The Spectrum Vol. 71 No. 4

Fall Fest draws mixed reactions from students

Yung Gravy, Fivio Foreign headlined first fall concert since 2019

MERET KELSEY ASST. ARTS EDITOR ALEX NOVAK STAFF WRITER

On Saturday night, UB students flocked to Lake LaSalle for the return of Fall Fest, the Student Association’s annual Septem ber concert. The free show, last held in 2019, was headlined by rappers Yung Gra vy and Fivio Foreign.

Reactions to the lineup were mixed. Some were disappointed to learn there would not be an opening artist, despite SA’s initial announcement promising one.

“I feel like if they were going to promise us a third artist they should at least deliver on that,” Lila Bloom, a sophomore biol ogy major, said.

Nevertheless, students arrived excited to see the headliners.

Sophomore Madison Nitsche and her friends lined up three hours early to en sure they’d be in the front row for Yung Gravy’s performance.

“The magnitude of sexiness in that man,” Nitsche said of the Minnesotan rapper. “6-foot-7, voice of gold, silky smooth… just everything.”

The show kicked off around 6 p.m. with a set from Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg, who played a string of Top 40 hits to get the crowd warmed up for the show. Wait

ing over an hour, the audience grew rest less for Yung Gravy to perform.

As the crowd chanted his name, Gravy strolled onstage at just after 7:30 p.m. With his sunglasses, track pants and dead pan delivery, the rapper performed sam ple-heavy, memeable hits like “Mr. Clean” and “Cheryl,” all with the energy of a hun gover substitute teacher.

The rapper took several lengthy breaks between songs to throw miscellaneous

items from his dressing room into the audience; students scrambled to catch as sorted fruits, bottles of ranch dressing and packets of deli meat.

Though a good chunk of Gravy’s set was spent sending bananas soaring through the air, he also attempted stage banter — mostly about the rapper’s defin ing gimmick, his love for hot moms.

“Do we have any future MILFs in the audience?” Gravy asked.

He closed his performance on a rela tively high note, with his Rick Astley-inter polating song “Betty (Get Money).” Stu dents were happy to sing along with the song’s viral TikTok refrain.

After Gravy threw his final bottle of ranch and left the stage, the crowd thinned out quite a bit. But plenty of students re mained to watch New York rapper Fivio Foreign’s set.

From ‘toilet-gate’ to anal beads: how Ken Regan tackles the world’s chess mysteries

KYLE NGUYEN SR. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Whenever cheating allegations stagger the global chess community, the world’s leading “chess detective” answers the call to offer his investigative nous.

And he does it between university lec tures donning a Buffalo Bills cap.

Kenneth Regan, an associate professor in UB’s Department of Computer Sci ence, has spent the past month wading through the “paranoia” gripping the chess world after a series of cheating allegations and renewed scrutiny over integrity in the sport.

On Sept. 5, Magnus Carlsen, the reign ing world champion, raised eyebrows after pulling out of the tournament following a loss and resigned from a game in anoth er tournament on Monday after just one move.

His opponent in both instances, and the current subject of swirling cheating allega tions, is 19-year-old American Grandmas ter (GM) Hans Niemann.

An International Master (IM) of chess himself, Regan is the premier author ity for the International Chess Federation (FIDE) on all things tournament integ rity. Regan, who analyzed more than 200 of Niemann’s games since 2020, says he found “no evidence of cheating.”

On Saturday, Regan sat down for an interview with The Spectrum to offer a glimpse at his investigative stakeout and dissect the latest cheating crisis threaten ing to upheave the chess world.

Drawing a bead

After losing against Niemann and with drawing from the Sinquefield Cup, Carlsen

tweeted a clip of soccer manager José Mourinho saying: “I prefer not to speak; if I speak I am in big trouble.”

The move, unprecedented in Carlsen’s career, immediately sparked furor and speculation around the then-unspoken im plications of cheating targeting the young American. The allegations have since be come explicit, with Carlsen clarifying his cryptic tweet in a statement.

“I know that my actions have frustrated many in the chess community,” Carlsen said. “I’m frustrated… I believe that cheat ing in chess is a big deal and an existential threat to the game.

“I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted.”

Following Carlsen’s departure from the Sinquefield Cup, Niemann admitted to two counts of cheating in online chess, once aged 12 and once more aged 16 in a post-match interview with GM Alejandro Ramirez. However, the American grand master maintains that as the extent of his infraction.

Chess.com, the online chess platform on which Niemann played, announced in a Sept. 8 statement that it had removed Nie mann’s account in light of “information that contradicts his statements regarding the amount and seriousness of his cheat ing.”

Niemann maintains that he has never cheated over the board or in a “tourna ment with prize money.”

The row between Carlsen and Niemann represents the most prominent cheating scandal rocking the chess world since the 2006 World Chess Championship, when GM Topalov’s camp accused his challeng

er, GM Kramnik of receiving computer assistance while taking an “unreasonable number of trips” to the bathroom during the match.

Dubbed “toilet-gate,” it was the first incident that put Regan’s name on inter national notice and paved the way for the emergence of his now-FIDE-recognized cheat detection methodology.

