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UBSPECTRUM.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
VOLUME 65 NO. 54
UB still paying Mutua full salary despite his new job TOM DINKI EDITOR IN CHIEF
Law professor Makau Mutua has been on leave from UB for nearly a year and recently took a job in Washington D.C., yet the university is still paying the former law school dean his full salary – a salary that nears $300,000. Mutua is working as a human rights adviser for World Bank, an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries. Such consultants in Washington, D.C., where Mutua’s Twitter account shows he spends most of his time, make an average salary of $90,000. World Bank would not confirm if Mutua made such a salary or his exact position, but on his social media accounts he calls himself a World Bank human rights adviser. Mutua did not respond to Spectrum emails requesting an interview for this story. According to SUNY policy, the university president has to approve outside income for a faculty member earning salary while on sabbatical. The president also can choose to lower the faculty member’s salary if that member receives outside income while on leave. That did not occur in Mutua’s case. UB officials say this is because Mutua is on a special kind of leave, known as Title F leave, which doesn’t require faculty members to get approval for outside earnings. President Satish Tripathi, and all SUNY university presidents, can grant employees Title F leave with full salary, reduced salary
Ex-law school dean not subject to reduced salary or no salary. UB officials confirmed Mutua is being paid full salary. As part of the Title F application, the professor must explain the value of the work the professor will do for the university. The Spectrum requested Mutua’s Title F application early Tuesday morning, but UB officials could not produce it by press time. Mutua, having recently stepped down as dean, taught one class in the spring of 2015 and was on leave for the fall of 2015. Still, UB paid him a salary equal to that of what he made as a dean. He made $292,443 in 2015, according to SeeThroughNY, which compiles salaries of New York state employees. He had a base salary of $255,500 and the rest was bonuses. World Bank’s human resources department said it cannot provide compensation related information, but Glassdoor, a website that allows employees to anonymously review and post salary information of large companies, reports that the average salary of a World Bank consultant in Washington D.C. is approximately $90,000. A World Bank human resources representative did, however, confirm that all consultant positions are paid and short-term appointments, meaning not permanent, only as of June 2015. Mutua is scheduled to teach law school classes at UB this fall, according to a professor in the law school. The law school has yet to release its fall 2016 course offerings to students.
Paying tribute
Mutua announced his position as a “consultant” at World Bank on Facebook in October, but later specified his position as a human rights adviser. The law school has reduced its size in recent years. The school announced in March of 2014 that it planned to shrink its incoming class from 200-225 students to fewer than 200 and to reduce its faculty from 48 to 40. Although the school has a total of 51 full-time faculty members employed, only 27 were teaching classes last fall – exactly half the amount that were teaching five years prior. According to the UB Law School budget from the 2014-15 school year, $19.6 million of the school’s $23 million in expenditures went toward salaries and fringe benefits for employees. Mutua receiving full salary despite being away from the school and taking on outside work is troubling beyond just the former dean’s individual case, a professor in the law school said. The professor said it raises questions about how UB regulates pay of faculty once they downgrade in positions. Mutua resigned as dean of the UB Law School in December of 2014 amid a lengthy legal battle with a former professor who claims Mutua wrongfully terminated him and committed perjury in the legal proceedings. The case has wound its way through court and included testimony from law faculty professors. In December, a U.S. magistrate
COURTESY OF UB NEWS CENTER, DOUGLAS LEVERE
Makau Mutua has been on leave from UB for more than a year but is still receiving a salary close to $300,000 including bonuses.
judge recommended dismissal of the case to U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, who will make the final decision. Jeffrey Malkan, the former law professor suing Mutua, said Arcara listened to his and Mutua’s lawyers’ arguments on Feb. 18 and he expects Arcara to make a final decision within three months. He said Mutua did not show up to the arguments. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Members of the art department remember Solomon Jackson MARLEE TUSKES SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
When Solomon Jackson introduced himself in his Art in the Everyday class, he said he was “sweet like a Georgia peach,” and smiled, according to Warren Quigley. The one thing Quigley, an art professor who taught the class, remembers about Jackson was the football player’s bright smile. On Tuesday, UB’s Department of Art held a memorial in Jackson’s honor, one week after the university announced his death. Jackson, who was a studio art major, died on the night of Feb. 29 after suffering a medical emergency during a team conditioning session on Feb. 22. He was 20 years old. Those who attended were asked to talk
about their memories of Jackson. Attendees also had the chance to write their memories on signs that the art department plans to send to Jackson’s parents in Stone Mountain, Georgia, along with a video of the event. Lisa Hewitt was Jackson’s academic adviser and said she saw him the day before his medical emergency to discuss his schedule. She described Jackson as “lovely” and “respectful.” “I used to tell him [he’s] good for my selfesteem because he used to address me as ‘miss.’ When a woman gets to a certain age you go from miss to ma’am overnight and he would always call me miss,” Hewitt said. Many spoke about Jackson’s drive as a student. Hewitt said he always made sure he was on track to graduate, even with his
KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM
Lisa Hewitt, Solomon Jackson’s academic adviser, speaks about Jackson during the Department of Art’s memorial to him on Tuesday.
