Andrea Costantino pays back stolen funds, avoids jail sentence
By News Desk | Dec. 7, 2017Former UB Director of Campus Living, Andrea Costantino, has been sentenced to three-year conditional discharge.
Former UB Director of Campus Living, Andrea Costantino, has been sentenced to three-year conditional discharge.
In the third Living Stipend Movement protest this semester, demonstrators shared vulnerable, personal stories about what they characterize as a struggle to survive on unfair stipends as part of an hour long sit-in.
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.
The Institute of International Education recognized UB for the 15th straight year as a top host university for international students, but some feel it hasn’t done enough to integrate these students into American university life. A class of international students is searching for solutions.
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 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.
Time is running out to return overdue library books without facing a fee. The UB Libraries announced a month-long campaign that began on Nov. 17 to encourage UB and Buffalo community members to return their overdue library books.
The Buffalo State College Foundation improperly donated $1,250 to a local political action committee in February, New York State campaign finance filings show.
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.
The UB Foundation invested in an offshore firm that funds North American hydraulic fracturing –– more commonly known as fracking, a practice banned in New York State due to environmental concerns.
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.
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 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.
UB has released a statement acknowledging the recent updates in the federal case against big-time donor John Kapoor. Kapoor was arrested Oct. 26, accused of leading his pharmaceutical company’s alleged nation-wide scheme to increase opioid sales. Kapoor used bribes and kickbacks for employees to prescribe the drug to patients who didn’t need it.
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.
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.
The Faculty Senate decided by a two to one margin not to censure Dean Robert Shibley in a closed ballot Tuesday, following an hour of contentious debate between faculty members and administrators.
Two instances of sexual assault were reported to UPD last week. UB alerts were not sent out for these incidents, according to UPD Deputy Chief Police Joshua Sticht because he said they did not feel the incidents posed a serious threat. The Clery Act is a federal law that requires college campuses to alert students about crimes that occur on campus with basic information, such as the date and location of the incident. Because these events occurred “a long time ago or off campus,” UB was not obligated to report them.
Campus UB ranked among top universities for international students UB is ranked among the top 25 institutions for hosting international students. UB is ranked No. 21 by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in the institute’s 2017 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. UB had 7,252 graduate students as of 2016. UB has the third highest graduate student population in New York State and the highest number of graduate students among SUNY institutions.
Buffalo’s Common Council has conditionally approved Anthony Sordetto’s application to open a bar at 3144 Main St. near South Campus. The Council’s unanimous approval is contingent on Sordetto removing the black tint from the establishment’s windows and not marketing to those under 21. Sordetto has agreed to these conditions, according to The Buffalo News. The bar’s approval is good for two years so it can be monitored and reevaluated if it becomes a nuisance.