Once touted as a successor to legendary American grandmaster Bobby Fischer, Re gan made his start at the chessboard at age 10. Regan was rated at around 1400 ELO by the age of 11. He shot to over 2100, just weeks before his 13th birthday. Regan achieved his master title the year after, one of the youngest since Fischer to do so.

The professor is now back in the dug out, with similar speculation of computerassisted cheating churning around Nie mann.

Commentators and online spectators alike have spawned a myriad of expla nations for the American’s victory over Carlsen, including the use of vibrating anal beads to wirelessly communicate the best moves — a theory fanned by a sincedeleted Elon Musk tweet.

Spectators also suggested that Carlsen’s opening preparation was leaked. Mean while, others have suggested Niemann simply may have simply performed better that day.

Regan reiterates that he has not yet found any evidence of cheating using his model, which he first began developing following the 2006 “toilet-gate” debacle.

The professor uses a “garden-variety predictive analytic model” with two stag es. Regan first compares results between players with similar ELO ratings and com

putes the deviation from the mean.

“Flipping a coin 100 times, 50 is the expectation, and the standard deviation is five,” Regan said.

From there, Regan runs “a predictive analytic model” which generates a prob ability on every possible outcome of an event or decision.

It’s a model Regan says is applicable to every walk of life, from modeling consum er behavior when choosing a toothbrush brand to insurance companies modeling the probabilities of home damage caused by natural disasters.

“In my case, the probabilities are of a person of a certain rating, choosing [top engine] chess moves in a given position,”

Regan said. “I do this in a way that not only gives me probabilities but also gives me confidence intervals, so it allows me to project the number of agreements over a range of positions and a series of games.”

The model then provides Regan with a 95% confidence interval and a z-score to judge the probability of deviations beyond the normal range.

The conclusion, however, comes to gether with a dash of human reasoning.

“There are a lot of standout moves for Niemann to make,” Regan said. “The game was easy to play. And, yes, he match es that test 71%, which is about 10 points higher than someone in Carlsen’s class would usually match, but the projection was 69%.”

The result was well within the param eters that Regan and FIDE established to determine fair play.

“Niemann played well — one standard deviation up — but by definition, the stan

World-recognized ‘chess detective’ reflects on ‘paranoia,’ finds no evidence of cheating in Hans Niemann controversy

Moaz Elazzazi / ThE SpEcTruM New York rapper Fivio ForeigN provided studeNts with aN upbeat perFormaNce at Fall Fest

UB ALUM SPEAKS ON HIS WORK AT BIKERS AGAINST CHILD ABUSE

A look behind the curtain at Fall Fest finances

For the 2022-23 academic year, the Student Association allotted $300,000 to entertaining students at fest productions. This weekend’s Fall Fest cost the SA just over $215,000 — about 72% of their total fest production budget, according to the SA’s general ledger.

Of that $215,425, $24,500 was spent on putting up fencing and barricades around the perimeter of the venue.This amount — 11% of Fall Fest expenses — was spent out of safety concerns, according to Tendaji Ya’Ukuu, SA’s assistant director of communications.

“[The cost] might be different than oth er years because it was a different space,” Ya’Ukuu said. “[Baird Point], I believe, is a different location from where they’ve thrown other fests. It’s different from the [Student Union] Theater, and you have to barricade the entire perimeter.

“With incidents that have happened in the past, the executive board and our pro fessional staff really wanted to ensure the safety of students.”

But barricades were not the only safety expenditure the SA made. A combined $47,000 was spent on police, security and insurance. $20,000 was spent on tents for the concert.

While the ledger does not explicitly state how much was directly paid to artists, the amount is tied into the overall production costs on the ledger, according to Ya’Ukuu. The SA spent about $14,000 on services for the artists, which included car service and dressing rooms, among other provi sions.

Additionally, $8,500 was spent on shirts for staff and attendees, $5,000 on the fire works, and about $5,500 on “hospitality items.”

The remainder of the budget was spent on other costs, such as generators, ambu lances, bussing services and more, with $4,925 being spent on porta-potties.

Ya’Ukuu attributed mixed student re views of the concert to the scale of the event.

“Because we’re such a big school, stu dents expect the experience to be at a certain level. The concerts they usually go to, like Coachella or other concerts, they spend millions of dollars. Us spend ing [about $200,000] is relatively cheap in comparison,” Ya’Ukuu said. “They were expecting dozens of artists and such big production for such a small value.”

Bringing in more expensive artists, Ya’Ukuu explained, was outside of the provided annual budget for the SA.

“Like you see in the budget, there’s only a $300,000 budget for both Fall Fest and Spring Fest,” Ya’Ukuu said. “To bring more expensive artists would go beyond that budget, and then other areas of the SA budget like advocacy and other events would then have to take a hit.”

According to Ya’kuu, the SA will take a few months of hiatus before planning for Spring Fest. The remaining $85,000, or about 28% of the total fest budget, is set aside for the concert, which has previously taken place in late April or early May.

Email: ria.gupta@ubspectrum.com

UB and UBMD’s Physicians’ Group have created a voluntary online registry for Western New York residents who are 18-years-old and older to report symptoms of long COVID-19, accord ing to UB’s website. The data will be used to better understand the short-term and long-term symptoms of COVID-19 and connect participants with treatment op tions in Western New York.