“extensive” football schedule. She, and others who attended, spoke about how Jackson broke the college athlete stereotype. “His academics were really his primary concern where there’s this misconception with athletes that it’s their athletic endeavors that are more important than their academics but not with him,” Hewitt said.
Kathy Cheng met Jackson in a class they had together. She said he was a sensitive person and always kind to her. Cheng, a sophomore accounting major, said the class was at night and she was afraid to walk to her car by herself.
QUENTIN HAYNES
Even though Gunning added one more point near the end of the match, it was too much to overcome. But Gunning knows adversity. He knows losing. Five years before he was a takedown away from the NCAA Championships, Gunning was just looking to win a single match. He was a high school freshman who wasn’t on any college’s radar and had just completed a winless season. How winless? 0-23 winless. So it wasn’t surprising that just days after his devastating loss in the MAC final on March 6, Gunning was looking at the experience positively and talking about what he’ll do next season. “My coaches thought it was the best match I’ve ever wrestled,” he said. “It hurt for sure, but I’m going to do everything I can to get right back there, in that moment next year. And next time, I want to be the
SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR
THE TRANSFORMATION From winless high school season to point away from NCAA Championships, Jake Gunning is transforming UB wrestling RASHAAD HOLLEY, THE SPECTRUM
Jake Gunning stands in the wrestling room in Alumni Arena. Gunning said he hopes to be a part of the wrestling program’s turnaround from laughingstocks to championship contenders.
ubspectrum.com
With 45 seconds left in the Mid-American Conference Championships heavyweight final, Buffalo freshman Jake Gunning had a chance to claim his first conference championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament in New York City. In his way was Northern Iowa’s Blaize Cabell, the top ranked heavyweight in the MAC and the wrestler who just a few weeks prior defeated Gunning in a regular season match. This time, the stakes were higher, as the winner would get an opportunity to become a national champion, while the loser would face a few sleepless nights holding out hope for an at-large bid and potentially an offseason wondering what could have been. Just one mistake cost Gunning the match. Cabell caught Gunning with his hands down to transition from an escape to a takedown.
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@ubspectrum
2 Paying tribute
NEWS
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
THE SPECTRUM
UB still paying Mutua full salary despite his new job CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM An attendee at the UB Department of Art’s memorial for Solomon Jackson writes a message on a photo of him. The department will send the photos and messages to Jackson’s parents. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“Solomon sensed that and would walk me home so I would feel safe,” Cheng said. Cheng said they developed a friendship during the class and although they didn’t speak as much after the semester, she still remembers him as a good friend. Another student who spoke at the event said she was in shock after hearing about his death. She said she’s heard of students dying in the past, but it was heartbreaking to now know one. She told the group Jackson was a “multifaceted character” who wasn’t “just a football player,” or “wasn’t just a student.” Art professor Joan Linder taught Jack-
son in her Advanced Figure Drawing class. She said she still has a drawing Jackson did for an assignment. Linder said she held the picture – which is of Jackson’s roommate playing video games – after she heard he died. She said what a “joy” it was to have an art student who was also a football player. Hewitt said she is still very broken up about his death, but she knows Jackson is in a better place. “It’s a great, great loss to all of us,” Hewitt said. “I hope all of his dreams are coming true in heaven.” email: news@ubspectrum.com
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Mutua’s seven-year tenure as dean divided some of the school, as faculty attempted to hold a vote of no confidence in him in 2010. Then President John Simpson and then Provost Tripathi dismissed the attempt, according to emails obtained by The Spectrum in 2013. SUNY Board of Trustees’ regulations allow 11 kinds of leaves for employees, including sick leaves, holiday leaves, vacation leaves and disability leaves. Title F leave – Mutua’s designated leave – is specified simply as “other leaves.” Title F’s language is much less strict than sabbatical leave. Among UB law school faculty, Mutua was widely believed to be on Title E sabbatical leave, which requires the university president to approve the “fellowships, grant-inaid, or earned income to assist in accomplishing the purposes of their leaves” of employees. It also gives the president the power to adjust the employee’s sabbatical leave salary to reflect such income. Title F does not require faculty to get any prior presidential approval before accepting outside income, nor does it specify that a president can lower the employees’ salary based on how much money the employee makes outside the university. It does, however, require the university to report employees receiving any pay while on Title F leave to the SUNY chancellor. The Spectrum could not ascertain by press time if UB made such a report for Mutua. State employees on Title F leave are required to use the time to accept assignments of limited durations with other universities, government agencies, foreign nations, private foundations, corporations and similar agencies, as “a faculty member, expert, consultant or in a similar capacity, or for other appropriate purposes consistent with the needs and interests of the university.” Mutua earned little outside income during his time as law school dean, according to his financial disclosure statements. Mutua reported
