The Spectrum Vol. 71 No. 7

UB Amnesty International walks to South Campus to protest for Palestinian rights

ALISHA ALLISON STAFF WRITER

TENZIN WODHEAN FACT CHECKER

“Dammi Falastini,” a song about Pal estinan pride by Palestinian singer Mo hammed Assaf, echoed around Flint Loop as students gathered last Friday for UB Amnesty International’s “Free Palestine” walk from North to South Campus.

The annual walk, led by the Muslim Student Association in previous years, was held on Friday to protest human rights violations occurring in Pales tine and American foreign military aid policy. Over the years, students have walked for various causes such as Ye men, Kashmir and Myanmar.

Students from universities across the country, including Vanderbilt Universi ty, University of Michigan and St. John’s University, also walked in support.

Zanaya Hussian, the President of Amnesty International, expected more pushback and no support from the ad ministration but was “pleasantly sur prised” at the support and turnout for the cause.

“I decided to come today because I’m passionate about Palestinan culture, and identity not being erased from history,” Nadya Elhalawany, a junior biological sciences major, said. “Slowly and slowly, as time goes on, Palestine is kind of evaporating because [the] media isn’t covering issues and the oc cupation. I think these events are help ful and important to make sure that people still know Palestinians exist and deserve a right to live.”

Elhalawany shared that she thinks the university can show its support by promoting similar events and minority

clubs, citing a lack of resources to foster student engagement at club events.

At 4:30 p.m., students met at Flint Loop. Signs were provided for protest ers who didn’t bring their own.

Students started their walk to South Campus about an hour later with Uni versity Police following alongside par ticipants with a police car and an officer on a bike.

Students shouted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Stop the aid, stop the millions, all it does is kill civilians” as they marched through the streets of Buffalo.

Many cars honked in support of the movement, with one driver pumping

their fist and yelling “Yeah!”

After arriving on South Campus, stu dents headed to Room 114 of Wende Hall for Mahgrib, a prayer Muslims ob serve at sunset.

UB Amnesty International Secretary Zach Day and Treasurer Kevin Smith then held a presentation on the histori cal context of Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of Pales tinians faced permanent displacement following the establishment of the state of Israel.

“Being Jewish, I felt it was an outlet to try and understand the world and my relationship to the world,” Day said. “It is not a both sides issue.”

Vice President of UB Amnesty Jasmin Gill cited an Amnesty International re port on Israeli legislation and policies such as segregation, “administrative detention” and forcible displacement, amounting to apartheid against Pales tinians under international law.

The report likens ongoing violations to the racial segregation in South Africa due to a “special interest” in Israeli gov ernance purposefully structured to op press and dominate Palestinians.

A statement released by the United

UB alum Mark Montour appointed to New York State Appellate Division’s Fourth Department

Montour becomes the first Native American justice to be appointed to the NYS Appellate Division

RIA GUPTA ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last month that she would appoint Justice Mark Montour to the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division’s Fourth Department, which serves Cen tral and Western New York. Montour was the first Native American elected to a state-level position in New York in 2013, and he is the first Native Ameri can justice appointed to the state Ap pellate Division.

“Being the first comes with a lot of responsibility,” Montour said. “It’s my responsibility to inform the public on issues that are affecting the native na tions, such as the Indian Child Wel fare Act, the various treaty rights that are continued to be violated, and the [abuse at] boarding schools that many people have never heard of.”

The Appellate Division of the NYS Supreme Court is the second-highest level of the court beneath the Court of Appeals. With his appointment to the Appellate Division, Montour will be serving in the court a step up from the State Supreme Court, which is New York’s trial court and the court he previ ously served in.

Montour graduated with his J.D. from

UB in 1983, and went on to work in a law firm, run his own solo practice, serve as Lancaster’s councilman and then its judge. He was elected as a New York State Supreme Court Justice in 2013.

That wasn’t necessarily a path he thought would be open to him.

“I was never an extremely confident person,” Montour said. “That made it hard to be an attorney, because you can’t not speak in public or in court. I’ve

made advancements in my confidence and ability to verbalize my arguments, questions or concerns.”

While Montour campaigned for his role as a Supreme Court Justice in 2013, he applied to serve as an Appellate Division judge. Reviewers read his ap plication and spoke to attorneys who served alongside him to assess his tem perament and experience. The review committee saw him as “highly quali fied,” and Gov. Hochul appointed him to the role last month.

In his new role at the appellate level, Montour will review trial court deci sions that have been appealed as one judge on a panel of five — and he’s al ready been thrown into the thick of it.

“It’s only been three weeks so far, and balance is important. These first three weeks, it’s been a lot of catching up. I’ve been told by the other associates it may take a year before you really become settled in,” Montour said. “I’ve already addressed [work-life balance] with my family — as far as my wife is concerned, I need to do this as far as catching up but my intent is to obviously, make time for us and for myself.”

Montour hopes to take action on is sues that affect indigenous people and educate the state on what Native Amer

icans have been through to ensure that the government makes the right deci sions.

“The Indian Child Welfare Act today is being addressed by the Supreme Court next month, and if the court, in my mind, gets it wrong, it could adversely affect any of the rights that native na tions have right now with their asso ciation with the government,” Montour said. “Next month is Native American History Month, and we have a couple events planned already to hopefully bring out some of the history for those who don’t know much about it.”

Over the years, Montour reflected on his growth as a person, but also his ties to his roots and how they’ve impacted his professional life.

“I’ve grown a lot in that respect, but I think I’m still the same person who grew up in a blue-collar background in Tonawanda with six siblings and went to a small school,” Montour said. “I feel like I’m a humble person, and I respect others’ views, and it’s important to do that as well.”

Courtesy of JustiCe Mark Montour Gov. Kathy hochul appointed Justice MarK Montour to the nys appellate division s Fourth departMent last Month

The demonstration comes alongside others at universities nationwide

Moaz elazzazi / the speCtruM uB aMnesty international orGanized a walK FroM north to south caMpus in support oF palestine last Friday

Former DMG employee discusses ‘predatory’ Air Buffalo project after attempt to move students into partially completed apartments

Air Buffalo called off move-in to incomplete apartments after failing an Amherst inspection

KYLE NGUYEN SR. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

*Editors’ note: The Spectrum spoke on-the-record to a former DMG em ployee who requested to remain anon ymous out of fear of backlash from Air Buffalo and DMG Investments LLC. The Spectrum doesn’t usually grant ano nymity to sources unless they “may face danger, retribution or other harm,” as enumerated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, but has made the decision to do so here in order to protect this person’s identity. The anonymous source will be referred to by the pseudonym of Smith Erwin throughout this story.

