BOB SAMUELS: Well, you know, the university says that it’s poor, that it can’t spend money from its other areas on students, on instructions, and so it has to basically—what it’s doing now is laying off hundreds of faculty members, especially the non-tenured lecturers, and it’s increasing class size.
And money is being funneled into the compensation of the star faculty and the star administrators, because in the UC system there’s over 3,000 people who make over $200,000. And many of them make $400,000, $500,000. A lot of them are mostly administrators and staff, and so the university has—basically has fewer and fewer faculty, more and more students and more and more administrators. (UC has 170,00 faculty and staff)
BOB SAMUELS: That the administration keeps on expanding and growing. They keep on hiring more and more administrators. We’re not exactly sure what they do. And our joke at University of California is, when two administrators walk into a room, three always walk out. So we never know exactly what they do, but there’s just more and more of them.
BOB SAMUELS: The administrators are cutting—are virtually no cuts. In fact, the same meeting, when they decided to raise student fees, they voted on millions of dollars of increased salaries and special bonuses to administrators and to the highest-paid people. And so, there has been several compensation scandals in the UC system. And what they discovered is the UC has secret packages that it gives a lot of its administrators and athletic coaches and some of its star faculty, a small percentage, and that it makes these secret deals, it breaks its own rules, and that money continually floats to the top of the university.
One of the stories I want to talk about is just that UC lost over $23 billion in investments in the last two years. And one reason why it lost so much money is that it invested heavily in toxic assets and in real estate.
And most people don’t know that, that universities, in some ways, are just kind of fronts for investment banks and investments, because at the University of California, the regents, who are the main financial overseers of the university, are appointed by the governor for twelve-year terms. And most of the regents now are Republicans, who not only have voted against taxes and have not only tried to defund higher education—and they’re the ones in charge in many ways—but they’re also business people chosen by Republican governors. And those—and they are real estate people, they’re investment bankers. The new head of the—the chair of the UC Regents is the former head of Wachovia, and he actually—they sold subprime student loans, right? And they profit from the student loans. And also, they pushed the UC into investing heavily into mortgage-backed securities and into real estate right when those were tanking.
AMY GOODMAN: What is President Yudof’s strategy? BOB SAMUELS: I think his main strategy is basically to blame the state for everything, while they try to privatize the university.
BOB SAMUELS: The UC Berkeley faculty last week voted a resolution to stop subsidizing the athletic department. Apparently UC Berkeley has been paying, subsidizing out of student fees, $3 million to $4 million a year. What most people don’t know is most athletic departments lose money, and the big departments lose a lot of money. And student fees often go to paying for athletic departments. And also, we found out that student fees go as collateral to—for construction bonds.
UB's Office of Student Affairs moved quickly to suspend Tau Kappa Epsilon after an "initiation" party Friday morning on Merrimac Street ended with four arrests and two people hospitalized.
"It was an isolated incident, and we're all real sorry about it," said Dane Counts, president of TKE's UB chapter. "We are cooperating with the school, our international fraternity and the Buffalo police."
Police said they arrived at 82 Merrimac, a block west of Main Street and two blocks south of Englewood Avenue, at about 1:30 a.m. in response to a complaint about loud noise and found 30 minors drinking.
Those arrested with Pehta and Smith are Michael J. Johnson, 33, of East Park Drive, Town of Tonawanda, and Jacob R. Glaser, 20, of Fancher Avenue, Town of Tonawanda. Counts said Johnson and Glaser are TKE members from chapters outside UB.
They later charged four men with providing the alcohol. Two of them — Steven C. Pehta, 19, and Matthew C. Smith, 19, both of 82 Merrimac — are UB students and fraternity members. Buffalo News, Nov 22, 2009
Bad news is good news for journalists
November 21, 2009
http://ubjournalism.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/bad-news-is-good-news-for-journalists
By AMANDA WOODS
I’m not a mean-spirited person. I don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone.
Or do I?
