the spectrum volume 62 issue 56
DESCRIPTION
The Spectrum, an independent student publication of the University at Buffalo. February 25, 2013TRANSCRIPT
monday, february 25, 2013 Volume 62 no. 56ubspectrum.com
The Heights of Fear UB takes hands-off attitude in South Campus neighborhood, students suffer consequences
‘‘ ‘‘We’re not in the
protection business.
What will the future look like with UB’s current efforts?
What have other universities done to remedy housing violations?
What have other universities done to remedy off-campus crime?
What is UB doing to correct the housing violations?
What are the housing violations in the Heights?
Page 5
Pages 4, 5
Page 5
Page 6
Page 6
Adrien d’Angelo /// The SpecTrum
Continued on page 4
liSA KhourYSenior News Editor
Architecture student chen lin is so scared living in the university heights she doesn’t go out past dark.
She came to uB this year from china and since her arrival, she has heard about students in her South campus neighborhood be-ing robbed, shot, burglarized and assaulted.
“i feel scared,” lin said. “i never walk on the streets when the sky is dark. in the evening, i’m afraid to go on the street.”
lin didn’t come to Buffalo by accident.
For years, uB has actively re-cruited international students to campus and now those students make up 15 percent of the student body and bring close to $108 mil-lion to Western new York. uB ranks among the top 20 u.S. cam-puses for recruiting international students and is the top international recruiter among public schools.
president Satish Tripathi, who was born in india and is the first in-ternational-born president in uB’s history, has made it a goal to in-crease the number of international students on campus.
Yet, the university does mini-mal work to ensure the safety of these students – or any others who choose to live in the cheap houses around South campus – once they arrive.
“We’re not in the protection business,” said dennis Black, vice president for university life and Services.
unlike other campuses, such as the university of pennsylvania, ohio State and nearby canisius college – where administrators have worked with local police, state legislatures or landlords to protect students living on the outskirts of the university – uB has taken a hands-off attitude in the neighbor-hood around South campus known as the university heights.
Tripathi declined to be inter-viewed for this article. he referred The Spectrum to Black and other ad-ministrators, who insist the univer-sity is not responsible for students’ safety and living conditions off campus.
is it?
Fred Brace, who has lived in the heights for over 25 years and serves as the university district housing court liaison, thinks so – particularly if the houses are blocks from campus. he thinks uB is irre-sponsible and negligent for not im-proving living conditions and safety in the heights.
“uB has to find a way to get upd [university police] patrol-ling those areas where they know students live,” Brace said. “i don’t care how they do it; they have to do it … i mean, uB is allowing their students to rent properties without proper safety guidelines in them and turning their back on their need for safe places to live.”
eighty-two percent of 760 students polled by The Spectrum feel uB should do more to improve living conditions for students in the heights. currently, the univer-sity forewarns its students by pro-viding online tips for renting off campus. At international student orientation, uB advises students
to be careful before renting homes, though many have already signed their leases.
many, if not most, of the 5,500-plus international students who come to uB live in the heights, said John Wood, senior associate vice provost for international edu-cation.
That’s because many students – particularly international students – rent houses from abroad before they come to Buffalo. They see them listed by the Sub-Board, inc. (SBi) off-campus housing office, which does not investigate, inspect or endorse the condition of the listed houses and some students as-sume they are university-approved housing options.
From a distance, university heights looks great. rent is cheaper than in most parts of the city and students can walk to class, to the bus stop and to bars, restaurants and grocery stores along main Street.
What the ads don’t tell the stu-dents or their parents – who, in the case of international students, pay over $9,000 for tuition on top of rent and expenses – is that for the past 30 years, the area has become synonymous with crime and absen-tee landlordism.
The crimes occurring in the heights are not minor; students are being held up at gunpoint in their homes, burglarized by armed sus-pects, beaten and traumatized.
housing inspectors have is-sued over 750 violations to land-lords in the heights in the past two years. Some houses have had over 20 alone. The violations range from disgusting to deadly and include: faulty wiring that can lead to fire, inactive or nonexistent smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, bed bugs, collapsing ceilings, leaking pipes, unstable railings, improper insulation and inadequate plumbing and waste removal.
The list goes on. How much crime is there and what is UB doing to combat it?
on uB’s website – a site many prospective students read – it states in the “South campus neighbor-hood” section: “Some of the crime in heights neighborhood (sic) is re-lated to the abuse of alcohol among young people who reside in or visit it. Some of this behavior leads to so-called nuisance crimes, such as vandalism. more serious incidents include acts of violence, though they are rare.”
ubspectrum.com2 Monday, February 25, 2013
SEO Marketing Position!
Must have strong Microsoft Excel skills•Must have strong organizational skills•Experience with Google Adwords PPC management•Strong working knowledge of Google Panda •algorithms and how to optimize and prepare content accordinglyUnderstanding and application of Social Media’s role •in organic searchUnderstanding of blog “Authorship” and it’s relevance •in organic searchStrong written communication skills are a plus•
Weofferacompetitivebenefitspackagetoourfull-timeemployees:
• MedicalandDental• ShortandLongTermDisability• LifeInsurance• 401K-CompanyMatch• PaidTimeOff
Come See Us At The UB CareerFestTuesday 2/26/13 or send resumes to:
SalaryCommensurateToExperience
life, Arts & entertainment
elVA AguilAr and peTe ShApiroSenior Arts Editor and Staff Writer
cultures clashed as a room of raucous applause, name-calls and shout-outs rang in-side an almost-packed out mainstage Theater inside the center For the Arts.
last Friday, the indian SA (iSA) took first place at a sold-out international Fiesta with its Bollywood-influenced wedding story. latin American SA’s dance troupe, Alma na-nichi, and Filipino SA (FASA) rounded out second and third place at the show, which all featured this year’s “love” theme.
The exciting yet fierce competition featured each traditional dance as well as breakbeat hip-hop fusion and panoramic renditions of favored national thematic movements.
indian SA’s show-stopping depiction of love merged traditional elements of the theme with its vibrant music and culture. The performance began with three women, each representing a different facet of dance within the culture, reminiscing about their experi-ences with marriage at a traditional indian wedding. iSA came out clad in bright colors and its blend of tradition, pop culture and indian electronic fusion captivated the audi-ence. The Bollywood theme fit well with its performance because of love’s prevalence in the film genre.
The applause following the performance was deafening.
According to iSA president mira pan-dya, the group began preparing for last Friday’s show in late november after its muqabla show. it was after months of con-sideration, planning and practice iSA’s 39 dancers achieved victory.
“The win is attributed to the dedication of the team members. They really put all of their effort into preparing for the show,” pandya said. “The long hours that everyone puts in as well as during the weekends defi-nitely paid off.”
latin American SA (lASA) told the fi-ery love story of a couple, accented by mul-tiple other pairs around them throughout the performance. The music featured contempo-rary bachata, merengue, tango and salsa as the male protagonist fought to keep his love alive and avoided temptation. The bachata segment, which highlighted the couple’s love, proved to be the most sensual as the main couple intimately posed alone and inches away from each other before temptation reared its ugly head.
lASA president ricardo Ventura con-siders this year’s Fiesta a success, especially after not placing in 2012. he hopes the ac-complishment helps more students learn about latin American culture.
