BINGHAMTON REVIEW
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Dear Readers,
From the Editor
Thanksgiving is almost upon us. Monday and Tuesday of that week (in which Tuesday is a Friday, as you remember from two advice columns ago), I only have lab classes which were canceled due to the break, leaving me with the whole week free. But as much as I’d like to daydream about staring at a wall for 168 hours, there’s still a lot to do before then.
For instance, you might be panicking over Thanksgiving preparations when your pocketbook’s more empty than Republican turnout this past election (that one’s funny. Note to self: email that to Barb later). Don’t worry. Angelo DiTocco’s got you covered in his featured article “How to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Today’s Economy” on pages 6 and 7. It’s a can’t miss article. His ingenious substitutions almost match last year’s “A Thanksgiving Recipe to Make Your Wife Leave You.”
But what actually belongs in Thanksgiving? Page 4’s “Binghamton Review’s Patented Interactive Thanksgiving MatrixTM” gives a smattering of our board’s opinions on the holiday. But wait, there’s more! If you want in on the action, we have a blank chart for any dear reader to fill out. Be sure to email it to editor@binghamtonreview.com.
Have you ever wondered what “old” Binghamton Review is like? This magazine’s been around since 1987, and has seen untold changes over the years. Recently, Nathan Wurtzel, a beloved former Editor in Chief in the 1990s, tragically passed away. In his honor, we have decided to re-run an article of his from 1996 on pages 8 and 9. Despite dated terminology and the now-forgotten names, Wurtzel’s acerbic wit still carries through and, in some way, keeps him alive today.
This segues into my most serious piece: “What Happens After Tragedy,” on pages 12 and 13. At time of writing, over a week and a half has passed since October 30, when our campus learned of the death of Natalia Malcevic. This article attempts to summarize the immediate response of administrators and students, what we can learn from it, and concrete ways we can help prevent tragedies like this one. My deep thanks go to Dr. Mark Rice for his willingness to comment and provide advice for this article.
On a lighter note, Daniel Guido provides insight into the fascinating, but often overlooked world of lost literary works, and their potential to change our understanding of everything on page 14. I remember being in high school, early in my study of Classics, learning about the burning and decline of the famous Library of Alexandria. One wonders what knowledge and art was lost, even if most modern libraries dwarf Alexandria’s in the scale of information. I suppose it’s more important to look to the future than the past, asking what we can produce to match the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome. To that end, the mysterious “Saguaro” gives the long-awaited “How to Write a Binghamton Review Article” article on page 15.
This is our last issue before Thanksgiving, so be sure to bring it home and argue about it at your family’s dinner table next Thursday!
Sincerely,
Arthur O’Sullivan
Our Mission
Binghamton Review is a non-partisan, student-run news magazine founded in 1987 at Binghamton University. A true liberal arts education expands a student’s horizons and opens one’s mind to a vast array of divergent perspectives. The mark of true maturity is being able to engage with these perspectives rationally while maintaining one’s own convictions. In that spirit, we seek to promote the free and open exchange of ideas and offer alternative viewpoints not normally found on campus. We stand against dogma in all of its forms, both on campus and beyond. We believe in the tenents of free expression and believe all sudents should have a voice on campus to convey their thoughts. Finally, we understand that mutual respect is a necessary component of any prosperous society. We strive to inform, engage with, and perhaps even amuse our readers in carrying out this mission.
Views expressed by writers do not necessarily represent the views of the publication as a whole.
Advice Column
I offered to give you all life advice. These were your questions.
In a previous advice column, I asked about how to deal with my pet mice chewing wires. You gave me some sort of weird joke and didn’t help me at all. Well, now you’ve done it. My pet mice were chewing wires as they usually do and suddenly the power went out across campus. Now Binghamton’s three letter agencies are sending G-men to kill me AND my mice. So, screw you!
I’m sorry, sir. We do not accept non-questions in the advice column.
Who do YOU think won the Great Debate II last week? I did, when I argued with all the panelists in my head while taking a shower.
What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?
Arthur: Stovetop Stuffing
Shayne: Cranberry sauce
Siddharth: Did not respond. Probably a communist. Midas: Did not respond. Probably a communist.
