The Spectrum Vol. 70 No. 17

VOL. 70 NO. 17 | MARCH 9, 2022

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

UBSPECTRUM

‘This is our reality’:

Ukrainians at UB reflect on the anguish of war

As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues to dredge on, Ukranians at UB continue to speak out KYLE NGUYEN ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

hrystyna Adam couldn’t stop her hands from trembling or her eyes from tearing up.

Nor could she keep herself from scrolling through the myriad of “WWIII” jokes that filled her Instagram feed: A fake UBAlert of an incoming nuclear warhead, followed by a fake Zoom call with Vladimir Putin.

It was a startlingly comedic contrast to the harrowing images of collapsed buildings and anxious text messages that have filled her waking hours these last few weeks, she says.

Adam is a member of the Ukrainian community at UB, one that has anxiously watched as their loved ones face the Russo-Ukrainian war at home. While many of their peers are able to walk triumphantly to class or chat freely in the halls, these students’ days are an exercise of vigilance filled with prayers that their loved ones re-

main safe.

“This is our reality. We are so afraid to look down at our phone to see the text message from our family saying, ‘We’re going underground, we’ll contact you when we’re okay,’” Adam said. “You don’t know what news it could be. It could be a family member just died or our house has been shot down. This is not the time to joke around about things like this.”

Since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Buffalo Ukrainian community has rallied and fundraised to raise awareness for those impacted by the conflict.

Adam, a junior biological sciences major, was leaving a lab on South Campus when she opened her phone to news of the first cities under attack in Ukraine: Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson. She immediately called home to her family back in Lviv, where she grew up.

“They woke up at five in the morning

Moaz Elazzazi / The Spectrum A protester holds up a sign during a pro-Ukraine rally outside of City Hall last week.

to sirens going off and they had no idea what was happening,” Adam said. “I’m speaking to you [The Spectrum] right now — three hours ago they were just going in and out of underground bunkers because the sirens are going off.”

Adam says updates like these have taken a toll on her sleep schedule and her mental health.

“I go to sleep at like four in the morning and [I’m] just checking up on the news and constantly texting my family and friends just asking if they are alright,” Adam said.

Senior pharmaceutical sciences major Greg Hawuczuk has a similar dynamic, with extended family members left in Ukraine. He says his cousin, a resident of the capital city of Kyiv, was able to leave the city with family before shelling began.

“He was one of the lucky ones,” Hawuczyk said. “As soon as the shelling

broke out, he managed to make it back to his hometown, a small town in the west of Ukraine called Terebovlya. Hopefully, they’ll be safe there.”

Hawuczyk recalls texting his uncle after news of the invasion first broke. The interaction left the UB senior with little doubt about the seriousness of the situation.

“My uncle — he’s close to 50 or 55 — I was texting with him and he said, ‘We’re all worried,’” Hawuczyk recalled. “I’ve never had a grown man ever tell me that he’s worried or scared before. Ukraine has — I don’t want to say it has a machismo culture — but there’s a stoicness to the Ukrainian man. So just to hear that left goosebumps on me.”

Roxy Tyminska, a junior psychology major, says the constant worry for her loved SEE UKRAINIANS PAGE 5

‘I have mixed feelings about it’:

students react to the end of UB’s mask mandate The change comes nearly two years after the start of the pandemic GRANT ASHLEY SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Face masks had been required in oncampus buildings for 664 days.

That count stopped Saturday.

For the first time since New York State implemented its mask mandate on April 15, 2020, no students, faculty, staff or visitors — vaccinated or not — were required to wear masks indoors following UB’s decision to lift its requirement on Saturday.

After two years of wearing masks, students told The Spectrum they are feeling many different, sometimes conflicting emotions.

“Part of me wants to go maskless because it’s taken on the same feeling as wearing a tank top on the first day of good weather,” Alexandra Saccone, a sophomore English major, said. “But [masks] are important COVID-19-wise, and also so people can’t see me cuss them out under my breath.”

Saccone said they would continue to wear their mask indoors. But their conflicting impulses were hardly unique.

“I go out with my friends, and we interact in environments where we aren’t wearing masks,” Trey Jenkins III, a sophomore psychology major, said. “So it’s not really an issue for me to come on campus and not have to wear one… But I have a lecture of 400 students, and that’s why I have a mask. I’ll put it on if I don’t feel comfortable.”

Other students, like freshman biomedi-

cal sciences major Kayla Dechow, worried about immunocompromised UB community members.

“It’s more freeing to have the personal choice, but from a medical perspective, if everybody is not wearing masks, then there’s not really much of a point,” Dechow said. “The immunocompromised people can be wearing masks, but COVID-19 is [still] going to be everywhere.”

Some disabled, immunocompromised and elderly people have feared that the end of mask mandates will “leave them behind,” according to NBC. Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the UB Department of Medicine, advises those who are unvaccinated, immunocompromised, unboosted (if eligible), over 50 years old or pregnant to continue wearing face masks for the time being.

“Cases are down, but we’re not quite at the low level we were pre-Delta wave at the end of June,” Russo said. “Cases will hopefully continue to fall, so hopefully they’ll get to very low levels and those people in those risk groups could feel increasingly comfortable, [and] maybe they’ll no longer have to wear a mask.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul reinstated New York State’s indoor mask mandate in midDecember in response to rising caseloads caused by the omicron variant, according to NPR. That requirement was lifted for businesses in early February, according to CBS, and for K-12 schools March 2. Hochul stopped short of ending mandates in higher education institutions but allowed colleges and universities to remove their mask mandates in consultation with their county health department.

“I am pro-mask, but when we have a population like this that is required to get the vaccine, I don’t think it’s necessary, personally,” Michael Fernandez, a freshman biology major, said. “In class, if it’s a huge population, like in Knox 20 with 400 students, I’ll probably wear it there. But if it’s like my Calc 2 class, which is a smaller class, I don’t find a need to.”

But even in her smaller classes, professors are encouraging students to wear masks, Megan Kane, a senior biological sciences major, said.

“In my smaller labs and closer knit classes, I still am wearing a mask,” Kane said.

“And my professors have told us, ‘Listen, we’re not going to say you have to wear a mask. However, just out of respect for each other, just keep wearing your mask.’”

Crew Ferrentino, a freshman business administration major, said that while he doesn’t plan on wearing a mask anywhere on campus, he still plans to wear one when

visiting elderly relatives who live in the area.

“It’s such a big school, and even if it’s not COVID-19 and it’s just a cold, it’s not worth the risk,” he said. “Call it a double standard.”

But there are no double standards for Ofeibea Micah. The freshman English major plans to continue wearing a mask while indoors.

“I feel like it’s my own personal choice,” Micah said. “If things are going smoothly, then maybe I’ll consider taking it off.”

Micah’s caution stems in part from her fear that students returning from spring break will cause infection rates to rise again. If it were up to her, the mandate would’ve ended “a couple weeks after spring break.”

“This trend keeps on happening, where SEE UNMASKED PAGE 10

Jenna Quinn / The Spectrum Hannah Clark, a junior business administration major, poses for a photo Tuesday in Pistachios.

2 | Wednesday, March 9 2022

NEWS

ubspectrum.com

UB delays Student Health Services center opening The temporary singlestory site had been slated to open this spring KYLE NGUYEN ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

The new Student Health Services center on Maple Road is no longer expected to open to students this semester, Vice President for Student Life Brian Hamluk told The Spectrum last week.

UB is now targeting a summer opening for its new location after announcing plans to relocate its services to a temporary single-story building on Maple Road last semester.

Hamluk says the project currently remains in the early stages of construction.

“Interior construction drawings have been submitted to the Town of Amherst and are presently being reviewed for permit,” Hamluk said in an email to The Spectrum. “Barring any unforeseen delays, students can expect to be able to use the new facility on Maple Road for the fall 2022 semester.”

The university planned to lease the temporary site this spring for Student Health Services in anticipation of constructing a long-term, four-story wellness and recreation center on the site of the North Campus bookstore by 2026.

The expected opening date of the Maple

Road facility, however, has been pushed back in light of difficulties with the construction process, Hamluk says.

“The construction permit process, as well as the bid process to secure vendors to fit out the interior, took time during the fall and winter,” Hamluk said. “As with any project this size, current conditions also cause supply chain issues on a number of items, but we continue to work on alternate options to keep us on track.”

In the meantime, Student Health Services continues to operate out of South

Campus’ Michael Hall and the Farber Hall Annex, though university officials previously cited concerns that the existing locations have insufficient space to handle the approximately 24,000 patients who make annual visits.

The new temporary site is expected to address this issue, as it sports 13,000-squarefeet of space to handle a higher volume of patient visits.

“The space on Maple Road is larger and more sufficient for patient flow,” Susan Snyder, director of Health Services, said

Courtesy of University Communications The building located at 4350 Maple Road will serve as a Student Health Services center beginning in the spring, according to the administration.

in October. “It will allow us to separate the sick visits from well visits, a protective measure now that we are dealing with COVID-19, and that will also serve the community well in the years ahead.”

Although Counseling Services, Health Promotion and chiropractic services are set to remain in their respective buildings on North and South Campus, the Maple Road building will feature an in-house pharmacy, in a bid to provide over-thecounter medications and other essential health products the now-defunct campus CVS once provided.

With the new Student Health Services center yet to open, however, students must travel to South Campus, where Michael Hall currently provides prescription refills, pharmacy services and over-the-counter medications.

Hamluk says the Maple Road location remains an important part of his vision, one that places student health and recreation at the forefront.

“As I have stated before, the health and wellness of our students and campus community continues to be one of my top priorities,” Hamluk said. “This new modern facility is an important next step in providing a higher quality of care to the students we serve.”

Email:kyle.nguyen@ubspectrum.com

What has the Student Association spent its $4.6 million budget on?

Spirit Week, Winter Gala bring out students, cost SA thousands JULIE FREY SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Every semester, UB’s more than 20,000 undergrads pay a $109 “student activity fee” that goes straight to the Student Association.

The fee helps fund extracurricular activities, student events like Fall and Spring Fest and finances necessary SA — UB’s undergraduate student government — services like legal fees. There are roughly 21,467 undergraduate students enrolled at UB; the SA has an annual budget of approximately $4,679,806.

In the fall, SA held several events from psychic fairs to Winter Gala, which comprised a total of $239,831.70 — 5% of the budget — according to the SA’s General Ledger.