no outside income of more than $1,000 from 2009-2012 and none from 2013-2014. In 2012, he reported making outside income of $5,00$20,000 for legal consulting for the American Bar Association. The Spectrum obtained these documents through the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Documents for 2015 disclosures were not available. Mutua regularly wrote and still writes political columns for Kenyan newspapers and news outlets such as the Daily Nation and The Standard Digital. He also regularly gave speeches as a keynote speaker for different human rights conferences during his time as dean. He has not claimed any salaries or stipends associated with this work, which may be volunteer. A UB law professor said Mutua has not been on campus this academic year while on leave. The professor said Mutua has not been teaching or participating in department or administrative services such as committees, faculty meetings, student extracurricular activities, on-campus law school events or giving presentations to students or faculty about his outside work. Mutua’s Twitter account, which has nearly 100,000 followers, indicates he lives primarily in the D.C. area and documents his travels, to places including Rome, Italy and his native Kenya, during his time on leave. He last tweeted a photo of himself in Buffalo in October. Mutua regularly traveled off campus during his seven years as dean as well, according to his travel vouchers from 2009-14, which The Spectrum obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request. Mutua was particularly active traveling in 2014, when he spent roughly 60 days traveling to places as close as New York City and as far as Denmark and several African countries. Most of Mutua’s trips as dean were speaking engagements at human rights conferences, as he is a well-known human rights speaker. email: tom.dinki@ubspectrum.com
3
OPINION
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
THE SPECTRUM
Editorial Board EDITOR IN CHIEF
Tom Dinki
MANAGING EDITORS
Alyssa McClure Gabriela Julia COPY EDITORS
Renée Staples Saqib Hossain NEWS EDITORS
Marlee Tuskes, Senior Ashley Inkumsah Evan Schneider Hannah Stein, Asst. FEATURES EDITORS
Tori Roseman, Senior Tomas Olivier John Jacobs, Asst. ARTS EDITORS
Brian Windschitl, Senior Kenneth Kashif Thomas Luke Hueskin, Asst. Max Kalnitz, Asst. SPORTS EDITORS
Jordan Grossman, Co-senior Quentin Haynes, Co-senior PHOTO EDITORS
Kainan Guo, Senior Yusong Shi Angela Barca . CARTOONISTS
Joshua Bodah Michael Perlman CREATIVE DIRECTORS
Pierce Strudler Anthony Khoury, Asst.
Professional Staff OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR
Helene Polley ADVERTISING MANAGERS
Nicole Dominguez Lee Stoeckel, Asst. Evan Meenan Asst. ADVERTISING DESIGNER
Derek Hosken
THE SPECTRUM Wednesday, March 9, 2016 Volume 65 Number 53 Circulation 4,000 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. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.
New app a hotspot for bullies, judgment despite changes Many are calling Peeple, an app newly released in North America, “Yelp for people.” Users can post character reviews of other people, judging them and writing a description of their personality. If you sign up for the app, you’re subjecting yourself to be reviewed by your peers, your enemies and quite literally anyone who has ever known you. These reviews can be posted to your own account with your permission so that people can look at your profile and see what others think about you. A lot of changes were made to the app before it was brought to North America. You can’t post about someone who doesn’t have a profile and you can’t make a profile for someone else. Accounts can be deleted at any time so if you’re sick of the service, it’s easy to step away from it. These measures were taken to improve the experience and prevent bullying, but completely ignore the larger issue with creating an app like this. Though the app has been amended, there is still the “truth license” that will come out in April. For a price, the user can buy this and see every single review that they’ve ever received –public or not. This means that even if someone wrote something about you out of spite or anger, you can still see it. This will only exacerbate any issues that could arise. The app is advertised toward mothers to get a second opinion on coaches or those who go out on a date to get another perspective on that guy or girl. It’s advertised to adults, but it’s likely the main group of people who would go out of their way to sign up for this app would be college students and worse, high school students. Those
ILLUSTRATION BY JOSHUA BODAH
without the maturity to judge professionals on their service or even just people on their characteristics could easily use the app as a tool to cyberbully others. It can be difficult to resist the temptation to download the app and see what others say about you, especially for those still in high school. The app may have had good intentions and it still can be used in this way for those who have unprofessional titles – coaches, bab-
ysitters, dates – but it’s too easy for people to use incorrectly or in a dangerous manner. It facilitates the expression of mean comments about an ex or someone you see from high school you don’t like. It’s too simple to let curiosity get the best of you and check what others are saying about you. The temptation to use the app incorrectly is so strong that it’s hard to see how it can be used in a productive manner.
