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Wednesday, December 17, 2025
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Opinions

OPINION

Views from the 132

By MARLEE TUSKES | May 3, 2016

During my first couple of years at UB I felt like I was going through the motions – I drove to campus in the morning for classes then left as soon as my last one was over to either go to work or hang out with my other commuter friends I knew from high school. Even after I started taking journalism classes – the one subject I was planning my life around – I didn’t feel part of the “UB community.” It wasn’t until my junior year I found my niche.

OPINION

The metamorphosis

By Tom Dinki | May 3, 2016

Word for word, I still remember my sophomore year Spectrum staffaward. You know, those “paper plate” type awards almost every club, sorority and campus organization gives out to members at end-of-the-year ceremonies. That piece of paper with a short, personalized award that most recipients will look at, either chuckle at or feel sentimental about and then forget about. I still think about mine two years later. The Butterfly Award: To the editor that is coming out of his shell and becoming a leader at the paper.

OPINION

Finding power in a situation where I had none

By JOHN JACOBS | May 3, 2016

It was late October 2015. I was at an open bar and drank too much because I was depressed and thought it’d help. It didn’t. I got drunk enough that I stumbled outside to catch some air and blacked out. I regained partial consciousness in a car to a stranger sexually assaulting me. I’m a guy and he was a guy too. I was too drunk to really understand what was happening to me at the time, but the assailant wasn’t. The guy was sober enough to lead me to his car, sober enough to take my pants off, sober enough to drive. Sober enough to know better.

OPINION

‘The One with the College Newspaper’

By ALYSSA MCCLURE | May 3, 2016

College cannot be fully summed up in one phrase – how can you fit staying up until 2 a.m. on a Tuesday wine drunk with your roommates, 10 p.m. half-app adventures, mud-splattered sunburns, chocolate chip cookie baking and Chinese fire drills in the middle of the Audubon into one blank? Yet for each one of us, our experience has been highlighted by something profound – something that has changed us as individuals, made us more self-confident and gifted us lifelong friends. For some, it is a fraternity or sorority, a campus club or a sports team. For me, college has been “The One with the College Newspaper.”

OPINION

UB quarterback battle should be cut to two people

By Jordan Grossman | Apr. 24, 2016

The Buffalo football team is a squad forced to remake a portion of its starting lineup after a mass exit of starting seniors. There are positions that are already decided no matter the results of the annual spring scrimmage. Jordan Johnson is locked in as the starting running back. Most of the offensive and defensive line is made up.

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OPINION

Letter to the Editor

Apr. 24, 2016

In the April 20 issue of The Spectrum, Sarah Crowley provides a rundown of the arguments for and against closed and open primary systems.

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OPINION

Some students upset over handling of Sanders rally – but should be grateful there was a candidate on campus at all

By Editorial Board | Apr. 13, 2016

t’s easier to forget this is a presidential campaign – things are bound to get hectic as supporters from not just UB but all over the state flocked to see their candidate. Students should appreciate the fact that they even had an opportunity to hear a candidate speak – which happened as a result of group of students taking the initiative to petition and SA noticing and reaching out to Sanders’ campaign.

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OPINION

Letter to the editor: Why love one and eat the other?

Apr. 10, 2016

Many people assume that the diet of a vegetarian or vegan is carried by a leafy salad. The options at UB for those refraining from animals and animal products would align with this notion. The United States consumption of meat per capita is more than almost every other country on Earth by ten to twelve times over.

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OPINION

More students must vote in UB Student Assoication elections

By Editorial Board | Apr. 5, 2016

SA controls a budget of around $4 million through the mandatory student activity fee of $104.75 a semester. The thought of just one SA-experienced party running for the three top positions in the organization and just six percent of all undergraduate students deciding who fills these positions is off-putting. It’s frankly a bit undemocratic.

Maximillian Budynek poses for a photo during his run for Student Association president. Budynek, who with his running mate Daniel Christian lost the election, believes there are issues with the way SA elections are currently set up.  
OPINION

Letter from Transparency candidate Maximillian Budynek

Apr. 3, 2016

This year’s election clearly proves the need to overhaul the election process. While both parties worked tirelessly, reaching out to so many students over the election days, we could only accomplish a voter turnout that was somewhere in the ballpark of six percent of the entire student body. While speaking to so many of our peers, it was clear that they had no idea an election was even occurring. The University, and its Student Association, do not do enough to promote the election, and are doing an injustice to those who would have been interested in making their voices heard. Two days of speaking to clubs, and a poorly advertised debate, are simply not enough. A more publicized election will allow for a greater exchange of ideas, and more student involvement.

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OPINION

Despite controversial rhetoric, Milo Yiannopoulos has right to speak at UB

By Editorial Board | Apr. 3, 2016

Free speech is a basic American principle that we have to respect. Whether or not we agree with Yiannopoulos’ ideas isn’t as important as whether or not he’s allowed to speak them. And sometimes, regardless of how different it may be from our own, it’s important to hear out others’ ideology because it’s how we learn about the other side of the political spectrum.

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