SA chief of staff Will Eaton said in an email to The Spectrum approximately 7,391

students — 34.5% of undergrads — have attended SA events in the fall and early spring semester.

Eaton says student attendance counts for outdoor events may be slightly inaccurate because “restricting [outdoor] access points is much more difficult” than restricting indoor access points. But SA does its best to comply with UB’s rules, Eaton says.

Eaton says the SA relies on different mediums — Instagram, email, flyers — to advertise upcoming events to the student body.

Here’s a list of some of the best-attended events from the last semester-plus: SA’s Annual Spirit Week reached 4,288 students, making it the organization’s most popular event. The week’s events included a car smash, a wing-eating contest and a mechanical bull ride, all of which culminated in SA’s Homecoming Carnival.

The weeklong affair cost $124,183.31.

Eight hundred fifty-eight students attended Halloween programming. The

events included pumpkin painting, a costume contest, a Halloween piñata and a psychic fair. The total cost of the Halloween event series was $9,338.59, with the psychic fair costing $8,198.59 of the total.

Labor Day weekend events brought out 690 students for laser lights shows, blacklight roller skating and a showing of “A Quiet Place II.” The weekend cost the SA $31,155.70.

SA hosted a succulent painting and games program in December for 539 students. These students received free succulents and had the opportunity to play SA-provided board games. The program cost $1,631.08.

SA’s annual Winter Gala marked its return from the pandemic in December with 320 students attending. The gala cost $33,699.75. The SA gained $7,100 in ticket sales.

SA sponsored a Ring of Fire pro-

spent $667.19 on the event.

A Valentine’s Day card-making event attracted 195 students and ran the SA $1,258.39 on card-making materials and flowers.

SA hosted a psychic night in November which cost $7,842.96 to host. One hundred ninety-three students attended the program.

The undergraduate student activity fee has increased $4.25 since 2019. Last year, students initially voted to make the fee voluntary, before electing to make it mandatory during a referendum held during the SA e-board election.

SA President Nicholas Singh announced in mid-February that Spring Fest will have three shows this semester — a first small show, featuring a Spanish/Caribbean artist; a second small show, featuring country or electronic dance music; and a main show, featuring rap/trap artists.

where multiple bonfires were set around campus and students were provided with snacks. SA brought out 308 students and

Email: julie.frey@ubspectrum.com

gram during Welcome Weekend

SA’s

Jiayi Zhang / The Spectrum fall expenditures by event

ubspectrum.com

OPINION

Wednesday, March 9 2022 | 3

Don’t let your horse get too high Toxic liberalism and how it works against the cause

REILLY MULLEN EDITOR IN CHIEF

There is no single physical description to connect groups that share the same political beliefs, but I think I’ve gotten pretty damn close.

My fuschia hair and septum ring scream “bleeding-heart liberal,” and my Instagram stories extolling the virtues of social justice largely back up that claim.

I believe in bodily autonomy and background checks. I think strong social justice programs mitigate homelessness and poverty, and I am passionate that everyone should have the right to express their identity.

And passion breeds the desire to speak out, which can often lead to some uncomfortable and combative conversations.

“Google is free” is a phrase I’ve stumbled across in posts and social media comment sections countless times. Leftists often use it to dunk on their proverbial enemies, using it to respond to those they disagree with or simply don’t want to engage with online, as if to say, “How much of an idiot do you have to be to not know

X, Y and Z?” Sure, it’s not wrong. Google is free, and many of us who feel impassioned by social justice are often quick to research issues we aren’t familiar with. But this phrase isn’t used to scold other progressives, and it isn’t used to rebut hard-line conservatives either.

This is a response mainly reserved for redirecting questions, often posed by those who linger in the middle.

Needless to say, I don’t like it. I’ve often seen “Google is free” used as a shield, protecting its user from whatever uncomfortable question has been shot their way, whether it’s a request for more information about their experience, or a different point of view. It allows users to escape having to explain their opinion, and, even more dangerously, dissolves them of any responsibility to defend their claims or educate those they believe are ignorant to their woes.

It can be tiresome to constantly advocate for yourself and others, and discouraging to be met with ignorance on topics you feel strongly about. Each opposing or derogatory comment can chip away at your confidence.

But with sharing your opinions and experience comes the responsibility to stand by your words and take accountability for your actions. The internet isn’t a void you can shout into to relieve stress anymore.

Each comment, each post, each TikTok or Tweet carries weight and with it, the responsibility to educate those around you.

And referring those who disagree with you to Google isn’t the patronizing shot

you think it is. Those who are steadfast and wanted to resort to character attacks in their beliefs do not waver easily. After and name calling. But that is always counyears of consuming self-affirming media terproductive, and if you are not prepared and isolating in algorithmic bubbles, peo- to have these conversations, sharing your ple’s beliefs melt into their personas. It is opinion and refusing to elaborate only only with kindness, patience and facts that serves to stir the pot.

I know it can be off-putting when someone might start to stray from their norm.

Refusing to be vulnerable and meet your one questions your position. It is normal enemy on equal ground only serves to em- to be defensive when someone challenges bolden their belief that they are right, and you, especially on topics you’re passionate about. But questions do not automatically that you are stupid.

But how are you supposed to be vulner- equate to criticism. Demanding that othable and understanding to someone you ers do their own research will often only push them to do the opposite. disagree so vehemently with?

Online discourse will always be messy.

You try to understand why they think Without the social cues present in inthe way they do.

Every person is unique and our opin- person conversations, they can quickly diions and ideologies are shaped by our vulge into screaming matches. Even writinteractions and experiences. I hate Bud ing this, I know some will say I’m making Light Lime because I grew up listening excuses for the ignorant and it’s not their to my dad constantly say, “You don’t put job to educate people. But by posting, you fruit in beer.” These negative associations make it your job.

Remember, the world is nuanced. can embed themselves into our brains and Insinuating someone is stupid will never spread like a hateful virus, infiltrating each get them to join your side. Don’t let your and every thought we have.

But the opposite of hate is not more horse get too high, and remember, the hate. Meeting your enemy with compas- conversation is always worth having. sion and grace is the only way to foster an environment for healthy debate.

Email: reilly.mullen@ubspectrum.com And it’s f—ing hard.

It is infuriating to debate with the other side, to hear ignorant statements and hypocritical arguments. I can’t count how many times I’ve engaged @cameroncitoo on Twitter in debates online

How to take a compliment Because you deserve it

SOPHIE MCNALLY ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

“Ahh you look so pretty in that dress.”

“You really make me laugh.”

“I’m proud of you.”

I would shake my head, spin my fingers around my necklace and softly exhale.

I could never really take a compliment.

They made me writhe in my skin.

Half-turned smiles starved of oxygen, subtly frantic hands cracking each knuckle — for so long, that was my automatic reflex to any form of praise or acclaim.

My response to a compliment came in the form of pressing against my bathtub’s surface, my feet yielding to its white glare and knees clutched just beneath my chin so I could feel the tears mold to my jawline before they dropped to my kneecaps below. I just liked being suspended there, water tracing my outline. I didn’t have to think. Not about my day. Not about any

of the misconceptions people had of me.

Not about the silver drain in front of me.

And I did this all because someone said they thought I was kind hours before.

So why did praise for everyone else flow out of me, but praise for myself seemed to stutter and turn to drought?

If there’s anything I’ve learned in the last few years, it’s that you have to shower yourself with compliments first, not wash them away with lukewarm water and tightly scrunched eyelids.

And, here’s the tough part: you have to actually accept them. With conviction.

Not as lies, polite niceties or pity points.

But as the truth — the genuine love you deserve to receive.

As weird as it may sound, compliments don’t come easy. Modesty was a quality always stressed to me, the British stiff upper lip and my own self-consciousness translated into a humility that made virtually every positive thing said about me feel like an attack on my entire being.

I wasn’t able to mirror my self-worth in the words that spilled out of my friends’ and families’ mouths so freely, and so I felt this river of praise pertained to just about everyone else in the room but me.

I’d reduced myself to the metal that coated their private mirrors, only there to reflect the kind words they said back to

them. That was the only thing that made sense to me. Why else would they want to say those things? No matter how sincere they were and how much they should have meant to me.

Countless encounters like this made me decide to make a change. I was going to actively try and take what caring things people said about me as gospel. Something to genuinely believe in, and not brush off in the subtle self-loathing that traced my lips.

Immediately, I ran straight into another problem: arrogance.

It made self-love that much harder to grapple with. The road to me actually believing I was worth what people said I was was filled with the usual red lights of self-doubt and was now also littered with egotistic-shaped potholes.

I was at war with myself.

I would fluster and redden over remarks as simple as “good job.” The delicate balance between trusting my peers’ words and soothing concerns over my self-conceit seemed like it was out of my reach.

I would still stumble my way through “thank yous” and hugs, desperately looking for a way to communicate their beauties without instinctively dimming mine.

I still do that from time to time.

But embracing the fact that you are beautiful, strong, kind, intelligent and funEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

WEDNESDAY MARCH 9, 2022 VOLUME 70 NUMBER 17 CIRCULATION: 3,000

Do you have an interest in journalism, graphic design, photography, social media, advertising, cartoons or copy editing? The Spectrum is always looking for enthusiastic students who want to be part of our team. Join our 45-time award winning independent student newspaper for hands-on, realworld experience in your field.

Anyone interested in joining The Spectrum’s editorial staff can email Reilly Mullen at: eic@ubspectrum.com.

The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Opinion section 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 news@ubspectrum.com. 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.

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Reilly Mullen MANAGING EDITORS Justin Weiss Dan Eastman, Asst.

NEWS/FEATURES EDITORS Grant Ashley, Sr. Jack Porcari, Sr. Julie Frey, Sr. Kayla Estrada, Asst.

Kyle Nguyen, Asst.

ARTS EDITORS Alex Falter, Sr. Kara Anderson, Sr.

ny — anything you want to be, really — is nothing to ever be ashamed of. Owning that pride in who you are is such a radiant thing, and speaks to how lovely and bright your character truly is.

It definitely takes work, but small steps outside of compliments make a big difference.

Dedicated mornings that transform the mirrors you once reflexively glanced away from into an anchor of self-assurance, or gentle affirmations when you act out of frustration or embarrass yourself that little slip-ups are human and certainly don’t define you. Even if it means doing something as simple as hanging sticky notes on your door to remind you that you’re enough and people can tell you just as much.