The negative interest rate trend Why some countries are taking to negative interest rates
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KENNETH KASHIF THOMAS ARTS EDITOR
If you’ve been paying attention to world economic or banking trends, you would have noticed that some countries – such as those in the European Union and China – have been implementing negative interest rate policies. At first thought you may not understand what they are, but when you think about it, it comes off as ridiculous – but there is a method to the madness. As you might have surmised, a negative interest rate is an interest rate in which you, as a financial consumer, are not only not making money on your accounts but also paying to put money into said accounts. This is the policy that many countries – who have not been afforded the speedy recovery that the United States had after
the recession – have been adopting to avoid further economic turmoil. While it does cost money to put money into banks, this means that those that borrow money get paid to do so. Now, before you go out and try to get a loan, these negative interest rates have become prominent in financial markets – but unfortunately not at your local bank branch. This policy is meant to increase the circulation of currency in the market. When individuals hold money without spending it, the economy as a whole becomes stagnant and everyone suffers. When money isn’t circulating, economic growth falls, which would cause a slow end to the financial markets around the globe. Using these unorthodox policies also increases inflation – which is kept at a steady two percent by central banks around the world, according to the Federal Reserve. On the flip side, is can be a double-edged sword because in rare cases inflation can get out of hand and lead to hyperinflation. The last large-scale case of hyperinflation occurred in Ger-
many after World War I. During this time it was cheaper to burn legal tender instead of actually buying firewood and loaves of bread cost thousands of dollars. This was also a primary factor for Hitler and the Nazi Party rising to power. Negative interest rates are an interesting solution to a growing global problem. Although, if the United States’ central bank – the Federal Reserve – implemented such a policy, it wouldn’t go over too well. As the U.S. dollar is a benchmark currency and already the most traded currency in the world, a policy like that would see capital flight on a never-before-seen level. Capital flight is when currency reserves of a central bank are depleted, which can also lead to hyperinflation. For smaller countries whose currencies are not heavily traded, negative inflation policies could be beneficial for their economies – but the policy must be used as with a surgeon’s touch because the wrong move could be disastrous. email: kenneth.thomas@ubspectrum. com
Peeple has seen at least some success overseas – otherwise it wouldn’t be expanding to North America. There is hope that it would be used the way it was originally intended to be, which could really lead to better services and a better understanding of the people around us. But this and the next generation’s attachment to technology could turn it into a dangerous tool. email: eic@ubspectrum.com
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4
SPORTS
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
THE SPECTRUM
THE TRANSFORMATION RASHAAD HOLLEY, THE SPECTRUM
Gunning won 12 dual meet matches and came one point away from winning the MAC heavyweight title. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
one celebrating.” Gunning wants to be the best in the history of UB wrestling, a program whose own head coach said is trying to come out of a “dark age.” Gunning doesn’t hesitate when asked about leaving a legacy at UB. He wants to leave Buffalo in a better place than when he arrived. A few MAC and NCAA championships wouldn’t hurt either. He’s a part of what could be viewed as a slow and steady program turnaround at Buffalo. After two winless seasons in conference play and a NCAA-sanctioned postseason ban, the Bulls recorded their first 10win season since 2004 and won a conference meet for the first time more than three calendar years. Gunning led the Bulls with 12 dual meet victories, including five in MAC play. And his head coach thinks there’s still more room for him to grow. “Jake’s still a baby, I think people forget that,” said head coach John Stutzman. “He’s still getting stronger … He can wrestle a bit better. He’s on pace to do what he’s here to do and that’s win a national championship.” The hard work began to pay off for Gun-
ning’s teammates during the MAC Championships, when three Bulls – freshman Bryan Lantry and sophomores Colt Cotten and Joe Ariola – earned bids for the NCAA Championships. Gunning did not receive an at-large bid for heavyweights, with the honor going to Eastern Michigan’s Gage Hutchison, who finished in fourth place in the MAC Championships. Gunning would’ve been the fourth heavyweight in the history of the program to earn a bid. Now, he looks to use this as motivation. “I want to be great,” Gunning said. “Taking that step and going to New York City is something I wanted, but I have to take this for what it is and keep going. This is certainly motivation for me. I have made strides from the first time I took the mat to now, so now the next step is to push myself to even greater things. This moment is certainly motivation for me.”