Those with long COVID-19 con tinue to experience one or more symptoms at least four weeks after being infected with COVID-19, according to the CDC. The registry is the only one of its kind in Western New York.

Researchers will use the data they collect to determine what factors — including age, access to care and pre-existing health conditions — contribute to the develop

ment of long COVID-19.

“The long COVID-19 registry gives people in our community who are suffer ing with long COVID-19 a chance to tell their story to researchers at UB so we can learn about this condition in Western New York, and possibly get these people the help that they need,” Kevin Gibbons, the executive director of UBMD Physicians’ Group, said.

The study asks participants about their experience with COVID-19, their pre- and post-COVID-19 lifestyles, vaccination history and more. The researchers plan to contact participants periodically over the next three years to check on their COVID-19 symptoms and overall health over time.

Those interested in participating can sign up on the registry’s website.

Email: aj.franklin@ubspectrum.com

We need more communication from SA officials

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor’s note: This column is the collective opin ion of members of our editorial board. This is not a reported piece.

This year’s Fall Fest was many things: It was a highlight of the semester for thou sands of students. It was many first-year and transfer students’ introduction to the Student Association. Most notably, it was the first Fall Fest to be held since 2019.

Given all that, you might’ve guessed that the SA, which spent hundreds of thou sands of dollars of students’ fee money on their fall concert, would want to publi cize said concert as widely as possible. We certainly did.

You’d have guessed wrong.

The Spectrum tried repeatedly in in-per son meetings and emails to SA officials to obtain two media passes to this year’s Fall Fest — one for a writer and, crucially, one for a photographer. SA representatives were as adamant as their reasoning was vague: This year’s SA e-board would not provide The Spectrum with passes.

This is an unacceptable break with prec edent. The SA has routinely given The Spec trum media passes to both Fall and Spring Fests dating back years. Those passes have allowed our reporters to take close-up photos of A Boogie and Lil Baby during their 2019 Spring Fest and record the finer details of Gunna and DaBaby’s 2019 Fall Fest set, all from outside the chaos of a mosh pit.

The SA never gave us a plausible — let alone satisfactory — explanation for their

denial of our request.

After emailing with SA Assistant Direc tor of Communications Tendaji Ya’Ukuu, who told The Spectrum that the SA e-board “could not provide press passes,” two Spec trum editors met with SA Chief of Staff Will Eaton on Ya’Ukuu’s suggestion. Ea ton told The Spectrum to try to take photos from the crowd and provided no explana tion for the SA’s denial.

Eaton emailed those two editors later that afternoon to explain that SA could not “provide media organizations contact with the artists” after failing to secure such provisions in their contracts with Fivio Foreign and Yung Gravy. Eaton did not mention media passes once in that email.

While The Spectrum appreciates the SA’s efforts to include such provisions in their contracts, at no time did any Spectrum edi tor request an interview with either artist through any SA official, including Eaton.

Eaton, who helps oversee a paid media team that includes three outreach coordi nators and a communications official, re turned a Friday follow-up email from The Spectrum the following Monday, two days after Fall Fest.

Eaton claimed the SA denied The Spec trum’s request due to their “own emphasis on safety” and “strict credential process.”

We find the SA’s argument regarding safety absurd. We can’t think of anything unsafe about making sure photographers are identifiable to security and SA officials and have a designated space to take photos

from. It’s certainly safer than sending an uncredentialed photographer into a crowd of rowdy students with a bulky DSLR camera, as Eaton recommended.

But even more ridiculous is their insinu ation that The Spectrum somehow failed to meet their “strict credential process.”

The Spectrum is, quite literally, the only media outlet that covers Fall Fest. If their credential process (which we didn’t hear anything about until the Monday after Fall Fest) isn’t for us, then whom is it for?

Not to mention that our reporters were certainly qualified to cover a student gov ernment-run concert. The photographer we assigned to cover Fall Fest was granted a press pass to cover Dua Lipa’s March concert at KeyBank Center and rode in the vice-presidential motorcade to cover Kamala Harris’ visit to UB, both for The Spectrum

The notion that the SA has a stricter cre dential process than the Office of the Vice President of the United States is laugh able. At the risk of giving them any ideas, no Spectrum editor has ever had to pass a background check or get patted down by a Secret Service agent to cover an SA event.

And yet, in a sense the SA’s was more difficult. We didn’t have to pester various White House officials only to come up empty-handed.

In short, no SA representative could provide a logical reason for denying us press passes, and their decision not to pro vide them put our staff covering the event

in a potentially dangerous situation.

And that leaves us scratching our heads. High quality Fall Fest coverage surely helps the SA. Students who didn’t attend get to see exactly what they missed out on, and the SA gets to be associated with a free on-campus concert. They have seemingly no motive to deny our request for press passes, and yet they did.

Look, it’s no secret that the SA and The Spectrum have always had their differences. The two organizations — one a student government, one a student watchdog — have competing missions and values. Some level of conflict is inevitable.

We’ve both made our share of mistakes, and we’ve both called each other out on it.

But as sad as it is for us to say, there have been few times in our publication’s 71-year history when the SA has been as uncoop erative as it is today, and it’s not even Oc tober.

It doesn’t have to stay that way for the rest of the year. We want to have a good working relationship with the SA — as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of fair and independent reporting.