“A lot of our dancers [come from non-latin] ethnicities,” Ventura said. “To see them come in and learn to dance … and after
a month or two, practice [and see] where they are and [see] how much they really love the culture was the icing on the cake.”
last year’s winners, FASA, hit the stage with over 40 dancers strong for its tale of tragic love. its piece was the Filipino version of “Stomp,” with spear tapping and high energy, ending on a clock tower note in the setting as the main actor and actress stepped into a picture frame for a last embrace as the curtain fell.
Japanese SA (JSA), the first group to perform, graced the mainstage theatre with its depiction of love between the princess and the Samurai. The story behind JSA’s dance showed love and heartbreak in an im-perial Japanese style, beginning with tradi-tional costume, string and drum music and fan dancing. As the routine progressed, a fusion of Japanese electro-mash up played,
as the Samurai and peasant characters fought for the hand of the princess.
color, emotion and imagery character-ized the Samurai as the ‘bad guy’ and as the peasant-protagonist was cut down, the cur-tain fell to shouts and jeers from the audi-ence.
malaysia SA’s colorful blend of cultural themes held a strong theatrical presence. The performance held three themes, each representing the various cultures in malay-sia – chinese, malay and indian. The dance showed disrupted harmony in the coun-try and ended in a battle scene where four statuesque malaysia heroes defeated invaders, where they concluded with a victory shout that resonated through the cFA.
Saung Budaya, which stole the show last year, exhibited an absolutely incredible glass-ware and plate dance act, representing the indonesian culture’s ability to control danger and overcome obstacles. live music accom-panied the professional new York city dance group, played on delicate glass percussion in-struments with body clapping adding to the beat, all with bright blues oranges and reds in the mesmerizing musical act. The dancers handled delicate porcelain plates and bowls, aligning them into a circle, dancing on the plates.
Senior math major nick carey felt the use of the porcelain plates and bowls helped add suspense to the performance and walked away content from international Fiesta.
“i really thought a plate was going to break,” carey said. “i feel like i got a decent amount of culture tonight.”
With this year’s fiesta at a close, it will be interesting to see what both the international council will premiere as next year’s theme and what each SA club will do to top this year’s performances.
Email: [email protected]
Bollywood reigns supreme Indian Student Association wins International Fiesta
JoYce AdigeS /// The SpecTrum
last weekend, the indian Student Association won the annual international Fiesta held in the cFA mainstage Theater. The iSA, along with the other competitors, performed for a sold-out crowd.
ubspectrum.com3Monday, February 25, 2013
opinionEDITORIAL BOARD
The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, opin-ion, and perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student
union or [email protected]. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. if a letter is not meant for publication please
mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.
The Spectrum is provided free in part by the undergraduate mandatory
Activity Fee.
The Spectrum is represented for na-tional advertising by both Alloy media
and marketing, and mediamate.
For information on adverstising with The Spectrum
visit www.ubspectrum.com/ads or call us directly.
The Spectrum offices are located in 132
Student union, uB north campus, Buffalo, nY
14260-2100
February 25, 2013Volume 62 number 56
circulation 7,000
EDITOR In CHIEF Aaron mansfield
SEnIOR MAnAgIng EDITOR
Brian Josephs
MAnAgIng EDITOR rebecca Bratek
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Ashley Steves
nEWS EDITORSSara dinatale, co-Senior lisa Khoury, co-Senior
Sam Fernando, Asst.rachel raimondi, Asst.
LIFE EDITORS
rachel Kramer, Senior lyzi White
lisa epstein, Asst.
ARTS EDITORSelva Aguilar, Senior
lisa de la Torre, Asst.nathaniel Smith, Asst.
max crinnin, Asst.
SPORTS EDITORSJoseph Konze Jr., Senior
Jon gagnonBen Tarhan
markus mccaine, Asst.
PHOTO EDITORSAlexa Strudler, Senior
Satsuki AoiAdrien d’Angelo
nick Fischetti, Asst.
CARTOOnISTJeanette chwan
PROFESSIOnAL STAFF
OFFICE ADMInISTRATORhelene polley
ADVERTISIng MAnAgER
mark Kurtz
CREATIVE DIRECTORBrian Keschinger
haider Alidina, Asst.
ADVERTISIng DESIgnERJoseph ramaglia
ryan christopher, Asst.haley Sunkes, Asst.
SEO Marketing Position!
Must have strong Microsoft Excel skills•Must have strong organizational skills•Experience with Google Adwords PPC management•Strong working knowledge of Google Panda •algorithms and how to optimize and prepare content accordinglyUnderstanding and application of Social Media’s role •in organic searchUnderstanding of blog “Authorship” and it’s relevance •in organic searchStrong written communication skills are a plus•
Weofferacompetitivebenefitspackagetoourfull-timeemployees:
• MedicalandDental• ShortandLongTermDisability• LifeInsurance• 401K-CompanyMatch• PaidTimeOff
Come See Us At The UB CareerFestTuesday 2/26/13 or send resumes to:
SalaryCommensurateToExperience
AAron mAnSFieldEditor in Chief
i knew what was happening the second i turned around.
The man who was about to rob me stood 20 yards away. it was mid-
night. i was returning from work. i had just closed the garage door of my university heights home.
i saw him stampeding up my driveway when i turned around. he was small. probably about 5-foot-5. Skinny, too. At 6-foot-3, nearly 200 pounds, i wouldn’t have blinked at the challenge under normal circumstances. But he had a gun.
A bandana covered his face and a hoodie masked his head. i remember contemplating my two distinct choices: hop a fence and try to outrun him or walk right up and see what happened. i kept walking.
he loaded the gun. chk-chk. he pushed it into my stomach. i remember the poke and the questions on my mind: 1. Will he actually shoot me if i don’t empty my pockets? 2. What would it feel like to get shot in the stomach?
i wasn’t interested in exploring the answers, so i obliged when he screamed in my face, de-manding “give me everything!” he knew my wal-let wasn’t everything – no tricking this guy – so he kept shouting and i eventually gave him my keys, too. he continued his demands, but he wasn’t get-ting the paycheck in my hand. i was 17 and had worked hard all week for it. Thankfully, he didn’t notice. he sped away and i called the Buffalo po-lice.
They showed up about 15 minutes later and told me there was nothing they could do. About a month later, the department called me in to the station and asked me to identify the robber from a picture list of 20 or so men. i couldn’t find him.
That 2008 episode marked one of seven times my family was robbed that year. i was the only one held up at gunpoint. The other incidents happened in house and car break-ins at our lisbon Avenue home.
robberies in the heights have gone down since 2008, from 73 back then to 60 in 2012. But crime totals – adding homicide, rape, robbery, as-sault, burglary, larceny and vehicle theft numbers – are exactly the same. There were 523 crimes in 2008 and 523 in 2012.
