THE SPECTRUM VOL. 68 NO. 42 | APRIL 8, 2019
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
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Qasim Rashid gives lecture on white supremacy, terrorism and gun violence
> SEE PAGE 4
P.R.I.D.E. Party wins Student Association e-board election BRENTON J. BLANCHET, JACKLYN WALTERS EDITORIAL STAFF
SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR
Six thousand tons of concrete, 9,000 tons of structural steel, three miles of cabling and wiring and a year and a half of construction later, the Murchie Family Fieldhouse is finally open for use. Construction workers broke ground on the fieldhouse in October 2017. The Bulls held their inaugural football practice in the fieldhouse on March 26. The 92,000-square-foot indoor practice facility is situated just beyond the north end zone of UB Stadium. The $18 million fieldhouse is funded solely through philanthropy and football revenue. UB did not use state funds for the project. “To know that this day would happen and to get to this point, I wasn’t quite sure,” said football head coach Lance Leipold. “I’m awfully appreciative about the people that helped make it possible and it’s been awesome so far.” Leipold arrived at UB in 2015 when the
Student Association president promises to work with SA officials to help recognize oSTEM
BENJAMIN BLANCHET EDITOR
SHUBH JAIN | THE SPECTRUM The 2019-20 SA e-board celebrates its victory Thursday.
Greek Council members. “All I can do is just thank the student body for having trust in us,” Amolegbe, a fourth-year aerospace engineering major and current SA event manager, said. “We promise not to disappoint you guys.” Hulbert, a junior political science major and current SA assistant entertainment director, joked that she’s looking forward to sleeping now that they’ve won the election. She said she is “grateful for everyone’s support.” “We’re in shock,” Hulbert said. “It means so much to us. We’re really excited for next year, I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs but we’ve been a great team and I’m super excited for the future.” Harris, a junior economics major and
current SA senator and the Black Student Union’s treasurer, was also emotional following the announcement. “Next year, we hope to make you guys proud,” Harris said. “[We hope to] fight on behalf of all undergraduate students here at UB and carry on the great work that [the current e-board has] been doing.” Campaign opponents watched the new e-board celebrate its victory in the SA office and remained positive about next year, despite losing the election. Sadie Kratt, CLEAR Party’s presidential candidate, said she thinks the upcoming eboard will do a “great job” and said she’s excited to work with them on her environmental goals. “You know I love the Earth and I’m not just going to let our campus environ> SEE SA
Fieldhouse opens
NATHANIEL MENDELSON
> SEE PAGE 8
LGBTQ club said it’s happy with SA for doing ‘morally right’ thing
Murchie Family $18 million facility a ‘game changer,’ according to coaches
Jim Whitesell named men’s basketball head coach
> SEE PAGE 6
P.R.I.D.E. and Joy Yousouf Amolegbe put his hand to his face and covered his tears on Thursday afternoon. He had just become the Student Association’s fifth black president ever. Amolegbe, Georgia Hulbert and Kendra Harris of the P.R.I.D.E. Party won the e-board election after a campaign based on “progressive, reform, integrity, diversity and empowerment” initiatives. Sophonie Pierre-Michel, the Elections and Credentials Chair, announced their victory in the SA office Thursday night after a threeday election, which lasted from Tuesday to Thursday. It brought out 2,181 student voters and 10.3% of the undergraduate student body. Amolegbe and Hulbert –– presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively –– received 1,043 votes and Harris, the treasurer candidate–– received 1,027 votes. P.R.I.D.E. won over the Students Reform Party (681 votes on both tickets), the CLEAR Party (416 votes on the president/VP ticket and 370 votes for treasurer) and the Going Forward, Going Blue Party’s treasurer (27 votes). The new e-board said it hope to advocate for an increase in black faculty members, accessibility and disability rights awareness and implement mandatory sexual violence training for all student athletes and Inter-
UBSPECTRUM
Less than 24 hours after The Spectrum’s article on oSTEM’s denied recognition, SA President Gunnar Haberl promised to do the “morally right thing.” Haberl said the SA e-board will work with the SA senate to do the “morally right” thing and celebrate oSTEM as an SA club. He said the senate, along with the e-board, would also look at current SA policies set for club recognitions. Haberl’s comments came roughly a week after SA Vice President Anyssa Evelyn told oSTEM, an LGBTQ club that caters to professional development in STEM, that SA could not recognize the club because it would “directly duplicate” the purpose of LGBTA –– a club devoted to LGBTQ students. Haberl spoke to students in the SA office and read a version of Dale Wimbrow’s “The Man in the Glass” poem before SA announced its e-board election results on Thursday. Haberl said someone told him to do the “morally right” thing for the club instead of the “right thing policy-wise.” “So I promise you tonight, in these final days as [SA] President, [the SA e-board]
ELECTION | PAGE 4
> SEE OSTEM | PAGE 4
student recreation programming and will be used for intramurals. “This is huge, this facility right here is big time,” said freshman football running back Jaret Patterson. “A lot of other programs have something like this and just having something like this is just going to help us.” The fieldhouse is part of the 2014 athletics master plan, when Danny White was the athletic director. The plan featured the fieldhouse, a new baseball stadium and a tennis center.
The original cost of the fieldhouse was estimated at $20 million and was expected to be 130,000 gross square feet. Athletics also planned a bridge connecting it to Alumni Arena. Coaches and athletes have called the facility a “game changer.” It is supposed to help with recruiting and keeping teams better prepared during the winter when there is no outdoor practice space. Athletics anticipates this will reduce scheduling problems for facilities.
university was still developing and planning stages of the project. It took two years for that vision to become a reality. Four seasons into Leipold’s career at UB, Leipold’s team and others no longer have to travel to off-campus facilities to practice and train. The football team > SEE FIELDHOUSE | PAGE 8 previously trained at the ADPRO Sports Training Center in Orchard Park where the Bills play. The fieldhouse has over 4 million cubic feet of indoor space, which matches the size of the best in the country. Inside it features over 6,000 square feet of rubber track, a full football field with two goalposts, four motorized suspended softball hitting tunnels and two multi-level indoor filming/viewing towers at 24 and 36-feet high. The fieldhouse will be available to every varsity NATHANIEL MENDELSON | THE SPECTRUM athletic team, house uni- Football practices inside the fieldhouse on Thursday morning. The 92,000-square-foot facility will house practices, university versity events, expand events, recreation and intramural sports.
