UB data is showing that social distancing efforts are “flattening the curve” of COVID-19 transmission rates across Erie County, and will help new infections remain low as the state gradually reopens its economy on May 15.
UB is now issuing prorated credits for meal plans, according to a Wednesday evening email from the UB Card Office.
Jannat Inqiyad said that in order to complete the online work for her classes, she needs to leave her home since she doesn’t have internet access. Inqiyad, a sophomore health and human services major, said her family had to “sacrifice” internet connection to afford essentials after the family lost its main source of income due to COVID-19. Now, she needs to go to public libraries to complete her remote coursework and said she doesn’t feel safe leaving her house because she has family members and friends who are hospitalized with COVID-19.
Fakaradin Floyd rarely wakes up before dawn. Today, however, the junior computer science major woke up at 4 a.m. Like most students his age, Floyd starts his day by washing up at home. But while many students’ morning routines might consist of washing their hands or splashing cold water on their faces, Floyd’s involves more thorough standards of cleansing: swishing water in his mouth, cleaning the inner and outer parts of his ears and washing his hands, arms, head and feet.
North Campus, with its roughly 1,500 residents, still does not have any confirmed COVID-19 cases. Susan Snyder, director of Health Services, cites the campus’ social distancing and cleaning measures as the reason. Still, the lack of cases is atypical of the pandemic, as Erie County currently has 2,996 confirmed cases, 364 of which are in the Amherst/Williamsville municipality encompassing North Campus.
Minnoli Aya never got to say goodbye to her mother, Madhvi. Madhvi, the breadwinner of the family and “the person [Aya] would turn to when the world got ugly,” died alone in the hospital from COVID-19. She was 61.
UB is aiming to use 100% clean energy for its electricity by 2025 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 with its new Climate Action Plan.
The NCAA concluded Tuesday that a former UB men’s basketball assistant coach violated NCAA unethical conduct bylaws last year when he “fraudulently created and submitted documentation for an NCAA waiver” to UB’s Athletics Compliance Office, according to a press release from UB Athletics.
Jeffrey Clinton has been fighting for more support for UB’s African and African American Studies Program since he transferred to UB last year. After getting what he called “the runaround” during a March 11 protest, Clinton promised he would return with local news outlets and more protesters to put more “pressure” on the school.
Matthew Helou dreamed of becoming the first person in his family to walk across a college graduation stage. Helou, a senior biochemistry major, will graduate in May. But he worries that won’t involve the traditional commencement ceremony he’d always imagined.
Peter Regan, former acting UB president, executive vice president and professor, died at 95 on April 5. Fifty years ago, Regan took over as acting president for one year from 1969-70, while President Martin Meyerson took a leave-of-absence, and later left UB.
UB has not yet provided a specific date that fee refunds will be applied to student accounts, but a university spokesperson said students will see prorated refunds “prior to the end of the semester.” The prorated fee refunds –– the percentage of money that will be refunded from the total fee –– will be “calculated on an individual basis” and “based on actual services provided,” according to UB spokesperson Kate McKenna.
Rutuja Sawant knows the value of hard work. This spring, the senior media studies major juggled three campus jobs in addition to a full-time course load. But when UB announced its transition to distance learning, Sawant’s bosses at the Integrated Medical Center and Intercultural Diversity Center couldn’t give her hours. Then the Office of Admissions laid Sawant off.
A UB student is currently quarantined in Governors Hall with “a presumptive case of COVID-19,” according to a Tuesday email from Governors Complex Coordinator Julie Szarma.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced Monday his office won’t file criminal charges for the April 2019 death of 18-year-old UB freshman Sebastian Serafin-Bazan. Serafin-Bazan was found unconscious on the lawn of 69 Custer St., which belonged to the Sigma Pi fraternity, on April 12, 2019. He later died on April 17.
Howard Bunsis –– the Eastern Michigan University accounting professor who reported UB spends more on administration than any of its “peers” –– denies UB’s statement that his independent financial analysis had a “preconceived agenda.” Bunsis’ report, which he released in February, called UB financial reporting “less transparent” than any of the over 100 universities he examined over the last 15 years. UB’s response urged readers to be “very skeptical of its findings” and said Bunsis had a “preconceived agenda” because he was hired. UB said the “report contains several flaws, inaccuracies and inconsistencies that misrepresent and misinterpret UB’s budget and budgeting process.” But Bunsis, in an April 3 email, said his report was based on “facts.”
UB will host a virtual commencement ceremony for its class of 2020, according to a Monday email from President Satish Tripathi. Planning for the online ceremony is underway, according to Tripathi, with schools expected to email students graduation details in the coming weeks. The email did not name which online platforms UB would make available for the ceremony’s streaming.
The Food and Drug Administration gave UB and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center permission Wednesday to begin a “collaborative clinical study” using an experimental drug, sarilumab, to try to treat some COVID-19 effects. Igor Puzanov, the trial’s co-principal investigator, hopes the drug, which reduces inflammation, may alleviate some of COVID-19’s worst symptoms like lung injury.
UB named Kemper Lewis dean of UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Provost A. Scott Weber announced Wednesday.
Mingchen Cai went home to China over winter break to see his family. Upon returning to Buffalo, he had to self-isolate. But Cai never anticipated New York becoming a virus hotspot. Now, he feels “trapped.” Cai is just one of many international students at UB who decided to stay in Buffalo as U.S. COVID-19 cases rose from 5,000 to more than 130,000 across the nation in the last two weeks.
Solutions by The State News
