The Spectrum Vol. 67 No. 49

THE SPECTRUM VOL. 67 NO. 48 | APRIL 30, 2018

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

Professors, students discuss UB’s role in gentrification in Buffalo

Lucha Culture: Dylan Rosales embraces Peruvian roots with his clothing

> SEE PAGE 4

> SEE PAGE 5

UBSPECTRUM

UB alum uses social media to support minorities in STEM

> SEE PAGE 5

Spring Fest to be held in Alumni Arena Saturday’s hip-hop and R&B festival will be indoors BRENTON J. BLANCHET

COURTESY | BALL STATE ATHLETICS

Women’s

Tennis WINS THIRD MAC CHAMPIONSHIP

SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

The Bulls holding their newly won 2018 MAC Championship.

This marked the program’s third MAC Championship and the team’s first back-to-back titles.

THOMAS ZAFONTE, NATHANIEL MENDELSON SPORTS DESK

The Bulls made program history in Muncie, Indiana this weekend winning the Mid-American Conference Championship for the second straight year.

Buffalo (17-3, 8-0 MAC) won back-toback games after earning a first-round bye

as the No. 1 seed heading into the tournament. The Bulls tied the school record for most wins in a season at 17 on Sunday afternoon in the 4-2 win against the No. 2 seed Miami (OH) Redhawks (12-9, 7-1 MAC). Senior Lolade Ogungbesan was the tournament’s most valuable player and senior team captain Tanja Stojanovska was named to the All-Tournament team. > SEE

Student government leaders advocate for participatory budgeting at UB

Spring Fest 2018 will take place Saturday in Alumni Arena.

SA Events sent an email to Spring Fest ticket holders Sunday afternoon, which stated the May 5 event will happen inside Alumni Arena due to “low temperatures” and “poor field conditions.”

The email included a weather report that showed Saturday night’s forecast featuring a high of 55 degrees and a low of 45 degrees.

Student Association Entertainment Coordinator Marc Rosenblitt said the temperature threshold minimum of 60 to 65 degrees at the end of the show, based on “industry standards and audience safety,” wasn’t obtainable.

TENNIS | PAGE 8

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SPRING FEST | PAGE 2

UB holds 14th annual Celebration of Student Academic Excellence

Students discuss potential for new budgeting process, UB’s smoking policy

I think this program could be an effective way to reach students that are not normally participating in student government or campus activities, and to let those students’ voices be heard,” Mike Brown, UB Council student representative said.

ELIZABETH NAPOLITANO STAFF WRITER

Student government leaders are looking at other New York colleges as models to give students a greater voice in the university’s budgeting process.

Thursday night, students discussed a proposed budgeting program that would allow more student input. The group also discussed changes to UB’s smoke-free policy.

Mike Brown, the University Council student representative, chaired the meeting.

Participatory budgeting, a process by which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget, has been successfully piloted at Brooklyn College and Queens College within the past two years, according to Brown.

Brown said many UB students are “still struggling to understand why fees are increasing and where the money from those fees is being sent.”

“I think this program could be an effective way to reach students that are not normally participating in student government or campus activities, and to let those students’ voices be heard,” Brown said. > SEE

BUDGETING | PAGE 2

HARUKA KOSUGI | THE SPECTRUM

Recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence stand on stage during UB’s annual Celebration of Excellence.

Students present and discuss research projects MADDY FOWLER, HARUKA KOSUGI SPECTRUM EDITORS

Hundreds gathered in the Center for the Arts for UB’s 14th annual Celebration of Student Academic Excellence on Thursday. The event featured undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines presenting posters that highlighted their research and creative projects.

An awards ceremony hosted by President Satish Tripathi and Vice President for Student Life A. Scott Weber followed. “[These students] have demonstrated

The Spectrum will have its

END-OF-YEAR INTERVIEW

with President Tripathi on May 1.

outstanding achievement in the classroom and beyond,” Weber said as he announced the recipients of the SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence.

Senior computer science major Devashish Agarwal, recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award, said he felt a great amount of “pride” and “humility” winning the award.

“Some of the best people of the university get nominated for [the award], and I am glad I was able to represent the university at the SUNY level,” Agarwal said.

Senior chemistry major Alex D’Arpino said it was a “huge honor” to receive the Graduate Research Fellowship Program. > SEE

EXCELLENCE | PAGE 2

What questions would you like for us to ask him?

EMAIL US AT EIC@UBSPECTRUM.COM

NEWS

2 | Monday, April 30, 2018

ubspectrum.com

WRITER: DAVID TUNIS-GARCIA & ARTIST: TAJ TAYLOR

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

EXCELLENCE “The email notification that I was selected to be a fellow came in at about 1:30 a.m. in the morning,” D’Arpino said. “It was tough celebrating by myself when my whole apartment was asleep.”

D’Arpino will receive up to a combined $138,000 in total aid from the award to help finance his graduate studies.

Third-year counseling psychology Ph.D student Monica Johnson received an Award of Distinction for her research on AfricanAmerican women in academia.

Her research revealed a link between African-American women who are more CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

BUDGETING At the CUNY schools, students completed questionnaires about their level of campus involvement, and the majority said they were uninvolved or minimally involved in campus activities.

The council of advocacy and leadership meeting was comprised of Brown, seven student government presidents and the Student-Wide Judiciary chief justice, Joe Wolf.

Council members worried that the effort to give students more control over their own money would result in higher fees.

“We have already seen increasing student fees over the past few years and we don’t want this to serve as another reason for administrators to create another student fee,” said Tanja Aho, president of the Graduate Student Association.

aligned to the dominant culture and have a higher level of religious commitment with stronger academic skills. The results add to the “current and contradictory” research involving factors that influence college success for African-American women, according to Johnson.