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UB’s Student Association named SUNY SA of the year JACKLYN WALTERS CO-SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
UB’s Student Association earned the title of 2018-19 State University of New York SA of the Year this past weekend. SUNY Trustee Mike Braun announced SA’s award at the annual Spring SUNY SA Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY,
which many SA members attended. SA President Gunnar Haberl called the award “an honor and a privilege” and said he was “at a loss for words” following Braun’s announcement. Haberl recognized the work of “amazing student leaders” across SUNY’s 64 campuses who “make a difference in the lives of others.”
“However, this recognition was a true testament to the incredible Student Association team at UB who work day in and day out to advocate, inspire and provoke change for the betterment of the entire UB community,” Haberl wrote in an email. Haberl acknowledged the ups and downs of the year and said he is “grateful” for it all.
“Anyssa [Evelyn], Tanahiry [Escamilla] and I are able to reflect on this time in office and be proud of everything that our team has been able to accomplish. Yet, we also recognize that there is still work that needs to be done,” Haberl wrote. “As I look back on this incredible journey, I could not be more grateful for each individual that has challenged us, motivated us and made this journey possible.” Email: Jacklyn.Walters@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @JacklynUBSpec
Bizer Creek cleanup removes hundreds of pounds of trash Volunteers help revive littered creek NATHAN GARDNER STAFF WRITER
Roughly 20 student volunteers braved uneven terrain and cold temperatures to collect an estimated 500 pounds of garbage from Bizer Creek on Thursday. UB Sustainability led the hour-long cleanup, where volunteers removed debris including everything from Arizona cans to chip bags. Volunteers walked along the creek –– which stretches from the Statler Food Commissary to Creekside Village –– to remove any trash they could find. A few volunteers entered the creek to reach some of the bigger items. This was UB Sustainability’s first attempt at cleaning up Bizer Creek, although the group has hosted cleanup events around Lake LaSalle and Ellicott Creek in the past. Michael McDonald, a UB Sustainability student assistant, said he was “impressed” with the success of the cleanup, considering the group organized it “last minute.” McDonald, a junior in the school of management, said he thought many of the items had been around the creek for at least several years and the cleanup was a
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“good start.” “I think the cleanup was very successful, but it showed us there’s a lot more work to do,” McDonald said. “We didn’t really want to stop.” Erin Moscati, the sustainability education manager at UB Sustainability, said UB Sustainability hopes to make the cleanup an annual spring event. “We’ll definitely organize this [cleanup] every year, it was a nice event and it was a great day to do it because we didn’t have a lot of wind,” Moscati said. Moscati said the event reinforced how significant teamwork can be in tackling a problem. “In an hour, I would estimate we collected 15 to 20 bags of garbage and we had maybe 20 people,” Moscati said. “So everyone collected at least a bag of garbage, which is pretty impressive.” McDonald said his “favorite find” was a beat-up necktie. Terry Francois, a junior environmental engineering major, said his best find was a roughly 10-foot-long steel cable. McDonald said the volunteers’ work had a clear impact on the creek’s visual appeal. He said he hopes it made a difference for the wildlife that call Bizer creek home too. “I already walked across the bridge once
and I thought it looked a lot nicer,” McDonald said. “We even have deer coming through here sometimes, a handful of bucks and does, so it’s nice knowing they aren’t going to be picking around in the trash anymore.” Francois, a seNATHAN GARDNER | THE SPECTRUM nior trip leader Volunteers and members of UB Sustainability pose for a photo during Bizer Creek clean-up. UB Sustainability organized a clean-up of Biof the Outdoor the zer Creek on Thursday, where volunteers cleaned roughly 500 pounds Adventure Club, of garbage from the creek. said UB should in improving the environment. offer more cleanups since there’s a lot of “I think the big point you can take from work to be done. Francois said he would this is all this stuff sits for so long, but it also like to see Letchworth Woods cleaned only takes a couple hours and some manup since he hopes to establish additional power to undo all those years of contamitrails there. nation,” McDonald said. “It really makes a “I feel like we’re not doing enough on bigger difference than people think.” campus,” Francois said. “It seems like everywhere either has cigarette butts or Email: news@ubspectrum.com needs to be cleaned and it’s too much for Facilities to handle alone.” McDonald said cleanups like this may seem small, but can actually go a long way
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OPINION
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THE SPECTRUM Monday, April 8, 2019 Volume 68 Number 42 Circulation: 4,000
EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Hannah Stein MANAGING EDITOR Brenton J. Blanchet CREATIVE DIRECTORS Caitlyn Di Vita Grace Klak COPY EDITORS Savanna Caldwell Cassi Enderle Lauryn King Cherie Jacobs, Asst. NEWS EDITORS Tanveen Vohra, Co-Senior Jacklyn Walters, Co-senior FEATURES EDITORS Thomas Zafonte, Senior Isabella Nurt, Asst.
