News - The Spectrum

UB Council of Advocacy and Leadership meeting held last Wednesday. Graduate Student Association President Tanja Aho (left), Student Wide Judiciary Chief Justice Joe Wolf (center) and Undergraduate Student Association President Leslie Veloz (right) sitting in at a meeting.

NEWS

UB Council of Advocacy and Leadership addresses student concerns

By ANNA SAVCHENKO | Feb. 28, 2018

Members of the Council of Advocacy and Leadership met on Wednesday night to discuss student concerns such as rising student fees and the enforcement of UB’s non-smoking policy. COAL is made up of the seven student government presidents, the Student-Wide Judiciary Chief Justice Joe Wolf and chaired by assembly speaker and UB Council student representative Mike Brown.

NEWS

Clemens Hall elevator in need of repair

By News Desk | Feb. 26, 2018

An elevator in Clemens Hall is still in need of repair, four months after a pipe ruptured, causing extensive damage to several floors in the building. Elevators 1 and 2 needed new controls immediately following the flood after being directly hit by water, according to the University Facilities Office.

NEWS

Comprehensive Fee Waiver due Wednesday

By News Desk | Feb. 26, 2018

Students have until Wednesday to request a Comprehensive Fee Waiver, which would allow them to opt out of paying some aspects of the comprehensive fee for the Spring 2018 semester. If eligible, students can be exempt from paying Health Services; Transportation; Campus Life; and Athletics and Recreation Fees. The university proposed a 2.53 percent increase of the Comprehensive Fee for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Interim athletic director Kathy Twist during an interview with Spectrum. Twist is acting AD until the school chooses a new full-time choice.

NEWS

The hunt for an athletic director

By THOMAS ZAFONTE | Feb. 26, 2018

UB still has not announced the new athletic director after news broke on Jan. 17 that Allen Greene would be leaving to become AD at Auburn University, a top Division-I sports school.

NEWS

NFTA approves study for metro-rail extension to North Campus

By SARAH CROWLEY | Feb. 26, 2018

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority board approved a $4.8 million study Thursday to extend metro rail service to UB’s North Campus.

NEWS

Healthy changes coming to Buffalo’s East Side

By MAX KALNITZ | Feb. 26, 2018

Buffalo residents in a neighborhood dubbed a “food desert” will have healthier and affordable options to choose from thanks to a new partnership between the private sector, UB and community leaders. Project Rainfall, a food system social enterprise in Buffalo’s Northland Corridor, was spearheaded by NeuWater and Associates chief executive Rita Hubbard-Robinson.

Students and staff enjoyed the 7th annual Life Raft Debate, sponsored by UB's Honors College and Experiential Learning Network. The event is hypothetical, intellectual debate over whose department would prove the most helpful in rebuilding society after a nuclear attack.

NEWS

The social sciences float on

By MAX KALNITZ | Feb. 22, 2018

The social sciences float on In Tuesday night’s hypothetical battle between the history, psychology and computer science and engineering departments, students placed the fate of humanity in the power of the human brain. Clinical associate professor Wendy Quinton earned the psychology department’s first-ever win during the seventh annual Life Raft Debate.

NEWS

News briefs

By News Desk | Feb. 22, 2018

Campus GRoW to relocate to North Campus UB’s GRoW Home, which stands for Garden, Relax or Work, will be relocated from its current location on South Campus to the Solar Strand on North Campus. Seven graduate students in Martha Bohm’s fall studio spent the semester developing a vision for the siting of the GRoW Home. The winning proposal belongs to Zachary McCabe and seeks to “open new opportunities to better connect the UB community to the Solar Strand site via the GRoW Home,” according to UB Now.

NEWS

Faculty Senate votes to create two new departments in semester’s first meeting

By SARAH CROWLEY | Feb. 22, 2018

The Department of Global Gender Studies will break away from the Transnational Studies Department and return to its former stand-alone status, after a unanimous Faculty Senate vote on Tuesday to create the new Department of Global Gender and Sexual Studies. The Senate passed two other resolutions at its first general meeting of the spring semester on Tuesday

SA President Leslie Veloz at a meeting. Veloz's office hours has been called into question by some SA members.

NEWS

SA members question Veloz's work hours

By HARUKA KOSUGI | Feb. 22, 2018

Student Association insiders are questioning if SA President Leslie Veloz has been logging enough hours to merit the $15,000 stipend she receives. The questions come after the resignation of former SA Vice President Jamersin Redfern.