“African-American women are the most educated group by minority status, however not a lot of research goes into what proponents make that so,” Johnson said.

Johnson said it felt “awesome” to receive an Award of Distinction.

Hiu Ying Or, a junior nursing major, completed two research projects which she presented at the poster celebration. Her first project, “Effects of an Email Deliv-

ered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in College Students with Insomnia,” tried to see if email therapy could work as well as in-person therapy to combat sleep deprivation in college students.

The study revealed that after the online intervention, college students’ sleep quality, sleep hygiene and sleep attitudes improved daytime sleepiness.

“We found out it’s just as effective as in-person, and it’s also cost-effective and able to reach out to a bigger audience. It’s a great method to help with insomnia,” Or said.

For her second project, Or used the same data to see how alcohol consumption impacts students’ sleep patterns. The

study found an association with alcohol consumption and poor sleep hygiene as well as morning sleepiness.

Or said completing two large research projects as a nursing student was time consuming, but it was worth the extra effort because she is “really passionate” about research.

“Research is something very interesting and not a lot of [undergraduates] know about it,” Or said. “It’s a very big accomplishment, because we do spend a lot of time in the research setting, so to be able to find the results and present them to a large audience is like the joy of spreading knowledge.”

Maria Coluccio, a representative from the medical school, said she agreed with Aho and also expressed concern that the process could inaccurately group medical and graduate students with undergraduates.

“Obviously lots of things aren’t applicable to graduate and medical students at UB and the priorities of these students are going to be different from those of [21,020] undergraduate students,” Coluccio said. “We would like to see a recommendation to correct data confusion between medical students and graduate students.”

Coluccio also advocated for creating a resolution to ensure that a portion of the participatory budgeting funds would be applied toward graduate and medical student interests. Coluccio echoed recent concerns from graduate and medical students that they often do not see the same benefits as undergraduates through student fee allocation.

Gunnar Haberl, the incoming Student

Association president, said he would be interested in receiving feedback from the CUNY schools that have implemented the new budgeting process.

He also said he would like to do some “independent reading” on the subject to see how participatory budgeting could be realistically implemented at UB without raising student fees.

The policy aims to engage with student smokers by ramping up Wellness Education Services and directing smokers to the appropriate on campus resources and counseling and smoking cessation programs through a process of referrals, according to Brown.

Haberl said he agreed with the report’s general recommendations to implement a new, forceable smoke-free policy, but that he wanted to see a greater commitment to concrete policy recommendations and a more detailed plan as to how those policy proposals could be achieved.

Haberl served as proxy for current SA president, Leslie Veloz, who could not attend the meeting.

Brown conceded that the policy statement is “really just a skeleton” to be developed with UB officials, and asked the group to endorse the Faculty Senate proposal.

Aho recommended any endorsement require that the final policy include input from student government officials to find ways to practically implement the policy.

The council voted unanimously to endorse the smoking proposal and will revisit the budgetary proposal at its next meeting in June.

Changes to UB’s smoke-free policy The council also reviewed a Faculty Senate report about the practical enforcement of campus smoking restrictions.

UB first enacted its no-smoking policy in December of 2009, but members of the university continue to grapple with the unruly problem of implementation. Members of the United University Professions, the union that represents UB’s faculty and staff, argue that the right to smoke on campus is an issue that must go through collective bargaining for there to be any further movement.

The latest Faculty Senate proposal recommended $50 fines or one to two hours of community service for students caught smoking or vaping within 100 feet of designated campus buffer zones.

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SPRING FEST

2018

SUMMER

SESSION

He also said the green space by the Governors lot is “incredibly soft” after monitoring it for a week and that it wouldn’t support the number of Spring Fest attendees.

Rosenblitt recommended that Spring Fest be inside to the SA E-Board, who agreed.

The show’s line will begin at 5:30 p.m. outside Alumni Arena and doors open at 6 p.m., according to the email. The festival will feature hip-hop and R&B artists Ty Dolla $ign, Daniel Caesar and A$AP Ferg.

“Despite the fact that we are inside, it’s

email: news@ubspectrum.com

email: news@ubspectrum.com

going to be a really fun show that features diversity across the hip-hop spectrum. I’m still excited for it,” said Matt Cosmai, SA entertainment director.

Roughly 6,100 students registered online for tickets and 5,000 have already picked them up at the SBI ticket office, according to Cosmai.

This year’s fest has a budget of roughly $400,000 for both production and talent, according to Rosenblitt, less than last year’s budget of $440,000. The fest is funded through the mandatory student activity fee of $104.75 per semester. email: Brenton.Blanchet@ubspectrum.com twitter: @BrentBlanchSpec

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OPINION

ubspectrum.com

THE THESSPECTRUM PECTRUM Monday, April 30, 2018 Volume 67 Number 49 Circulation: 4,000

UB development gentrifies Fruit Belt further, should support ethical development pushed out of their neighborhoods, they are forced to find housing in areas that are not close to good schools. These areas tend to lack access to transit, cultural institutions and social services, which prevents social mobility and keeps low-income communities of color in poverty.

While some Spectrum editors said they feel gentrification is inevitable and it is a price that must be paid for economic growth, others believe the process can be slowed by measures that protect low-income households and vulnerable communities.

The city of Buffalo has taken some steps to address gentrification. In January, Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen announced plans to set aside a land trust in the Fruit Belt neighbor-

hood. A land trust is a private, nonprofit corporation that owns and develops donated land while marketing properties to low- and moderate-income households, allowing residents to buy homes at below market value. The trust would last 99 years and keep the land in the community’s possession and away from outside developers.

As of February, the land trust had not been created, but community members are still advocating for the trust to be put in place.

Mayor Byron Brown’s Complete Community Initiative is a plan to protect low-income families in “historically under-resourced,” diverse neighborhoods as property values soar.