Before I started studying journalism, I used to complain to my parents during nightly newscasts. ”Where’s the good news?” I grumbled after hearing the fifth story about a rape, murder, mugging, kidnapping or other disaster. But now I understand — people want to hear the bad news, and sadly, it’s often more newsworthy.
With more journalistic experience, I now realize that, as terrible as it sounds, our profession thrives upon the bad news. When I interned at the press office of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services last year, our office was dull and inactive unless a child abuse case occurred in the area.
Sometimes we have slow news days at the Spectrum, and nothing interesting is happening at UB. But when crime breaks out on or near campus hours before our deadline, we finally have a story that students will care about.
My story for this class about life in the University Heights wouldn’t have any impact if the area wasn’t notorious for violence. Who wants to read an article about a neighborhood that has always been safe? There’s really no story there unless an unexpected violent outbreak occurs.
Make no mistake — bad news sells.
People’s minds are wired to care about the unexpected, the controversial, and the downright insane.
The media never misses out on stories about scandals involving celebrities or public figures. It always tells negative stories about the economy, but rarely positive ones.
Now, I’m finding myself just as hungry for bad news as the broadcasters I complained about as a child. It’s a bit scary, but I’ll just take it as part of the journalistic package.
11/21/09 UB's Office of Student Affairs moved quickly to suspend Tau Kappa Epsilon after an "initiation" party Friday morning on Merrimac Street ended with four arrests and two people hospitalized.
Buffalo police said two unidentified men treated at Erie County Medical Center were given "excessive amounts of alcohol" as part of an initiation into TKE.
"It was an isolated incident, and we're all real sorry about it," said Dane Counts, president of TKE's UB chapter. "We are cooperating with the school, our international fraternity and the Buffalo police."
All four men arrested by police — they range in age from 19 to 33 — are charged with hazing and providing alcohol to minors.
Police said they arrived at 82 Merrimac, a block west of Main Street and two blocks south of Englewood Avenue, at about 1:30 a.m. in response to a complaint about loud noise and found 30 minors drinking.
They later charged four men with providing the alcohol. Two of them — Steven C. Pehta, 19, and Matthew C. Smith, 19, both of 82 Merrimac — are UB students and fraternity members.
"The university has zero tolerance toward hazing," spokesman John Della Contrada said of UB's quick action against the fraternity.
Della Contrada said he could not comment on the students' individual enrollment status but that UB has no tolerance for hazing.
"Students are typically suspended whenever there is a violation of the hazing policy," he said.
The fraternity's local Web site includes the names of 24 current members and lists Pehta as the TKE member in charge of recruitment and fraternity rushes.
Those arrested with Pehta and Smith are Michael J. Johnson, 33, of East Park Drive, Town of Tonawanda, and Jacob R. Glaser, 20, of Fancher Avenue, Town of Tonawanda. Counts said Johnson and Glaser are TKE members from chapters outside UB. Buffalo News, Nov 21, 2009
I think he should eventually resign," said University representative Bonnie E. Russell. "The minute the Law Department releases a decision, goodbye. He has to go."
Still, Russell said it's "very sad" to witness the problems that have plagued Davis. Buffalo News Nov 17, 2009
Russell scoffed at claims by some lawmakers that they will not make a decision on any possible successor to Davis based on politics.
"Let's not be naive," said Russell. "That gives me a good laugh." Buffalo News Nov 17, 2009
I strongly oppose the proposed closure of the Jesse Nash Health Care Center and the Dr. Matt Gajewski Human Services Center and applaud the County Legislature for holding a hearing on the subject. City clinics like these are our front line resource to make sure our working poor and indigent do not fall through the cracks. Closing these one-stop medical service clinics and dumping county residents into a patchwork of fragmented providers is a recipe for inefficient and ultimately more expensive care. WNYmedia.net
Rasheed I. Milton, 27, of Custer Street, was found guilty as charged on two counts of predatory sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment and a weapons count.
