The Spectrum Vol. 64 No. 68

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

Monday, april 13, 2015ubspectruM.coM VoluMe 64 no. 68

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

As the Engineering Council coordi-nator, Joe Pace organizes events that the 15 clubs he oversees hold through-out the year. Engineering Week is the largest of these events and this is where Pace said he has gained the ex-perience that qualifies him for Student Association treasurer.

The past two years, Pace was ap-pointed to the finance committee of SA, which is in charge of prepar-ing the entire SA budget for the fol-lowing year. Pace also said that as the Engineering Council coordinator he disperses more than $20,000 to the clubs in his council.

Treasurer Name: Joe PaceParty: Unity Year: JuniorMajor: Aerospace and mechanical engineeringCurrent SA position: Engi-neering Council Coordinator

Minahil Khan said the ide-al Student Association President is someone who is first and fore-most an advocate for students. As the UB Council student rep-resentative and SA Director of Student Affairs, Khan said she fits that ideal.

At the age of 18, Sean Kaczmarek half-jokingly told his father he would run for the Cheektowaga-Sloan Board of Education because he felt the Board needed a younger perspective. At the age of 19, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Board.

As the current Special Interests, Services and Hobbies (SISH) Coun-cil coordinator, Kaczmarek oversees the budgets and events for approxi-mately 60 clubs. For this reason, Kac-zmarek said he feels he is qualified to become the Student Association vice president.

Meet the candidatesTHE UNITY PARTY

4 ONLINE3 UB to ‘boost’ Wi-Fi across campus starting this summer

Check out videos for Buffalo Untapped and SA endorse-ments at ubspectrum.com

See our endorsement and evaluation of the Unity Party’s platform

TOM DINKISENIOR NEWS EDITOR

Former assistant coach Nate Oats was named head coach of the men’s basket-ball team Saturday.

Oats replaces former head coach Bobby Hurley, who Oats served under for two seasons. Hurley accepted the head coaching vacancy at Arizona State Thursday.

Athletic Director Danny White re-leased a statement saying that after hours of conversation with Oats, it became clear to him that “the best candidate to lead our men’s basketball team was al-ready on campus.”

“I am extremely confident that UB men’s basketball will continue to grow and reach new heights under Nate’s lead-ership,” White said in a statement. “To be sure, Alumni Arena will be an electric envi-ronment again next year as these talented student-athletes fight to defend their Mid-American Conference Championship!”

Oats also released a statement thank-ing White and President Satish Tripathi for the opportunity to coach the Bulls. He also thanked Hurley for bringing him to Buffalo two years ago.

MARISSA FIELDINGSTAFF WRITER

Enzo Benfanti, a junior chemical engi-neering major, braved Saturday’s 40-degree windy weather in a tank top as he waited an hour and 45 minutes to take the first bite of a burrito from Lloyd Taco truck.

Buffalo Untapped was held in North Campus’ Lake Lasalle Lot and Alumni Are-na’s triple gym from 5-9 p.m. on Saturday evening. SA has been planning Buffalo Un-tapped since October as a way for under-graduate students to become more aware of what eateries, breweries and vendors Buffalo has to offer.

Erin Lachaal, the SA entertainment di-rector, came up with the idea for the event. As a Buffalo native, she wanted students unfamiliar with the area to feel the same ex-citement for the city as she does.

While she said she felt the event was a success, she acknowledged there were a few problems including one to two hours wait times for some food trucks and running out of food.

“This is the first time we’ve done this so there’s definitely some kinks that need to be worked out, and there’s ways to improve to make this bigger and better for the upcom-ing years,” Lachaal said.

She estimated the cost of the event came to about $12,000, which was taken from the

undergraduate mandatory student activity fee. More than 2,000 undergraduates attended.

Benfanti said he was content with the funds used for Buffalo Untapped. He hoped the SA would continue to hold the event in future years, with the kinks worked out.

Benfanti thought more trucks should’ve been brought to the event to avoid long lines, while Evan Meenan, a junior commu-nication major, felt the event could’ve been planned better.

Former assistant will replace Hurley on

Bulls’ bench

Nate Oats named men’s

basketball head coach Buffalo Untapped brings

local food trucks and breweries to campus

Tasting the Queen City

Bottom - Students migrated from the ‘beer garden’ inside Alumni Arena’s Triple Gym, where they could sample beers from Flying Bison, Community Beer Works, Big Ditch Brewing Company and Resurgence Brewing Company.

JORDAN OSCAR, THE SPECTRUM

Top - The food trucks at Buffalo Un-tapped, like the popular Lloyd Taco truck and Franks Gourmet Hot Dogs, were busy from when the event opened at 5 p.m. until the event ended at 9 p.m. Lloyd Taco truck and UB’s own Big Blue served peo-ple until their lines ended around 9:10 p.m.

PresidentName: Minahil Khan

Party: UnityYear: Junior

Major: Political science and communication

Current SA position: Director of Student Affairs

Vice PresidentName: Sean Kaczmarek Party: UnityYear: JuniorMajor: Political science and economicsCurrent SA position: Special Interest, Services and Hobbies (SISH) Council coordinator

CONTINUED TO PAGE 5

CONTINUED TO PAGE 5

CONTINUED TO PAGE 4

CONTINUED TO PAGE 5

- BY TOM DINKI, ASHLEY INKUMSAH & CHARLES W SCHAAB - The Student Association executive board is responsible for controlling more than $3.5 million

of student money collected through the mandatory student activity fee, which will be raised to $104.75 starting next semester. Elections will take place from April 14-16, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the

Student Union Theater. This is the first election since 2008 in which a party is running unopposed.

ubspectrum.com2 Monday, April 13, 2015

ubspectrum.com 3Monday, April 13, 2015

OPINION

For the first time since 2008, there’s only one party in the run-ning in the Student Association election.

This disconcerting indication of student involvement in leadership on campus comes after the Clar-ity Party dropped out of the race a week before the election, leav-ing the Unity Party to run opposed. The election will be held from April 14-16.

Despite the lack of an opposing party in this year’s election, which is much different from the compe-tition the university is accustomed to seeing, The Spectrum supports the candidates on the Unity Party and feels they are qualified for the SA e-board positions.

Regarding the Clarity Party, clearly candidates who don’t feel prepared, or don’t feel like they have a shot at winning, shouldn’t run. It’s vital that students who get elected are ful-ly qualified and deserving of the re-sponsibility of running the SA.

But at the same time, there should be more than three students on campus who are passionate enough about their university and willing to dedicate their time to rep-resenting students’ voices.

After all, the democratic process doesn’t work too well without any com-petition. Arguably, that process has also been damaged by recent changes to election policy.

Although one major change that holds promise – requiring presi-dential and vice presidential candi-dates to run separately – failed to be brought before the Senate, a change in SUNY delegates’ appointment has been instilled in the election process. Now, the president will ap-point SUNY delegates instead of the student body electing them.