Students these days probably think it’s always been that way in that neighborhood. it hasn’t. i grew up in university heights, and it has com-pletely disintegrated over the past decade. The kids you see getting arrested on TV and in the news today are the kids i played basketball with in my backyard. Think of your childhood buddies who are probably off at college. i find mine in the po-lice blotter. it’s a sign of what’s going on in that part of town. good kids are becoming criminals to survive in the mad city.
Shortly after my driveway showdown, one of my childhood friends vowed: “i can find out who did it. We can get him.” i told him not to. i lived in constant fear.
every time i walked to and from the metro stop to travel between home and my high school, i felt like there was a target on my back. i didn’t go out after dark. We had bars on all our windows. criminals still found a way to break in. one rav-aged our house while my sister was asleep.
i now live off north campus, but copious other students aren’t as lucky. The administration claims living on South is a choice. For many, it isn’t.
do you think every student can afford the as-tronomical cost of living in Amherst? or, if you tell them to live off campus in cheektowaga or Tonawanda, do you think they all drive and can afford a car?
uB is raising tuition every year. like me, a solid percentage of students pay for their full edu-cation with zero parental contribution. As the cost of attendance goes up, the amount of money stu-dents can spend on rent goes down.
This is a preposterous situation. The uB community shouldn’t be facing this dilemma in the first place. South campus is just as much a part of uB as north, and it’s more a part of uB’s history. South shouldn’t be a taboo area.
Wonder why Buffalo is such an economically depressed city? it’s because the area doesn’t have one major cash hub. Steel factories are gone. like indianapolis has fixed its crime problems by add-ing the ncAA headquarters, Buffalo needs a stim-ulant, and for now, Western new York has banked upon uB to be that major cash crop.
Want uB 2020 to flourish? Want to continue building the athletic department? Frankly, who cares about any of those achievements if a large part of the school is a terror-ridden, crime-infest-ed disaster area?
i can tell you who doesn’t care: students. You think they are going to promote school spirit if they feel their lives are in danger the second they step off campus? Why would they help you if you are clearly neglecting them?
i don’t live in fear any more. Students living in the heights still do. They don’t feel secure walking up the street. if uB really wanted to fix this bur-geoning problem, with all the money in its budget, it could. As flawed as the Buffalo police depart-ment is, the university heights conundrum should fall at the feet of uB’s administration.
look at the polls The Spectrum conducted this week. Students are making a statement:
They know exactly what’s happening. it’s time for uB to turn it around.
For UB to go north, it needs to fix South
Email: [email protected]
Reform the broken standardized testing system
TAYlor BrundAgeStaff Writer
A lot of people have nightmares. You wake up re-
lieved it was just a dream, take a deep breath and then forget about it. But my nightmares and my entire life changed forever last year.
march 28 at 1:30 a.m., to be exact. The night i got robbed at gunpoint in my living room.
See, this wasn’t your typical robbery. These guys didn’t come bashing down my door wearing ski masks screaming at me. They waltzed casually into my South campus house on Winspear Av-enue.
i have to admit, i wasn’t very alarmed when they did. everyone was always coming in and out of my house for one reason or another. i didn’t mind it. i used to consider everyone i met a friend. it was an actual friend, Kirsten Fine, who sat next to me on the couch that night while we did our homework. The funny thing is, before the guys came in, we were telling each other how happy we were with our lives.
Then the door opened. They stood before us clad in all black. one was sporting a deBeer lacrosse bag. i happened to be a fan of the sport, so i was intrigued.
“What’s up, guys? You play lacrosse?” i asked them.
“Yeah,” they muttered while pacing around a bit.
“oh yeah, me too! i’m pretty good actually,” i bragged playfully.
“not as good as me,” one of them said while locking his eyes into mine. “i’m all-county.”
They both smiled. Something didn’t seem right at this point. looking back, i should have realized these guys weren’t exactly coming from lacrosse practice.
They came in looking for my roommate; they kept bringing up her name. She wasn’t home. i didn’t know how to help them besides trying to call her. While the phone was still in my hand, i watched the larger of the two men unzip the la-crosse bag and pull out the gun.
now, when i say gun, i don’t mean a paint-ball gun. i don’t mean a handgun, either. i mean a semi-automatic rifle with a green scope laser. i heard the click-click that until that moment was just a Call of Duty sound effect to me.
As my phone hit the floor, i could see noth-ing – nothing except a blinding green light and the menacing smile standing behind it. looking back, i didn’t have time to make peace with any higher power. i didn’t have time to make a case for saving my own life. All i could do was watch the man’s finger caress the trigger.
i watched him move and point the gun at Kirsten. i saw the fear in her eyes and she saw mine. Before we could speak, they grabbed $15 and a little bit of pot that was lying on our dishev-eled living room table. They said “thanks” before sprinting away from my house.
Something inside me couldn’t let that be the end. Through all the confusion, i called 911. The police came almost immediately. Kirsten and i worked like investigators that night, stalking through Facebook and making phone calls to see if we could somehow come up with a face and a name.
And we did. Because of our quick thinking, the police found their address and moved in on them.
They found the rifle stashed outside and ar-rested the men who were hiding in their bedrooms with suitcases packed.
So the nightmare ends there, right? Far from it.
That night, my life was turned upside down and i will never be the same. Between pointing out the criminals, standing before a jury and the actual trial itself, there were so many odds and ends that had to be sealed. my parents didn’t want
me in Buffalo. my family was petrified and so was i. But i think what hurt the most was the fact that many people who i had once considered my clos-est friends, people i would die for, just couldn’t understand – or didn’t want to.
i had to move midway through the semester, which, surprisingly, i was able to continue after going home for so long to deal with the trauma. After my move, there were a lot of people i lost touch with and a lot of things i was forced to change about my life. And i’m glad i did. now i’m stronger and better than ever before. i know how to decipher between people who really care about me and people who don’t give a sh*t what happens. i make the right choices.
occasionally, i have this nightmare that the guys are coming back for their revenge and it al-ways ends with the pulling of a trigger pointed at me. i wake up shaking, crying and sweating, un-able to sleep again. i hear the sound of a bang-ing door or a firework and it sends me spiraling into this horrible place and i can’t stop reliving the moments when i thought my life would end before i got to see the age of 21.
if i could offer any advice, it would be to know the people you associate yourself with. Though it might be the more difficult thing to do, realize that you could be put in danger even indi-rectly by the choices you make.
Sometimes, it takes a loaded gun pointed at your head for you to get it. i do think my night-mares will end on march 12 – the day the prison doors will shut behind these criminals – and i get the closure i’ve been seeking for a full year now. They’ll be serving five to 25 years each. But because of the trauma they’ve caused me, i’ll be serving a life sentence.
