The Spectrum Volume 62 Issue 71

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBL ICAT ION OF THE UN IVERS I TY AT BUFFALO , S INCE 1950

Friday, april 12, 2013ubspectrum.com Volume 62 No. 71

Students organize Around-the-World event to gain organ donors

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BRIAN JOSEPHSSenior Managing editor

Steven Coffed, a sophomore aerospace and mechanical engi-neering major, has a valedictori-an certificate hanging in his bed-room, a mention in a Business First article that named the best schol-ar athletes in Western New York, a Presidential Scholarship – which is awarded to only 25 of the univer-sity’s approximately 5,000 incoming freshmen – and multiple other aca-demic honors.

One of his most treasured pos-sessions, however, is a Marvin the Martian watch.

At first glance, the watch could be seen as a subtle but arrogant ref-erence to his success because of its juxtaposition. Marvin is known for continuously failing despite his su-perior intellect.

But as he sits smiling in his loose-ly fitting red button-up, it’s clear Steven is not a cocky persona. Self-assured, but never cocky. Steven’s friends and family laud him for his brilliance but never forget to point at his laidback, amiable personality. His surgical precision when balanc-ing numbers and concepts doesn’t outweigh his humanity.

That watch – and the red shirt – also belonged to his father and best friend, Jim Coffed. Jim was a tal-ented engineer with the soul of an artist. He was also an avid bike rid-er who advocated for bike safety in the Western New York community. This wasn’t exactly a hidden hob-by, either; Jim rode outfitted with a bright helmet, reflective gear and a safety bar, which was encrypted with quips like “GET OFF THE PHONE” aimed at trailing drivers.

His passing seemed too random for a man who was so passion-ate and talented – he died from a collision with a garbage truck one

summer morning. Even as bright of a character as Steven is, when he reflects on the incident, he of-ten pauses as if struck by the bitter numbness of being blindsided by one of life’s cold mechanisms.

A few minutes later, his recollec-tion of his father feels cathartic, in a sense. It’s about 9 a.m. on a win-ter day and he looks re-energized. He’s still grieving, but there are too many more worlds to conquer to mourn.**

As a child in St. Mary’s Elementa-ry School, Steven not only showed how smart he was but also a sense of focus and drive that’s rare at such an age. The Depew, N.Y., na-tive was always close to his family, but the true answer to why Steven was always so motivated has always

remained a mystery to many of his relatives.

“Jim and I never had to push him at all. He was just driven to be the best he could,” said Sue Cof-fed, his mother and a teacher in the Starpoint Central District. “He was very self-motivated, so it wasn’t like we had to say, ‘Steven, do your homework.’”

Steven’s work ethic never waned as the years went by; it grew just like his accolades. He maintained hon-ors from elementary school to ju-nior high, became class president in seventh and eighth grade, devel-oped into a skilled sportsman and grew into an accomplished pianist from when he first started playing the instrument when he was in sec-ond grade.

St. Joseph’s High School didn’t offer Steven much of a challenge, either, judging from the fact that he graduated with an average of over 100. He was also captain of his school’s soccer team for two years, a member of the National Honor Society and a key member of the school’s jazz band. He got accepted into schools like Notre Dame, Yale and the Eastman School of Music, but chose UB because of the Pres-idential Scholarship – which cov-ered all UB-related costs.

These are all achievements the average student would boast about, but Steven speaks about them as if they were arbitrary. His motivation is obligatory, though.

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10Hove makes name for himself as UB tennis standout

Student bartenders describe nights in Main Street bars

RACHEL RAIMONDIaSSt. newS editor

Citizens of the Fruit Belt, an area in Buffalo’s lower East Side, are fed up with UB.

They said they haven’t received any information about UB’s plans to buy McCarley Gardens – a low-income public housing develop-ment – to expand the downtown Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Citizens are concerned about their homes and neighborhoods and think UB doesn’t care about its relations with the community. UB officials, however, believe they are doing the best they can under the circumstances.

On March 19, the Ellicott Dis-trict Common Council held a meeting where to discuss McCar-ley Gardens. Citizens were appalled when no UB representative attend-ed.

“I don’t intend on giving a yes vote for anything else for what UB intends to do in the City of Buffalo at this time until they have become much more neighbor-friendly,”

Council Member Darius Pridgen told The Buffalo News.

Pridgen could not be reached for comment by the time of press.

UB officials agree their commu-nity relations could be better, but they don’t think the university is en-tirely at fault.

Mike Pietkiewicz, assistant vice president for government commu-nity relations, said when he found out about the 1 p.m. meeting, it was already 12:40 p.m. and he was in Schuyler, N.Y., on his way back

from conferences in Albany.He said disclosing any informa-

tion is not up to him, anyway. Be-cause citizens aren’t involved in the contract and no future plans have been solidified, UB and cur-rent property owner Oak Michigan Housing Development Corp. will not release any information.

Oak Michigan, a not-for-prof-it housing development corpora-tion sponsored by St. John Baptist Church, approached UB about pur-chasing the land in 2009. The two signed a contract in 2010.

No progress has been made re-cently because the two parties need to work with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create a relocation plan for cur-

rent residents. The church, howev-er, is determined to sell the proper-ty for $15 million, which will help fund a $500 million community de-velopment plan – with or without UB’s involvement, according to Pi-etkiewicz.

Some citizens are still unsatisfied and have expressed their feelings in an online petition created by Am-ina Johnson, community outreach coordinator for People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buf-falo.

The petition calls for a new eco-nomic opportunity panel to dis-cuss the fate of the aging apart-ment complex. UB and the church created the current panel, which in-cludes three representatives from

each party. These members con-ducted 72 individual and group in-terviews with the public to listen to concerns and get ideas for what ac-tions could benefit the area.

“The University at Buffalo is not privileged to make decisions about the Fruit Belt and Hospital Hill neighborhoods,” Johnson said in the petition. “The residents of Mc-Carley Gardens and the Fruit Belt have the right to use their deserved voice regarding this neighborhood planning.”

As of Sunday, 137 supporters had signed the document online. Although the petition will not have any direct effect on the contract, Johnson uses it to encourage UB officials and citizens to work to-gether.

In some regard, the two groups’ collaboration has already begun. On Saturday, students cleaned up the Fruit Belt through the “UB Gettin’ Dirty” program as a way to make peace with the campus’ fu-ture neighbors and do community service.

“It’s good public relations, be-cause they’re building the new med-ical campus in the city,” Fruit Belt Homeowners and Tenants Council President Zaid Islam told The News. “Now they can have a vested inter-est in the neighborhood that they’re building in.”

There will be a Common Coun-cil meeting at City Hall on April 23 at 1 p.m. to further discuss the is-sue. Pietkiewicz said he will attend.

Email: [email protected]

Rocky road to downtown campusUB, Fruit Belt citizens quarrel over land, partnership

TAYLOR BRUNDAGEStaff writer

Melissa Kathan, a freshman ac-counting major, has been elected as the new Student Association As-sembly speaker.

All but two of the approximate-ly 30 Assembly members in at-tendance voted for Kathan on Wednesday night, according to cur-rent Assembly Speaker Steven Jack-son.

Jackson conducted the election. Thirty students attended, most of which were current Assembly members.

Three nominees presented their speeches at the beginning of the meeting. Khashayar Karami, a sophomore in the School of Man-agement, and Davis Podkulski, a freshman in the School of Manage-ment, ran against Kathan.

Kathan’s speech roused over-whelming applause after she pre-sented new and radical methods for positive change at UB. She ex-pressed a drive toward making all students’ needs heard, which pro-pelled the majority of the Assem-bly to vote for her.

“I think I was meant for this po-sition,” Kathan said. “I’m willing to fight for the students at all costs.”

She voiced her plans for the fu-ture of UB, stressing the impor-tance of student opinion. She pro-posed holding a forum 30 minutes before every Assembly meeting. All students would be able to come and openly discuss their ideas in this fo-rum, she said.

Kathan said she would do any-thing necessary to invoke more stu-dent involvement in the Assembly and SA in general.

She looks forward to continuing the “wonderful” job Jackson has done.

“[Kathan] reminds me of my-self,” Jackson said. “Maybe a little more driven. I’m confident she’s going to do a great job.”