We hope the SA will reconsider their media policy in time for Spring Fest, and we’re certainly willing to discuss this issue further with them in the meantime. We’re only an email or a knock on our office door away.

Email: opinion@ubspectrum.com

Letter to the editor: on Mahsa Amini

Editor’s note: This letter was edited for AP Style. It otherwise remains in the condition in which it was sent.

“Maman, can you see my text?”

That message was not delivered.

Far away from our country, we Iranians are glued to our phones, following the me dia and keeping an eye out for any Iranrelated news. We are worried about our loved ones back home and wonder what we should do. Just refreshing and monitor ing the media every minute is all we can do to find out if the internet is still working over there, to see in which cities the pro tests are taking place, how the government has responded and how international me dia has covered the news.

On Sept. 16, Iran’s “morality police” killed Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl, who had traveled with her brother from Saqqez, a city in the west of Iran, to Teh ran, the capital. At first she was arrested for “violating the hijab law.” Her brother pleaded with the police that “we are for eigners here. We do not know what we should do. Please!” Regardless, the police arrested Mahsa and suggested her brother go to the morality police station to find out what to do next. Her brother arrived there just in time to see the ambulance carrying Mahsa’s body to the hospital. The police said she suddenly went into heart failure at the station, but the eyewitnesses claimed she was beaten and her head hit the side of a police car. Despite all these

narratives and the medical evidence, the police, like always, denied their cruelty and announced other reasons for her death. Sadly, Mahsa died after two days in a coma due to cerebral hemorrhage and stroke.

The compulsory hijab has been practiced in Iran for 44 years now, a law that violates not only women’s rights but human rights as well. Then, the philosophy behind the “morality police” is to walk on the streets and compel women to wear headscarves and more modest clothing in public, and if they do not, they will be arrested, taken to the police station, threatened and forced to sign a commitment that they are not going repeat this villainous act. As these forces have become more and more strict over the past few years, women’s protests have increased. Their demands are for lib eration and justice.

Mahsa, however, was not even a pro tester. She had just come to Tehran for a short trip when she was killed. In one sentence, an innocent 22-year-old girl was killed by police forces simply because of her gender, because of being a woman. Seeing brutality and injustice for so many years makes you think that you will get used to them. It seems that’s not the case; the truth is that brutality and injustice will always be unbearable, and every new injus tice case will raise questions about human ity. Mahsa’s murder has shocked not only Iranians, but the entire world.

It’s been five days [as of this writing]

since Mahsa’s unfair death, and protests against government brutality are grow ing across Iran. In a symbolic act of re sistance, women are burning their heads carves and cutting their hair to show that they are standing up against oppression and injustice. Their videos are all over the internet now, and you can read sorrow, pain, rage and hatred from their faces. Zān, Zendegī, Azadī (Woman, Life, Free dom) is the most famous slogan that you can hear in these protests, and in my opin ion, the most meaningful one. Despite the fact that these women are fighting for their basic rights, the government’s response is usually not peaceful. Even the internet connections have been shut down after five days, so there will be no more news about exactly what is happening there.

One of my friends asked me yesterday what we should do as Iranians out of the country and as people who are still able to “speak up.” Sometimes, you may feel guilty that you are free and you can speak while your people are suffering in their own country. We, Iranian students at UB, and most Iranians over world are filled with rage, anger and hatred. My friend told me that she could not even cry; she was just wandering around the streets, with no des tination, with no connection to her family and friends back in Iran and wondering what she should do. I told her that none of us could even cry because rage and an ger are stronger emotions than sorrow and

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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MANAGING EDITORS

Grant Ashley Andrew Lauricella, Asst.

NEWS/FEATURES EDITORS

Kayla Estrada, Sr. Kyle Nguyen, Sr. Ria Gupta, Asst.

AJ Franklin, Asst.

Jasmin Yeung, Asst.

Kara Anderson, Sr. Meret Kelsey, Asst.

sadness. Not only are we sad, but we are angry and enraged as well, and that’s why our tears are not coming, but our fists are in the air. We cannot just weep and mourn this time. We want to raise our voice; we want to stand in solidarity with our sisters back in Iran and fight against injustice, op pression, and brutality.

Once, a great man, Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He fought for civil rights and stood against Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination, and so he caused big changes in the US society. Let’s believe in this quote. Let’s hear wom en on the other side of the world; let’s be their voice, the voice of people who are deprived even of an internet connec tion to narrate their stories. Let’s consider their injustice discrimination. Let’s say her name: Mahsa Amini!

-Faegheh Hajhosseini, PhD student in comparative literature

Moaz Elazzazi, Sr. Yakun Liu, Asst.

Jenna Quinn, Sr. Sarah Cruz, Asst.

Emma Stanton, Sr. Kailo Mori, Sr.

SPORTS EDITORS

MULTIMEDIA EDITORS

Anthony DeCicco

Dylan Greco, Asst.

‘It’s very emotionally demanding… but very rewarding’: UB Alum speaks on his work at Bikers Against Child Abuse

JASMIN YEUNG ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Editor’s note: B.A.C.A. members request ano nymity to preserve their secret identity. The inter viewee featured in this story will be referred to by his “road name” of Caribe.

Caribe is both a biker and a lawyer.