Humble beginnings As a freshman in high school, Gunning’s parents wanted him to play basketball, but as a husky teenager, Gunning recognized wrestling was his future. Knowing there was a vacancy in the Bethlehem Liberty High
School wresting team’s heavyweight division, he went into the head coach’s office and secured a spot on the varsity squad. It was evident Gunning had little wrestling experience. “I lost every match,” Gunning said. “Every match.” He finished that year with a winless 0-23 record. Twenty of which ended up with Gunning getting pinned. He said he was clearly overmatched every time. His father, Jeffrey Gunning, was ready for his son to say that wrestling wasn’t for him. Jeffrey heard from friends that an inexperienced high school wrestler would get “killed” every time on the mat. He wanted his son to play different sports. But wrestling was Gunning’s passion. He wasn’t ready to leave the sport he loved. Gunning remembers losing and how much he hated it. The wide-eyed freshman didn’t get discouraged at the sight of a loss. Rather, he ended his poor freshman season with what he described as a “fire in his belly” to get better. But it was going to take time and effort. Ask Bethlehem Liberty wrestling coach Jody Karam about his former star. He said for someone who had no experience with the sport, he had never seen someone so committed. Gunning would transfer what he learned from tape into the weight room, and from the weight room onto the mat. “It was eerie to see the way Jake took the sport,” Karam said. “He had a passion for it, more than you would imagine from someone who just got into the sport … That’s the difference between someone who wants to be good and someone who wants to be great.” Gunning had an “unquenchable thirst” to know the game. There weren’t many 220-pound wrestlers with agility and quickness like he had. Karam was the first to see that potential.
Building the natural The first was continuing to develop his body. The heavyweight division, at least for Karam, is an important division in terms of personnel. While other, smaller wrestlers worked on different technical aspects of
the sport, it was the heavyweights who were more weight-orientated. A heavyweight works on gaining healthy weight, eating correctly and sticking to a continuous weighttraining program. Karam had a specific program for the heavyweights. The first step: 6:30 a.m. workouts. “[Karam] showed me to work on the body and just how important it is,” Gunning said. “Putting on good weight, cutting and eating healthy. I had to put on good weight and continue to work on my body in order to reach my full potential.” The second step was to get Gunning out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Granted, Pennsylvania is a touted state in terms of high school wrestling, but Karam wanted Gunning to explore elite wrestling around the country. Jeffrey didn’t know much about wrestling. All he knew was his son had a passion for it and talent. It was up to Karam to make the wrestling decisions. Karam and Jeffrey worked on a plan to get Gunning out of state while keeping him around wrestling 24/7, like taking him to camps and meets. Karam said he wanted Gunning to “see different levels of the sport,” and recommended “a well-rounded experience after his freshman season.” Gunning attended nearly every wrestling event in an eight-hour radius from his hometown between his freshman and sophomore years of high school. Gunning was then allowed to attend wrestling camps – the third and final step in Karam’s plan. Gunning attended two camps. The first was a wrestling camp at the University of Iowa – an elite school known for its wrestling program and development. Gunning went for their two-week intensive camp, something he now credits for his “hard-nosed style.” It was at that camp where he finally learned how to become a wrestler. “He just came back more disciplined,” Jeffrey said. “I thought when he came back from Iowa, he seemed to be taking that step forward off the field … Whatever happened at Iowa, it certainly helped him improve as a wrestler.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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FEATURES Slammin’ on the mic and paper
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
THE SPECTRUM
UB Speaks offers students a chance to engage in multiple forms of poetry JOHN JACOBS ASST. FEATURES EDITOR
Connor Mack is a senior aerospace engineering major, but he doesn’t spend his free time building model bridges out of balsa wood or solving Rubik’s cubes, unlike what some may expect from him. Mack spends his free time writing poems, which he performs at UB Speaks. “People think it’s weird until they hear it,” Mack said. “The stereotype for engineers doesn’t include writing poems.” UB Speaks is a poetry club that meets every other Sunday in Baldy 110 at 3 p.m. The meetings are workshops where writers come and express their thoughts about different topics. Mack said he enjoys writing poems because it allows him to be creative, which is something he doesn’t get to do often as an engineering student. UB Speaks gives him an outlet to explore this creativity. “We welcome all kinds of poetry or just poetry lovers,” said Tom Dreitlein, a junior communication and English major who is also the secretary and workshop coordinator of the club. “You don’t have to write poetry to appreciate it.” The workshops are geared toward those who want to create poetry, but even those who don’t write poetry might be able to find a place in this club. For those who are interested in performing, UB Speaks also offers a poetry slam performance group. “The general label that is now applied to slam poetry is basically performance poetry,” Mack said. “What makes that different from normal poetry is you use your body and the way you’re speaking to amplify your
COURTESY OF DANIELLE JOHNSON
(From L to R) UB Speaks members Jeffrey Creed, Connor Mack, Danielle Johnson and Tom Dreitlein pose after winning first place at a slam poetry competition at SUNY Buffalo State.