This decision is more question-able than the policy change that failed to be enacted, as it reeks of nepotism and seems to decrease students’ influence on the SA. But considering the consistently low voter turnout each year, this argu-ment doesn’t hold as much as sway as it could.

In a sense, allowing delegates to be appointed makes it easier for multiple parties to run, because potential groups will only need to gather three candidates.

This change, though it didn’t have the desired effect this year, could help prevent elections featur-ing only one party in the future.

But this year, the Unity Party’s

path to election has been conve-niently paved for them; the candi-dates now face elevated scrutiny as their high-level positions in leader-ship are all but guaranteed.

Presidential candidate Minahil Khan, her vice president running mate Sean Kaczmarek and trea-surer Joe Pace presented their plat-forms to The Spectrum staff Sunday, in what typically would have been a bid for endorsements over the competing party or parties.

Instead, The Spectrum had a choice between endorsing Khan and Kac-zmarek – who are running on the same ballot – and Pace, or endors-ing no one at all.

So in lieu of competition, the candidates’ presentations served as indication of their level of prep-aration and commitment to serv-ing the student body for the next year and the value of the new ideas they’re bringing to the table.

The increase of the mandatory student activity fee by $10 per stu-dent each semester gives the SA a significantly increased budget, so the stakes are higher than ever – and so, too, should be the attentive-ness of the student body to these candidates’ plans for their money.

Khan and Kaczmarek’s extensive experience and internal knowledge of SA is a plus, but their pro-posals lack specificity

Both of these candidates have participated in multiple clubs and served on several committees dur-ing their time at UB, giving them useful insight into the inner work-ings of SA.

Accordingly, Khan and Kacz-marek have proposed several prom-ising policies aimed at improving communication within SA and di-versifying the students and employ-ees who run the association. Khan hopes to reach more students by taking advantage of UB’s listserv system, a simple move that would help increase general awareness of the opportunities within the SA.

Similarly, she proposes a more consistent interview process and system of evaluations of SA em-ployees to help encourage a more effective and diverse workforce and avoid a consistent trend of in-house hiring.

Kaczmarek, whose proposals fo-cus primarily on clubs, suggests the development of a much-needed

grievance policy so students have a formal method for submitting com-plaints and holding SA employees accountable if they make mistakes.

Increased communication be-tween SA and the student body at large is essential, and these candi-dates show an impressive awareness of this issue and a willingness to speak candidly about internal issues.

However, Khan is less willing to speak in anything more than polit-ically-correct terms when it comes to the efforts of past SA leaders. When questioned about the much-maligned SA website redesign, her response was disappointingly de-void of opinion or critique.

It’s important these candidates are aware of both the successes and failures of their predecessors so they can avoid making the same mistakes.

In fairness, the Unity Party’s can-didates are under less pressure to take a stand, as they face no oppos-ing party. Their lack of candor can be explained by their comfortable position, but that doesn’t make the minimal logistical details of their proposals any less disappointing.

Kaczmarek opened his speech with a discussion of the importance of a new club handbook, one that would be consistent and more use-ful to club coordinators. But upon further questions, the details of those improvements weren’t made apparent – nor their necessity.

Meanwhile, Khan proposed ex-citing plans to help bus students downtown for free or reduced-price events, but did not have a concrete idea as to what buses would be used other than to go with the cheapest option.

Her ideas to reach out to students seeking out graduate school by of-fering subsidized test prep books seemed promising, but didn’t ex-tend much beyond that initial pro-posal.

The policies that Khan and Kac-zmarek laid out are all relevant to student needs and reflect the candi-dates’ desire to reach out to the stu-dent body at large.

They clearly need to develop their ideas with greater detail, but despite the lack of logistics, these candi-dates appear up to the challenge.

Despite lack of fiscal experience, Pace is a clearly committed candidate with promising ideas

Typically, candidates running for the position of SA treasurer have worked in the position before on a club. They usually have experience directly managing a budget and

their major tends to be related to fi-nance or business.

Pace is an aerospace and mechan-ical engineering major, and though he’s worked on the SA’s Financial Committee and has experience dis-persing funds, he has less fiscal ex-perience than The Spectrum is accus-tomed to seeing in candidates.

But Pace is clearly knowledgeable about the budgetary frustrations faced by clubs and has a clear idea about how to alleviate them.

His plan to redesign the rollover policy for clubs is attentive to the diversity of clubs’ interests and pri-orities.

Currently, a club must fundraise 50 percent of its budget and run four events over the course of a year in order to retain its remaining money at the end of the fiscal year.

This policy is problematic, as it ca-ters to clubs that are inclined to host-ing large-scale, revenue producing events. Meanwhile, smaller clubs that struggle to raise money are denied their rollover funds as well.

Pace’s plan helps equal the play-ing – or fundraising – field. Clubs can now host additional events, ac-tivities and community service proj-ects to reduce that 50 percent re-quirement down to as low as 23 percent.

The policy is a smart compro-mise that will help clubs current-ly failing to meet rollover require-ments, without changing the rules for clubs that have no issue meeting the 50 percent goal.

In a more ambitious move, Pace hopes to establish a budget line to help clubs host national conferenc-es at UB. If successful, this policy could help improve UB’s national profile and encourage students to network within their niche interests.

The proposal is an example of an intelligent application of SA’s increased budget, as it would help club members and the UB student population as a whole.

The remainder of Pace’s propos-als are less fleshed out, but if he can fulfill vague promises about increas-ing diverse food options on campus and taking student opinions about concert choices into account, he’ll more than make up for his slight lack in financial experiences.

Voter turnout may reach historic lows

Even in years past with multi-ple parties contending for students’ votes, turnout has been meager, hovering around an embarrassing 15 percent.

Now, with the Unity Party’s es-sentially assured victory, the moti-vation for students to vote seems likely to reach a new low – but this shouldn’t be the case.

As members of this academic community, voting in SA elections is a critical way to help remain ac-tive in the democratic process and have a say in events that impact the campus.

Students who complain about the performers selected for concerts at UB, for example, shouldn’t speak a word unless they do their part to elect student leaders who they feel would represent their needs.

So this year, even with only one party running, it’s still important to cast a vote. Supporting the Uni-ty Party, as The Spectrum does, is one choice. But it’s also possible to cast a vote in protest of the lack of competition, and against the recent changes in SA election policy, by submitting a blank ballot.

The lack of democratic competi-tion this year is far from ideal, and that discontent can be expressed at the polls. But fortunately, the Uni-ty Party’s platform and profession-alism suggest that they are deserv-ing of the majority anyway – even if they did have an opponent.

email: [email protected]

Party candidates earn The Spectrum’s endorsement but with no opponent, focus of

SA election shifts to issues at stake

Unity Party is running unopposed, but not without expectations

ILLUSTRATION BY HARUMO SATO

The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion 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 Union or [email protected]. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it as such. All submissions

must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.

