Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

News

NEWS

The daily grind

When it comes to getting Starbucks at The Commons, UB students face a choice: wait in line for up to 30 minutes, or as the baristas call it, “going mobile.” The UB Commons location has consistently ranked in the top three most popular mobile ordering locations in the U.S., with a total average of 400 to 500 mobile orders per weekday.


NEWS

News briefs

Campus IBM awards UB computer scientists grant to develop energy efficient electronics IBM has awarded UB computer scientists Tevfik Kosar and Murat Demirbas $75,000 to create software that reduces the energy consumption of computers through IBM’s Open Collaboration Research program, according to a UB news release. The research project called “GreenDataFlow” focuses on reducing power consumption in both hardware and software on Internet connected devices.


The Spectrum
NEWS

Senate narrowly passes controversial tax reform bill

The Senate passed a massive tax overhaul in the early hours of Saturday morning after several last-minute, handwritten revisions were scribbled in the margins of the 479-page bill. The measure passed 51 to 49 and would offer large permanent tax cuts to major corporations, such as Apple, General Electric and Goldman Sachs, according to Forbes. The bill aims to reorganize and lower the taxes businesses and corporations pay in order to stimulate economic growth.


Graduate students, faculty, and members of the community gathered in Founders Plaza on Wednesday afternoon in protest of the tax bill recently passed by the House of Republicans. This event was one of many nationally organized in opposition of the bill.
NEWS

UB graduate students hold walkout in opposition to GOP tax plan

Graduate students and faculty members gathered at Founders Plaza on North Campus Wednesday to show their opposition to a tax bill passed earlier this month by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The event was part of a national protest organized by the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students in opposition to the tax plan.


GSA President Tanja Aho sits in her office. Aho is overseeing a resolution against the proposed tax reform plan. 
NEWS

GOP tax plan to cut savings for grad students by $65 billion over next decade, report shows

The Graduate Student Association will vote on a resolution to voice opposition to the GOP tax plan, which has been criticized nationally for its rollback on tax benefits for graduate students and universities. Chris Rupert, a graduate student in biology, is drafting a resolution to present at the Dec. 6 Graduate Student Association Senate Meeting. The report will ask UB administrators to commission an official report looking at how the tax plan, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, would impact UB specifically. 


NEWS

Mental illness a growing problem among college students

Laura Aguilera’s depression came on slowly. She started waking up feeling very tired her sophomore year. This unshakeable fatigue gave way to a diminishing appetite and a lack of motivation. She wasn’t interested in anything and wanted to sleep all the time. Ninety-five percent of college counseling center directors surveyed said the number of students with “significant psychological problems” is a growing concern, according to an Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors survey of counseling center directors


Michael Hall currently houses Student Health Services on South Campus. The university has had tentative off and on plans to move the medical center to North Campus where most students live.
NEWS

Michael overhaul

Michael Hall houses UB’s Student Health Services, a full-service medical clinic available to any student of the university, but it’s located on South Campus, away from most of the on-campus student population. While there have been several plans in the past to move Student Health Services to North Campus, Michael Hall is still the primary medical clinic for many students. 


Spectrum editor Maddy Fowler sat down with actor and activist Jesse Williams before he spoke at UB's Distinguished Speakers Series.
NEWS

Q&A with Jesse Williams

Q: Shonda Rhimes, the writer of “Grey’s Anatomy,” has spoken a lot about the importance of having a diverse cast and having representation of minorities. I know you’ve talked a lot about racial inequality in your activist work, so how do you feel your role on “Grey’s Anatomy”connects with your activism? A: Well, in spaces that are reflexively and routinely reserved and quartered off just for white folks, sometimes just being there is activism. Being there is disruption. Normalizing what Shonda has excelled at is normalizing brownness, otherness. We’re just people. We don’t talk about race on the show. We just are. She just is Asian. She just is Indian. He just is black. And they’re human beings who have flaws and struggles and qualms, and that is one of the most effective forms of activism and demonstration which is you know, [showing] we don’t only exist in peaks and valleys and triumphs and failures. We don’t only exist as a heroic biopic character or a thug. We’re all in the gray. And I think that’s a big part of humanity that’s lost when people try to find a space to process blackness.


Actor and activist Jesse Williams spoke in Alumni Arena Saturday night as part of the 31st annual UB Distinguished Speakers series. He discussed his "meandering" journey into television acting and his experiences with social justice activism.
NEWS

Jesse Williams participates in Q&A session as part of UB Distinguished Speakers Series

Jesse Williams has come a long way from the young man with a “superb” afro stringing together jobs in corporate law, acting in commercials and waiting tables to make ends meet. An energetic crowd packed Alumni Arena Saturday night, abuzz with chatter and letting out excited squeals even before Williams, an actor and activist best known for his portrayal of Jackson Avery on “Grey’s Anatomy,” stepped onto the stage.



View this profile on Instagram

The Spectrum (@ubspectrum) • Instagram photos and videos




Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2026 The Spectrum