The speaker-elect plans to have a presence at UB functions as ear-ly as summer orientations. She said she would be working to recruit new members for SA and the As-sembly, specifically through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. In a school of over 19,000 undergraduate students, flyers and posters on campus are simply not enough, she said.

In her speech, she provided the numbers taken every fall semes-ter from the past five years. Kathan noted the Assembly has dropped from 80 members to 13 members.

The spring semester did have an increase of membership to 42 from fall semester’s 13.

“We need those numbers up,” Kathan said. “We’re supposed to be the largest body and [a 13-per-son Assembly] is simply not good enough.”

Jackson expressed his pride in Kathan for stepping up and making a name for herself. Although a ma-jority of the Assembly expressed the same pride, many are sad to see Jackson go.

Jackson, who was the Assem-bly speaker for two years, is leav-ing SA as a whole. The junior histo-ry and education major is switching his major to computer science and wants to focus on his new and chal-lenging upcoming curriculum, he told The Spectrum in February.

James Ingram, a sophomore po-litical science major and next year’s academic coordinator in the SA Senate, voiced his opinion on Jack-son’s tenure.

“He’s always been very helpful and knowledgeable about UB,” In-gram said. “I think that helped him become such a great speaker.”

Jackson said he will miss his posi-tion, but it’s been an “amazing and rewarding run.” Because of his ex-perience, he was able to meet and influence students like Kathan, who he said had a significant impact on his life.

SA Assembly names Kathan new speaker

See SA, Page 8

ALExA STRUDLER, The SpecTrum

McCarley Gardens is at the center of a controversy. Community members of the Fruit Belt are upset UB didn’t consult them about the university’s plans to buy the low-income housing devel-opment to expand the downtown Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Marvin the Martian and Costello:

T H E CO F F E D S TO RYUB sophomore overcomes father’s death to continue successful path

See STEVEN COFFED, Page 2

ALINE KOBAYASHI, The SpecTrum CoUrteSY of JAMES COFFED SR.

One of Steven’s most prized possessions is a Marvin the Martian watch (left), which belonged to his father, Jim (right), who passed away in a biking accident last summer.

ubspectrum.com2 Friday, April 12, 2013

“From me being an only child, I saw how much my parents gave me every day,” Steven said. “They were super supportive … giving me rides, paying for me to go to a good high school – all that stuff. It just made sense in my mind to give back to them.”

Steven didn’t just ride high school off his natural intellect; his work eth-ic was supreme. It’s the type of hard work that requires a student to wake up for school at 6 a.m. after staying up un-til 2 a.m. to finish homework. One of the highlights of Steven’s day was a lit-tle nap he caught on the 40-minute bus ride from his house to St. Joe’s.

Steven’s musical and academic am-bitions never overshadowed his ap-proachable personality – laidback, fun-loving, quick-witted. He’s what one would consider a “guy’s guy,” or the type his best friend Aidan Ryan says “you’d want to have when you’re in a bind.” In short, he doesn’t fit into the “nerd” stereotype his certificates would suggest. Nerds don’t usually get kicked out of senior trips for bringing alcohol.

His musical taste – which ranges from metal to R&B – may be Steven’s most unique trait. His favorite musician is Elvis Costello, which is almost too fitting. The famed songwriter’s influ-ence isn’t limited to one genre, and Ste-ven’s interests aren’t just limited to engi-neering, music and academics. He’s an adventure seeker.

Jim was also an adventure seek-er. He was artistically talented as well; Steven played instruments, while Jim drew sketches. Both were naturally in-telligent, too. Jim’s brother, Mark, and his father, James, both agree he was the smartest one in the family.

Jim was Steven. Steven was Jim.“He’s pretty much a clone,” Mark

said. “If Jimmy was still around and I introduced you to him today, here’s how I’d introduce you to him: ‘This is my brother, Jim, he’s the nicest and smartest guy I know.’ I’d probably say the same thing about Steven.”

The father-son duo went everywhere together. Jim’s Disney World was Al-legheny State Park in New York and his Europe was Redwood National Park in California. Because of Jim, Steven has been going to Allegheny “ever since I was in the womb.” Jim would also take his son to air shows, which influenced Steven’s love of aerospace engineering.

Jim was a mechanical engineer. Af-ter a stint at a company that made windshield wipers, Jim became a de-sign engineer for Greatbatch Medical – a business that specializes in making components for implantable medical devices, such as the pacemaker. He was

an engineer by trade but had the soul of an artist, as he’d use his three-dimen-sional thinking ability to solve prob-lems. The trait was particularly crucial in such a difficult line of work, which created parts upon which people’s lives depended. It would take Jim as long as five years to get some of his patents ap-proved.

Perhaps Jim’s biggest impact was his love of biking. An avid bicyclist for about 20 years, Jim caught eyes by being the very picture of biking safe-ty. He’d wear so many bright colors that Steven said it looked like as if “he swallowed a neon glow stick.” His bik-ing outfit would elicit sympathies from others.

“If you’d go by him on the street, you’d say: ‘Look at that homeless guy. Poor fella,’” said Tom Marzano, Jim’s supervisor at Greatbatch Medical.

Jim traded in his car for long bike rides to his job in Clarence, N.Y. When he’d return from work, he was ready to tell his family stories about his encoun-ters with drivers while he was riding his bicycle. Jim was adamant about bike safety but never hostile; he traded con-frontations for sharp quips to get his point across. His focus seemed neces-sary judging by the statistics.

“In Erie County, 5 percent of all ac-cidents include bicycles and pedestri-ans,” Justin Booth of Go Bike Buffalo told WIVB. “They represent 31 per-cent of all injuries and fatalities in the region.”**

In the summer of 2012, Steven was used to his father waking him up around 7 a.m. to say goodbye before he

went off on his bike to go to work. Ste-ven would then sleep until about 11:30 a.m. before he began his day.

July 2 started out similarly with a goodbye from his dad around the same time – only this time, he woke up 20 minutes later to his mother’s shrieks. The police showed up at the front door.

Jim had died. He was 52.Jim’s father, James, who spent de-

cades as an accident investigator, rec-ollected the trauma with a Spectrum re-porter eight months later. He’s covered all kinds of accidents throughout the years but said in a suddenly world-wea-ry tone that nothing could prepare him for this. His clear eyes didn’t symbol-ize decades’-old wisdom but revealed a deep-seeded wound that still bleeds.

“The day before he died, he came over to my grandparents’ house and drew a picture of what the design [of his latest work at Greatbatch Medi-cal] was,” Steven said. “My grandfather has a hard time looking at it, because it brings back a lot of emotion.”

Jim was riding down Walden Avenue when a dump truck suddenly turned right, resulting in the life-ending colli-sion. Steven didn’t find out the details until days after. He was still in shock over losing his best friend because of a random instance.

“They were close, real close,” James said. “If you could think of the closest person to a parent – mother or father – that would be the type of relationship.”

What particularly haunt Steven are the green bike and the helmet in which his father was killed. Both are sitting in Steven’s house – undamaged.

Sue received Jim’s last approved pat-ent the day after his death.

“The only thing missing is him,” Ste-ven said.

Then came the mourning; then came the diagnosis – Steven found out he had mononucleosis (the kissing disease) a day after his father’s death; then the comfort of his girlfriend, Jessica Woj-cinski, who returned from a trip to Chi-cago for the funeral; then the funer-al, which was attended by hundreds of people whom he had affected by his personality, mechanical work and ded-ication to bike safety.

Instead of a prayer, Steven opted to put lyrics from Elvis Costello’s “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, and Un-derstanding” on his father’s prayer card for the funeral. Jim would’ve liked that.

This all happened days before Ste-ven was supposed to go on his antici-pated trip to Germany with Ryan. Ste-ven was undecided on whether he was still going to go, but he only thought of what his father would advise him to do in such a situation. That would be to go, because Steven believed Jim lived every day to the fullest.

While Germany provided a refresh-ing change of scenery, the trip still proved to be a painful one.

“It was not ideal,” Steven said. “Ev-ery day you wake up, it’s like you don’t want to get out of bed. You don’t want to move. You don’t believe that that’s happened. There are still days where I wake up and I still have some dream where I’m out biking with him. Then you wake up and forget that he’s gone.”

The world didn’t stop, though. School was but a few weeks away when he returned from Germany.**

Aerospace and mechanical engineer-ing are generally considered two of UB’s hardest programs.