Though this process can be daunting, and it won’t fix itself overnight, just know that these small steps are one day going to be those big leaps you look back on and smile at.

I’m still learning how to unapologetically take a compliment, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve already grown from that girl in the shower, and I’m excited to see who she grows into next.

Accepting and enjoying compliments isn’t an act of self-servance. It’s an act of self-liberation.

Email: sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com

SPORTS EDITORS Anthony DeCicco, Sr. Sophie McNally, Asst.

Kayla Sterner, Asst.

MULTIMEDIA EDITORS Sabrina Akter-Nabi, Sr. Sai Krishna Seethala, Sr. Moaz Elazzazi, Asst.

ENGAGEMENT EDITOR Jenna Quinn, Sr. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Paolo Blanchi, Sr. Jiayi Zhang, Asst.

COPY EDITOR Andrew Lauricella

OPINION

4 | Wednesday, March 9 2022

Travel while you’re still young There’s so much to see, but such little time

ALEX FALTER SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

As a college student, it can become easy to forget what lies beyond my home state of New York.

At this age, I’ve spent most of my life on two sides of it: Buffalo and Westchester. Bouncing between these two regions over the past four years has sometimes given me a false sense of having “seen it all.”

But then I look at a map of our country.

And I cannot believe my eyes.

I am reminded that despite the fame our titular city holds, New York is such a miniscule portion of the U.S. and I have barely even scratched its surface.

That was true at least until last summer, when a friend of mine announced he was

moving to New Orleans for a year.

Like an epiphany in the night, I knew one thing for sure: I would likely never have the opportunity to attend the famed Mardi Gras festival without the worry of a hotel or navigating the vast city again.

I just had to take advantage of it.

Now of course, this was not the first time a group of friends and I have pulled out ambitious plans for a vacation. And I worried, like most of those other times, that we would fail to formulate a plan.

But this could not be like those other times, I told myself. It would not. We had a perfect setup and my friends and I knew we had to take this trip or lose the opportunity forever.

I’m so glad we embraced that opportunity.

Yes the festival itself was great, along with loud music, millions of beads and $25 gallon daiquiris.

But that was not the highlight. As soon as I got there, I realized that nothing had me more excited than simply seeing a different part of the world. I hadn’t traveled past Pennsylvania since 2017, and the feel-

Lesbian loneliness The unexpected mourning that comes with coming out

KARA ANDERSON SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

When I first realized I was a lesbian, a mounting weight lifted off my chest.

It was one that I hadn’t even known existed until it was gone, a crushing pain of knowledge that had laid out of reach for so long.

The lack of celebrity crushes, the indifference to high school boyfriends, the hesitation to go on second dates — it all suddenly clicked together. It wasn’t pickiness, or commitment issues, or some obscene dedication to my studies.

I simply didn’t like men.

There was a euphoria to it, this realization, the kind of settling bliss that comes with finding out who one truly is. Before, I didn’t know breaths could come so free-

ly, that my insides had been wound so tight, unconsciously tripping over this lack of attrac-

tion for years.

Yet, even as my body relaxed, as my mind settled into this identity, something gray and heavy trickled its way beneath my ribs and into my blood, a slow and steady poison.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, but it wasn’t one I was expecting: loss.

Amid this great discovery, I was grieving.

It was as though every image I had of my future, of my present, even bits of my past, severed itself from my new reality.

Gone were the days of flirting with boys at the beach. Gone was the ease of knowing my boyfriend would be invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Gone was the morning-after gossip about who kissed which boy at the previous night’s party.

Without even knowing it, there was this whole world constructed around men, constructed around being attracted to and attracting men. For years I had been a part of this world, participating in it happily with my friends and family.

And just like that, I could no longer access it.

Shame swelled at the pit of my stomach.

If I didn’t like men, why did it hurt so

The perpetrators in the arena It’s time to hold athletes accountable for their gross abuses of power

KAYLA STERNER ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

As I sat on the frozen seats of Heinz Field, ecstatic to attend my first game in Pittsburgh, my mood darkened.

It was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s last game in the 412, and I wasn’t mentally prepared.

I could barely handle it when the stadium erupted into applause as a yellow sea of Terrible Towels and fans screaming “thank you Ben” overlayed the infamous “Renegade” by Styx.

Anger coursed through my blood as the feminist in me couldn’t help but feel guilty for supporting a team that allowed an accused rapist to lead them to 15 consecutive winning seasons.

I am so sick of teams putting wins before morality. How can you call someone like Ben Roethlisberger a “hero” or a “legend?”

Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault in 2008 and 2012 yet still enjoyed a mostly positive reputation thanks to his Hall of Fame-worthy statistics. But, his stats aren’t what we should care about.

How and why did we let this man go from an accused rapist to a football icon?

Why did we let his past vanish to enable his rise to stardom?

More importantly, why do we keep allowing this to happen in every area of professional sports?

NBA icon Kobe Bryant allegedly raped a 19-year-old girl back in 2003. Her blood was found on him and there was a warrant out for his arrest, yet he was able to convince the media he was innocent based in part to the talent he brought to the court.

Due to harassment and threats, the victim decided not to go through with the case, but that doesn’t mean a jury exonerated Kobe of his charges. When I decided to post about this contradiction on Instagram, I received a lovely DM: “Think fore you post some dumb ass s—t like this” [sic].

As if this is a “dumb” situation.

As if I was making it up.

NHL all-star Patrick Kane, a Buffalo native, was accused of rape back in 2015 by a woman he had met at a nightclub. Nothing came out of that because the judge claimed there was reasonable doubt and that Kane “never acted like a guilty man.”

The New York state trial judge also canceled the grand jury presentation of evidence, meaning neither side had the opportunity to present their arguments with proof. Kane says he “never did anything wrong.”

Every time I hear someone praise an athlete accused of assault, I feel my teeth

ubspectrum.com

ing of the unfamiliarly warm air alone felt like I had been freed from the confines of daily life.

Walking through the neighborhood to see trees far different from my own, reunite with friends I hadn’t seen in oh-so long and enjoy some of the best meals of my life, I felt like I was home, despite it being my first time in a city I’ll likely never return to.

That’s not to say I didn’t like the city. I loved it. But being somewhere different made me realize how fast time really flies, and just how little time we have left to see all the world has to offer.

I do not want to spend my whole life in the comfort of my home. I never did.

But not until I took the first step forward to see this particular city was I able to unlock the motivation to pursue this goal. I got a taste of the world beyond New York, and I knew I wanted more. I needed to do whatever I could to get more.

That’s because sometimes it takes more than an idea to get a ball rolling. Sometimes it takes a little push.

So I say to you dear reader, quit thinking about how life could be. Quit living with regrets about what you have done in the past.

Go give yourself that push, and open your mind up to a whole new world of excitement.

It doesn’t have to be a famous city. Hell, there doesn’t even have to be a special occasion. Whether it be a bustling Friday in Tokyo, or a cornfield-filled Tuesday in Iowa, get out of your comfort zone. With the right people, and the perfect blend of plans and flexibility in your adventure, you’ll find yourself more comfortable than you ever were in your bed at home.

Better yet, you’ll soon find yourself hankering for another adventure after the previous has ended, sparking an awesomely insatiable desire to see the world and the different experiences that inhabit its many different cultures and peoples.

But you must go now. As we grow older, responsibilities will stack on top of each other. We will not be free to do whatever we want, when we want to. Even the times we do travel, we may have more things to worry about while still trying to have fun.

This is why you must travel now. Do not wait, or the regrets you have now will only be tenfold in the decades to come. Enjoy the world while you’re young, and enjoy it as much as you possibly can.

much to lose this part of life?

Was I actually a lesbian if I so badly missed being included in this world of men?

The swirling mix of shame and mourning plagued my conscience for days on end, eating away at every thought it could.

There was no one to turn to — I hardly had any other queer friends at the time, and not a single one of them was a lesbian.

I was isolated, alone in this bubble crafted outside the space of desiring men.

I wasn’t ready for this peripheral existence.

Even today, months after coming to terms with my sexuality, I still haven’t fully stopped grieving. The deep ache is less constant than it was before, but it still pulsates every once in a while.

I feel a tug at my heart when my mom and I are deciding which rom-com to watch and the couples are only heterosexual.

There’s a heaviness when I have to explain to my cousins for what feels like the millionth time, that no, I will never consider having a boyfriend.

There’s a strain when I hear the words, “I can turn you straight,” after telling a man I’m not interested on the account of being gay.

I’ve learned to be OK with my grief, to not let it consume me, but to let it roll in

and out like the tides of the ocean.

Being a lesbian is hard.

I wasn’t mourning men, I was mourning a life of less challenge.

Of course you are going to be upset when you realize that who you are, an identity that can hardly be chosen, will not always be accepted by others. That your grandmother won’t understand that loving a woman is just as fine as loving a man.

That kissing in public or holding hands with one another won’t always be safe.

How could I not grieve?

These were not shameful feelings.

Yes, it feels f—ing fantastic to be out and proud, to exist in this spectacular community of other queer people.

But it’s also terrifying and lonely.

So don’t stop yourself from feeling these emotions, from allowing yourself to mourn the life you envisioned.

Don’t let the sadness consume you.

Cradle it, nurture it, be kind to it.

This is part of you, part of your identity, as much as the euphoria of being true to yourself is.

Coming out is not always pretty.

Don’t ignore the bad parts just because they’re ugly or unexpected — they’re just as important.

Accepting them is accepting yourself.

chatter and my temperature rise. I bite my tongue to avoid the backlash that will inevitably come if I open my mouth.

But I’m done being quiet. It’s time to start holding athletes accountable for what they do outside of the stadium.

Sadly, more often than not, these cases reflect a “he said, she said” scenario, and all too often the woman’s statement is undervalued, the man is believed and the woman is attacked by internet trolls who claim she is making up her allegations to “ruin his career” or “steal his hard-earned money.”

Why is it so hard for people to accept that these athletes are capable of such heinous acts when, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, an American is raped every 68 seconds?

I’m tired of victim-blaming. In no way, shape or form are women (or men) doing anything that would warrant being raped.

Step into the victim’s shoes for one minute and think about the trauma that was inflicted upon them.

What if that was your mother, sister, daughter or niece?