The Spectrum is represented for national advertising by MediaMate.

For information on adverstising

with The Spectrum, visit www.ubspectrum.com/advertising

or call us directly at (716) 645-2452.

The Spectrum offices are located in 132 Student Union,

UB North Campus, Buffalo, NY 14260-2100

THE SPECTRUM

Editorial BoardEditorial Board

Monday, April 13, 2015Volume 64 Number 68

Circulation 7,000

EDITOR IN CHIEF Sara DiNatale

MANAGING EDITORS

Rachel KramerEmma Janicki, Asst.

OPINION EDITOR

Tress Klassen

COPY EDITORSAlyssa McClure, Copy Chief

Anne FortmanEmma Fusco

Natalie Humphrey

NEWS EDITORSTom Dinki, Senior

Ashley Inkumsah, Asst.Charles W Schaab, Asst.

FEATURES EDITORSGabriela Julia, SeniorDan McKeon, Asst.James Battle, Asst.

ARTS EDITORSTori Roseman, Senior

Brian WindschitlJordan Oscar, Asst.

SPORTS EDITORSJordan Grossman, Senior

Quentin HaynesBobby McIntosh Asst.

PHOTO EDITORSYusong Shi, Senior

Kainan GuoAngela Barca, Asst

. CARTOONISTS

Harumo Sato Joshua Bodah

CREATIVE DIRECTORSJenna Bower

Kenneth Cruz, Asst.

Professional Staff

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Helene Polley

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Kevin Xaisanasy Alex Buttler, Asst.

Melina Panitsidis, Asst.

ADVERTISING DESIGNERTyler Harder

Derek Hosken, Asst.


STEVE WOZNIAK

CO-FOUNDER OF APPLE COMPUTER

8 PM UB ALUMNI ARENAAP

R 29

CHIEF SCIENTIST AT PRIMARY DATA

GRADUATE STUDENT CHOICE SPEAKER

Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership & Executive Education

School of Management

LECTURE SPONSOR

FREE WOZNIAK TICKETS FOR UB STUDENTS!!!1 ticket per student while supplies last. UB ID required.SA-represented undergrads may pick up tickets in the SA Office (350 Student Union).GSA - represented grads may pick up tickets at the SBI Ticket Office (221 Student Union or 350 Harriman).DISCOUNTED LECTURE TICKETS FOR UB FACULTY AND STAFF.

FOR MORE LECTURE AND TICKET INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT:

BUFFALO.EDU/DSS OR FACEBOOK.COM/UBDSSAFFILIATE SERIES SPONSORS

UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE

Student Affairs

CONTRIBUTING SERIES & LECTURE SPONSORS

SERIES SPONSOR

Minority Faculty & Staff Association

THEMATH PLACE

Free math tutoring at

Help with homework, studying, and more!

Don’t wait - the last day of tutoring is May 7th!

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCESTHOMAS J. EDWARDS LEARNING CENTER

Visit us in Baldy 217

No appointment required!Open Monday-Thursday 10:00am-6:00pm

ULC 147- Intermediate Albegra

ULC 148- Intermediate Algebra and Trig (pre-calc)

MTH 121- Survey of Calculus & Applications 1

MTH 122- Survey of Calculus & Applications 2

MTH 131- Math Analysis for Management

MTH 141- College Calculus 1

MTH 142- College Calculus 2

CHARLES W SCHAAB ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Dalton Acosta finished his lab report with seven minutes to spare before the deadline. To send it in, the freshman bio-logical sciences major needed to reconnect to the wireless server, UB Secure, which he said has always been an issue for him in his Goodyear Hall dorm.

After failing several times to connect in his room, Acosta ran to his floor lounge to try the connection there. This delay in connec-tion made Acosta’s report late by four min-utes and cost him two-points on his grade.

“Nothing too harsh, but still a bit annoy-ing,” Acosta said. “I barely get any service [in Goodyear Hall] … my experience with the school Wi-Fi has been less than pleasant.”

UB Information Technology (UBIT) is unrolling a new plan to help students like Acosta get their assignments in on time with its new Wi-Fi Boost initiative. UBIT will be improving its wireless Internet connections starting this summer for students, faculty and staff members across the North, South and downtown Medical Campuses. The Wi-Fi boost will start over the summer.

Some outdoor areas where students walk will also be receiving Wi-Fi according to Brice Bible, vice president and chief infor-mation officer of UBIT.

“There are upwards of 100,000 devices that connect to the network … that num-ber is increasing as technology improves,” Bible said.

Bible said that UBIT has not received an official quote from the various wireless pro-viders that UB is considering for the proj-ect. An exact number will not be available until the provider is chosen and UB is try-ing to get the best deal, Bible said.

The Wi-Fi boost will update and add

more access points across the campuses, ac-cording to Diane Tuorto, an IT communi-cations specialist on campus. Access points are what allow a wireless device to connect to a wired network, she said. UB has around 2,800 between all three campuses, accord-ing to Tuorto.

The Wi-Fi boost initiative will cover the 150 buildings and 11.5 million square feet that make up UB, according to UBIT web-site. Mark Deuell, Director of Network and Classroom Services at UBIT, said to pro-vide the desired coverage for UB they are projecting to double the number of access points on campus.

“It is not just about more access points, but a better, more reliable connection,” Tu-orto said.

Each access point now can support more than 100 clients, but with limited bandwidth – or connection speed – for each of those clients. Tuorto said that the goal of the Wi-Fi boost is to reduce that number to 25 cli-ents per access point, which would improve the connection speed.

A client is a device that can be active on the network and can include laptops, tablets and cellphones, according to Deuell.

The new access points will support the latest 802.11ac standard that can theoret-ically deliver 1.3 gigabytes per second to each client, according to Tuorto. The latest Wi-Fi standard is 802.11ac, which was final-ized in 2013 and is three times faster than the previous 802.11n, according to Forbes.

This will be the first time UBIT will be boosting the school’s Wi-Fi since Wi-Fi was introduced at UB in 2001, according to Tu-orto. Tuorto said previous installations were done incrementally over many years and never in a comprehensive Wi-Fi expansion

project such as this.“I am surprised that it took so long to

begin updating the Wi-Fi,” said Emma O’Connor, a first-year graduate student in the School of Social Work. “Fourteen years and this is the first Wi-Fi boost? That amaz-es me, especially in the fast paced techno-logical world we now live in.”

For the past 18 years UBIT has issued a Student Experience Survey every fall, in which students answer questions that aid in UBIT’s understanding of how technology is being used across campus. In open-ended comments in the 2014 UBIT Student Ex-perience Survey, which can be found on the UBIT website, most students have request-ed that better, more reliable Wi-Fi be made available at UB.