ARTS EDITORS Brian Evans, Senior Samantha Vargas, Asst. Julianna Tracey, Asst. SPORTS EDITOR Nathaniel Mendelson, Senior
EDITORIAL EDITOR Benjamin Blanchet MULTIMEDIA EDITORS Shubh Jain, Senior Davila Tarakinikini, Asst. CARTOONISTS Ardi Digap
PROFESSIONAL STAFF OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Helene Polley
SA’s renewed stance on oSTEM is necessary, but SA policies need clarification EDITORIAL BOARD
Student Association President Gunnar Haberl said he wanted to make the “morally right” choice. His statement indicates a reversal on SA’s decision regarding oSTEM –– an LGBTQ club for STEM majors –– and its denied recognition. We agree with this choice. Haberl’s statement parallels the values we want to see in SA, UB and the world. But the club policy that SA Vice President Anyssa Evelyn cited last week needs another look. On Thursday, Haberl promised he would do the right thing with his e-board after SA wouldn’t recognize oSTEM. He said he saw “no reason” not to celebrate oSTEM as an SA club. This is great. We, too, see no reason SA shouldn’t celebrate oSTEM as an SA club. Still, if SA’s decision narrows down to a broad policy then the policy needs a lot more clarity. We looked at oSTEM’s constitution ourselves and don’t see where it directly “duplicates” the purpose of LGBTA, a club
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that caters to LGBTQ students in general. oSTEM is a national organization and has over 100 chapters at universities across the country. The club focuses on professional development for LGBTQ STEM students. The decision didn’t make sense to our editorial board as soon as we learned about the situation. SA’s policy states “no club shall receive recognition of any kind if service(s) and/or purpose of the club are currently being offered in part or in whole by any of the Student Association’s recognized clubs.” We can see the holes in this policy and where it can be vague. SA officials can interpret it in a number of different ways. We think the policy needs another look and we ourselves can’t decide on a way to tweak it. One way SA could solve this issue is remove “in part” from the policy. Another way is to add specifications to the rule. One specification could be if a club serves a purpose for a minority group in an academic field, that club is allowed to coexist alongside its larger minority club. Just as the policy posed a chal-
lenge for oSTEM over the span of four years, it should pose a challenge to SA officials. We want them to act on this sooner rather than later if it’s indeed a problem with the rules. Nonetheless, we question Evelyn’s initial interpretation of the SA policy. SA has given other interest-based minority clubs the OK in the past. Evelyn wrote she does not have “control” over how other e-boards have interpreted the policy. This is true. Still, SA has recognized interest-based minority clubs such as Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers while clubs for Asians and Asian Americans exist in SA. With oSTEM, it took four years and a Spectrum article for SA to consider recognizing them. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Evelyn wrote in an email on Sunday that she will continue to work with her e-board and the SA senate to look into the policies which halted oSTEM’s recognition. Evelyn wrote that she couldn’t promise the club’s recognition since it would be “impossible” for her without SA looking at the policies. Even if policies don’t change,
the SA senate can go against precedent and make the club a permanent SA club through its own procedures. No matter the source, we encourage SA officials to go through temporary club recognition procedures or, if not, senate procedures to recognize oSTEM as an SA club. The oSTEM story ran in an issue that coincided with UB’s Accepted Students Day. New students, including LGBTQ students, saw this story on newsstands during their first visit to campus. SA’s decision, and its rules, could leave their marks on them when they travel back home. The incoming class of 2023 is the future, just like a minority population on this campus that wants to embrace innovation in the STEM field. Policy or not, SA must fulfill its promise to do the right thing and ensure UB’s accepted students truly feel accepted in SA and beyond. Email: opinion@ubspectrum.com
A strange encounter at Sweethome
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The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Opinion section of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ ubspectrum.com. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.
Monday, April 8, 2019 | 3
DAVILA TARAKINIKINI ASST. MULTIMEDIA EDITOR
When students go to college, they accumulate housing stories about roommates, RAs, new friendships and the occasional roommate argument. My strange encounter, however, dealt with the bookkeeper who opened my bedroom door unannounced. I live at Sweethome, which is about a five-minute drive from UB. I share my apartment with three other girls. We all have our own separate bedrooms and bathrooms. On Feb. 19 last year, at approximately 2 p.m., the bookkeeper of Sweethome let himself into my apartment. He came straight to my bedroom door and began aggressively knocking. I don’t know how long he was banging on my door, but I still vividly remember opening
my eyes and seeing the lock on my door turning. Within seconds, a tall male figure was in my doorway and he could very clearly see that I was still in bed. He then shut my door, locked it, and continued knocking. As you can probably imagine, I was firstly, very confused as to who this stranger was, and secondly, wondering why he would shut and lock the door after already opening it. I wasn’t feeling well that day and had taken Nyquil, so I could get some rest before my night class. The medicine was in full effect and I felt drowsy. I forced myself to get out of bed and still answer the door. The feelings of infringement and violation of my privacy were in high gear. I opened the door just a crack, scared to see who was on the other side of the door. The man introduced himself as the bookkeeper of Sweethome and began bombarding me with questions about unpaid rent. Absolutely confused, I told him I had never received an email or letter regarding the matter. Usually what’s supposed to happen, is if they do not receive that month’s rent, they are supposed to contact you and let you know. He continued to state that I had been informed about the situation through email. To be per-
fectly clear, prior to this surprise encounter, he had reached out. Once. That was exactly eight minutes before he came banging on my door. My rent was on automatic payment, and he had failed to inform me that it was unaccounted for through the last two months. The deadline for the third payment was fast approaching, and as you can probably imagine, with high monthly rent, we were far past $1,000. He waited until we were almost three months short before saying anything. He had basically come to my door to threaten me with eviction. In the very words of his email, “if we do not receive them by the end of today your account will be sent to our attorney for eviction.” Looking back on the matter now, I imagine he had fallen behind on bookkeeping and was simply attempting to cover himself. He had come to my door with a mission to intimidate me to pay up. I will admit, it really shook me up. I pay to call a space away from home my safe haven, and yet, someone could just so easily barge into my private space like that. It took over a month before I began feeling comfortable in my own apartment again.
When we complained to Sweethome, the only answer management could give us was that it was their “protocol.” The Sweethome bookkeeper sent me an email only eight minutes before coming to my door. Eight minutes. With over two months of time to send me a letter, email or even call, the bookkeeper conveniently decided that those eight minutes before his abrupt arrival was the best time to inform me. Perhaps, it was my last name that led him to believe that I was a vulnerable international student that could be threatened and intimidated without consequences. He didn’t realize I was a New Yorker, and not just from any part of New York, but Long Island. I share my encounter in hopes that I am the only one who has had an experience like this. I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel threatened in their own private space, the way I did. It is important to speak up when something is not right. Do not let anyone push you around and intimidate you. Hopefully, in the future, bookkeeping will be kept on top of so that incidents just like mine never occur again. Email: opinion@ubspectrum.com.