Aiden: The Wishbone
Is Communism actually a good cause? If your idea of ‘a good cause’ is the inefficiency of resources that the elimination of economic calculation leads to, the socialization of your loved ones’ bodies for your sex-hungry comrades, awful corruption, and mass starvation, then yes, it might just be the best damn cause there is. Oh wait never mind. Noam Chomsky, an old guy who talks about words a lot, just informed me that it’s all CIA propaganda.
What’s the best color to repaint my dorm room? (i’m trying to keep it festive :D)
005A43
What’s the deal with hallway etiquette?
What are you, Jerry Seinfeld?
Anyway, Ways were made for walking, and Halls were made to be big and grand. That isn’t the case on campus. The Ways are cluttered and the Halls are not grand. It’s impossible to walk through the marketplace without wanting to go full Killdozer mode and plow through every person blocking the path to my delicious and incredibly overpriced Sodexo cuisine. Unlike our “amazing” and “hardworking” politicians, I will refrain from giving a “foolproof” solution to a complex situation on campus (election day just happened. Hopefully you voted).
What should Biden do about the Fanum tax plaguing America?
Written by our Staff
What should he do? He imposed the Fanum tax! (I still don’t know what this is.) Biden should stick out his “gyatt” for the “rizzler” or he won’t be “skibbidy.”
Mr. Advice column sir, what stocks do you recommend this month?
First of all, that’s “Sir Advice Column.” Queen Elizabeth awarded me the title on her deathbed. I had picked the stocks that made her family (the “house of tutors” or something, I forget) filthy rich. Unfortunately, shorting the Puritan market in England and using that money to buy Dutch tulip futures ain’t the winning strategy it used to be, so I just recommended buying Vanguard’s “VTI” ETF until you get bored.
I need some advice on accessing the print edition when I don’t live in Binghamton.
Issuu.com used to host a digital archive of all our issues, but this year it started charging an insane premium beyond Binghamton Review’s humble budget. Fortunately, glorious Chairman Arthur O’Sullivan is in talks with an alum perhaps willing to fund it. He just needs a few bucks as a down payment via Western Union or Walmart gift cards. Nothing major, just $500 or so.
Why am I attracted to the clown from The Amazing Digital Circus?
What the hell is a Kaufmo?
My brother and I keep fighting over who gets to keep the turkey gizzard and it’s TEARING OUR FAMILY APART! HELP PLEASE OH GOD!
Then said I, “The one saith, ‘This is my turkey gizzard, not thine’: and the other saith, ‘Nay; but thine is nought, and the gizzard is mine.’”
And said I, “Bring me a sword.” And they brought a sword before me.
And said I, “Divide the turkey gizzard in twain, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
Then spake the brother whose gizzard was unto me, for his bowels yearned upon his gizzard, and he said, “O my lord, give my brother the gizzard, and in no wise slay it.”
But the other said, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.”
Then I answered and said, “Give him the turkey gizzard, and in no wise slay it: he is the owner thereof.”
And all Israel heard of the judgment which I had judged; and they feared me: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in me, to do judgment.
And then there was peace in Palestine.
Need life advice? Email manager@binghamtonreview.com formore wacky, quirky, and zany responses.
Binghamton Review’s Patented Interactive Thanksgiving MatrixTM
Written by our Staff
It’s been a while since our staff made a holiday-themed gimmick. They’re always fun to make and even more fun to interact with, and what better time to have that fun than Thanksgiving! So put aside that political compass, cousin Timmy. These are the only “quadrants” that you need to care about until December:
But that’s just the opinion of us Bing Review editors. It pains us to say, but we are not omniscient, so we want YOUR input. What do YOU think works in this chart? Write it on the blank copy below and submit it to editor@binghamtonreview.com for a chance to be featured on our (finally active) Instagram.
How to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Today’s Economy
Everyone seems to forget about Thanksgiving in favor of making their Halloween costumes in August and shopping for Christmas in October, but Thanksgiving is actually a pretty cool holiday. You get to come together as a family, have a delicious feast, express your gratitude for all of the good things in life, and honor what few peaceful interactions there were between the settlers and the natives. But in these Unprecedented TimesTM, it’s not so easy to celebrate this important holiday in a traditional manner. From fuel to food to housing to education to technology, everything is more expensive these days. You can’t even get a decent meal from McDonald’s anymore without forking over $15. It just seems impossible to put enough time and money aside to prepare enough food to feed your family, your extended family, and your extended family’s extended family.