The crime occurred in the Dartmouth Avenue home of Milton’s sister. Milton grabbed the victim as she was walking along Dartmouth, forced her into the house, where he assaulted her for four hours.
Because of a bookkeeping error, Milton was freed from the county jail in Alden last Feb. 27 by mistake. He was arrested a day after the March 4 sex attack.
A member of Buffalo’s Cash Money Gang, Milton still faces sentencing in U. S. District Court on a drug-trafficking conviction.
Sex Crimes Detective Jacqueline Sullivan testified Thursday that while she was interrogating Milton in police headquarters, she excused herself to use a restroom and Milton told her, “Sit down — I’m not done with you.” In closing arguments Glazer said the “the most damaging evidence” against Milton was in “his own words” to Sullivan, which showed a twisted desire to “dominate and control” women.
Buffalo News Nov 14, 2009
Buffalo News 5/11/09 Charles P. Jordan, one of the former University at Buffalo students who violently stomped Micheal Bliss, will be in jail only another six months or so after being sentenced today by a judge who cited his "secondary" role in the attack.
The sentence left Micheal Bliss, who now must use a wheelchair, complaining about Jordan's seeming lack of remorse and the brief smile he appeared to have on his face as he was led from the courtroom.
Bliss was beaten and kicked early on March 22, 2008, in the parking lot of the Steer following an argument inside the Main Street restaurant and bar.
Bliss insisted during the sentencing that even after he was lying motionless on the ground, Jordan, 23, of Clifton Park, kicked him and "labeled me a Long Island faggot." The attack left him paralyzed.
After the sentencing, Bliss said what while he agreed to Jordan's plea deal, he felt his brief jail term was "not long enough." But Bliss said he plans to continue rehab work with the goal of some day walking again.
Cambria said the stomping will "haunt" Jordan, who pleaded guilty March 12 to second-degree assault, the rest of his life. He said Jordan, who has been in jail since March 23, hopes to express his remorse to Bliss once the civil suit is resolved.
(Buffalo News) 4/24/09 Buffalo homicide detectives have arrested a 21-year-old man accused of shooting to death two people whose bodies later were found in a burning University Heights house on Jan. 18.Byron Howard (picture left) of Easton Avenue is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the shootings of Chisha Hawkins, 27, and Vernard Millner, 38, of Sumner Place.
The two victims, whose bodies were burned beyond recognition, had been shot to death before the fire started, police sources have said.
"He broke into the house, executed them and set the fire to cover up the crime," Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said.
Michael W. Bliss sat in his wheelchair and told the man responsible for putting him there
“The worst part of this whole injury was waking up with tubes hooked up to me controlling whether or not I would live or die,” Bliss told Kevin F. Rowland on Wednesday in State Supreme Court.
Rowland offered an apology, and Bliss said he is “in the process of forgiving.
But a judge still sentenced Rowland to eight years in state prison for the beating.
The lives of both young men —Bliss, 22, Rowland, 24, — changed forever a year ago last March in an early morning fight outside the Steer restaurant on Main Street, a short distance from the University at Buffalo where they were students.
In an alcohol-fueled attack, Rowland and another young man repeatedly stomped Bliss after he was knocked to the ground and cried out to a friend to get an ambulance because he could not move. (Buffalo News 4/9/09)
4/4/09 Rasheed I. Milton was indicted Friday on sexual assault charges related to a crime that occurred after he was mistakenly released Feb. 27 from the Erie County Correctional Facility.
Milton, 26, a member of Buffalo’s Cash Money Gang, is accused of predatory sexual assault, unlawful imprisonment and weapons charges. He pleaded not guilty to the new indictment, and State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski ordered him to remain jailed without bail.
If convicted, Milton faces a mandatory state prison term of at least 10 years to life and up to 25 years to life on the predatory assault charge resulting from the March 5 knifepoint rape of an 18-year-old Dartmouth Avenue woman.
