THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
Meet James Ingram, the new SA president
Page
New mexican eatery rolls into Ellicott
Page
Extreme makeover: Knox 20 Edition
4 8
Page
9
WELCOME HOME ubspectrum.com
Wednesday, August27, 2014
Volume 64 No. 2
Schoolboy Q and T.I. continue UB notifies campus of Level 2 sex offender in hip-hop fest dominance SA’s choice of hip-hop makes it seven of the last 10 fests
mass email
JORDAN OSCAR
SARA DINATALE
The Student Association is paying more than $200,000 of student money to bring Schoolboy Q and T.I. to co-headline Fall Fest 2014. The Sept. 6 concert marks the seventh of 10 recent fests featuring hip-hop and rap. The genre choice leaves some students craving diversity and others thrilled with the lineup that also includes opening acts by AbSoul and Bas. SA spent at least $50,000 more on talent cost this year than in 2013. SA President James Ingram said talent cost and production cost fall within the range of what the organization usually pays for its big concert series. While the genre and cost may be the norm, Ingram made it a priority to have the fest earlier than in recent years. Last year’s Fall Fest wasn’t until October, “so I wanted to make sure this year we could try to have it early because I feel like that’s when everyone gets back to campus, everyone’s trying excited to be here [and] most people are trying to get together and have a good time,” Ingram said. The concert will take place about five weeks earlier than it did last year. Tickets for the general public are on sale at the Alumni Arena box office and Ticketmaster’s website. UB undergraduate students, who help fund Fall Fest with their mandatory $94.75 student activity feel each semester, will get in for free by showing their ID at the door. How much does this cost? According to its ledger, SA set aside $640,000 for this year’s Fall and Spring Fests with $390,000 in one budget for talent costs
UB sent out a campus-wide email alert Monday notifying all students and staff that there is Level 2 sex offender enrolled in classes. “To my knowledge, this is the first time UB has needed to post or send such a notice,” said UB Spokesman John Della Contrada in an email. The email alert directed the campus community to a link from New York State’s Division of Criminal Justice Services’ website that included the student Daniel Lampke’s crimes, photo and current address. He was convicted of attempting to possess materials of sexual performance by a child, according to the New York State website. The site also listed the crime as involving pornography, use of a computer and no force or weapon. Lampke, 21, was charged with a misdemeanor, served no jail time and has six years of probation. “University Police do not think there is a specific threat,” Della Contrada said. “This is a matter of following state law and providing the campus community members with information they have the right to know.” Students such as Anokhi Patel, a senior biomedical sciences major, questioned why the email was the method necessary if the student poses no threat. It’s a SUNY precedent, according to Della Contrada. By law, the university is required to make information about Level 2 and 3 sex offenders available to the public. SUNY’s Office of General Counsel, which offers legal advisement to the SUNY Board of Trustees, told UB to provide the informa-
SENIOR ARTS EDITOR
EDITOR IN CHIEF
COURTESY OF MARK RUNYON, CONCERTTOUR.ORG
WIth his ninth studio album Paperwork: The Motion Picture, releasing in September, T.I. will co-headline this year’s Fall Fest alongside up-and-coming rapper Schoolboy Q.
and $250,000 in a separate budget for production costs. The organization’s ledger currently shows it has spent $212,500 on talent for this Fall Fest and more than $125,000 for production. Each fest’s production costs average around $150,000, according to Ingram and SA Entertainment Coordinator Marc Rosenblitt. The overall talent cost for this Fall Fest is more than either of last year’s fests – Spring Fest’s talent, for example, cost around $190,000. The difference between the production cost of an indoor and outdoor concert can vary in excess of $10,000 per concert. Ingram said he’d like to host the concert at Baird Point, but it could be inside Alumni Arena or its parking lot depending on the weather. SA has spent between $265,000 and $400,000 on each of the past four fests and Ingram said this year’s final cost would be in that range. Annually, the
fests account for about 18 percent of SA’s roughly $3.5 million budget made up entirely of student fees. Canisius College also collects student fees to fund its concerts but the smaller school has a less robust budget. Canisius’ student government spends roughly $20,000 on one concert for its 3,000 undergraduates each year. Canisius student Emmalene Carberry, who has responsibilities similar to Ingram’s in planning concerts, advocates for student input when spending student money. She encourages student polls. “I’m a big proponent of spending student tax dollars the way students want them to be spent,” Carberry said. The question of genre This year’s Fall Fest continues a recent tradition of fests dominated by rap and hip-hop performances. SEE FEST, PAGE 15
tion by emailing the entire campus community rather than just posting a notice on a UB website, according to Della Contrada. After repeated phone calls, SUNY representatives did not return The Spectrum’s request for an interview by the time of press. Chief of Police Gerald Schoenle said although the decision to send the notice via email “was made higher up,” UPD recommended the same procedure. SUNY consistently recommends “campuses actively communicate” Level 2 notifications to students, faculty and staff, Della Contrada said. He described handling the situation as “new territory for the university” and said SUNY’s legal guidance was appreciated. UPD has received little negative reaction to the email – but that hasn’t been the case in all SUNY schools that have followed the same sort of procedure. In 2011, SUNY Geneseo posted a notification on its Facebook page – similar in content to that of UB’s email – about a student who was a Level 3 sex offender. The differing levels indicate the perpetrator’s risk of repeat offense. Geneseo’s post sparked a vigorous online debate of if sharing the information in that way was appropriate. Geneseo’s website states it also uses an email alert system to notify the campus community of Level 2 and 3 offenders. Chuck Leonard, a junior exercise science major, thinks sending out an email to the whole campus the way UB did was the best method to share the information. SEE OFFENDER, PAGE 15