I am sick of hearing the inhumane actions that are unwillingly forced upon women, and I am fed up with the way the media refers to these survivors.

Why are the women referred to as accusers, and not victims or survivors? Why is the perpetrator only noted as an athlete?

The “accuser” phrasing unconsciously puts this notion of doubt in our mind, leading to toxic and inconsiderate media portrayal that undoubtedly enhances rape culture and deters women from reporting.

Studies — in research journals ranging from the Journal of Criminal Justice to the Journal of Sports and Social Issues — have shown that male athletes tend to be more aggressive than their non-athlete peers, and male socialization does not help counter that. On average, men are socialized to be more aggressive, competitive and to withhold weakness.

Sports such as football and hockey are known for vigorous behavior by athletes during the game. Those who participate in such athletic endeavors are at greater risk for concussions, and repeated head trauma quite literally changes the way an athlete’s brain works.

Despite this knowledge, professional organizations don’t have the adequate measures in place to help or discipline these athletes, which results in a cycle of misbehavior and violence, usually directed at women.

As a survivor, it hurts like hell to see men get away with their violent actions time and time again due to their athletic talent. We shouldn’t care if the perpetrator has two Super Bowl rings, five NBA titles or three Stanley Cups.

Your accomplishments do not equal entitlement, and they certainly do not equate to consent. We must stop forcing the narrative that “boys will be boys.”

Stop setting the precedent that your actions do not matter as long as you’re an athlete. Teach men to be respectful.

Believe women, and stand with them. #MeToo

Email: alex.falter@ubspectrum.com

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UKRAINIANS FROM PAGE 1

ones brought about by the invasion has left her and other students in similar circumstances: drained. Tyminska called for patience from university faculty for students touched by the ongoing war.

“After the first night of hearing the news, I started crying, I won’t lie. Everything became a blur,” Tyminska said. “Eventually, I started to notice that I haven’t been keeping up with my assignments simply because the stress is making me forget everything and constantly turning on the phone to follow the news.”

Tyminska says that it would be helpful for professors to create a support system for affected students, though she understands the rigors of classes require students to “be on top of it.”

“Yes, we have to be [on top of our schoolwork] and we are all trying our best,” Tyminska said.

Tyminaska, Adam and Hawuczuk are all members of Friends of Ukraine, a student organization representing Ukrainian voices on campus. Since the outbreak of the conflict, the group has held rallies on campus to garner support for Ukraine as civilians overseas attempt to navigate the crisis.

The first rally, held on Feb. 27, featured community speakers and table space for garnering signatures for petitions and pre-written letters imploring U.S. lawmakers and the international community for a stronger response, including the enactment of a no-fly zone above Ukraine and a ban on Russia from SWIFT, a global financial network essential for bank transfers.

Since then, the European Union has agreed to a partial ban of Russian banks from SWIFT that will go into effect on

March 12. But enacting a no-fly zone over Ukraine remains contentious with the U.S. and NATO. A second rally held on March 6 raised money through raffles, donations and bracelet sales that is being used to send humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Ukraine.

Assistant political science professors Collin Anderson and Shawn Donahue were featured alongside community organizer Bohdan Cherniawski and UB alum Antonina Bandrivska to discuss the latest updates on the crisis and continue to advocate for a no-fly zone to be enforced over Ukraine.

Donahue spoke of his partner, Olena, who is currently stranded in Ukraine.

“We were planning on going to Spain during the spring break,” Donahue said.

“Of course, that’s not going to happen anymore.”

Donahue projected a presentation above the Student Union lobby that displayed snapshots of the couple’s memories together as he spoke.

A Ukrainian citizen of Kyiv, Donahue says his partner fled to the countryside in hopes of staying out of reach from the ongoing missile strikes and shelling as visa requirements restrict her from crossing into the U.S. Donahue used the sky to compel rally attendees to empathize with Ukrainians.

“Look outside at the blue sky… you may see some clouds, you may see some other things,” Donahue said. “But if you’re in Ukraine and you look up at the sky right now, you’re not thinking of the blue sky.

You’re thinking of missiles, bombs and other things coming out of the sky that may kill or dismember you and your family and friends.”

Moaz Elazzazi / The Spectrum A protester holds up a sign reading “Glory 2 Ukraine” during a pro-Ukraine rally outside of City Hall last week.

He paused to look back at the towering image of his distant companion and turned back to the crowd.

“Just be grateful that you can look up in the sky and know that there’s nothing coming out of that sky that’s going to kill you,” he said.

After consecutive days of relentless rallying and campaigning in the wake of the invasion, Hawuczyk, the president of Friends of Ukraine, maintains that the “overwhelming amount of support in the campus community” has been a northern star helping navigate the tribulations of the situation.

“I’ve had friends that I haven’t talked to since freshman year come up to me and ask me how I’m doing, how my family is,” Hawuczyk said. “There’s still love in the UB community.”

With the two-week clip approaching marking the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hawuczyk shared words of renewed conviction, as well as a message of sympathy

for Russian students at UB. Hawuczyk says the conflict in Ukraine is a wider pushback against autocratic rule, citing responses from the international community and from within Russia itself.

More than 4,640 Russian anti-war protesters have been detained by police, according to a report by monitoring group OVD-Info over the weekend.

“We [Ukraine] have been constantly fighting for freedom and democracy, our whole entire existence. If you’re for freedom, for personal liberties, for personal rights and democracy, you should stand with Ukraine, Russian citizens and the city of Moscow,” Hawuczyk said.

“They knew that they were going to get detained and possibly arrested, but thousands of Russian citizens stood up to the oppressive regime against Putin. That itself speaks volumes.”

Email: kyle.nguyen@ubspectrum.com

‘It’s all falling apart’ Antonina Bandrivska prays for the safety of her family in Ukraine while continuing with graduate school KAYLA ESTRADA ASST. NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

Antonina Bandrivska, a graduate student studying biology, has recently become best friends with sleep deprivation. Endless nights and tired days have become an essential part of her being since Feb. 24.

While Bandrivska exhaustededly wakes up to the sounds of her alarm clock each morning, her family continues to wake up in war-torn Ukraine, which has been tormented by the sounds of screaming and explosions for the past two weeks.

Bandrivska immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine at 16, over six years ago. However, her immediate family — including her dad, siblings, aunts, cousins and nieces — and many of her closest friends still live in Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since 2014 — but in the midst of a direct confrontation since Feb. 24.

Bandrivska’s life has been poisoned with

risk.”

Bandrivska talks with her father, who is still living in the Ukranian capital of Kyiv, daily in an effort to ease her anxious mind.

But their once normal phone conversations, filled with life updates and laughter, have morphed into once-a-day check-ins, to make sure her dad is still safe.

“I talk to my dad everyday, just to ask the daily, ‘Hey, are you OK?’” Bandrivska said. “Not that anyone could be OK right now, but I ask anyway. My hometown is near some small towns that have just been bombed, so I worry about him a lot. Our talks are usually just about war, war, war, war, war and that can be exhausting — but it’s still important to talk.”

Bandrivska’s concerns for her father don’t stop at bombings and explosions.

They also extend to his ability to access the resources he needs to live.

“I’ve heard some things saying that there is a shortage of food in my hometown, people are forced to scavenge to stay alive,” Bandrivska said. “It’s so terrifying.”

While Bandrivska remains in constant contact with her father, some of her other family members living in Eastern Ukraine are not as easy to reach, due to damages to

Today it is Ukraine and my family, but tomorrow it could be yours. anxiety and constant concern for the safety of her family, but she says she continues to push through it by attending her classes and spreading awareness of the conflict.

“Sometimes I try not to think about it,” Bandrivska said. “I have to push through and wake up to go to class. And when I think about it, it’s hard. It’s all just very emotional. I somehow have to get up and act like everything is normal. But it’s not.

It’s all falling apart. It’s too hard. But I do it anyway. Almost my whole life is there in Ukraine and people are walking around campus like everything we love isn’t at

the infrastructure caused by the war.

“Everything depends, geographically, on how my family is doing,” Bandrivska said. “We haven’t heard from my family in Eastern Ukraine because the war has taken out a lot of the internet for a while, so we aren’t always able to get into contact with them.”

On the occasions Bandrivska has heard from her family in the eastern part of the country, they have expressed that their living conditions are dangerous and concerning. Bandrivska’s cousins have talked to her about seeking asylum in basements

Courtesy of Antonina Bandrivska Antonina Bandrivska poses for a photo in Ukraine, where she was born.

and not coming out for days at a time.

“Some of my family has had to go into neighbors’ basements and these aren’t what Americans think of when they hear the word ‘basement,’” Bandrivska said. “It isn’t the same. In Ukraine, the basement is some dark room where you keep your potatoes, they normally have lots of mold and aren’t finished or comfortable. My cousin is staying in one right now and she worries about how she might get sick because her breathing isn’t the best. She just stays down there with a flashlight. A lot of the televisions don’t work, and she waits for it all to be over. It’s just quite scary.”

Bandrivska’s family continues to prepare for the worst.

“My family has been learning to make [molotov] cocktails” — glass bottles filled with flammable liquids that can melt or set tanks on fire — “and training just in case, God forbid, something does happen and they need to fight to defend themselves,”

Bandrivska said.

But Bandrivska is over 4,000 miles away from her home country, which means she can best help by spreading awareness and telling her story.

“I want people to know about my family and not just our strength, but also Ukraine’s strength,” Bandrivska said. “We need students to go out and sign petitions, write letters to politicians, or help ship supplies. Please, I feel helpless from this far away too, but there are things we need to do. Today it is Ukraine and my family, but tomorrow it could be yours.”

Bandrivska continues to advocate for a peaceful end to the war, so that her family can wake up to the sounds of an alarm clock rather than the sounds of screaming.

“We need to pray for everyone, including our enemies and just hope for peace,” Bandrivska said.

Email: kayla.estrada@ubspectrum.com

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Buffalo Esports brings UB gamers together

Club and varsity-level teams compete with collegiate gamers across the world JACK PORCARI SENIOR NEWS/FEATURES EDITOR

SOPHIE MCNALLY ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

ith the lights off and headphones plugged in, the low hum of the monitors sing as projected live stream feeds illuminate the faces of UB’s Esports team Buffalo Esports houses two levels of gameplay: club level and varsity level, which was elevated from club status in 2020. At the club level, members can participate in intercollegiate conferences and casual competition at UB for games like “Super Smash Bros.” and “Rainbow Six Siege.” UB has four varsity teams, each of which play a different game in the Esports Collegiate Conference — “Valorant,” “Rocket League,” “League of Legends” and “Overwatch.”