But fear not, because as an expert economist, investor, and alpha hustler (making $10 a month on YouTube definitely counts), I’m here to show you how you can celebrate Thanksgiving to the fullest without breaking the bank. All it takes is a few simple substitutions and a bit of ingenuity, and you’ll have a cheap, delicious Thanksgiving dinner lined up in no time!
The Turkey
Let’s start by covering the most essential part of the Thanksgiving dinner. Unless you’re from one of those weird vegan families that only eats Impossible Turkey or whatever it’s called, you should agree that it’s not a real Thanksgiving dinner unless turkey is involved. But do you really want to spend upwards of $30 at the store for only a fraction of your dinner, only to have to spend hours seasoning it, basting it, and roasting it? That’s a massive opportunity cost when you realize you could spend that valuable time working on your side hustle and
By Angelo DiTocco
getting one step closer to affording rent this month. Once time travel is invented, you’ll be able to go back to the first Thanksgiving and get turkeys off the menu, but for now, here are some workarounds.
The “Turkey & Cheese Cracker Stacker” Lunchable is priced at only $2 per serving. Not only is that a steal, but it also allows you to offload the preparation onto your guests. You can even choose between American and cheddar cheese depending on the prefer-
The “Turkey
& Cheese
Cracker Stacker” Lunchable is priced at only $2 per serving.
ence of you and your guests. And each one has 13 grams of protein!
But what do you do if you can’t find the Cracker Stacker at your local supermarket or if they’re out of stock? You might think you’re screwed, but I have a backup plan for you. Simply tell your family that you caught the new BA.2.86 COVID variant and that you have to postpone the Thanksgiving celebration “for their safety”. Then you can go to the back of the store the day after Thanksgiving and check the dumpster, where they’ll likely be throwing out perfectly good Thanksgiving turkeys because no one wants them anymore. No one except you, that is. Just make sure to avoid the rats crawling around in the dumpster. They might bite you and infect you with diseases that make you crazy.
The Mashed Potatoes Mashed potatoes are another staple of the Thanksgiving dinner. There’s nothing that goes better with a turkey (or in your case, a turkey Lunchable) than some soft and creamy ‘taters. Yet the process of buying a bunch of potatoes, boiling them, seasoning them, and mashing them can be way too costly. Fortunately, there are many cheaper forms of potatoes you can get with most of the basic steps of preparing them already done for you. These include French fries, potato chips, and hashbrowns. Find out which of those options is cheapest, get a bunch of those, and then go HAM on them until they start to lose their shape. Simple as that. If your guests complain that they’re too crispy, just tell them it’s your style of making them. You can even pretend you have some fancy recipe where you peel the skins off and fry them separately before putting them back in or something like that. So not only will you have some delicious mashed potatoes (in the technical sense), but you’ll also have the satisfaction of gaslighting your guests at the same time.
The Condiments
Most of your focus will be on the actual food, but the various condiments used to garnish your meal are just as important. No one wants to eat dry ass turkey and mashed potatoes. You might as well be eating paint chips. But after spending what little money you have on food, you might not be able to spend any more on condiments. Luckily, you don’t have to! If you look in the right places, you can get them for completely free.
The dining halls on campus are great places to steal condiments. You can either take home a few cups worth every day until you have enough, or if you’re pressed for time, you can wait until no one is looking and then take the whole bag out of the dispenser.
You might also be able to easily abscond with condiments from fast food restaurants, but some chains are better for this than others. At the KFC near campus, the condiment shelves are placed at the front of the dining area, almost completely out of the line of sight of the employees. You could easily just walk into the place, stuff your pockets full of packets, and then leave. Not that I’ve ever done this, of course.
But if you can’t seem to find Oscar Mayer’s gift to the working class, there are other cheap ways to placate your hungry guests.
