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Friday, March 1, 2013 VoluMe 62 No. 58ubspectruM.coM

OpiniOn 3 news 4,5 life, arts & entertainment 6-8Classifieds & daily delights 9 spOrts 10inside

SATISH K. TRIPATHI

Dear University Community:

Over recent weeks, through our university-wide conversations about realizing our UB 2020 vision, members of our campus com-munity have shared their thoughts and ideas for strengthening our university and expand-ing its impact. One topic I’d like to address today is engaging our neighbors in collabora-tions that improve the quality of life in our shared communities.

This topic is an important one involving every member of our university community, and it is important for all of us to be well-in-formed about the quality of life in our region and especially in the communities surround-ing our North, South, and Downtown cam-puses. I also want to take this opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made togeth-er toward improving these communities, the challenges that remain, and the steps we can take to build on these efforts going forward.

UB is committed to the safety and welfare of all university community members and campus visitors. This has always been and will always be a top priority for the univer-sity. In addition to implementing extensive safety and security measures on campus, we work diligently to collaborate with the city and community in improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods. This is an ongo-ing commitment: more remains to be done, and will be done, to ensure our campuses and their surrounding communities are thriving, safe places to live, work, and visit.

Enriching the quality of life for our stu-dents and the community has always been a guiding priority for UB, and a key element of UB 2020. Collectively, UB has made, and continues to make, significant progress in this regard. And we can all be proud of the con-siderable good work that hundreds of mem-

bers of our university—students, faculty, and staff—as well as our neighboring communi-ties are doing every day to strengthen and re-vitalize our communities.

This important discussion is by no means limited to the South Campus area. As we work to improve the quality of life in all three campus areas, we are partnering with homeowners, businesses, and civic groups in our surrounding neighborhoods in Amherst, Main Street, and Downtown to enhance the vitality and well-being of our shared commu-nities.

As part of UB 2020, for example, UB in-vested millions of dollars in safety measures across its campuses, including the installa-tion of security cameras, emergency phones, improved lighting, and emergency blue light systems. We have partnered with the City of Buffalo to facilitate rigorous city inspec-tions of off-campus housing in the Univer-sity Heights area. While areas off campus are outside UB’s official jurisdiction and there are therefore limits to what we can do to police these areas, the university initiated a partner-ship with the Buffalo Police Department to conduct joint patrols in the neighborhoods adjacent to the South Campus and heighten the police presence in the neighborhood.

While these efforts are making a positive difference, we want to ensure we continue on this upward trajectory. We therefore are in active discussions with the City of Buf-falo about ways we can continue partnering to improve off-campus safety and living con-ditions by expanding on these collaborative efforts.

Improving the quality of life on our cam-puses and in our broader communities is a university-wide discussion and responsibil-ity. Both institutionally and individually, we are all part of our larger communities, and we all have a stake in making them better, safer, and more vibrant.

Taking proactive steps to improve universi-ty-community relationships is key to creating a healthier, safer shared environment. Col-lectively, our entire university community should continue working to build positive relationships between our university and our communities. Our partnership with civic groups like the University Heights Collab-orative, a community group dedicated to en-hancing the quality of life in the University Heights neighborhood, plays a vital role in addressing issues of safety, home ownership, and neighborhood vitality. UB has a thriv-ing tradition of student volunteerism in the city and region, which not only enriches our students’ education and world view, but also has a tangible, positive outcome in improv-ing our communities. The civic engagement of our faculty and students in the community and organized neighborhood outreach activi-ties all likewise contribute to a thriving shared community.

My vision for the future of the University Heights area—and each of the neighbor-hoods surrounding our campuses—is of a vibrant, safe, and thriving living and learning environment. I believe this is a vision col-lectively shared by the broader UB commu-nity and our neighbors, and I look forward to working with our students, faculty, staff, and community members to make that vision a reality.

We have achieved a great deal together, and we have much more work to do. As a uni-versity community, we must continue to be open and honest in assessing our efforts and continued challenges, and we must thought-fully and actively engage in addressing them. With our vision for the future in mind, let’s make sure that we acknowledge and respect the good work our people are doing to im-prove the quality of life for our students and our communities, and let’s take inspiration from these efforts as we continue to build even further on them.

Enriching Our Communities

Editor’s note: This is President Satish Tripathi’s response to Monday’s editorial “Dear President Tripathi.” This letter was also posted on buffalo.edu. University Spokesman John Della Contrada emailed the letter at 8:40 p.m. on Thursday with the note: “President Tripathi feels that this message is an important one for the entire university community and therefore is intended for broad distribution to several important on-campus communication chan-nels, including The Spectrum.” This letter has not been altered in any way.

SATISH K. TRIPATHIPresident

AlExA STRUDlER /// THE SPECTRUM

MEg KINSlEy /// THE SPECTRUM

Walter Mosley speaks to UB as part of Distinguished Speakers Series

Bob Dylan to perform in Alumni Arena

After two straight titles, UB men’s lacrosse is back

Story on page 10 Story on page 4 Story on page 8

ubspectrum.com2 Friday, March 1, 2013

ubspectrum.com3Friday, March 1, 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 news@ubspectrum.com. 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.

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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

March 1, 2013Volume 62 Number 58

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.Max Crinnin, Asst.

SPORTS EDITORS

Joseph Konze Jr., Senior Jon gagnonBen Tarhan

Markus McCaine, Asst.

PhOTO EDITORSAlexa Strudler, Senior

Adrien D’Angelo Nick Fischetti

Satsuki Aoi, Asst.Aminata Diallo, 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.

Dear Spectrum,

We appreciate your coverage of our University Heights neighborhood, but not its unrelenting sensa-tionalism. We want to make sure that people know that there are many good things going on in the Heights, and that they can help.

The University Heights is a socio-economically, eth-nically and racially diverse Buffalo city neighborhood extending from the UB South Campus down to la-Salle Avenue. It and the adjacent University District neighborhood also include the commercial corridors of upper Main Street and Bailey Avenue. These are walking neighborhoods made up of long-time resi-dents, recent arrivals, homeowners, landlords, tenants, students and shopkeepers. They are not without prob-lems, but they are filled with vitality and promise. Fear-mongering and enhanced police presence are not the answer to urban renewal; positive community action is.

The University Heights Collaborative (UHC) is a community-based group of residents and other in-terested people working together to maintain and enhance the quality of life for everyone in our neigh-borhood. Our committees include: Beautification, Business Involvement, Communication, Neighbor-hood Watch and landlord Outreach. We also serve as an umbrella organization for Block Clubs and Neigh-borhood Watch Organizations.

Our mission is to maintain and enhance the qual-ity of life within the University Heights by working with residents, property owners, block clubs, UB staff and students, law enforcement, business owners and elected officials in order to coordinate and develop resources and responsibilities within the community.

Our vision is a University Heights neighborhood that is safe and has a vibrant business district utilizing and revitalizing walkability, diversity, affordable hous-ing stock and green space where people desire to live.

In addition to past and current projects such as par-ticipation in Buffalo’s annual garden Walks, the May through October University Community Farmers Market and the University Heights Tool library, the University Heights is beginning, in collaboration with UB’s Undergraduate Academies and with the guidance of two recent UB graduates in urban planning, Darren Cotton and Aaron Krolikowski, an ambitious series of PUll (Pop-Up-living laboratory) Projects to im-prove the Heights through streetscape renewal, small business incubators, and public art projects.

We welcome efforts of the City of Buffalo and the university to partner with us on issues of safety, home ownership and maintenance, business development and growth. Therefore we urge members of the UB community to join us at our monthly neighborhood meetings to find out what’s going on in the Heights and to contribute to their renewal. Our next meet-ing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 7 pm at gloria J. Parks Community Center at 3242 Man Street. Take a look at our website, http://ourheights.org/community.html, especially the “year in Review” report at http://ourheights.org/uhtl/index.html , or follow us on youTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/uhcbuffalo to see what we are doing.