There are also community-based efforts against gentrification. People United for Sustainable Hous-

ing works towards green, affordable housing and sustainable development through a combination of grassroots strategies and political advocacy. PUSH wants policies like inclusionary zoning, a type of municipal and county planning ordinance that requires a share of new construction to be affordable to people with low to moderate incomes. And the Buffalo chapter of Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a national nonprofit that supports community development, focuses on building “financial and organizational capacity, [investing] in their projects and [connecting] them with a national network of experts and resources that can help make their communities stronger.”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Charles Zukoski knowing we had reached a fair negotiation of graduate workers’ contracts.

Perhaps we should settle for the T-shirts.

We won’t say UB should “give” us this swag. Despite Southern Illinois University’s characterization of adjuncts, neither they nor graduate student workers are volunteers. We don’t need the university to “give” us anything; we require compensation for our labor. We echo the teachers in Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma who walked out and demanded recognition for their work.

Teaching may be a gift, but educators can’t live on gratitude.

And it’s entirely too coincidental that on April 15, the day of the Living Stipend Movement’s most recent protest, the Office of Annual Giving sent a precursor to the UB Giving Day email with the subject line “Here’s What the UB Fund Gives You.” How did universities arrive at this “gift” narrative?

UB already claims to “give” graduate teaching assistants a to-

tal package of $38,000, a number they not only fail to clearly delineate, but also grossly inflate through the inclusion of tuition waivers. No respectable research institution would expect its graduate student workers to pay tuition. The fact that this veritable Monopoly money is untaxed only further proves it is neither a gift nor a source of income.

Here is how UB keeps its coffers full: by underpaying its adjunct and graduate student workers, and charging graduate students over $2,000 in fees every year for these “gifts,” all while funneling donations into a so called non-profit Foundation all but sequestered from the light of audit.

Until the university right-sizes its priorities and compensates us with living wages, they can keep their T-shirts and coffee mugs.

ever, after this vote, it’s unlikely for us to do so, since we might deal with the same situation next year. I only say that because of how past meetings with the council have been conducted.

I’m concerned with the confusion that goes around during an Engineering Council meeting. It seemed like the majority of members were not familiar with how a meeting should proceed. To make matters worse, some members were not aware of all of their voting options. A few members contacted me afterward and explained how they fully support the ideas behind the amendment, but they have some disagreements with the wording or how some didn’t think that it goes far enough to fix all of the flaws in the current constitution. In this situation, it would have been reasonable to support the amendment or at least abstain from voting.

On a personal note, I was truly upset about last week’s vote. I explained to the council that it was no longer about the amendment, but the 43 percent of us that transferred to UB. I personally would have loved to come to UB as a freshman. However, it would’ve been difficult for me to do so. My family and I immigrated to the United States, and we do not have the financial means to afford four years of UB, so I went to community college first.

It’s unfortunate that even though

I served on an engineering club eboard in the past, the Engineering Council would not recognize my experience nor give me an equal opportunity to run for office.

I believe that actions like this shouldn’t be allowed to happen, and executive decisions need to be taken in the rare event where a flaw in the constitution jeopardizes the rights and privileges of students. These events can also jeopardize the legitimacy of the council – how is it possible that voting members who are not aware of simple rules of order be allowed to vote on whether or not their fellow students should have the same rights and privileges as they do? We all pay the same mandatory fees and to be treated like this should not be acceptable.

I urge the future engineering coordinator and the SA e-board to assure that members of the council are familiar with the rules of order and etiquettes in meetings in general. I have made myself constantly available to discuss these issues, and I earnestly hope that the council can change its position in the future.

EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in Chief Hannah Stein

Managing Editor David Tunis-Garcia

Creative Director Pierce Strudler Phuong Vu, Asst.

Copy Editors Dan McKeon, Chief Emma Medina Savanna Caldwell, Asst.

Cassi Enderle, Asst.

Lauryn King, Asst.

News Editors Sarah Crowley, Senior Max Kalnitz Haruka Lucas Kosugi, Asst.

Anna Savchenko, Asst.

Features Editors Benjamin Blanchet, Senior Wanly Chen, Asst.

Erik Tingue, Asst.

Arts Editors Brenton Blanchet, Senior Brian Evans, Asst.

Sports Editors Thomas Zafonte, Senior Nathaniel Mendelson, Asst.

Editorial Editor Maddy Fowler

Multimedia Editors Allison Staebell, Senior Jack Li, Asst.

Elijah Pike, Asst.

Cartoonist Ardi Digap Taj Taylor

PROFESSIONAL STAFF Office Administrator Helene Polley

Advertising Manager Ayesha Kazi

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ABOUT THE SPECTRUM The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ ubspectrum.com.

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Monday, April 30, 2018 | 3

The Fruit Belt neighborhood is being rapidly gentrified, and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biological Sciences’ new downtown location is playing a big role in the process with minimal effort to deter it.

Gentrification raises the land value and economic status of a neighborhood, increasing its desirability for middle and upperclass residents, but almost always leading to the displacement of long-time low-income residents.

The displacement of vulnerable communities is a nationwide problem. Buffalo is already the sixth most racially segregated in the U.S., and continued gentrification would only make the problem worse.

When low-income families are

Regarding UB Giving Day: Through either serendipity or a strange current of capitalist synergy, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Robin Schulze’s office sent the announcement “Coming Next Week: UB Giving Day,” soliciting donations from every underpaid graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences within days of The Chronicle of Higher Education publishing “Want to be a ‘Volunteer Adjunct’?

Southern Illinois U. Is Hiring.”

As graduate student laborers at the University of Buffalo and members of the UB Living Stipend Movement, we’re all too familiar with what the university “gives” us. With the right hand, it dangles access to world-class researchers and a possibility of one day becoming noteworthy scholars ourselves, while with the left it holds the whip of near-pov-

erty level wages, uncompensated labor and an ever-shrinking job market. The UB Giving Day email both asked for donations from our already paltry pay and contained yet another demand on our nonexistent free time: that we represent the university on Giving Day as ambassadors in return for “free swag.”