Steven decided to take 24 credit hours last semester with courses from those programs, which was a decision he would come to regret.

As expected, the workload proved to both emotionally and physically taxing for the sophomore, who lives in Grein-er Hall and would often call his moth-er for support.

“I didn’t realize that he was tak-ing that many credit hours, and it sick-ened me when I found out. His com-ment was that I think I needed to be occupied,” Sue said. “The thought pro-cess behind it was bury yourself in your schoolwork and you won’t think so much about your dad. I didn’t find out until November he was taking that many credit courses.”

He didn’t go through the semester with the same self-assuredness he had in high school. This made the news he received that one day in his work of-fice after the end of the semester all the more surprising.

He found out he had gotten a 4.0 GPA. The heartbreak and tribulations he’d endured had been worth it.

Steven left his job at the UBIT office, went to Baird Point and cried. He had succeeded once again.

“I told people in my family and they were like: ‘Don’t take so many cred-its,’” Steven said. “People were happy for me, but they knew how much work went into that, and they knew a lot of it had to do with this need to prove my-self and that I could keep going on. On one hand, it was good; on the other hand, it was destructive at times.”**

Steven is now taking 15 credits. His semester isn’t any easier, though; he makes it his mission to find time for his family in addition to keeping up with his courses and continuing to play key-board. Jim’s passing has convinced him life is too random to skip out on spend-ing time with loved ones.

Steven’s also starting to fit into his dad’s clothing, which he said he wears more now. Although he still misses his dad, the sophomore puts everything into perspective. Living is painful, but it can be worse. It can also get better.

He had the honor of summarizing that philosophy – moving forward and appreciating the now – when he deliv-ered his father’s eulogy:

“I said how he was the kind of man who lived every day like it was his last. He was always spending time with fam-ily or saying, ‘Hey, I have a day off. I know you have some homework and probably got to get stuff done, but why don’t you and I go to Allegheny,’ or, ‘Why don’t you and I go out and catch a movie?’ He was doing that not only for me but for everybody. As hard as it is for me to see him go, I don’t think that he lived with any regrets. I hope that in his memory and for his sake, other peo-ple will live that way, as well, and recog-nize that each day is one to be lived to the fullest. While I mourn for the loss of my father, it was my best friend I was going to miss.

“I said good night and told him how much I loved him.”

He can always see his father when he looks into the Marvin the Martian watch.


Continued from page 1: Steven Coffed

‘‘ ‘‘If Jimmy was still around and I introduced you to him today, here’s how I’d introduce you to him: ‘This is my brother Jim, he’s the nicest and smartest guy I know.’ I’d probably say the same thing about Steven.

Jim Coffed added a neon green safety bar, which often had phrases aimed at trailing drivers, to his bike.

CoUrteSY of JAMES COFFED SR.

art BY JEANETTE CHWAN

ubspectrum.com3Friday, April 12, 2013

OpinionEDITORIAL BOARD

April 12, 2013Volume 62 Number 71

Circulation 7,000

EDITOR In ChIEf Aaron Mansfield

SEnIOR MAnAgIng EDITOR

Brian Josephs

MAnAgIng EDITOR Rebecca Bratek

EDITORIAL EDITOR

Eric Cortellessa

nEwS EDITORSSara DiNatale, Co-Senior Lisa Khoury, Co-Senior

Sam Fernando, Asst.Rachel Raimondi, Asst.

LIfE EDITORS

Rachel Kramer, Senior Lyzi White

Lisa Epstein, Asst. Sharon Kahn, Asst.

ARTS EDITORSElva Aguilar, Senior

Lisa de la Torre, Asst.Max Crinnin, Asst.

SPORTS EDITORS

Joseph Konze Jr., Senior Jon GagnonBen Tarhan

Markus McCaine, Asst.

PhOTO EDITORSAlexa Strudler, Senior

Nick Fischetti Satsuki Aoi, Asst.

Aminata Diallo, Asst.

CARTOOnISTJeanette Chwan

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Brian KeschingerHaider Alidina, Asst.

PROfESSIOnAL STAff

OffICE ADMInISTRATORHelene Polley

ADVERTISIng MAnAgER

Mark KurtzDanielle Abrams, Asst.

Luke Nuttle, Asst.

ADVERTISIng DESIgnERJoseph Ramaglia

Ryan Christopher, Asst.Haley Sunkes, Asst.

The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opin-ion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student

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POInT BLAnKElected officials should continue to push gun control agenda forward

The Pentagon issued on Thurs-day, for its first time, intelligence that deemed North Korea’s nuclear capa-bility has reached a new and higher level. It believes North Korea has established how to develop a nucle-ar weapon that can be delivered by a ballistic missile.

The Supreme Leader of North Korea, King Jong-un, announced on Tuesday that he advised South Ko-reans to vacate their country, as the peninsula was going to be on the verge of entering a nuclear war.

For many, this was not a surprise at all and much of the world has previously adopted the attitude of, “What else is new?”

What had developed was a pattern – a pattern of North Korea crying Armageddon until someone swoops in to intervene and help facilitate a compromise.

The problem for Kim is that been nobody is taking him seriously any-more, resulting in his beginning to lose leverage. The Obama adminis-tration has made it clear it believes he has been blustering more than re-ally contemplating action. The ad-ministration previously released a statement saying it saw no evidence that North Korea was mobilizing military action, according to The New York Times.

Well, now there has been a new level of aggression to emerge out of North Korea that our intelligence has unveiled. We already knew that it has conducted three nuclear tests and has fired a ballistic missile that reached the Philippines. The ques-tion now is: Are these recent signs precarious and a cause for serious concern?

Former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, however, predicted two years ago that North Korea held the potential to advance its capabilities within a few years.

It seems because for the last 10 years or so we have been repeated-ly told to be scared of North Ko-rea that they have evolved into some version of the boy who cried wolf.

We don’t want to see the United States engage in any type of inter-ventionist foreign policy that is not necessary – but we also don’t want to dismiss a country’s threats as hy-perbole if the potential for destruc-tion is real.

The president has made it clear he has no desire to engage in any type of military intervention that is not necessary and was quick to point out the strong “disconnect” from Kim’s “rhetoric and action.”

Our foreign policy has been con-sistently to try and ease any tensions as diplomatically as possible – which is exactly what our foreign policy should be at this time. It is impor-tant to recognize these issues with North Korea are usually ephemer-al and tangential, though we believe this extended period of progression is becoming more ominous.

Recently, James R. Clapper, di-rector of National Intelligence, told the House Intelligence Committee, “North Korea has already demon-strated capabilities that threaten the United States and security environ-ment in East Asia.”

Many have pointed to the history of this type of rhetoric from Kim’s father and grandfather, which would often prove as intended to obtain aid in the form of money, equipment, food, etc., in order to simmer down.

The problem may be that Kim is enough of an Icarus figure to want to really exceed his father and his fa-ther’s father. He may want to go be-yond these mere tactical maneuvers. The danger is that damage could in-cur before he falls to his plank – his own self-destruction.

We are not suggesting that Kim’s rhetoric is intended for an audience, both internal and external, with the hopes of achieving some concrete

goal. It very likely is, but the devel-opment of nuclear capabilities are a legitimate cause for the United States to consider them a risk.

Clapper has said he believes his “primary objective is to … affirm his power.” That he wants to earn the respect that comes with being a nuclear power. The issue most prev-alent is that he has differed from his father who would just provoke then back away.

Kim has been consistently making strides to further his nation’s nucle-ar capacity. He is not backing down so easily.

As Kim has been drawing distinc-tions between him and his father in how he governs the country, we should remain privy to these chang-es in patterns and should maintain close surveillance.

What is most important is to re-main strategic in trying to subdue Kim without letting any aggression come to fruition. As Sun Tzu as-serted, “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”

But we should always be prepared for the worst-case scenario.


This aggression will not stand The time has come to take Kim Jong-un more seriously

On Wednesday, Senators Joe Man-chin III, D-W.Va., and Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., announced an agreement has been reached among Democrats and Republi-cans in the Senate on a bill that expands backgrounds checks for gun buyers.

The bipartisan compromise will result in a debate reaching the Senate floor, the first time to happen on a gun bill in that chamber in two decades. The Senate vot-ed 68-31 on Thursday to allow the debate to proceed. It will permit amendments to the agreements already reached, which in-clude an expansion of background checks for all gun buyers, higher penalties for criminal sales and a renewal of the assault weapons ban.

