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Friday, March 29, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Trippin' on Buffa-love

Students can now trip effortlessly.

The Student Association is providing discount tickets and transportation for students to explore Buffalo through one of UB's newest programs: UB Trippin'.

According to Jennifer Harb, a senior biomedical sciences major, director of SA Student Affairs and a Senior Life Editor at The Spectrum, the new program is striving to show students various aspects of Western New York and enrich students in the diverse cultures rooted deep in the Queen City.

"SA is looking to provide students with transportation and discounted tickets to various events, festivals, art galleries, concerts, comedians and seasonal activities like haunted houses," Harb said.

The SA executive board and the SA Student Affairs department have collaborated to provide students with off campus experiences.

In past years, all incoming freshmen living in campus housing received an SA booklet called Reach. Reach served to cover local hot spots and eateries, including a calendar of events and fun facts about Buffalo.

This year, incoming freshmen didn't receive the useful information booklet.

"After talking with students and examining our budget, [SA] concluded that Reach was not the most effective way for students to explore Buffalo and was not worth the price it cost to print," Harb said.

Nischal Vasant, a senior computer engineering major and SA president, noted that an updated version of the Reach booklet will be available online by the end of the year.

In past years, printing the Reach booklet for freshmen cost the SA roughly $13,000 out of its $3.7 million budget.

According to Antonio Roman Jr., a senior management information systems major and SA treasurer, UB Trippin' has a $12,000 budget.

"Currently, the starting budget is $5,000, but we are going to be doing a budget adjustment shortly to take the $7,000 that we usually would pay for someone to assemble the Reach booklet and …[transfer] it over to the student affairs account, which will bring it to the grand total of $12,000," Roman said.

Student participation will test whether UB Trippin' is a success on campus. No matter what the level of participation ends up being, buses will run to the events, members of the SA executive board said.

"Every time SA rents a bus for an event, the cost varies, depending on how much time we rented the bus for," Roman said. "On average it is roughly anywhere from $600 to $700 dollars per bus for an event."

For the first event, UB Trippin' will venture out this Saturday to the Final Fear haunted house in Hamburg ($10). A second trip, on Oct. 28, will take students to Cirque du Soleil at HSBC Arena ($25).

Tickets for all events can be purchased at the SBI ticket office located on the second floor of the Student Union. November and December trips will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Students can now trip effortlessly.

The Student Association is providing discount tickets and transportation for students to explore Buffalo through one of UB's newest programs, UB Trippin'.

According to Jennifer Harb, a senior biomedical sciences major, director of SA Student Affairs and a Senior Life Editor at The Spectrum, the new program is striving to show students various aspects of Western New York and enrich students in the diverse cultures rooted deep in the Queen City.

"SA is looking to provide students with transportation and discounted tickets to various events, festivals, art galleries, concerts, comedians and seasonal activities like haunted houses," Harb said.

The SA executive board and the SA Student Affairs department have been collaborating to provide all the means a student would need to experience life outside of UB's North and South Campus.

In past years, all incoming freshmen living in campus housing received an SA booklet called Reach. Reach served to cover local hot spots and eateries, including a calendar of events and fun facts about Buffalo.

This year, incoming freshmen didn't receive the useful information booklet.

"After talking with students and examining our budget [SA] concluded that Reach was not the most effective way for students to explore Buffalo and was not worth the price it cost to print," Harb said.

Nischal Vasant, a senior computer engineering major and SA president, noted that an updated version of the Reach booklet will be available online by the end of the year.

In past years, printing the Reach program booklet for freshmen cost the SA roughly $13,000 out of the $4 million budget provided by the student mandatory activity fee.

According to Antonio Roman Jr., a senior management information systems major and SA treasurer, UB Trippin' has a $12,000 budget.

"Currently, the starting budget is $5,000, but we are going to be doing a budget adjustment shortly to take the $7,000 that we usually would pay for someone to assemble the Reach booklet and …[transfer] it over to the student affairs account, which will bring it to the grand total of $12,000," Roman said.

Student participation will test whether UB Trippin' is a success on campus. No matter what the level of participation ends up being, buses will run to the events, members of the SA executive board said.

"Every time SA rents a bus for an event, the cost varies, depending on how much time we rented the bus for," Roman said. "On average it is roughly anywhere from $600 to $700 dollars per bus for an event."

Students currently pay a $94.75 mandatory activity fee each semester. This means that every time one bus runs, approximately six or seven students' mandatory fees are used.

For its first event, UB Trippin' will venture out this Saturday to the Final Fear haunted house in Hamburg for $10. A second trip on Oct. 28 will take students to Cirque du Soleil at HSBC Arena for $25.

Tickets for all events can be purchased at the SBI ticket office located on the second floor of the Student Union. November and December trips will be announced in the upcoming weeks.


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