It didn’t add up.

After overseeing the opening of Auden Buffalo in 2021, one worker at DMG Investments — the real estate de veloper of Auden Buffalo and Air Buf falo — saw an “obvious” issue with its sister Air Buffalo project at 1265 Sweet Home Road: there wasn’t enough time.

Students are now paying the price for the firm’s lack of transparency about the timetable and negligence for safe ty, according to Smith Erwin*, a former employee who worked under DMG Investments LLC to develop and open Auden Buffalo.

Erwin says management has contin ued to cut corners after students were displaced when Air Buffalo first in formed tenants of a construction delay prior to the semester on Aug. 25.

Tenants meant to move into apart ments “on the first to fourth floor[s] of the building” were told they would move in by “at least Oct. 15.”

Then, in late September, manage ment also attempted to move students into their apartments in spite of incom plete construction but diverted at the last moment, according to Erwin.

Andrew Brown, a graduate political science major, says that his girlfriend was one of the numerous tenants meant to live on the fifth and sixth floors of the complex who received a priority move-in date on Sept. 23.

“They told us this was the move-in date we were going to end up with to make sure everything was safe and that ‘we’ll guarantee everyone can move,’” Brown said.

The tenants were set to move that evening at 5 p.m. Just less than 40 min utes before the deadline, at 4:26 p.m, the packing tenants received notice that the move was off in light of Air Buffalo’s failure to pass a “final inspec tion process” and obtain a certificate of occupancy, according to an email ob tained by The Spectrum

Bound by contract to temporary housing arrangements at the BuffaloNiagara Marriott, the remaining ten ants await their latest delayed Nov. 4 move-in date.

The Spectrum called the num ber listed on Air Buffalo’s website for comment and received no response, and no call back in time for publication.

Fearing ret ribution from their former em ployers, Erwin agreed to speak to The Spectrum under a pseud onym to shed light on the background of the project and corroborate student experiences since the housing debacle began.

DMG Investments told The Buffalo News it would begin construction on

Sept. 1, 2021 after applying for a $3.5 million tax break to begin the project and “wrap up within a year.” However, the investment firm did not buy the property from its previous owner un til Nov. 4, 2021 before beginning con struction.

Erwin says the delayed timeframe meant it was clear from the start that construction would not finish in time.

“They purchased the property later than they anticipated and were never able to keep up with the fast-paced schedule needed to open in August 2022 as they planned,” Erwin said. “They should have made everyone aware of this before they had first-time renters sign a lease for Air [Buffalo].”

Erwin says the slow progression of construction in the ensuing months up to the deadline should have further alerted the investment firm that the project would not be complete in time.

“It was obvious they were never go ing to open on time,” Erwin said. “They were still building the exterior walls in July of 2022.”

The former employee condemned the firm’s decision to continue advertis ing the initial Aug. 25 opening as con struction pressed well into the summer months.

Between May and August, the Air Buf falo team continued to entice prospec tive tenants by flaunting $100 gift cards for signers, announcing sold-out floor plans, and offering virtual tours and 3D renderings of the completed space on its Instagram account.

“They needed to be more transparent with these 18- to 22-year-olds before locking them into a $15,000 [per] year contract,” Erwin said. “It feels predatory to tell these in experienced renters that they were go ing to have their apart ments ready when it was so obvious that they weren’t going to be.”

Brown finds it hard to believe that Air Buffalo management didn’t think there would be delays.

“The situation is, at its best, mas sive amounts of incompetence, and at worst, exploitation,” Brown said. “I can’t imagine that a place that’s advertised

for students — people who are trying to start the semester — wouldn’t be aware that they’re going to fail a city in spection that was scheduled at the end of September, a month later after the initial open date.”

It has been difficult for Brown to watch his girlfriend and other students making the most out of limited utili ties and resources at their hotel rooms. The graduate student regularly visits to bring her food and to talk with other students on her floor.

“For her especially, it’s difficult. She goes to therapy and the therapist is understanding that this has psycho logically affected her negatively. She had an original living situation that she can’t go back to,” Brown said.

He also cited the plight of interna tional students who paid the entirety of their lease upfront.

“I can’t imagine sinking however many tens of thousands of dollars into an apartment upfront, and then living in a hotel for months on end,” he said.

The second move-in delay was the last straw for many students still wait ing in their hotel rooms, according to Brown. Everybody involved, from stu dents to family members, is frustrated with Air Buffalo’s lack of accountability throughout the entire process.

“The parents are pretty upset about it. There's been absolutely zero com munication after the failed inspection,” Brown said. “My girlfriend is concerned. She’s emailed them multiple times, she’s called them multiple times. Radio silence. And I’m assuming that’s for le gal purposes.”

Erwin decried the deterred move-in attempt as reckless and indicative of a pattern of DMG Investment’s disregard for tenant safety.

“Let’s say for conversation’s sake that they [the town of Amherst] did allow them to move in,” Erwin said. “Air Buf falo would just want them to live [with] around 50 contractors running ma chinery in the building, driving around heavy machinery outside of the build ing, creating drywall dust, painting for weeks on end and dealing with utility interruptions while they finish other floors?”

The pattern of cutting corners stretches back to the grand opening of Auden Buffalo, where Erwin recalls having students moved into an unfur nished building “with only mattresses and bed frames” and limited amenities in time for a grand opening party.

He claims the Wi-Fi didn’t work and the shuttle to and from campus was

too small for its residents. Residents were expected to pay 100% of the rent, regardless.

“Instead of helping them out, they threw a party with live music so that they could show it off to their investors, their CEO, COO, the local news, and UB representatives,” Erwin said. ”They never cared to address the concerns of their residents, they just wanted it to look good for their investors and busi ness so they could open more future projects, like Air Buffalo.”

Erwin says he is no longer working di rectly under DMG Investments LLC af ter the firm terminated all of its on-site employees at Auden Buffalo and had them rehired under a third-party man agement company.

In the meantime, Brown says that ten sions have spluttered to a boiling point in recent weeks.

“There’s a hotel floor full of students who are being accommodated because they were supposed to move in two months ago. You could hear, even after the two-week move-in date hit, they — their parents — were irate and scream ing and all that stuff,” Brown said.

