UB students celebrate the Day of the Dead New nightclub LiFT opens downtown THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
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Samaya Abdus-Salaam
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ASST. NEWS EDITOR
igrid Fertig, an adjunct foreign language professor at UB, immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1989. She came with the impression the education professions here would be more regulated with more opportunities and benefits. Twenty-five years later, Fertig is still an adjunct professor, teaching both German and French and is reliant on her husband’s salary to get by. “In my home country, I would be able to retire with a nice benefit package and pension [by now],” Fertig said. “Now, I’ve worked for nothing for 25 years.” Fertig is one of the professors in the Buffalo Adjunct Movement (BAM), a coalition of adjunct professors and graduate students in Western New York. On Friday afternoon, the group held a rally and “grade-in” in Lafayette Square and the Buffalo and Erie County Central Library to protest the pay and treatment of adjunct professors in the Buffalo area. Adjuncts brought their students’ papers or tests to grade together in the library for the “grade-in.” Maria Daxenbichler, an adjunct German professor said the “grade-in” allowed adjuncts to feel like they are a part of the campus community. Most adjuncts share an office, if they have an office at all, she said. “[The] grade-in [is] countering an alien experience,” Daxenbichler said. Adjunct professors make up 70-75 percent of all university faculties in the country. At a research university like UB, 57.9 percent of faculty and staff are adjuncts. Derek Curry, an adjunct professor in the media study department, said the percentage of UB adjuncts is close to that average. Curry said the initial purpose of adjunct professors was to create a good foundation for those looking to become full-time professors. He said professors
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Friday afternoon, adjunct professors in the Buffalo area, held a rally in Lafayette Square and Buffalo and Erie County Central Library. Buffalo Adjunct Movement (BAM) protested the treatment of adjunct professors in university workforce and their pay. YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM
who adjunct want to gain experience rather than a stable income. In 2011, Curry started as an adjunct at West Los Angeles College. Working solely as an adjunct professor, he was unable to make his rent, which forced Curry to work another job to pay his rent. He said he “wouldn’t have known what to do,” if his landlord didn’t give him a second job. Adjunct professors are paid per class, earning from $2,000 to $4,000 per class. UB pays its adjunct professors $3,200 per class, Curry said. “UB is probably the highest in the area. It’s all about the same. It’s all below poverty,” Curry said. Curry came to UB to complete his Ph.D. and ended up with a teaching assistant scholarship. The scholarship pays Curry twice as a much as his adjunct position.
“I can’t think of another vocation where you get paid twice as much to learn your profession as you do to actually work in it,” he said. Curry said he thinks universities have a larger budget for student teachers than teachers who already have a degree. Therefore, universities try to attract students to earn their graduate or Ph.D. degrees and teach as part of their programs. Typically, adjunct professors are graduate students, or students earning a Ph.D., but there are some who have already completed their education. Kate Caccavaio has a Bachelors of Arts, Masters of Arts and a doctrine in English. She’s been an adjunct for the past two years. After completing her education, Caccavaio wasn’t planning on being an adjunct at all.
Giselle Lam
During the 26th annual Take Back the Night at UB, Angel Rose, a sexual assault survivor and founder and executive director of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment (PAVE), shared her personal story and educated college students on how they can combat the issue on their own campuses. CLETUS EMOKPAE, THE SPECTRUM
College students, more specifically women between the age of 16 and 25, are most at risk for sexual assault and that is why Rose is so passionate about working with and speaking to college students, she said. But most college students aren’t aware of the statistics of sexual violence, according to Jane Fischer, director of SBI Health Education. One in four women and one in six men will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18, according to Fischer. In college, around 20 percent of women will experience sexual assault. It is also estimated that as many as nine out of 10 victims know their offender, she said. “I was at that age when it happened to me,” Rose said. “I was 17. I was about to be a freshman in college.” She said colleges are a great launch point for student activism and students can make a large difference in the world.