words. Performance pieces are generally a little more raw and a little more emotional [than conventional written poetry].” UB Speaks recently went to a slam competition at SUNY Buffalo State on Feb. 26. They competed with students from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Buffalo State and SUNY Fredonia in front of a crowd of about 300 and took home first place. Unlike some competitions where the judges are predetermined experts, the judges for slam competitions are random members of the audience. “They might have never been to a poetry slam before, they might have never read a poem, it doesn’t matter,” Dreitlein said. “That’s kind of the beauty of poetry slam. They score from zero to 10 with points. And then the highest and lowest score are
dropped. The highest score a team could get, which is unheard of, is 140.” Danielle Johnson, a sophomore theater and performance major and president of UB Speaks, explained that each slam team is allowed four performance slots. Those slots last three minutes each with a grace period of 10 seconds and can be filled by either individual or solo performances. The judges in the audience grade each performance separately. Judges are supposed to be impartial but that doesn’t always happen. “We went to a slam and my cousin was [picked to be] a judge and she judged everyone badly except me, but didn’t understand she was judging my team badly,” Johnson said. Regardless of how slam competitions are scored, some might think getting up in front of a group of people to perform a poem
might be an easier thing to do than performing a speech or acting. But Johnson, who has spent most of her life in front of other people through her theater career, disagrees. “Theater – it’s my heart but it’s not my soul,” Johnson said. “When I go up there and I do poetry, I wrote that poem. And most of my poems are about situations that I’ve been in, that I care about, you know. So you’re putting your heart out on the poem. With slam poetry you’re getting judged – literally.” Not everyone who participates in UB Speaks has to participate in the slam competitions. Whether it’s slam poetry or a different form, UB Speaks offers students an opportunity to learn more about the art and practice their skills. email: features@ubspectrum.com
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SPORTS
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
His second camp was close to home – the Edinboro Heavyweight Camp, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Karam cited a change in his confidence as a key factor that helped him from his freshman to his sophomore year. But for Gunning, that summer experience allowed him to become more invested in the sport. He always liked the sport. It took that summer for him to love it. “I just went down to Iowa, went to the heavyweight camp and fell in love with the style,” Gunning said. “It’s the same style that Stutzman preaches.” Gunning went 0-23 as a freshman, but he was able to transform his technique to a point where he finished his senior year with a 40-5 record. He finished third overall in the Pennsylvania state qualifier that year, placed in a national tournament and finished as a top-15 overall wrestler in the state.
Building a Bull Stutzman remembers the first time he saw Gunning as a high school wrestler. Stutzman’s then recruiting coordinator, Quincy Osborn, brought in some tapes on the burly heavyweight from Pennsylvania. The tapes only included Gunning’s freshman year highlights. “I was watching, waiting to see something and he kept getting pinned.” Stutzman said.
“I started watching him and saw the next tape, where he got pinned again. It continued for a couple tapes, to be honest.” Stutzman heard promising things about his prospect, but the freshman tape didn’t do him justice. Once Stutzman got a hold of the rest of his high school tapes, disappointment turned into intrigue as he watched Gunning’s sophomore tapes, which turned into elation as he watched his junior tapes. Stutzman found his future heavyweight. And there wasn’t much competition either. “I remember talking with a fellow wrestler about Buffalo,” Gunning said. “I knew he was interested there and their former head coach at the time had some interest in me. He ended up not committing here, but I was talking to the coaches and I started to get comfortable with the idea of being at Buffalo.” Stutzman asked Gunning to make an official visit at UB. Gunning came in on a Tuesday. He ended up committing on a Thursday – the same day Stutzman’s son Paxton was born. Gunning was officially a Bull, but he had to wait before his first official match. The Bulls were hit with an NCAA postseason ban during Gunning’s true freshman year for low Academic Progress Rate scores, meaning Buffalo could not participate in the MAC Championships or the NCAA Championships. So Stutzman decided to redshirt several incoming players, including Gunning.
