OPINION Editorial Board
Number of WNY Catholics Decline
Editor in Chief
Religion is about choice
Andrew Wiktor
Managing Editors
Luke Hammill, senior Amanda Woods Editorial Editors
Andrew Wiktor Luke Hammill
News Editors
Lauren Nostro, senior David Weidenborner Dannielle O’Toole, asst. Investigative Reporter
Amanda Jonas Arts Editors
James Twigg, senior Jameson Butler Vanessa Frith, asst. Life Editors
Jennifer Harb, senior Mike Tyson, asst. Sports Editors
Matt Parrino, senior Carey Beyer Brian Josephs, asst. Photo Editors
Clinton Hodnett, senior Megan Kinsley Alex McCrossen
Since 2000, the estimated number of Western New York Catholics has dropped 12.7 percent, which is more than four times larger than the area’s population loss in the same time, according to The Buffalo News. In other words, less people are going to church in WNY, a region where the most prominent religion is Catholicism. Religion is largely a personal choice, and many aren’t choosing to practice. The Catholic Church has gone through its fair share of trials and tribulations since it came into existence over 2,000 years ago, yet has always persevered; a drop in membership in one region, although telling, by no means signifies an international decline in Catholicism, although the issue does seem unrelenting to some bishops. As Easter Sunday approaches, there likely will be a spike in those who attend Mass. Major holidays, not just for Catholics, tend to bring those who identify with a particu-
lar religion to their respective places of worship. But is that a farce? Can those who don’t attend church, synagogue, mosque or whatever else regularly really be considered religious? Absolutely. People not only have a right to choose whether or not to be religious, but also the privilege to decide how religious they want to be. Although every religion has its own expectations, not meeting all prospects doesn’t exclude a person from identifying with a religion. Many of us were raised “religious,” but the extent of our practices varied greatly. Some attended religious schools, others went to worship four times a week, and some simply celebrated holidays. Although our upbringings were different, we all retained the prerogative to choose.
religions we do believe in haven’t impacted our lives, as in morals and traditions. Identifying with a religion close to a holiday can illicit criticism, but for some, that’s their extent of being religious. Although religion can often be a touchy subject, The Spectrum’s editorial board, which consists of numerous different denominations, agrees that a familial aspect plays a large role in religion. Whether that means attending church to appease parents, going to yeshiva through high school, praying during the month of Muharram, or raising one’s family with religious values to preserve culture, family and religion often go hand-in-hand. Still, that doesn’t stop people from finding their own ways and considering themselves religious, or not. g
Moreover, some of us may not strictly follow a religion, but that doesn’t mean the
Guantanamo Detention Facility Continues to Lack a Direction Obama reluctantly reverses stance, no backup plan
Business Manager
Administrative Assistant
Helene Polley
Advertising Manager
Marissa Giarraputo
CREATIVE DIRECTOr
Jeannette Wiley
Aline Kobayashi
The Spectrum is provided free in part by the Undergraduate Mandatory Activity Fee
APRIL 18, 2011 VOLUME 60 NUMBER 75 CIRCULATION: 7,000
The Spectrum is represented for national advertising by both Alloy Media and Marketing, and MediaMate For information on advertising with the Spectrum visit www.ubspectrum.com/ads or call us directly. The Spectrum offices are located in 132 Student Union, UB North Campus, Buffalo, NY 14260-2100 Telephone: (716) 645-2468 Fax: (716) 645-2766 Copyright 2010 Buffalo, N.Y. The Spectrum is printed by The Buffalo News 1 News Plaza Buffalo, NY 14240
Courtesy of Flickr User USMARINE0311 What U.S. politicians don’t seem to realize, as they argue and argue over what to do with the 172 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, is that holding people in a prison and giving them no clear indication of what will happen to them in the future is the very thing that the facility became notoriously symbolic of – torture. President Barack Obama’s Jan. 22, 2009 executive order, which pledged that “Gitmo” would be closed a year later, seems like the distant past now. It’s two years later, and, still, nothing has been done. Obama was unrealistic when he signed that order. It was literally one of the first things he did upon entering office; we can’t even be sure he knew his way around the White House yet. Looking back, The Spectrum sees the move as indicative of the president’s relative inexperience and naïveté at the time. Now, he knows better than to idealistically assume that he can just make Gitmo go away; two years of battling with pesky Republicans have hardened him and knocked him back into sad reality. That doesn’t change the fact that something must be done about the prison and its inhabitants. Obama’s attempts to move the prisoners to a facility in Illinois and to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM, the alleged “principal architect” of the 9/11 attacks) in New York City were both stymied by troupes of not-in-mybackyarders. We don’t see their logic. Do these people forget that the prisons already in their “backyards” contain murderers and rapists?