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FROM PAGE 1
SA ELECTION ment go to s--t,” Kratt said. “There’s a lot I wanted to do and I hope we can keep that communication open.” Omran Albarazanchi, Students Reform Party’s presidential candidate, said students voted “for their friends” for all parties, and he found it “frustrating.” He said he hopes future elections can include a debate among candidates to better educate students on party platforms. Jaycee Miller, Students Reform Party’s treasurer candidate, said she hopes to talk with next year’s e-board about her party’s agenda. “We’re not done,” Miller said. “We have a lot of work to do ahead of us. Our role in SA is TBD, but we definitely have a lot of things we want to see out of the next
administration. It’s going to take cooperation, compromise and hard work.” Current SA President Gunnar Haberl congratulated the new e-board on its victory in the SA office as the students celebrated and said he has already prepared a “transition folder” for Amolegbe. “My goal right now –– the number one priority –– is to make this transition as smooth as possible and make sure the initiatives that [the current e-board] and I led this year and made happen here at UB don’t get put on the backburner for next year,” Haberl said. Email: news@ubspectrum.com
SHUBH JAIN | THE SPECTRUM Yousouf Amolegbe (left), Georgia Hulbert (middle) and Kendra Harris (right) were elected the 2019-20 Student Association e-board on Thursday.
Evelyn since wrote, in an email to The Spectrum, that she “will and [has] been will work our hardest with the SA senate working” with her e-board and the SA to get this done,” Haberl said on Thursday, senate to see “what we can do about this referring to oSTEM’s recognition. policy.” “If it’s a policy that needs changing, we “Promising the recognition of this club will work to change it. But with the 50th is impossible for me without proceeding anniversary in June of the Stonewall riots, with seeing what the options and possibilithere is no reason why SA cannot celties are with this policy,” Evelyn wrote. ebrate oSTEM as an SA club. It’s the right Evelyn wrote that she has “no doubt thing to do.” that oSTEM serves the LGBTQ+ comHaberl, in an email, wrote that he stands munity.” by what he said on Thursday. “They do a great job and are a healthy “Since then, I have been working closeclub under the School of Engineering ly with the SA e-board, SA senate chair [and Applied Sciences] that serves students who identify as LGBTQ+, or allies of those thereof, but also in the field of STEM,” Evelyn wrote. “It is important for there to be alliance and support for those students especially in the current climate of our society that lacks representation and support for minorities.” Anton Buynovskiy, the oSTEM vice president and a junior aerospace and mechanical engineering major, wrote in SHUBH JAIN | THE SPECTRUM an email that he is On Thursday, SA President Gunnar Haberl said SA would do the “morally right” thing and work with other SA officials to recognize oSTEM. “overwhelmed” with UB’s support for the
club. “This has been a battle we’ve been fighting since our chapter was first created and to see our hard work pay off is unbelievable,” Buynovskiy wrote. Buynovskiy wrote that the club appreciates Haberl’s speech and decision to do the “correct thing morally.” “We hope this would encourage students throughout the university to speak up for what they believe in,” Buynovskiy wrote. “We hope to continue working with SA to ensure that the interpretation of current policies does not infringe on the development of emerging clubs at UB.” SA senate chair Eric Weinman said “most if not all the other senators want [oSTEM] to be recognized” by SA but he’s waiting to speak to the SA e-board this week to come up with a solution. Weinman said the senate has a number of options, such as granting permanent recognition for oSTEM. Another option for the senate, he said, is for an approval of club handbook changes. The SA eboard would have to propose these changes to the senate, he said. “At the very least, we should be granting them recognition, I would imagine no one on [the senate] would be opposed to that,” Weinman said. “As for the handbook update, I believe some of the e-board members want that to go through.” The next SA senate meeting is scheduled for Friday at 5:30 p.m. in SU 378.
Qasim Rashid gives lecture on white supremacy, terrorism and gun violence
that the university is ultimately accountable to its students,” Rashid said. He advised Clinton to identify the most pressing issue, build a coalition, organize a petition and then take it to university faculty. “And if they can’t [address it], they better have a damn good reason why,” Rashid said.
FROM PAGE 1
OSTEM
Activist gives advice to students about the future of the African and African American Studies program Wednesday TANVEEN VOHRA CO-SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Human rights activist and lawyer Qasim Rashid spoke about white supremacy, terrorism and gun violence on Wednesday night in the Natural Science Complex. At least three UPD officers provided security for the event, which is standard practice for any lecturer who has received death threats in the past. Rashid — who is currently running for the Virginia State Senate — routinely gives lectures at schools and universities across America and is a prolific writer for topics like race, Islamophobia and the military industrial complex. His lecture on Wednesday focused on the nuances of white supremacy, the history of Native American and African American oppression, the treatment of prisoners and gun control reform. Uma Khan, a junior sociology major, said the Black Student Union and Amnesty International organized the
and both the Academic and Engineering Council Coordinators in finding the best way to move forward collectively,” Haberl wrote. Haberl wrote that he was out of town for a SUNY SA conference through Sunday and he would be “meeting personally” with all those parties on Monday. The SA club policy, which SA Vice President Anyssa Evelyn referenced to oSTEM on March 29, states “no club shall receive recognition of any kind if service(s) and/ or purpose of the club are currently being offered in part or in whole by any of the [SA’s] recognized clubs.”
event. Barbara Ricotta, senior associate vice president for Student Life, played a video about UB’s stance for freedom of speech before the lecture began. Rashid’s lecture was a whirlwind of factual information, statistics and scholarly citations and the speaker included personal anecdotes of the post-9/11 Muslim experience and stories of people directly affected. The audience of roughly 200 students and Buffalo community members watched, with the majority staying throughout the duration of the two-and-a-half-hour-long lecture. Khan said the event was her idea and was initially named “Combating domestic terrorism and gun violence.” But that changed after the Christchurch Mosque shootings in New Zealand, which resulted in the deaths of 50 people between the ages of 3 and 77. The majority of victims were Muslim. Khan said she then realized it was white supremacy, and said she had to call the event “what it is.” Elizabeth Kubiniec, the president of Amnesty International, said she hoped Rashid’s lecture would work to reduce discrimination, as people are better able to understand another culture.