Sincerely,Mickey Vertino, President, University Heights Col-laborativeDarren Cotton, Executive Director, University Heights Tool libraryBarbara Bono, Ph.D., Associate Professor, English, and Academic Director, UB Academy for Civic EngagementMario Ayoub, UB undergraduate and Media Study major, PUll project coordinator, for the students of the Undergraduate Academies

Letters to the Editor

While reading today’s article on the ongoing housing situation that is taking place in the University Heights, I couldn’t help feeling where the administration is coming from in response to the situation and for those who have to deal with the low standards of living that are provided by the University Heights (mostly the international students; I really feel for them). From a neutral point of view, it’s really hard for me to say I wholeheartedly feel for every resident who lives in the Heights. Any reader who knows anything about how housing works on and off campus at UB knows when you live off campus and think you’re saving all that money, you’re ultimately valuing your life at a very low price.

I’m sure a good percentage, excluding the misin-formed international students, knew when signing their leases they were not only buying a very afford-able living space but also everything around that liv-ing space – whether good or bad. Again, I would like to say it’s important to remember that in life, “you get what you pay for,” because college students are so na-ive to believe real life seems to start after college and has not for some reason already begun. Would it be politically correct for people who live in the “ghetto” to cry to city legislation every time there is a crime? No, because they deserve to live there and knew what they could and could not afford, just like most residents in the Heights.

So let’s evaluate the housing market that surrounds UB – one of the safest towns, Amherst, and the crime for the shaken, impoverished City of Buffalo. With that being said, you have two options, as a consumer, that UB offers when you decide to live off campus. you can live on North Campus, where it is much more expensive than South Campus. But safety and peace

of mind in the real world come at a price, unfortu-nately, and I would be naive to believe the residents who choose to live in the University Heights were un-aware of this.

For the more compassionate side of me, I will say that it’s unfortunate that UB cannot fit University Heights residents into its huge budget. Any well-in-formed person knows UB wouldn’t dare do that. It’s not because of the money, but simply because if UB includes the University Heights in its jurisdiction, the university will have to include all of those crimes Am-herst Police so gladly takes off its hands. Because those crimes that are so close to school go unreported by the school, they’re not really lying when they don’t report them. So when an international student or any college student decides to educate him or herself on the liv-ing conditions that surround the school, and he or she looks up the crime rate that takes place around UB and sees it is relatively low, the student feels comfortable about coming here.

So, in a nutshell, UB needs to keep skewing the in-formation and keep future students out of the loop until they come here because that would surely affect enrollment – not dramatically, but it would give UB a bad taste and negative stigma. This needs to continue at least until we’re the mega-school Tripathi envisions us to be by 2020.

Wale OnakomayaSenior economics major

I applaud your initiative and courage for putting to-gether a comprehensive view on what is becoming a dangerously deteriorating condition in the University Heights near the UB South Campus. I started at UB as a freshman in 2002 as an international student from Hong Kong. I stayed at the UB South Campus dorms during my first semester, and due to the cost burden to my father (who was paying my tuition and my board), I looked for a place off campus that I could afford on my own.

While the prospect was welcoming and the thought of having a place of my own with my friends was enticing, the properties were not. Most international students don’t have cars or let alone can afford one in their undergraduate days and, as a result, live close to campus; this predicament applied to me as well. The properties I viewed were in good enough shape and the rent was incredibly low (~$180/month). Upon moving into a house with a few of my friends, the superficialities gave way to misery. The heater’s on/off [switch] in one my friends room was stuck perma-nently in the off position, the laundry/dryer combo that was advertised as a perk in the ad wouldn’t plug into the wall because it needed an industrial style out-let, which the house didn’t have, among other things. When we informed the landlord, he instructed us to call an electrician/plumber to help us with our issues and that he was not financially responsible for such repairs. As a foreign student in a foreign country, I was afraid of getting in trouble. It was six months af-ter 9/11 and I felt like I had to keep calm and not complain. Moving houses after the lease expired made matters worse, the roof leaked bath water into the kitchen when someone showered standing in one side of the tub, the water pressure was so low, and the heater provided fewer than three minutes of hot water at a time.

When I complained to some of my local student friends, they remarked that the low rent didn’t provide much room for the landlord to make repairs. This was nonsense! I had friends who had good landlords who provided them a safe environment to live in for not much more money. The blatant issue at hand was that these landlords charged what they could and exploited UB students at the risk of their safety while others did their best. There was no fear of reprimand because no was watching them. I would love to believe that the housing inspectors go out every weekend and cite landlords for violations. In the four years I lived in the “slums” of the university, not once did anyone knock on my door citing a surprise inspection.

I agree with Dennis Black to some degree that the university is not in the security business, but I must say to him and other decision making bodies of the university, UB has always provided quality education, quality degrees that earn people lots of money in satisfying careers. This quality, to some degree, must extend to the safety of their students on and off cam-pus. I have seen on more than one occasion UB police pursuing on-campus suspects to off-campus locations.

I came to UB because of its good programs and its willingness and openness to accepting international students, and I didn’t feel cheated by them for my poor situation with my housing. However I do wish to say that their lack of respect for the situation across the street from them for at least the past nine years is not acceptable. When the students provide income to the university and provide value to the city of Buf-falo by giving them their business, they must get at least their peace of mind in return. I am proud to be UB blue and I want the university to accept the level of respect and responsibility that they expected me to have as a student and protect their most valuable as-sets: students, the future of this country. Shyam KumarA proud graduate of the University at Buffalo

AARON MANSFIElDEditor in Chief

We have our answer. Sort of.In case you missed Wednesday’s

issue of The Spectrum, let me explain today’s front page: It is UB President Satish Tripathi’s response to the

students who are demand-ing answers about the university’s involvement (or the lack thereof) in the University Heights. On Monday, we published lisa Khoury’s article “The Heights of Fear,” which outlines problems in the South Campus neighborhood and UB’s hands-off management of crime and poor living conditions for students.

When the University of Pennsylvania had a similar issue with crime in its vicinity, the school invested ap-proximately $185.7 million to fix the area. When Ohio State was in a similar situation, the university’s presi-dent, E. gordon gee, successfully pushed for state legislation to safeguard students.

How has UB handled dangerous living conditions in the Heights? By saying things like “we’re not in the protection business” and, in response to a student be-ing robbed, “I’m sure there were, on that same day, 200,000 robberies across New york State and 2 mil-lion across the country.”

Actually, a basic FBI website search reveals fewer than one thousand robberies happened per day across the United States in 2011, but that isn’t the point: UB is clearly downplaying students’ fears for their safety. Channel 4 News reported on the situation Wednesday

evening, and when reporter lou Raguse asked Vice Provost for International Education Stephen Dunnett if he considers the University Heights a dangerous area, he simply said, “No,” without hesitation.

Students want to support UB, so on Wednesday, we asked Tripathi for a response. We published a front-page editorial – “Dear President Tripathi” – asking him for UB’s response to the Heights’ problems. We promised him our front page and said if he didn’t respond, that would be his statement. Today’s front page is his response. Interpret it as you will. To me, it sounds like the kind of jargon we’ve heard all year. It’s certainly not a commitment or even a hint to change.

Tripathi clearly did not want to acknowledge The Spectrum in his response. He neither directly addressed us nor answered our pleas. As an independent student newspaper, The Spectrum represents UB students. In not answering us, he is not answering any of you.

Instead, UB published the letter on its own site, buf-falo.edu, and stated it was “intended for broad distri-bution to several important on-campus communica-tion channels,” including The Spectrum. His response has baffled us.

We asked a straight question. Why can’t we get a straight answer?

The reaction to the front-page challenge has been overwhelming. Some have chastised my decision; oth-ers have applauded. In this column, I’ll try to debunk each of the primary arguments I’ve received concern-ing our reporting on the University Heights.You’re just trying to make UB look bad.

My father has been a professor at UB for over 30 years. I more or less grew up on campus. Nobody

wants to see this school succeed more than I do. By calling something out to eventually make it better, are you trying to bring it down? look at it this way: you’re a high school football coach and you have a player with tons of potential. One day, this kid could carry the team; he could even be one of the best athletes in the country. There’s a problem, though: He has ter-rible running form and never pumps his arms while he strides. Almost every other coach agrees with you: His form needs to be fixed.

Do you care more about the kid if you bring light to the issue or if you pretend there’s no problem? He will never fulfill his potential if you decide to stay silent.The Spectrum’s reporting was biased and untrue.