THE SPECTRUM
The Bulls coach admits he doesn’t like redshirting players, but he realized he could have four years of control over a talented incoming freshman class. “Wrestlers should be getting 30-40 matches in, should be working out and putting on good weight and work in the classroom,” Stutzman said. “I thought Jake was someone who came in right away and properly used the redshirt to his advantage.” And so he did. Gunning continued to learn the game at the college level. The redshirt year relieved him of the pressure he would have felt had he been thrown into a collegiate match fresh out of high school. “Having that extra time to wrestle without all of the pressure of knowing it counted gave me time to work on different things on the mat,” Gunning said. “By the time that year was over, I knew I was ready.”
Gunning’s legacy Ask Jake Gunning about his toughest loss on the mat and he’ll reply that they all hurt. The hurt only grew stronger as he became a better wrestler and he knew what he was actually doing. He lost a match to a wrestler from Stanford University over the summer that would have given him an opportunity to wrestle for Team USA in Brazil. He’d never been more upset about losing a match. He finally learned the wrestler mentality. He hates losing and he makes it clear. But Gunning also makes it clear that he can beat every wrestler he goes against. Karam believes that Gunning’s greatest loss “hasn’t yet to come,” but he also has a great future.
Gunning was one of Stutzman’s best underclassmen this season. No small accomplishment considering Buffalo had freshmen like formerly ranked 125-pounder Kyle Akins and NCAA Championships-bound Bryan Lantry. And the performance Gunning and his teammates displayed during the MAC Championships was step one in accomplishing the goal Stutzman laid out for his team earlier in the season: be great and create your own legacy. “I don’t want them to be a part of something, I want them to be a part of something great,” Stutzman said. All losses hurt, but after the loss to Northern Iowa’s Cabell in the heavyweight final, Gunning called the loss “heartbreaking.” It was the moment he wanted to be in since he found the love of wrestling between his freshman and sophomore years of high school. But the heartbreak was needed, just the way his 0-23 season was needed as a freshman in high school. Gunning wants to make next season his season. It starts with an offseason that he says, “won’t be like the others.” “I plan on training harder than ever,” Gunning said. “I’m going to work harder than ever with the goal of being the best heavyweight in the country and standing on the podium.” Sunday’s loss was Gunning’s first brush with greatness on the collegiate level, and based on his progression over the last five years and the motivation he has to become the greatest heavyweight in the country next year, it may not be his last. email: sports@ubspectrum.com
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Wednesday, March 9, 2016
THE SPECTRUM
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8
SPORTS
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
THE SPECTRUM
MAC TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
Third time’s the charm
ANGELA BARCA, THE SPECTRUM
The Bulls celebrate their play-in game victory over Bowling Green in Alumni Arena Monday night. Buffalo will head to Cleveland, Ohio looking to upset top-seeded Ohio for the third time this season.
QUENTIN HAYNES SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR
Respect all, fear none. It’s been the Buffalo women’s basketball team’s mantra, from its head coach Felisha Legette-Jack, to its star player junior guard Joanna Smith, to the redshirt players who haven’t even seen the court yet. It holds true around this time of the year especially, when Buffalo enters Quick-
en Loans Arena as an overwhelming underdog to get past top-seeded Ohio (24-5, 16-2 MAC) in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals – let alone take home the conference title. But if any MAC team should have confidence to take down the Bobcats, it might just be Buffalo. After all, its the only the MAC team to have beaten Ohio this season. “We don’t fear no one,” Smith said. “It’s tough to defeat somebody three times, but we believe in ourselves, and that’s what we’ll
Bulls look to shock top-seeded Ohio for third time this season
need in order to beat them. They’re a tough team, but we can’t go into the game worrying about that. We have to be active on defense and continue to play our game. That’s all we can do at this point.” No. 8 seed Buffalo defeated No. 9 seed Bowling Green (10-18, 6-12) in a first round campus-site matchup on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals against the Bobcats on Wednesday in Cleveland, Ohio. Ohio has been arguably the best team in the conference throughout the entire season – until it plays Buffalo. In the two regular season matchups, the Bulls used their defense to stifle Ohio’s offense, holding the Bobcats to less than 60 points in both matchups, including just 43 points in the two team’s first matchup on Feb. 3. “We’re going to go into that game with the same mindset – survive and advance,” said junior guard Stephanie Reid. “We have to play our game and if we do, we should be in position to move on to the next round.” The Bobcats are the best team in conference with just two MAC losses all season and rank second in the conference with an average of 72.9 points per game. While Buffalo touts a strong backcourt tandem, the Bobcats have two great guards of their own, as Kiyanna Black was named to the All-MAC first team and her backcourt mate, guard Quiera Lampkins, was named MAC Defensive Player of the Year. The Bulls may be just as hot.