While the assault weapons portion of the bill has slim to no chance of be-ing passed, it now seems the most feasi-ble area of gun control legislation – back-ground checks – is now back within the realm of possibility after seeming elusive in recent weeks.

The first thing to be happy with is that Democrats and Republicans finally seem to be working together on an issue dear to the hearts of many Americans. With Con-gress at a 10 percent approval rating, ac-cording to Gallup, it should be more than reasonable to expect members on both sides of the aisle to feel it necessary to seek compromise and action on major issues – especially when the majority of the American public supports it. A recent poll released on Thursday revealed that 92 percent of Americans support back-ground checks for all gun buyers, accord-ing to CBS News and The New York Times.

We support gun control laws. We sup-port stricter regulations that make it more difficult for a gun to get in the hands of someone who means to do harm. Many of us have experienced gun violence first-hand and fully understand the danger and severity of the issue.

In order to ensure that these back-ground checks are carried out through-out the country, a federal program is the most effective way to manage the gun buying process, rather than letting indi-vidual states formulate their own regula-tions. There needs to be national govern-ment oversight.

Many of the bill’s detractors claim that stricter gun laws – such as the kinds in-cluded in this agreement – are an infringe-ment of their constitutional rights.

We respectfully disagree and do believe that it is important for those of us who are pro-gun control to embrace the no-tion that the Second Amendment pro-vides Americans the individual right to own a gun. While the amendment was originally meant to provide states the right to form their own militias Congress could not destroy, its meaning now ismuch broader than that.

Many liberal-minded people claim that the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendments, etc., should always be read expansively, yet the second should be read very narrowly.

As we support the right to own a gun, however, we do not believe regulations and restrictions violate that right. If you want to be textual about it, the scope of “the right to keep and bear arms” in the Constitution would be very wide. To say the legislature cannot determine any limi-tations would mean machine guns, torpe-does, missile launchers, etc., could be well within the right of any and all Americans to own.

Restrictions are necessary.What the bipartisan group is proposing

is a good step toward commonsense reg-ulations that are necessary given the vio-lent climate of the culture demonstrated in the wake of recent tragedies in New-town and Aurora. We need legislation de-signed to help alleviate further incidents.

Some say that in the larger scheme of things, such a bill is irrelevant; those who want to get their hands on a gun will be able to do so, regardless. Well, whether that is the case or not, we do not believe it is right for the government to stand idle and concede that this is a solution-less problem.

An expansion of background checks, which we would like to see include a men-tal health dimension, can help prevent someone from getting a gun with the in-tention of murder or even mass murder.

If the federal government can stop just one of these incidents from happening again, it should do everything it can.

As the scripture says: “Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an en-tire world.”

This recent Senate maneuver has res-cued the gun control debate. Now it is time for Congress to start the process of rescuing lives.


art BY JEANETTE CHWAN


Explore more.Think more. Think more.Laugh more.

Serve more. Discover more.Think more.Get more.Think more. Grow more.

Laugh more. ExploreAchieve more.Grow more.Grow more. DiscoverLearn more.

Think more. Do more. Believe moreServe more.

Education That Makes a Difference

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Life

RONNIE SIMMONS IIStaff writer

On her first night of work, Shel-by Herneisey saw one girl make out with another girl. Later that night, she saw the same girl slip in a bath-room covered with puddles of wa-ter. The girl’s dress went up, and Herneisey saw everything.

Herneisey considered it a great first night working as a bartender at Mojo’s.

Like Herneisey, a junior commu-nication major, some students split their time between attending class-es and bartending at Main Street bars like Northside and Mojo’s, located near South Campus. The nights are long and the customers are rowdy, but bartenders enjoy the social, laidback atmosphere.

Herneisey has seen more “cra-zy” moments since her first night on the job. Once, she saw a guy proceed to pull down a girl’s pants on the dance floor. Another time, a couple was kicked out of Mo-jo’s for having sex in the bathroom, “just out in the open on the sink.”

Before she poured her first drink, a friend referred Herneisey to the manager of Mojo’s. Herneisey be-lieves she was hired because the manager wanted a girl from her so-rority, Alpha Gamma Delta. Rachel Boccard, a junior exercise science major and a bartender at North-side, echoed Herneisey’s thought.

“He hired everyone in Greek life,” Boccard said. “He wanted at least one person in every fraterni-ty and sorority to bring people in.”

Students cannot just walk into these establishments and fill out an application.

Hunter Spector, a junior business major and bartender at Northside, has seen people get turned away af-ter coming in looking for work. A personal connection to the manag-er trumps experience and qualifica-

tions, he said.Spector had no experience bar-

tending before being offered a po-sition. Instead, he developed a friendship with the manager and was given a shot because of this fa-miliarity.

Before customers arrive, the bar-tenders clean, set up, drink and so-cialize with their coworkers, ac-cording to Herneisey.

But times are not always leisurely behind the bar – especially during the 1 a.m. rush. Bartenders have to serve as quickly and efficiently as possible, while not being able to take a break or sit down for hours, according to Spector.

Circumstances can become stressful as the night continues and people drink more. Customers get antsy and rude while waiting for their drinks, Herneisey said, and re-membering the contents of differ-ent drinks can be difficult.

Patrons can also get rude when a bartender messes up his or her drinks. Herneisey recalled an em-barrassing time when a girl called her out for failing to make her drink correctly.

Female bartenders have a partic-ular problem to deal with from be-hind the bar – creepy guys, accord-ing to Boccard.

“They’ll be asking for [my] num-ber and they’ll wait until the bar closes and try to take me home,” Boccard said. “Guys are very for-ward, especially when they are drinking. They don’t realize how they act. It is definitely very un-comfortable sometimes.”

Herneisey has also dealt with “creepy” situations. Once, an old-er man who did not order a drink simply stood at the bar and stared at her all night. She was so uncom-fortable she refused to stand at his side of the bar.

She also realized some girls do not want to be served by her, even if the bartenders are really busy.

They’d rather wait for a male bar-tender.

By splitting tips with her fellow bartenders, Boccard makes at least $100 a night, or roughly $20 an hour at Northside.

She pointed out the effects on her sleeping cycle because she can-not get to bed until 5:30 a.m. Boc-card also said bartending inter-feres with her own partying, but she views her job as a way of see-ing her friends and keeping her so-cial life intact.

Having friends at the bar can also have negative side effects.

“It stinks having people think that you are friends with tip you because they just assume … they

don’t have to tip, but that’s the only place our money is coming from,” Herneisey said. “People expect free stuff … and I could lose my job by giving stuff away.”

She saw it happen to a former coworker, who handed out “beer after beer” to a group of guys. The girl was fired that night, Herneisey said.

From behind the bar, Herneisey enjoys watching her peers interact while they are under the influence. For example, she said, she enjoys following those who are leaving to-gether.

Spector recommends bartending to the average student if he or she gets the opportunity – but only if

they have good time management abilities.

“It shows that you can work un-der pressure, multitask and work efficiently,” Spector said. “It is a fun, sociable experience, and you rack in money relatively quickly.”

An outgoing personality is nec-essary to be a successful bartender, according to Herneisey.

She believes the skills she is us-ing in her job as a bartender will help her in the future.


LONG NIGHTS, FAST MONEYStudent bartenders describe nights working in Main Street bars

DANIELE GERSHON, The SpecTrum

Shelby Herneisey (above) is a both a student and a bartender at Mojo’s and other bars on South Campus. While juggling bartending and studying, Herneisey has witnessed some crazy events.

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SHARON KAHNaSSt. Life editor

UB students are saving lives. For the eighth consecutive year,

students of Karen Swierski’s COM 453 Advanced Public Relations class hosted an event in conjunction with Upstate New York Transplant Ser-vices (UNYTS) to raise awareness and gain support for organ, eye, tis-sue and blood donations.

Swierski, an adjunct professor in the communication department, wants her students to have the expe-rience of working with a non-prof-it agency before entering the corpo-rate world. Swierski, who has been working with non-profits through-out her career, said she would never work for a corporate company. She wants her students to feel the satis-faction of working for a non-profit like she has felt for the last 35 years.