First: As I said, I practically grew up at UB. As I detailed in my Monday column, “For UB to go north, it needs to fix South,” I lived in the Heights for 17 years and went through numerous robberies. Clearly, I couldn’t write “The Heights of Fear.” As it says in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics: “Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.”

Khoury carried out her reporting with complete objectivity; she is not from the Heights area and has no tie to it. She interviewed many sources on each side – administrators, students, community members and police, among others.

She did not make a judgment in her story. She did not say, “UB is messing up!” She just explained what she found. If you took the story to make UB look bad, maybe that’s because UB really is messing up, but that’s your assessment. She laid out the evidence; you make your own verdict.

Letter from the EditorAddressing concerns over ‘The Heights of Fear’

Continued on page 8

ubspectrum.com4 Friday, March 1, 2013

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REBECCA BRATEK and SARA DINATAlE

Managing Editor and Senior News Editor

Walter Mosley identifies himself as a black man.

He says this is a truth, and this is a lie. It is also an over-simplification, a confused notion and a declaration of war.

He knows his skin is not black and not quite white, and it is definitely not any shade of brown, he said.

He is an American, but he’s not sure that description is appropriate, either. He thinks “America” is a better fit. This is not a political statement but rather a response to his culture being ripped from his ancestors.

“I am an American from the soles of my feet to the hair that once adorned my bald head,” Mosley beamed in defiance as he articulated his concept of race. “American is what I am, but it’s not my history. I am America. Through my veins runs 10,000 years of history that touch-es every continent, deity and crime known to man.”

Mosley, 61, an acclaimed author of more than 40 books, spoke as the 37th Martin luther King, Jr. speaker and the fourth installment of the 27th-annual Distinguished Speakers Series on Thursday night at the Center For the Arts Mainstage Theater.

He’s best known for his crime novels, but his work spans everything from literary fiction to non-fiction and young adult science fiction to political essays – but Mosley doesn’t define himself by a single genre.

“Everything is political; everything is social,” Mosley told The Spectrum on Thursday after-noon. “I don’t see anything different in any-thing I do.”

Mosley, who was born in post-World War II los Angeles, has a worldview that transcends color and race. Born to a Jewish mother and a black father, Mosley believes the only true race is human. He’s interested in a process that is greater than one specific talk at UB; he wants to further the dialogue that King started in the ’50s.

His speech was more about political com-mentary than about his work as a writer, and it flowed more as poetry than prose. His rhyth-

mic cadence was only broken by short anec-dotes.

Mosley explained that people who say they would stand with King against racism would not really do so today. Everyone heralds King as a hero, but, in fact, everybody hated King, he said. King took the beliefs the American pub-lic held and turned them upside down, saying, “No, we’re not going to be like that anymore,” according to Mosley. Today’s followers would not want to be shot at – not only figuratively but literally, too – and Mosley joked he would be hiding in Canada rather than embracing the physical fight.

“If you’re going to embrace Martin luther King, you have to embrace challenge,” Mosley said in his address. “you have to embrace the man – but not only one man, but many men and women, too – that knew they were going to die.”

The modern concept of race is not defined by skin color, culture or religion – it is defined by economics and the white man’s “pursuit of the almighty dollar,” he explained. Race didn’t exist until people migrated to America, and

with this Diaspora, people became red, black and white.

“The modern concept of race, that is to say color, meant no more to the African than it did to the ancient inhabitants of Europe,” Mosley orated to the captivated crowd. “Identity for the African was defined by art and language and religion and the food that people ate. In America, separated out from common lan-guage groups and tribal affiliations, the African became the black man.”

Just as the black man didn’t exist in Africa, the white man didn’t exist in Europe, he said. The naming of color as race became a unifying factor and a great divider. As white men united under a skin color, despite cultural differences, people from Africa became bound under the color black. Race is not color, though; it is an economic coding system, according to Mosley. It’s simple to define but hard to avoid, he said.

“There are no black men, but I am a black man,” he said. “I know this sentence as a fact. There is no white race but I can labor under the oppression of a white race for centuries. This is undoubtedly true.”

This logic can be broken by looking in the mirror. When we look in the mirror, we all see the same thing: the self, according to Mosley. The identity of self transcends race, gender, language and history.

“‘Joe’ never asks, ‘who is that white man in the mirror?’ ‘Jamal’ never wonders, ‘who is that brown man on the other side?’ Race and per-sonal identity … are easily separated,” he de-clared. “Who am I? I am Walter Mosley.”

Because “Joe” and “Jamal” see their selves when looking in the mirror, Joe equals Jamal, Mosley said. The color of their skin is irrel-evant in the bigger reflection.

To go beyond this stigma and oppression of skin color, white people must deny the tag of race, he said. White people, along with the rest of the world’s races, are human citizens – whether they know it or not.

“[White people should] deny their race and replace it with the notion of humanity,” Mosley said. “White identity, albeit unconsciously, was created for the expressed purpose of domina-tion.

“If I gave up my so-called blackness, your so-called whiteness will still be held over and against me. But if you stop being white, the course of history will be instantly and irrefra-gably changed.”

Things are changing in America, and maybe the younger generation knows something the older people didn’t, according to Mosley. But he doesn’t have all the answers. He hoped his speech would further the conversation started by King over 60 years ago.

“What’s the next step; where are we going next?” Mosley told The Spectrum. “What is the humanity of it, rather than the heroics of it? you start to talk about heroes and … you start saying things like, ‘They don’t make people like they used to’ … and if we begin to believe that, we take away our ability to imagine change.”

In an intimate setting in the CFA Screening Room, Mosley sat down with David Schmid, an associate professor in the Department of English, and addressed English majors about his writing process and career in novels.

Steven Pinker, a world-renowned cogni-tive scientist, will take the stage in the CFA on March 27.

Walter Mosley speaks to Center for the Arts as fourth Distinguished Speaker

REBECCA BRATEK /// THE SPECTRUM

Walter Mosley, a critically acclaimed author, spoke to UB English majors in the Center For the Arts Screening Room, in addition to his speech as the Martin luther King, Jr. keynote speaker in this year's Distinguished Speakers Series.

ubspectrum.com 5Friday, March 1, 2013

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ERIC CORTEllESSAStaff Writer

On Wednesday, the Student Association Assembly discussed urging the UB adminis-tration to take an active role in improving the conditions for students living in the Univer-sity Heights.

The Assembly is organizing a cleanup around the Heights to demonstrate its pres-ence as a force working to make South Cam-pus a safe and hospitable environment for students.

Anthony louis, a sophomore political sci-ence and economics major, believes the as-sembly’s role should be to encourage public dialogue over what needs to be done.

He advocated the need for higher police presence in the neighborhood and UB to pay for public infrastructure projects to revitalize the area.

“The administration needs to be put on the spotlight,” louis said. “It’s because they are not doing anything and it’s ridiculous. Our students are dying, metaphorically.”

louis lives on lisbon Avenue and is en-raged by the level of crime and heinous crimes that have been happening perpetually near his home.

“I hear gun shots all the time,” louis said. “I’ve witnessed two robberies concurrently. I stepped out on my porch and some girl is running down the block screaming, ‘Some-body stole my f**king iPhone!’ and then another girl is running in the opposite direc-tion, at the same moment, crying, ‘Someone pointed a gun to my head and took my bag!’ This was in September – my first month at the university.”

Steven Jackson, speaker of the Assembly, said the most important thing the Assembly can do is encourage community engagement.

“When you hear about the Heights, you hear the reports of crime, of gunshots, of the dirty streets,” Jackson said. “The Assem-bly wanted to be more involved in the com-munity, and I think the cleanup is a good op-portunity.”

The cleanup will consist of Assembly members “literally cleaning up” trash, Jack-son said. It will take place some time in the coming months, but thus far the dates are undisclosed.

During the meeting a vote was called to ad-dress a vacancy on the Rules Committee.

Melissa Kathan, a freshman accounting major, was elected to the position and is ex-cited to be an agent of positive change for the Assembly.

“I want to make sure that the SA constitu-tion is withheld and that we are able to ac-complish as much as we can this semester,” Kathan said.

She believes it’s important to have people involved in trying to further the community and urged anyone who is interested in the As-sembly or university issues to join.