The varsity team meets the criteria of a UB sports team, but without the same level of university support that a traditional sports team would receive. The team plays in UB-branded uniforms and participates in competitions against rival Mid-American Conference schools, but becoming a full-fledged UB sport has been an uphill battle.

“It’s just kind of like a sport, you know?

Some people hit ruts in sports and they feel like they kind of plateaued a little bit,” sophomore psychology major Corey Fleck said. “If you still have fun with the game, keep trying.”

While Buffalo Esports is still in its infancy, UB Student Life has fought long and hard to pioneer the professionalization and destigmatization of universitylevel gaming.

“It’s the gravitas that they’re still trying to develop and earn,” Interim Esports Director Michael Yates said.

Students have been meeting on campus to game since the 2010s, with organizations like UB Smash Club accepting members with passion for the game, not only talent. These clubs now operate under the UB Student Gaming Association, which is overseen by Buffalo Esports.

“Now it’s a whole brand,” former UB Smash Club president and current player Matt Welch said. “We can now see a range of top-tier competitive teams entering — and in some cases dominating — the Esports Collegiate (ESC), to beginners who’ve never even heard of a K/D [kill/ death] ratio.”

“Every team has its own identity,” Yates said, highlighting the vast gaming library UB boasts for students of all skill levels.

Finding one’s place among this whirlwind of rainbow keyboards, retro controllers and ergonomic chairs can seem overwhelming, with over 500 students linked to the esports nexus, over 2,400 discord members and 35 students playing for the varsity teams.

But students still say they feel that esports are under-advertised at UB. “I didn’t even know UB had an esports

team until my friend was the president, that’s the only reason I knew,” Decola said.

“I always get messages all the time from people. They’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even notice this existed.’ I think it’s a big problem.”

Yates echoed this sentiment during an interview with The Spectrum, “Esports is still the wild, wild west of ‘how do you navigate that right now?’”

Just like any other sport, esports needs widespread governance and regulation.

On April 13, 2019, the NCAA declined to incorporate esports into the collegiate sporting sphere. The absence of the renowned governing body leaves the MidAmerican Conference (MAC) with no choice but to employ an LLC to oversee the participants.

Esports “is so multifaceted and huge,” Yates said.

The plethora of available games also poses another deterrent for the NCAA: standardization of rules and payment structures. Current college athletes have routine processes and clear contracts, a consistency that esports’ practice of personal branding and sponsorship obscures.

UB gamers experience this storm of sponsorship success and gaming victories on a daily basis, as they reach new heights with Buffalo Esports.

“I’d maybe go 2-2 on a best day, and then I would consistently make top eight and then I would consistently sometimes make top four, and now I’m a ranked player in Buffalo,” Fleck, a “Smash Bros.” aficionado, said. “I’m the fifth best player in Buffalo and then I’m the 11th best player in upstate New York.”

Both Fleck and Welch have individual sponsorships with 716 Esports and ZTDesports.

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum This month, students will have the opportunity to step inside the “Level Up” gaming lounge located outside Lockwood Library.

The “League of Legends” varsity team ranked eighth in the nation in spring 2021, and “for people who don’t know that space, that is amazing,” Yates said. Varsity “Overwatch” went undefeated in the SUNY league and placed fifth in the ESC League this season.

“Some players have gone on to high level if not professional level gaming, with sponsorships and money and coaching opportunities, like myself,” Welch said.

“To have your matches streamed in front of hundreds if not thousands of people is just an incredible feeling.”

These accomplishments aren’t domestically-bound, either.

“Overwatch” players stayed up until “like four or five in the morning” to partake in a virtual Korean-U.S. tournament last fall, Yates said.

Yet other schools, like the University of Akron and Miami-Ohio, have more prolific programs, facilities and funding for esports.

“Plenty of schools out there have curriculum related to esports,” Yates said.

Certain colleges are also actively looking for coaches, social media engagement, announcers and more. “Call of Duty” players can even expect “full-ride scholarships,” at some schools, according to Decola. Some schools even host esports in their honors college.

Players like Tyler Parenti, president of the UB Smash Club, say they want UB to provide adequate funding for esports.

“The biggest thing is finding money to get our name in. That was the original reason we left [the Student Association],” Parenti said.

Noah Wadhams / The Spectrum UB opened the Hadley Village Commons gaming lounge in March 2021.

“We put in a lot of time, and I feel like we do get overlooked a lot. We put in at least 20 hours a week… and we don’t get the perks that athletes do,” Decola said, echoing that sentiment.

The wavering university backing and lack of media coverage further solidifies that these players are overlooked.

“Our Monday match didn’t end up getting broadcast. That was probably the biggest match of the season,” Ethan Peeler, the varsity “Overwatch” captain, said.

But the players are hopeful that these issues will be resolved by the time the “LevelUp” gaming lounge located across from Lockwood Library opens later this month.

“We share the [Hadley gaming] lounge every week, which is kind of hectic at times, because we’re all screaming while we’re playing video games,” Decola said.

“So it’s gonna be good to have an extra space for us to branch out.”

Yates says that Buffalo Esports has engaged in talks with Microsoft to help establish analytical standards, while leveraging potential esports career opportunities.

The environment esports fosters for students is at the heart of everything Buffalo Esports does.

“We want competition. We also want community,” Yates said.

As soon as one steps into UB’s gaming areas, they can feel the pride and warmth that comes with being a part of this community.

“Anybody and everyone is welcome,” Parenti said.

Email: sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com Email: jack.pocari@ubspectrum.com

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Pencil sharpener turned retro icon: the ‘Future Nostalgia Tour’ The long-awaited concert gave fans everything a space voyager would have wanted SOPHIE MCNALLY ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

eon disco lights erupted into a glittery explosion of electric body form costumes and fitness instructors morphed into rollerbladers and catwalk extraordinaires at three-time Grammy award-winning artist Dua Lipa’s concert at KeyBank Center Saturday night.

The 15th-leg of Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia Tour” gave Buffalonians the singer’s best 1970s discotheque impression — transforming the concert experience with an intimacy that felt like concertgoers and their friends went clubbing with Dua Lipa by themselves.

Two years after her originally-scheduled Buffalo concert was canceled because of COVID-19, Dua finally hit the road to promote her 2020 “Future Nostalgia” album, and made sure to rectify past dancing faux pas along the way.

The “Future Nostalgia Tour” started off on a high-note in the Queen City with supporting act Lolo Zouai, who spent the night sharing in her birthday celebrations with the fans. The French native wowed with makeshift camcorder urban flicks that matched her melodic tone.

Her French-English lyrics melted into each other to create a captivating lullabyeesque atmosphere with dim pink lighting — epitomized through her bestseller “Desert Rose.”

The artist came equipped with new material too, debuting her November 2021 single “Scooter” on the main stage. She transformed her chill lulls into an energized bass as the sparsely attended crowd finally matched her bounce toward the end of the set.

Caroline Polachek’s set swiftly followed as listeners entered into her microcosm of surreality.

The singer’s vocals missed the mark with little audience reciprocity for her gothic sensuality and haunting warbles in songs like “Billions,” as her lyrics turned into slurs that sounded like another language.

But Polachek still pulled it back through more rock-oriented and upbeat songs like “Bunny Is A Rider,” and her global smash “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings,” which showcased her true ingenuity and the talent that belays it.

Dua, however, flipped the switch in audience reactions from the moment she stepped on the stage.

Dua introduced herself and her ensemble through promotional fitness class graphics that saw each member’s name cast in neon lights coupled with fuzzy headbands and luminous spandex — a perfect segway to usher in her opener: “Physical.”

Throughout her performance, Dua’s vocals stayed pitch-perfect, as though the

audience were in the physical recording studio with her and her polished tracks.

Even better, the staging consistently met the tone of each song and number she presented her adoring fans with.

Dua provided a somber rendition of “Boys Will Be Boys,” which hardened into a vibrant samba beat breakdown with flecks of breakdance battles and Gwen Stefani’s sampled floor-filler “Hollaback Girl.” This all happened beneath a lowered platform filled with strobe lights and reflective surfaces, just for good measure.

“Cool” saw the singer eclipsed by a giant glitzy disco-ball visual as two of her talented dancers got on their skates and kicked off the roller rink wonderland portion of the tour.

Circling Dua with pirouettes and a fluidity that was second-to-none, the dancers did this all while suspended from electric coloured wheels. This roller theme continued on periodically through the night — mimicking the feel-good “Levitating” music video.

The artist’s songs softened into each other with an impressive craftsmanship, as a high-energy azure-filled medley of Dua’s breakthrough songs “IDGAF” and “Be the One” preceded the audience being subtly submerged underwater with a comic strip battle turned on-stage lobster.

Moaz Elazzazi / The Spectrum Dua Lipa sings surrounded by dancers holding umbrellas at the KeyBank Center Saturday.

With numerous feature tracks on her album, the Studio 54-esque atmosphere could’ve easily gotten a little clunky. But Dua pulled through with live visuals of pop sensations Angèle and Elton John featured on “Fever” and chart-topper “Cold Heart.”

Dua gave the crowd mellowed imagery of wispy clouds, followed by genuinely beautiful moments as she and her ensemble sat down on the stage with a pride flag and shared impromptu hugs and smiles.

But not all the artists featured on the album were included.

The TikTok sensation “Levitating,” featuring Dua and DaBaby was cut (likely due to recent controversies surrounding the rapper), leaving listeners with the original solo version Dua released.

Despite missing another voice, the track was a highlight of the night as the artist literally levitated across the stage and over the crowd, illuminated by dangling stars and planets in orbit — reminiscent of Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road.

Her encore was as upbeat as ever with purple and green neon lights enveloping the walls and floors, as she finally graced the audience with the galactic track that inspired the entire album and tour aesthetic:

Moaz Elazzazi / The Spectrum Dua Lipa performs while standing in front of backup singers Saturday at the KeyBank Center.

“Future Nostalgia.”

The final song of the night, single “Don’t Start Now,” shook the entire venue with confetti cannons and elated fans shouting the lyrics from start to end, amid a wave of sky-high arms and feet in mid-jump.

