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ubspectrum.com
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Volume 65 No. 19
UB bans former professor from campus for mass shooting references Nov. 16, 2006
Aug. 28, 2008
Mutua announces resignation amid allegations of perjury
Malkan begins wrongful termination suit against Mutua
Law School Dean Nils Olsen signs law professor Jeffrey Malkan to what is essentially a 5-year contract
2006
Sept. 22, 2014
2011
2008
Malkan includes references to mass shootings in emails to faculty
Oct. 9, 2015
Gardner sends email to faculty notifying them of Malkan’s ban, includes two photos of Malkan
2014 2015
2011
New Law School Dean Makau Mutua informs Malkan he is firing him
March 5, Oct. 1 and 5, 2015
Oct. 10, 2015
Malkan officially notified through mail that he is barred from visiting campus
Dec. 16, 2014
James Gardner named interim dean of Law School
MAKAU MUTUA PHOTO COURTESY OF UB NEWS CENTER
TOM DINKI EDITOR IN CHIEF
UB has banned a former law professor from campus after he sent emails to faculty referencing mass shootings on college campuses. Jeffrey Malkan, a former adjunct law professor who has an ongoing wrongful termination suit against former Law School Dean Makau Mutua, sent three separate mass emails to law school faculty during the past seven months referencing two shootings on
college campuses and one at an elementary school. Malkan, who has sent nearly 200 emails about his firing and lawsuit to faculty during the past year, insists his emails were not threatening. He said he started sending emails to faculty in 2011 to update his former colleagues about his case and to ask for their help. He said he only mentioned shootings in his recent mails because Mutua and Interim Law School Dean James Gardner have been “spreading rumors” that he was “un-
balanced” and a danger to people in the law school. He said being associated with such crimes and the insinuation that he was capable of committing such a crime was causing him distress. Since his termination in 2009, which Malkan insists is unjust, he has been unable to find work, largely, he said, because UB has refused to write him a reference letter or remove the termination from his record. Malkan claims he has not been on campus since May of 2009 and has not been in Buffalo
since December 2013. He currently lives in Stony Brook, New York. “I did not say that violence is the appropriate response to any injustice and did not compare myself in any way to mass shooters,” Malkan said. While a University Police officer determined Malkan posed no threat to campus after questioning him over the phone, UB officials said faculty and staff were fearful about Malkan’s emails and the ban was issued as “as a precautionary step to ensure the safety of our campus community.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Take me to church KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM
St. Joseph University Parish on South Campus is a place for UB students to attend mass and continue their religious faith while in college. The pastor, Father Jack, said he tries to cater the 8 a.m. Sunday mass to college students.
Campus Ministries Association brings together groups of many faiths TORI ROSEMAN and DAN MCKEON SENIOR FEATURES EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
What do Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) Buffalo, Lutheran Campus Ministry and University Bible Fellowship all have in common? They are all clubs and organizations under the Campus Ministries Association (CMA). The CMA acts as a parent organization, mostly led by non-students, to help these groups organize events and reserve rooms around campus. They function like a reli-
gious Student Association, helping groups around campus that are religiously affiliated function on a daily basis. Carl Hempel attended UB starting in 2009, where he received his bachelor’s degree and in civil engineering and eventually his masters in transportation engineering. He decided he wasn’t ready to leave campus just yet and became involved with the association.
“I was quite involved as a student. I helped to lead some Bible studies within CRU,” Hempel said. “When I came on staff with CRU, I became their representative to the CMA and I started doing some work within the CMA.” CMA is not only for Christian organizations, though many of the organizations affiliated are Christian. The Hillel, the Baptist Campus Fellowship and the Baha’i Faith are also under the domain of the association. The CMA works closely with the Newman Center to help host events. These events include Sunday masses and Bible study groups as well as interfaith dinners and larger fundraising events. Christine Marino, campus minister, said that it’s not just the mass that helps student connect to one another. After the 8 a.m. masses on Sundays, the Newman Center hosts meetings with food and drinks. These meetings serve as an op-
portunity to both meet new people and reunite with friends. “It’s basically a platform for students to meet and connect with people that might not have a chance to otherwise,” Marino said. “A lot of students get excited about that because they get to see people that they wouldn’t normally get to see on campus during the week.” Aside from their work within the church, the CMA offers a lot of service opportunities for anyone who is interested. “This year, we’re working with Compass House, which is a home for runaways who are under 18,” Marino said. “We have a commitment with them once a month, we’re going to make dinner for their residents.” They also work with the University Heights collaborative. All programming is open to everybody, not just members of the clubs or organizations affiliated with CMA. “A lot of how people hear about us is mouth-to-mouth, student-to-student. They’re our best ambassadors really,” said Father Jack Ledwon, a pastor at St. Joseph University Parish. According to Father Jack, approximately 250-300 people attend mass on the weekends. “We try to make the 8 a.m. mass maybe a little more applicable to the students and what they’re going through,” Father Jack said. “But the scripture remains the same for all the masses.” Father Jack believes that people in this point of their lives are searching for and reexamining traditional values and religion. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
2
Did you make this week’s police blotter?
3
Our editorial board’s stance on USC firing fotball head coach Steve Sarkisian
4
Is there such a thing as a ‘best’ major?