Several students and families have proceeded with legal action. The Spec trum reached out to several students, including Brown’s girlfriend, who could not comment on record in light of on going legal proceedings.

“After changing the move-in dates, like, four times and failing a city inspec tion, and total radio silence from any sort of support, certainly there’s a lot of animosity,” Brown said.

But he says the path forward remains thorny for a particularly vulnerable class of tenants, such as students.

“Student time is costly because you’re on the move with very fluid schedules and a lot of stuff to do, especially stu dents that are moving here from anoth er city or another state of the country and maybe you don’t have the familial structure to back you up with this, you know?” Brown said. “You’re going into litigation against people who are sup plying your living conditions in a hotel, which is the only place you can live.

“There’s a very huge imbalance in terms of the power dynamics and this is a very vulnerable class of people that can’t really do much else other than cut their losses or go through an extremely difficult legal process.”

“It was obvious they were never going to open on time,” Erwin said. “They were still building the exterior walls in July of 2022.”

Your Jeffrey Dahmer costume isn’t clever — it’s offensive

ginalized groups, Halloween presents challenges other than simply carving the best jack-o’-lantern. It’s the time of year when they’re forced to realize how problematic their peers are capable of being.

Halloween costumes are sup posed to be an opportunity to demon strate creativity and individuality.

ing up as infamous murderers has made its way as one of the most popular cos tume choices of the year—including children and adult costumes.

Dressing as Jeffrey Dahmer, for ex ample, perpetuates the idea that the horrible crimes he committed against LGBTQ+ people and people of color are all in good fun.

around being racist, homophobic or of fensive, then not only are you insuffer able, but you also are most likely lack ing creativity and critical thinking skills.

Halloween is the perfect time to dress up as something terrifying — be a ghost, a vampire or a werewolf.

KAYLA ESTRADA SR. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Halloween is the time of year for stra tegic scares.

Chilly weather and changing leaves mean it’s time for people to startle their friends, watch the goriest horror mov ies and create the cleverest or most frightening costume.

But for people of color, members of LGBTQ+ communities and other mar

But as I’ve been scrolling on Tik Tok throughout this past week, I’ve seen costume inspiration videos that are ex tremely offensive and in poor taste.

Dressing as offensive figures or com munities you do not personally belong to mocks traditions, experiences and practices that you will never take part in, relate to, or understand — and it says a lot about your character too.

I thought my only obstacles for this year would be the typical Native Ameri can and Chulo “costumes.”

But with the rise of serial killer docu mentaries and television series, dress

Going out of your way to buy a cos tume that mimics Dahmer over-sensa tionalizes the very tragic and very real acts he committed. It disregards the people who are left traumatized from that event.

Nobody’s goal for Halloween night should be to fetishsize serial killers or fail to take the feelings of the victims’ surviving family members into consid eration.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “Then what can I dress as?”: you’re part of the problem.

If all of your costume ideas center

Dress as your favorite TV show char acter, artist or athlete (who hasn’t com mitted sexual misconduct).

Don’t dress up as something racist, homophobic or insensitive. Your cos tume won’t disguise your ignorance.

Being a member of a marginalized community is scary enough — let’s not make it worse by wearing inappropri ate, insensitive or stupid Halloween costumes.

Email: kayla.estrada@ubspectrum.com

Chase your dreams, not your parents’ or society’s

detective (ages 27-32), lawyer (ages 3337), businessman (ages 38-60), mayor of New York City (ages 61-67) and presi dent of the U.S. (68-76).

While this career list would change from year to year, there was one thing that never did: I always knew what I wanted, and I was always determined to chase it.

selves.

College is meant to give students the education they need to achieve the ca reer of their dreams.

But how can you chase a dream if you don’t know what your dream is?

Or, worse, if you’re being forced into one?

We need more career coaching. Aca demic advisers are not enough.

A.J. FRANKLIN ASST. FEATURES EDITOR

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It’s a question most of us have been asked countless times by our parents, guardians, teachers and relatives, ever since we were able to speak our first words.

I have wanted to be many things.

I wanted to be a lawyer, wearing a five-piece suit with a spacious office overlooking New York City, who came into work determined to fight for jus tice.

I wanted to be the eccentric billion aire with a Manhattan penthouse, mul tiple fast cars and the ability to use my astronomical earnings to innovate so lutions to droughts in underprivileged communities, make quality healthcare more accessible to those who could not afford it and build more affordable housing in my home city of New York, where gentrification disproportionate ly pushes people of color out of their homes.

I wanted to be the politician who re lentlessly worked to make the society around them more equitable.

So, I created a career list.

Since the age of 10, I have been plan ning out my career path on a single sheet of loose-leaf paper: college (ages 18-21), NYPD officer (ages 22-26), NYPD

That sheet of loose-leaf paper from my childhood has evolved into an ex cel spreadsheet with over 80 potential career paths, side hustles and ways to invest my money.

But, in my interactions with others, no one has shown or told me that they do the same thing, which I found a little off putting. People have told me about some of their career goals and dreams. But they typically don’t have their ca reer planned out or know how they will achieve their career goals beyond col lege.

In fact, when I talk to my peers, I find that many of them are uncertain about what they want to do after they gradu ate. Some of them are working towards a degree without knowing what they want to do with it once they graduate.

One of the most common reasons they do this that I have heard: family expectations.

My family always had strict, high ex pectations of me. Those expectations did not always align with my own, so I set mine aside many times. I just didn’t want to be stressed out. I didn’t want the people who raised me to question my abilities and goals. I wanted to avoid being abused.

For many college students, the pres sure of familial expectations has swayed their decisions, even to the point where they’re in a major they don’t see them

Before they go to college, the typical American student goes through one to two years of preschool, six years of el ementary school, three years of middle school and four years of high school.

We are taught math, history, science, english and various other subjects in our standardized education. But we are rarely taught how to identify what ca reer we want to take on and how to get there.

To be fair, the career paths we thought best fit us a decade ago, or even two years ago, do not always align with what we currently envision for our future. But how are you supposed to know what you want to do after you graduate, if you didn’t start thinking about your career dreams and how to achieve them?

Why does the American education system predominantly wait until after we graduate high school to let us ex plore — and learn more about — the career paths that we are curious about?

Why does the education system wait until we are out of high school to teach us the essential skills we need to have a successful career?

As students, we should be able to ex plore career paths before we get into “the real world.” Many teachers talk about the “real world” but never teach us how to navigate it.

“The real world” is here. We need guidance now before it’s too late.

