the Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo, Since 1950
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Holiday preview Edition, Wednesday, november 14, 2012
McCrea’s mother adopts basketball team, takes athletes in for holidays Story on page 20
Volume 62 No. 32
Dental Dean Glick receives national recognition, local praise Story on page 4
International students find home for the holidays Foreign students discover new ways to spend American vacation time LISA KHOURY Senior News Editor During Thanksgiving, winter and spring break, most UB students leave campus and go home. Campus Dining and Shops closes 35 shops. The Stampede follows the Sunday bus schedule. Students in non-break housing are mandated to leave their dorms, and those staying in break housing must pay a fee for staying during winter and spring break. The 5,500-plus international students whose homes are thousands of miles away from UB are, for the most part, on their own during breaks. Many international students who are on student visas use their time during break to see various American cities and parts of Eastern Canada. Chinatsu Matsui, a junior economics major from Japan and president of the Japanese Student Association, spent her first Thanksgiving break in Chicago watching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, eating authentic Chicago food, indulging in shopping and visiting museums. Kaori Fujimoto, a junior international business major from Japan, went to four museums in Washington, D.C. for her first Thanksgiving break in 2010. That year, she spent winter break touring New York City – visiting Wall Street, watching Mama Mia on Broadway and going to the Statue of Liberty – and will be returning this Thanksgiving.
Matsui said when she goes back to Japan, she won’t have a chance to travel like this again. Matsui is looking forward to this Thanksgiving. She’s deciding between going back to Chicago, one of her new favorite cities, or visiting Montreal. Other international students are looking forward to experiencing the American Thanksgiving with friends. Harsh Agarwal, a sophomore computer science major from India, is spending his second Thanksgiving in America at a dinner table with his internship supervisor. Last year, he went to another friend’s house. He said his family in India rarely celebrates holidays, and he had few family dinners with them in general. “I felt really happy [last Thanksgiving],” Agarwal said. “I felt like I had a family of my own for that one day.” Kevan Darmawan, a freshman mechanical engineering major from Indonesia, is looking forward to experiencing Thanksgiving for the first time. A friend from UB invited him to his home in Rochester for the extended weekend, so Darmawan won’t have to stay in an area lounge. “I always wondered what Thanksgiving was like, so it was a good thing he invited me,” Darmawan said. “I appreciate it.” However, Matsui doesn’t think UB gives international students who stay in Buffalo fair options.
Students who live in dorms are urged to leave during Thanksgiving, winter and spring break, according to senior associate director of Campus Living Michael Koziej. All dorm residents must pay a fee during winter and spring break if they don’t leave – even in the breakhousing dorms in Red Jacket, Richmond, Clinton, Clement and Greiner. A student in a non-break house can sleep on a cot in a closed lounge in one of the break areas for free during Thanksgiving break and $12 per night during winter and spring break, according to Koziej. Students in break housing pay a daily rate if they stay, depending on their room size. A resident of a quad is billed $25 per day; a double is $29 per day; and a single, the most expensive, is $33 per day. “The reality is we don’t want you to stay during winter, spring or fall recess because we have very few staff available, resources available, there’s just nothing for the university to support you while you’re here,” Koziej said. Koziej said he realizes some students don’t have the luxury to go home, and Campus Living designates break halls for those residents. “And we will staff those buildings,” he said. “But we can’t do it for all 7,600 students who live on campus because then we’d have to keep a full staff.” Continued on page 8
Courtesy of Kaori Fujimoto
Kaori Fujimoto and her friends Yuki Abo, Hiroka Ohnishi and Eri Ohashi (left to right) visit the Statue of Liberty during Fujimoto’s winter break in 2010.
A new reason to give thanks Student won’t let Hurricane Sandy ruin Thanksgiving RACHEL RAIMONDI Staff Writer When damage from Hurricane Sandy caused Jesse Nagel’s parents, grandmother and two dogs to move out of their home and into a one-bedroom apartment in Borough Park, Brooklyn, he did not think he was going home for Thanksgiving. Recently, a family friend set them up with a two-bedroom apartment nearby. Nagel, a junior nursing major, made his travel plans immediately. He’s going home for Thanksgiving with a new understanding of the holiday. “We’re not too worried about Thanksgiving – that’s not the issue,” Nagel said. “We’re more focused on everyone being safe.” When Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast on Oct. 26, loved ones were lost, homes were destroyed and cars were swept away. Many UB students went hours without hearing from their families and fearing the worst. After a text from Nagel’s mother said, “The ocean is coming up the block,” the Rockaway Park resident didn’t hear from his parents for another 12 to 15 hours. His brother, who lives in Manhattan, told Nagel fires started in towns near their parents’ home, wiping out entire blocks. He remembers barely sleeping and crying with his girlfriend, Jaimie Scott, a junior health and human services major and New Jersey resident.
Inside
Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum
Jesse Nagel's Brooklyn home was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy. He is going home for Thanksgiving with a new understanding of what he has to be thankful for.
When Nagel finally got in touch with his family, he received the bad news – his house was uninhabitable. The basement flooded with eight feet of water, destroying his bedroom, the basement appliances and the car that he and his dad were working on in their free time. Now all that remains are the support beams and concrete steps to the first floor, Nagel said.
Witness recounts one of weekend assaults in University Heights BEN TARHAN News Editor
The ordeal is far from over, and he is unsure if the reconstruction of his childhood home will be completed in weeks or months. He does know it won’t be done in time for Thanksgiving. Every year, the Nagel family hosts the holiday dinner for 15 to 20 family members in their spacious two-family home. Relatives come from as far as Syracuse to eat the 25-pound turkey and celebrate the joyous year. This year won’t be the same, but Nagel is not concerned. This Thanksgiving will be about celebrating everyone’s safety and his ability to see his family and dogs, Roxy and Cleo, for the first time since the summer, Nagel said. He is thankful the National Guard patrolled the area day and night to keep looters away and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) insurance has been approved. He is also thankful people took action quickly to bring relief to the affected area. Volunteers from the local churches and temples helped the family drain the floodwater and clean out the basement. “You couldn’t see the difference between the beach and the street,” Nagel said. “There was sand everywhere.” Jenna Perrone, a junior communication major and Atlantic Beach resident, said her neighborhood experienced the same devastation. The businesses on the beach were boarded up, but no one thought the hurricane would be as bad as it was, she said. By the end of the storm, a building on the beach collapsed.
Jennifer witnessed one of three assaults that took place late Saturday evening in the University Heights. She was walking with two of her male friends on Winspear Avenue when two men confronted the group and attacked her two friends. The assailants were confrontational and told her friends to empty their pockets before punching one in the face, knocking him out and knocking the other to the pavement with blows to the face and ribs. Three assaults occurred near South Campus on Saturday night. Six students were attacked. “I think [the suspects] just heard about a college party and came down thinking they were going to pickpocket a couple people,” Jennifer said. Jennifer, a sophomore psychology and communication major who did not want to share her last name, said the victims were a freshman mechanical engineering major and a sophomore visiting from Finger Lakes Community College. Jennifer met up with a UB student after he left a party on Northrup Avenue. He told her people’s phones were being stolen out of their pockets. They were walking to their friend’s house “less than a block away from the Mobil station” on the corner of Main Street and Winspear Avenue.
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