Email: [email protected]
My life sentence
More than a test score
check out the next editorial coming
Wednesday
ubspectrum.com4 Monday, February 25, 2013
news
STUDENT BROAD-BASED FEES CONSULTATION PROCESSMonday 2/18 - Friday 3/1
studentaccounts.buffalo.edu/broadbasedfees
BE INFORMEDVisit Online For:- Student notice/letter- Proposed increases- Annual budget reports- Services provided- FAQs- FAQs- Waivers- Contacts
GET INVOLVEDShare Your Feedback:- MyUB MyOpinion survey- facebook.com/whatsupub- Talk to your student government reps- Email: src- Email: [email protected]
Continued from page 1: The Height of Fear in fact, violent crimes happen quite of-
ten in the heights – twice as often as in the neighborhood around north campus. last year, police logged over 500 major crimes, which include homicides, assaults, rapes, larcenies, robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts in the heights. And since 2007, rape in the heights has increased by 50 percent, as-saults by 16.6 percent, robberies by 9 percent and larcenies by 7 percent, according to Buf-falo police crime statistics.
By contrast, American Live Wire ranked Amherst, the city surrounding north cam-pus, the third-safest city in the united States in 2013.
Although university police protects stu-dent safety on South campus, the minute students set foot off main Street and into the heights – even by one block – campus police no longer have jurisdiction, according to upd lieutenant mark gates. instead, it becomes the job of the Buffalo police.
university police can only intercede if Buffalo police asks for help or if a upd of-ficer witnesses a crime, according to gates. upd chief gerald Schoenle said Bpd calls for help three to four times a month.
Students who live in the area insist they don’t feel comfortable in their neighborhood. Fifty-four percent of 787 students polled by The Spectrum said they feel unsafe when they’re in the heights. Some residents admit-tedly like the autonomy of knowing no one is checking on them – not parents or police. Fraternities – some legal, some illegal – have houses in the heights and there is an abun-dant party scene.
Still, for some students, dangerous liv-ing conditions are significantly affecting their university experience.
“living in the heights has affected my experience at uB negatively,” said *Taylor Brundage, a senior english major. “While liv-ing there, i struggled to get my work and life, in general, under control.”
on march 28 at 1:30 a.m., Brundage was sitting in her living room on Winspear Avenue doing homework when two young men – also heights residents – broke into her house looking for her roommate and pointed a loaded rifle at her and her friend. Afterward, she could no longer sleep and became so scared her doctors diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder. She left uB for a month and saw a counselor in her rockland county hometown.
on nov. 10, in three separate crimes, uB student mitchell Staunch and his friend were mugged and beaten, another student was held at knifepoint and three female students were assaulted.
Staunch, a freshman mechanical engi-neering major, said a man approached him on the street, asked him to empty his pockets and punched him in the jaw when he refused. he hit his head on the pavement and was knocked unconscious. While he was out, his attackers picked his pockets and stole his cell phone, $42 in cash, his debit card, ATm card, uB id and driver’s license.
“i was really angry because they took a lot of money and stuff,” Staunch said. “i hat-ed the world. i hated some people after that and i was really surprised that it happened because it never happened to me before. And
there was no reason because i didn’t do any-thing to them.”
Six days later, a freshman engineering major (who asked to remain anonymous) was walking to a bus stop on Winspear with two friends in the early morning when a man pulled out a gun and asked for money.
on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Bryan Bergstol, a junior communication ma-jor, and his four uB student roommates left their West northrup home for the holidays. When they returned Sunday, they found ev-ery door of their house smashed in and many of their valuables gone.
Black, whose office oversees both stu-dent residences and public safety, said there was nothing uB could do for Bergstol or his roommates.
“i’m sure there were, on that same day, 200,000 robberies across new York State and 2 million across the country,” Black said. “That’s not something i’m proud of, but the fact is, that happens.”
The burglary at Bergstol’s home, how-ever, wasn’t simply one of 200,000 in new York State. The same house, when occupied by different tenants, was broken into over Thanksgiving break in 2011.
Burglars surmise where students live, said dan ryan, director of off-campus Stu-dent relations. And they target their homes when they are away on school breaks, like Thanksgiving, christmas and spring break.
Bpd does not increase its patrols of the heights during those breaks and campus police does not patrol at all. The only recent action taken to warn students about holiday break-ins occurred in dec. 2012, when ryan sent an email to students living in the heights and told them to lock their homes and valu-ables.
Three heights homes were burglarized over that winter break.
on Jan. 18, a 20-year-old was shot in the lower leg in a drive-by shooting in broad day-light on minnesota Avenue.
Bpd upped its main Street patrols on the weekends two years ago, but e-district chief Kimberly Beaty, whose district includes the heights, refused to tell The Spectrum why.
despite the increased patrols, in the past two years, there has been a 44 percent in-crease in assaults, 21 percent increase in vehi-cle theft, 13 percent increase in robberies and 3 percent increase in larcenies in the heights.
community members don’t understand why campus police doesn’t step in to help.
What have other universities done to remedy off-campus crime?
rosline righetti has lived in the same house on merrimac Street for 57 years. in the past five years, she’s become so tired of crime that she has installed eight cameras around her home.
“i feel bad for the kids here,” righetti said. “They come to school and they’re being subjected to the robberies and the rapes.” She said she’s seen cars broken into, tires slashed and air conditioners in windows broken to get into homes.
Continued on page 5
The two screen shots above display the crimes around north and South campus on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 12:44 a.m. The top photo, on north campus, shows zero crimes. The bottom photo, in an area of the university heights, displays 34 crime incidents including at least two assaults, seven thefts, two robberies and one burglary.
ubspectrum.com 5monday, February 25, 2013
716-877-7111Pick-Ups offered from the airport!
DOWNLOAD THE APPDOWNLOAD THE APP
Pick-Ups offered from the airport!
STUDENT BROAD-BASED FEES CONSULTATION PROCESSMonday 2/18 - Friday 3/1
studentaccounts.buffalo.edu/broadbasedfees
BE INFORMEDVisit Online For:- Student notice/letter- Proposed increases- Annual budget reports- Services provided- FAQs- FAQs- Waivers- Contacts
GET INVOLVEDShare Your Feedback:- MyUB MyOpinion survey- facebook.com/whatsupub- Talk to your student government reps- Email: src- Email: [email protected]
‘‘ ‘‘It was just disgusting disrepair. Disgusting.
Filthy. Horrible.
Continued from page 4: The Height of Fear For righetti, the answer is simple: give
upd jurisdiction in the heights.That is not something uB has tried,
Black said. The university has never pushed for its campus police to have jurisdiction to protect students off campus.
ohio State did.on Sept. 19, ohio State university and
the city of columbus agreed on joint juris-diction that gives campus police the right to patrol in the inner city of columbus, where many students live.
in the first two months the plan was implemented, violent crime dropped 5 per-cent from the past 10 years, said oSu un-dergraduate Student government president Taylor Stepp.
Stepp made increased campus police presence his focal point when elected pres-ident in April. his true focus is on violent crimes, he said.