O’Connor said the secure connection never works for her and she usually can’t get on the Wi-Fi while in class in Baldy Hall, where the School of Social Work is housed.

“Wi-Fi is critical to our ability to function on campus and I am glad UB is spending money to improve it,” O’Connor said.

Olivia Lautin, a junior accounting major, said that although she has never had prob-lems with UB’s Wi-Fi, she is still glad to see her tuition money being spent on some-thing as vital as Wi-Fi. She said UB’s Wi-Fi has always been pretty reliable for her.

“I live on campus so I’m always using it … having a stronger connection can only help,” Lautin said.

Tuorto said the Wi-Fi boost will start in the most densely populated areas on cam-pus. Bible said that the Student Union will be the first area to receive a boost, followed by the larger classrooms on the campuses.


Campus says Wi-Fi ‘boost’ will allow more students to

stay connected longer

UB to improve Wi-Fi across all campuses

CHARLES W SCHAAB,

THE SPECTRUM

Jacob Watkins, a junior electrical engineering major, connects to UB’s wireless network in the Cybrary. UB will be improving Wi-Fi across all campuses starting this summer and the project will take three years to complete. “We are starting to establish a great tra-

dition of success here and I am extreme-ly excited about getting to work with the coaching staff and players in order to fo-cus on carrying that tradition forward into the future,” Oats said in a statement.

Oats coached at Romulus High School near Detroit, Michigan for 11 seasons – winning the school’s first state title in 27 years in 2012-13 – before coming to Buf-falo with Hurley in 2013.

Oats coached three current Bulls play-ers at Romulus, including MAC Player of the Year Justin Moss, junior forward Raheem Johnson and freshman guard Christian Pino, and was particularly in-strumental in bringing Moss to UB.

Oats told Indian Hills Community College head coach Barret Peery to give Moss an opportunity after Moss was di-agnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyop-athy, a heart disease that causes a build-up of tissues that can often lead to car-diac arrest. Toledo would not allow Moss to play basketball. Moss played one sea-son for Indian Hills before Oats brought him to Buffalo.

“It’s kind of cliché, but I really don’t know where I would be without [Oats],” Moss told The Spectrum in November. “He’s done a lot for me, so I’m really ap-preciative that I met him.”

There has been speculation that some of Buffalo’s top players, including soph-omore guard Shannon Evans, would transfer because of Hurley’s departure and even possibly join him at Arizona State.

Evans tweeted Saturday, “So proud of my guy [Nate Oats].”

An introductory press conference for Oats will be held in Alumni Arena at 3 p.m. Monday.


Nate Oats named men’s

basketball head coach

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1


Crimal Justice AdministrationPublic AdministrationMPA: Health Administration

• Challenging small classes• Individual research mentor• Neither the GMAT nor GRE required

NOW ENROLLING FOR AUGUST 2015hilbert.edu/Grad716-926-8949

Meenan said if the event started earlier, or if there were more trucks, “more people would have come to space out the lines.”

Along with Lloyd Taco truck, the Black Market Food truck, Franks Gourmet Hot Dogs, Betty Crockski, Sweet Hearth and UB’s own campus food truck, Big Blue, served the students at the event.

The Black Market ran out of food around

7 p.m., causing a herd of hungry students to migrate on to other food truck lines – mak-ing them even longer.

The lines in the “Beer Garden” for Com-munity Beer Works, Flying Bison, Resur-gence and Big Ditch Brewing Co. were al-most as long as the food trucks outside at times. The beer vendors experienced simi-lar problems to the food trucks as some ran out of drink samples.

Despite some students being left with-out food or beer, others discovered the new tastes from Buffalo microbreweries.

Kevin Carpenter, a junior psychology major, tasted Flying Bison’s India Pale Ale (IPA) and loved it. He plans on getting it when he goes into the city.

“[Buffalo Untapped] is more accessible for people who are not able to go around and try [different beer] for themselves,” Carpenter said. “I feel like we’re exclud-ed from the rest of Buffalo, so it’s very im-portant that we have a way to get outside of UB.”

The line for the tasting began to decrease around 6 p.m. as more students went to wait in the food lines.

“I would hope that next year we can bring even more trucks because this has proven to be exactly what the students want,” Lachaal said.

In addition to food trucks and local brew-eries, bands were brought in to entertain the crowds.

“A lot of [the bands] are local students,

so why not have students play since student culture builds within itself,” said SA Vice President Evan Chen.

In order for the program to begin, the SA had to apply for multiple licenses to provide the food trucks and serve alcohol to the stu-dents.

For Lachaal and Chen, seeing students fully engaged in an activity on campus that helped them become more aware of Buffalo as a city was more successful than they could’ve imag-ined. They said they’re certain Buffalo Un-tapped will become a tradition at UB.

James Battle contributed reporting to this story.


Tasting the Queen City

Kaczmarek, who is UB’s finalist for the Harry S. Truman Student Scholarship, worked as the publicity director for Model United Nations and vice president for the College Democrats during his freshman

“I feel like I really understand the under-graduate needs and that, coupled with the fact I have the skills and experience with ad-vocacy, make me confident I can do a good job as SA president,” Khan said.

Khan said she’s “worked in every aspect” of SA during her three years at UB.

She started off involving herself in polit-ical clubs like College Republicans, College Democrats and Mock Trial as a freshman. She has also served as an SA senator and last year was the Special Interest, Services and Hobbies (SISH) Council coordinator.

Khan said she wants to increase the voice undergraduates, both in SA and not in SA, have in the organization. She said she’s “com-mitted to making an inclusive and encourag-ing environment to all students.”

One of the ways she plans to do this is by creating “a fair hiring process” for SA posi-tions, as the majority of students who apply are already in SA, according to Khan.

“I know everyone says that every year, but we’ve laid it out specifically,” she said.

She plans to use UB’s listserv to email dif-ferent UB schools and on-campus depart-ments so SA can diversify its applicant pool. She also wants to hold information sessions at different department meetings about SA jobs for people who don’t know what SA is.

“So when we hire students, we’re getting students who have diverse experiences, not just SA,” Khan said.

Khan said to further appeal to the gener-al student body, she wants SA to sell books at a reduced rate for students preparing to take

“My work as Engineering Council coordi-nator has given [me] insight into the day-to-day process of financial policy and how the SA finance department operates,” Pace said.

Pace wants to make it easier for clubs to receive a rollover from their last budget, as clubs currently must raise 50 percent of the budget allocated to them to receive that budget next year. Pace said he understands that some clubs’ missions are to provide a service rather than to generate revenue, so it may be difficult for them to raise 50 per-cent of their budget.

He has devised a system that allows clubs to hold or attend three additional commu-nity service events, three club events and three SA events to receive a 3 percent re-duction off of the 50 percent they are re-quired to raise. This will be in accordance with SA’s program that mandates clubs hold or participate in two fundraising events, two club events, two community service events, two club meetings and two SA events.