“All you need is 40 signatures and it’s an easy way to make a difference,” she said.

The next Assembly meeting is on March 27.

SA Assembly calls on need to address heights, fills vacancy on rules committee

EDWARD A. BENOITSpecial to The Spectrum

Editor’s note: Edward Benoit was The Spectrum’s manag-

ing editor for the 2011-12 school year.

you may re-member me from the many hyper-liberal col-umns I wrote during the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters, and maybe also for that one Chris Brown CD review. I’m writing this to provide some outside prospective on the University Heights issue and to confirm your suspicions that UB’s administration is, in fact, not doing nearly enough to solve it.

Some context: My lovely fiancée is current-ly getting her Master’s degree at the Univer-sity of Chicago. The University of Chicago is a world-class university that just so happens to be located in the South Side of Chicago. For those unfamiliar with the South Side of Chicago, it’s, for the most part, not a very nice place to live.

Remember that 15-year-old girl who was shot and killed after performing at Obama’s inauguration? That happened in Kenwood, the neighborhood directly north of the one I currently live in. Cottage grove, the neigh-borhood directly to the south, is one of the deadliest in the country (despite sounding like something you’d name a gated retirement community, I can’t help but quip). The South Side’s death toll eclipsed that of coalition forces in Afghanistan last year. last year is not the first year this has been the case.

luckily for me, one of the few exceptions to this rule is Hyde Park, which happens to be the neighborhood where I live and where U of C is located. The contrast is so stark it’s surreal. Hyde Park boasts not one, or two, but six bookstores. There are three Thai res-taurants on 55th Street alone. People ride bi-cycles to places. It’s like Portland if Portland had deep-dish pizza.

This stark contrast isn’t an accident. Hype Park was (and still is) the subject of one of the most extensive urban renewal projects in U.S. history, all at the behest of the University of Chicago. In the ’50s and ’60s, the university bought large swaths of low-income housing, demolishing some of it and converting the rest into university-affiliated apartments. To-day, university police patrol well beyond the

bounds of the campus. University police box-es are a semi-ubiquitous site throughout the whole neighborhood, U of C property or no. U of C busing takes students to their door-steps, if need be, after dark. Since moving to Hyde Park, a movie theater and an Akira have opened, mostly at the university’s behest. Be-fore I leave, Harper Court, a mixed-use retail complex, will be added to that list.

In short, the University of Chicago knows what its business is and sees to it, and I can confidently say my life is better as a result (and I’m not even a student there).

By this point, it should be pretty clear what I’m driving at. UB, whether it likes it or not, is married to its surroundings, University Heights especially. The state of the Heights, both practically and symbolically, says a lot about how UB views its place in the Buffalo community and how it views its students. That UB expects to have it any other way is, in a way, absurd.

That a public (as in, for the greater, collec-tive good) university acts like a truly public institution only when it’s convenient and not when it’s demanded is absurd. That Dennis Black, an administrator with a six-figure sal-ary, thinks he can say UB isn’t in the business of protecting its students and not come across as one or more nouns that shouldn’t appear in print is beyond absurd. That a university with a $700 million endowment has the funds for hydrofracking but can’t be bothered to do the bare minimum with regards to the safety and well being of its students is … well, I think you get the point.

Now, it’s not fair or realistic to expect UB to do to the Heights what the University of Chicago has done to Hyde Park, at least not to the same magnitude. Nor is Hyde Park, despite my earlier implications otherwise, perfectly safe. The contrast between these two institutions and how they’ve decided to deal with exactly the same problem, however, is clear as day. I’ll leave you to ponder what Main Street and the Heights might be like to-day if UB decided it was, in fact, in the busi-ness of protecting its students off campus.

Email: edwardabenoit@gmail.com

An outsider’s perspective: UB is not doing enough in the heights

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

ubspectrum.com6 Friday, March 1, 2013

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ANDREA SAADANStaff Writer

Racism, sexism, homophobia, low wages, random firing of employees, sexual harass-ment, physical and verbal abuse, forced over-time, child labor – these are the conditions in sweatshops around the world.

UB students are trying to change them. After two years of not meeting, UB Stu-

dents Against Sweatshops (UBSAS) got to-gether to discuss these conditions and what the club can do to change them.

Michael Alexander, a fifth-year electri-cal engineering major, said sweatshops are loosely defined as any workplace with abusive conditions. This includes forcing employees to work overtime, child labor, the absence of living wage policies and employee harass-ment.

“In a way, we kind of won the lottery, just being born in America and not having to work in sweatshops,” said george Mitchell, a freshman computer science major and mem-ber of UBSAS. “Just having the opportunity to come to UB even, we’re blessed. It’s just because of the circumstances we were born in that we have these opportunities. People who work at sweatshops, they don’t have these opportunities only because of the cir-cumstances they were born in.”

Alexander blames the capitalist society of the United States for sweatshops. He thinks the focus of big businesses is only on pro-duction and profit; he believes companies will do whatever they can to make that profit. This is what leads to corporations outsourc-ing labor to external countries where labor isn’t regulated, he said.

Jonathan goodrum, a sophomore aero-space engineering major, believes UB should take advantage of the school’s large interna-tional population as the issue might “hit a little closer to home” to some students.

Aditya Thakur, a graduate mechanical engi-neering major, is familiar with the widespread number of sweatshops in his home country of India. He witnessed first-hand some of the problems workers face in those condi-tions.

Thakur believes those who are exploited aren’t necessarily unaware but are more likely to be “choiceless” because of their desire to make ends meet and the desire to make money.

“People from the lower economic class don’t have privileges and those who have privileges should not exploit the poor,” Thakur said.

Thakur thinks people are ignorant about the exploitation of workers. He said he joined UBSAS because he can meet people who share the same interests as him.

“I had a friend in college who couldn’t con-centrate on his studies because his father was exposed to such exploitation,” Thakur said.

In India, parents work hard and sacrifice a lot in order to help their children lead good lives, according to Thakur. He said even though his friend wanted to excel career-wise, he struggled because he could see his father suffering.

“His dad saw the worst conditions in life … he wanted his son, my friend, to study hard and get a good job and not suffer like he did,” Thakur said.

Mitchell was inspired to get involved by the personal stories he heard from workers

who came from Haiti and guatemala. They spoke during Workers’ Rights Week about how unionizing improved their lives.

After joining a union, they were paid a liv-ing wage and were no longer abused or ha-rassed.

“I guess it’s my desire to help people and fight for a better world because you can’t just take the world as it is,” Mitchell said. “you need to fight for something better.”

Mitchell said UBSAS isn’t isolated in its actions. The newly revived club is affiliated with United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the national student labor organiza-tion that fights for workers’ rights. UBSAS is one of over 150 chapters across the nation, Mitchell said.

“We all have a great concern for economic justice and we all want to fight for a fair world economy,” Mitchell said. “And our role as consumers in this economy, we have the abil-ity to pressure the companies that own these factories to allow the workers to unionize and have living wages and so on.”

goodrum thinks no voice is too small to be heard. He said there’s something unset-tling about companies paying people 6 cents an hour for something they’ll sell for $300.

Mitchell said people seem to live in a “bub-ble of privilege.” He said people don’t feel their lives are affected by another person’s oppression. But he hopes this will change.

“We live in a world where we’re connect-ed through the Internet and other things,” Thakur said. “We can’t ignore this. If one part of the world is affected, slowly we’re going to be affected. There’s some kind of vested interest. We cannot blindfold our-selves and be engrossed in our own benefits. It’s just one world and everybody interacts with everyone.”

The new group aims to bring the issues to campus.

“We hope to make campus as sweatshop free as possible, goodrum said. “We want to remove Nike and Adidas from campus stores. We hope to excel workers’ rights in the region around Buffalo. There’s obviously not a lot in the area but there are still workers who need to be represented. If we can come together as a group and show support, we can help negotiate certain stuff.”

Alexander believes that people shouldn’t be afraid to get involved and recalls feeling afraid when he had first gotten involved with social justice.

“It’s a heuristic approach where you have to actually be able to get involved in order to learn,” Alexander said.