Clad in a leather vest and riding a Har ley-Davidson motorcycle, no one would expect that the UB alum spends his days as both a civil lawyer and as a member of Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.), an organization that provides comfort, safety and support for abused children.

“It’s a seriously large disconnect, be cause the people who know me as a lawyer can’t see me as a biker,” Caribe said. “And the people who know me as a biker have a hard time seeing me as a lawyer. It’s kind of funny — I get teased by both sides.”

His interest in a law career was sparked during an “argument over a haircut” with his mom, who told him mid-argument that he should be a lawyer.

“I actually stopped and thought ‘Gosh yeah, maybe. Maybe that would be a fun thing to do,’” Caribe said.

He bought a motorcycle to commute from his apartment in North Buffalo to campus while attending UB law school, which sparked his “lifelong passion” for motorcycles, a love that continued even after he became a lawyer.

Caribe recalls learning about B.A.C.A. while working in court, where he saw the organization’s members escort a child in an adjourning courtroom. The judge, knowing that he was a biker, suggested that he look into the organization.

Years later, he now serves as a public relations board member for the Buffalo chapter.

“It was a way to mix my passion for mo torcycles with a really great organization that really does a lot of good,” he said.

B.A.C.A. provides a variety of services to support their mission. After a child is referred to B.A.C.A., the chapter rides to meet them, give them their own vest with a B.A.C.A. patch and offer rides on their motorcycles. The child is also given com fort items like a teddy bear — which is

REGAN FROM PAGE 1

dard deviation happens,” Regan said.

Regan acknowledged that his model would not be able to account for specu lation of Carlsen’s leaked preparation for his Sinquefield encounter with Niemann. And he says that Carlsen’s 10th move was a novelty — a move that had never been played before in the game’s current posi tion, according to existing chess databases.

“Niemann, however, predicted that move and his own crucial reply three or four moves, before the game,” Regan said. “In his post-match press conference, Nie mann called that a ridiculous miracle that he happened to guess how the game would go, including four moves after the novelty.

“It’s possible that Carlsen found that rather too much of a miracle.”

Regan also addressed rumors that Nie mann might’ve cheated using a computer, including one that alleges Niemann used a wireless anal-bead communicator.

Regan said that was not outside of the realm of possibility.

“pumped up with love and hugs” — and told that the chapter will return to give the bear more hugs if it goes down.

“In essence, we bring the child into the organization to make them feel like they’re part of the family,” Caribe said.

The rest of the day is spent doing what the child wants to do.

“I’ve done everything from playing dodgeball, to soccer, to having a makeover with lipstick and eyeliner, ” Caribe said.

These activities allow the child to feel protected and give them courage. One of Caribe’s favorite moments was speaking to the child liaison after a day out with a child and being told that the child had “changed her mind and want[ed] to testify against her abuser.”

Two members of the organization are appointed as the child’s primary contacts. The child can call whenever they feel afraid or need someone to talk to.

“The thing that attracted me to B.A.C.A., though, as a lawyer, was that a lot of children end up getting empowerment through justice in the criminal system,”

Caribe said. “And that’s one of probably the scariest things, I think, for a child to try to encounter — to navigate the criminal justice system.”

B.A.C.A. tries to alleviate this fear by ap pearing in court and providing 24/7 secu rity at the child’s house so the child feels safe.

“My favorite story is when members of my chapter stood out in front of a child’s house in a raging blizzard, while the child was inside tapping on the window, wav ing,” Caribe said. “The child slept soundly and our chapter froze to death. But, you know, we gladly did it and we’ll gladly do it again.”

The organization also fills in the gaps that other departments may not have the ability or time to do.

“The police just don't have the manpow er to stand out in front of a child’s house so that they’ll feel safe…it’s not their job,” Caribe said, adding that they’re not there to be vigilantes or intimidate the perpetra tor, but to solely empower the child.

An evaluation of B.A.C.A.’s programs

“One person had a buzzing device on their thighs — and you may have caught a reference that people thought the buzzing device could be in a region… that’s not as exposed on the surface of the skin,” Re gan said, bemused.“There has been use of earpieces: There has been a case of a person with a hidden camera in a necktie that was giving the accomplice a view of the board.”

However, he urges the public to refer back to statistical analysis and science when in doubt.

“[Speculation] is not substantial, and it’s very much the kinds of innuendo without scientific documentation that happens all too often,” Regan said.

The professor also says that patience is required when different scientific models yield differing results.

Pawnalyze.com, a chess analysis web site, conducted its own probability testing based on the points won by Niemann in tournament play rather than evaluating his moves against the computer.

The site found that Niemann’s rating rose more rapidly than anyone else of his

saw that the children “demonstrated sub stantial improvements in their overall lev els of emotional distress, conduct con cerns, hyperactivity, and behavioral and emotional functioning,” according to a research paper.

“It is very emotionally demanding and demanding of your time as well, but very rewarding,” Caribe said.

He describes his relationship with his chapter as family, since they spend so much time together in often stressful situ ations, as well as the fact that it takes over a year of training to become a full member.

“[The members] come from every walk of life. There is blue collar, there is white collar, there are men, there are women —

caliber. He significantly outperformed his ELO rating of 2484, as of January 2021.