“i was not comfortable being in a situ-ation where we were oK with any students getting mugged off campus or held at gun-point or robbed,” Stepp said. “So our job isn’t done until we can make that armed as-sault number zero at ohio State.”
could uB do something like this?” not according to Black. “ohio is ohio; Buffalo is Buffalo,”
Black said. “i don’t know if there’s a com-parison … The answer is that it would take legislation in order for that to happen. That’s not something that uB and Buffalo alone can deal with. That deals with what the power of different police officers are in the State of new York and that’s, quite frankly, beyond us.”
in ohio, university president e. gordon gee worked with state legislation to invest in the safety of students off campus, Stepp said.
Stepp said he “cannot even imagine the university leadership team stating they do not have a vested interest in students’ safety.”
“i oftentimes see students and my con-stituents as people that really need a helping hand because, a lot of times, these students are renting for the first time off campus, and there needs to be accountability for people who try to take advantage of them because that’s simply what it is,” Stepp said.
in warm-weather months, Bpd and upd have agreed to share a joint bike patrol on main Street to increase police presence. Since 2010, during the first few weeks of the academic year and on halloween weekend, Bpd and upd typically share jurisdiction in the heights. But that’s the only time.
Bonnie russell, the university district common council member, is baffled by the university’s hands-off attitude.
“i just think that more police involve-ment in an area where there’s police available, the better off the community is,” she said. “if you have campus police nearby, i think it helps benefit everybody who lives there.”
What are the housing violations? in the 2010-11 academic year, four
houses rented by uB students in the heights caught fire due to faulty wiring or natural gas problems.
last semester, lin and her fellow inter-national student roommates had to evacuate their house when an inspector realized car-bon monoxide, an odorless poisonous gas, was leaking into their apartment.
in September, four students left their englewood Avenue home for four days when inspectors found faulty electric wiring, which could have caused electrocution or a fire.
on oct. 13, inspectors found hardened raw sewage in Zhen pan and Seng gao’s merrimac home. The second-year electrical engineering graduate students were unaware that debris surrounding an open pipe in their basement floor was the result of neglected plumbing issues.
Jordan little, a senior psychology major, spent most of his fall semester sleeping on his friend’s couch. his merrimac home was infested with bed bugs, something his land-lord – whom he only knew as “Victor” – nev-er mentioned.
in the past two years, inspectors have found at least 34 inactive or missing carbon monoxide detectors and 37 inactive or miss-ing smoke detectors in heights homes. These cases – which The Spectrum counted in the of-fice of permits and inspections – are only a sampling of the violations found, as they only include the cases that closed. cases still pending or in court were not counted.
on north campus, Amherst building inspector Joe Freeze said he hardly gets any property maintenance complaints from stu-dents in off-campus houses and apartments.
in the fall of 2011, political science ma-jors Bill pike, Jeremy Ferris and mike Fro-dyma lived without heat or running water for more than two weeks before housing inspec-
tors condemned their lisbon Avenue house and forced them out.
now, Ferris, a senior, lives on north campus. he lived in three houses in the heights over two years. The first had no gas, the second no water.
“his name was Scott; we’ve never met him,” Ferris said about his second landlord. “We couldn’t get in touch with him, ever. Then, the year before, i had a landlord claim we had $11,000 worth of damage in the house … i feel like the landlords will do any-thing to get money out of us.”
donna rosen, Ferris’ mother, begged her son to move out of the heights for two years. But it cost him only $180 to $200 per month – just over a third of his current rent on north campus.
“i cannot tell you,” rosen said about the homes she witnessed her son live in. “loose wires, leaking pipes, windows that just have … nails over them, doors nailed shut, going out to the exterior, it was just disgusting dis-repair. disgusting. Filthy. horrible.”
Though one of the homes was con-demned, rosen said no one takes respon-sibility for the landlords who are taking advantage of students in the heights. She particularly pointed out that many landlords don’t live in Buffalo.
“A landlord in the house that was con-demned was holding some company in Brooklyn,” rosen said. “These people aren’t even there. There’s no accountability. There’s no real people.”
Ferris has been robbed of approxi-mately $1,000 worth of valuables in the heights during his time at uB, rosen said. The latest robbery happened in no-vember, when he visited the heights and got robbed of his iphone at knifepoint.
What is UB doing to correct the housing violations?
in 2011, uB tried to help students living in the heights by initiating housing blitzes designed to check if homes in the heights are up to code. To do this, off-campus Stu-dent Services director dan ryan teams up with Buffalo building inspectors and checks homes for a few weekends each semester. if inspectors find violations, they cite landlords, ask them to fix the problems and, if neces-sary, send them to court.
Since operation Student Safety began about two years ago, ryan said he and the city inspectors have inspected over 600 apart-ments, some on second visits. his sense is the inspections are helping decrease housing violations and raising awareness to absentee landlordism in the heights.
neighbors, too, praise the program and ryan says it is viewed as a model by other colleges.
But – as Brace points out – ryan is just one man and he can only do so much. And what he has, Brace says, is “a job for Jesus.”
even ryan admits the results are am-biguous.
“What we’re finding is that when we’ve gone back to these places, for the most part, improvements have been made,” ryan said at a university heights collaborative meet-ing on Feb. 12. “having said that, we’re also finding some where they haven’t vacated the premises or where they haven’t repaired the electrical.”
professor henry Taylor, the director of uB’s center for urban Studies, which is lo-cated on South campus, thinks the heights’ problem is larger than just ryan’s office can handle.
Taylor has worked for uB as a neighbor-hood and community developer since 1987. he ranks uB’s efforts in the heights as a “one out of 10” in university involvement.
Taylor insists uB needs to do more than just enforce housing codes in order to bet-ter the heights. he said the university must invest in the heights’ housing stock and busi-nesses, like the university of pennsylvania did
Continued on page 6
Jordan little found his new heights home was infested with bed bugs in late August. his landlord hired an exterminator who exterminated the house improperly – little’s roommate was bit shortly after. As a result, little slept on his friend’s couch for most of the fall semester.
AlexA STrudler /// The SpecTrum
ubspectrum.com6 monday, February 25, 2013
classifieds
SUDOKU
Spend a bright summer in Buffalo
Get ahead in your studies, work with a favorite
professor in a smaller setting, or take appropriate
classes to get back on track with a four-year graduation
plan. Choose from a huge schedule of on-campus
and online credit-bearing courses at UBThisSummer.
Registration begins March 4th!
Find a course or two that’s right for you at www.ubthissummer.buffalo.edu.
UBThisSummer_Ad_SPECTRUM.indd 1 2/19/13 11:50 AM
Continued from page 5: The Height of Fear
This fall, off-campus Student Services continued its two-year journey of “housing blitzes” to check for code violations each Saturday in the heights. on oct. 13, charles didio, a city building inspector, found remnants of a raw sewage backup in a student’s basement at 49 merrimac St.
AlexA STrudler /// The SpecTrum
to help develop its adjacent philadelphia neigh-borhood.
“[uB] never really developed the type of innovative programs that it should have and could have in order to change conditions inside of the neighborhoods and community,” Taylor said. “it never made that commitment. And so, as a result of that, as we predicted a long time ago, the problems continued to get worse.”