I have been enrolled in two different majors as an undergraduate at UB, and in both cases, my advisers focused sole ly on making sure I met my academic requirements to “stay on track.” They weren’t thinking about how to put me on track to reach my career goals. Even in high school and middle school, my advisers simply focused on grades and graduation requirements. What about being on track to a successful career af ter graduating?

I am done with the system that de ceives me and my peers into thinking that our success is defined by how high our grades are and how satisfied our family members and teachers are.

We are so much more than SAT scores, GPAs and conforming to our family’s ex pectations.

I am tired of the academic stresses and societal pressures that cause so many of us to develop mental health disorders. We are enough even if we don’t conform to their system.

We have dreams and we should be given the tools to chase them.

Email: aj.franklin@ubspectrum.com

Don’t be ignorant this Halloween

Life is too short to blindly follow others’ expectations of us

‘Public art is my sport of choice’: The story behind UB’s Title IX mural

Artist Cassandra Ott opens up about loss, growth and her inspiration to create

ALEX NOVAK STAFF WRITER

The sidewalk outside the entrance to Alumni Arena is exploding with pops of color.

This eye-catching mural, the latest installment in UB’s “contemplative sites” initiative, commemorates the 50th an niversary of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and education programs.

“The prominent location will be a constant reminder to all who enter Alumni Arena of the importance of this initiative to the university,” D’Ann Keller, senior associate athletic director for Sports Administration, said in a state ment.

Behind every “contemplative site” is the artist that brought it to life. Cassan dra Ott, a Buffalo-area creative, worked tirelessly in both sweltering heat and bone-chilling cold to paint this celebra tory vision into existence.

Using nine squares of the sidewalk, Ott dedicated a quadrant to each of UB’s eight women’s sports teams — which outnumber UB’s men’s teams, much to Ott’s surprised delight. The ninth quadrant pays homage to Title IX and unifies all of the individual squares into one cohesive mural.

“I’m not the sportiest person,” Ott said. “However, I realized in doing mu rals that it’s super physically demand ing and I feel like that is my sport of choice at this point. So public art is my sport of choice.”

If public art is Ott’s sport of choice, it’s safe to say that she wasn’t always the MVP. When Ott painted her first pub lic art piece back in 2019, it was only a small mural in a gallery. Drawing on a large wall was entirely outside of Ott’s skill set at that point; she had only worked with regular 11-by-14-inch size canvases. This was an intimidating tran sition for Ott, but she learned to enjoy painting murals.

The response to Ott’s first public mu ral commemorating the Elmwood Vil lage Association’s Buffalo Garden Walk was overwhelmingly positive and lifechanging for the fledgling mural artist.

“It was fun seeing people walk by and getting instant feedback,” Ott said.

“They were really excited about the project, and they had a lot of questions. I really appreciate that public art puts beautiful things directly into our en vironment where people can live with them and interact with them. I find that super exciting.”

”This newfound passion for this niche subdivision of her craft shines through in the Alumni Arena mural where Ott once again dove head first into the op

portunity to share a meaningful mes sage with the community.

Despite gaining more experience in mural painting since her first public art piece in 2019, Ott has still encountered new challenges this time around. For instance, she’d never painted a mural on a horizontal plane: the ground.

Ott says this was a completely differ ent “can of worms” compared to any thing she’d previously tackled.

It opened the door to new obstacles such as debris on the ground, pesky fall ing leaves and anti-slip paint with the gritty consistency of pudding mixed with sand. These unforeseen obstacles and minor annoyances did not phase Ott in the slightest.

“Like anything, you just kind of have to take a bit of a leap, and there are so many ways that I feel like art is repre sentative of life,” Ott said. “There’s only so much you can plan for. So at a certain point you need to take the leap and see if you can figure it out as you go.”

Ott doesn’t shy away from figuring things out as she goes in her life either.

As a child, Ott frequently visited the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts with her parents, both artists, who supported her creativity from the very beginning. She fondly recalls watercolor classes with dad and making glass beads with mom, but says a photography camp was central to her artistic awakening. She earned a BFA with a concentration in photography in 2001.

After graduating college, Ott took the summer with her now-husband to have one last hoorah before entering the workforce. With a world of adventure waiting for them, Ott and her partner booked their plane tickets to Amster dam. The only problem: their flight was scheduled to depart on Sept. 11, 2001. After her plans for an unforgettable Eu ropean getaway became unforgettable

for all the wrong reasons, Ott experi enced another tragic loss. In the follow ing months, Ott’s grandparents passed away in a devastating plane crash. Her grandfather was flying the plane and her grandmother was his only passen ger.

“Those two events really changed my universe,” Ott said. “I think about how time can be therapeutic.”

Still reeling from these traumatic cir cumstances and the lack of a regular artistic structure that college provided, Ott did not produce any serious bodies of work for 13 years outside of graphic design jobs for her family’s glass din nerware business. Eventually, Ott gave herself assignments to complete, and her creative flow returned with a ven geance. She painted on others’ old pho tographs that she had either purchased from eBay and second-hand stores or received from family, friends and ac quaintances.

Through time, healing and self-de termination, Ott was able to pour all of her talent into UB’s new Title IX com memorative mural. The mural’s celebra tion of inclusion and equality resonates strongly with Ott.

“In sports and in the current climate, there are a lot of people who have a lot of hurdles, unnecessary hurdles,” Ott said. “And there is such a giant lack of equality in our society, and I feel like anything that recognizes these hurdles or how far we’ve come is important to pay tribute to so that we can feel hope ful for making more progress. It’s im portant to commemorate and honor the progress that we’re making so that we can continue to make sure that ev eryone is on a level playing field.”

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Amnesty continued FroM paGe 1

Nations Commission of Inquiry on Oct. 20 corroborated that Israel’s occu pation of Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, was unlawful after conducting an investigation into israel’s alleged violations of interna tional law on May 27, 2021.

English professor James Holstun ex pressed the importance of accurately characterizing Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians as apart heid given the self-censorship that the mainstream engages in surrounding the topic.

“Imagine trying to fight slavery, or

apartheid or capitalism without being able to say slavery or apartheid or capi talism,” Holstun said in a speech at the event.

Holstun spoke with The Spectrum af ter the demonstration. He recalled feel ing urged to delve into Palestinian lib eration after six Lackawanna Yemenis were found guilty for relations with AlQaeda in 2002. Holstun witnessed the “horrible attack” on his friends in the Yemeni community after the U.S. gov ernment’s heavy crackdown on Lacka wanna, and it compelled him to learn more.