It featured a deliberate dance break, watering the chorus down to just the funkfilled bass and a glimmering sheer black bodysuit, to put her 2018 “One Kiss” pencil sharpener meme to rights.

Other awkward moments did seep through the disco-filled cracks that Dua tirelessly crafted throughout the night.

From little audience interaction to lackluster transitions the visual aesthetics were meant to make up for.

But these moments were few and far between.

Ultimately, the concert was an absolute joy for all and Dua certainly delivered on everything that “Future Nostalgia’” set out to be — to resurrect carefree music.

Dua lit up KeyBank Center with hairflips and retro beats that made listeners grip their chest in unthinking lyrical ecstasy.

The only question is, how can the singing sensation level up from here?

Email: sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com

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Unglamorous: UB professor talks orchestral world tours and music in academia

UB music professor Jon Nelson inspires students with eclectic background ALEX FALTER SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

Jon Nelson has worn many hats in his day; he has performed in Broadway orchestra pits, presented musical masterclasses around the world and played with industry legends like Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Frank Zappa.

Now, Nelson uses his experiences to connect with students as a music professor at UB. “Every person has a story, and I try to find out what’s up with as many of my students as possible to hear what they have to say, like in the Zappa class [a class Nelson teaches at UB],” Nelson said. “We could have discussions. It wasn’t me lecturing in a large room. I like having the discussions and the feedback from just hearing what people have to say. I think that’s very interesting.”

These conversations around music began at a young age for Nelson, who was raised just outside of Boston by two music teachers. Their “really good record collection” all but ensured his lifelong love for song. “[My parents played] mostly classical music and jazz,” Nelson said. “When I was in middle school, my dad started taking me to jazz concerts. And then that got me started with having an appreciation for music and being present at all kinds of concerts.”

But this was only the beginning.

While finishing up his Bachelor’s of Music in classical trumpet at The Juilliard School in 1987, Nelson and a group of friends formed the Meridian Arts Ensemble.

Initially a classical brass quintet, Nelson and his cohort formed the group to perform music not played within their curriculums.

“There are very traditional routes that the institution expects the students to take, but we weren’t interested in any of those routes,” Nelson said. “We wanted to carve our own, so we got pretty serious about rehearsing a lot.”

Enter: the Concert Artists Guild Competition. Open to all classical musicians, Nelson and his band saw this as the vehicle to propel them out of the chamber music bubble. He and his bandmates managed to snatch second place in the 1989 competition from over 500 applicants and

went all the way to take home first prize in 1990.

Victory did more than just boost the group’s confidence, status and wallet. Winning the esteemed competition landed the ensemble a management deal, commission from a composer of their choosing and most importantly, a record deal.

What began as a plan to loosen the course restrictions at Juilliard earned the Meridian Arts Ensemble international success, allowing them to release their freshman album in the Netherlands and tour the globe from Europe to Latin America to Asia.

“It may seem glamorous, but it’s probably the most unglamorous thing that you could ever undertake,” Nelson said. “Because it’s a lifestyle. At that point it’s not a profession.”

Glamorous or not, touring the world presented unique limitations to Nelson and his band. Not only was his livelihood directly impacted by the number of people his band put into seats, he was in essence a nomad, traveling the globe without the securities that come with settling down in one place.

“Your income is directly tied with your ability to get people to pay you to come play a concert that depends on the music that you play and how you deliver it,” Nelson said. “I didn’t have my first salary until I was 29 years old. And we all lived handto-mouth being on the road. We could play 40 concerts in 40 different places over the course of 45 days, flying directly from Taiwan to Miami, getting off the plane in Miami in the morning and going to work immediately. You can’t really do it if you have a family and there’s no point in even having a mortgage because you’re not gonna be spending any time at home.”

But beyond the wear-and-tear of being on the road, Nelson says his goal was always to put on a good show.

“You don’t know the area. You don’t know what people are into. But if people are coming to your concert, they must be curious about something so you’ve got to feed that curiosity and give them something interesting,” Nelson said.

From their classical success, the group was able to branch out and dabble in different genres, covering artists like Jimi

Courtesy of Hannah Ahart Jon Nelson poses with his band, “The Genkin Philharmonic.”

Courtesy of Hannah Ahart Jon Nelson plays a trumpet.

Hendrix and band King Crimson. When Nelson received a Zappa cassette in the mail one day from his friend and nephew of famous conductor Leonard Bernstein, the group was entranced.

“The Meridians were on tour and we had a long drive,” Nelson said. “We put that cassette in and we listened to it over and over, six hours to the gig, six hours back. And when we got back, we looked at each other and said, ‘We gotta play this music.’”

This fascination granted The Meridians the opportunity to perform for Zappa twice, the second meeting while he lay on his deathbed just three weeks before dying of prostate cancer in December 1993.

“It was a really heavy moment. We played for him some of the new arrangements I’ve made, and then we said goodbye,” Nelson said. “And that was that. But even though we only met him twice, he had a big impact on the group and on me.

We became known as that classical group that Frank liked. As time goes on and as I get older, I realized what a nice thing he did. He didn’t have to do that.”

When Nelson joined the UB music department in 2000, he brought Frank’s philosophies with him and began teaching MUS 199: Frank Zappa, Media Bias & Censorship.

“When I first started teaching the class, people still read newspapers, online newspapers were not so big, there wasn’t Instagram or Facebook,” Nelson said. “I’d get four news articles on the same story and would bring them in but do a comparison and ask, ‘Why was this article written? Is there an agenda or slant?’”

As a professor, Nelson’s real-world experience has allowed him to serve as a

mentor for students entering the world of professional orchestral production.

“He’s played in so many ensembles himself,” associate professor Eric Huebner said. “He knows how to work with an ensemble and bring a program together. And unless you’ve really experienced that in the real world, [as a] better-working musician, it’s very hard to show that to the students.”

To music department chair Jonathan Golove, Nelson is a perfectionist, leaving no stone unturned in any project he works on. “[Nelson is] a kind of ‘get the job done’ guy. When he has an idea about something, he doesn’t need any hand holding at all, he’ll do the whole thing himself,” Golove said. “Not that he won’t involve other people in it. But you can be sure that he’ll look after the details. It’s one thing for somebody to have ideas. It’s another for them to drop the ideas in your lap and make it happen.”

Students like MBA candidate Andrew Hoke say Nelson’s devotion to growth has created a culture where class is something to look forward to.

“Jon has always worked on a ‘come as you are’ mentality,” Hoke said. “It didn’t matter if you were rusty or in top shape.

Jon would take you and only ask that you end the semester in a better place than you are now. Band was the highlight of the week, a place where I could express myself, meet new people and play challenging and fun music.”

With the music industry today, Nelson feels just as he says Zappa did when they first met: “I don’t think I’d want to be getting into the industry now.”

Email: alex.falter@ubspectrumn.com

10 | Wednesday, March 9 2022

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

ubspectrum.com

The

wondrous world of Joyce UB’s Special Collections acts as a focal point for academic tourism and research KARA ANDERSON SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

A trove of international literary treasure resides on the fourth floor of Capen Hall: A first edition copy of “Ulysses,” published by the famous Paris bookshop, Shakespeare & Company. Ten thousand pages of working papers. Irish Homestead, an early 20th century newspaper, which features the first published short story in the “Dubliners” series. Nearly anything and everything related to 20th century Irish author James Joyce.

And all of it can be found in the UB Libraries’ James Joyce Collection.

The James Joyce Collection exists as the largest collection of Joyce materials in the world. The collection began with a serendipitous encounter by Oscar A. Silverman, a former director of UB Libraries. While on sabbatical in Paris in 1949, Silverman happened upon the exhibition Exposition en Hommage à James Joyce, beginning the first of six installations that have shaped

Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum A portrait of James Joyce, an Irish novelist, poet and literary critic.

UNMASKED FROM PAGE 1

cases go low, and then we relax things, and then they go high again,” Micah said. “So I think it’s just going to keep following that same pattern.”

The mandate was lifted on Saturday due to “rapidly” falling caseloads in Erie County, UB’s high vaccination rate and the school’s testing program for the unvaccinated, Russo says.

Still, some students, like Wyatt Belanger, a freshman mechanical engineering major, felt that UB’s booster requirement and testing regiment should’ve been enough on their own.

But Krishna Sameer Poruri, a graduate student studying industrial engineering, felt that the end of the mandate came at “a good time.”

“I’m an international student,” Poruri said. “I came in from a place, [India,] where there’s a lot of cases, so you had to be careful for a while. Maybe the university wanted to observe how the cases were spreading [first].”

The Omicron wave peaked on Jan. 25 in India, less than a week before the start of the spring semester, according to The New York Times.

But rising caseloads — or even a new variant — are very real possibilities, potentially resulting in an increase in cases this fall and winter and the return of mask mandates, Russo said.

“Fingers crossed that we will continue to head in a good direction and cases will continue to fall,” he said. “The wildcard

the James Joyce Collection over the past 70 years. As the collection grew, so did its prominence in the academic world.

“You can’t tell the story of Joyce the writer without the collection here,” James Maynard, UB’s poetry collection curator, said. “It’s just too large, too comprehensive. It really does make Buffalo, if not the capital, then certainly one of the major capitals of Joyce studies.”

As the James Joyce Collection has cemented itself in the world of Joyce and Irish scholarship, it has attracted all kinds of international research; from translators in Japan, to Ph.D. students from Ireland and graduate students from India, to name a few.

“There is, I think, an effort on the part of the people who run the Special Collections to establish Joyce as a kind of intellectual tourist magnet here,” professor Joseph Valente, UB’s resident Joyce scholar, said.

In crafting the Joyce Collection as a necessary scholarship destination, those involved in Joyce studies at UB have made efforts to ensure the continual use of the collection.

For Valente, part of this promotion includes his creation of the Dr. John Bishop Memorial Scholar Fund, named after prominent Joyce scholar and UB alumnus John Bishop, who passed away in April 2020.

This scholarship, funded by Valente’s own personal assets, will be offered biannually to bring research scholars to the collection, and will help pay for expenses involved in visiting the collection, including travel.

“It’s not something you just drop by in,” Valente said. “It’s not like a local lending library. You can’t do research in the collection in that way.”

Challenges that occur with Joyce scholarship happen, in part, due to contensions is that, fingers crossed, some new variant doesn’t evolve that proves to be problematic and we once again head backwards, but I’m feeling optimistic that that’s not going to be the case, at least in the short term for the rest of the semester… We’re not completely out of the woods yet, but we’re on a good run.”