What have other universities done to remedy housing violations?
canisius, about a 10-minute drive from South campus, has similar off-campus hous-ing issues as uB, but was worried enough about its students to take action and purchase homes. over 17 years ago, the college bought about 21 off-campus houses to rent to students. it stopped buying and renting houses eight years ago to focus on new residence halls on campus.
To make up for that, Associate director of residence life Al pilato periodically meets with and frequently communicates with about 25 landlords who own homes around campus. he works with the landlords to make sure both students and the neighborhood are being taken care of properly. When a student has a problem with a landlord or vice versa, pilato contacts the person directly.
“it used to be closer like to what you know at uB,” pilato said. “The quality of life in the neighborhood was actually poor. gar-bage everywhere, lack of courtesy, but it’s re-ally changed quite a bit. The behavior issues we have that involve the police have dropped dra-matically just because of this involvement with the landlords.”
The university of pennsylvania, which similarly had the troubled area of West phila-delphia along its borders, has partnered with three businesses since the mid-1990s to invest in 1,350 units in multi-family houses in univer-sity city, its off-campus neighborhood where roughly 10,000 students live, said ed datz, real estate and operations director at upenn. The university also invested in the neighborhood’s retail, grocery and hotel space.
upenn has spent approximately $185.7 million, he said.
uB has spent about $150,000 in the heights, according to uB Spokesman John della contrada. That’s 0.08 percent of what upenn has spent.
The uB money went for: security cameras, operation Student Safety, increased uB police patrols on peak weekends like halloween, op-eration doorhanger (a community safety pro-gram in which uB students distribute “door-hangers” printed with safety reminders and tips on how to be a good neighbor) and Student Safety Fairs, della contrada said.
At upenn, the administration’s goal was to buy houses and make them clean, safe and well serviced so students would have decent places to live, according to datz. The effect, he said, spread throughout the neighborhood.
“penn’s example brought in other land-lord investors who have developed multi-family properties and offer improved housing options to students and others who live in West phila-delphia,” datz said. “Street vibrancy in the neighborhood has increased due to a variety of retail options that did not exist in the past, and these, along with public safety enhancements, have improved the overall safety in university city.”
Taylor is waiting for uB to make that com-mitment.
“university of pennsylvania spent money with the businesses of the neighborhoods, bought properties and developed them into apartments, worked with the police to make it a safer neighborhood and community,” Taylor said. “So they worked on multiple fronts, not just on one front. And they played a leadership role. They didn’t just sit back and tell the com-munity what to do.”
What will the future look like with UB’s current efforts?
SBi general service manager lorenzo guz-man sits in his office, looking at the list of 71 heights homes in the beginning of the spring semester that are up for rent on uB’s student-run housing office website. of them, only one has a certificate of occupancy, which outlines the building’s proper use and proves it is habit-able. ryan has asked SBi not to list properties that don’t have certificates. if guzman abided by this request, he explains, he would have al-most no listings in the heights.
in four years, one landlord has provided guzman with a certificate of occupancy.
guzman says there is one landlord named Wang who is so bad, Sub Board will no longer list his homes.
Yet, as guzman is talking to a Spectrum re-porter, Wang’s name appears on the list under an alias, a tactic he often uses, guzman said.
guzman takes him off the list but can’t guarantee he won’t try again or that a student might see Wang’s property before Sub Board removes it.
SBi legal Assistance gives legal advice to many students with landlord issues. daniel Shonn, an SBi legal assistance attorney, said 60
percent of all issues brought to him are from students in the heights.
Shonn said international students regularly sign leases overseas and often end up unhappy or with complaints. A large percent never get their security deposits back before they go home, he said.
like Taylor, Shonn doesn’t believe uB has taken the necessary steps to eradicate issues completely in the heights, like absentee land-lordism.
“uB has made promises to invest in the university heights a number of times,” Shonn said. “Almost every president has made some promise about trying to improve the quality of life in the university heights. And i don’t know if anyone has ever done it. i think dan ryan has at least the best handle on what’s going on, but what we don’t seem to be able to do [like other colleges] is go out, buy a lot of housing, fix it up, manage it.”
So long as the university continues to insist living in the heights is a choice, students may have to choose a life of fear.
Email: [email protected]
*Taylor Brundage is a Spectrum staff writer
ubspectrum.com7Monday, February 25, 2013
50 Blade handles
52 Alone at the prom
55 grip for a goblet
56 not straight up
58 eat into
60 Trident-shaped greek letter
61 With "show," get better
66 little green man
67 Bar orders for the calorie-conscious
68 chambermaid's charge
69 employ pupils?
70 Swap
71 cay
SPONSORED BY
Villas on Rensch
classifieds
Daily DelightsCrossword of the Day HOROSCOPES SUDOKU
Monday, February 25, 2013FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK
DOWn
ACROSS
Now leasing for Fall 2013 716.932.7900
HELP WANTED
MARKETING POSITIONS AVAILABLE. Lasertron Family Entertainment Center is currently hiring for an introductory level marketing position. Candidates should have some knowledge of Adobe’s Creative Suite including Photoshop & Illustrator. Some incoming phone sales will be necessary. Email your resume to [email protected]. Lasertron, 5101 North Bailey Avenue Amherst, NY.
PART-TIME & MANAGER POSITIONS AVAILABLE. Lasertron Family Entertainment Center is currently hiring for Go-Kart operators and general customer service . Working at a fast, detail-oriented pace and having excellent customer skills is a must. Starting at approximately $11/hr. must be available nights and weekends. Management-in-training positions are also available. Stop in and complete an application at Lasertron, 5101 North Bailey Avenue, Amherst, NY.
APARTMENT FOR RENT
4,5,6 & 8 BEDROOM remodeled apartment houses. 32 apartments to choose from. University Buffalo Main Street Campus- off Englewood. Beginning June 2013: UB South Campus for $300/ bed plus utilities. Washers & dryers included. Contact [email protected] or Shawn at 716-984-
7813 Check out our website www.BUFAPT.com.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED for the 2013 academic year. Great 1 to 8 bedroom houses & apartments. Near South Campus. Off-street parking, laundry, dishwashers & much more! Please call: Andy to schedule a showing. 716-308-4881.
MERRIMAC 3&4 BEDROOM. Updated kitchen, bath, dishwasher, laundry & off-street parking. $295 per person. Available June 1st. 716-308-5215.
1 TO 8 BEDROOM HOUSES AND APARTMENTS at UB South: dozens in prime locations on Winspear, Northrup, Englewood, Merrimac, Highgate, and more! Most have large bedrooms, hardwood floors, offstreet parking, laundry. Local, responsible landlord with maintenance staff. Call, text, or email Jeremy Dunn, (585) 261-6609.
LISBON/BAILEY 2-3 BDRM, furnished, carpeting, appliances & parking. $240/p+, [email protected], 716-440-5133.
BEAUTIFUL TOTALLY UPDATED APARTMENT. Sleeps up to 4. Newer appliances including stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, large microwave & coin operated washer and dryer. Rent includes Fios high speed internet and cable tv. Plenty of off-street parking; must see.