Mitchell believes the group is doing the right thing and people will recognize it as UBSAS continues being a part of this stu-dent-labor solidarity movement toward glob-al justice.

goodrum believes it is important for peo-ple to be representatives of those who can’t speak up for themselves.

He said UBSAS strives to make UB as “sweatshop-free” as possible. He wants to raise the level of awareness amongst the student population in regards to this issue through direct actions like educating the community and holding tabling sessions in school. He hopes UB students will join the cause and battle the use of sweatshops.

“If you want to change the world, you’re not alone,” goodrum said.

Sweating the issuesUB students take a stand against sweatshops

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

UB students are rallying together to raise awareness of the unsatisfactory conditions in sweat-shops around the world.

NyERI MOUlTERIE /// THE SPECTRUM

ubspectrum.com 7Friday, March 1, 2013

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life, Arts & EntertainmentPETE SHAPIRO

Staff Writer

His voice was powerful enough to turn blood into wine.

last Tuesday, renowned guitarists Johnny lang and Buddy guy performed at the Cen-ter For the Arts. The two legendary musi-cians demonstrated in full force why their music has resonated and cemented itself in the history of blues and rock and roll.

“Sometimes I play something so funky you can smell it,” guy said. “I’d be better if I re-hearsed. ‘Scuse my language, but I’d f**k it up.”

guy said he last played at UB in 1968 when gas was 32 cents a gallon.

He showcased all of his tricks Tuesday night, flipping the guitar over and scratching the strings with his shirt; flirting with girls maybe 50 years younger; playing with one hand, behind his head, behind his back; he played with drum sticks, towels and his teeth.

guy’s presence seemed to take up the entire auditorium. At one point, he left the theater through the rear exit and re-emerged through the other side into a sea of adoring fans.

He harassed and bickered with the audi-ence throughout the whole show, much to the complete adulation of the crowd.

“I played this same f***king song in India two weeks ago and they didn’t f**k it up,” guy said as he played the blues standard, “Hoochie Coochie Man,” written by the late Willie Dixon.

guy’s story reads like an American folk legend. His influence is tremendous and can be heard in the music of musicians and gui-tarists from Eric Clapton to The Black Keys and virtually anyone else who has picked up a guitar since his first recording was released in 1965.

He began in the Deep South as the child of a louisiana sharecropper, and his first guitar was a block of wood with two strings secured by his mother’s hairpins.

“I don’t read one note of music,” guy said in the midst of an outrageous torrent of gal-vanizing and visceral electric funk-blues solo-ing.

guy’s creativity and use of dynamics in his set were most remarkable, as he was able to tear through a shredding, violently chaotic solo, and at the drop of a hat, progress into the softest and simplest of riffs, just to go back into the pandemonium that is his play style.

According to Eric Burlingame, community relation associate at the CFA, guy’s profes-sionalism exceeds past the stage.

“Buddy guy and his crew are true road warriors,” Burlingame said. “They travel with a relatively small setup as far as equipment is concerned so that they are able to work dif-ferent-sized rooms from clubs to larger the-aters, such as ours, and shorten the load-in and load-out times. This was the fourth time Buddy has appeared at our venue, and we’ve always had a good experience with him and his crew.”

It would have been a miracle for his band to keep up if not for its outstanding talent and members showed themselves to be sea-soned veterans of guy’s chaotic and unpre-dictable style.

Jonny lang, grammy Award-winning gui-tarist and songwriter, didn’t fail to impress ei-ther, as he showcased his talent in the open-ing act.

A prolific and well-known guitarist him-self, his play style falls somewhere between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen with a demeanor like that of John Frusciante, in an ecstatic, cathartic stage presence.

lang has developed quite a following in Buffalo over the last few years, as evident by members of the crowd shouting words of encouragement and cheers expressing a great appreciation of him and his music.

He played a tight set of freight train blues to soft rock, Eric Clapton style ballads with killer vocals and guitar solos on every track, one of which was a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “living for the City.”

Jonny lang received a great reception from the crowd and Buddy guy closed out his set with a thrash-blues version of “Cross-roads” by Cream to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Out of everyone in the building Tuesday night, guy seemed to be having the most fun, with the only exception being Hayden Fogle, 12, of Orchard Park, whom guy pulled from the crowd to play on stage with him. guy and Fogle played for a solid 15 minutes together, jamming a slow improvisation in the key of D that perhaps shocked even guy himself.

Music has changed profoundly since Bud-dy’s first record way back in ’65. But one thing is certain: Buddy guy is still the defini-tion of ‘cool.’

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Why Buddy guy still mattersSweating the issues

UB students take a stand against sweatshops

TIM AllMANStaff Writer

It could be argued that a composer’s work cannot be fully appreciated without under-standing the historical context in which it was written or the music belongs to the country just as much as its composer.

UB’s Symphony Orchestra hopes to ex-plore such a theory tonight.

On Friday, the UB Symphony Orchestra will premiere works from Polish composer Witold Roman lutoslawski at lippes Con-cert Hall inside Slee Hall. lutoslawski’s cello piece is focused around the idea of national-ism in music and it will be performed by UB graduate student Tyler J. Borden.

The concert is loosely based off the work of lutoslawski’s cello concerto, which was composed in 1970. The piece explores luto-slawski’s romantic ideals of artistic freedom and the role society has to the artist.

lutoslawski was a Polish composer and conductor and one of the major European composers of the 20th century. Some of his most famous pieces include four sympho-nies, a string quartet and several instrumental concertos like the one premiering this Friday night for the cello.

According to Daniel Bassin, musical di-rector for the UB Symphony Orchestra, the cello piece begins with a small solo from the cello before being interrupted by the brass instruments.

“The cello is meant to represent the art-ist, while the brass instruments are meant to symbolize the oppressors – the authoritative figures – which only interrupt the artist at work,” Bassin said.

The entire show, including the other pieces from Benjamin Britten, giuseppe Verdi and

Richard Wagner, will work around this idea between the artist and their respected cul-tures.

The Wagner piece for instance, “The Keiser March,” was originally meant to be-come the national anthem of germany. The piece is more ceremonial than romantic.

Verdi’s “Overture to Nabucco” is much more of a marshal ethos, which ties in nicely to the lutoslawski concept of the state as a powerful presence over the artist.

UB concert manager Philip Rehard is par-ticularly interested in the ability to distinguish the origins of the music the orchestra will play – for example, the difference between an Italian piece of music like Verdi’s and a german piece of music like Wagner’s.

“One thing that interests me personally is the question of whether or not many of our concert patrons are curious about the notion of identifying musical ideas with particular countries or ethnicities,” Rehard said. “I real-ly enjoy listening for those qualities in a piece of music or body of work.”

Borden has been practicing for the last year for this concert, but he believes prac-ticing with an entire orchestra is a different experience.

“[Playing with an orchestra] totally chang-es everything … the orchestra just swallows you up,” Borden said.

According to Borden, lutoslawski’s tech-nique is responsible for this overwhelming aural display and he considers it an impor-tant element to consider when discussing the meaning of the piece.

Tonight’s show begins at 7:30 p.m. On April 24, the UB Symphony Orchestra will feature works from Franz Pete-Schubert.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Lutoslawski premieres at UBStudent orchestra explores nationalism in music with concert

On Friday, the UB Symphony Orchestra will premiere works from Polish composer Witold Roman lutoslawski at the lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall for the first time in Buffalo.

COURTESy OF THE UB SyMPHONy ORCHESTRA

ADRIEN D'ANgElO /// THE SPECTRUM

Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Buddy guy capti-vated crowds at the CFA this Tuesday, blending charismatic stage presence with pure musical talent. Many guitar greats throughout history, such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, have been influenced by guy’s musicianship.

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BETHANy WAlTONStaff Writer

Jonah was about to jump. This was the 7-year-old’s favorite part of

the day. He was about to cannon ball into the 16-foot diving well. With his mom watching, he flew through the air holding his knees.

A few weeks ago, Jonah would never have had the courage to jump into the pool on his own. His confidence is all thanks to his swim lessons at UB.

UB’s learn to Swim program is run through the Aquatics Department and pro-vides swimming lessons to community mem-bers, children and faculty who would like to improve their swimming skills in an interac-tive, group setting. All lifeguards and instruc-tors on duty during the lessons have their lifeguarding certification and all instructors are Water Safety Instructor (WSI) certified.