He said that the maximum reduction clubs can take off would be 27 percent.

Pace said this new policy would allow more clubs to receive rollover funds from year to year and it will appeal to the diverse clubs the SA has.

Pace said he also wants more students to get the most benefits they can from their manda-tory student activity fee. He said this will start by hiring an effective and motivated staff that will do a good job promoting events.

“If you are putting students’ money to-wards [events and services], they should know about it and be able to reap the bene-fits,” Pace said.

Pace said he brought corporations to this year’s Engineering Week so that students could foster relationships with profession-

Meet the candidates

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1, JOE PACE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1, MINAHIL KHAN

exams like the MCAT, LSAT and GRE. She said she’s in contact with companies that

would sell SA the books at wholesale prices so SA could then sell the books to students at a reduced rate. She said SA would most like-ly distribute the books through the Sub-Board I Inc. ticket office, but that the details would have to be worked out this summer.

Khan would also like to use the Gener-al Activities and Programming budget line to fund buses to take students to other areas of Buffalo like the Albright Knox or to Buffalo Sabres’ games.

She said the scheduling of the buses would be based on the demand and would be ca-tered “around everything else we’re doing so we can maximize the number of students we’re taking.”

“There’s a lot this city offers that people don’t necessarily get to see in Amherst just being on North Campus,” Khan said.

Khan said all options for the buses, includ-ing UB Parking and Transportation Services, are being considered and she would go with the cheapest one.

The funding for the buses from the Gener-al Activities and Programming line would be available because of the mandatory student activity fee increase, according to Khan.

The mandatory fee all undergraduates pay that funds the SA will increase from $94.75 to $104.75 beginning this fall. Khan said this in-crease would allow SA to introduce new pro-grams and expand programs that go beyond clubs and cater to all UB students.

“At the end of the day, all students con-tribute to SA, that’s what makes it possible,” Khan said. “I want students to understand they have a vested interest and it’s something they pay for … We are a student government and we’re collectively responsible for repre-senting all undergraduates.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1, SEAN KACZMAREK


als in the industries. Pace said he wants stu-dents to benefit from the greater Buffalo community by working with local companies.

Pace has purposely taken a larger cred-it load this semester so that he can be more available in the SA office if he is elected. He plans to take 13 credit hours next semester. He also said he and his party want to set up a Google calendar for the e-board so clubs can know when the three will be in the office.

year. In these roles, he said he learned more about how clubs interact with SA and he recognized where there was a lack of com-munication between clubs and SA.

As vice president, Kaczmarek wants to form a grievance policy where SA can see where fault lies, if there is any miscommu-nication and clubs can get a more positive experience.

He also wants to update the current SA club handbook. He is hoping to have a pro-posal by Aug. 1.

“We are operating on [a club handbook] from two years ago, we want to update it and make it an official working policy that fits SA views,” Kaczmarek said.

Kaczmarek also wants to improve the club orientation experience by gearing ori-entations specifically toward certain sub-jects to make them more efficient and easier for those councils and to shorten the over-all experience.

“Clubs kind of dread going through them and coordinators think they are kind of boring because they are not specific to our council and a lot of times our clubs don’t get much out of them, so what we want to do is shorten the orientation,” Kac-zmarek said.

Kaczmarek said, for example, engineering clubs will hear more specific things about material donations, sports clubs might hear more about traveling and competitions and International clubs might hear more about how to plan events like International Fiesta.

He also wants to make club workshops more effective by having them be more subject-specific. He wants specific work-shops in which SA can show clubs what is needed for banquets as far as contracting venues. He also mentioned workshops on coaching for sports clubs and how to bring in speakers.

Kaczmarek said he feels SA’s new website is functional because SA’s budget, club in-formation and forms are all readily available on the website.

“Every database we need to operate as a $4 million organization is built into that website,” Kaczmarek said.

As vice president, Kaczmarek wants more students to get involved in SA and join clubs, which he said they could do by sending out a simple email to discover new clubs. Although the specific details and strategies have yet to be mapped out, Kacz-marek said he plans show students that ev-ery club is welcoming and encourage them to get more involved in clubs.


PHOTOS BY YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM


BE CREATIVE.

ENROLL NOW.CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

LIBERTYYELLOW

Campus Cash Accepted

Download theLiberty Cab

App from your app store!

Airport, Bus, and Train Transfers

www.LibertyCab.com716.877.7111

By the spring of his freshman year of high school, Sinay was able to return to the dia-mond. He made the varsity team without an indication that an injury had ever occurred.

Sinay has been symptom-free ever since.Birmingham, the head baseball coach at

Sinay’s alma mater Marcellus High School, said he didn’t see any signs of his injury and Sinay played like he was physically at 100 percent. Sinay became one of the best play-ers Birmingham had ever seen.

Sinay was recruited most heavily by Buf-falo and Northeastern University and re-ceived letters from other schools expressing their interest.

Sinay said he ultimately picked Buffa-lo because it’s where he could get the most out of his baseball career.

In his freshman season with the Bulls, Sinay served mostly as an outfield defensive substitute and a pinch runner, stealing three bases in 2013.

Since arriving in Buffalo, Buffalo head coach Ron Torgalski said Sinay has “devel-oped into a solid player and taken the roles he’s needed to.”

Sinay’s best strength is his speed, which allows him to cover a wide range between left-center and right-center field and makes him a constant threat to steal. Sinay said he inherited his speed from his father, who also played baseball in college.

Torgalski defines Sinay as a tough, hard-nosed, gritty player who has developed into a “pro prospect.”

“Nick’s one of those guys that the op-posing team probably hates,” Torgalski said. “He’s a nightmare to them because he can do so many things. He can steal second, steal third, go first to third on a base hit, swing or bunt for a hit. Once he’s on base, teams have to concentrate on him.”

This season, Sinay is attempting to set the single season school record for most stolen bases and wants to steal at least 50 bases.

And two games past the halfway point of

the season, he’s 13 away from breaking the record and halfway to 50. The Bulls record for most stolen bases in a season is 37, set by outfielder/first baseman Bob Amico in 1976.

Last year, Sinay stole 31 bases in 51 games. With a newfound confidence, Sinay has stolen 25 bases in 27 games.

“I felt kind of timid last season,” Sinay said. “Now I feel comfortable going on any pitch I want.”

Sinay said his speed is an integral part of his game and potentially the best aspect he brings to the field.

“He’s … probably the best base runner I’ve ever coached,” Birmingham said. “He used to take enormous leads at first base – foolish for any other player that I’ve had. But for him, it was well within his ability.”

Sometimes, the team would have to tell Sinay to stop stealing because he constant-ly had “the green light” to go. Birmingham and the coaches often gave Sinay the special “stop” sign, which was implemented if the team was winning by too large of a margin. Birmingham said they didn’t want to em-barrass the other teams with Sinay’s speed.