“I believe the best way to combat white supremacy and terrorism is by obtaining a deeper understanding of all of our neighbors and peers,” Kubiniec said. During the Q&A portion of the event, which lasted a full hour, students asked Rashid questions about immigration, freedom of expression and religious persecution both internationally and domestically. A student, told Rashid that UB’s African and African American Studies program was “under attack” and asked him what students could do to help the department regain its independence from Transnational Studies department. Rashid responded, detailing his own experiences as a law student at the University of Richmond, where he found limited books relating to Islamic Sharia law. He said he complained to his professors and the university president. Within a month, he said, the university had spent over $10,000 on books related to the subject. “The first thing is to recognize
Email: benjamin.blanchet@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @BenjaminUBSpec.
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HAO WANG | THE SPECTRUM
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Monday, April 8, 2019 | 5
UB professor paints life story Esteemed professor David Schirm looks back on career; prepares for retirement CIAN GONZALEZ STAFF WRITER
The image of a fractured iceberg in a sea of blood leans on an office wall in the Center for the Arts. The piece, “End of Days,” symbolizes ice caps melting under man-made forces causing environmental destruction. The artist is the politically outspoken head of the UB painting program, David Schirm. Schirm grew up in a mining town, served in Vietnam and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder years after coming home. Schirm, as he approaches 74, maintains a laid-back personality with a fun sense of humor. He is the recipient of two Fulbright Fellowships and has been showcased at local exhibitions like the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and traveling exhibitions like Lucy Lippard’s “A Different War.” Schirm will leave behind a faculty moved by his work as he approaches retirement in January 2020. He was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father got a house in a mining town called Coal Hollow just outside of the city, following the 1944 GI Bill. He remembers it as a depressing area where people “mined coal in their backyards.” People would take a mule and a cart into the tunnel’s depths and mine coal for a living. Schirm said making art and playing with building blocks were his favorite activities since kindergarten. He took art classes at Carnegie Museum of Art at age 10. He produced a drawing that earned him a full scholarship, according to Schirm. He said, if an artist’s drawing was “good,” the people who ran the museum chose the artist for an on-stage recreation in colored chalk. His mother, who worked a job in dry cleaning, kept the drawing for her whole life.
Schirm received a full scholarship to attend Carnegie Mellon University, where he would receive his BFA in painting. Schirm enlisted to serve in the Vietnam War shortly after. He served for two years before coming home in 1969. Schirm said he considered his service a type of, “rite of passage.” He no longer had an affinity for the war after serving. “[Other soldiers] had a real curiosity about [the war] and to me, it was something to kind of get over,” he said. “You’d see people … who were f––––d up. I mean legs gone, arms gone. I’d meet somebody in a store who’s got scars all over their face … it does leave a big effect on you.” Schirm said he was initially supposed to go to the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam headquarters, but earned a construction job since he had a college education. He sketched minefields in Vietnam, created groundwork art and made going-away presents for officers he knew. The Vietnamese in the area knew Schirm was an artist and made him a giant palette out of plywood, which he thought was “hysterical.” Of the 500 people in his battalion, Schirm was the only one who wasn’t offered reenlistment, he said. Schirm said the military lost his pay records and paid for a first-class seat for his standby flight back to the U.S. He threw his uniform down an incinerator after landing and went to a Washington D.C. protest march, where over 500,000 people attended, Schirm said. Schirm did not sustain severe injuries but was diagnosed with PTSD and Agent Orange disability. It took two years for Schirm to regain his sense of humor and years longer to fully adjust to civilian life. “I was looking through a window of an antique store in some little town outside of Philadelphia and a chill went through me when I realized I had dropped my guard,” Schirm said. “I was always aware of everything coming down the street two hundred yards.” He then earned his Master’s of Fine Arts at Indiana University and returned to CMU to teach painting and lecture at vari-
ous colleges and universities before finally coming to UB. Schirm, in 1985, met the late Duayne Hatchett, who propelled Schirm into his future career as the head of the painting program. Hatchett was the head of the
just went to every single person’s palette and pointed to individual globs of paint and just screamed, ‘Too much paint.’” Joan Linder, chair of the art department, met Schirm in 2004 when she first joined the department. Linder wrote that she
CIAN GONZALEZ | THE SPECTRUM UB professor David Schirm enjoys a cheese and peanut butter cracker in his office. Schirm, a celebrated artist and tenured professor, is set to retire in 2020.