“I get completely different results from my own measure,” Regan said.

After running 106 data points of Nei mann’s over-the-board and online games over the time period through his own methodology, Regan found that Nie mann’s performances still essentially mani fested as a normal distribution.

Laurels of patience

The science and models trying to un derstand whether or not Niemann cheated have broader implications for social be havior, according to Regan.

“This sets up an interesting scientific divergence,” Regan said. “I’m measuring directly the agreement with the computer and the amount of error on moves that don’t agree — something related direct ly to the cheating mechanism. Whereas Pawnalyze is measuring something on the output — how many points did he score? — And reaches an opposite conclusion.

“This is a societal case, where you could reach completely different conclusions

every race, creed, color, national origin… We are there solely for the narrow mission of empowering abused children,” Caribe said. “Anybody who wants to carry the flag on the mission is welcome.”

Those who are interested can learn more about Bikers Against Child Abuse at bacaworld.org.

Email: jasmin.yeung@ubspectrum.com

based on the instrument of measurement that you choose.”

The professor stresses the importance of patience and willingness to slowly work through the calculations before drawing a conclusion.

“You have to look under the hood for an explanation,” Regan explained. “And it’s going to take a lot more work actu ally going over all the tournaments, not just this one, to smooth that out. But that takes a lot of work.In our thirty-second sound bite and five-second-click informa tion age, nobody has the patience to do the work.”

He cites public outcry over the COV ID-19 pandemic and doomsday fears of a recession as examples of tendencies to err toward conspiracy — and the chess world is no exception.

“There are many, many cases like this one,” he said. “Maybe in chess, I’ll have the opportunity to get to the bottom of one of them.”

Email: kyle.nguyen@ubspectrum.com

‘Caribe’ spends his days as a civil lawyer and member of B.A.C.A.

YAKUN LIU / ThE SpEcTRUm As A MEMbER OF bikERs AGAinst Child AbusE, CARibE PROvidEs COMFORt sAFEty And suPPORt FOR AbusEd ChildREn

A night to remember

“The Prom” brings quintessential musical theater to Buffalo

KARA ANDERSON SR. ARTS EDITOR

From the flashy, colorful lights of New York City to the drab and slow-moving suburban midwest, “The Prom” captures all the delights of queer-acceptance and community through on-point comedy and stellar performances.

On-stage at Shea’s Theatre until Oct. 2, “The Prom” shines in its medium, com ing to the stage as quintessential musical theater. It embraces the campiness sur rounding its concept, never holding back on the absurdity of two narcissistic Broad way stars revamping their public image by throwing a prom for a lesbian in small town Indiana.

It’s the kind of show that can’t (and shouldn’t) translate to the big screen, as demonstrated by Netflix’s failed attempt in 2020.

The musical relies significantly on know ing the world of musical theater — from jokes about non-Equity shows to the con stantly bragging Julliard grad, Trent Oli ver. Sitting in the theater with live perfor mances, the comedy lands perfectly. But on screen, not so much.

There’s a self-awareness in almost ev erything the show does — from Emma’s delivery of the lines “Note to self, don’t be gay in Indiana,,” to the exaggerated per sonalities of protagonists and antagonists alike.

Perhaps best highlighting the show’s entertainment value is that of dynamic duo, Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman, played by Courtney Balan and Patrick Wet zel.

The two perfectly bounce off each oth er as self-obsessed individuals, stealing the show with side-eyed wariness at the banal ity of the suburban midwest. In balanc ing the outrageous acts of the New York natives comes lesbian teen herself, Emma. Emma’s journey to go to prom with stillcloseted girlfriend, Alyssa, helps balance the laughs with a sentimental and heart warming story.

This sentimentality especially comes to light when Emma offers to take Barry, who missed his own prom due to his own fear in asking out another boy.

The healing of Barry’s own inner-child paired with Emma’s queer coming-of-age works seamlessly together, demonstrating the growth and warmth of acceptance that

can come at any stage of one’s life.

Where “The Prom” trips up is in its second act. With a runtime at two hours and 25 minutes, the concept surrounding “The Prom” fails to fill each minute with entertainment, allowing its content to run unfortunately thin toward the end.

Despite warding off all-too-easy, cringeworthy moments in its first act, “The Prom” misses the mark in its resolution: a viral video of Emma singing that spurs the Broadway stars to host an LGBTQ+ prom for all of Indiana.

What is meant to be a moment showcas ing the strength and inspiration of a com munity, as other LGBTQ+ teens gather in support of Emma, turns into a cheesy and out-of-touch reflection on the current generation of youth.

That is not to say that the second act holds no good moments. In particular, the performance of “Love Thy Neighbor” rings particularly funny and entertaining as Trent sings to the town’s youth about their hypocritical, Bible-based homophobia.

be in.”

With help from his DJ/hype man, Fivio Foreign burst onto the stage about half an hour later, bringing back the energy with a spirited performance of “City of Gods,” his recent collaboration with Alicia Keys and Kanye West.

“Make some noise if you’re a fresh man!” the 32-year-old rapper instructed the crowd throughout his set.

The heavy bass in Fivio’s upbeat trap music shook the ground as he and his sidemen danced around the stage.

“I do think Fivio really topped it off … [he] engaged with the crowd well,” Rachel Galet, a junior media study major, said.