The end of UB’s masking requirements comes alongside loosening restrictions across the country. Stony Brook University ended its mask mandate March 2, according to The Statesman, and Binghamton University is reportedly considering a similar move according to The Pipe Dream.

Six Buffalo-area higher education institutions — including Buffalo State College, Niagara County Community College, Hilbert College, Houghton College, Daemen College and Canisius College — all preceded UB by announcing that they would no longer require masks.

The governor of Hawaii announced Tuesday that the island state would remove its mask mandate later this month, becoming the final U.S. state to do so, according to The Hill.

UB has 46 cases of COVID-19 and a .95% positivity-rate based on a 14-day rolling average as of Tuesday, according to SUNY’s COVID-19 dashboard. The oncampus positivity rate has not been lower since Dec. 20, 2021.

Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum The “Pirating Ulysses” display in Special Collections includes seven items relating to Samuel Roth’s unauthorized publication of Ulysses.

with the Joyce Estate and copyright limitations. As such, materials owned by UB cannot be made available through the internet, forcing scholars to be physically present in locations like Buffalo.

In trying to expand accessibility to the Joyce collection, Maynard and his colleagues have endeavored to create the James Joyce Museum in South Campus’ Abbott Hall.

“What the university has never had is a dedicated and proper museum space,” Maynard said. “So we’re hoping that this will begin to address that type of public space.”

The museum’s proposed plan would cost $13 million, which accounts for hiring a James Joyce curator, a preservation and acquisitions endowment, a programming and exhibitions endowment and the physical museum space.

With the museum space, Maynard hopes to encourage public accessibility to the collection, as well as widening the collection’s audience beyond academics.

“We’re very excited to be part of the renaissance that’s been happening, culturally, in Buffalo for easily the last 15 or 20 years,” Maynard said.

Residing in Capen 420, Maynard describes the collection as a focal point for humanities at UB with an emphasis on its intellectual value.

However, Valente notes that the collection operates differently than other aspects of the humanities.

“It’s like a glittering jewel and the English department is more like a workaday factory,” Valente said.

Still, the current James Joyce Collection is more than just a site for scholarship and research. The collection, composed of some of Joyce’s personal effects, including his cane, pen and eyeglasses, offers a chance to connect with Joyce, the person.

“It shows him as a father, as a husband and as a son,” Maynard said. “But it also shows how collaborative and social the activity of writing is… It was Joyce and his publishers [working on these texts], it was Joyce and his typist, it was Joyce and his colleagues and editors and collectors and patrons.”

The result of this environment, crafted around Joyce’s humanity as a person and an author, has engendered emotional responses to viewing the exhibit.

“I just always gravitate toward his passport, for whatever reason,” Scott Hollander, associate university librarian for administration and distinctive collections, said. “I find it fascinating, the fact that he touched it and he touched all this material.”

Hollander isn’t alone in this feeling of wonderment when interacting with the Joyce Collection. Maynard has noted that during his time as the poetry collection curator, personal objects of Joyce have brought visitors to tears, an experience he says is just as extraordinary to him as it is to others.

“I get goosebumps,” Maynard said.

“People sometimes say, ‘Does it ever wear off ? Do you ever not feel the magic?’ And the answer is, no.”

Email: kara.anderson@ubspectrum.com

Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum Students descend the Natural Sciences Complex stairs in masks.

Julie Frey contributed reporting to this story.

Email: grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com

Sabrina Akter-Nabi / The Spectrum Students packed One World Café Monday — two days after UB made masking optional for students on campus.

FEATURES

ubspectrum.com

Wednesday, March 9 2022 | 11

The nation’s first Black hockey coach still has a story to tell Ed Wright continues to inspire, 52 years after shattering the glass ceiling ANTHONY DECICCO SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

UB was a far different place in the ‘70s than it is today.

Racial tensions, violence and protests had spiraled as the UB men’s basketball team boycotted practice over alleged racial ignorance by its head coach.

The campus was a product of the time period it was in, and just three years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the nation was in social disarray.

This is the environment Ed Wright — a Black 1969 Boston University hockey standout — walked into when he was hired by UB to be its head hockey coach in 1970.

“It was definitely a turbulent time,” Wright told The Spectrum. “I definitely felt the racial intimidation both on and off the ice. But that was what I had to deal with.

The school had an opening for a hockey coach and they decided to give it to a Black man, so I took it.”

In doing so, Wright became the first Black hockey coach in NCAA history. He joined a hockey program in just its second season as a varsity sport and went on to lead the Bulls for 12 seasons, amassing a 138-155-7 record. Wright oversaw a program in its formative years and turned it into a formidable contender.

But it wasn’t easy for Wright, who was subjected to racial and homophobic slurs at both home and away games. Hockey was undoubtedly a “white man’s game” in the ‘70s, and both fans and officials harassed Wright and his players at every opportunity.

“The officials had a lot to do with it because they were not about to let a Black man be successful and they took it out on my players,” Wright said. “That’s one of the reasons why I love the players that I had. They learned some lessons about life because they were being pre-judged based on who I am. And I loved them for the fact that they were not going to put up with it.”

Wright recalls times when certain restaurants wouldn’t serve him and when opposing fans had to be roped off from his bench to prevent violence.

But having played hockey from a young age, Wright was used to verbal abuse.

Wright shared the ice with Japanese linemates — future Olympians Mel and Herb Wakabayashi — while playing for the Chatham Jr. Maroons in Chatham, Ontario.

He says the group “heard it all” from fans in the stands and opponents on the ice.

Even parents would chime in.

“I had lessons from the get-go,” Wright said. “We dealt with racial slurs all the time. Unfortunately, it became a regular part of life for a lot of us. But we learned a lot about others and a lot about ourselves from those life experiences. It wasn’t easy, but I learned how to get through a lot. I got stronger from it.”

stature.

“It’s got nothing to do with ‘I don’t like you or I dislike you,’” Wright said. “It’s the fact that I’m paying attention and I want you to be better than who you are.”

Seth Van Voorhis, an assistant coach on UB’s ACHA D-I club hockey team, met Wright a couple of weeks ago when the Chatham native was inducted into the UB Athletics Hall of Fame. Van Voorhis, also an undersized Black hockey coach, says Wright’s personality bleeds through his 5-foot-3 frame.

“He’s a very powerful person,” Van Voorhis said. “You can just see that in the way he carries himself. I think we’re about the same height, we’re [both] about 5-foot-3. But you wouldn’t be able to tell that because of the way he carries himself and how confident he is in everything that he does.

“The biggest thing he told me when I met him, he said, ‘Use love and tough love.’ You care for your players, you love your players, but then when it’s game time is when tough love kicks in and you’ve got to kick your guys in the rear.”

Wright stepped down from his head coaching position to earn his doctoral degree in 1981, but he reluctantly agreed to coach the team for a final year during the 1986-87 season.

Exhausted after years of fighting abuse and lackluster on-ice results, Wright called it a career after 12 seasons at the helm of the team. But this didn’t mean Wright’s career at UB was over.

A self-described “burnt-out, raving maniac,” by the end of his head coaching career, Wright remained with the school to help develop its recreation and intramural sports program.

The intramural program took off and Wright’s journey through UB culminated with a $220,000 donation by Tunney Murchie — a former player under Wright — to build the Edward L. Wright Practice Facility in Alumni Arena.

Commonly known as the “triple gym,” the facility features three basketball courts

Courtesy of UB Athletics Former hockey head coach Ed Wright looks on from the bench. Wright is the first Black collegiate head hockey coach ever.

and is the site of UB’s intramural basketball and volleyball games.

“The number of students that I touched with the program, I just laugh. It makes me feel so good,” Wright said. “It was all based on the fact that as an academic student, you’re there at the university. How can I get out one hour a week with my buddies, have a beer after playing a game of basketball, a game of tag football, and at the same time pretend I’m on a real sports team?”

Morgan Von Hedemann, the club team’s current head coach, says Wright has had an outsized influence on the university’s athletics program. “His legacy is outstanding,” Von Hedemann said, noting that he wishes Wright received more credit from UB.

‘Every day there are new lessons to be learned’

In the spring of 1987, UB discontinued hockey as a varsity sport and relegated it to the club level.

Disappointed in the decision to cut the

‘Tough love’

These experiences fueled Wright to become a tough, hard-nosed coach at UB. Despite standing at just 5-foot-3 and weighing 140 lbs., Wright earned a strong reputation and demanded the respect of his players’ respect by “kicking them in the ass.”

Wright had high expectations for the program he built from the ground up.

That’s why he scheduled games against powerhouses such as Colgate and Ohio State despite being a Division II program.

Wright had the ability to balance a “boot in their rear end” coaching style with a holistic approach, which allowed his players to see past the color of his skin and small

Courtesy of Paul Hokanson / UB Athletics UB Athletic Director Mark Alnutt (right) and former hockey head coach Ed Wright (left) stand onstage during the 2022 UB Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

hockey program, Wright decided to support the general student body through his involvement in intramural sports and recreation.

But 35 years later, he says he still isn’t pleased with the school’s decision.

Wright calls hockey “undoubtedly the most sophisticated sport that’s being played today.”

“It’s faster than fast and it’s all about life,” Wright said. “Because you’re thinking on your feet, things are happening at such an enormous speed. Decisions have to be made spontaneously. You don’t have time to sit down and write up a play or do this or do that. That’s the intriguing aspect of the game which is in accordance with what is going on in life. That’s the beauty of the sport. And that’s the reason why UB should be playing [NCAA] ice hockey.”

Wright, 77, now lives in Arizona — a far trek from the Queen City. He is a member of the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame and the UB Athletics Hall of Fame. He had a standout playing career at Boston University and will forever retainretains the distinguished honor of being the first Black head hockey coach in NCAA history.

Wright became a trailblazer and a pioneer during a time when hockey had outward racial stereotypes. But it’s not an achievement he brags about.

As somebody who wants to see the game become more equal, Wright calls being solely recognized as the first Black NCAA hockey coach “disconcerting.”

“Don’t let the color of my skin overshadow the content of who I am. Don’t let that overshadow my ability and my qualities,” Wright said.

As a retired hockey coach, administrator and teacher, Wright still looks back on his days in Buffalo fondly. He says he misses the time he spent actively working with students and shaping the country’s youth.