Samirra Felix, a senior geology major, talks at bi-weekly SA Senate meeting on Wednesday. SA President Leslie Veloz nominated Felix for the vacant vice presidency but did not receive any "yes" votes from Senate members.

NEWS

SA Senate says no to Veloz’s pick for vice president

By HARUKA KOSUGI and TOLU KOLADE | Feb. 22, 2018

The Student Association remains without a vice president after the Senate voted down President Leslie Veloz’s nominee at Wednesday’s meeting.

TAs, graduate and doctoral students in the English department will receive a larger stipend beginning in the fall semester. After fighting for a "living wage," many students still think that these changes aren't satisfactory.

NEWS

Graduate students dissatisfied with stipend increase

By MAX KALNITZ | Feb. 19, 2018

Graduate students in the English department aren’t satisfied with newly announced increases to their pay, which they say will result in their program shrinking and primarily benefit future students.

NEWS

News briefs

By News Desk | Feb. 19, 2018

Tops Markets, the Williamsville, New York-based chain, which runs about 170 grocery stores with more than 14,000 employees in the Northeast, is preparing for bankruptcy filings in the coming weeks, according to a Bloomberg News report. Tops Holdings, the owner of the supermarket chain, has come under fire in recent years for its high level of debt built up through a series of leveraged buyouts.

University fee stewards held a “town-hall” style meeting on Thursday to hear student input on the comprehensive fee increase. The meeting marked the first time fee stewards met with students in person.

NEWS

UB holds Q&A on broad-based fees

By SARAH CROWLEY | Feb. 19, 2018

An open forum on broad-based fee increases marked a visibly tense two and a half hours of back and forth between students and administrators on Thursday. This was the first chance for students to meet in person with fee stewards before the March 7 deadline to send proposals to SUNY.

NEWS

Bulls beat Zips at Alumni Arena 85-71

By THOMAS ZAFONTE | Feb. 17, 2018

The Bulls remain a perfect 11-0 at home this season with their win at this year’s annual pink game. With this win, the Bulls booked a first-round bye in the Mid-American Conference championship.

NEWS

TA stipends for English Ph.D students to increase over next two years

By News Desk | Feb. 15, 2018

Starting in Fall 2018, average stipends for English Ph.D candidates will increase to an average of $18,000 per year — an increase of $3,000 from current levels. In three years, the average TA stipend amount will increase to $19,000. By including scholarships and fellowships in the funding package, the “very best” doctoral students will receive funding in the $20,000 range, according to UB Now.

JD Hartman is a financial advisor at Signify Financial. Hartman advised attendees at a Fossil Free UB-held workshop meant to instruct its attendees on how to divest from unethical sources and reinvest sustainably.

NEWS

UB Foundation Executive Director attends student-held divestment workshop

By ANNA SAVCHENKO | Feb. 15, 2018

Ed Schneider, executive director of the UB Foundation, sat in Clemens 109 alongside some of his fiercest student-critics on Monday, Feb. 12. Together, Schneider and roughly 20 students listened as local financial adviser JD Hartman led a one and a half hour long workshop meant to instruct its attendees on how to divest from unethical sources and reinvest sustainably. The workshop, organized by the student-run group Fossil Free UB, discussed various ways to invest sustainably and seize opportunities to “divest” from fossil fuel industries.

Tripathi, Weber, Zukoski and Hubbard are four of the highest paid employees at UB and in Upstate NY.

NEWS

UB admins dominate list of highest-paid upstate employees

By MAX KALNITZ | Feb. 15, 2018

Eighteen of the 50 highest-paid state employees in upstate New York in 2017 were UB employees. Many high-ranking UB employees are earning upwards of $300,000 every year, according to a recent surveyby New York Upstate. The salaries in some cases are higher than what’s listed because the numbers don’t include additional compensation from various private nonprofits, like the SUNY Research Foundation and the UB Foundation.

NEWS

UB to hold open forum on future student fee increases

By MAX SLICK | Feb. 15, 2018

UB students have a chance to make their voices heard this week at an open forum on a proposed student fee increase.

Leslie Veloz, SA president and Graham Hammil, vice provost for educational affairs and dean of the graduate school, discuss plans for the Global Market Cafe, a new dining facility coming to North campus.

NEWS

Global Market Café moves into design phase, committee seeks student input on name

By MADDY FOWLER | Feb. 13, 2018

Last semester, the planning committee for a forthcoming global-inspired dining hall hosted a feedback event consisting of several focus groups, revealing a strong interest in international food. Roughly 1,300 students, faculty and staff participated in these focus groups.