Swierski’s students started plan-ning this event on the very first day of class, she said. A representative from UNYTS comes in the first week to explain what the compa-ny does. Swierski discusses the vari-ous parts of creating a campaign like this and the students break up into teams to embark on this semester-long campaign.

There are two main goals the stu-dents aim to reach by the end of the campaign: increase awareness of the need for donations and get people to sign up to donate.

There are currently 117,000 peo-ple waiting for organs and, for most, the only way to receive them are from individuals who have passed away and are organ donors, accord-ing to Swierski.

“Donors feel good that a piece of them is able to live on through help-ing another person,” Swierski said.

Students get first-hand experience in the public relations (PR) field through this campaign project. Stu-dents practice making press releas-es, creating flyers, engaging an audi-ence and making people aware of a cause, Swierski said. They can also add this experience to their profes-sional portfolio for future job op-portunities.

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” Swi-erski said. “Students get the experi-ence in PR and UNYTS gets do-nors.”

The event, which took place in the Student Union lobby on Thurs-day, created an easy way for UB stu-dents to sign up to donate their or-gans while having a good time.

Students who sign up to donate their organs get free pizza, popcorn and cotton candy, according to Erika Neuwirth, a senior communication major. Students can also sign up to take part in a game of around-the-world basketball. Winners receive a $10 Starbucks gift card and are en-

tered to win a $50 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Michael Imperiale, a senior com-munication major, learned a lot about UNYTS and organ donation after taking part in the course and working on the campaign.

“I like how the organization is locally based, so most of the do-nations stay within Western New York,” Imperiale said. “I became an organ donor because of this and I think that most people do [after tak-ing this course].”

Imperiale, who hopes to work in the PR field after graduation, be-lieves the course was beneficial to the future of his career. Imperiale learned the ins and outs to planning an event and about non-profit orga-nizations.

“Before this class, I would never work in non-profit,” Imperiale said. “Now, I think I would be more in-clined to do so.”

Learning how to build awareness about a cause is a key skill students pick up throughout this course. Im-periale said in order to convince in-dividuals to donate, they need to be educated about the cause first.

“I would definitely recommend this class to other students – not only because of the experience but because of the professor,” Imperiale said. “She teaches in a way that really motivates and engages the students.”

Imperiale’s team was in charge of tabling. They had to attract people in the Union and teach them about organ donation, ultimately getting them to sign up.

The tabling team made big dis-plays with pictures and facts to in-form people walking by of its cause. The team also used candy and brace-lets as incentives to get people to sign up.

Ronald Girshman, a senior com-munication major, said the entire ex-perience was very eye opening. Gir-shman too, is now an organ donor.

Girshman said each person on each team gets a specific role. One team member organized the team-mates’ schedules in order to split up the work. Jobs were designated based on what individual schedules permitted.

The students said they gained skills they will able to use within their careers. Everything is knowl-edge based, and when people know about the cause, they are more in-clined to get involved, Imperiale said.

The event held in the Union was their most successful way to gain donors, according to Imperiale. The students were able to get 110 people to sign up to become organ donors at the event.


Around the world with UnYTSStudents organize event to raise awareness, gain organ donors

CoUrteSY of COM 453

UB’s COM 453 class hosted an Around the World tournament (above) to encourage students to become organ donors. Bottom left, Jared Weise (left) and a classmate helped out by tabling while Haley Sunkes (bottom right) took a pie to the face.


RACHEL KRAMER Senior Life editor

Students lined up to have their bodies painted with brightly colored cornstarch. With bright pink war paint under their eyes and battle lines down their arms, these students are ready to bombard the students walk-ing through the Student Union.

These colorful students are pass-ing out flyers advertising for Col-or Me Rad, the 5K run taking place at Darien Lake Amusement Park on June 22. So far, 4,200 students are signed up, according to Colin Miller, a freshman digital media study ma-jor and marketing coordinator for the run. They hope to fill all 5,000 spots by the day of the event. All pro-ceeds from the race will go to Special Olympics New York.

This is the first year the “slew of color mayhem” is taking place in Buffalo, Miller said. The run has taken place 50 times and has passed through other major cities including Rochester, Syracuse and New York City. Miller believes there is a large running-for-charity culture here in Buffalo, which is why Color Me Rad will be so successful, he said.

Unlike some other 5K runs, this one requires a uniform – all white.

“You’ll start off with a shirt as pure white as your grandpa’s den-tures and you’ll soak up enough col-or while running to change your skin tone forever,” according to Color Me Rad’s website. “You’ll wind up look-ing like a pack of Skittles. Just re-member not to ‘taste the rainbow.’”

Participants start off the race clean, but each kilometer is a different “col-or zone” in which runners are hit with “color bombs” of a specific col-or of dyed cornstarch to mark their progress, according to Miller.

Keeley Duffney, a freshman bi-ology major, has been waiting to be a part of this race for a year. She watched her older brother get cov-ered in paint at a Color Me Rad 5K in her hometown of Albany and she has wanted to get in on the action ever since.

“I remember seeing pictures and I went to watch him do it and he said, ‘It’s the most fun thing he’s ever done.’ So, I’m trying to promote this one for Buffalo,” Duffney said.

Even though she does not consid-er herself a runner, Duffney is excit-ed to contribute to the event and has even enlisted the rest of her sorority to run with her in the race as a team. It has been hard getting people to travel back to Buffalo over the sum-mer, but it will be worth it when they have a great time at the race, she said.

Duffney has never run a 5K before but said she isn’t worried because, “It’s actually fun and a lot of people who aren’t athletic could actually do it; it’s more relaxed and laidback.”

Participants don’t have to actual-ly run through Darien Lake; they are able to move at whatever pace they feel most comfortable, Miller said. He guarantees it will be the “most fun race you’ve ever participated in.”

Jessica Glauber, a sophomore bio-medical engineering major, couldn’t wait to register. She stopped in the Student Union to sign up for the 5K and dragged her friend, Kaylee Aba-to, a freshman occupational therapy major, along with her.

Glauber had heard of the race be-fore and always wanted to be a part of the color mayhem, but she never had the time. This year she made sure she was able to participate.

Abato agreed to sign up because she had never run a 5K before, but if she was going to start, she might as well start with one that’s made to be fun.

“[Glauber] asked if I could do it so I just said, ‘Why not?’” Abato said.

The two Buffalo natives plan on convincing more friends to come to-gether and form a team for the event.

Miller has been working with Col-or Me Rad and multiple schools in Western New York to get as many

students as possible involved with the movement and build a commu-nal feeling among students through-out the city.

If there is anyone who wants to be a part of the fun but doesn’t want to be in the race, they can be-come part of the Color Bomb Squad – like Duffney did her first year. Bomb Squad volunteers receive a free T-shirt and get the opportunity to shower the participants with col-or bombs and ensure everybody is soaked with tie-dye.

To register, students can go to col-ormerad.com and pay $40, but the price will rise as it gets closer to the event, and be a part of the first an-nual “slew of color mayhem” in Buf-falo.


five kilometers of colorColor Me Rad 5K comes to Buffalo for the first time

See HOW TO, Page 8

ALExA STRUDLER, The SpecTrum

Freshman digital media study major Colin Miller (above), was in the Student Union Thursday recruiting people to sign up to participate in the first Color Me Rad 5K run in Buffalo coming this summer. Unlike many other 5K runs, every kilometer, par-ticipants are showered with bright color bombs.

get through the next three weeks with your sanity intact

RACHEL KRAMERSenior Life editor

It’s about that time of the year when everybody is getting sick of each other. Sure, you’re room-mate’s passion for dubstep was ac-ceptable at first – you even grew to enjoy it. But now it’s eight months later, and if you hear one more Skrillex “hit,” you’ll go insane.

Everybody is happy for those two lovebirds who – after six months – are finally together. You pretend not to mind them cuddling, whispering and kissing across the room from you, but their excessive PDA is enough al-ready, no matter how cute it is. If you see one more playful tickle fight, you’re going to snap.

You really do care about your roommate’s sexual adventures. In the beginning of the year, sharing them brought the two of you clos-er together. Details are great, but you really don’t need to hear all of them anymore.

Sound familiar? Whether you’re a freshman who

has fallen in love with a solid group of new friends or you’re a senior getting ready to graduate and leave the clique you now love to hate, it’s that time of the year when ev-erybody is getting on everybody’s nerves.