However, the places you’re taking condiments from most likely won’t have the exact kinds of condiments found in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so you’ll probably have to make a few compromises. First, you’ll have to find a substitute for cranberry sauce. For this, you can use ketchup, marinara sauce, or anything else that’s red. It might not taste like your guests are expecting it to, but they say half the quality is in the presentation, so if it looks fine, it’ll be fine. Also, the KFC I mentioned earlier has grape jelly, which is pretty close. As for the gravy, you can replace that with barbecue sauce because that’s also brown. Even billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg are beginning to take advantage of this more economical option.
Pictured: The Zuck is just like us.
The Stuffing
Another cornerstone of a good Thanksgiving dinner is stuffing. This can be used to fill up your “turkey” or even be enjoyed on its own. You might be turned off by its complex combination of ingredients and extensive
preparation time. But what is stuffing, really? At its core, stuffing is just bread. So take whatever borderline inedible bread is chilling in the back of your pantry (or check out the dumpster behind your local bakery) and then go HAM on it just like you did with the mashed potatoes. You can add moisture by using the free condiments that you obtained earlier. Lastly, sprinkle some salt and pepper (KFC has that in packets too) on the result. It’ll look so good that even Mr. Beast won’t be able to tell the difference between your $0 stuffing and some gourmet chef’s $1,000,000 stuffing.
The Appetizer
If you invite your guests over early, they might become impatient while waiting for dinner to be ready, so you’ll need some appetizers to hold them over. If you can get your hands on the turkey Lunchable, that’s perfect because it also doubles as a charcuterie board. But if you can’t seem to find Oscar Mayer’s gift to the working class, there are other cheap ways to placate your hungry guests. Although I’m personally not a fan of it, Brie cheese seems to be all the rage these days. When it’s melted, it functions as a white sauce that you can dip your crackers in. So just substitute it with any other white sauce you can get your hands on, such as mayonnaise, ranch, or even Cool Whip. And instead of crackers, you can use the chips left over from making your mashed pota-
Cool Whip, from the Family Guy Funny Moment.
toes. Who doesn’t love a good helping of chips and mayo?
The Dessert
If you want to go above and beyond this Thanksgiving, you should think beyond just your dinner. The classic Thanksgiving dessert is a pumpkin pie. Now, pumpkins aren’t particularly expensive; in fact, you could probably get one for free by stealing your neighbor’s jack-o-lantern. But if you’re too busy participating in the gig economy to take out the pumpkin’s innards and do whatever it actually is that turns them into a pie, then you’ll probably need to settle for something quicker. There are lots of different places you could go to get some cheap desserts, but McDonald’s has a variety of options. If you want to be as close as possible to a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, you can get apple pies for just over a dollar each. If you need to be as frugal as possible, you can get a pack of 3 cookies for roughly $1.50 and split them up between your guests. That’ll get the job done for only 50 cents per person! I would also recommend the ice cream, but there’s a 99.9% chance that their ice cream machine will be “broken”.
If you apply all the tips and tricks I’ve outlined throughout this article, then you should end up with a fantastic 3-course meal for only a tiny fraction of the cost. It might not look and taste quite as good as a “normal” Thanksgiving dinner, but that’s the price you (don’t) pay when you’re on a tight budget. If your guests continue to complain about your low-cost cuisine, you should remind them that Thanksgiving is not necessarily about the food but instead about uniting as a family and showing your appreciation for life it’s actually Joe Biden’s fault that things are so expensive, not yours. Or you could say that the holiday is offensive and that you’re trying to make a mockery of it. This’ll be sure to start an intense political debate, which is basically a requirement for any family gathering. There’s no time to worry about the return on investment of the food you’re eating when you’re too busy screaming in someone else’s face about which party is burning the country to the ground and which one is saving it. Now that’s what Thanksgiving is all about!
*page break*
The Jackboot That Is Not
By Comson Cao
It’s difficult to live in the West today and not constantly hear some kind of call for social justice. Claims of racism, sexism, and a billion other ‘-isms’ and ‘-phobias’ abound. Even fairy tales are problematic because they enforce the patriarchy by upholding gender roles, according to my most recent reading in English class. All of these terms express a perception of oppression. Activists believe that unfair treatment or discrimination pervades “the system,” while they see themselves as “the little guy”: helpless, bullied, and taken advantage of by those with power. But is this always the case, or should we avoid taking these narratives at their face value?