Since then, Holstun has written piec es for the Electronic Intifada, a publica

tion that reports on Palestinian culture and current events, and is working on a separate collection of essays on Pales tinian novelist Sahar Khalifeh and Israeli novelist S. Yizhar.

To bring attention to the disposses sion of Palestinians at the legislative level, Hussian introduced the club’s Write for Rights letter campaign where they will ask Senator Chuck Schumer to make U.S. defense funding for Israel conditional on whether Israel abides by international human rights law.

Hussian was inspired by the success of this walk and is hoping to organize another one.

“It’s renewed my passion for the

cause and I definitely feel empowered,” Hussian said.

Holstun encourages students who want to continue advocating for Pales tine to do their research.

“Read. Read. Read. Read Israeli news papers. Read Palestinian newspapers,” Holstun said. “Read Electronic Intifada. Read the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. Get a sense of the controversies. Get a sense of the debates. They’re excit ing, they’re intellectually stimulating, they’re ongoing.”

Email: tenzin.wodhean@ubspectrum.com

news@ubspectrum.com

Moaz

There are many authoritative figures present at a UB football practice.

For instance, head coach Maurice Lin guist sends shivers down each player’s spine with his confidence and poise. Of fensive coordinator Shane Montgom ery instills an adrenaline rush on the receivers and running backs. But there’s a powerful presence that earns players’ respect unlike any figure on the field — and he’s a U.S. Marine.

Guy Allegretto, a Vietnam War vet eran, has been giving motivational speeches to the UB football team for the last 11 years. He believes you can’t put a price on war stories, so he never charges a cent.

“I’ve been offered a lot of money, but I don’t want it because I know how lucky I am to be alive,” Allegretto said.

It was 1968 in Khe Sanh, Vietnam. Corporal Guy Allegretto and his fellow Marines had the odds stacked against them. There were 6,000 Marines against over 40,000 “hardcore” North Vietnam ese troops.

There were seven different hills on which Allegretto could have been blindsided by rockets, mortars, artillery and even hand-to-hand combat at any second, so he and his fellow Marines

Not one U.S. Marine ever complained.”

Allegretto was part of the 1st Bat talion, 9th Marines nicknamed, “The Walking Dead.” This battalion earned its chilling name during the Vietnam War by having the highest casualty rate in Marine Corps history.

But in the face of bullets, bombs and barricades, Allegretto survived the liv ing hell that was the Vietnam War.

And at age 74, he has plenty of stories to tell.

While he continues to struggle with PTSD and depression, Allegretto has channeled his traumatic experiences into words of wisdom by becoming a motivational speaker.

After the war, many Americans per ceived Vietnam veterans as scum. They blamed them for fighting in what they considered to be a pointless war.

Students at the University of Califor nia at Berkeley even went as far as to send medical supplies (such as IVs) to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, which were intended to aid communist sol diers in their fight against the U.S. This package was intercepted by Allegretto and his fellow Marines.

Those principles have stuck with him over the years and have become key elements in his motivational speeches.

Years later, the Amherst native devel oped a relationship with the UB football team. He started giving motivational speeches to the team when the Bulls were coached by Jeff Quinn in the early 2010s. This tradition carried over to Lance Leipold’s regime, as well as cur rent UB head coach Maurice Linguist’s.

Allegretto found himself at a UB prac tice during the 2021-22 season — head coach Maurice Linguist’s first season at the helm of the Bulls.

The Bulls had just been dominated by Nebraska in Week 2. Following the 28-3 loss to the Cornhuskers, Allegretto felt the players didn’t seem upset enough.

Linguist wasn’t outside with the play ers yet, and the intensity on the field was lacking.

“They were lollygagging like they just won the national championship,” he said.

Allegretto’s speech with a “yes sir.”

Allegretto says that “every prac tice was top shelf” from then on.

Allegretto exhibits brotherhood through accountability and discipline. Early in the Bulls 2021-22 football sea son, Allegretto provided the team with an eye-opening analogy.

“There’s a big, open [football] field. That’s where the enemy is,” Allegretto said. “Two words are on everyone’s mind: contact eminent. They’re over there and you’re over here. You know they’re coming, and you know you’re going to answer, it’s kill or be killed.”

He believes that every football game is akin to a fight, a fight where everyone on the same team is in a heated battle for their lives.

dug trenches.

They lived in those trenches for 77 ex cruciating days. All 6,000 Marines were expected to perish. At the time, Presi dent Lyndon B. Johnson was so confi dent that the Marines would fail in Khe Sanh that he considered a nuclear con tingency. Although they faced doubts from the president, Allegretto and his fellow Marines felt confident.

“We had them right where we wanted them,” Allegretto said. “Nobody on this earth intimidates the U.S. Marine Corps.

“It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life and the worst betrayal,” Alle gretto said.

In response to the package, Allegret to and his fellow Marines threw their M16s to the ground and “cried as hard as someone can cry.”

U.S. civilians’ responses to the war deeply upset Allegretto. But he didn’t need that support.

“The U.S. Marine Corps was not built on sympathy,” Allegretto said. “That was the highest form of mental toughness, discipline and teamwork of all time.”

Allegretto noticed this lack of dis cipline and asked Linguist if he could speak with the team for 30 seconds af ter practice. Linguist obliged and told the Vietnam veteran to take as long as he wanted.

He didn’t hold back.

“You guys came to practice today, and you’re laughing and telling jokes,” he told the assembled players. “You just got your ass kicked by 25 points. That was a horse s—t practice.”

Allegretto gave the Bulls some tough love as he went on to explain just how replaceable the team’s captains are and that there are dedicated players on the team who would take their roles if given the chance. The players acknowledged

Allegretto instills an adrenaline boost in the players as he makes a connection between his bond with his fellow Ma rines and the bond between football players. The bond is that of a brother hood, and having each other’s back when it matters most.

“They got your back and you got their back, you fight for eachother,” Alle gretto said. “We go above and beyond to take care of eachother. What you all fight for now is to do your job. You’re there to keep your brothers alive and to execute.”

To this day, Allegretto continues to teach his inspiring lessons of discipline and brotherhood to UB football play ers. His experiences on the battlefield, while traumatic, have molded him into someone whose purpose is to motivate and inspire.