Those personality quirks of your roommate, your best friend or your coworkers – which didn’t seem like a big deal at first – have been fes-tering in your mind for months. Now, when your roommate takes four days to clean his dirty dishes, you want to punch him.


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JORDAN OSCARContriBUting writer

game: BioShock Infinite Developer: Irrational GamesPublisher: 2K Games Released: March 26 on PC, PS3 and 360 grade: A

“Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.”

These words haunt Booker De-Witt at the outset of BioShock Infi-nite, a game that would have to be nothing short of extraordinary in order live up to the expectations set by the first two games in the Bio-Shock series.

Despite setbacks, delays and ri-diculously high expectations, Ir-rational Games’ second iteration into the BioShock series delivers one of the best gaming experiences in years. While it is not perfect, there are very few games that achieve the same miraculous level of detail, art direction, entertaining gameplay and narrative as BioShock Infinite.

Set in 1912, the story follows an ex-Pinkerton, Booker DeWitt, who must travel to Columbia in order to bring a girl named Elizabeth back to New York and erase his mys-terious debt. It may sound like a simple premise, but once DeWitt reaches the city of Columbia, noth-ing feels simple anymore.

Inspired by The White City at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, the neoclassical floating marvel of Co-lumbia is nothing short of remark-able. The religious zealot Com-

stock, who has crafted Columbia into a nativist utopia with America as its religion, controls the city. See-ing the Founding Fathers immor-talized and idolized like the gods of Greek mythology is one of the first tastes that reveal the patholog-ical idealism captured by the people of Columbia.

The pathological idealism main-tained throughout BioShock Infinite, combined with the heavy influenc-es from early 19th-century Amer-ican society is merely a piece of what makes the world of Columbia so irresistibly believable. The level of detail, ambience and characters are the cities true selling point.

Infinite is packed with paintings, statues, plaques, posters, audio logs and people, which give the game its remarkable level of depth, and re-sponsibility is brilliantly placed on the player to take the time to dis-cover a large part of this narrative.

Characters have always been one of BioShock’s strong suits and Infi-nite is no different. The city of Co-lumbia is bustling with people on the streets having everyday conver-sations, talking about news or com-menting on events throughout the city.

Complete with its own Rock-efeller-esque robber baron char-acter, Fink, this game has a very unique and distinct cast, all of which are animated and voiced in a remarkable fashion; like Elizabeth, the mysterious girl DeWitt is sent to retrieve from Columbia.

Voiced by Courtnee Draper (Bored to Death), Elizabeth is De-Witt’s companion for a majority of

the game but is also one of Infinite’s greatest achievements.

Elizabeth also helps DeWitt find ammo, money and lock picks and she will occasionally provide health or salts in combat when he is run-ning low. She is not just another AI companion but someone gamers can truly begin to care about. Her unparalleled animations, actions and voice acting make her one of the best characters in recent video game memory.

While the world of Colum-bia is full of stunning details, it is also extremely violent. Launching a hail of flaming crows at your en-emies as they are pecked to death is just one example of the way vi-olence plays into Infinite’s stream-lined combat.

Like “Plasmids” of the previous BioShock’s, “Vigors” grant the play-er eight abilities, which can be com-bined in ways that keep the combat both exploratory and entertain-ing. They can all be upgraded, just like the myriad of weapons in the game, with clothing that provides buffs in certain situations.

While the combat can get a bit dull at times, with a spike in diffi-culty toward the end of the game, the use of “Sky-Lines” in com-bat never tires. The childlike pow-er fantasy of swinging from rail to rail, the sense of speed and gratifi-cation of launching yourself at an enemy, is one of Infinite’s most en-joyable game play aspects.

These rails also provide a unique change in level design and trans-portation around many of the var-ied environments. The addition of large enemies like the Gatling gun toting Mechanized Patriot or Handyman into any fight offer a welcomed change of pace and cre-ate some exhilaratingly tense mo-ments throughout the game.

Fans of the original BioShock may find themselves disappoint-ed by this iteration’s combat. How-ever, where Infinite truly shines is its story. The narrative produced by the game’s stunning art direc-tion, characters and city of Colum-bia simply add to the level of depth and creativity carried by the phe-nomenal story. Unlike many games which falter in their conclusion, BioShock Infinite packs a conclusion that is not only satisfying but will keep you coming back for more.


CoUrteSY of 2K GAMES

The delayed BioShock Infinite stands as not only one of the best games this year but of recent memory.

get through the next three weeks with your sanity intact


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The structure of Division I ath-letics and the bonds he developed with his teammates helped him adapt to the new culture.

“When you’re coming from over-seas to a place that’s so different from your home, it’s vital to have some guys that you can rely on,” said Nickell, who once had a team-mate from Zimbabwe on his col-lege team at Furman Universi-ty. “We had a couple of guys on the team that had been through that same experience and they re-ally helped Vusa get everything set straight right away.”

Hove has gained more support stateside as his family has recently moved to New Jersey.

Emmanuel got a job as a profes-sor at Rutgers University.

As Hove and his family continue to adapt to a new country, the Bulls strive for a second consecutive reg-ular season MAC Championship. A man who traveled halfway across the globe to pursue his passion will lead their efforts.


In their absence, junior Derek Brim, senior Adam Redden and sophomore Marqus Baker stepped in to fill the void.

Brim finished the season with 47 tackles, appearing in all 12 games and making five starts. Redden appeared in 10 games. Baker ap-peared in 10 games for the Bulls and totaled 17 tackles and six pass breakups.

“We have a lot of people that can play; everybody knows that,” Lester said. “We have probably nine DBs in a room. All of them can play, and we can be replaced at any time.”

Naturally, they aren’t huge fans of any quarterbacks in the confer-ence. Nothing makes them happier than seeing the disgust on the face of a quarterback after succumbing to their defense.

“There are a couple quarter-backs in the league I don’t like; ac-tually, I don’t like any of them,” Johnson said. “It feels good when you pick off the ones you really don’t like. I’m not going to men-

tion any teams … it feels good when you pick them off.”

There is one thing Johnson and Lester want the conference to know for certain.

“Our secondary is the most swagger-ific secondary in the MAC,” Johnson said. “I’m excited. We are all confident. We know we have a talented group of individ-uals. I’m excited for this season.”

Fans have four months until they can see the secondary in le-gitimate game action, though the Blue-White scrimmage will take place April 20 at 2 p.m. at UB Sta-dium.


Keeping players in college bas-ketball longer gives them the chance to better prepare for the pros and increase their draft stock. And for those uninterested in col-lege, go straight to the pros after high school.

So how does all of this affect the NBA?

Weaker draft classes and less tal-ented incoming players are creating a huge gap between the best and the worst teams in the NBA.

This season is evidence of that, as for the first time in NBA histo-ry, five different teams have record-ed at least 12-game winning streaks. The players making early entries into the draft as freshmen are often not ready to compete in the NBA, leaving the teams that own the top picks with prolonged turnaround in their quests for success via the draft.

Teams that selected in the top five of last year’s draft – which was

considered to be an above-average class – are a combined 125-259 this season.

With the rate of ineffectual play-ers entering the draft as freshmen and becoming top picks, it’s going to take a while for teams like Phoe-nix, Sacramento and Charlotte to become relevant.

The counter argument: “The top freshmen in college would just de-clare for the NBA draft as high schoolers anyway and still be top picks, so what’s the difference?”

There’s a huge difference.From 1995 (when it became

common for high schoolers to de-clare for the draft) until 2005 (when players’ eligibility requirements were changed), only nine players were selected in the top five: Kev-in Garnett, Jonathan Bender, Dar-ius Miles, Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Shaun Livingston. An average NBA fan

knows at least four of those players.The crop of high schoolers draft-

ed outside of the top five were even less recognizable. Teams were scared of taking chances on high schoolers and instead they used their top picks on promising, expe-rienced, impactful college players who had multiple years of tinkering their game before entering the next level. And that’s what this new rule could bring back.

Let’s allow players to choose to go pro after high school, give teams better odds of drafting impactful players and give college fans the op-portunity to fall in love with a team that isn’t revamping its roster each season.


Continued from page 10: Hove

Continued from page 10: D-Backs

Continued from page 10: MediocrityAlthough Ingram is upset to

see Jackson’s term end, he is equally excited to see Kathan’s begin.