sculpting program and Schirm holds him in high regard. Paul Vanouse, now the department head of emerging practices in art, was a student at UB from 1985 to 1990. He chose painting for undergraduate school, enrolled in Schirm’s basic painting class and worked on independent studies for most of those years. “It was quite a shift from what I knew of painting from high school,” Vanouse wrote in an email. “The first assignment was simply to find a 24-inch square area of the painting room floor and attempt to recreate it on canvas, which is more challenging than it might seem.” Emily Quartley, a sophomore studio art major, took Schirm’s basic painting class in the fall semester. She described him as a friendly, eccentric professor who would both help students and jokingly yell at them if they did something wrong. “There was one day where he thought that everybody was using too much paint on their palettes,” Quartley said. “So he
thoroughly enjoyed working with Schirm. “I will miss Dave, especially his sense of humor,” Linder wrote in an email. “I am also excited for him to start the next chapter of his life.” Schirm will take a research leave next semester before he retires. He is planning a family trip to Italy and a move to Greenfield, Massachusetts with his wife. Schirm plans on making art to showcase at exhibitions. He’s currently working on drawings based on a novel called “The Sorrow of War” by Bao Ninh. The book is based on the author’s experience as a soldier for the North Vietnamese during the war. Schrim said he hopes to have 20 drawings finalized for a showcase. Email: features@ubspectrum.com
‘The Secret of the Ooze’ Oozefest celebrates its 35th year JULIANNA TRACEY ASST. ARTS EDITOR
Jim Gerace wasn’t sure what he stumbled across on an overcast April day in 1985. His editor at The Spectrum needed someone to cover a mud volleyball game –– the second of its kind –– despite the cold Buffalo weather. Gerace flipped a coin with another photo editor to see who would be stuck with the task. He lost the coin toss and ended up seeing shirtless students slide through mud pits head first, with blood all over their legs. He walked back into The Spectrum office perplexed and announced to his peers, “This will never happen again.” “This” was the beginning of a UB tradition. He witnessed the second-annual Oozefest. The yearly tradition began as a way for the UB community to come together and de-stress before exams. Oozefest originally included 16 volleyball teams and has since expanded to 192 teams. Oozefest is the largest collegiate double elimination mud volleyball tournament in the country. This year’s tournament on May 4 marks
the tournament’s 35th anniversary. Oozefest is known for its strong alumni presence, with teams made up entirely of former students. For many past students, participating in Oozefest was a highlight of their college experience. Elizabeth Davenport and Franca Dusse participated in Oozefest in 1992. The two recalled how cold the mud was and the feeling of losing their shoes in the pits. “[I lost] my shoes as soon as we walked in. I had to hold on to my pants or I would have lost them too.” Dusse said. The university recommends that students duct tape their shoes and clothes to their bodies to avoid losing clothing. It also recommends leaving valuables like cell phones, wallets and sunglasses at home, to avoid damage. Oozefest preparations begin during the fall semester. Maintaining the mud pit for each year’s Oozefest is a part of the preparation process and Facilities cleans the mud pit for debris, like sticks and rocks, before students get to play. The team tasked with cleaning the pit this year has to also anticipate debris from the University Bookstore roof. Pieces of the bookstore blew across Lake LaSalle and reached the Oozefest mud pits earlier
JACK LI | THE SPECTRUM Oozefest, UB’s annual mud volleyball tournament, celebrates its 35th anniversary on May 4th. The event was created in 1984 as a way to help students bond and de-stress before exams.
this year during a windstorm. Jude Butch, the senior associate director of student engagement, said the pieces of the bookstore roof will not impact how UB prepares the field. “We’re going to go over there and prepare the mud pit just like we would any year,” Butch said, “So if there’s bits and pieces of debris in there from the bookstore, it will get taken out of there.” Butch said this year’s tournament would take into account teams’ skill levels. This new bracketing system will pair similar skill levels together, to make games fair. “Some groups come in, they might play two really good teams, and they’re done. Their day is over, they got there at 9:00 or 10:00 and they went through all this preparation for an hour.” Butch said, “So that’s why we’re trying to even it up a little bit.” But Oozefest is more than a volleyball competition. Every year the tournament holds a costume contest. Past themes in-
clude robots, wedding dresses, minions and pirates. Butch expects to see a lot of students dressed up as Star Wars characters this year because of the May 4th date. Butch said Oozefest is a spectacle undergraduate students shouldn’t miss and feels that every student should participate during their time at UB. “It’s one of those things, that is kind of a bucket list thing that everybody should do. … Like, before I graduate, I’m going to do this at least once,” Butch said. Davenport said she saw Oozefest as a bonding experience she would never forget. Her team was made up of students on her floor and the event brought them closer together. “We spent a lot of time with these people, but it was the ones crazy enough to do it that were on our team,” Davenport said. Email: julianna.tracey@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @JTraceySpec
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6 | Monday, April 8, 2019
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Adrenaline designers UB students design roller coasters for club LEAH HIGGINS STAFF WRITER
Ian Buchman said he’s “kind of scared” of roller coasters. Still, he works on them just about every day. He said he enjoys the planning aspect of them as secretary of UB’s Theme Park Engineering Club. The Theme Park Engineering Club is a space for students to explore the logistics and creativity that goes into building theme parks and roller coasters. TPEC held its first meeting in the spring of 2017, and has ambitious prospects to grow quickly. Just this year, TPEC was invited to the inaugural Students in Themed Entertainment (S.I.T.E.) conference at Ohio State University, won UB’s battle-bots competition on its first year participating, and gained permanent club status. “Most people think I’m joking, they don’t believe that this club exists,” said Michael Limardi, a junior mechanical engineering major and president of UB’s Theme Park Engineering Club. Michael Keller, a senior civil engineering major and vice president of the club, said he didn’t like riding roller coasters initially, but that didn’t stop him from co-founding TPEC. TPEC meets two-to-three times per