Email: dylan.greco@ubspectrum.com

DYLAN GRECO SR. SPORTS EDITOR

‘That was the highest form of mental toughness, discipline and teamwork of all time’

Guy Allegretto, an Amherst local and Vietnam War Marine, reflects on how he motivates the UB football team

Courtesy of Guy alleGretto

war veteran Guy alleGretto

Courtesy of Guy alleGretto throuGh his tiMe with the Marines alleGretto has BecoMe a Master oF Motivational speaKinG

‘Artistic healing’: UB students and artists collaborate on labyrinth project

MERET KELSEY ASST. ARTS EDITOR

The average college arts class doesn’t require digging in the dirt, moving boulders or planting thousands of flow ers.

But for the past few weeks, students in UB’s Working Artists Lab have been doing just that — on the grounds of an abandoned industrial site.

With guidance from visiting artist Dara Friedman, a German-born film and video artist whose works have been ex hibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Hammer Museum, a group of adventurous students spent much of this semester constructing River Hill, a large-scale labyrinth and pollinator gar

den. Every week, they ventured to Silo City, a grain elevator-turned-creative and ecological campus situated in a bend of the Buffalo River, to work on the piece.

The unconventional class is a product of the UB Arts Collaboratory, an initia tive created to foster artistic collabora tion on campus and around the city of Buffalo. Each semester, a visiting artist joins the lab to work with UB students, collaborating on art and teaching them what it’s like to be a working creative in the 21st century.

Student artists represented various artistic disciplines, including every thing from photography and sculpture to painting and theatre. The lab was even led by theatre professor Maria S. Horne and offered as course credit for theatre majors.

“Planting is not typically involved in theatre,” Jessica Snider, a senior theatre performance major and member of the lab, said. “[But] we definitely got to in volve our artistic discipline into what we were doing.”

Snider calls the process of building the labyrinth as “artistic healing,” some thing that allowed the students to re think their relationship to their art and themselves.

“I love working with my hands, I love playing with dirt,” Tim Nunez, a junior theatre performance major, said. “I got to do both.”

The labyrinth, designed by Friedman, was inspired by the meandering shape of the Buffalo River. This is Friedman’s second labyrinth project, the first hav ing been constructed at a women’s shelter in Miami. These large-scale, en vironmental projects seem quite the departure from her usual work, but she

finds the labyrinths to be cinematic.

“[Labyrinths] are obviously not mov ies, but for me, they sort of function similarly because they’re a landscape that you move through,” Friedman said. “And you get to tell yourself your own story as you’re doing it.”

With guidance from Josh Smith, the resident ecologist at Silo City, the stu dents dug into a plot of land behind the Rigidized Metals Corporation build ing and filled it with thousands of seeds that will bloom into bee balm, moun tain mint and hyssop.

The labyrinth serves many purposes. As a pollinator garden, it will contribute to the ecological rejuvenation of the site. As an artwork, it promotes oneness with nature, mindfulness and medita tion.

But Friedman says the collaboration that went into constructing the laby rinth is just as important — if not more important — than the final product.

“It’s a meditation tool, which we’ve

been using for, essentially, healing,” Friedman said of the collaborative proj ect. “We’ve been talking about playing a long game over a short game, we’ve been talking about win-win solutions… We’ve been talking about peaceful con flict resolution.”

Now that the work is done, River Hill is a permanent part of Silo City’s envi ronment. It will continuously evolve over the coming months, the flowers blooming and the work changing with the environment.

The labyrinth is public: anyone in need of a meditative space is welcome to walk through the human-made path. The experience of traversing it is up for interpretation, but Friedman hopes it will hold meaning for others.

“The labyrinth itself is a teacher and a classroom; it’s taught me so many things,” Friedman said.

Email: meret.kelsey@ubspectrum.com

heartbreak songs.

SENIOR

Taylor Swift is well known for her sharp-witted lyrics and her excruciating

Any self-respecting “Swiftie” can de scribe, in great detail, specific songs that keep them company during their loneliest hours.

Each and every one of her fans has a few tracks that changed their lives the second they first listened to them.

Her 10th studio album was supposed to be overflowing with those types of songs. And while “Midnights” demon strated a new style of pop that Swift

hadn’t tried until now — the new al bum also revealed a huge disparity be tween her usual lyrical talent and the one presented in “Midnights.”

“Midnights” is just that: mid.

One of the biggest disappointments on the album was “Snow on the Beach.” The artist regularly advertised that this song, track four, would feature the coqueen of heartbreak, Lana Del Rey.

But after listening to the highly an ticipated collaboration, it became clear that it wasn’t much of a collaboration at all. Del Rey was just used for publicity. “Swifties” braced themselves for what was expected to be one of her most gut-wrenching songs ever written.

Del Rey, who is also known for her stomach-churning lyrics, acted as more of a backup vocalist than an actual fea tured artist. That could be why the song itself, while catchy and rhythmically creative, was a lyrical flop that didn’t come close to meeting either artist’s usual standards.

The chorus consisted of cheesy and outdated lyrics that failed to invoke any emotional responses — besides cring ing.

“And it’s like snow at the beach / Weird, but f—ing beautiful,” sounds like a Colleen Hoover novel or a Buzzfeedquality poem. This comes nowhere close to matching Swift’s typically en trancing lyrics.

That’s the overriding theme of the al bum: catchy beats but cheesy lyrics.

“Vigilante S—t” is a great example. Lyrics such as, “Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man,” are neither em powering nor quirky.

The same goes for the lyrics in her 11th track, “Karma.” For a song that was supposed to be about overcoming ob stacles and exacting revenge, it features some lazy lyrics like “Me and karma vibe

like that.”

All that lyric’s doing is reminding us that Swift is, in fact, a millennial.

But a few of the tracks showed snip pets of Swift’s past lyrical genius.

Songs like “Maroon” demonstrate a sense of lyrical maturity that the rest of the album was lacking.

“The mark they saw on my collar bone / The rust that grew between tele phones / The lips I used to call home / So scarlet, it was maroon.”

That unique ability to work with im agery has put 95 of Swift’s songs on the Billboard Hot 100, won her 10 Grammys and two Albums of the Year.

Another track that won over Swift’s listeners was “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” a bonus track which dropped at 3 a.m. following Midnights’ original 13-track release.

The song takes on an agonizing yet familiar topic for most women: groom ing.

While Swift has released better writ ten songs, this track will forever catch the attention of “Swifties” due to the sentiment and the amazingly distress ing lyrics.