Lyle Selsky, the vice president-elect, shares Ingram’s excitement, even though he does not yet know Kathan as well as he would like to.

“From what I’ve heard she’s wonderful and hard working,” Selsky said. “I look forward to working with her and continuing

to push this great body.”Kathan and Jackson agree this

past year was a time of recovery from past complications with-in SA. They would like to see the organization really start moving forward.

“It’s time to stop questioning our purpose,” Kathan said. “It’s time to get the ball rolling.”


Continued from page 1: SA

The root of the annoyance may stem from applying to sum-mer jobs, cheating on your strict beach-bod diet or hating the gloomy Buffalo weather, but it feels like it’s your friends’ fault. They are being too loud, too nosy, too annoying, too nice or too cheerful.

But remember it’s not necessar-ily their fault.

Yes, listening to your room-mate’s boyfriend sing Celine Dion in the shower is annoying, but his singing isn’t the reason you didn’t get that summer internship. And remember, your hungover co-worker isn’t the reason it’s raining outside.

When you feel yourself start to get frustrated with the peo-ple you’ve grown closest to over the past few months, take a deep breath and think about what’s re-ally aggravating you. Most like-ly, it isn’t your best friend’s high-pitched sneezes or your co-worker’s lack of fashion sense.

Take a walk, go exercise, listen to your favorite song or watch a movie. Maybe you just need a

minute to yourself – time to relax. It’s hard to be “on” all the time.

If you have taken some time to think about the situation after you have calmed down and real-ize you really can’t hear another Skrillex song without losing your mind, say something. Talk to your roommate about it. If the prob-lem can be fixed by a simple con-versation, then you can save your-self a lot of stress, irritation and headaches.

And I’m sure he or she will have something you do that an-noys him or her just as much. Overall, you will end up with a more productive and soothing en-vironment for everyone.

These last few weeks of the semester can be tough but you won’t be able to handle the stress of finals, the tediousness of mov-ing out or the excitement of end-of-the-year parties without your college family around you.


Continued from page 6: How to


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Edited by Timothy E. Parker April 12, 2013C PLUS By Henry Quarters

1 Rorschach test compo-nent 5 Ask on one's knees10 Earthworm's habitat14 Not prerecorded15 Tidal bore16 Longest bone above the waist17 Kind of thermometer18 At full speed, at sea19 "It's ___ a long, long time"20 What traveling sales-people do to keep commis-sions current?23 Navy hitches24 Like severely inclement weather25 Straying from the cor-rect course28 Something to stage30 Knighted Coward31 "Good ___, Charlie Brown!"33 "Sands of ___ Jima"36 Thing a deli closer might do?40 Visitors from afar41 Flip decision?42 News item listing sur-viving kin

43 Coffeehouse entertainer, sometimes44 Loving grandparents, e.g.46 Holder of photographs49 Part of the heart51 What guys in igloos watch on TV?57 With no one behind58 Discloses59 Sounds of laughter60 Russian river to the Cas-pian61 They might be bounced off others62 Road for Caesar63 Folkie Seeger64 With regrets65 "Be ___ as it may ..."

1 Voting group, e.g. 2 Old currency in Milan 3 Common Lionel layout 4 Like Poe's heart 5 Morsel for Dumbo 6 1996 GOP candidate Alex-ander 7 Mild oath of yore 8 "Otello" offering 9 Stop from scoring10 Turnstile locale11 Dairy case items12 Like neon and argon

13 Thin and rawboned21 Particle that's got a charge22 Muddled situation25 Ending with "insist" or "persist"26 Horseradish source27 Accelerates, as an engine28 Cropped photographs?29 Many an August baby31 Indian mountain pass32 Type of meat or pepper33 "Let ___ known ..."34 Low river dam35 Repast remnants37 An equilateral parallelogram38 Golf course peg39 Zero43 Evidence of rain44 Formal, fashionwise45 Baseball legend Mel46 Behave badly47 French river48 Baa49 Comparably scarlet50 Tall Shaquille52 Kyoto cummerbunds

53 Tripled, a "Seinfeld" catchphrase54 "Drat!" or "Darn!"55 Cousin of a cassowary or emu56 Go-___ (four-wheeled racer)

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You don't want to be en-tangled in something that is not of your making today. Do what you can to avoid anything that seems "dicey."TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You are being slowed by something you can-not identify -- but take care that you don't try to fight against what you do not understand.gEMInI (May 21-June 20) -- You may be searching for something that is out of reach at this time -- but that doesn't mean you can't locate it by day's end.CAnCER (June 21-July 22) -- You can get along with almost anyone today, but you can't always be alone with just any-one! Choose your in-timate companions with care.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- The advice you offer a friend or loved one may not be understood at first; take care you don't make things worse by becoming defensive.VIRgO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You are ready for almost any-thing at this time -- but what comes your way today may ex-ceed even your wild-est imaginings. Hold on tight!LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Your will-ingness to help out a friend in need will be appreciated, and you may not have to turn your day up-side-down in order to come through.SCORPIO (Oct. 23-nov. 21) -- There is much potential in a certain situation that others do not seem to recognize -- but you know a good thing when you see one!

SAgITTARIUS (nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- You may be caught between what you know to be right, and what others are in-sisting is right for you. Mistakes can be made!CAPRICORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You'll receive an offer from a friend today that makes you won-der if you're on the right track. He or she makes other options sound good!AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-feb. 18) -- You'll receive advice to-day from an unusual source -- and if you take it, you're likely to be tied in an unusual way to him or her.PISCES (feb. 19-March 20) -- You'll be thinking about money matters throughout much of the day. Preparations you made in the past should smooth the way for you today.


JARED BOVEStaff writer

It was a snowy night in Janu-ary when Vusa Hove first set foot in the United States. Snow is not a common sight in Sub-Saharan Af-rica.

“The first day I arrived was the first time in my life that I’d ever seen snow,” Hove said. “I was so cold that I actually had mild frost-bite on my hands.”

Hove made the journey from Zimbabwe just a week before class-es began. In an unfamiliar country, at an unfamiliar school, one thing remained constant for Hove: ten-nis.

Hove had traveled halfway across the world to resume his tennis ca-reer at UB.

Now in his senior year at Buffa-lo, Hove has become the men’s ten-nis team’s No. 1 singles player. In his career, Hove has been named Most Improved Player in 2010, sec-ond-team All-Mid-American Con-ference in 2011 and first-team All-MAC and All-MAC Tournament team in 2012.

Hove’s recruitment to Buffa-lo derived from an unexpected source: a YouTube clip.

In the video, in the deepest parts of Southern Africa – a sporting world dominated by soccer for de-cades – an 18-year-old Hove stands on a tennis court with the hot Afri-can sun on his back. He works the baseline and volleys back and forth with his opponent.

With each swing of the racket, he displays power that few tennis players his age can achieve. Every time he chases the ball, the view-er can’t help but notice his athlet-icism.

This video marked the first time the Bulls’ men’s tennis coach, Lee Nickell, had ever seen the young Hove.

“In the video, he was hitting a few balls on kind of a raggedy court and I saw a very raw tennis player,” Nickell said. “But I looked at his athleticism, and I knew that this was a guy that could really have some success here.”

Four years later, Nickell’s first impression of Hove has proved ac-curate.

“He’s a very talented tennis play-er, but he never would have seen the success that he has without his work ethic,” Nickell said. “Vusa is by far the hardest worker I’ve worked with in the 10 years I’ve been coaching.”

Hove’s hard work stems from countless hours of practice in his native land.

In Harare, Zimbabwe, most kids spend their days on the soccer

pitch. Hove spent his on the court. Tennis is an uncommon sport in his country because of how expen-sive and time-consuming it can be.

Fortunately for Hove, he had an early introduction to the sport.

His father, Emmanuel Hove, who was a professor at the Univer-sity of Zimbabwe, had played ten-nis recreationally. Emmanuel be-came a teacher of the game when his son was 5 years old.

“I would bring Vusa to the University of Zimbabwe courts with me and we’d knock [the ball around],” Emmanuel said. “He picked up the basic skills of the game very fast, and one day some-one noticed us playing and sug-gested that I find him a qualified coach.”

