Bella Chen* notices when people glare at the surgical mask she started wearing after her trip to the Hubei province in China this winter. She says the looks are hurtful and add to what is already a stressful situation.
Graduate student Gheysar Jebelli* tries to avoid news stories about his home country, Iran. They upset him and distract him from his academic studies. But when his friend texted him on Jan. 8 that Iran had fired missiles at an Iraqi airbase housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S.’ assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, Jebelli became distressed. He kept his eyes glued to the headlines.
Students and faculty are concerned for the future of UB’s Asian Studies Program following Walter Hakala’s Dec. 10 resignation as director. Many said they feel College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robin Schulze is to blame.
Two UB school of management faculty, two UB staff and a UB alum were detained in Ryazan, Russia on Dec. 9 during a mission trip facilitated by the UB School of Management.
UB President Satish Tripathi announced A. Scott Weber will be taking over as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs Thursday morning in a community wide email.
Students, faculty and staff gathered for a march to remember their friend, fellow band member and peer, who died on campus Wednesday. The gathering came a day after the 20-year-old male undergraduate student died in what university officials believe to be a suicide. The march and reflection on the student*, a member of the Thunder of the East Marching Band, allowed community members to come together, grieve and show their support for one another.
University Police arrested football running back Dylan McDuffie on domestic violence charges Saturday.
Wednesday night’s Furnas Hall fire started when a “new member” of Theta Tau Mu Gamma left an engineering project unattended in the engineering fraternity’s Funas 706 lounge, according to fraternity President Eugene Liang.
Dennis Black, UB’s former vice president for Student Affairs is now volunteering as a grant writer at East Cooper, SC Habitat for Humanity, after he pleaded guilty to stealing roughly $320,000 from university bank accounts and tax fraud in 2018. Bob Hervey, executive director of East Cooper Habitat for Humanity, said Black “absolutely does not” have access to any of their funds.
James Mitchell has over 22 years of experience as Santa Claus. To him, the experience of cheering children up with his $3,000 costume is “uplifting” and “refreshing.”
The College of Arts and Sciences will recruit the same number of funded Ph.D. students for fall 2020 as it did for fall 2019, Dean Robin Schulze announced on Wednesday in an email to CAS. Schulze decided to pause recruitment of CAS-funded Ph.D. students on Sept. 19 due to a lack of funding for the Ph.D. stipend raise to $20,000. Students and faculty were upset with the decision, so Schulze granted the Ph.D. Excellence Bridge Committee additional time to decide the best solution.
UB has narrowed down its search for a new provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. On Wednesday, UB’s provost search committee began a string of public forums, which end Dec. 11, for the five finalists for UB’s provost position. The forums will feature remarks from finalists and Q&A sessions for UB community members to speak with the potential second-ranking administrator at UB. Provost finalist A. Scott Weber, current interim provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, talked about the student government fiscal agent transition, budget models and hiring more minority faculty in the Buffalo Room on Wednesday.
Professors Kafuli Agbemenu and Shaanta Murshid discussed reproductive healthcare for African refugees and the health effects women face in regions experiencing conflict on Tuesday afternoon. Twenty UB community members attended the presentation, New Perspectives on Women’s Health, where Murshid and Agbemenu presented on the importance of minority women’s health at Hayes Hall. Murshid, a professor in the School of Social Work, discussed her recent research on the implications of microfinance, neoliberalism and violence on women. Agbemenu, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing, discussed her research on reproductive health practices among African refugee women and how language barriers and differences in education increase their vulnerability to poor healthcare, according to Agbemenu.
Freshman Nichole Mahler plans to withdraw from UB following the Nov. 10 Dewey Hall fire, where she lost nearly all of her belongings including her ID, laptop and credit cards. The fire, which damaged only Mahler’s belongings, evacuated roughly 800 students in the Governors Complex around 11 a.m. UPD reported the fire appeared to be caused by a heater, but the cause is still under investigation, although Mahler says a UB dorm heater, behind her dresser, caused the fire in her suite. Still, UB’s Campus Living Housing agreement states UB is not responsible for any damages to students’ personal belongings in the event of a fire unless the student has renters insurance, which UB “strongly recommends.”
Students gathered outside the Student Union Thursday for a candlelight vigil, illuminating the restrictions of the Iranian government. Twenty-three students attended the vigil, which Hesam Ghodrat* said he coordinated not as a form of protest, but as a call for “basic human rights.” The Iranian government has placed “very big limitations” on its people, according to Ghodrat, such as restricting internet access and news censorship.
Students are concerned following The Spectrum’s report of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs and symbols found on a Knox Hall bathroom stall Friday. On Friday at 7 p.m., Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to assist University Police in investigating the graffiti, which included the N-word, two swastikas and a homophobic slur written in red marker. Cuomo’s announcement came six hours after The Spectrum notified UPD of the writing.
Maggie Haberman knows her critical coverage of President Donald Trump “probably works at [her] disadvantage.” But she says she isn’t writing for the president’s approval. Haberman believes if she wrote any other way, it wouldn’t be the truth.
Maggie Haberman said she had a “fairly traditional career” before Donald Trump’s presidency. And while she’s since been “attacked” by Trump and often faces the “corrosive effects” of fake news rhetoric, she still says her job is “amazing.”
UB community members said they want a School of Engineering and Applied Sciences dean who is “collaborative” and has previous academic experience. SEAS is searching for a new dean and the search committee, comprised of 14 professors and faculty members and one graduate student, held its first public meeting Monday to listen to community’s suggestions and questions.
Sitara Babury calls her walk from the Center for the Arts the “most dreadful” part of her day. And the senior psychology major says the walk only gets worse during the frigid months in Buffalo, as UB doesn’t have an indoor walkway connecting the CFA to the rest of the campus.
Solutions by The State News