The swag we want is not the swag they have in mind. We’d love the swag of knowing our university valued the over sixty hours a week graduate student workers spend teaching, researching and writing in fulfillment of the university’s mission. We’d love the swag of the less than one percent of the university’s overall budget that it would take to pay every graduate teaching assistant on campus a living wage. We’d love to swagger out of a meeting with Dean of the Graduate School Graham Hammill and Provost

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, I’m writing to express my deep concern regarding the path that the Engineering Council is pursuing, and to update the UB community on what happened last week. Last Monday, the council struck down an amendment that was supposed to better include transfer students.

I’m currently a junior chemical engineering major who transferred to UB this past fall. I held many leadership positions at my previous institution. I served as student trustee where I had the opportunity to work with legislators in Washington on matters like Year-Round Pell grants. I worked with college administrators and state officials to advocate for the Middle Class Recovery Act. Most importantly, I had the privilege of serving as president of the Engineering Leadership Council. I transferred to UB hoping to continue to make a change – never would I’ve thought that transfer students can face this much obstruction from a student organization.

I’ve been expressing my interest to run for engineering coordinator earlier in the semester, but it was only a few days before elec-

tions that I knew for sure that it wasn’t going to happen. I was told that my past leadership experience didn’t matter when it came down to the position of engineering coordinator, and that there was no way to verify my experience because it was outside of UB. Moreover, I was told the amendment I proposed to the council needed to be revised before it can be accepted by the SA executive board – this effectively forced me to concede my campaign for engineering coordinator. It was clear that the current engineering coordinator and the SA e-board were not interested in taking any executive actions, let alone supporting the amendment in rhetoric.

At that point, my team and I were hoping to see the council preform a purely symbolic vote on the amendment and send a message of inclusion to transfer students. We also wanted to use this as an indication on whether or not to approach the council again with a revised version.

Unfortunately, the opposite was true. The majority of the council voted against the amendment.

The current elections and credentials chair gave me a draft amendment that followed SA guidelines, which I deeply appreciate. How-

> SEE

EDITORIAL | PAGE 5

Warmly, Macy McDonald Nicole Lowman Leslie Nickerson University at Buffalo graduate students

Sincerely, Omran Albarazanchi Chemical Engineering, Class of 2019 University at Buffalo, The State University of New York omranoma@buffalo.edu

NEWS

4 | Monday, April 30, 2018

Professors, students discuss UB’s role in gentrification in Buffalo Panelists examine the city’s history of segregation and lack of affordable housing at DifCon ANNA SAVCHENKO ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Around 30 UB faculty, staff members and students gathered in Crosby Hall on South Campus Tuesday night to discuss their concerns on how the university impacts city neighborhoods.

DifCon, also known as Difficult Conversations, is a discussion series sponsored by the Office of Inclusive Excellence, which aims to bring members of the UB community together to discuss sensitive societal issues. Tuesday’s event featured two panelists who presented their views on gentrification: Jessica Coley, a graduate sociology student and recently elected 2018-19 Graduate Student Association president; and John Washington, a community organizer and member of PUSH Buffalo, a local organization aiming to establish more affordable housing opportunities in Buffalo’s West Side. Julia Schoonover, a graduate sociology student, moderated the discussion.

The conversation centered on segregation and the representation of people of color in downtown Buffalo. It looked at how some of the university’s plans negatively impacted the local community.

The talk focused on the construction of UB’s medical campus in downtown Buffalo, and UB 2020, which aims to revital-

ize UB’s campuses through infrastructural projects in poor areas of Buffalo.

Washington explained the UB 2020 plan began in the 1990s as an initiative to move the university’s resources back to the city because of its relationship to downtown Buffalo.

The process of gentrification created an enormous inequality gap, as the expansion of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and other similar institutions near the Fruit Belt neighborhood –– where property values were historically low –– changed the nature of the community, Washington said.

“Between 2004 and 2012, around 9,000 people moved out of the Fruit Belt area,” Washington said. “And even though there is no statistical way to prove it, if you go into the neighborhood and talk to the people that are left, most of them will say it’s because of rising home values, because their children and other people who were supporting them were continually getting harassed and because of the policing culture that was created.”

Coley expressed her concern over the small black population at UB, which is currently 8 percent of the student body, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Coley said UB’s minority population is not representative of the 38 percent of Buffalo’s population that is black.

The movement of UB’s predominantly white community into traditionally black neighborhoods has led to displacement, Washington said.

Coley added that “well-educated” people who start to park their cars around the gentrified neighborhoods call the police on people of color standing outside the corner store or next to

MIKE BROWN ELECTED 2018-19 UB COUNCIL STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE

MADDY FOWLER | THE SPECTRUM

Junior political science and computer science major Mike Brown has been elected for a second term as UB Council student representative.

Brown’s plans for his second term include improved parking and a implementing a student-centric budgeting system.

Current Council student representative re-elected for a second term MADDY FOWLER EDITORIAL EDITOR

Students elected Mike Brown for a second term as UB Council student representative. Brown wants to improve parking, continue supporting efforts to get the UB Foundation to divest from fossil fuels and implement a new student-centric budgeting process.

The UB Council student representative election took place online from April 24 to 26. Brown, a junior political science and computer science major, ran unop-

posed. Four hundred and forty three students voted in the election. Brown received 370 votes, and 73 voters abstained.

As the UB Council’s student representative, Brown sits on the University Council, which is the primary oversight and advisory body to UB, its president and senior officers. He serves as a representative for UB’s roughly 30,000 students and is chair for the Council of Advocacy and Leadership, a committee consisting of members from UB’s seven student governments.