month and aims to unite students from all majors who are interested in learning more about the background workings of theme parks. The 30-50 active club members can attest to the growing interest on campus for a creative space to explore and collaborate on projects surrounding amusement parks. The club uses its collective brainpower to figure out some of the logistics that go into building a theme park. COURTESY OF ROLLER COASTER DESIGN CLUB “If you’re talking about your stan- The Theme Park Engineering Club visits Darien Lake to learn about amusement dard intense roller coaster, it will go park design. The club provides students with the opportunity to learn about what goes into building roller coasters. up to 4G. Once you get higher than that … well people will start to black out,” Limardi said. “It’s not just like, to connect with other theme-park-based ward to upholding their new reputation in ‘Oh I’m going to throw a rollercoaster clubs and networks across the country. the future. here’… take into consideration the logis- In the first week of this spring semester, TPEC is looking forward to entering tics of ‘Can I really build this? How much TPEC was invited to S.I.T.E., where they Cornell University’s Theme Park Design is it going to cost?’” attended a conference that the director of Competition in May 2019. The competiThe club uses K’Nex design figures, No- engineering from SeaWorld, the director tion consists of a theoretical plot of land Limits software and a simulation lab locat- of engineering from Universal, and other and being tasked with designing a theme ed on campus to build and design realistic major professionals in the field were also park while accounting for its theme, stratroller coasters. The intricate projects must present. egy, cost and practicality. also consider and problem-solve real life The club has previously taken a behind“It was cool to meet them, and hear complexities and possible complications. about how every one of them started out the-scenes tour of Six Flags Darien Lake Joshua Bukaty, a junior mechanical engi- as an employee at a theme park,” Keller where they saw blueprints for upcoming neering major and treasurer of TPEC, has said. roller coasters and learned about what known that he wanted to work with roller Along with a national network base, went into removing old roller coasters and coasters since he was six years old. The TPEC has also made its mark on campus building new ones. projects that TPEC works on provides as the “major upset” winners of this year’s Members hope to plan more visits to Bukaty with the “kind of space for work- battle-bot competition on campus. It was larger amusement parks like Cedar Point. ing on what we love to do.” their first year with a working robot in the The club has provided opportunities competition and club members look for- Email: features@ubspectrum.com
The Transit Drive-in celebrates its 67th season Outdoor theater brings excitement to movie-goers SAMANTHA VARGAS ASST. ARTS EDITOR
Drive-ins are no longer a thing of the past. The Transit Drive-in, despite facing competition from streaming services, will reopen this weekend for its 67th year. Its annual lineup features over 30 highly-anticipated movies. The drive-in runs from April through November and opened this season on April 5. It offers double features through the weekend. The outdoor theater offers a 19-hole miniature golf course, and oc-
casionally hosts a variety of events like car shows and concerts. The theater plans on screening blockbuster films throughout the season such as “Avengers: Endgame,” “Detective Pikachu,” “Aladdin,” “Toy Story 4,” “SpiderMan: Far From Home” and “Frozen 2.” The Transit Drive-in has an open relationship with a variety of movie studios, which contributes to the availability of highly-anticipated films. After the purchase of the theater in 1957, three generations of the Cohen family have managed the Transit Drive-in. Richard Cohen currently runs it and has managed the theater since 1987. “Drive-ins are a special place. There aren’t too many of them left. If it was easy
COURTESY OF RICHARD COHEN The Transit Drive-in Theater is open for the 67th year. The drive-in attracts up 1,000 attendees a night.
[to manage a drive-in], more people would be doing it,” Cohen said. “I like the challenge and I like being outdoors.” Cohen, starting at 19 years old, has been responsible for converting the theater’s speaker system to FM radio, expanding the theater across 30 acres of land and adding an additional four screens. The drive-in currently can accommodate roughly 1,500 cars, which makes it the largest outdoor theater in New York State. The drive-in brings in an audience of roughly 1,000 patrons a night, according to Cohen. The drive-in, despite the success, has faced a variety of obstacles through the years. A windstorm destroyed the original screen tower in 1971, and the concession stand was closed after a fire in 1973. The theater is adapting to the surge of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, which bring the movie-watching experience right into a home. But there are certain aspects of a drivein that streaming services and conventional movie theaters can not replicate, according to Cohen. “It’s an entirely different experience,” Cohen said. “With a drive-in, you have more freedom. You can move around, you can bring your pet. Most importantly, you can enjoy the outdoors. Each experience is different and unique.” Bruce Jackson, a SUNY distinguished English professor, acknowledges the significant difference between traditional and outdoor theaters. “The biggest change [between venues] is the physical difference of space. Your field of view is different, there might be distractions,” Jackson said. “When I was
young and going to the drive-in, the sound was awful. Now some locations have the sound coming through the radio but it’s still different. Drive-ins used to be the place where people would just go to make out. I remember some people would be watching the movie, but other people had their windows totally fogged up.” But the Transit Drive-in remains focused on the movies. “Not much has really changed in my opinion. It’s still about movies. It’s always been about the movies,” Cohen said. “People enjoy being outdoors and the fresh air. It’s pretty much been the same for the last 67 years.” Samantha Bentz, a senior media study major, contributes an appealing sense of nostalgia with drive-in theaters. “When I think of drive-ins, I’m reminded of hot-rod cars and malt milkshakes and poodle skirts. So I think a lot of the drive-in charm just comes from a little window into the past that it provides us,” Bentz said. “Drive-in theaters are this weird combination of veiwing it privately in your own car, while simultaniously allowing you to share the experience with a crowd. It’s a unique veiwing experience that has only become more charming over time.” Email: samantha.vargas@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @SamVargasArts
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FIELDHOUSE
Now, teams can train inside of the facility and not be restricted to off-campus facilities, Alumni Arena or the Ed Wright Practice Facility. “It’s a great feeling being in here and seeing the UB logos and Buffalo in the end zone,” Patterson said. “We’ve really got to soak this moment in because UB is really up and coming right now.” Football, track and field and softball have
been the main users of the facility in its first week of opening. Patterson says that there is a different atmosphere being able to practice in the fieldhouse. As UB football finished up practice on Thursday, a multitude of players stayed after with coaches, a luxury they didn’t have before, Leipold said. When his players first entered the facility, he described them with wide eyes and smiles on their faces. The interior and fieldhouse structure is
finished, but UB still needs complete the outside of the facility. Players have to walk along a makeshift sidewalk of plywood to enter the facility. Still, the facility itself was completed in its original anticipated time frame of spring 2019. “It shows the commitment that our administration has made toward our athletic programs, not just ours,” Leipold said. “I think one of the biggest things that’s been surprising is that many recruits and coach-
es across the country saw we didn’t have this. Now we can check off that box. We have the newest one in the Mid-American Conference and hopefully [that] will help boost recruiting and show any student athlete that they can obtain all their goals by coming here.”
