when he hit the ground,” Banny said. “When he got up, he was really dazed and didn’t know what was going on. Someone saw his back
and took a picture, and he was roughed up and bruised.” Banny said Danny was called names like “Ch*nk and “Dragonlady,” and he was told to yell out commands in Chinese, even though he was the only ChineseAmerican in the unit. “Me and Danny, we would chat on Facebook every now and then – every time he got a chance to go to a computer,” Banny said. “He never talked about anything like that going on. To me, he was just like every other teenager. He wasn’t a bad guy or anything.” At the time of the trial, Holcomb was a non-commissioned officer in the Army. Yu said Wednesday night’s participants partnered with the Organization of Chinese Americans from the New York City division to petition for 1,003 signatures – which signifies the date of Danny’s suicide – to discharge Holcomb from the Army. AASU has put together a second petition – directed to U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta – attempting to stop military hazing. AASU is a social-political club that deals with political issues in the media and hosts social events, according to Yu. He said Continued on page 10
The UB community is coming together to memorialize a suicide victim, Private Danny Chen.
Fracking discussion continues Faculty Senate, UB Council respond to community criticisms REBECCA BRATEK and SARA DINATALE Managing Editor and Senior News Editor Protesters holding hot pink signs stood outside UB’s Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday at the Center for Tomorrow at 3 p.m. Members of UB’s Coalition for Leading Ethically in Academic Research (UBCLEAR) handed out materials to the incoming faculty senators, calling for “academic integrity and transparency.” UBCLEAR has been requesting the university fully disclose the founding, funding and governance of UB’s controversial Shale Institute since August, when UBCLEAR wrote a letter against the institute endorsed by 83 faculty members. The group’s support has grown to include over 600 community members. During the Senate meeting, English professor James Holstun intended to hand a petition signed by over 600 New York State citizens to President Satish Tripathi, who was present at the meeting. Faculty Senate Chair Ezra Zubrow said Holstun could not do so. If he wanted to give the petition to Zubrow he could, but no one else. “Since this is not the office of the president or the provost, if you would like to give it directly to the president or the provost, I have to ask you to make an appointment
The naked truth about Billy the Kid KEREN BARUCH Life Editor
ALINE KOBAYASHI///THE SPECTRUM
Nathan Buckley, left, and James Holstun, right, stand holding signs in protest of UB’s Shale Institute at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
and give it to them directly and not do it here,” Zubrow told Holstun. Zubrow then stated, “I’m not making it open for discussion.” Holstun handed the petition to Tripathi once outside the meeting, on public grounds. The president then took it. The petition calls for the suspension of the institute until the public is provided full disclosure, an independent investigation and public discussion regarding the Shale Institute.
INSIDE
UB’s Faculty Senate is the elected official representative body of voting faculty members. The Oct. 2 meeting was the first of this year. On Monday, the UB Council met for its first meeting of the 2012-13 school year. Both UB Council and the Faculty Senate discussed issues facing the university community – namely the legitimacy of the Shale Research and Society Institute (SRSI) and its first report – and the new developments across campuses. Continued on page 7
OPINION 3 NEWS 4
Moments before starting a new job, Dan Horner was asked two questions: if he needed a minute to “clean up” and if he was wearing his cock ring. The answer to the former was no, he had been shaving his pubes for years. He lost his virginity at the age of 12, after all. To the latter he asked: what’s that? Before he received a response, it was his turn to walk on stage. Horner, better known by his stripper name, Billy the Kid, attended UB class Sexual Communication (COM 492) last Thursday as a guest speaker. Lance Rintamaki, a professor in the department of communication, invited the stripper to lecture to his class for the second year in a row. The room was filled over capacity. Even students who weren’t enrolled in the class wanted to hear what the stripper had to say. His stripping career started one night in 2003 at Peppermints, a club in Canada. During that first performance, the thrill of what Billy the Kid was about to do got his blood pumping. It started in his head, then moved down to his heart and his penis. Then 23-year-old Horner discovered he did not need a cock ring – a rubber band that keeps the blood flowing inside the penis so men can stay harder for longer. Although he was an amateur at the time, he stayed
LIFE 6
COURTESY OF DAN HORNER
Dan Horner, also known as Billy the Kid, lectured in Lance Rintamaki’s sexual communication class about his life as a stripper and gay porn star.
hard for a total of three songs on his own, pleasing the hundreds of women standing before him as they shouted for more. His fellow strippers, standing behind him, preparing to make their entrance, clapped in shock. Never before had they seen someone stay hard for so long without a cock ring. Continued on page 5
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 8,9
CLASSIFIEDS & DAILY DELIGHTS 9
SPORTS 12