“If you would’ve blinked, then I would’ve / Looked away at the first glance / If you tasted poison, you could’ve / Spit me out at the first chance,” breaks the heart of the women around the world that have also had their “girlhood” taken from them too young.

Overall, Midnights demonstrated Swift’s ongoing ability to change her style — If only she hadn’t lost her lyri cism in the process.

The Working Artists Lab has completed construction on an environmental artwork at Silo City

Meret kelsey / the speCtruM students in uB’s worKinG artists laB enGaGe in an artistic collaBoration each weeK in silo city

Meret kelsey

the speCtruM

musicality yet lacks her usual lyrical maturity

is a “Glitch” in Taylor Swift’s long list of no-skip albums

How mindfulness, depth and environment have led to success for UB women’s soccer

The Bulls ranked No. 31 nationally in September, the highest in program history

AMY MASLIN STAFF WRITER

The UB’s women’s soccer team weren’t where they wanted to be at the end of last season.

The Bulls went 13-4-3 and lost to No. 1 seeded Bowling Green in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tour nament. Now, UB is currently at the top of the Mid-American Conference at 121-4, with a 6-0-4 record in conference play. The Bulls were ranked as high as No. 31 in the nation in September, the highest ranking in program history.

They are the only MAC team ranked in the top 50, a spot they’ve held for six weeks. (Bowling Green is the next high est ranked MAC team in the nation at 103.) The current Bulls squad is also rid ing a 14-game undefeated streak, tied for the best mark in program history.

Burke attributes that success partly to the team’s newest hire: a mindfulness coach.

“I don’t think it’s an accident the suc cess that has followed after that,” Burke said, referring to bringing a mindful ness coach in this season. “We do ev erything we can as soccer coaches, but that’s something I thought someone with expertise could help with and it clearly has.”

Burke decided to bring on their mind fulness coach, Lucinda Snyder, after having conversations about mental health with some of his players.

Snyder has worked on techniques to help reduce stress which can help calm players down instead of letting the stress escalate, graduate defender Tess Ford said. She said that having Snyder has changed the energy within the team this season.

This season’s emphasis on mental health has also helped fifth-year goal keeper Emily Kelly. Kelly’s position on the team comes with its own challenge: wildly varying levels of pressure. Some games require Kelly to make the gamewinning save, and other times the Wil son, New York native is stuck with her thoughts, watching the action from be tween the goalposts.

When her team is attacking, Kelly will find herself practicing Snyder’s breath ing exercises in order to stay focused

and in the moment on the field. Synder has also helped Kelly with visualization, another key component to help her stay on top of her game.

“She has cleared some things up that maybe in the past would have stuck with the team,” Kelly said. “She has been that missing piece. I think that has been really vital to the season.”

In August, the team headed down to Piscataway, New Jersey to face Rutgers, the No. 3 team in the country. The team went into the game knowing it would be no small task, but Snyder helped change their mindsets, reminding them that they were an “accomplished team” and had “every right to be on the same stage” as Rutgers.

UB did lose the game 1-2. But the Bulls were in the lead at the half, a feat Kelly partially attributes to Snyder.

And other than their game against Rutgers, the Bulls haven’t had another loss this season.

Kelly, who’s been with the Bulls for five seasons, has become one of the team’s standout players. She became the winningest goalkeeper in program history when she won her 40th game against Binghamton in August. She said she didn’t know she was close to break ing that record until the day she broke it. Since then, Kelly has recorded an ad ditional 11 wins.

But Kelly is humble. She credits her success to her backline.

“I can’t really take any of the credit be cause Tess [Ford] does a lot of the heavy lifting,” Kelly said.

Ford has been playing alongside Kelly since club level, where they played for the WNY Flash ECNL in high school. Together, they have helped cultivate a strong backline for the Bulls. The team has maintained 11 shutouts and al lowed only eight goals this season.

While the team has been good about saving goals, Burke says they are still struggling with taking advantage of goal scoring opportunities.

“We are having to really stress out a win as opposed to a couple gold cush ions is where it should be from the chances we are creating,” Burke said.

The team has scored many of its goals in the second half. They have been out shooting their opponents 274-131.

While the Bulls have had ample oppor tunities, the amount of goals they’ve been scoring hasn’t always reflected that.

Along with their mindfulness coach, the team’s deep roster has been a ma jor factor leading to the team’s success this season. More players were playing a full 90 minutes in previous seasons, Ford said, but now a variety of players are getting in the game and being able to contribute. So far this season, 10 dif ferent players have scored at least one goal.

“It’s the deepest team we’ve ever had,” Burke said. “It’s a lot of players playing with a lot of players contributing.”

With seven players in their fifth year of eligibility, there is a lot of old blood in the team to balance out some of the new faces.

“Experience is our biggest asset,” Burke said.

Older players have tried to ease new players’ transitions onto the team too, Burke says. Having been on teams be fore where older players aren’t as ap

proachable, Kelly said, now she does her best to make conversations and joke around with younger players.

“Just because I’m the head coach doesn’t mean I can be untouchable to these players,” Burke said. “We have to have that balance and trust. I think that’s unique to our team.”

When situations arise that call for dif ficult conversations, Burke hopes he has helped cultivate an environment of respect and care so it is easier to have hard conversations. Making sure every one on the team is approachable has helped with communication among the team and led to this team’s success on the field, he says.

“We’ve had a lot of success from our freshmen,” Burke said. “I think that’s a big product of the environment that’s created here. They feel comfortable.”

Email:

Moaz elazzazi / the speCtruM the woMen s soccer teaM has Found a stronG Balance

oF eXperience and youth this season

Bulls offense explodes in 4th quarter, comes back to stun Toledo, 34-27

Down 27-10 going into the 4th quarter, resilient Bulls score 21 points in 5 minutes to spark the comeback victory and secure the team’s 5th straight win

BRANDON COCHI STAFF WRITER

Things looked bleak for the Bulls Sat urday afternoon as they headed into the fourth quarter down 17 to the MAC West leading Toledo Rockets (5-3, 3-1 MAC). Sporting their newly unveiled throwback helmets on a warm and sun ny fall afternoon, UB (5-3, 4-0 MAC) was struggling mightily on offense through three quarters. But with possession of the ball in Toledo territory to start the final quarter, there was no panic for the Bulls.

“The longer the games go for us, the stronger we get,” head coach Maurice Linguist said after UB stormed back in the fourth quarter to beat Toledo 34-27. While many fans headed for the exits after Toledo took a commanding 27-10 lead with 6:09 left in the third quarter, those who stayed witnessed yet anoth er wild finish at UB Stadium this season.