“This is our way to offer a swimming course to people of the community who may not be affiliated with the university,” said Amanda Adams, a senior psychology and Spanish major and current student supervi-sor of the program.

For $50, interested community members can sign up for 8 lessons, meeting on Tuesday evenings (6-7:30 p.m.) and Saturday morn-ings (11-12:20 p.m.). Children ages 4-13 are placed in the early 40-minute session, while adults have the second 40-minutes to master their swimming.

During the child and adult lessons, the swimmers are split into groups based on their abilities. These levels are based on Red Cross official swimming levels. Each level has an as-signed instructor to help the students master the skills they need to move up.

Robert Smith, a senior mechanical engi-neering major, became a lifeguard to help people. He became an instructor to “be pro-ductive and to prevent people from having trouble in the water.” He has been teaching for four years, two of which were at UB.

“The reason why I like teaching is that for each student, there is that ‘aha’ moment when they finally get it, and they realize what needs to be done, how to do it,” Smith said. “From there, they just progress. There are very few people that I’ve had that couldn’t do it, didn’t want to do it and then gave up. It’s more about inspiring people and telling them that they can get through it.”

Smith approaches teaching with a system-atic style. He looks for four different things lifeguards and instructors search for when helping someone: body position, arms, legs and breathing.

He usually works with the higher-level groups. He teaches them techniques such as the butterfly and the breaststroke. He also ensures his students know how to swim front crawl at a competition level, meaning they can breath to the side (rotary breathing).

Sandra Byrd, a UB alumna and the assis-tant to the chair of mathematics, and her 7-year-old son Jonah are delighted with the program. Byrd enjoys the convenience of the “work at home” experience for Jonah.

The mother and son have tried swim les-sons at other facilities but none compare to the value of the learn to Swim program at UB, Byrd said.

Other places, such as the yMCA, have shorter sessions and her son didn’t get as much swim time. Jonah has steadily pro-gressed through his weekly lessons at UB. His biggest breakthrough was his technique. His freestyle has gotten so much better, and

his confidence has improved, Byrd said. She attributes this to the tenacity of the instruc-tors.

“I know that all the teachers are students, and I think that they all do a really good job,” Byrd said. “They are patient and you can see that they want them to learn and are not just going through the motions for a paycheck. They like spending quality time with them and making it fun. I am really pleased.”

Instructors do not provide the children with “floaties,” “bubbles” or other inflatables that assist the child with floating and staying above water. This is to encourage the chil-dren to develop more confidence, which is different from the other places she has taken her son, according to Byrd.

“I do like the bubbles, but I like it with-out the bubbles because they hurt and I am bigger,” Jonah said. “I’ve learned how to dive and I like it. I like the standing dive bet-ter than the kneeling dive. I don’t like how cold the pool is, too. I really like swimming though.”

The second part of the lesson is spent fo-cusing on the adults, ages 14 and up; it takes

place in the shallow pool with many of the same instructors. The adults like the shal-low pool because they are able to stand. This helps their confidence level, Adams said.

gideon Adjogenu, a junior pre-pharmacy major, and Troy Amankwanor, a sophomore political science major, were constantly teased for being college students who didn’t know how to swim. Both boys decided to change that by signing up for lessons.

Adjogenu looked into the learn to Swim program last week when he started work-ing out in Alumni. He likes how convenient the program is because it’s right on campus. However, he thinks the price is a little too high.

“After this session, if I learn how to swim well enough, then I will just come on my own and practice,” Adjogenu said. “I may contin-ue them if I don’t though. I can not afford another $50 as a student.”

Smith is currently teaching Adjogenu. At their most recent lesson, Smith was told while he was swimming he “curved his butt too much” and Adjogenu realized he still needed help with controlling the motion of legs. Each week he works with a different in-structor, but he doesn’t mind.

According to Adams, sometimes instruc-tors may rotate between groups to provide the students with a sense of “variety” and a “taste of all of the different kinds of swim-ming styles.”

Amankwanor came along with Adjogenu to give it a try because he was interested in finding a different form of aerobic exercise. Both of them have noticed their progress in the water.

“I figured that I was too old not to know [to swim] and I really wanted to,” Amank-wanor said. “I think I’m making progress. I’m actually getting better – it’s productive … I can tell that I am no longer just splashing in the water. I know a little more about what I should be doing to swim.”

UB’s learn to Swim Program has currently enrolled its largest number of swimmers to date. Adams and her staff have considered modifications to the program in the future and are currently looking to “offer more [to the community].”

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

Just keep swimmingUB’s Learn to Swim program offers children and adults swimming lessons at Alumni

MAx CRINNINAsst. Arts Editor

On April 5, the Student Association will host legendary musician Bob Dylan at Alum-ni Arena.

According to SA, the show is not or related to Spring Fest, which is scheduled for April 14, but it is still an SA event paid for by the mandatory student activity fee.

Tickets for students will be available the day of the show and will be free for the first 4,500 undergraduates who present their UB cards at the door. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

“In the past when we’ve tried to do ad-vance tickets for these types of shows, es-pecially free advance tickets, [they] would often end up online for sale,” said SA En-tertainment Coordinator Marc Rosenblitt. “We want to make sure we can maximize the amount of people that are in [Alumni Arena] for the show. We’re limited to 6,500 tickets, not 6,500 people.”

According to Rosenblitt, the remaining 2,000 tickets will be on sale as soon as next week. For one week only, these tickets will be available for online purchase to UB staff and undergraduate and graduate students for $49.50 before they go on sale to the general public.

“We always try to have variety in our stuff,” Rosenblitt said. “In the last couple of years, we’ve been very heavy on the hip-hop, but we try to spice it up as often as we can. Dylan’s people actually approached us as a possible location [for his tour].”

Alumni Arena will be Dylan’s first stop on his upcoming tour with opening act, Dawes, from los Angeles. Dawes is scheduled to take the stage at 7:30 p.m. on April 5, before Dylan comes on at 8:30 p.m.

For further information, students can con-tact Rosenblitt or Ned Semoff, SA Commu-nication Director.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Knockin’ on UB’s doorBob Dylan set to perform at Alumni Arena

COURTESy OF FRANCISCO ANTUNES

legendary singer Bob Dylan will perform at Alumni Arena on April 5. The concert is an SA event, and free undergraduate tickets will be avail-able the day of the show.

She also included her interaction with Tripa-thi: He declined an interview. Twice. It’s impos-sible to tell UB’s side when administrators will not speak.

Point two: Which part of “The Heights of Fear” is untrue? The answer: It’s 100 percent ac-curate. Khoury spent five months working on the story and every facet has been fact-checked meticulously. Admittedly, we don’t always have that long to work on a story, so we make mis-takes from time to time, but this article is accu-rate.

Under ordinary circumstances, someone from the university will contact us immediately if we make a single error. Administrators have been silent.Why wouldn’t you include information about community activists, such as those in the University heights Collaborative?

As I said, Khoury interviewed people on every side. She interviewed Mickey Vertino, president of the collaborative. So why wouldn’t we include that information? Because it didn’t fit the story.

Though she received guidance from many editors, Khoury made the final call on which in-formation to include, and I agree with her deci-sion. In journalism, you must constantly ask the question: What’s the story? Above all, it’s impor-tant to stick to the topic. “The Heights of Fear” pertains to crime and living conditions in the Heights and how UB is involved.

Community organizations are immensely im-portant, of course, but I don’t think they fall into the scope of the story. Khoury used Vertino’s interview as background information, though she did not quote him or write about the col-laborative. It is also important to know this isn’t a one-article topic. The Spectrum will eventually use that interview with Vertino. The other con-stant newsroom question is: What’s next? We are working on follow-up stories, one of which includes community organizations – which are essential but are not UB-operated.Why wouldn’t you go about this with the Student Association, other student leaders and professors?

This type of movement has been in the works all year. SA affiliates have met with University Police, Buffalo Police and UB administrators since the beginning of the fall. All sides seemed fired up to fix the issues, but nothing is getting done. Someone is stalling.