Though he didn’t seem to know exactly where he was performing (he made several references to “BU”) he was clearly enjoy ing himself, resulting in an engaging and fun performance.

At one point, the rapper even brought a lucky student up on stage to perform with him.

The audience was decidedly more ac tive than they were during Yung Gravy’s set, forming a mosh pit at one point. But for some attendees, the excitement of the crowd spiraled out of control.

Xen Byer-Tyre, a freshman criminology student, was left hurt and disappointed by the audience’s behavior.

“I couldn’t breathe because of how tightly packed we were when the mosh pit started,” Byer-Tyre said. “I have asthma so it was not the best environment for me to

Byer-Tyre, a fan of Fivio Foreign who arrived early just to see his performance, recalls being jostled around and crushed by the people around her. She tried to leave the crowd, but nearby security guards did not respond to her and her friends’ calls for help.

“[Security] just told the people around me to tell me to relax,” Byer-Tyre said. “He said there was nothing he could do.”

She eventually was carried out by an other security guard and handed over to EMTs, missing the performance she had waited hours for.

In the days following Fall Fest, some students expressed their displeasure with the concert on UB’s Reddit page.

“It’s supposed to make us want to keep the mandatory fee and it made me want to vote against it,” commenter Mysteri ous_Ad5072 said.

“Gravy was actually embarrassing,” Reddit user AdorableGuarantee970 said. “I had no idea he’d be that bad, can’t listen to his songs anymore.”

But some enjoyed the free night of mu sic, like freshman occupational therapy major Amber Laudman, who felt the con cert brought together the student body in a positive way.

“To have everybody together and just bonding over music… It was really fun,” Laudman said. “Hopefully everyone comes during Spring Fest, because it’s re ally a night to remember.”

It’s a delightful earworm of a song that’ll have its audience humming along to it long after the curtains have been drawn.

“The Prom” shines as a love letter both to musical theatre and the queer commu nity, making what could be a tragic and

saddening story into an outright hilarious comedy of love, acceptance and growth.

Email: kara.anderson@ubspectrum.com

Kara aNDErSoN / ThE SpEcTruM

“the proM” had its openinG niGht at shea’s in BuFFalo on tuesday

ajay SurESh / WiKiMEDia coMMoNS the proM” captures all the deliGhts oF queer acceptance and coMMunity

UB comes out on top for first win of the season against Eastern Michigan

DYLAN GRECO ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Bulls’ (1-3, 1-0 MAC) offense was on fire at Rynearson Stadium Saturday, as UB defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles (2-2, 0-1 MAC), 50-31, to secure its first win this season. After a tough loss last week at Coastal Carolina and a major upset the week prior against FCS opponent Holy Cross, the in-conference win is a breath of fresh air for the UB football team.

Buffalo now stands at first place in the MAC with a 1-0 conference record. Head coach Maurice Linguist will look to build upon Saturday’s strong offensive attack as the Bulls dive into their conference sched ule this season.

The Bulls offense is hot

Sophomore quarterback Cole Snyder re corded four total touchdowns in UB’s vic tory: two passing and two rushing, along with 297 passing yards. Snyder completed 69% of his passes, going 20-for-29.

Graduate wide receiver Quian Williams had a solid performance with six recep tions for 99 yards and a touchdown. Wil liams has shined with Snyder at the helm in this Bulls offense, scoring at least one touchdown in the past three games.

Another bright spot for UB was sopho more wide receiver Jamari Gassett, who took a dart from Snyder to the house for a 65-yard touchdown.

The Bulls’ rushing attack was just as dominant as their passing game. Redshirt

freshman running back Mike Washington ran for 71 yards and two touchdowns, while senior running back Ron Cook Jr. rushed 19 times for a total of 92 yards.

Despite UB’s explosive offensive against Eastern Michigan, graduate wide receiver Justin Marshall had a rather quiet day, se curing only three receptions for 45 yards.

UB defense does enough

UB’s defense wasn’t perfect, but did enough to help the Bulls secure the victo ry on Saturday. The defense forced EMU sophomore quarterback Austin Smith to go 12-for-19 with 190 yards, one touch down and one interception.

The Eagles’ offensive line struggled, which resulted in increased pressure on Smith, leaving him with little pocket mo bility and no opportunity to make any massive plays.

Junior linebacker Shaun Dolac led the Bulls with 13 tackles while fifth-year line backer James Patterson intercepted Smith in the fourth quarter. Senior defensive tackle Daymond Williams generated pres sure all game and got on the stat sheet with a sack.

The Eagles couldn’t keep up with the Bulls on offense, but graduate wide receiv er Tanner Knue shined with three catches for 106 yards and a touchdown.

The EMU special teams also contribut ed, as junior running back Jaylon Jackson who exploded for an 89-yard kick return touchdown.