As the president said, we should be careful to avoid elevating the alleged terrorists to a special level. Our justice and security systems are strong. We shouldn’t have anything to be afraid of when it comes to the transport of prisoners – it happens all the time with dangerous people on American soil. After all, nobody seemed to have a problem with keeping Timothy McVeigh in an American jail. Terrorists or no terrorists, the detainees are entitled to their basic human rights, and they don’t seem to be getting them right now. The right to a fair trial is the first on the list for many of the prisoners. The irony in all of this is that KSM admitted his guilt and offered a full confession, along with four other detainees. It was a dare to the federal government to do something – anything – about it. We’re not lawyers, but one would think that it would be pretty easy to take to court a guy who is fully admitting his guilt. But this is Washington that we’re talking about – a place where nothing (involving actually getting something done) is easy. The easy thing, of course, is arguing about it, and that’s what politicians will continue to do. And far away from the war of words, in a detention camp ironically located in Cuba, the Gitmo prisoners will wait. g
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: SUBMIT YOUR SEX QUESTIONS and get them answered in an upcoming column. Submit as a personal at ubspectrum.com
Illustrations! Love to draw? Calling for all doodlers and serious artists to enter their creations. Your artwork could make the front page! email any submissions to info@ubspectrum.com
I walk up to a short, brown-haired man with glasses and a V-neck sweater and he asks me the question I have been dreading for four years: “You here for your cap and gown?” I nod reluctantly, and he asks me “What is your height?” He turns around and quickly fumbles into a box, grabs my cap and gown, places it on the counter in front of me and tells me to go pay at the register. I shovel out the $82, grab my books from the cubbies, and walk to class. As May 16 is coming closer and closer, I have been doing a great amount of reflecting on my experiences at UB and how I was able to survive four years on my own, eight hours away from my family, in the arctic tundra known as Buffalo. Personally, going away for school was my priority during my senior year of high school. It is safe to say my parents’ divorce turned my world upside down, and warranted both a physical and emotional ‘split’ of my life. I had to split my time with my parents; I had to split my clothes, shoes, and I now had two toothbrushes. It was absolute madness, and, to be quite honest, I think I will always be a little bit of a mess.
I laid on my bed, finally alone for the first time, and smiled to myself. I was genuinely happy to start this adventure on my own.
Advertising Designer
The views expressed — both written and graphic — in the Feedback, Opinion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or spectrum-editorial@buffalo.edu. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style or length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it clearly as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number and e-mail address.
As I slowly walk up to the doors of the University at Buffalo Bookstore, dragging my feet on the ground, a somber pout on my face, I can feel my stomach tied in a huge knot. I know that there is no going back once I open the doors, and I know why I am here. I look around for the big purple sign that reads: “University at Buffalo Commencement.”
The day my mother dropped me off at my dorm at Michael Hall, she didn’t stay long. I didn’t ask her to, either, because I could already see the tears coming down her eyes as she moved the last clear plastic bin from the truck up to my room. I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle helping me set up my room, so she grabbed my sisters and told them to go in the car, gave me a tight hug and a kiss, and, in a flash, she was pulling out of the South Campus dorms to journey back home.
Debbie Smith
Adam Cole
JADINE LANIADO Special to The Spectrum
It was for this reason that I knew I needed to go away for school and finally have my life back together, in one place.
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
WEB DESIGNER
Where We Came From
I’m writing to congratulate The Spectrum for two superb investigative articles last week. Amanda Jonas’s article, “A Shameful Low in Higher Education: The University at Buffalo is inaccessible to disabled students,” is a superb piece of reporting. By noting UB’s continued non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jonas really gets at some of the sickness that pervades UB generally. Interestingly, the period of this failure coincides almost perfectly with the term of UB President John B. Simpson. It’s illuminating to put this Friday article together with the Wednesday article by Andrew Wiktor and Luke Hammill, “Artvoice Compensation Numbers
Are Correct.” Hammill and Wiktor confirm a recent story in Artvoice that the UB administration is using the $410-million-dollar UB endowment as a moneypot to top-up the salaries of university administrators, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars. In its “UB Fact Sheet,” a factually-challenged effort to respond to Artvoice, the UB Office of University Communications says that this “supplemental compensation . . . enables UB to compete nationally in its efforts to recruit and retain very talented faculty, staff and administrators.” If allowing the Office of Disability Services to remain inaccessible to handicapped persons is “talent,” then what does “gross incompetence” look like?
Perhaps the money squandered on administrative salaries would have been better spent by making the university fully accessible to all its students, staff, and faculty. We at UB should think less about “competing nationally” (whatever that means) and more about doing our jobs and acting like decent human beings. Jim Holstun Professor of English Letters to the editor are not edited by The Spectrum.
