Student newsrooms are in danger. Southern Methodist University’s student newspaper, The Daily Campus, will dissolve in May. The University of Central Florida’s student publication, The Central Florida Future, shut down in 2016 after 48 years in circulation. Herriman High School students launched their own independent publication after administrators deleted an article on a teacher’s firing.
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A selfie I took at UB's Fall Fest 2014 where I had the opportunity to read more >>
It?s an ugly truth, but true nonetheless: More needs to be done to protect members of society ? innocent and guilty alike ? from those tasked with protecting us. Though the majority of police officers do their duty in an upstanding manner and deserve nothing but praise for their actions on the job, the recent deaths of individuals like Michael Brown and Eric Garner make it clear that sometimes police officers not only combat violence, but generate it as well. And as the tragic storyline still playing out in Ferguson so painfully demonstrates, when police officers use force, it?s not always clear whether their actions were justified. The jury tasked with determining whether or not officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed the unarmed Michael Brown, faced a mountain of conflicting evidence. When asked if Brown charged at Wilson or his car, five witnesses said no, six said yes, and others did not see. read more >>
Spectrum File Photo I remember sitting in my first college journalism class. My palms were sweaty and legs were twitching. read more >>
Spectrum File Photo Between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. Thursday morning I sat underneath my heated blanket, stuffing my face with Special K cereal and silently, yet hysterically, crying. If someone told me two years ago I would end up in Buffalo, I would have laughed. But when my mother hugged me goodbye after move-in weekend my freshman year, I almost told her ?take me back with you.? Something didn?t feel right. read more >>
Spectrum File Photo I?m sure many a card writer at Hallmark has sought to use that quote to capture book nerds and quote junkies at Valentine?s Day and while the following lines, ?Give me the excess of it; that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken, and so die,? negate the happy tone most people associate with it, the first message certainly has meaning and truth. Music, in any form, any genre, played by anyone, brings people together in a unified celebration of human creation ? EDM lovers rave about their ?family,? rude boys and girls link arms and skank together and teeny boppers will wait in line together for hours to meet a pop star. But music?s part in falling in love, being in love and staying in love is perhaps the most special of all its roles. Sunday morning, as my boyfriend of nearly five years and I got ready for a day of Christmas shopping, I put Tim Armstrong?s solo album ?A Poet?s Life? in my record player. read more >>
The exorbitant costs of textbooks is one of the most universally reviled aspects of the university experience, but in some classes at UB it?s also ethically questionable and clearly unregulated. As reported in last Monday?s issue of The Spectrum, multiple professors on campus write their own textbooks and include them as required texts for students enrolled in their class. read more >>
Art by Amber Sliter UB?s new head football coach won?t be leaving his current team behind quite yet ? Lance Leipold?s Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks are on a 27-game winning streak in the midst of Division-III playoffs. ?Division-III? might raise some eyebrows ? UB is a Division-I school and staunchly proud of it ? but Leipold isn?t just any D-III coach. He was the fastest college football coach to reach 100 wins at any level, and in his eight seasons in Wisconsin coached his team to an impressive 106-6 record. Considering UB would be thrilled with just breaking .500 ? much less earning the 12-0 record held by Leipold?s Warhawks this year ? this is an exciting hire. It?s undoubtedly a bold move by Athletic Director Danny White, and one that strays from his tendency to bring in big-name coaches like basketball coach Bobby Hurley. read more >>
Spectrum File Photo At 6 p.m. Sunday, I received one of the worst messages you want to get while in standstill traffic on Route 17 heading back to UB from Long Island ? Athletic Director Danny White is set to announce its 25th head football coach Monday at 1 p.m. I immediately went to my phone, unable to get any official word on who the coach may be except that he was ?successful? with ?head coaching experience.? But as reports starting coming out, little by little (as I helplessly refreshed Twitter, conducted Google searches and tried my best to get information from only a smart phone in very spotty coverage) and the rumor was Lance Leipold, a D-III football coach, my first thought was: How far has this program fallen in less than two years? Yes, Buffalo isn?t a hotspot for football. read more >>
Spectrum File Photo It is officially the Lance Leipold era for the Buffalo football team. Wait, Lance Leipold? read more >>
Courtesy of Capitol Records Album: The London Sessions read more >>
Matt Folaron, an undecided freshman, and Jocelyn Alvarado, a freshman pharmaceutical major, (above) share an intimate moment, keeping each other warm. read more >>
Damnit, I bought Call of Duty again. I said I wouldn?t. I said the same thing last year, the year before that and the year before that. Luckily, I bought was a used copy that I could return to GameStop within seven days, not a new copy I would trade in for half its initial value, or less, after I got bored in a few months. Each year I say the same eight words: ?I?m not going to get Call of Duty.? And every year, I go back on my word. I?ve been saying that since Modern Warfare 2, a game that solidified the series? stagnancy for me. Stagnancy is a game franchise?s worst enemy. read more >>
As snow blanketed Buffalo in one of the most dramatic demonstrations of the power of the lake effect, the city and its surrounding suburbs came to grinding halt. The government shut down, fire trucks and snowplows became stranded and grocery stores ran out of food. read more >>
Spectrum File Photo Editor?s note: The following is satire and should be taken as such. read more >>
As dozens of people sat stranded, trapped and freezing in their cars all over Buffalo, buried under masses of snow and contemplating their odds of survival, the Buffalo Bills cried out for help. Still in the midst of the storm Bills officials reached out across Twitter and the media to plea for help from Buffalo?s residents. The stadium, filled with about 220,000 tons of snow, needed to be dug out. Because even as the National Guard rolled into Buffalo, even as residents sat trapped in their homes and their cars, as roofs collapsed and food ran out ? the Bills worried about their 1 o?clock game. More problematically, they expected Buffalo to care, too. It?s understandable the Doug Marrone and company would look past the storm and focus on football. read more >>
Can we take a minute to step back and look at the big picture? Yes, the Buffalo football team?s matchup against Kent State was canceled. read more >>
Migos? lack of their signature style that has made them so successful is among the many disappointments in their newest mixtape. Album: Rich Ni**a Timeline Artist: Migos Label: Atlantic Records Release Date: Nov. read more >>
Nolan Burch, a Canisius High School graduate who turned 18 earlier this month, was a ?sweet, wonderful kid,? who was well liked and popular among his classmates. Although that?s how Burch?s family and friends will remember him, it?s not how Burch will be memorialized in the media and the public eye. Because Burch, who died after drinking large quantities of liquor at a West Virginia University frat party, is the newest face of an extremely troubling trend that has cost too many young lives ? so many that Burch is not the first, but only the latest college student to represent the dangers of extreme drinking on college campuses. According to individuals present at the party where Burch fell unconscious and collapsed, the teenager was challenged to consume excessive amounts of alcohol, to the point that when police and EMTs arrived to the fraternity, he was unresponsive, had no pulse and died 36 hours later. Burch?s death serves as reminder of the dangers that can accompany extreme underage drinking ? especially for new college students, recently arrived to campus and unfamiliar to the party scene, but eager to change that. Drinking and partying is undeniably an aspect of many college students? lives. read more >>
