Opinions - The Spectrum

OPINION

Racist incident at Kansas State brings about diversity question at UB

By Editorial Board | Sep. 20, 2016

Last week, a Kansas State University student posted a Snapchat of herself and a friend in a dark facial mask with the caption, “Feels good to finally be a n****.” The university expelled the students, which resulted in a massive outcry from the Kansas State Black Student Union. The organization petitioned to have the university implement an anti-racism policy, a multicultural student center, need-based scholarships for multicultural students and a “required cultural competency course.” This brought discussions about racism and diversity to open forums in which the school’s diversity was in question.

OPINION

Where do you stand? Colin Kaepernick’s actions tell his message loud and clear

By BRIAN LARA | Sep. 13, 2016

Last Thursday marked the start of football season. The two teams who made it to last year’s Super Bowl, Broncos and Panthers, were facing off again. The game started like any other game would.

OPINION

Fantasy football deep league starters for week one

By BRIAN LARA | Sep. 10, 2016

Another season of football started last Thursday night and along with it comes something else everyone loves: fantasy football. Whether you won your league last year or you were dead last, there are a few things to keep in mind so your team can make the playoffs.

OPINION

Although First Amendment rights come first, trigger warnings serve a purpose on campus

By Editorial Board | Sep. 8, 2016

Colleges, donors and students across the country are in an uproar about trigger warnings, campus safe spaces and freedom of speech. The latest discussion began with a letter from University of Chicago Dean of Students John Ellison telling incoming freshmen that the university’s “commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called 'trigger warnings,' we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”

OPINION

Money Talk: credit cards, the tamable beast

By KENNETH KASHIF THOMAS | Sep. 7, 2016

When it comes to credit cards, they can seem like a mysterious force that can too easily take control of your financial life. While this is definitely true, it’s not as easy to fall into the trap if you know how to shop for credit cards and use them properly.

OPINION

What happened to UB Vice President Dennis Black?

By Editorial Board | Aug. 31, 2016

People don’t usually disappear, especially not prominent people on a campus of 30,000 students. But that is just what happened to Dennis Black, UB’s vice president of Student Affairs, who was practically the face of UB for students and who was one of UB’s only administrators who clearly loved the spotlight and interacting with students.

OPINION

Unspoken subway connections: Why I will always buy street newspapers from the homeless

By Rui Xu | July 26, 2016

Should I give him some change? What if he is not asking for money, but selling that paper? How much does he want? I wasn’t sure what to do or if I should speak to him. I felt guilty for not knowing what to do.

OPINION

My experience eating a 'dinner in the dark' as a picky eater

By Cathleen Draper | July 26, 2016

I never wanted to change my habits or felt limited by my bland diet. But then I went to Berlin in January. Being in a foreign place, surrounded by people who didn’t know me or my weird history with food emboldened me. It made me want to try being someone else for a little while.

OPINION

My M&M meeting: How a Syrian boy named Mohammed changed my life

By Christina Dunn | July 26, 2016

I learned the boy’s name the next day – Mohammed. He was eight and like me, he didn’t speak German. And he wasn’t in Berlin for a vacation.

OPINION

Insert cliché quote here

By Tomas Olivier | May 3, 2016

Originally, I didn’t want to write this piece – for multiple reasons. The main reason being that I’m not really leaving UB. Also, because saying goodbye seems silly to me considering that the work that we do as staff writers, editors, copy editors and managing editors will always be part of the legacy that is The Spectrum.

OPINION

Do it for the story

By Jordan Grossman | May 3, 2016

Limiting yourself will get you nowhere. Hiding behind a mask because you’re uncertain of the result is no way to live life, especially in college, where the entire four-year stretch is nothing but a learning experience. Take risks. Tell stories. Make your experiences here at UB worthwhile to remember them years down the road.

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

How a Dominos delivery man became my taxi driver

By Tomas Olivier | Apr. 29, 2016

Like many good college stories, it all started after a very successful night of alcohol consumption and almost ended with my friend and me freezing to death.

OPINION

Letter to the editor: UB working on inclusion of transgender, genderqueer and gender non-binary students, faculty and staff

Apr. 26, 2016

Dear Editorial Board of The Spectrum, Thank you for highlighting the need for action in support of transgender, genderqueer and gender non-binary community members at UB in your April 24, 2016 editorial. We are proud of the rich spectrums of diversity that makes up our UB community.

OPINION

UB should stand in solidarity with LGBTQ rights and against NC’s House Bill 2

By Editorial Board | Apr. 24, 2016

In solidarity with the people across the country rising in protest against the bill, not to mention Buffalo’s own LGBTQ community, UB should make an attempt to reach out to its students and determine whether the consensus on our undeniably liberal campus is to install full-scale gender-neutral bathrooms for its transgendered student body.

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.

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.