Brown also serves as an ex-officio member of the Faculty Staff Senate.

“I’m really glad that people trust me to be re-elected,” Brown said. “A lot of progress is being made on different issues, and being in the role for a year already I now know how it works, so I am looking forward to this upcoming [year].”

Brown said he thinks his biggest accom-

their cars at night, when the long-time residents were the ones who were there in the first place.

“I’ve talked to people in these neighborhoods, and they don’t think UB is doing a good enough job. They don’t think Buffalo is doing a good job,” Coley said. “They feel left out of these neighborhoods. They feel like they don’t even belong there anymore, so I think if we actually talk to the people whose opinions matter, to those who have been marginalized, they’re going to tell us that we’re doing a terrible job, and we need to listen to them.”

A Q&A session followed Washington’s and Coley’s speeches. The crowd asked the panelists questions.

Tanja Aho, the current GSA president, asked the panelists how students should pressure the university for not being responsive to communities like those in the Fruit Belt.

Washington told the crowd to engage in

ubspectrum.com conversation with as many people as they can, and put pressure on whoever gets the most “pissed off ” about it.

Jaycee Miller, a sophomore political science and environmental design major, asked panelists what they thought about the relationship between UB’s student population and University Heights residents.

Washington suggested the fraternities and sororities in the Heights area should do more work in the community, because they are the ones who “cause problems,” not Heights residents.

Miller said she lives in the Heights because she cannot afford housing around North Campus. She said the loud music and trash left behind by the Greek life parties is “annoying,” and feels like UB can do more to provide students with more affordable housing opportunities.

“Greek life volunteers for credit every semester, and they upkeep this image that they are working for community betterment,” Miller said. “But the amount of harm they do throughout the semester outweighs the good.” email anna.savchenko@ubspectrum.com twitter @annasavchenkooo

EMILY LI | THE SPECTRUM

Panelists John Washington (left) and Jessica Coley (middle) discuss concerns on how the university’s three campuses are impacting Buffalo neighborhoods.

plishment as UB Council student representative during the 2017-18 school year was getting some late-night busing reinstated after UB decided to cut all late night busing as a measure to deter partying in the University Heights neighborhood.

“The busing decision was something that required all stakeholders to have a voice at the table,” Brown said. “It did take a lot of meetings and putting our voice out there through local media and having students show up at actual community meetings to show that we care about this issue.

We wanted a solution that works best for everyone, and I think that’s ultimately what the shuttle option was.”

Brown also cites Fossil Free UB’s activism as an important accomplishment. Advocating for the UB Foundation to divest from fossil fuels was one of the platforms Brown ran on last year.

“Although we haven’t seen the results yet, there is a lot to be really proud of for the Fossil Free UB team,” Brown said. “That also shows the importance of being active student leaders and recognizing that for a lot of these things, it shouldn’t just be the elected student officials doing all the work –– they need to work collaboratively with the entire student body.”

Council representative, Brown wants to introduce a student-centric budgeting system called participatory budgeting. The system is based on the structure of some city government budgets that allow community members to decide how city money is spent.

At UB, participatory budgeting would involve students submitting ideas for what projects they would like to see their money go toward –– for example, a heated bus stop, Brown said. Student volunteers, called budget delegates, would create formal budget proposals based on student input and students would be able to vote on which proposals they want to see implemented.

Brown hopes if participatory budgeting is enacted, it could be a step toward giving students more of a say in the comprehensive fee.

“Right now there’s just a [comprehensive

fee] consultation, and there’s a lot of disillusionment about the consultation results and if they even go anywhere,” Brown said. “[Participatory budgeting] gives students real power over real decisions on how [the administration] spends real student money.”

Brown also plans to work with UB Transportation Director Chris Austin on addressing the parking issues on campus.

Brown believes a simple solution would be installing electric signs outside parking lots.

“So a simple thing would be electronic signs outside, perhaps just one in busiest parking lots,” Brown said. “We would work with the engineering school to implement a sensor or camera ... that tracks how many cars are in the parking lot currently, so you don’t drive around only to find nothing.”

Brown said he also wants to address food insecurity on campus, find a solution to more strictly police the UB Smoke Free policy and advocate for more mental health resources.

He said a big focus next term will be to develop underclassmen into student leaders.

“Bringing more voices to the table, lifting up current undergrads who are either first years or sophomores and helping them figure out how they can become active on campus, and get involved in these issues and take leadership once we graduate,” Brown said.

The biggest lesson Brown said he has learned during his term as UB Council student representative is that he cannot fix UB’s problems all by himself.

“A huge thing is recognizing when you as an individual representative don’t necessarily have any decision making power.

The entire role is about working with others,” Brown said. “The only way any way of these issues can be successful is through broad-based collaboration.” email maddy.fowler@ubspectrum.com twitter @mmfowler13

FEATURES

ubspectrum.com

Monday, April 30, 2018 | 5

LUCHA CULTURE Dylan Rosales embraces Peruvian roots with his clothing GISELLE SANTIAGO STAFF WRITER

COURTESY | DYLAN ROSALES

Dylan Rosales’ entire clothing line is made in Peru. Pictured here, his manufacturer stitches his most recent releases: black and red Inca chakana hoodies.

Dylan Rosales cares deeply about Peru.

A Peruvian flag is draped on the wall of his apartment. On breaks, Rosales visits relatives in Peru.

His love for his heritage bleeds into his clothing line, Lucha Culture.

Rosales, a senior international trade major, started the Peruvian-made clothing line in 2016. Lucha Culture offers hoodies, shirts, beanies, five-panels and other pieces. The clothing is manufactured in Peru’s Trapiche district, just outside of the country’s capital of Lima.