A 2004 study titled “You’re Just Saying That Because I’m a Woman: Stigma Consciousness and Attributions to Discrimination” by Elizabeth C. Pinel had a group of female college students fill out a questionnaire, asking them their thoughts on anti-female bias (i.e. sexism). Their results were then compared to a group which was given a questionnaire about anti-college student bias. They then took part in an interview where they were told their responses would be judged by a male named “Mark.” A portion of each group was told to think about gender bias before the interview. “Mark,” meanwhile, gave the exact same evaluation to all of the subjects. After the interview, the subjects were then asked their thoughts on the interview. The study found that women who had been given the questionnaire about anti-female bias were more likely to perceive Mark’s evaluation of them as being motivated by sexism, while those who had been told to think about gender bias before their interview were even more likely to blame sexism for their evaluation. But since Mark was a “confederate” (i.e. someone who is in on the experiment) and had given the exact same evaluations to all of the subjects, the bias that the women perceived could not have existed.
a moisturizer without the subjects knowing, prior to the conversation taking place. This perception of stigma existed only in the subjects’ heads, but this was enough to make them feel as though they were treated differently.
There’s no reason to think that the same couldn’t hold true for other narratives. What about those of racial bias, for instance? In terms of pure “in-group bias,” Zach Goldberg, a Paulson Policy analyst from the Manhattan Institute, plotted responses from the 2018 ANES Pilot Survey which showed how white-Americans have the lowest in-group bias while black-Americans have the highest. To add on to that, L.J. Zigerell, an Associate Professor of Politics and Government at Illinois State University, used reports from the ANES 2020 survey to show that white-Americans, on average, give the most equal ratings to all races, whereas black-Americans give the least equal ratings.
This perception of stigma existed only in the subjects’ heads, but this was enough to make them feel as though they were treated differently.
Similarly, a 1980 study done by Robert E. Kleck and Angelo Strenta titled “Perceptions of the Impact of Negatively Valued Physical Characteristics on Social Interaction” looked at perceived stigma due to physical appearance or condition. In this experiment, the subjects were told to converse with someone who—they were told—was just another participant, but was in fact a confederate. The subjects were put into three different conditions: the first had the subjects believe that their conversation partner was told that they (the subjects) had epilepsy, the second that they had allergies, and the third had actual makeup applied to create a fake scar. After each interaction, the subjects were asked to rate how the other person treated them. Those who were given the “scar makeup” or “epilepsy” reported greater tension and patronization from their partner. Those subjects also reported that the partner kept a greater distance from them, and that they appeared to have less attraction. Yet the conversation partner was never actually told that the subject had epilepsy nor allergies, nor even the fake scar—which had been removed with
When it comes to supposed racial bias in moneylending, a 2013 study by Mariela Dal Borgo found that even after controlling for differences in income, age, family size, education, and marital status, black homes had lower saving rates than white homes, which helps explain why even at the same incomes, the credit scores between black and white people are not equal, at the national level. However, even when the credit scores are equal, the scores are worse at predicting loan performance for black households than white ones, as explained in a 2007 report by the Federal Reserve. A more recent 2020 study by Bhutta and Hizmo sees this effect disappear when using a model that controls for lender effects, credit score, income, and discount points. Doing so indicates no racial bias in borrowers’ expected pay schedules, as well as the fact that the expected revenue generated by a loan does not significantly differ by the race of the borrower.
