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Wednesday, October 07, 2026
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Senate narrowly passes controversial tax reform bill

By MADDY FOWLER | Dec. 4, 2017

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

By ANNA SAVCHENKO | Nov. 30, 2017

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

By SARAH CROWLEY | Nov. 20, 2017

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

By MADDY FOWLER | Nov. 20, 2017

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

By DAN MCKEON | Nov. 20, 2017

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

By MADDY FOWLER | Nov. 19, 2017

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

By MADDY FOWLER | Nov. 19, 2017

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 Spectrum
NEWS

Two sexual assault incidents reported to UPD

By News Desk | Nov. 16, 2017

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.

NEWS

News Briefs

By News Desk | Nov. 16, 2017

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.

The Spectrum
NEWS

Main Place bar conditionally approved

By MADDY FOWLER | Nov. 14, 2017

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.

Robert Shibley speaks from podium with President Tripathi beside him. The UB Faculty Senate voted against a resolution Tuesday afternoon to censure Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning Robert Shibley, with 43 opposed, 15 in favor and three abstaining.
NEWS

Censure resolution fails in closed ballot vote

By SARAH CROWLEY | Nov. 14, 2017

The UB Faculty Senate voted against a resolution to censure Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning Robert Shibley, with 43 opposed, 15 in favor and three abstaining. The Senate casted secret ballots after hearing from more than a dozen faculty members and administrators from across the university–– including President Satish Tripathi, Provost Charles Zukoski and Dean Shibley ––at Tuesday’s Senate meeting.

NEWS

The loss of an ‘angel’

By HANNAH STEIN | Nov. 13, 2017

Steven Jackson lost his son Solomon, a UB football player, nearly two years ago and the hurt still sits heavy. Sometimes, on his way home from work at UPS in Tucker, Georgia, he drives to Solomon’s former high school, parks in the parking lot and cries. He remembers driving Solomon, who had perfect attendance, to and from school for four years.

NEWS

New Briefs

By News Desk | Nov. 13, 2017

Campus UB students work together to address opioid crisis during Fall Interprofessional Forum The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences hosted “Confronting Opioid Dependence: An Interprofessional Strategy” as part of its annual Fall Interprofessional Forum on Thursday.

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