Officers Wendy Collier and Earl Perrin of the Buffalo Police Mobile Response Unit and detectives from the Sex Offense Section had charged Milton with first-degree rape. The grand jury elevated the charge because of the use of a knife and Milton’s history of sex crimes, the prosecutors said.
Milton already faces sentencing in U. S. District Court on his guilty plea to drug-trafficking charges stemming from the federal, state and local crackdown three years ago on the Cash Money Gang, a violent East Side drug organization with national connections that sold cocaine throughout the Buffalo area. (Buffalo News)
3/31/09 Both people Adrienne S. March is accused of shooting earlier this month remained in medically induced comas Monday, as a key evidence hearing in her first-degree attempted-murder case was postponed.Micheal Bliss
Buffalo City Judge Debra L. Givens rescheduled the proceeding to Friday afternoon after prosecutors did not object to the request from defense attorney Joseph S. Terranova to put off the court appearance until later this week.
March, 21, of St. Lawrence Avenue, turned herself in at Buffalo Police Headquarters last Tuesday. She had been in hiding for five days after the March 16 shootings of Frank Militello, 26, and Kiele Coleman, 22. (Buffalo News)
3/25/09 Buffalo News Charles P. Jordan faces a one-year jail term for his role in the drunken stomping that paralyzed a fellow University at Buffalo student, turned himself in Monday afternoon even though he didn’t face sentencing until May 11.
Attorney Paul J. Cambria said his client entered the Erie County Holding Center because he wanted to begin getting credit for jail time to put the tragedy behind him as soon as possible.
Jordan pleaded guilty March 12 to a reduced assault charge in the attack on Bliss, 22, a Rochester native. He had been charged with attempted murder.
Jordan had been free on $50,000 bail. He likely will be released from custody in eight months or less.
On Oct. 29, the only other suspect prosecuted in the case, former UB student Kevin F. Rowland, 24, of Wappingers Falls, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault as the leader of the attack. He faces an eight-year prison term when he is sentenced April 1.
Kiele Coleman, Frank Militello3/20/09 Cheektowaga police had a simple reason overnight Monday for failing to detain marijuana suspect Adrienne March, the same woman Buffalo police wanted for questioning in a double shooting earlier in the day.
Officers in Cheektowaga had no idea Buffalo police were looking for her. (Buffalo News)
Amanda Knowlton3/19/09 21 year old Christopher Tulumello of Amherst plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter, vehicular assault, and DWI all in the first degree on Tuesday in Erie County Court. Tulumello plead guilty to the highest charges possible in this case. His attorneys and family would not comment. The prosecutor says part of the reason for the higher charges has to do with a previous charge that Tulumello has. "A previous driving while impaired conviction and that's a basis for what elevated these charges to the high level," prosecutor James Bargnesi said. (MSNBC)
3/19/09 Charles P. Jordan, 23, admitted his role in the beating of Michael W. Bliss on the sidewalk outside Steers Restaurant in Buffalo on March 22, 2008. Jordan pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in front of state Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia during a court appearance last week in Buffalo.
Officials from the Erie County District Attorney's office said Jordan originally faced attempted murder charges, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser assault charge. Jordan is expected to be sentenced to one year in jail.
Bliss' father, Michael Bliss of Rochester, said that his son's recovery is ongoing. "He can stand on his own," the elder Bliss said. "Other than that, it's a long haul for him." Bliss added that his son didn't know his attackers, who were also students at the university.(Times Union)
Custer St RapistRasheed I. Milton, 26, mistakenly released from the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden was recaptured, and is charged with raping a woman while he was out.
10/30/08 Former University at Buffalo student Kevin F. Rowland pleaded guilty Wednesday to a beating and stomping this spring in a Main Street parking lot that left another student permanently paralyzed.
Rowland, 23, of Wappingers Falls, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault for the attack on Michael W. Bliss, 21, in the parking lot of the Steer Restaurant on Main near Winspear Avenue at about 3:30 a. m. March 22, 2008 (Buffalo News)
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