L.J. Zigerell, an Associate Professor of Politics and Government at Illinois State University. (Source: https:// pol.illinoisstate.edu)
Yet another significant narrative is that of racial bias in policing. When it comes to police stops and searches, a 2015 study of the NYPD’s “stop-andfrisk” policy by Coviello and Perisco found that, “after accounting for the fact that different precincts have different baseline rates of arrest conditional on search, African Americans are no longer less
likely to be arrested conditional on being stopped.” This is significant because the common narrative—that stop-and-frisk is purely motivated by racial bias against black people—would be true if, per-capita, black people who were stopped were less likely to be arrested (i.e. they’re innocent) than their white counterparts. But if the arrest rates are the same, as the study indicates, it means they’re not being arrested just for being black. Finally, a 2018 study by Cesario et al. looked at data from the FBI’s Summary Report System, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, and the CDC’s WONDER database, and found that once crime was adjusted for, not only were black people not more likely to be killed by the police than white people were based on nearly all the benchmarks used, but in fact, white people were the ones who were actually over-represented in being killed by the police across almost all of the benchmarks. Now, the authors of this paper did mention a “most damning result” which was that when looking at shootings involving object misidentification, even after adjusting for violent crime rates, a disparity against black people was observed. This may indicate a tendency for officers to assume worse intentions for black people than white. However, as the authors themselves noted, due to the extremely small number of actual cases, the high uncertainty means this result should be taken with caution.
Stories are not evidence. The only way we can hope to make sense of the world with certainty is empirical data. All of this story-telling might be effective rhetorically, but it should not hold up in any meaningful discussion on those issues.
This can go with any sort of grievance narrative, whether historical or modern.
Another example of false perceptions would be the ‘minority stress hypothesis,’ which argues that minorities face unique and hostile stressors that result in worse mental health outcomes for them. This doesn’t comport with a 2009 study by Breslau et al. which demonstrates that non-white people report better mental health and fewer mental health problems compared to white people. There’s also data from the CDC which breaks down the suicide rates by race and sex and in both 1997 and 2017, showing that white-Americans had the second highest suicide rates of all the races, behind just American Indians. The suicide rates of all races has increased, with white people and American Indians showing the greatest increase from 1997 to 2017. The minority stress hypothesis, therefore, would only make sense with American Indians, and does not explain the lower suicide rates of other groups.
With regards to gender bias in employment, a recent 2023 meta-analysis by Galos and Coppock purported to show gender bias against women in employment. However, correcting for publication bias (by using a selection model that penalizes p-hacking) causes this effect to disappear. Furthermore, a 2021 retrospective study by the economist Tom Stanley regarding statistical power in research has found that meta-analyses like these are rarely replicable and often produce false positives. Finally, a 2015 study by Williams and Ceci found that female applicants are preferred 2:1 over equally qualified male applicants in STEM, which remains male-dominated. Overall, the evidence for direct sexism in employment seems thin—despite perceptions to the contrary. These should be alarming because it puts into question the reliability of narratives formed on the basis of perception.
Truth must be the basis for any sound decision-making on the individual and societal level. Yet it’s not always clear whether or not something is true. Humans are social animals after all—we like to be trusting of each other. Most people neither have the time nor dedication to do deep research on their own, and will just outsource to ‘the experts’ and use the opinion of said ‘experts’ as a heuristic for the truth. Yet these ‘experts’ are often terrible at predicting things. Not only was it shown in Philippe E. Tetlock’s book Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? that the predictive ability of experts is comparable to dart-throwing chimps, but several studies such as one from 2003 by Lecoutre et al., a 2016 one from McShane and Gal, and a 2019 one from Luy et al. found that many misunderstand statistical concepts like p-values, confidence intervals, and t-tests. Furthermore, stories are not evidence. The only way we can hope to make sense of the world with certainty is empirical data. All of this story-telling might be effective rhetorically, but it should not hold up in any meaningful discussion on those issues. The next time you hear another one of these narratives of perceived oppression, whether it’s from school, media, or someone you know, always keep in mind that it’s a narrative, not a fact. There is a very high demand for oppression, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whom you ask), the supply is often too low. It’s worth asking yourself just how much of what you think you know is substantiated, and being willing to ask that question is the first step towards uncovering the truth.
Philip E. Tetlock, author of “Expert Political Judgment: How Good is It? How do we know? “ and professor at University of Pennsylvania. (Source: web. sas.upenn.edu)
What Comes After Tragedy
By Arthur O’Sullivan
In writing this article, I intend, with the benefit of hindsight, to document and evaluate Binghamton University’s response to the student suicide of October 30, 2023. In doing so, I hope to give a guide for students who want to learn from and help prevent tragedy. This is not an easy article to write. Leaving aside the problem of tonal clash with this issue, there are a number of pitfalls that come with this subject.