He developed the brand in honor of his grandmother, Lucha, who wanted to see him follow in her footsteps and pursue clothing design. Rosales said after his grandmother died in 2015, he looked for a way to commemorate her.

“I told her, ‘If I ever make a clothing brand, I’ll name it after you’ because when I was a kid, she used to make my clothes and knit sweaters and jackets for me,” Rosales said. “To the public it’s a clothing brand, but to me it’s something different.”

UB ALUM uses social media to support minorities in STEM Femi Olu-Talabi helps students rise in their careers GISELLE SANTIAGO STAFF WRITER

Femi Olu-Talabi was ready to give up on his dream of becoming a doctor when he ended his freshman year with a 2.3 GPA. Instead, he began to connect with peers who shared his goals.

After graduating from UB in 2016 with an undergraduate degree in biology, OluTalabi founded the Instagram page @_minoritiesinmedicine and YouTube Channel called “Minorities in Medicine.”

Olu-Talabi admits he did not have enough academic conversations in his freshman year, but knew he should connect with peers who share the same goals to be successful.

His struggles inspired him to create the platforms. Olu-Talabi said he believes students prefer encouragement from peers who are pursuing the same dreams.

“This is a platform for minority stu-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

EDITORIAL The university could have avoided displacing some families by constructing oncampus apartments for medical students, similar to the apartments at the SUNY Upstate Medical University campus. Looking ahead, the university should strongly consider constructing housing for students to

dents who are looking at other minority students that are succeeding,” Olu-Talabi said. “The best part about succeeding is talking to people.”

Olu-Talabi said his role in the African Student Association and as an RA helped connect him with peers.

He believes the lack of diversity in STEM contributes to dwindling student interest, but Olu-Talabi hopes his social media platforms will change that.

The page has over a thousand followers on Instagram, where students can see stories of fellow minorities overcoming adversity to succeed in STEM. Joedie Padilla, a graduate student in biomedical sciences, said seeing another minority pursuing a STEM career inspired her to pursue a similar path.

“A lot of minority students that plan on pursuing a medical profession go to college knowing that it’s not going to be an easy path,” Padilla said. “It’s not until we begin to experience the challenges ourselves that we realize the true definition of a minority in the medical field.”

Olu-Talabi grew up in an economically disadvantaged family and lacked educational resources as a child. He said he hopes his social media platforms will be a gateway for students to overlook their personal challenges.

slow gentrification in the area.

The city of Buffalo should also encourage development along abandon parts of Main Street, particularly by metro stations.

Students could live in those developments without displacing historical neighborhoods and use the subway to commute to the medical campus. The proposed smart corridor should spur on the revitalization of the largely vacant Main Street, but the city could do more to incentivize developers.

All of Rosales’ clothing is made in Peru.

He makes the designs in the United States and sends them to his manufacturer, who hand stitches them.

After waiting a few years to start a brand, Rosales said he committed to extensive research about what his brand should be. He eventually found a way to maximize his costs as a college student.

When he sold his first products, Rosales was shocked his family and friends wanted to buy more of his goods. By exporting his merchandise from Peru, Rosales minimizes his spending and the costs to make clothing. It would have been more expensive within the U.S. Lucha Culture’s goal is not necessarily profit, Rosales said, but rather self-expression through art and design.

Rosales’ first product, his Lucha Culture beanie, only had an embroidered stitch in the front that said “Lucha.” His grandmother’s nickname isn’t the only thing his brand represents; it’s Spanish for “to fight.”

“When you think of the brand, you have to think about how it relates to you and how it relates to the public,” Rosales said.

“Everything we do in life is a fight.

Whether it’s school, work, family –– it’s all a struggle. But we all do it because we love it, and every day we fight to achieve something.”

Isabel Montes, one of Rosales’ customers, said Lucha Culture is a way to spread

Peruvian culture around the Buffalo area.

“Even though I’m not from Peru, as a Latina, I feel wearing a shirt, hoodie or hat with the Lucha Culture logo creates curiosity of its significance,” said Montes, a junior industrial engineering major.

“Therefore, [it’s] spreading the knowledge of Peru in an area where there’s hardly any knowledge of any Latin American countries.”

Apart from embroidering Lucha Culture onto pieces of clothing, Rosales said he wants to show others who he is to teach them about his upbringing.

The Inca Chakana symbol, which means “to bridge,” is used in his shirt and hoodie designs. It comes together in a symmetric way, alongside a square border encompassing the symbol. Wherever you cut it or break it into two, it comes out as equal.

A YouTuber, David So, has been a source of inspiration to Rosales. Like Rosales, much of So’s clothing designs are made as forms of self-expression.

Rosales said creating a brand and making clothes is a lifestyle worth pursuing.

“I want people to identify quality products with Lucha Culture,” Rosales said.

“When people buy my stuff for the first time, it might be because it’s me and they’ll buy it for me, but later on they’ll be wanting my clothes because it’s a Lucha Culture branded shirt or hoodie.”

“It’s easier to relate to someone who looks like you, talks like you, dresses like you,” Olu-Talabi said.

The stories shared on Olu-Talabi’s social media show minority students that there are still opportunities, even for those with low grade-point averages. Volunteering and job shadowing are ways students can show colleges their passion for the field, according to Padilla.

“It’s good to be reminded that it is possible, especially when it’s coming from people that understand and have experienced the same struggles you have,” Padilla said.

Alumnus Rachel Fenton said the platforms were inspiring and encouraging as an African-American woman pursuing her doctorate.

“As minorities, we are many times negatively stereotyped academically. When you’re

pursuing a field where you’re surrounded by people who don’t look like you, it can sometimes get discouraging,” Fenton said.

Olu-Talabi said he encourages people to take advantage of these voices spreading hope and determination. He is asking followers to post their educational track with a #onelovefortheculture hashtag to promote a “positive trend” in minority communities.