Hove began working with a coach at a local sports club just a few years after he started playing. His training proved worthwhile and led him to victories in compet-itive juniors tournaments in Zim-babwe – and eventually through-out Africa.

He took home the first of a se-ries of titles in Zimbabwe’s nation-

al youth tournament when he was just 12 years old. His early success earned him a spot on the Zimba-bwe junior national team – an ex-perience he said greatly impacted his tennis career.

Hove and his teammates traveled all over Africa to compete against other national teams. They traveled to South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Mozambique, among other Af-rican nations.

“It felt like I was a professional at the time,” Hove said. “They would take us on planes to other parts of Africa to compete, and we’d get to see and experience other cultures. That experience really helped to prepare me for the level of compe-tition I would eventually face when I came to America.”

When Hove grew past the qual-ifying age for junior tournaments, he participated in the 2009 Zim-babwe Senior Open. It was at this tournament that the young tennis star realized his potential.

“I went on to win that tourna-ment,” Hove said. “That’s when I really knew I could compete at the level of college tennis.”

There are two paths any success-ful young tennis player can take: play professionally right away or play in college and pursue an edu-cation.

Hove and his family wanted the latter.

“Any student who plays tennis in Africa wants to come to the Unit-ed States to play,” Hove said. “It’s a major goal of many athletes grow-ing up there.”

As a college professor who had studied in the United States, Em-manuel knew going to America for school was something he wanted for his son.

“I studied at Penn State and Northwestern, so I always want-ed Vusa to study in the United States as well,” Emmanuel said. “I felt that Vusa’s best chance for a U.S. college scholarship would be through tennis.”

Hove had big-time success in his home country but being discovered by athletic programs in the United States was difficult for an athlete from Africa. Hove began search-ing for ways to reach out to Amer-ican universities and showcase his talents. Emmanuel came up with an idea to gain exposure.

“I shot a video of Vusa playing at the University of Zimbabwe and posted it on YouTube for coaches,” Emmanuel said. “We had been in contact with coaches from Cornell, Penn State, Binghamton and Wake Forest, as well as Buffalo.”

Emmanuel was familiar with the University at Buffalo because of its ties to the University of Zimba-bwe. A number of his colleagues at the University of Zimbabwe were UB alumni, so Emmanuel was able to gather information about the school.

Another factor in Hove’s deci-sion was that he had begun to de-velop a level of comfort with Nick-ell – a first-year coach at the time – through continuous contact.

Hove and his father eventually decided playing for the Bulls was the right decision.

“I felt that Buffalo and coach Nickell could give me the best chance to succeed,” Hove said.

With the YouTube video as his only point of reference, Nickell was a bit unsure of Hove’s talent level at the time, but he was ready to take a chance.

“I really wasn’t expecting much more than just a good athlete,” Nickell said. “But when he got here, we were all pleasantly sur-prised with where his game was.”

Although Hove came to the states well prepared to compete, he found it challenging to balance the time between training and his stud-ies.

Sports

JOE KONZE JRSenior SPortS

editor

Before eve r y g a m e

d u r i n g the football

season, senior de-fensive back Najja John-

son is focused on preparing to take on his opponent. He straps on his shoulder pads,

laces up his cleats and makes sure everything looks good. Just be-fore he is ready to take the field, however, he gathers his favorite accessory.

He turns to his counterpart, junior defensive back Cortney

Lester, who gives Johnson the extra touch of style and flare he needs before the game.

“Before games, he’s al-ways asking me: ‘You got that one sleeve?’” Lester said. “And I’m like: ‘Yeah, I got you, man,’ and I give it to him.”

Johnson knows his play can speak for it-self, but he

and the other defensive backs agree that to perform their best, they must look their best.

“[The style is] all Cortney,” Johnson said. “I’m his sidekick; he’s Superman.”

The two lock-down corners provide elegance to arguably one of the most difficult positions on the football field. When they are not exchanging armbands and compliments, they are creating havoc for opposing quarterbacks.

Johnson finished last season with impressive stats: 43 tackles, five interceptions and six pass breakups. He fared well among ball sharks in the conference, fin-ishing tied for fifth in passes de-fended (nine) and leading in in-terceptions – his five ranked 13th in the nation.

Lester’s four picks landed him right behind Johnson on the con-ference interceptions list.

Some fans felt both were snubbed when they were not se-lected to any of the All-MAC teams.

“We both felt that we played pretty well, especially toward the end of the season,” Johnson said. “I thought we should have been on that list. But we don’t make the decisions. All we can do is play harder next season.”

Lester agreed, but he said the situation will not affect his play this coming season.

“I mean, accolades will be ac-colades,” Lester said. “But real-ly our mindset is just be the best for the game, be the best for that week. We do have a chip on our shoulder.”

With more depth this season, there are high hopes that the Bulls will compete for a MAC Championship. Last season, the Bulls’ defense ranked second in the conference in pass defense, allowing only 206.5 yards per game through the air, including a game against Pittsburgh Oct. 20 in which it held quarterback Tino Sunseri to just 128 yards.

“Being more experienced is definitely a plus for us,” John-son said. “We’re playing faster this spring. It’s more of a review for us, and learning the defense, which is great. It allows us to hold each other more account-able.”

Senior Okoye Houston and ju-nior Witney Sherry will be bat-tling for the tight safety position this year. Both began last season as starters but were plagued with injuries, resulting in missed time.

no one on the corner has swagger like usDefensive backs provide personality, experience to successful defense

JON GAGNONSPortS editor

The one-and-done rule has made college basketball suffer long enough. Louisville’s win on Monday night is proof: It’s time for a change.

The Cardinals won the title thanks to the depth and experi-ence amongst their best players; three of their top four players are juniors and one is a senior. It’s great for college basketball that a team of veterans who have grown with each other over the last few years were able to cut down the nets. The problem is there aren’t enough of these teams.

College basketball is too di-luted – as evidenced by the lack of consistency by the top teams throughout this season.

The one-and-done rule has af-fected more than just college bas-ketball; it’s starting to affect the NBA in a negative way as well.

We’ll start with college. Play-ers who don’t want to – and in some cases don’t need to – go to college are attending universities knowing they will be there for just one season. As fans, we wit-ness a constant cycle of ‘one and dones,’ who bar us from our op-portunity to develop a sense of attachment to our team. Worse, teams continuously suffer heart-breaking losses to their rosters. It’s becoming uncommon to see teams like Louisville – com-prised of upperclassmen with team chemistry unimaginable to the likes of Kentucky’s previous squads.

At this point, you’re almost better off avoiding recruiting the elite players. You know many will just leave after one season any-way. With the exception of Ken-tucky in 2012, top high school recruits come in and are incapa-ble of making enough of an im-pact to lead their teams to imme-diate success. Then they declare for the draft.

Why not recruit bottom-tier five-star recruits and top-tier four-star recruits who will remain at school for three or four years and help the team evolve as they evolve individually?

College basketball takes enough flak as it is for being sig-nificantly inferior to the NBA. The NCAA is giving haters even more reason to trounce a sport that it is comprised of incompa-rable passion and intensity and the best postseason tournament in sports – because the level of talent and cohesiveness simply isn’t there.

This year’s draft class is consid-ered the worst in over a decade, with eight of the projected top 10 picks being college freshmen or sophomores.

How do we fix it? Simple: A player should have a choice to at-tend college or enter the draft di-rectly out of high school. If the player chooses college, he must attend school for at least two years (one year fewer than college football’s eligibility requirement).

Teams across the country will consist of experienced, respect-ed players who are the faces of their campuses and the sport it-self. Fans will be able to appre-ciate and idolize the same faces on the team for more than one season.

This doesn’t only have a pos-itive effect on the programs; it benefits the players as well. Far too often, underclassmen de-clare for the draft and are sec-ond-round picks, resulting in a non-guaranteed contract and a constant existence in the NBA’s death trap – the D-League.

College basketball: where mediocrity happens

H to the izz-O, V to the izz-AceHove makes name for himself in United States as UB tennis standout

See HOVE, Page 8

See D-BACKS, Page 8

See MEDIOCRITY, Page 8

NICK FISCHETTI, The SpecTrum

After climbing the ranks in his hometown of Harare, Zimbabwe, Vusa Hove has found his groove as the Bulls’ No. 1 singles player.

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The Spectrum Volume 62 Issue 71