The Spectrum Vol. 64 No. 71

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ubspectrum.com

Monday, april 20, 2015

Volume 64 No. 71

A magic weekend UBCon brings people from all over Western New York to UB TORI ROSEMAN

SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

UB hosts Bingo Players, 3LAU and DNNYD JAMES BATTLE

ASST. FEATURES EDITOR

Not everyone was as prepared as Kathryn McSpedon for Friday night’s Electric Tundra. While most students made sure they had their student IDs and appropriate attire, McSpedon had other priorities. “We have water and chairs in case any of you guys are rolling too hard,” she shouted out to concert goers after they passed the security checkpoint to enter Alumni Arena. The arena, which holds roughly 6,000 people, was packed Friday night for Electric Tundra, UB’s first Electronic Dance Music festival. The festival featured DNNYD, 3LAU and main attraction Bingo Players. Electric Tundra, a Student Association event, was the first of two SA concerts this semester, the second being SA’s annual Spring Fest

concert. McSpedon, a sophomore English major, is a representative from the student club Students for Sensible Drug Policy. McSpedon was there for what she described as “harm reduction.” “We’ve acknowledged that it’s an EDM festival, so people will be taking drugs. We want them to do it safely. Saying ‘don’t do it’ doesn’t work,” McSpedon said. “We know [students] are going to do [drugs], so we want them do them safely and responsibly.” University Police Chief Gerald Schoenle said 10 concertgoers had to be transported to the hospital, but no further information can be given because of privacy requirements. No arrests were made. Thomas Tiberi, director of Student Life, told The Spectrum in March Student Life would be taking all precautions necessary to protect

Paintballin’ on a budget

JORDAN GROSSMAN

SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

Joe Barrett wants to the world to know UB has a paintball team. The UB paintball club has been ranked in the top eight of the National Collegiate Paintball Association (NCPA) Class-AA National Tournament the last five years and has won the tournament twice in that stretch. This past weekend, the team traveled to Lakeland, Florida to compete in the national championship and finished second out of 51 teams. The team took a 19-hour bus ride to Lakeland and crammed the entire team into two cheap motel rooms. The paintball team is one of the lowest funded sports clubs in the Student Association with a budget of $750 this season, but has found success despite its lack of resources. Other SA club sports like the men’s rugby and men’s lacrosse teams have budgets of more than $16,000 – but both have more than double the amount of players on the team. Barrett, the team’s head coach and a former player, commends the club for its continuous rate of success despite struggling with financial woes. He said he loves to work

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COURTESY OF DYLAN BUCCHOLTZ

Seniors Dylan Buccholtz (front) and Nate Beerman and the UB paintball team finished in second place out of 51 teams in the NCPA Class-AA Paintball Tournament in Lakeland, Florida over the weekend.

with the team because they are all “goodhearted, hard-working players who have the will to win.” Barrett said the team was getting higher funding until 2012 when “a lot of the core guys graduated.” The club once had as many as 25 members, but now has just six or seven. “The current version of the club isn’t doing enough to earn those $5,000 checks,” Barrett said. “We can definitely afford to get some more backing, though.” SA President James Ingram said the finance committee determines the club budgets based on a number of factors, including how long the club has been around and how long it has met its requirements. Clubs lose funding or gain funding year-to-year based on meeting requirements and how active they are. Ingram said the amount of money that

Students may have the chance to handle UB’s rare coin collection next fall

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YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM Maarten Hoogstraten of the Bingo Players hypes up the crowd at Friday’s Electric Tundra.

students, including safety stations, police patrols and pre-concert security screens. McSpedon set up just inside of the arena where everyone had to pass her to get inside. She had a table with jugs of water, some chairs in case patrons became fatigued or anxious, cut-up straws to provide what McSpedon calls “safe snorting” tools, as well as lube, condoms and flashcards with popular drugs and their dosage information. The concert was funded by the $94.75 fee undergrads pay to SA each semester; the talent cost roughly $90,000, according to SA President James Ingram. Students who have experienced EDM festivals before were mostly ecstatic UB was hosting the festival and were excited for it to begin. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

UB paintball team finishes second in national tournament despite scarce funds clubs lose was subjective in the past, but former SA President Sam McMahon and former Treasurer Siddhant Chhabria set more strict guidelines last year on how much clubs lose if they miss requirements. The team said most of its funding comes from fundraisers and out of pocket. According to Barrett, the money granted to the team barely covers total yearly expenses and is used mainly for traveling funds because paintball is an expensive sport. He said the team constantly has to buy paintballs and practice space. “We’ve complained about [our budget] for years,” Barrett said. “We’ve been trying to get our budget increased even since I was a player. It’s substantially more expensive than other sports.” All of the players play on individual paintball teams and come together for tournaments like the NCPA. The team begins practicing together three weeks before the tournament. The UB paintball team plays in Class-AA of the NCPA, second to Class-A, which is reserved for the top paintball teams in the country. The difference between the levels is funds and the number of players on the team, according to Dylan Buchholtz, a senior business major and player. Barrett said Class-A teams such as Florida Gulf Coast have budgets of more than $40,000 per semester and its own practice facilities on campus. But Nate Beerman, a senior political science major and player on the team, said he still believes the team can compete with the best of the best in Class-A. “No questions asked,” Beerman said. “We have players that play in the national circuit and our coach has played professionally in international leagues. He has the coaching ability and we have the talent.”

When Kenmore East seniors Ethan Coniglio and Ariana Porter were deciding what to cosplay for UBCon, they looked to Cartoon Network for inspiration, as opposed to the comic book characters for which cosplay is so well recognized. They were dressed as Wirt and Greg from Over the Garden Wall, a miniseries featured on the network. This year was their third year attending the annual convention. “We like coming to this convention – it’s mid-sized and always has a good group of people here,” Coniglio said. “We live about 10 minutes away so it’s convenient for us to get here, and it’s fun to make cosplay costumes to wear.” The two were part of the hundreds who attended UBCon, UB’s annual comic book convention that ran Friday through Sunday. People from all over the area came dressed as their favorite characters and participated in a variety of activities, including NERF battles, Magic: The Gathering card tournaments and meet and greets with popular comic artists. The convention spanned the entire weekend, as people started to trickle into the Student Union Friday evening. Featured events included “The Theft of the Moon,” which is a role-playing game, “Island Dice,” the board game and a Pokémon Contest and Hangout. The various types of comics and shows covered were what gave the convention such wide appeal. The big event for Friday night was the NERF war. All three floors of the SU were utilized as a battlefield for NERF warriors to fight on. Teams were established before the games began around midnight. The battles consisted of a few different games, including capture the flag and zombies. The convention’s website had specific rules for the battle events, even going so far to have people sign waivers for the LARP battles. They do this to ensure that while everyone is having fun, they’re also being safe, according to the staff. Saturday was full of events as the convention spanned the entire day. Not everyone felt the need to participate though, as people watching could be just as interesting some attendees said. “I’ve just been walking around, I haven’t really participated in anything yet,” said CJ Sampson, who was dressed as the Flame Prince from Adventure Time. “It’s just as fun to walk around and watch everything that’s going on. We came from an hour away because we heard that the convention is one of the best in this area.” Another big part of UBCon is the cosplay costume contest. Freshman theater major Ariel Kregal said she thinks that’s what brings the big crowds to the university. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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Students take to the Heights and plant trees to improve neighborhood

ONLINE

Check out the photo gallery and video coverage of Electric Tundra


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