Olu-Talabi plans to start medical school in Syracuse in the fall. He said he hopes his story can be a “voice” to others who are looking to break barriers and pursue higher education.

“People just think ‘I can’t be a doctor anymore because I got a C,’” Olu-Talabi said. “All it takes is one conversation for someone to switch his or her life.”

email: features@ubspectrum.com

email: features@ubspectrum.com

COURTESY | FEMI OLU-TALABI

Femi Olu-Talabi, UB alum and founder of the Instagram page @_minoritiesinmedicine and YouTube Channel “Minorities in Medicine,” discusses how his social media aims to encourage minorities pursuing STEM fields.

As a state school, UB has a particular responsibility to be aware of its effects on the surrounding community. Unfortunately, the construction of the new medical campus has focused heavily on what a boon it will be for the downtown economy, ignoring the effects of the new location on the vulnerable populations that already live there.

While the new medical campus is an exciting achievement for the university, it is

not without negative consequences for the surrounding community. Going forward, the socially responsible thing for the university to do would be acknowledging its role in the gentrification of the Fruit Belt and actively advocating for measures such as inclusionary zoning, rent control and supporting community organizations like PUSH. email: opinion@ubspectrum.com

6 | Monday, April 30, 2018

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8 | Monday, April 30, 2018

SPORTS

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MEN’S TENNIS MAC CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP NATHANIEL MENDELSON

Bulls lose 4-2 in final to Western Michigan

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

UB men’s tennis season ended Saturday with a 4-2 loss to the Western Michigan Broncos during the final match of the Mid-American Conference Championships. The Bulls played in front of the home crowd at Miller Tennis Center as Buffalo hosted the tournament for the first time in head coach Lee Nickell’s tenure.

Sophomore Villhelm “Ville” Fridell and senior Vidit Vaghela were named to the All-MAC tournament team during the championship ceremony. For Vaghela, the recognition was a small consolation for a senior who wanted another chance at the NCAA Tournament.

On Friday, Nickell expressed his opinion on the senior’s final season.

“I’m so happy for Vidit. That guy has had a rough year, had a few yips types of deals. But with his doubles play, he’s helped carry our team and for him to win like that today, I’m so happy for him.”

Next season, the Bulls will be without Vaghela and Vodak, the only two seniors on the team.

Nickell described them as “program changers” and could not thank them enough for setting the benchmark of success for the program. The duo became the first-ever nationally ranked doubles team for the

Bulls this season.

“It’s going to be super hard to lose these two and we’re going to miss them daily, but they’ve left this place better than when they came,” Nickell said. “We get the core of our group back, and we’ll bring in a few recruits. The only direction this program is going is up.”

The tournament began Friday afternoon with the No. 2 seed Bulls (13-10, 6-3 MAC) taking on the No. 3 seed Northern Illinois Huskies (15-8, 5-3 MAC).

The matchup was the second time in two weeks the teams played, with Buffalo winning the first matchup 6-1. Friday’s matchup saw the Bulls clinch the doubles point to go up 1-0 early in the match.

“This was the best doubles we’ve played by far,” Nickell said. “It was fantastic to start off with that and it gives you just that little bit of confidence.”

COURTESY NICK LOVERDE/UB ATHLETICS

Sophomore Villhelm Fridell celebrates after winning his match. His victory propelled the Bulls to the finals of the MAC Championships this past weekend.

Singles play did not go as well for the Bulls. Like last week, four of the six matches went to a third set. Vaghela was the only Bull to win in two sets 6-3, 6-1.

As the first finisher, Vaghela won but had to watch and wait as the other five matches finished.

Up 2-0 in the match, senior Petr Vodak and sophomore Hao Sheng Koay both lost their matches and allowed Northern Illinois to tie 2-2. Next, freshman Nickolas Frisk won and junior Ethan Nittolo lost to keep the match tied at 3-3. All eyes were planted on court two as Fridell entered the third set against senior Eric Marbach from Northern Illinois. Marbach defeated Fridell in their matchup the week prior.

Fridell broke Marbach’s serve to take a two-game 5-3 lead. The crowd watched as Fridell, now serving, won the match for the Bulls. Fridell won four straight points to advance the Bulls to the final.

“We trust everybody in this moment, but we know that Ville is going to give the same level of competitiveness from start to finish,” Nickell said. “We could rest assured knowing we had the best chance to win with him out there. He handled the pressure so well.”

Even with everyone surrounding him, Fridell wasn’t aware of the immediate impact of his match.

“Everyone was cheering me on. I got so much energy from the crowd,” Fridell said. “That brought me up so much. Everything was positive. I hit some big shots in big moments and that also brought my energy way up. I felt really good in that spot.”

With the match finally over, the Bulls regrouped and refocused for Saturday’s match against the No. 1 seed Western Michigan Broncos (22-4, 7-0 MAC), the only team to beat Buffalo in conference play.

The Bulls began Saturday the same as Friday. Buffalo won the doubles point and were the first MAC team to beat Western Michigan in doubles all season. Freshman Matthew Johnson and Nittolo clinched the point with a 6-4 victory. Vaghela and Vodak won the first doubles match 6-3, in the duo’s final collegiate match together.

Western Michigan dominated the Bulls in singles play. Frisk, Vodak and Koay all lost in two sets while Nittolo was the only Bull to win in two. Up 3-2, all eyes were on Fridell again as he entered a second set tiebreaker with Western Michigan sophomore Jannik Opitz. Fridell took the tiebreak 8-6 and forced the third set. Opitz gathered himself and took charge the third set, winning it 6-1 and making Western Michigan the 2018 MAC Champions.

“We gave our best shot,” Nickell said.

“We played as well as we could.”

While Western Michigan celebrated their accomplishment, Nickell huddled his team together and congratulated them on the season.

