the Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo, Since 1950
The S pectrum ubspectrum.com
Volume 62 No. 24
Friday, October 26, 2012
Kendrick Lamar album review
Story on page 5
Getting to know a Stampede driver
Story on page 4
COACH BO Oliver takes setback in stride, mentors young Campbell AARON MANSFIELD Editor in Chief
Photo illustration by Haider Alidina /// The Spectrum
2 Corinthians 12:9 – My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Junior running back Branden Oliver was on his way to the best rushing season in UB history for the second straight year. On Sept. 19, on national television, the all-everything back exited UB’s game against Kent State with a left-leg injury. He missed the second half and his team lost, but the damage appeared minor. He had never missed more than two weeks in his life and was listed as day to day, expected to suit up the next weekend against UConn. He has not played since. The Bulls have not won a game since he went down. Until last weekend, Oliver’s status remained day to day and nobody knew why he wasn’t playing. The athletic department kept his status secretive to bewilder opponents. Oliver is in the final stages of recovering from a grade-two left MCL tear. Essentially, he was the offense. It seemed only an injury could slow Oliver, who was on pace to break his own school record for rushing yards. It would make sense for him to be frustrated, devastated, depressed. But that is not Oliver’s style. The star back – who was named to three national award watch-lists before the season and made first-team all-MAC last year – counters adversity with positivity. He says he relies on his Christian faith to get him through arduous times. He has taken the misfortune as a chance to guide explosive-but-inexperienced
freshman Devin Campbell – the current starter who was fourth on UB’s depth chart at the beginning of the season. Judging by Campbell’s performance, Oliver might have a future in coaching. James 1:2-4 – Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. The Bulls’ monumental struggles – punctuated by a 45-3 embarrassment at Northern Illinois two weeks ago and an uninspiring 20-6 loss against Pittsburgh in UB’s homecoming game last Saturday – are no coincidence. Oliver, who set the school’s modern Division I record with 1,395 rushing yards last season, is clearly the Bulls’ biggest offensive weapon. He had 425 yards through two and a half games. He was competing with the NCAA’s best backs and could have won some national hardware, not to mention his NFL stock was burgeoning. Then he got stuck between two defensive linemen on a draw play in the second quarter against Kent State. He said he should have gone down but fought for extra yards and tore his MCL as a result. Sounds like enough to get a normal college athlete down. But Oliver doesn’t see things like an everyday 21-year-old. “It’s hard watching on the sidelines, but I’ve just got to keep my faith and keep motivating my teammates,” Oliver said. “I’ve just got to be patient. I know God has it all in his plan and something great is going to come out of it.” Continued on page 2
State-of-the-art dining hall Folks named engineering dean opens in Ellicott Complex CALEB LAYTON Staff Writer
SAM FERNANDO Staff Writer After narrowing the field to four candidates, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has selected Liesl Folks as the new dean of the engineering school. Folks’ position will be effective at the beginning of the Spring 2013 semester. She will be one of seven women in the nation serving as dean of a school of engineering. “I am very excited to be joining the UB team next month,” Folks said in an email. “I look forward to gaining an understanding of the great depth and breadth of activities underway in SEAS and to working with the excellent students, staff and faculty on achieving the strategic goals of SEAS and UB. I am sure it will take some adjustment for me to migrate from industry back to academia, but I have already received many kind offers of help from the UB team, for which I am very grateful.” Folks will replace Harvey G. Stenger Jr., who stepped down in April 2011 when he became the interim provost and eventually the president of Binghamton University.
Courtesy of UB Communication
Liesl Folks is the new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences dean. She is one of only seven women in the nation serving as an engineering school dean.
Rajan Batta, an industrial and systems engineering professor, has served as the acting dean since Stenger’s departure. Folks has 15 years of experience in the private sector as a nanotechnologist in the magnetic data storage industry in Silicon Valley. She is an internationally recognized leader in scanning probe microscopy.
UB students have never seen a dining hall like the newly built Crossroads Culinary Center (C-3). On Thursday, Oct. 24, UB unveiled C-3, the new $10 million student dining facility located in the Red Jacket quadrangle within the Ellicott Complex. The facility has attracted attention for its environmentally friendly technology, its unique restaurants and its Marche-style kitchen where students can watch the food being made in front of them. “It’s the best dining hall [in the country],” said Jeff Brady, executive director of Campus Dining and Shops (CDS). “[Campus dining] has never done anything this big before ... It’s going to give students a different type of dining experience.” The dining hall consists of nine different eateries, eight different restaurant-style seating sections, a fireside lounge and it features an executive chef. Students can order gourmet items like lobster and prime rib. Brady, who has been involved in the center’s creation for over four years, said C-3 was designed to benefit the students.
Continued on page 2
Inside
Opinion 3 Life 4
Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum
On Thursday, Oct. 24, UB unveiled C-3, the new $10 million student dining facility located in the Red Jacket Quadrangle within the Ellicott Complex. The dining hall consists of nine different eateries and eight different restaurant-style seating sections.
“This is [the students’] dining hall – not ours – and when we made this dining hall we got the students involved,” Brady said. “We had 70 focus groups with students, asking them what they were looking for. We found out what they wanted, and we heard [them] loud and clear: healthy food, fresh food, a restaurant style atmosphere and food that served all cultures.” C-3 offers a diverse selection of dietary options including Greek, Chinese, Italian and Brazilian cuisines, along with tradi-
tional college campus meals, such as New York-style pizza. At a special preview of C-3 on Tuesday Oct. 22, students were impressed with the variety of options and the overall quality of the food. “The food was great,” said Jeremy Ferris, a senior political science major. “At first I was almost overwhelmed with what I should eat first, then I just ended up eating everything ...With this place just opening now, maybe I won’t graduate [this year].”
Arts & Entertainment 5
Classifieds & Daily Delights 7
Sports 8
Continued on page 6