1yr lease begins 6/1/13. $1,100 per month includes water. Contact AJ, 510-3527.
HOUSE FOR RENT
1,3,4,5,6,7 & 8 BEDROOM homes and apartments available now. To view go to www.daveburnette.net or call Dave at 716-445-2514.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED for the 2013 academic year. Great 1 to 8 bedroom houses & apartments. Near South Campus. Off-street parking, laundry, dishwashers & much more! Please call: Andy to schedule a showing. 716-308-4881.
1 TO 8 BEDROOM HOUSES AND APARTMENTS at UB South: dozens in prime locations on Winspear, Northrup, Englewood, Merrimac, Highgate, and more! Most have large bedrooms, hardwood floors, offstreet parking, laundry. Local, responsible landlord with maintenance staff. Call, text, or email Jeremy Dunn, (585) 261-6609.
LARGE DUPLEX HOUSE at 197 Minnesota Ave. With two 3-Bdrm apartments. Four blocks from University of Buffalo South Campus. Laundry, garage, water and appliances included. 1 yr lease. Contact: Craig Van Tine, [email protected]/703-856-5068.
ROOM FOR RENT
FANTASTIC LOCATION across the street from UB South at Main & N.F. Blvd. Rent for completely furnished room starts at $450.00/mo including all utilities and internet. 630-300-4228. Immediate occupancy.
ROOMMATE WANTED
AMHERST-SOUTH CAMPUS/UNIVERSITY PLAZA side of main. Looking for 1 serious male roommate. Excellent condition, furnished, private-bedroom, big closet, laundry, dishwasher + parking available. 4 minute walk to campus. $315.00 + share of utilities. 716-400-9663, if no answer 716-400-9661.
SERVICES
BUFFALO DRIVINGSCHOOLS.COM Learn to drive with our warrantee driving instruction package. NYS 5hr course, points& insurance reduction class in our classroom or on-line. Call for free shuttle service to our classroom from north& south campus. 716-834-4300.
CITY A1 DRIVINGSCHOOL.COM Beginners & brush-up driving lessons. 5hr class $30.00 716-875-4662.
UNCLASSIFIED
PREGNANT NEED HELP? Call 716-694-8623.
HELP WAnTED
APARTMEnT FOR REnT
HOUSE FOR REnT
ROOM FOR REnT
ROOMMATE WAnTED
SERVICES
UnCLASSIFIED
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Jumping to conclu-sions today can very likely put you in hot water -- or find you, at the very least, in an extremely awkward position.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You are feeling quite passionate about a great many things, and even a loved one is going to notice the difference.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- For one who usually approaches things in a rational, albeit sometimes heated fashion, you may prove surprisingly erratic today.
gEMInI (May 21-June 20) -- You're very close to scoring that victory you've been so keen on lately -- but one particular challenge has you doubting your ap-proach.
CAnCER (June 21-July 22) -- You'll find yourself at the center of the action during much of the day -- unless you make the decision to back away and give another the reins.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You will be able, confident and self-sufficient today. What you do as a result, however, may hinge upon some ran-dom circumstances.
VIRgO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You'll want things to feel comfortable and "homey" today, especially if you find yourself far from home. it's the little things that count.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- A smile makes all the differ-ence, especially when you are dealing with someone for whom authority and status are important assets.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-nov. 21) -- Team-work is the key today -- but it may take you longer than expected to find that one per-son who rounds out your team just so.
SAgITTARIUS (nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- The fruits of your labors can prove quite enjoyable -- if you have time to enjoy them. You may have to move on right away.
CAPRICORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Take care of a situa-tion that is, right now, private. delay, and it is likely to become a public situation before you know it!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- The nicer you are to those around you today the more you will gain -- in ways that you have perhaps never before imagined.
1 "Yippee!"
6 components
11 Brazil's ___ paulo
14 Blow one's top
15 certain board material
16 unusual
17 With "show," demonstrate skill
19 Szyslak behind the bar
20 Kind of common stock
21 princeton supporters
23 it may wind up in a yard
26 Accident on ice
28 Buenos ___
29 oater actor Wallach
30 do some henpecking
32 city east of phoenix
33 Fix, as an election
34 high heating-cost periods
38 Slave's state
40 dark solar area
43 most sovereign
45 Barely achieve (with "out")
46 Word with "string" or "horn"
48 "Before" to poets of old
49 Spy org.
edited by Timothy e. parker February 25, 2013on WiTh The ShoW By rob lee
1 parliamentary vote
2 Artist Jean
3 primitive shelter
4 make one's views known
5 nFl hall-of-Famer graham
6 Accelerator, for one
7 cherokee or Sioux, e.g.
8 Arbiter with a whistle
9 hurried pace
10 A neighbor of Jordan
11 What to "show" Aretha Franklin
12 has a crush on
13 "potemkin" mutiny site
18 Fedex alternative
22 hobbles
23 chef's seasoning
24 melange
25 What a "Star Trek" tricorder might "show"
27 like eight-tracks
31 Black wildebeests
34 Twist-off thingy
35 Fairy tale baddie
36 looks nastily
37 Formicary dweller
39 "___ circumstances beyond our control ..."
41 "The grapes of Wrath" migrant
42 A group working together
44 like some parking spots
46 Square and cube, e.g.
47 Big inconvenience
51 like proverbial milk
53 cropped up
54 .edu alternative
55 Final Four matches
57 chief in a burnoose
59 "Take a number" site
62 h.S. support group
63 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 (Abbr.)
64 Word before maiden names
65 it may be used with a plunger
ubspectrum.com8 Monday, February 25, 2013
oWen o’BrienStaff Writer
When the women’s basketball team hosted ohio in January, it re-sulted in Buffalo’s largest victory in over three years and its best re-bounding performance since 2004.
head coach Felisha legette-Jack didn’t want the team’s first matchup to allow for a letdown in the second affair.
The Bulls (9-17, 7-6 mid-American conference) avoided the trap, as they defeated the Bobcats (6-19, 1-12 mAc), 56-35, on Satur-day afternoon in Alumni Arena.
“We talk about many things other than basketball [during pre-game],” legette-Jack said. “We talked about you never know when it will be your time to shine, so you have to always be ready. if we talk-ed about this as a trap game it could get us nervous.”
Buffalo allowed 35 points, the fewest since dec. 6, 2006.
“our goal is always to hold a team to under 59 points, but when we went into the locker room after holding them to 15, we changed our goals,” legette-Jack said. “We wanted to hold them to under 40 points.”
Buffalo allowed 15 points in the opening half, its second fewest all season.
The Bulls’ defense held the Bobcats to 17.9 percent shooting in the half and 24.1 percent for the game, including 2 of 17 – 11.8 per-cent – from behind the arc.
ohio’s leading scorer, guard Kiyanna Black, was held scoreless by the Buffalo defense and missed all of her seven shots and recording only one point.
The Bulls are the only team that has held the Bobcats to under 40 points.
Buffalo’s frontcourt dominat-ed the paint, scoring 24 points and outrebounding ohio 43-36.