Buffalo is winners of its last two games. After a five-game losing streak during conference play, the Bulls closed out the season winners of five of their last six games. “We’re going to play our game, we’re going to operate our system and do the best we can out there,” Legette-Jack said. “They’re the best in the conference, but again, we respect all, but fear nobody.” If the Bulls are going to advance in the MAC Tournament, the defense is going to be what carries them. Buffalo is currently the highest-ranked defense in the MAC. It allowed 58.6 points per game over the season and 50.3 points over its last six games of the year, including a 70-58 victory over Ohio on Feb. 27. “They can absolutely score the basketball, but we can defend the basketball,” LegetteJack said. After a strong start to the season, the Bulls dipped at the beginning of conference play, before a strong return to what they were in the beginning of the season. Legette-Jack said that she takes the blame for the team’s “light” defensive efforts, but is proud to see them get back where they were. The Bulls will play Ohio in Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday at noon. “My hope is that we go out to Cleveland and stay long enough,” Legette-Jack said, “so the world can see how lucky I am to have this team and these players.” email: sports@ubspectrum.com
Looking for a repeat
Buffalo looks to leave Cleveland as winners again
JORDAN GROSSMAN SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR
The last time the Buffalo men’s basketball team was in Cleveland, it was cutting down nets celebrating a trip to the big dance. One year later, the Bulls say they don’t feel pressure to repeat as Mid-American Conference champions. “It’s our building,” said senior guard Jarryn Skeete about the Quicken Loans Arena, where the MAC Tournament is hosted. “We’re defending champions, right? I think it’s a pressure on everybody else.” The No. 3 seed Bulls (17-14, 10-8 MAC) will play No. 11 seed Miami Ohio (13-19, 6-12 MAC) in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio Thursday. Last season, Buffalo won the conference tournament as a No. 2 seed to advance to its first-ever NCAA Tournament. And so far, the seeding has not mattered in the tournament. Both No. 6 seed Ball State and No. 5 seed Kent State were upset in their first round on-campus games. “Look at the four teams that are sitting at home right now, not going to Cleveland,” said head coach Nate Oats following the team’s final practice on Tuesday afternoon. “Anybody can beat anybody come March. I think we can make a run.” Oats said his team is ready to go and is much more prepared for Miami Ohio than it was in the previous matchup. The RedHawks defeated the Bulls 67-59 in Buffalo’s final home game and Senior Night on March 1. It was the only time other than its loss at Duke that the Bulls have failed to score more than 60 points in a game. Oats admitted the team took too many three-pointers during the previous matchup in an effort to avoid Miami Ohio’s zone defense. Buffalo chucked up 31 three-point at-
tempts and only made 10. “We weren’t mentally ready to come into that game,” said junior wing Blake Hamilton. “We had three good practices and we’re ready to go.” Buffalo’s biggest problem will be facing the zone defense and the RedHawk offense that is predicated on setting up plays and slowing the game down. The Bulls have been known as a fastpaced team and Oats admits the team does not like playing a team that attempts to slow the game down. He said the team will not settle for three-pointers and will have his players drive to the rim more. Skeete thinks this will be effective because of the mismatches some of the Buffalo guards create. “They’re afraid to guard us man to man,” Skeete said. “We have to take that to our advantage and exploit mismatches.” A main source of mismatching is Hamilton, a wing that has done a little bit of every-
ANGELA BARCA, THE SPECTRUM
Senior guard Jarryn Skeete drives to the basket during a 71-69 loss to Toledo on Feb. 9. Buffalo will face Miami Ohio in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals looking to repeat as conference champions.
thing this season. At 6-foot-5, he can shoot, pass and rebound with efficiency while driving to the basket with the right matchup. Oats said Hamilton is heating up at the right time. Hamilton has been Buffalo’s best player during the second half of the season. He’s averaged more than 20 points per game in his last five regular season matchups and put up a team-high 20 points and 13 rebounds in Buffalo’s last game against the RedHawks. Oats also believes the rest of the team is heating up at the right time. Junior wing Willie Conner, who was recently named to the MAC All-Defensive Team, has been “playing his best basketball all year,” All-MAC Third Team sophomore guard Lamonte Bearden is “coming around” and freshman center Ikenna Smart is past his mental lapses and is expected to start,
according to Oats. Oats plans on putting his best players on the court. He said there is no more time for experimenting with different personnel and trying to boost confidence levels of his team. He said it’s “do or die” at this point in the season – especially against a team that presented Buffalo with its latest loss of the season. “[Miami Ohio] embarrassed us last time we were out here on Senior Night,” Oats said. “I hope it’s fresh in their minds. I would hope it’s some added motivation to come with a little better sense of urgency on Thursday than the last time they played here.” Tipoff for Buffalo’s matchup against the RedHawks will be at roughly 9 p.m. Thursday. email: sports@ubspectrum.com