Which side would want to stall? The adminis-trators aren’t going anywhere. Students graduate, and the SA higher-ups are almost all graduating this spring. Additionally, we at The Spectrum can-not control anyone outside of ourselves. We can only control what we do.

You’re fear-mongering and sensationalizing.The article factually depicts what students

have experienced. Nothing is exaggerated. Have you considered that maybe the topic itself is just scary? Maybe the real story – students being stabbed, having nightmares and being robbed at gunpoint – is sensational. We have not altered any of the stories. We have simply told them.

The students who spoke to you are just “scaredy cats” who need to toughen up.

Have you ever had someone load a rifle and point it at your forehead while stroking the trig-ger? Have you ever lived every day in a home reeking of hardened raw sewage or slept every night in a room riddled with bed bugs?You won’t get robbed if you’re smart.

One student actually had the nerve to say any student who gets robbed is just “retarded” be-cause he has lived on Highgate Avenue his whole life and hasn’t had any problems. He then said: “Bunch of dumbasses walking alone at night de-serve to be robbed and stabbed.”

Two things: 1. Highgate is nowhere near as bad as other parts of the Heights, such as lis-bon and Minnesota. 2. Anyone making this point: Have you ever considered that maybe you’re just lucky? In 2008, my doors and win-dows were locked all hours of every day. I never went out after dark. That didn’t stop my Univer-sity Heights home from being broken into six times or a man from pulling a gun on me in my driveway. What did I do wrong?In summary…

I know I didn’t address every talking point, but there is only so much room in the newspa-per. These discussions are essential and, aside from the comments including complete idiocy and name-calling, I respect each point of view and thank you for taking the time to read and respond to “The Heights of Fear.”

What’s important is that we’re talking about the area surrounding South Campus. I don’t think anyone honestly thinks the University Heights is a good area. We may disagree in our ideas, but I believe most of us can agree that something needs to change.

I hope this column has helped clarify the choices we made and why we made them. When you’re in charge of an organization and people you care about – in this case, the university com-munity – have a problem, you address it directly and vehemently. That’s how it usually works.

Usually.

Email: aaron.mansfield@ubspectrum.com

Continued from page 3: Addressing concerns over ‘The Heights of Fear’

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1 Food in a shell

4 gathers in

9 Jumped a gap, say

14 "Conjunction Junction" conjunction

15 large grouping

16 Small stringed instrument

17 Risk a ticket

20 Citrus fruit similar to a grapefruit

21 Social service

22 All in the family

26 "Make yourself comfortable"

27 young newt

30 Palindromic "before"

31 Prolific Roman love poet

33 Wet behind the ears

35 Tarzan's moniker

37 A little of this, a little of that

38 Common car feature

42 Subject for a best-seller

43 Hide

44 Slow-cooked French dish

47 Ed who played Mingo

48 School mtg. holder

51 Part of WySIWyg

52 Frisbee catcher

54 High-pH substances

56 Stevedore's job

59 Supplies with personnel

60 Certain business expense

65 Word with "limits" or 67-Across

66 Thin and nasal in tone

67 Place for a small hammer

68 lords and ladies

69 A bank may have one

70 Wile E. Coyote purchase

1 go on

2 greedy eater

3 Bra's location

4 With 36-Down, a Sally Field character

5 Stray from the straight and narrow

6 Art today?

7 International treaty

8 Comedian Wanda

9 Prayer book of zoroastrianism

10 go to one's feet

11 "Who's on first?" inquirer

12 Result when builders wing it

13 Word before and after "after"

18 By means of

19 like a human flock

23 Certain African antelope

24 Nights spent in anticipation

25 Thin mint products

28 Fencing tool

29 Afternoon hour

32 Russian country house

34 British title

35 Workers in Detroit make a dash for it

36 See 4-Down

38 Italian signoff

39 Create and enforce rules

40 Present time?

41 Mammoth feature

42 Wipe the dishes

45 Cow features

46 Wearisome work

48 Mars or Saturn, e.g.

49 One end of a homemade walkie-talkie

50 State firmly

53 growl

55 "Helping doctors help patients" org.

57 State with authority

58 Shameless joy

60 CEO's place

61 Regret

62 Bulgaria currency

63 Rhapsodic rhyme

64 Maryland oak

PISCES (feb. 19-March 20) -- What is most important today is that you "get in the door." Only then will you really be able to prove your mettle.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- you'll have a chance to reveal a little more of yourself than usual -- and in one instance at least what you reveal will be a true surprise.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- you'll be reminded today of just what is most important -- to you, and to those who re-ally matter to you in a deeply personal way.

gEMInI (May 21-June 20) -- There is a great deal to be noticed, today, but you may miss it because you have your nose too deeply in routine business. Take a break!

CAnCER (June 21-July 22) -- When your friends choose to back you again, it will send a signal to those who have been against you -- and they must be ready for big things.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- you're not likely to see the same things tomorrow as you do today, and you'll want to be sure to remember details as well as the big picture.

VIRgO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- The line between the big things and the little things is likely to be obscured somewhat today -- but you'll still know where you stand.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- It's a good day to send a signal to both your teammates and your opponents -- and that signal can be a strong one, to be sure.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-nov. 21) -- Others are looking to you today to show them what is appropriate in certain situations. Some things are more serious than others.

SAgITTARIUS (nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- you may not enjoy the kind of over-whelming support to-day that you have in the past, but you can lay the groundwork for future gains.

CAPRICORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- you'll be guided by instincts that are keen and well-developed. Others will want to follow in your foot-steps for a time.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-feb. 18) -- Now is no time for playing favorites. you'll encounter an obstacle that is not what it seems. Evening brings a rare opportunity.

ubspectrum.com10 Friday, March 1, 2013

Sports

JON gAgNONSports Editor

The men’s basketball team appeared to be on its way to its first-ever victory in Kent State’s MAC Center.

That is, until Kent State (16-12, 6-7 Mid-American Conference) senior Chris Evans hit a buzzer-beating bank shot in overtime. The shot extended the Bulls’ (11-17, 6-7 MAC) MAC Center losing streak to 16 with an 83-81 defeat.

The Bulls held a five-point lead with just under five minutes remaining in regulation before the golden Flashes tied the game with a minute left. Freshman guard Jarryn Skeete missed a jumper as time expired, sending the game to overtime.

“you look at two very similar situations, at the end of regulation, where Jarryn’s shot just didn’t go in; it was a nice drive and it just didn’t fall,” said head coach Reggie Wither-spoon. “Evans’ shot was a very similar situ-ation, and his hit high off the glass and does go in.”

Witherspoon attributed the Bulls’ late struggles to consistent rebounding woes.

“The thing that is most disappointing is the fact that we got outrebounded,” said Witherspoon, whose team dropped the re-bounding battle 46-38. “We can’t have just one guy rebounding. It’s got to be more than that.”

That “one guy” was junior forward Javon McCrea, who dominated the game in every aspect. McCrea had a game-high 32 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks – just missing a triple-double.

The Bulls were outrebounded 30-16 over the course of the second half and overtime periods, after leading the rebounding edge 22-16 at the end of the first half.

Junior forward Cameron Downing was the team’s second-leading rebounder, grab-bing five boards and adding 13 points (5 for 5 from the field), but he fouled out in just 19 minutes of play.

For the second-straight game, the Bulls were one statistical category short of a win. On Saturday against Manhattan (11-16, 8-8 Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference), they turned the ball over 24 times. But Buffalo limited its turnovers against the golden Flashes on Wednesday, committing just 10.

“We were up 12 [in the second half], but it’s not like the game [was] over,” Wither-spoon said. “They’re going to go on a run, too. It’s not like they are just going to go away. No team is just going to say: ‘you’re up 12, so we lost.’ It was a tight game between two good teams.”

The golden Flashes made it a point to shut down senior guard Tony Watson – who had averaged 26.3 points per game in his previous three contests. Watson played ev-ery minute of the game and scored just five points while going 2 for 5 from the field. In-stead of being the Bulls’ hot hand from the outside, he became a distributor – tying his career high with eight assists.

“He found the open man,” Witherspoon said. “I thought he did a very good job of getting the ball to where it needed to be.”

Although Watson did not hit a 3-pointer in regulation, with 19 seconds remaining in overtime, he hit a game-tying three and was fouled. But Watson missed the free throw.