Going forward

Saturday’s win is a confidence boost for a UB team that’s seeing its first victory in seven consecutive games dating back to last season. If the Bulls are to continue this success, they’ll need their defense to play better against Miami (OH) next week, as they are letting up an average of 34.25 points per game. UB comes home to play Miami (OH) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Email: dylan.greco@ubspectrum.com

Women’s soccer earns 6th straight shutout; defeat

Ohio 3-0

Bulls dominate the Bobcats to advance to 8-1 on the season

BRANDON COCHI STAFF WRITER

Women’s soccer won in convincing fashion once again Sunday afternoon, as the Bulls beat Ohio, 3-0, to improve to 8-1 on the season and 2-0 in Mid-American Conference play. Sunday’s win marked not only UB’s sixth win in a row but its sixth straight shutout. The Bulls haven’t allowed a goal since Aug. 28 against then-No. 3 ranked Rutgers.

Senior defender Annie Judasz netted the Bulls’ first goal 29 minutes into the game off an assist from midfielder Alya Ruken. Freshman forward Arianna Zumpano fol lowed that up with another goal 10 min utes later to give the Bulls a 2-0 advantage before the half. Zumpano wasn’t finished though, as she scored her second goal of the game at the 67-minute mark to put the Bulls up 3-0 and the game out of reach for Ohio.

Senior goalie Emily Kelly was sharp once again with another clean sheet. UB’s defense was also on point, as the Bob cats only mustered two shots on goal for the game. The Bulls outshot the Bobcats, 14-6, with a commanding 7-2 advantage in shots on goal. After another impres sive showing, the team will return to play Thursday in Toledo, where they will take on the Rockets at 7 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Baby bulls: 2022-23 men’s basketball preview

BRANDON COCHI STAFF WRITER

For the first time in the better part of the last decade, UB men’s hoops finds it self at a crossroads. Gone are the days of sky-high expectations and steamrolling the conference schedule en route to MAC championships and NCAA Tournament berths. Those glory days (2015-2019) were led by current Alabama head coach Nate Oats.

The Bulls have yet to win the MAC since Jim Whitesell, Oats’ head assistant at UB, was hired in 2019. Now, almost all of UB’s veteran leadership from last sea son has moved on. Seniors Ronaldo Segu, Jeenathan Williams and Brock Bertram all graduated, while defensive anchor Josh Mballa transferred to Ole Miss over the offseason.

Whitesell, who’s expected to win his first conference championship with a com pletely revamped roster, faces perhaps his toughest challenge yet this season. Here’s what to expect from the men’s basketball team with the season just over a month away:

New Faces

Isaac Jack, a 6’11 center, was the high light of the Bulls’ 2022 recruiting class and will provide much-needed size to the ros ter after the team lost Bertram and Mballa. Jack, a native of Port Alberni, British Co lumbia, started his career at Alberni Dis trict Secondary School before transferring to Fort Erie International Academy in On tario, where he averaged 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

6’1 guard Devin Ceaser is another im pressive 2022 recruit. He was the 50th ranked point guard in his high school’s graduating class, according to ESPN.com. Caesar, along with freshman guard Jaden Slaughter, will eventually look to fill the void left by Segu’s departure.

This year’s UB squad also features six transfers: fifth-year guard Armani Fos ter (Indiana University of Pennsylvania); sophomore guard Kanye Jones (Boston

College); senior forward Sy Chatman (Il linois State); and junior forwards Isaiah Adams (Central Florida), Jonnivius Smith (Seton Hall) and Yazid Powell (Harcum Junior College).

Returning Bulls

Senior forward LaQuill Hardnett is one of the few holdovers from last year’s squad. The Philadelphia native averaged 2.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 24 games off the bench for the Bulls last season.

6-foot-9 sophomore Kuluel Mading, who played sparingly for the Bulls last sea son, will likely join Hardnett in the start ing frontcourt this upcoming year. Mading committed to UB as a three-star recruit and the 10th-best player in North Caro lina, per 247Sports.com.

Also returning for the Bulls this season are sophomore guards Kidtrell Blocker and Curtis Jones. Jones appeared in 28 games and averaged 2.5 points and 1.3 as sists last year while Blocker averaged 2.3 points in 12 games as a freshman. Forward Zaakir Williamson, who missed the 202122 season due to injury, will also return.

Schedule Outlook

The Bulls will open the 2022-23 season with a matchup against Colgate on Nov. 7 at Alumni Arena. Eight days later, UB will face a tough test on the road against the UConn Huskies in a nationally televised game (CBS Sports Network) on Nov. 15.

But UConn won’t be the only high-ma jor road test for the Bulls this season. UB will face West Virginia in Morgantown on Dec. 18, followed by a date with the Mich

igan State Spartans in East Lansing on Dec. 30. Another highlight on the Bulls’ schedule includes the Paradise Jam tourna ment, which takes place Nov. 18-21 in the U.S. Virgin Islands. UB will also face off against Tulane in “Holiday Hoopsgiving” at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Dec. 10.

Western New York hoops fans will have Dec. 3 circled on the calendar as UB will face St. Bonaventure for the second season in a row, this time at Alumni Arena. The Bulls’ lost last year’s matchup on a gamewinning St. Bonaventure three-pointer as time expired.

UB will open its conference schedule with a home matchup against Ohio on Jan. 3. The Bulls will conclude the regular season against Miami (OH) on March 3.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

UB begins a new chapter after the last remaining members of the 2019 NCAA Tournament squad graduate

The Bulls’ offense scored 50 points against Eastern Michigan, marking UB’s first victory since last season

MOAZ ELAZZAZI

ThE SpEcTruM