Torgalski said professional scouts love his quickness around the base path. He runs the 60-yard dash in 6.3 seconds.

“You don’t find many guys like that,” Torgalski said. “One of the things I’m most impressed with is how quickly he gets to full speed. When he steals bases, he reach-es full speed faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Sinay’s parents said they are are proud of his humility. They said he always works hard at whatever he does and never boasts.

Torgalski said he believes Sinay has un-limited potential because he just keeps get-ting better.

“He’s learning the strike zone, learning how to get on base all the time, he’s the kind of guy the pro scouts are interested in, and I think more and more people are go-ing to take interest in him,” Torgalski said.

Sinay is regarded as a potential selection in this year’s MLB Amateur Draft. Several major league teams are talking with Sinay and he said he is excited for the potential opportunity. The MLB Amateur Draft is June 8-10 this year.

Sinay hopes to hear his name called.


BACK ON THE BASE PATH


KENNETH KASIF THOMASSTAFF WRITER

Dancing is a grueling art form. Members of Pascal Rioult’s company practice for eight hours a day – three-hour classes and then another two to six hours in the studio for rehearsal.

The work of Pascal Rioult and his com-pany, RIOULT Dance NY, made its way to the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre on Saturday night.

The two-part production was the most re-cent in the M&T Bank Dance Series, a cele-bration of 20 years of RIOULT Dance NY.

Rioult started the company in 1994, af-ter he built up experience performing with Paul Sanasardo and May O’Donnell. Apart from being the company’s owner, Rioult is also the artistic director and choreographer of RIOULT Dance NY.

“The first part is artistic, very impres-sionistic. The second part has German in-fluence, [post] second world [war],” Pascal Rioult said, in a question session before the performance.

The choreographer emphasized the in-tense workload for the dancers during the session – professional dancers spend even more time practicing than the company’s requirements.

Only a select few are able to handle the pain of intensive practicing, Rioult said.

“Your body doesn’t lie, from there you can tell who will be a performer or not,” he said.

The visual elements of the routine were minimalist as the dancers wore neutral leo-tards, movements were strong and deliber-ate and the performance was set to a back-drop of Impressionist-era paintings.

“I love when they did the interplay when they did the mirror and reflection scene, and I liked the background interpretations when they mixed it in with the dancing,” said Mi-chelangelo Barber, a 52-year-old Buffalo res-ident. “It was fantastic; it really was.”

Pascal Rioult uses the medium of dance

as a vehicle to project social commentary, something Laura Curthoys, an arts man-agement graduate student, noticed as she watched the performance through the lens of what her classes focus on.

“In our program we’re talking about how art benefits society,” Curthoys said. “The social commentary in the [first half] is something many people don’t realize dance can do.”

For Barber, the poise and control the dancers exhibited along with their synchro-nous movements during the piece was rep-resentative of how people interact.

“It’s indicative of the separatism of soci-ety, in which gender roles pitted individuals against their better halves,” Barber said. “It speaks on how as people we have time [for each other], but we don’t take it.”

Rioult built the show around abstract vi-sual elements that allowed the audience to develop their own interpretations of the performance.

“[The routine was] very abstract, pure-ly architectural to me. It’s about structure,” Rioult said. “I did a lot of research, I re-search my pieces. I’m always prepared; [it] doesn’t mean I always know what I’m do-ing, it means I have a good guess.”

When the production came to a close, the performers bowed and curtseyed to their audience, whose uproarious standing ovation lasted well after the curtains closed.

“There are times when powerful and moving are apt words to describe a perfor-mance; they would be insufficient for to-day’s performance,” Barber said. “The pro-duction as a whole was fantastic.”

The performers’ arduous practice sched-ule paid off, as they put on both a beauti-ful performance and a thought-provoking piece that used different mediums in order to project ideas. Their minimalist approach to costumes allowed their movements to be more easily appreciated and to contrast with the complex artwork behind them.


RIOULT Dance: A 20-year legacy

Minimalist and impressionist routines captivates audiences in the CFA

Choreographer Pascal Rioult brought pre-impressionist era art to life through dance during the company’s performance Saturday night. COURTESY OF FLICKR USER KEITH


CLASSIFIEDS

HOROSCOPES Monday, April 13, 2015FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

Crossword of the Day

DOWN

ACROSS

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Share information and knowledge and build good relations with people who move in the same professional cir-cles as you.TAURUS (April 20-May 20): A lack of disci-pline will lead to problems at home. Don’t let indulgence take over. Focus on being the best you can be.GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Opt to make changes that will bring about a better home en-vironment. Good fortune will result if you have a discussion with a potential client or employer. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Mix business with pleasure. Socialize with colleagues and clients. Changes in your relationship will be to your ad-vantage if you are willing to compromise.LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Social events should in-clude colleagues. The more you network, the greater your chances of getting ahead. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Romance should be high on your list of priorities, along with self-improvement and doing whatever it takes to stay healthy mentally, physically and financial-ly.LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Refuse to argue over petty matters. Join a cause you believe in and you will make a difference and also meet some-one you enjoy spending time with.SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Keep matters con-cerning your relationships in perspective. Over-reacting will not help you resolve a pending problem.SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Devise a plan and stick to it. You will have the chance to excel if you display your talents, skills and en-thusiasm.CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Listen to what’s being said, but don’t share personal in-formation with anyone. A change in the way you feel about someone is likely to cause a problem that can infringe on your privacy.AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Use discretion in all your dealings with friends, relatives or peo-ple in your community.PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Refrain from being a follower or chameleon. Don’t let anyone play with your emotions or lead you astray.

1 Quaker’s “you” 5 Beanies 9 Ghana’s capital 14 Didn’t draw a card 15 Biblical shepherd 16 “Rain Man” director

Levinson 17 Desiccated 18 “Legal” prefix 19 Make feel small 20 Place for a conduc-

tor 23 3:00 on

a sundial 24 Take unfair advantage

of 25 Like Spock’s nerve

pinch 28 Lines man? 30 Certain Nigerians,

formerly 32 Pie-mode connec-

tion 33 Wainscot again 36 Having a common

ancestor 37 Airport-based

business, often 39 Highlander 41 Most

massive 42 Sighs of comfort 43 It won’t buy much 44 Bartender on TV’s

Pacific Princess 48 Light, custard-filled

cake 50 How do ewe sound? 52 Biochemistry abbr. 53 Virus causes 57 Grab tightly 59 Shoestring 60 Germinated grain

Edited by Timothy E. Parker April 13, 2015METER READER By Henry Quarters

61 “Calvin and Hobbes” girl

62 “Puppy Love” singer Paul

63 “Zip-___-Doo-Dah”