successful four-year stretch in school history, including a program and conferencerecord 32 wins this season. Buffalo has won three Mid-American Conference titles in those four seasons and won an NCAA tournament game the past two seasons. Whitesell was instrumental in getting CJ Massinburg to UB and was heavily involved in developing Nick Perkins into the player he is today. Both Massinburg and Perkins are in UB’s top-five scorers of all time. Every recruit scheduled to come in this season has requested their release from their National Letter of Intent. Before UB, Whitesell’s most recent head coaching job was at Loyola UniversityChicago. In seven seasons, he led the team to 109 victories, including the program’s first 20-win season since 1985 in 200607. Whitesell spent his next four years as
an assistant between St. Louis and St. Johns, helping guide both teams to NCAA tournament appearances. “I was ecstatic for both Jim and the program we built COURTESY OF UB ATHLETICS together when I Head coach Jim Whitesell shouts directions at the Bulls. Whitesell is the heard the news 14th head coach in UB men’s basketball program history after a national today and I’m search determined him as the best candidate. super excited value to the program and did the right that Coach Whitesell will be directing the thing in promoting him. I consider Jim to Buffalo men’s basketball program,” Oats be a dear friend and couldn’t be happier said. for him and his wife Connie.” “He’s been a huge part of the success we’ve had over the last four years,” Oats Email: nathaniel.mendelson@ubspectrum.com said. “The administration recognized his Twitter: @NateMendelson
Email: nathaniel.mendelson@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @NateMendelson
Jim Whitesell named men’s basketball head coach NATHANIEL MENDELSON SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR
UB Athletics has named Jim Whitesell the 14th head coach in UB men’s basketball history, Athletic Director Mark Alnutt announced on Saturday. Whitesell has been the associate head coach since 2015. Members of the UB community were surprised when former head coach Nate Oats announced his departure just two weeks after signing a five-year extension with the school. Whitesell was named the interim head coach as the Bulls launched a national search, ultimately deciding on Whitesell. “After conducting a national search and talking with some of the brightest college basketball minds across the country, it was clear to us that the best candidate for this position was right here in Buffalo,” Alnutt said in a UB statement. The Bulls have completed their most
Scott Smith wants to continue foundation set for volleyball down from her position. He has spent the past four seasons at UB, with volleyball having its two best seasons as a Mid-American Conference team and a program-record 10 conference victories NATHANIEL MENDELSON in 2018. Smith was named associate head SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR coach coming into last season with his main responsibility as UB’s lead recruiter. Volleyball head coach Scott Smith wasn’t “We’ve laid a really strong foundation,” coaching from the sidelines. Smith said. “We’ve focused for the past Smith was on the court serving and four years on building a strong culture, playing directly against players that he re- being very process oriented, and knowing cruited and is now in charge of. that the wins will come when the culture UB Athletics promoted Smith to head is strong and players are here for the right coach after Blair Brown Lipsitz stepped reasons.” Brown Lipsitz, in a UB Athletics statement, said that she is stepping down from the position after four years because it is in the “best interest” of her family. Brown LipWAYNE PENALES | THE SPECTRUM New volleyball head coach Scott Smith talks with the Bulls during a game this past sitz said she season. Smith wants to continue building the program after spending the last four has a great seasons as an assistant coach. deal of confi-
Smith promoted to head coach after four seasons with team
Spectrum fish ‘Nate Floats’ flushed down south The Spectrum renames beloved office fish ‘Khalil Mackerel’ NATHANIEL MENDELSON SENIOR FISH TANK EDITOR
The Spectrum was crushed to find out the news of men’s basketball head coach Nate Oats leaving the school, as it had a tre-
dence in Smith and will continue to assist him and the program as she can. Smith and Brown Lipsitz have connections from their time before UB. Brown Lipsitz spent four years at Penn State winning four national championships under assistant coach Salima Rockwell and Smith spent one year learning with her as well. Smith coached at Brown Lipsitz’s volleyball club that she grew up playing in. Smith would block against her even though she is a lot taller. But Smith says he can jump pretty well. In practice, Smith is still jumping on the court. His plan is to not always be coaching on the court as the team is still waiting for some players to get back and new assistant coaches to get to Buffalo. “We will hire a new recruiting coordinator, someone with experience with national talent,” Smith said. “I’ll still help guide decisions in that way but when they get in we’ll watch a lot of film together, they’ll see what we’re looking for, what we have in the gym and then we’ll know what we’re looking for going forward.” UB has already brought in Lexi Nordmann, a transfer from Southern Methodist University and incoming freshman Melissa Masotto. Both are already on campus and practicing with the team.
bers of the mendous impact on the ecosystem of our office tank but they fish tank. only responded, “Gulp.” We took to our Twitter account (@UBSpec“I’m very trum) to ask our followhappy with ers to rename our office the result of the tweet and fish formerly known as will embrace “Nate Floats.” After a week of deliberation, the NATHANIEL MENDELSON | THE SPECTRUM my new posioffice has decided that Khalil Mackerel swims with tankmate Millard Gillmore. tion with open Mackerel is embracing his new role in the tank after “Khalil Mackerel” will replacing former guppy Nate Floats. gills,” Mackerel said. “I be the fish’s new name, thanks to Twitter user @CoreyGriffinN- hope to help defend my tankmates from BC. harmful algae and sack the problem that is “Khalil is a welcome addition to our tank overfeeding.” and should continue the legacy of Nate,” The Spectrum fish tank has a total of four fish, named for each of The Spectrum’s said fellow tankmate *Millard Gillmore. The Spectrum reached out to other mem- desks, including Mackerel, Gillmore, A.
Being the head recruiter allowed Smith to build solid relationships with all the woman on the team. “I think we have a really, really good working relationship and they trust me,” Smith said. “I mean, I did bring them here and we’ve developed them over the years. It’s a pretty smooth transition from my previous role into the head coach.” Smith wants the team to remain process oriented and be consistent in practice. Smith said he feels very confident in the current system and trusting that their positions on the court are setting them up for success. If things start to go wrong in a match he wants his players to be able to take a step back and go through their system step-by-step. “Our goals remain very similar to what we’ve had in the past,” Smith said. “We want them to be very successful in the classroom but also just be dedicated to the program, dedicated to the school and always presenting UB volleyball in the best possible way. If that gets us a lot of wins along the way, that is definitely a plus.” Email: nathaniel.mendelson@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @NateMendelson
Splash Weber after UB VP A. Scott Weber and Guppy Van Fleet after American rock band Greta Van Fleet. The guppies are all active in their home on the desk in the newsroom. The tank itself features live plants and a heater to maintain a stable temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Editors feed the fish a steady diet of TetraColor tropical flakes and bloodworms for boosts in their color. No fish were harmed in the name change. *Millard Gillmore is a fish and cannot speak to humans Email: nathaniel.mendelson@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @NateMendelson