“i like the fact that the game started with the inside-out,” legette-Jack said. “We put [rachel] Sharkey on the block and that really opened up chances to score.”
The Bulls’ offense was equally as effective as the defense. Buffalo moved the ball well and it showed – the team had 19 assists on 22 field goals, led by senior guard nicki hopkins (six assists) and junior for-ward cherridy Thornton (five).
Sophomore guard Sloane Wal-ton came off the bench to lead the Bulls with 14 points while hitting four 3-pointers.
“We started putting a lot of different people in and trying other combinations,” legette-Jack said. “The kids are getting better with the more play time and it takes time for everyone to get into the rhythm. We played very unselfishly today.”
Buffalo shot 40.7 percent from the field and hit nine threes en route to its victory.
Sophomore forward christa Baccas recorded six points and grabbed 12 rebounds. She an-chored the Bulls’ defense as well, seizing four of Buffalo’s nine steals and swatting away two shots.
The Bulls will travel to Bowling green (17-8, 8-4 mAc) on Thurs-day. game time is set for 7 p.m.
Email: [email protected]
Sports
Ben TArhAnSports Editor
on Saturday afternoon, the men’s basketball team hit as many field goals as, twice as many 3-pointers as and six fewer free throws than their opponent.
They played well enough to win in every phase of the game, ex-cept one: turnovers.
The Bulls (11-16, 6-6 mid-American conference) turned the ball over 24 times against man-hattan (11-16, 8-8 metro-Atlantic Athletic conference), including 18 times in the first half as they fell 65-64 in the ramada Worldwide BracketBuster game.
“We didn’t think they were a pretty good basketball club, so we probably came out not as focused as we should have been,” said junior forward Javon mccrea. “i mean, we turned the ball over 18 times in the first half and we were still up three, so we probably thought it was just too easy. When we came out in the second half, we took it off a little bit, and they came out really tough and kind of fought back. i have to give them credit.”
The Bulls outplayed the Jaspers for most of the game, outshooting them 55 percent to 42 percent from the field.
Senior guard Tony Watson continued his recent hot streak and finished the game with 24 points and three rebounds – his third-straight game with 20 points or more.
Also contributing to the offen-sive attack was mccrea and fresh-man guard Jarryn Skeete, who both finished the game with double-doubles.
mccrea added 15 points and 11 rebounds – his ninth double-double of the season – while Skee-te was the third-leading scorer, fin-ishing the game with 11 points and 10 assists.
however, both mccrea and Skeete turned the ball over a game-
high five times. The Jaspers scored 11 points off turnovers and their bench outscored the Bulls’ bench 36-6. They started the sec-ond half on a 16-2 run, taking the lead for good less than three min-utes into the half.
despite falling behind by as many as nine points, the Bulls were able to make it a dramatic finish.
Buffalo’s defense held manhat-tan without a field goal for the final 4:35.
“They were on the line a lot,” said head coach reggie Wither-spoon. “defensively we got a few stops. We didn’t get enough obvi-ously. We did oK defensively.”
`With just under a minute left, the Bulls came down the floor and Watson got an open look behind the arc and hit his seventh three of the game to pull the Bulls within one.
The Jaspers didn’t score on their next possession, giving the Bulls 11 seconds to attempt to gain the lead.
Watson began to take the shot from three-point range but tried to draw a foul and lost the ball. Skeete chucked up a last-second prayer, but the attempt was unsuccess-ful.
“All the blame’s on me,” Wat-son said. “i’m the senior leader. i should have stepped up and made a play.it was a bad play by myself. i should have been attacking the bas-ket. i should have been passing to the guy who took the shot or taking the shot myself.”
The Bulls have not fared well in close games this season, going 3-7 in games decided by five points or fewer, including Saturday’s loss.
Buffalo has four remaining games, all in conference, as they prepare for the mAc tournament.
The Bulls begin their final push to the tournament at Kent State on Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Bulls turn ball over 24 times, lose BracketBuster game to Manhattan
Barricading the BobcatsBulls post record defensive performance, best Ohio
Three track and field athletes won MAC Championships over the weekend. Check out the
story at ubspectrum.com.
Joe KonZe JrSenior Sports Editor
The men’s club hockey
team is not one you will
see playing in the Frozen Four, nor will you see any of the players mak-ing eSpn’s Top Ten plays anytime soon.
The names matthew ganci, craig meaney and Ben “nitro” lantz may never register in the ncAA hockey record books.
But if you watched the fans who packed the stands of the northtown center on Saturday and Sunday to watch the Bulls hoist the nechl playoff championship trophy, you saw the impact these players have on uB. The team’s fol-lowing is astonishing.
There was constant pound-ing on the glass whenever a favor-ite player or friend came near the home stands. The famous “goal dance” was frequently on display in the stands. Both factors were part of the family-like atmosphere.
i have always wondered why uB didn’t have a hockey team. it seemed ridiculous that a university
in one of the biggest hockey towns had not funded a program since 1988. it’s been commonly talked about in the Buffalo community: the future of a hockey program at the uB.
Former uB athletic director and current uconn Ad Warde manuel had considered adding a division i program, but the cost of ice time, equipment, scholar-ships and conference realignment seemed to be the biggest concerns.
multiple rumors circulated that Jeremy Jacobs, owner of the Boston Bruins and uB alum, could be linked to funding the program. Jacobs has held multiple positions of power, including director, of the uB Foundation. his company, delaware north companies, is sta-tioned in Buffalo.
he donated $10 million to the university in 2008, but that was for the research of clinical collabora-tion on the causes, treatment and prevention of heart and vascular diseases.
Amongst all the madness and buzz, the men’s club ice hockey team kept its composure.
Though the squad struggled a bit last season, this season, the Bulls ranked no. 21 in the country and no. 2 in the northeast collegiate
hockey league (nechl) in the regular season, ultimately outlasting niagara in the championship game.
The Bulls finished with a re-cord of 26-4 overall and had two players, ganci and senior chris covel, score 20 or more goals.
The impressive season brought me to a consensus: While we wait for a benefactor to jump on board and help fund a division i pro-gram, or we make cuts to the ath-letic budget in favor of the sport, or uB never funds a program, i am quite all right with the club team that we have.
A club team of athletes who share my passion and love for hockey makes it a heck of a lot easier to root for them.
After every game, win or lose, fans are able to meet the team.
For now, i will be in full sup-port of the club team and every-thing it has done for hockey fans who hope this season has a ripple effect that transforms into some-thing big.
Email: [email protected]
need college hockey? Join the club
nicK FiScheTTi///The SpecTrum
Junior forward Javon mccrea dunks home two of his 15 points. he added 11 rebounds, but the Bulls could not come back to defeat manhattan, falling 65-64 in Alumni Arena on Saturday.
Bracket bustednicK FiScheTTi///The SpecTrum
christa Baccas (above) and the Bulls rolled past ohio 56-35 in conference play on Saturday and held the Bobcats to just 24 percent shooting from the floor.
Email: [email protected]