The most obvious is insensitivity. I’m far from an expert on any issue that this article raises. Few people are, at least on this campus. As such, I draw heavily on the experience of others to understand what happened, the broader context of this incident, and what the “proper” response is. As such, I ask for your grace and goodwill. If you believe that I’ve made an error: misrepresented something, missed important information, or even just disagree, please let me know. (My email, as ever, is editor@binghamtonreview.com).
Additionally, it’s all too easy to project one’s own issues, biases, pet-causes et cetera onto an event like this: student disengagement, stress-culture, poor administration, lack of nutrition on campus, whatever! If it exists, anyone can find some way to connect it to this death on campus, blaming that specific thing above all else. This elides the fact that we do not know—and indeed can’t know—what factors drive any one individual to suicide. You can never simply project trends onto just one person. As such, I will only ask “What happened?” and not “How did it happen?” The only “how” questions I will ask are for the responses of students, professors, and administrators: How did they respond, and how well did it work?
Finally, it’s easy to be unfair to others—especially those in authority—when tragedy strikes. In the wake of that bleak Monday morning, I noticed too many students jumping on bandwagons of hate or worship for campus authorities. Some picked apart every word in the B-ALERT and B-Line messages, excoriating them for being unhelpful and vague, but also not being released earlier; others clung to every statement made by a man in authority, refusing to entertain any idea that things could have been mishandled. Neither position is fair. In truth, our professors and administrators are almost always just as confused and unsure as you and I are. It’s incumbent on us all to be measured in our criticism, and judicious in our praise. Otherwise, no human involved can learn from that week.
With this long preamble out of the way, we can now consider the heart of the matter: what happened, how did we respond, and what must we do next?
What happened on the week of October 30, 2023
At 8:56 A.M., students received a cryptic B-ALERT reading “Campus Police are actively investigating an incident that occurred outside the Bartle Library tower. There is no danger to the campus or community.”
At 9:23 A.M., a second B-ALERT announced the cancellation of all classes that day, due to the investigation.
At 10:46 A.M., just under two hours after the first announce-
ment, the investigation at Bartle Library Tower was declared over, and the scene cleared.
At 2:35 P.M., B.U. President Harvey Stenger announced in a B-Line News Addition that an unnamed student was found dead at the base of the Library Tower, with no evidence of criminal activity. He shared the campus’ many resources for mental health, crisis management, and religious support. At 4:51 P.M., the Student Association sent out a similar message.
At 7:00 P.M., a vigil organized by the Thurgood Marshall Pre-Law Society saw hundreds of students gather in silence in honor of the unknown deceased. Flowers, candles, and leaflets were passed out to those in attendance. Two memorials were set up: one on the Spine, at the statue near the library tower; the other on the Peace Quad, beneath a tree on the path.
The next day, at 7:48 A.M., President Stenger sent out a message detailing his insomnia, his reasons for not canceling Tuesday classes, and a proposal for faculty to make class optional and not teach any new material.
Natalia Malcevic, a sophomore majoring in computer science from Niskayuna, was the student “discovered deceased” at the base of Bartle Library Tower. All evidence indicates suicide. The rest of this article will review the events listed, singling out items for praise and criticism, and suggestions for reform and repair.
On Administrative Responses
The first word that comes to mind is “unprepared.” It remains unclear to me when the body was discovered. The first B-ALERT was sent at 8:56 A.M., by which point morning classes had long-since begun. How long was the interval between the body’s discovery and the first B–ALERT? We know the interval between that and the cancellation of classes: 27 minutes. This would mean that at bare minimum half an hour, though more likely 45 minutes to an hour had passed between discovery of a body and cancellation of classes. The Pipe Dream Editorial Board considers this unacceptable, and I’m inclined to agree. Whatever administrative obstacle prevents classes from being canceled immediately after a student is found dead must be removed, especially when the body lies on a major artery of campus traffic This is not the first suicide to hit Binghamton’s campus. Perhaps it’s ghoulish to have contingencies for this, but it’s better than making it up as one goes. This was the worst aspect of the response.
President Stenger’s personal response came at 2:35 P.M., and I can not fault him for taking his time. The email had to be comprehensive, while also protecting the deceased’s privacy, while also providing resources and explaining their function. Stenger pulled it off well. This was by far the best aspect of the administration’s response.