This fall is Caccavaio’s first semester “adjuncting” at UB, teaching an English 201 class. Last fall, she worked four jobs, including her adjunct position and made $13,000 for the year, she said. She has tried to change her profession because of the poor job market for educators. “When [companies] see that I’ve been teaching for the past 10 years in college, it’s hard to convince [them] that I can switch careers,” she said. “People think we only have this one skill set.” The retirement packages and benefits adjuncts receive are only a fraction of what professors gets, even though it is the adjuncts doing the majority of the class work, Fertig said. CONTINUED TO PROTEST, PAGE 2
Sexual assault survivor Angela Rose shares her experience to reduce sexual violence on campuses
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
t age 17, Angela Rose was kidnapped at knifepoint and sexually assaulted by a repeat sex offender. Rose was walking to her car when a man on parole for rape, kidnap and murder, grabbed her and pushed her into his car. She said she was “completely powerless.” After Rose was released by her attacker, “she suffered at the hands of the authorities, who subjected her to the scrutiny of blame and additional victimization,” according to Aaron Maracle, the assistant director of Sub-Board I, Inc. (SBI) Health Education, who introduced Rose. On Thursday, Rose, a sexual assault survivor and founder and executive director of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment (PAVE), shared the story of her attack and the aftermath as a part of UB’s 26th annual Take Back the Night. In her presentation, “Shattering the Silence of Sexual Violence,” Rose spoke to an audience of around 175 to educate attendants on how to respond to these dangerous situations and how everyone can help the cause. Rose also appeared on Saturday’s episode of “48 Hours” on CBS and talked about her previous attack. Rose said she had to tell the same story over and over to different officers, many whom did not believe her. Officers preceded to ask her questions about if she was in an abusive relationship or if her boyfriend beat her. “That’s when the nightmare begins,” Rose said. Rose founded PAVE from her experience with sexual violence. After noticing there were no groups on campus at University of Wisconsin-Madison that supported sexual assault awareness, she decided to create her own organization. PAVE currently has more than 50 college chapters and affiliates. They are also working with “Carry that Weight,” a cause “to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence, advocate for better campus policies and challenge rape culture,” according to its website.
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There is three important things college students can do “to create and cultivate safer and more healthy campuses,” Rose said in her presentation. Her first advice revolves around the notion of bystander intervention. “If you see something, say something to raise awareness of rape culture and consent,” she said. The most impactful thing Rose said during the presentation, according to Venecia Williams, a junior nursing and social sciences interdisciplinary major, was “it only takes one person to stop whatever is going on and it only takes one person to make an impact on the entire society.” Williams has a daughter who will be starting college next year, who she describes as “sheltered.” “It makes you think as a mother,” she said. “My daughter should have been here to really get the effect of what she said.”
Rose also talked about how there is no shame in being a survivor. She said there are things we can’t control, but we can control our responses. Rose said people should work on removing the victim-blaming language from culture, which was something she had to deal with following her attack. Many people she knew asked her would why she didn’t try to get away or how she could have let it happened. The responding officers asked her what she wearing during the attack. During the presentation, Rose said she was wearing a pantsuit, but it shouldn’t matter if she was wearing that or a red miniskirt. The third way Rose said college students can change stigmas around rape is if individuals know what to say or do if a victim discloses his or her attack. She said it’s important for people to believe anybody who says he or she has been sexually assaulted and to reassure the person it wasn’t his or her fault. Rose had one close girl friend at the time and after Rose had been kidnapped, her best friend stopped talking to her. She said her friend didn’t know what to say or how to react so she chose to not say anything at all. “You want to make sure that you just be a listening ear,” Rose said. “That’s all I wanted when my best friend just shut me out of her life. I just wanted somebody to talk to.” Rose also suggested recommending local resources to the victims. UB offers resources for students involved with sexual violence through Wellness Education Services and Student Health Services. Students can utilize the counseling services and clinics the university provides. Cameron Balon, a domestic violence and sexual assault case manager from Crisis Services Advocate Program, works with victims and found everything Rose said about the challenges these victims face when it comes to reporting incidents to be “100 percent accurate.” “I had never heard her story before and I loved her message to especially college campuses,” Balon said. CONTINUED TO ROSE, PAGE 2