While he was a no-nonsense leader of men on the ice, he was also a loving teacher. As a man who experienced great trials and tribulations not just through the game of hockey, but throughout life, Wright says he feels he has a unique perspective to offer students.

But still, even at age 77, Wright is eager to grow and learn.

“I miss it [being at UB],” Wright said.

“People say, ‘Hey you’re retired,’ and I say, ‘This s—t ain’t easy.’ The beauty of being at UB was that every semester was a whole new group of students and new minds to work with. Now for me, it’s all about looking in the mirror and learning as much as I can while I’m still here. Every day there are new lessons to be learned.”

Email: anthony.decicco@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @DeCicco42

SPORTS

12 | Wednesday, March 9 2022

ubspectrum.com

‘This year is really special’ Softball eyes the MAC Tournament despite reduced field, recent failures KAYLA STERNER Ken Smith / UB Athletics Senior catcher Olivia Kincanon takes a hack during a game last season.

s a catcher, Olivia Kincanon has a view of the entire field.

But this season, she has her eyes set on something bigger: the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Kincanon, who hails from nearby Lancaster, NY, has spent four long seasons trying to become an impact player behind the plate. She’s had her highs — but also her significant lows.

Which is why this confident senior started to waiver when asked by The Spectrum about the possibility of making the conference tournament in her final season.

“I would get insanely emotional if we got [to] that point,” Kincanon said, her gaze turning momentarily serious. “I really think if that were to happen this year, you might see some tears. You might see me get emotional. It would mean a lot.”

UB’s softball program hasn’t enjoyed a lot of success historically, but 2022 may finally be the year the Bulls get back to the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2014. Through the first three weekends of the season, the team is 7-7 — not the best mark in the conference, but far from the typical losing record that has come to define the program. (It took the Bulls 12 games to pick up their first win in 2021.)

UB’s success this season is nothing to scoff at: the Bulls defeated a Power Five program in Penn State for the first time since 2014; picked up victories over multiple southern schools who have year-round outdoor practice facilities; and are receiving contributions from just about everyone in their lineup.

But it’s not just the on-field success that bears this out.

It’s also the camaraderie of this group of players.

“I think it’s knowing we have each oth-

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

JUSTIN WEISS MANAGING EDITOR

er’s back and the team chemistry,” Kincanon said when asked what is different about this year’s team. “This year is really special.

We’re always doing everything together.

Everyone is very close-knit. On the field, we have each other, but off the field, too.”

The Bulls love music, listening to everything from “old-time bangers to some old 2000s hits,” Kincanon said. Practice is a good case study in this: the first order of business is to crank up the volume on some motivational tunes.

But it’s not just these music sessions that get them going. “The van rides on the way there, even in the dugout, we’re all going around [to] each other, high-fiving, doing all that,” Kincanon said.

Alexis Lucyshyn, a junior pitcher from Calgary, Alberta, says the team’s morale has been “really good” this season. In sports, coaches often say that winning cures all. This may very well be the case for the Bulls, who seem rejuvenated after their early-season success. “[We’re all] competitive,” Lucyshyn said.

“Everyone’s ready to play. We’re focused and determined. Even during the week, coming to these practices, everyone is really ready to keep working. Having those wins on the weekend is pushing us to do better.”

Lucyshyn is the most valuable player on the team this season. She currently leads the Bulls in batting average, home runs, runs batted-in and hits. She also leads all pitchers in earned-run average, strikeouts and wins.

Not too shabby for the 2021 first-team All-MAC selection.

“Just keeping calm,” Lucyshyn said, when pressed about the keys to her success. “I know when I’m pitching in the circle, everyone’s there to do their part on defense. Staying calm during those at bats,

Ken Smith / UB Athletics Junior pitcher Alexis Lucyshyn is the team-leader in earned-run average, batting average and runs batted-in.

even those 2-0 [counts]. Just doing my part to help the team in any way.”

Mike Ruechel, the team’s fourth-year head coach, says he is impressed with what he has seen from his team in February and March.

“I think it’s important, not only to win, but to show growth from game to game,” Ruechel said in the Murchie Family Fieldhouse, UB’s indoor practice facility. “The whole preseason for us is developing to a point where we can be successful come conference time. We are at a little bit of a disadvantage going from inside [practicing at the fieldhouse] to playing the southern schools. To go down there to compete and win some games is a huge plus for us.”

The Bulls have enjoyed success for a number of reasons this season, including strong pitching — Lucyshyn, freshman Marissa Calloway and sophomores Martha Balthasar and Julia Tarantino all have subfour ERAs — good team defense — “the defense is now helping them [the pitchers] out,” Ruechel said — and clutch hitting.

But the word “confidence” was used more than any other to describe why the Bulls have had the success they have had against southern teams. It’s not only winning games this season that is turning heads; it’s that they’ve even been competitive in games they’ve lost.

“I think it’s a confidence thing,” Kincanon said. “They’re all going in there and having one heck of a season. The defense is helping too. They’re not afraid to throw it, because they know they have everyone behind them. Our bats are helping, too.”

Everything seems to be clicking at once, which is no coincidence. The Bulls attribute their success to hard work and proper player development, something they hope to put to the test next week in Lexington, KY, when they face SEC powerhouse

Kentucky.

“Skill-wise, these kids are developed,” Ruechel said about his team. “We’re getting some better players coming in. With the few transfer kids, it kinda helped us.

We’re definitely more advanced at this point than [at any point] since I’ve been here.”

Ruechel recalls playing the University of Louisiana at Lafayette last season, where his predecessor, Mike Roberts, was the associate coach. He says Roberts told him, “You guys are much better than when I was there.”

But for all the early-season success the Bulls have enjoyed, not all is easy in the Queen City.

For more than a decade, the MAC held an eight-team, double-elimination tournament in Akron, OH. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference eliminated postseason tournaments in all spring sports. Conference leadership reversed course in May 2021, when it reinstated the tournament.

But only four teams will make it this year, and the tournament will be hosted by the highest seed, rather than at a neutral site. This makes it much more difficult for teams to sneak into the tournament. The Bulls would likely have to go at least 17-13 in conference play to achieve their ultimate goal.

That hasn’t deterred players from dreaming big.

“The goal is to make it to the MAC [Tournament],” Lucyshyn said. “That’s been our goal since the day I’ve been here, working toward that.”

Email: kayla.sterner@ubspectrum.com Email: justin.weiss@ubspectrum.com

Men’s and women’s basketball look to advance in first round of MAC Tournament Women will enter postseason play as favorites while men will pose a formidable threat as No. 5 seed ANTHONY DECICCO SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

March means tournament time for UB’s women’s and men’s basketball teams.

Led by junior guard Dyaisha Fair and senior forward Jeenathan Williams, UB’s basketball teams hope to earn their first NCAA Tournament berths since the 201819 season by winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.

The women’s team looks to regain control of the conference while the men’s team attempts to redeem a fairly disappointing regular season after streaky stints of play.

Here’s the outlook for women’s and men’s basketball as the MAC Tournament approaches:

Women’s basketball looks to capitalize on momentum heading into MAC Tournament

Fueled by Fair’s dynamic play, the No. 2 seed Bulls (22-8, 16-4 MAC) are riding a six-game winning streak heading into the conference tournament.

Despite coming off an uncharacteristic

two-point performance against Bowling Green to end the regular season, Fair is still averaging 23.1 points per game, good for fourth-best in the nation.

Graduate forward Summer Hemphill is averaging 13.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest following multiple injury-riddled seasons, while freshman guard Georgia Woolley — the newly crowned MAC Rookie of the Year — is averaging 14.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

No. 1 seed Toledo is the only team in the MAC Tournament the Bulls didn’t defeat in the regular season. UB will face No. 7 seed Western Michigan (16-3, 10-10 MAC) in the first round. The Bulls defeated WMU, 71-64, at Alumni Arena on Feb. 7.

Fair and Woolley combined for 39 points while Western redshirt freshman guard Lauren Ross and redshirt senior forward Reilly Jacobson each scored 17 points.

The Broncos might not have the most impressive résumé (the majority of Western Michigan’s wins have come against the bottom feeders of the MAC), but they did manage to beat No. 3 seed Akron on the road in a Feb. 2 matchup. WMU could upset UB if the Bulls take their foot off the gas.

A win over Western Michigan would move the Bulls one step closer to reaching the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time under head coach Felisha LegetteJack and for the first time since the 201819 season.

Sai Krishna-Seethala / The Spectrum Redshirt sophomore center David Skogman dribbles the ball during a recent game against Western Michigan.

Men’s basketball must live up to its potential in Cleveland

Despite owning two top-three recruiting classes in the MAC over the past four seasons, men’s basketball (19-10, 13-6 MAC) — the No. 5 seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament — have yet to win the conference title under head coach Jim Whitesell.

The 2019-20 season ended in disappointment when then-No. 5 seed UB fell to then-No. 12 seed Miami (OH) in the first round. The following year saw progress as the Bulls made it to the MAC Championship Game, where they fell to future NBA draft pick Jason Preston and then-No. 5 seed Ohio.

Now in his third season at the helm of UB’s basketball program, Whitesell needs a deep tournament run to stave off calls for his dismissal.

The Bulls are led by a trio of seniors: Williams (19.2 points, five rebounds and 1.4 steals per game), guard Ronaldo Segu (15.2 points, 5.2 assists per game) and big man Josh Mballa (13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds per game). Thursday will mark the third time the three have shared the court in the MAC Tournament together.

The trio’s experience (along with senior guards Maceo Jack and Keishawn Brewton) will be crucial for the Bulls to pull out their first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2018-19 season.

But if the Bulls want to make a run at “The Big Dance,” they’ll first have to beat No. 4 seed Akron (21-9, 14-6 MAC).

UB dropped its only meeting with the Zips this season in an 88-76 road defeat.

Sophomore forward Ali Ali scored a career-high 32 points while fellow sophomore forward Enrique Freeman posted a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double.

The Bulls have run through the majority of the MAC but have had trouble with the top teams in the conference — Toledo, Kent State, Ohio and Akron. The regular season ended with back-to-back losses to Toledo and Kent State and UB has yet to defeat Ohio or Akron this year.

While it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the Bulls to win three games in a row and make the NCAA Tournament, the MAC Tournament will be an uphill battle.

Email: anthony.decicco@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @DeCicco42