THE SPECTRUM VOL. 68 NO. 10 | OCTOBER 4, 2018
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
UBSPECTRUM
SHAKE IT UP: Where to find the best milkshakes in Buffalo
p.7 p.9 p.12
THE BUFFALO THEATER RADAR Theatrical productions in Buffalo to keep an eye out for
LOST IN BUFFALO: THE SEARCH FOR UB’S MISSING FEMALE MASCOT
UB Living Stipend Movement rallies during UB Council meeting
UB Council violated Open Meetings Law, according to top open-government official Graduate students barred from public meeting
Council chairman Jeremy Jacobs denied students conversation on graduate stipends
MAX KALNITZ SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
The UB Council violated New York State’s Open Meetings Law on Monday by barring students from its meeting, according to the state’s top open-government official. Roughly 50 graduate students and faculty members congregated outside Capen 505, hoping to attend the meeting. Chief of Staff Beth Del Genio told members of the Living Stipend Movement –– who were petitioning for higher graduate teaching assistant wages –– that only two representatives could attend the meeting due to limited space and the threat of violating fire code. Only 28 people were in the room for the meeting while the room’s maximum occupancy is 38 people. There were empty chairs that could have accommodated more members of the movement. According to Open Meetings Law, the council –– a public body tasked with overseeing and advising UB President Satish Tripathi –– must allow members of the public who wish to at> SEE VIOLATED
MAX KALNITZ SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
NATHAN GARDNER | THE SPECTRUM Graduate students and faculty members protested on the fifth floor of Capen Hall during Monday’s UB Council meeting. By not moving to a larger room to accommodate members of the public who wanted to attend the meeting, the council violated New York State’s Open Meetings Law, according to the state’s top open-government official.
LAW | PAGE 6
UB Council chairman Jeremy Jacobs adjourned Monday’s meeting without allowing students to voice their concerns about graduate stipend levels. Before the end of the meeting, council student representative Mike Brown proposed a brief period of public comment for biological sciences Ph.D. student Stephanie Gill and English Ph.D. student Arianna Nash to talk about stipend concerns. Jacobs said he’d take that into consideration and then immediately motioned to adjourn. After the meeting concluded, council members used a back staircase to exit the building to avoid confronting the roughly 50 graduate students and faculty members peacefully protesting outside Capen 505. Members of the UB Living Stipend Movement who filled the space outside the elevators on the fifth floor of Capen had been > SEE RALLIES | PAGE 2
Former Campus Living director’s Bobby Militello continues his state-funded treadmill at UB musical quest in the classroom UB says it has no record of treadmill’s return to North Campus BENJAMIN BLANCHET SENIOR FEATURES EDITOR
Former Campus Living director Andrea Costantino used $4,200 in state money for a personal home treadmill, her very own Landice L7 model. The same treadmill model currently sits, ready for use, in the Hadley Village fitness center. Upperclassmen use the Hadley Village treadmill every semester for their daily workouts, but UB said it has no record of Costantino’s treadmill returning to the university. Still, the Erie County District Attorney’s office said UB has the treadmill, and it is a Landice L7 model. Costantino, who was Campus Living director from 2012-17, plead guilty to grand larceny in the fourth degree in September 2017. Since, Costantino has paid a $14,664 restitution to pay back the money she stole from the university. This money included the money she spent
toward her treadmill purchase, according to UB Spokesperson Kate McKenna. In January, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told The Spectrum in an email that UB “has the treadmill.” On Monday, The Spectrum reached out to Flynn’s office for clarification. Kait Munro, Public Information Officer for the Erie County District Attorney office, said in an email that the assistant District Attorney who handled Costantino’s case, Gary Ertel, said Costantino’s “treadmill was a Landice L7 model.” UB officials, however, could not verify with The Spectrum whether the Hadley Village treadmill was originally owned by Costantino. McKenna said since UB doesn’t have a record of the treadmill’s return, and UB cannot verify if her treadmill is in Hadley Village. The Hadley Village treadmill, a Landice L7 model, is the only Landice model in the three Campus Living fitness centers on North Campus. The treadmill does not have a serial number sticker on it, unlike all of the eight other treadmills owned by Campus Living on North Campus. The treadmill is worth around $4,200 on the market, and all of the
> SEE TREADMILL | PAGE 2
Buffalo musician and UB instructor hosts an illustrious jazz resume BENJAMIN BLANCHET SENIOR FEATURES EDITOR
Bobby Militello’s career is a destiny fulfilled. At around 10 years old, Militello flipped through 99-cent jazz records on the corner of Grant and Ferry Street. His first record as a kid was trumpeter Maynard Ferguson’s “Message from Newport.” He
used to lay in front of his stereo and play Ferguson’s albums, until each solo was ingrained in his brain. When Ferguson appeared in or around Buffalo, Militello made sure to be there. And by 25, he was on the road with the jazz great. “I felt elated, I felt euphoric, I felt all of the things a kid would feel. I felt like a kid in a candy store,” Militello said. “It was what I felt I was born to do, all I was working for was momentum toward that goal and I got what I wanted.” The 68-year-old saxophonist and flutist has > SEE MILITELLO | PAGE 4 AND 5
COURTESY OF BOBBY MILITELLO Bobby Militello (right) takes the stage with trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis (left) at the JVC Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.