During my first few days at UB, I made it a point to call my mom every day, sometimes several times a day. How unusual it was to be in a place where you do not have to come home to your parents after class. As I became more accustomed to university life, I realized my phone calls lessened and would even stop for a few days on end at some points. According to Dr. Jess P. Shatkin, a staff member of the NYU Child Study Center, “moving on to college represents a significant step toward adulthood. Whether the student lives at home or goes away to attend college, the move represents an emotional separation for both parents and child.” Conversations would often start with, “Oh, you don’t have time to call me anymore, college girl?” or “Are you alive?” I would just laugh these comments off because I knew it was just that emotional separation that must have been shocking to my parents. It was to my own shock to learn that some of my friends rarely called their parents. Of course, we cannot all be expected to have the same relationships, but from my own perspective, I must honestly say I am happy that I kept the waves of communication open with my parents. I realized that when I was severely conflicted and needed advice, hearing my mother’s voice on the other end of the phone was enough to comfort me and help me to think rationally. My mother was the person I would call when I would get an A on my exam, or when I did well on a group project. She was my go-to phone call when I was nervous for an interview or stressed about my workload. She would just tell me to relax and take a minute to regroup, but most importantly, she would always tell me that she was proud of me. Even though my mother still asks me why I chose to come all the way up to Buffalo for school, I think she understands deep inside. She knows that I needed to figure myself out on my own, and live in one room again. As we near the Commencement celebration, I encourage seniors to reflect on who was supporting them throughout their college experiences. Whether it be your parents, a family member, or even a close friend, take time to let them know how much you appreciate having them in your life, and how happy you are that you were able to make them proud. Please keep in mind, my fellow graduating classmates, that while it is important to know where you are going, we must always remember where we came from. g
Email: jlaniado@buffalo.edu
Tales from a Gap Decade MICHAEL TYSON Asst. Life Editor As you can read elsewhere in this paper, in an article written by a brilliant writer, there is such a thing as a gap year. It usually lasts only one year and it usually lands between high school and college. This story is not about the usual. I started college in the fall of 1996 at New Mexico Tech. My major at that time was computer science, which I had chosen because I enjoyed playing around on my computer and figured I could make some decent money. What I didn’t figure on was the allure of watching TV, drinking, and sleeping – really anything other than going to class. Tech and I parted ways after the spring semester of ’97, when I racked up a stunning GPA of 0.46. I took a few classes at the community college in Albuquerque that fall, but I still couldn’t drum up interest in going to class, so I didn’t bother wasting any more of my parents’ money the next spring. I spent the next 10 years jumping around to many different jobs. I was a long-haul truck driver for about eight months. I managed to last for a whopping three months as a janitor in an adult movie theater – great paycheck, lousy everything else. My high points were, sadly, a twoyear stint at Target unloading trucks and stocking shelves and a four-year period where I worked in a urethane-molding factory. Target was the first time that I worked somewhere for more than a year. The molding of urethane, which is done with industrial ovens and a lot of toxic chemicals, was my first and only union job and also the highest paying. These years were far from miserable – I met an amazing woman that I married and I learned far more about life than you can pick up from a book. It’s one thing to read about Kerouac’s road trip across the U.S. and appreciate what he was saying about society in general, but if you actually drive back and forth across this nation and see it through your own eyes, you can add so much more to the reading of On the Road. Through all these years, I always toyed with the idea of going back to school. My wife, who had also not finished her degree, encouraged me in this idea as well as thought about it herself. My main concern was figuring out what I wanted to study. I always figured on something tech-based, because that was where the money was, but I couldn’t really drum up the interest to head back to school. Another interest I had was reading and writing, though I had been convinced that there was no money to be made in these fields unless you were really, really lucky. When I lost my job at the beginning of 2007, I was fed up. I had had nothing but dead-end, crappy jobs and I was done. I didn’t bother job hunting – or anything, really – and my wife and I made do with what we had. I decided this was a good time to head back to school, when—toward the end of summer—my wife told me to go check out Erie County Community College since it had open enrollment. With little more than a vague idea that I wanted to study creative writing and literature, I enrolled at ECC in the fall of ’07 and started my new academic career. I was a little worried about heading back to school after so much time off; I hit my 30th birthday in the second week of classes, but it turned out I had nothing to worry about. I excelled in my classes and finished that semester with a 4.0, a definite improvement over my last semester in school. I graduated from ECC in the spring of ’09 and came to UB with a major in English and a concentration in creative writing. My wife joined me at ECC and transferred to UB a year before me. She, too, is doing quite well. While my time off can be seen as wasted time in which I was not working on my career or even getting my degree, I see it as simply the time that was needed for me to—cheesy as it sounds—find my self. My plans after I graduate and beyond are still nebulous, but I love what I’m doing. I know I’m in the right program and I also know that I can make more money with a supposedly moneyless degree program than I ever did with no degree at all. I would not suggest that anyone take as much time as I did, but I do recommend that you do take at least a moment to ask if you’re on the right path. If you are struggling with the classes in your major, then maybe that’s not the right major for you. If you are only here at college because that’s what was expected and you’re miserable, then maybe you should take some time off. Or not. I realize that I could also be the exception to the rule. But I still suggest some time devoted to experiencing the rest of the world; you will appreciate college so much more, if you’re like me at all.
g Email: michael.tyson@ ubspectrum.com OPINION MONday, APRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRUM
3