Offense erupts for 24 fourthquarter points

The Bulls knew it would be a heavy weight fight for 60 minutes against a talented Toledo squad. Both teams came into the game undefeated in MAC conference play, with the winner set to take the top spot in the standings.

Despite the highly anticipated matchup, it was a Toledo offensive and defensive clinic through three quarters.

Finally scoring its first offensive touchdown of the game on a 5-yard Cole Snyder scamper, UB had new life down only 27-17 with 13:13 to go in the game. After a quick three and out for the Rockets on the ensuing drive, the Bulls got the ball back with plenty of time to work with.

UB quickly worked its way back down the field, led by a couple of nice catches by senior running back Ron Cook Jr. From the Toledo 32-yard line, sopho more wide receiver Jamari Gassett found a hole in the middle of the To ledo zone coverage and caught a pass from Snyder, before evading Toledo de

fenders and sprinting into the endzone to cut the deficit to 27-24.

The Bulls quickly wound up with the ball again following an interception on the next drive by Toledo. Getting back on the field deep in Rocket’s territory, Cook Jr. broke loose along the left side line and finished the play with a 30-yard rushing touchdown, electrifying the UB crowd on hand.

Senior kicker Alex McNulty later tacked on a 42-yard field goal, but the Bulls comeback was already complete. After starting off the day slow, Snyder finished the game completing 22 of his 39 pass attempts for 245 yards and a passing touchdown to go along with a rushing touchdown.

Cook Jr. led the way for the Bulls’ rush ing attack with 18 carries for a careerhigh 118 yards as well as three catches for 40 yards. Gassett finished the day with four catches for 69 yards and one touchdown.

Record-tying day for UB defender

Prior to UB’s first touchdown of the fourth quarter, the lone Bulls touch down in the first three quarters came by way of the defense. During the second quarter, junior safety Keyshawn Cobb forced a fumble which was scooped up and returned 72 yards to the house by graduate safety Jahmin Muse.

The Bulls’ defense kept the team in the game by forcing turnovers at timely points to prevent the contest from get ting out of hand. Before the first half ended, Toledo took a shot at a Hail Mary, which ended up in the hands of junior safety Marcus Fuqua. The safety found himself around the ball all afternoon as he finished the game with three of the team’s four interceptions.

“You gotta make the plays when they come your way,” Fuqua said after tying a school record for interceptions in a game, set by Cortney Lester in 2012. Fuqua now has five interceptions on the season, tied for first in all of FBS. Ju

nior linebacker Shaun Dolac once again led the Bulls in tackles with 12, putting him at 86 for the season, which is tied for fourth-best in FBS.

Next Up

After Saturday’s thrilling victory, the Bulls will be off until next Tuesday when they will play another important MAC conference game. UB will be in Athens, Ohio, where they will take on the Ohio Bobcats (5-3, 3-1 MAC) at Peden Stadi um at 7:30 p.m.

With Ohio within striking distance of the Bulls’ top spot in the MAC East, UB will have another big matchup as it looks to push its win streak to six games. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Women’s soccer secures spot in MAC tournament with 2-1 win over Central Michigan, draw at Ball State 2-2

to Guerber, who headed the ball into the back of the net to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead. Guerber is now leading the team with 7 goals and 4 assists on the season.

AMY MASLIN STAFF WRITER

Women’s soccer (12-1-4, 6-0-4 MAC) secured a spot in the Mid-American Conference tournament after defeating Central Michigan, 2-1, at UB Stadium on Thursday. UB then tied against Ball State on Saturday, which brought the Bulls to a 14-game unbeaten streak, ty ing the record-breaking 2014 UB team.

Central Michigan (2-10-4, 1-5-3 MAC) scored a goal in the 145th minute, leaving UB trailing for only a couple minutes before sophomore forward Arianna Zumpano was taken down in the box. The Bulls were awarded a pen alty which freshman defender Ellie Sim mons capitalized on to make the game even at 1-1.

The Bulls continued to push for the lead when sophomore forward Jasmine Guerber attempted a pair of shots to ward the end of the half.

Fifth-year goalkeeper Emily Kelly stepped up to make three saves in the first half to keep CMU from having the lead at half.

The Bulls dominated the second half, out-shooting the Chippewas 14-1. In the 678th minute, graduate forward/

midfielder Cashlin Copley sent a ball to freshman midfielder Katie Krohn. Marked by a CMU defender as she ran into the box, she took a shot across the goal and past the diving CMU goalie to give the Bulls the 2-1 win.

UB faced Ball State (6-4-7, 5-1-4 MAC) at Briner Sports Complex in Munchie, Indiana on Saturday. The Bulls went down a goal in the 17th minute when the Cardinals capitalized on a corner kick to get ahead 0-1.

UB produced six corners in the first half but were unable to capitalize on them.

Fifth-year midfielder Annie Judasz came off the bench and made an im mediate impact. In the 37th minute, Guerber lofted a ball to Judasz, who headed the ball into the back of the net to knot the game up at one apiece.

UB came out strong in the second half. In the 50th minute, senior mid fielder Leah Wengender assisted a ball

In the 74th minute, Ball State shot to ward the center of the goal while Kelly was out of the net, which forced gradu ate defender Tess Ford to clear the ball off the line. The Cardinals attempted a shot on the clearance by Ford that was saved by Kelly.

Not too long later in the 789th min ute, BSU hit a shot in the high left cor ner to equalize with UB at 2-2. UB had multiple solid opportunities to take the lead but never capitalized. In the 85th minute, Simmons took a free kick out side of the box that sailed toward the goal before it was saved by Ball State’s Bethany Moser.

The Bulls couldn’t find the back of the net before the end resulting in a 2-2 draw. The draw leaves them at a 14-game unbeaten streak, which ties a program record set in 2014.

UB will end the regular season at Kent State on Thursday at 3 p.m. If the Bulls can win or tie against the Golden Flashes, they will win the MAC regular season title as well as host the MAC tournament.

The Bulls are riding a program-record 14-game unbeaten streak with one regular season game remaining

yakun liu / the speCtruM Bulls head coach Maurice linGuist runs out onto the Field durinG a recent GaMe

Moaz elazzazi / the speCtruM

FreshMan MidFielder Katie Krohn driBBles the Ball in uB’s 2-1 victory aGainst central MichiGan on thursday