Kent State guard Randal Holt finished with a team-high 28 points, including six 3-pointers, and the late game Bull-killer, Ev-ans, finished with 14 points.

Wednesday’s loss puts the Bulls in a four-way tie with Kent State, Bowling green (12-16, 6-7 MAC) and Eastern Michigan (13-15, 6-7 MAC) for the fifth-overall seed in the MAC Tournament.

The Bulls are now on a two-game losing streak and face the two toughest teams in the MAC in their next two games.

Akron (23-4, 13-0 MAC) comes to town and puts its nation-high 19 straight wins on the line on Saturday for a 6 p.m. start. Ohio (20-8, 11-2 MAC) – which has only lost in conference this season against Akron – makes its season debut in Alumni Arena on Tuesday.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Sour 16Bulls drop 16th-consecutive game at Kent State in OT heartbreaker

JON gAgNONSports Editor

The New york Knicks have been in a freefall over the last 10 weeks. Though they once held the reins as the top team in the East-ern Conference, they have now become a seem-ingly mediocre team.

They started the season 18-5, hitting over 12 threes per game. They were outscoring their opponents by 7.13 points per game (PPg). Since then, they are 16-15, hitting just over nine threes per game and outscor-ing opponents by a mere 1.32 PPg.

Was it plausible to expect the Knicks to continue their overzealous reliance on the three-ball and become a consistent two-way team every night? Most would say no. But should they have descended so far, be-coming another middling team in the East? Again, most would say no.

Mike Woodson brought a new defensive culture to a team with history and a roster full of players who are far from priding themselves as “defensive specialists,” and it worked for a while. In fact, it was the main reason the Knicks once held the best record in the NBA.

Through their first 23 games, their offen-sive rating was a blistering 111.1 and their defensive rating came in at 102.3 (ratings are based on a team’s points per 100 posses-sions). Since then, the splits are much slim-mer: 106.4 to 104.3.

So why the drop off? Is it Jason Kidd getting some much-needed rest to save his legs for the playoffs, the addition of Amar’e Stoudemire (a poor defensive player, to say the least) to the rotation or the team’s overall inability to commit to the defensive end of the floor night in and night out – namely J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony?

All these reasons are conceivable, but the final one seems to be the most convincing to me. If that’s the reason, Knicks fan should have hope. The Miami Heat have become a team absent from mid-season criticism be-cause we all know come playoff time, they will emerge as a new beast.

Obviously, the Knicks have proven far less, but isn’t this same notion feasible for them? This is the first time in Anthony’s nine-year career when we have seen flashes of defen-sive ability, so it may be asking a bit much for him to provide that intensity for an 82-game season – which further proves the argument that ’Melo is not in leBron James’ category.

Defensive flaws are not the only reason the Knicks have dropped – as we saw through their offensive ratings and three-point shoot-ing over the last 10 weeks. Is this due to Ray-mond Felton’s 12-game absence from the starting lineup, when he suffered a broken pinky? Possibly. It occurred very shortly after they began to decline, and in that four-week time span when he didn’t play, they went 6-6.

But I’m going beyond that to depict their offensive struggles, and there is nowhere else to go but to their franchise player who is widely considered to have the best offensive game in the NBA – Carmelo Anthony.

In New york’s 18-5 start, analysts mea-sured ’Melo side by side as an MVP candi-date with James and Kevin Durant, and justi-fiably so. ’Melo was playing team ball for the first time in his career and it was paying off. But let’s compare his splits in between the two time periods:

Anthony from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15: 27.85 PPG, 20.1 field goal attempts, 47.3 from the field and 45.5 percent from three.

Anthony from Dec. 17 through Feb. 27: 29.03 PPG, 23.6 field goal attempts, 42.3 from the field and 35 percent from three.

Since the Knicks’ hot start, his shooting has significantly subsided – so has the team. He’s been playing more selfishly, chucking up more shots and hitting even fewer of them.

If they don’t turn this around, what are their prospects come playoff time? They can make it past the first round if they get lucky and are paired with Atlanta or Milwaukee. Other than that, a series against the defen-sive teams in Chicago or Brooklyn could eas-ily result in an early exit. And god forbid they play Boston – the Knicks’ kryptonite.

Note: All stats per NBA.com

Email: jon.gagnon@ubspectrum.com

Desperation in the Big AppleAn in-depth look at the New York Knicks’ inconsistencies

The Bulls were unable to hold off Kent State on the road, as Buffalo lost to the Flashes on a last-second field goal, 83-81. It was the Bulls' 16th-straight loss on the road at Kent State.

MARKUS MCCAINEAsst. Sports Editor

Editor’s note: Markus McCaine was on the lacrosse team in 2011

Students don’t hear about athletic teams chasing a third-straight conference champi-onship very often around UB. But the men’s lacrosse team has begun to weave the fabrics of a dynasty in Buffalo.

The Bulls will play a brutal schedule in 2013, traveling on the road for 10 of their 14 games and squaring off against eight ranked opponents.

“I think we’ve taken great strides, especial-ly the last three seasons, and built a program that has earned the respect of the Men’s Col-legiate lacrosse Association community,” said head coach Ryan Crawford. “Are we elite? No, but I’m happy with the direction this program is heading.”

The Bulls lose 84.4 percent of their goal production from 2012 and returning players will have big shoes to fill offensively in 2013. Buffalo also loses all six leading scorers, in-cluding its top two career scoring leaders, Alex Hultgren (25 goals) and Kurt Stavdal (35 goals), who were first and second team All-Americans, respectively. The team will look to new faces to carry the load, but 2013 could be an uphill battle.

“It’s going to be a great challenge playing eight ranked teams,” said senior midfielder Ron Hatch. “It’s going to be something that we are looking forward to. We don’t want to play games that don’t mean anything to us. We want to come out and make a statement that we are still good and here to fight for a conference championship.”

Buffalo will look to Hatch to help fill the massive hole left in scoring. Hatch finished the 2012 season with 11 points (eight goals and three assists).

“I’m trying to lead as much as I can,” he said. “We know that we’ve lost a lot of scor-ing, so at practice, I’m trying to tell players they have to step up this year.”

Senior Tim leuthauser and junior Ryan Sans will also be in the mix at midfield. Both leuthauser and Sans have been around the program for a few years and will be expected to have an increased roll this spring.

“Hatch, leuthauser and Sans have the most experience and will be counted on to be more assertive on the offensive end of the field this season,” Crawford said. “I’ve been impressed with the progress of a young attack unit and I think we have good scoring depth at the midfield position.”

On defense, the Bulls lose three starters from 2012, including third team All-Ameri-can defenseman Mike Conese.

The squad will rely on sophomore defen-semen Chris Siderakis, senior defensemen Josiah Norton and senior short stick defen-sive midfielder Nate Oberhaus to step up. Both Norton and Oberhaus were All-Con-ference selections in 2012.

“Admittedly, the offense is a work in prog-ress,” Crawford said. “But I’m optimistic that our veteran defensive unit and an All-American goalie will put the team on their backs at the beginning of the season while

our offense matures.”The team’s anchor will play between the

pipes – senior goalie Ryan lichtman. licht-man returns for his senior season after being named a third-team All-American in 2012 while posting a .618 save percentage and a 5.8 goals against average. lichtman has high hopes for 2013.

“I’ve matured over the last year and we’ve got a couple returning defensemen,” licht-man said. “Hopefully, I can step up my game and get first team this season.”

lichtman is not the only player who be-lieves this team has what it takes to make a deep playoff run.

“We fully expect to be back at [nationals] this season,” Hatch said. “Our team goals are to win the conference championship for the third time in a row and go down to nationals in greenville, S.C., again.”

A lengthy spring break road trip, beginning with a spot in Atlanta, will be the first test for the team this season. Its first game will take place against georgia Tech on March 10 at 2 p.m.

filling the voidMen’s lacrosse team chases third conference title despite key losses

COURTESy OF PAUl gEBlER

Senior goalie Ryan lichtman and short-stick defensive midfielder Nate Oberhaus (above) will spearhead the Bulls' defense in 2013.

COURTESy OF RACHEl lE gOUBIN