“This year was such a success,” Nickell told the team. “We went through some ups and downs, but took care of business against teams that we were supposed to beat. Western has a bit more resources than we do, and it’s always a monumental effort to beat them. This year they were just too good.” email: nathaniel.mendelson@ubspectrum.com

Bulls get swept by Ohio with lackluster hitting Buffalo loses three-game road series over the weekend SPORTS DESK

Buffalo struggled this weekend against the Ohio Bobcats, losing three games by eight or more points. The Bulls (15-29, 6-14 Mid-American Conference) have not scored more than two runs in a game since April 18 and are on a seven-game losing streak.

The teams played their first game on Friday with the Bobcats (32-14, 18-2 MAC) winning 9-1. Ohio picked up scoring seven runs in the third and fourth inning combined. Senior third baseman Danielle Lallos had one of only four hits for the Bulls in the game, driving in senior centerfielder Leandra Jew. The run was Buffalo’s sole RBI of the weekend. Ohio’s senior pitcher Danielle Stiene struck out

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

TENNIS “It is no surprise,” said head coach Kristen Maines. “They had total domination in the regular season and championship. …

Tanja and Lolade are the true definitions of champions. They went out there and played with composure and gave it their all. I couldn’t be more proud.”

The Bulls completed their season on a 14-game winning streak and return seven of 10 players for next season. Buffalo will host the MAC Championship next year after winning the MAC season title.

“That has been my personal goal: to create a legacy,” Maines said. “Going into this season, I wanted to do things for the program that haven’t been done before. I think back-to-back MAC Championships and a season title are quite a legacy already.

We want to show that both women’s and men’s tennis are strong programs.”

10, in her first complete game performance of the weekend.

Junior pitcher Lace Smith started the second game for the Bulls, failing to record more than one out. The Bobcats won 17-0 in five innings on Saturday. The Bobcats earned nine runs in the first and capitalized on Buffalo’s six errors. Buffalo’s sole hit came from Lallos in the second, making her the only Bull to get a hit in more than one game.

Buffalo’s misfortune continued in the second Saturday game where they lost 8-0 in five innings. Ohio recorded 10 or more hits in all three games against Buffalo. Junior pitcher Ally Power pitched her second game of the weekend, allowing six runs as her earned run average inflated to 4.67. This is a far cry from her no-hitter performance on March 23. Five teams have swept the Bulls this season, and Buffalo had no doubles, triples or home runs the entire weekend.

In two games, the Bulls combined for ten errorrs and only five hits. Head coach Mike Roberts adjusted his defensive positioning. He moved sophomore second baseman Jenelle Martinez to short stop, Lallos from third to second base and junior short stop Alissa Karjel moved to third. The changes worked as the Bulls only committed one error in the final game of the series.

Sophomore catcher Jessica Goldyn has been one of the Bulls’ best hitters. In 33 games, Goldyn hit for a team-high .404 batting average and only struck out six times in her 99 at-bats. Despite her stats, Goldyn has not appeared in any contest since April 13. The Bulls have only won one game in her absence.

The Bulls play the Niagara Purple Eagles (14-27, 6-6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) next on Wednesday in a road doubleheader, with the first game set to start at 3 p.m.

On Saturday, Buffalo played No. 4 seed Bowling Green (13-8, 5-3 MAC), winning 4-1 for its 13th straight victory.

“They went after us, but [the Bulls] were just too tough,” Maines said. “Bowling Green did not want to give us that win, but we were just the better team.”

In doubles junior Chantal Martinez Blanco and Ogungbesan won 6-2 at the start of the match. Bowling Green took the third doubles match next, with the second doubles match to decide the point. Sophomore Anna Savchenko and Stojanovska forced a tiebreaker. The duo lost 7-3 with Bowling Green taking the doubles point. It was the first time the Bulls lost doubles since March 30.

Down 1-0 for the match, the Bulls dominated in singles. Buffalo won the first set in five out of six matches to pick up the victory. Stojanovska finished first with a 6-0, 6-2 victory to give Buffalo its first points. In order, junior Arianna Paules Aldrey, Ogungbesan and sophomore Emel

Abibula won to clinch the match.

Junior Sanjana Sudhir led 6-4, 4-2 when she clinched, ending her match. This season, Maines said players want to be a part of the four points that clinch the match.

In years prior, teammates wondered if someone would finish before them, now they all race to finish first.

The Bulls took on the Redhawks in the championship match for the second consecutive year. Buffalo earned its second straight MAC Championship season with the 4-2 win Sunday afternoon. This is the first season the program won the MAC season and tournament championship.

The second and third doubles pairs of Savchenko and Stojanovska, Aldrey and Abibula each lost 6-2. The Bulls, down 1-0 for the second straight day, had to rebound against a tougher opponent.

“Miami didn’t want to lose at all. They had us fighting from the start,” Maines said. “They got the better of us out there

MADISON MEYER | THE SPECTRUM

Junior pitcher Ally Power gets ready to windup her pitch. The Ohio Bobcats swept the Bulls, making for a rough weekend.

email: sports@ubspectrum.com twitter: @ubspecsports

at times, but I knew this team would not let the win go away. From day one, they all thought this was our year and they proved themselves right.”

Blanco won her first set on-court one to start singles play. Stojanovska and Aldrey took theirs on courts two and six, respectively. Aldrey and Stojanovska each won in the second set to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead.

Abibula lost her first set, but rebounded to win 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to put the Bulls up 3-1. Ogungbesan led 3-0 in her third set and was on track to clinch the match for Buffalo. She went on to win her third set 6-3 and clinch the match for the Bulls.

“I feel true happiness,” Maines said. “I can’t be more proud as a coach for my players. To do it with these incredible ladies just gives me so much joy. We wanted to do something special for UB and today we did it.” email: sports@ubspectrum.com twitter: @ubspecsports