64 Change, as the Constitution

65 Minority votes, often 66 Adjusts, as a clock

1 Comedian’s Muse 2 Brave 3 Bring out 4 Taro root 5 Bars for guitars 6 Decrease 7 “Frasier”

actress Gilpin 8 Sarajevo resident 9 Adding

device of old 10 Band of schemers 11 Seafood dish for

grouches? 12 Four Monopoly

squares (Abbr.) 13 Favorable vote 21 Dye-producing gastro-

pod 22 Develop by gradual

changes 26 Cassius Clay, now 27 One of the Bobbsey

twins 29 Face-to-face exam 30 Dead to

the world 31 Arctic Ocean obstacle 34 Accumulate

35 Slippery-eel link 36 “Hamlet” has five 37 Precedent setter 38 Thomas of the Bas-

ketball Hall of Fame

39 Type of reflex 40 Opposite

of “huh?” 43 Slept under the stars 45 Amusement place 46 Short sock 47 Social

divisions in India

49 Biology lab stain

50 A Conner on “Rose-anne”

51 Code and rug 54 ___ Bator, Mongolia 55 Lake ___ (Blue Nile

source) 56 Latin 101 verb 57 Fed.

construction overseer 58 Coke complement

DAILY DELIGHTS sponsored by Collegiate Village Apartments

HELP WANTED

PART TIME RESTAURANT ACCOUNTING 15-18/wk, daytime position s/b proficient in QuickBooks. Please apply in person. Eagle House, 5578 Main St. Williamsville

PART-TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE. Lasertron Family Entertainment Center is currently hiring for general customer service. Working at a fast, detail-oriented pace and having excellent customer service skills is a must. Starting at $11/hr, must be available nights and weekends. Stop in and complete an application at Lasertron, 5101 North Bailey Avenue, Amherst. NY

APARTMENT FOR RENT

TIRED OF LOOKING AT THE SAME OLD DUMP??? Our nicest apartments rent now! Newly remodeled 3-8 person homes on W. Winspear, Englewood, Tyler, Heath & Merrimac. Amenities include O/S parking, whirlpool bathtubs, w/w carpeting, new ss appliances, free laundry, snow removal & valet garbage! Live the Sweethome life on South! Visit www.ubrents.com or call: 716-775-7057

NICE 3-BDRM lower, carpeted. 10 min WDMSC. Stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer. Big closets. Porch, gardens. Insulated, low heat bills. Cable hook-ups in bedrooms. $750+ Call Pat at 833-4362

2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS. Walking distance UB South Campus. Tom 716-570-4776. [email protected]

MSC 4-BDRM Apartment 3 minute walk. Appliances, redecorated immediate occupancy! $300/pp 716-691-5710, 9 to 5.

4,5,6 & 8 BEDROOM Remodeled apartment houses. 34 Apartments available located at University Buffalo Main Street Campus, off Englewood. Beginning June 2015: UB South Campus for @ $300/ bedroom plus utilities. Washers & dryers included. Contact [email protected] or Shawn at 716-984-7813 Check out our web-site: www.bufapt.com

HOUSE FOR RENT

TIRED OF LOOKING AT THE SAME OLD DUMP??? Our nicest apartments rent now! Newly remodeled 3-8 person homes on W. Winspear, Englewood, Tyler, Heath & Merrimac. Amenities include O/S parking, whirlpool bathtubs, w/w carpeting, new ss appliances, free laundry, snow removal & valet garbage! Live the Sweethome life on South! Visit www.ubrents.com or call: 716-775-7057

SWEETHOME & MAPLE AREA. 4-BDRM, 2 bath house. Brand new completely renovated & energy efficient. Includes washer/dryer, dishwasher, a/c, garage, off street parking for all. $2400 per month. Discounts available for grad students. Shawn 716-491-9109.

UB NORTH - 41 Millbrook Dr. Semi furnished 3-BDRM ranch, appliances, washer/dryer, new kitchen, bathroom, 2 car garage, AC florida room & large basement. $1600.00+ May 1st, 716-634-2950

4-BDRM 2-BATH. 325 Lamont Dr. Amherst (near Eggert & Bailey). Available June 1st. Ken 716-982-9928

4-BDRM HOUSE. 1 1/2 Baths close to MSC. $350/pp, 716-691-5710 9 to 5.

SOUTH CAMPUS. 5 & 6 Master Bedrooms. 2-Full baths, stove, fridge, washer / dryer / dishwasher & off-street parking. Available June 1st. Call 716-570-6062.

ROOM FOR RENT

AVAILABLE JUNE 1ST. South Campus. Master bedroom / 2baths, fully furnished, laundry, utilities & wifi included. Off-street parking. 716-570-6062 text preferred.

SERVICES

CITYA1DRIVINGSCHOOL.COM Beginners & brush-up driving lessons. 5hr class $30.00 716-875-4662.

Open House 2015Saturday, April 18th

Food, Games, Prizes, & Leasing Specials!716-833-3700

www.CVBuffalo.com

COLLEGIATE VILLAGE APARTMENTS

HOUSE FOR RENT

HELP WANTED

APARTMENT FOR RENTSERVICES

ROOM FOR RENT


TOM DINKISENIOR NEWS EDITOR

I’ve grown used to it.A major sports story breaks on campus

and UB Athletics doesn’t even pick up the phone.

The most recent incident: men’s bas-ketball head coach Bobby Hurley leaving Buffalo for the Arizona State job opening Thursday night.

When news broke that Hurley was head-ed to Tempe, we immediately began to write down our list of potential sources to call – everyone from former players to cur-rent players’ parents and even Hurley him-self. But the first number on our list was UB Athletics itself.

UB Athletic Communications is our life-line for covering the Bulls. We’re mandat-ed to go through that department to cover games, speak with players and administra-tors and gain access – everything we need.

And Thursday night the media needed a confirmation that Hurley was leaving. We wanted a comment from Athletic Director Danny White. We wanted access to players. It’s our responsibility as a news organiza-tion to request this.

We didn’t even get an answered phone call. We got a press release.

Now UB Athletics is holding an introduc-tory press conference for new head coach

Nate Oats Monday. White will most like-ly be made available to the media for ques-tions (if he’s not, you’ll see another column Wednesday) after his speech and maybe if we’re luckily they’ll give us a player or two.

But that doesn’t change the fact Hurley has been the head coach of Arizona State for four days now and we’ve yet hear from White or anyone surrounding the team. The Spectrum’s attempts to contact White have been unsuccessful, and Athletic Communi-cations told us players wouldn’t be available until after the new coach is announced.

After being stonewalled by athletics the night former football head coach Jeff Quinn was fired last October, I wasn’t sur-prised Thursday night unraveled how it did.

The only time I can recall Athletics an-swering our phone call during breaking coaching news was when volleyball head coach Reed Sunahara resigned to coach at West Virginia last month – but that was only because they didn’t know about it yet.

When The Spectrum contacted Arizo-na State’s media relations regarding Hur-ley Thursday, our call was answered and we were given a straight answer: Yes, Bobby is the new head coach of the Sun Devils.

Seems pretty big-time to me. When your job is athletic communica-

tion, I don’t think you should turn off your cellphone at the most important times the media and public need to communicate with athletics.

Of course, this is not the Athletic Com-munications staff decision for silence dur-ing breaking coaching news. That call is likely from the top – from White.

White has made himself available to The

Spectrum at times during this academic year. He spoke with me during the Bulls’ NCAA Tournament selection show party and gave what seemed like a genuine, thoughtful re-sponse to a tough question about firing coaches.

But his accessibility is generally when we’re writing positive stories about game at-tendance, promotions and victories. Why can’t he set aside 15 minutes on the phone when he sacks Quinn or Hurley leaves town?

That’s when we really need him access to him.

After unsuccessfully reaching White through his own office Friday afternoon, I was told I’d need to go through Athlet-ic Communications to set up an interview. But one of the staff members I was told to go through is out of the office for the week and the other did not answer the phone.

White also canceled a sit-down with The Spectrum to speak about the UB Athlet-ics budget for an on-going series of sto-ries. Then Athletic Communications told us White didn’t want to talk about the bud-get and to speak with Deputy Director of Athletics Allen Greene, who did honor his scheduled interview The Spectrum.

Not good enough. The athletic director should be held ac-

countable to answer questions about his de-partment’s budget, when he fires coaches or when the most successful basketball coach in school history leaves for a bigger pro-gram.

The university and student body deserves answers on what was done to keep Hurley and the events that led to his departure. We – and all media – should be able to ask if the narrative The Buffalo News has been re-porting from unnamed sources about Hur-ley feeling insulted by Athletics’ salary of-fer is true.

All we’ve heard out of White after coach-es leave the program is a released statement. He’s isn’t heard from again until the intro-ductory press conference for the new head coach, at which point the focus is on the new head coach rather than the departure of the previous.

The media has to hold White accountable about Hurley’s departure at Monday’s press conference. He should be answering just as many questions about Hurley as much as he is about Oats.

White can somewhat rectify the situa-tion by providing honest and open answers Monday – it’s just four days too late.

Even though the players on the Bulls are our peers we are unable to have an offi-cial conversation without them without the presence or approval of Athletics

It is a widespread NCAA policy. The university wants to protect its brand. But if you’re going to bar us from speaking with our classmates, at least make a few, coached-up players available for comment when their head coach leaves. It’s better than nothing.

We were given Megan Lipski of the vol-leyball team when Sunahara left town. Why the double standard when it’s a sport that’s more popularly attended?

The Spectrum covers Athletics like any newspaper covers beats. We consistently cover the department with sometimes un-paralleled in depth coverage (OK - I’m a lit-tle bias) and provide the student body ac-cess they wouldn’t normally have. Yes, it’s often critical, but the good has to be taken with the bad.

While we have had some issues in the past with UB Athletics and we sometimes have trouble getting interviews, Athlet-ic Communications is generally accommo-dating and flexible during the noncontro-versial times. They made sure The Spectrum had courtside seating preferences for the Bulls’ NCAA Tournament game in Colum-bus, Ohio.

I appreciate that. So, I don’t mean to come off as entitled. You might be think-ing, Why does Athletics owe you, some 21-year-old college student, any kind of a response?

Because I – and the other reporters at this paper – represent the student body. We are their newspaper and they are the stu-dents who have filled your stadium seats this past season, Mr. White.


SPORTS

BACK ON THE BASE PATH

BOBBY MCINTOSHASST. SPORTS EDITOR

As a junior in high school, Nick Sinay blast-ed a two-run homerun over the right-center field wall of NBT Bank Stadium, where the Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, play. In his next at-bat, he hit a ground rule double that bounced over the 407-foot marker in center field.

“It was a man-sized thing for a kid to do,” said Peter Birmingham, Sinay’s high school head coach.

Sinay, who is currently a junior centerfield-er for the Bulls, has an on-base percentage of .492, leads the Mid-American Conference with 25 stolen bases, is tied for the conference lead with 15 hits by pitches, and is a potential draft pick in June’s MLB Amateur Draft.

But before he stole his first base at Buffa-lo – even before his high school career be-gan – Sinay wasn’t sure if he was going to play

sports ever again.He wasn’t even sure if he would walk again.In the fall of eighth grade, Sinay endured a

bilateral fracture in his L5 vertebrae in his low-er back. The injury could have left him par-alyzed or bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The doctors said it was caused by a growth spurt and overexertion.

The L5 vertebrae are the base of the spine – they provide stability for the rest of the spine and support the weight of the entire torso. The sciatic nerve, which runs through both legs, is located in this vertebrae segment and could become damaged if the L5, or other lower parts of the lumbar spine are damaged.

Originally, Sinay thought he only pulled a back muscle when he was playing basketball with his friends. But then he fell to the ground in pain after landing from a layup attempt.

Sinay, who assumed the injury was mild, took several weeks off to recover before at-tempting to try out for his junior varsity base-

ball team as a 13-year-old. That was when the pain of the injury returned.

As Sinay went into the batting cages to prac-tice his swing, he experienced what he called “the worst pain of his life.”

His back completely gave out and he was immobilized for an entire day.

“I couldn’t even walk,” Sinay said. “I knew at that point, it was more than just a pulled muscle.”

After a bone scan, the doctors told Sinay he bilaterally fractured his L5 vertebrae – they said he may never be able to play sports again.

Upon hearing the diagnosis, Sinay said his face turned white and his stomach turned over.

“For a doctor to say that to a kid who eats, sleeps and breathes sports … it crushed me,” Sinay said.

His parents, Paul and Linda Sinay, were also distraught.

Surgery wasn’t an option because he was so young. The only potential treatment for the fracture was rest and rehabilitation, according to the doctors, Sinay said. The most crucial part of Sinay’s recovery was to keep his core muscles strong to provide support for his back.

Sinay spent months away from baseball and went to physical therapy.

Then, during a checkup in June, the doctors told Sinay and his mother there was a chance he could return to athletics.

Sinay called his father soon after, who said there was no greater joy than to hear his son could return to do what he loved doing – competing in sports.

“I remember how our faces just lit up with the biggest smiles that were filled with excite-ment,” Sinay said. “It was the best news we could have possibly heard.”

During his year and a half hiatus, Sinay lift-ed weights and worked out religiously to reha-bilitate. He said he spent about eight hours per week in the weight room. Paul said he had nev-er seen his son in better shape before in his life.

Outfielder Nick Sinay overcomes injury to become a potential draft pick

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM

Nick Sinay runs to second base with first base in hand. Sinay looks to steal 50 bases this season, which would be a Bulls record.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Athletics’ lack of response during breaking coaching

news is unacceptable

The silent treatment

The Spectrum Vol. 64 No. 68

Documents

Transcript of The Spectrum Vol. 64 No. 68