Yet Stenger’s following message, sent at 7:48 A.M., was not as skillful. In deciding to “not make a decision” on whether to cancel classes or not, he threw students and professors alike into confusion. The directive to “not teach any new material” was not only logistically impossible for many classes, but it likewise gave
students an “out” to either disengage with or fight the professor: the last thing we needed.
There was a better solution which only slightly tweaks the President’s “proposal”: leave cancellation of classes to the discretion of professors, direct them not to take attendance, and record class and allow participants on Zoom. This allows professors and students to take the week at their own pace, without unnecessary administrative stress.
I hold no ill-will or incredulous blame for these mistakes. Some of the response was well-handled, and other parts not. It’s near-impossible to respond “well” to a tragedy like this, but key failures in their messaging and timing must be a wake-up call for B.U. administrators: not only must they work to prevent another incident like this, but they must also be more prepared for the worst.
Yet the administration’s response is only half of the story. The response of students and their organizations can be more important than any administrative action.
On Student Responses
From before the first B-ALERT, hundreds of groupchats were buzzing with confusion, fear, and myriad other emotions. Among them were certainly some tasteless jokes and speculation (not to mention one weirdo on Reddit asking for “footage”), but most communications which I had seen moderated themselves well: they stayed respectful of others’ privacy, were quick to share resources and prayers, and overall kept a lid on unnecessary trouble.
Later, I was especially impressed with the Thurgood Marshall Pre-Law Society’s rapid organization of that night’s vigil. Under the starless night, students experienced a profound unity in silence as each laid flowers, candles, and prayers at the memorial; the continued reverence that the campus keeps for the two memorials is a testament to humanity.
Yet the student response is not faultless. I’ve already discussed the tasteless jokes and creeps asking for footage, but there were also those who blasted Harvey Stenger for not condemning Israel nor Palestine in his other B-ALERTs. Likewise, others mindlessly embraced his confusing directive, blasting certain professors I know for daring to teach on Tuesday. Yet despite these few bad individual responses, students still overall responded with compassion and grace beyond expectation. Yet the shadow of unintended consequences may yet lie behind a well-intentioned response, which brings me to the most difficult section of this article.
Suicide Contagion
“Contagious” (also known as “copycat”) suicide-risk is a well-documented phenomenon. According to a report for the National Research Council, elevated risk of a “copycat” suicide appears to be influenced by geographical proximity to the deceased, social relations with the deceased—especially among adolescents, and irresponsible media coverage of the suicide.
This leads me to ask: Did we do this wrong? If we pay attention to suicide, will it only put people at more risk? Should I not have written this article at all?
The only alternative, as I see it, is to keep suicide too taboo to discuss (until it gets too big to ignore). UNC Chapel Hill did
that… without great success. In truth, it’s unconscionable to not discuss tragedy. Sure, suicide may be more salient to some, but wouldn’t others feel isolated? It seems like a lose-lose situation.
What comes next? How can students help?
I can’t cut these Gordian knots alone, but I don’t have to. I reached out to authorities on campus to learn what their suicide-prevention plans were, and how a student could help. Specifically, I asked the Office of the President of B.U., the Student Association, and the Clinical Director of the University Counseling Center, Dr. Mark Rice.
Of the three, only Dr. Rice responded in time for publication. He detailed that the UCC’s suicide prevention plan is guided by the Jed Foundation, which provides training for identifying suicidal behavior, developing resilience, and providing help, both in crisis and in general. He explained the UCC’s “postvention” approach to inhibiting suicide contagion, which involves “mobilizing support resources, providing appropriate communications, and gradually getting back to routines while monitoring those who might be at higher risk.” Most importantly, he notes that the UCC still has available appointments, and that they are an essential part of both suicide prevention and “postvention.” Finally, he provided a number of phone numbers for urgent contacts, found below this article.
This publication and others have documented structural problems with the UCC. Reports maintain that it’s ill-equipped for long-term care, especially for those with major mental illness. Still, none of the critiques I’ve read complain about the quality of short-term crisis care. So if you’re really in danger, don’t let these critiques stop you from seeking help.
A full treatment of mental health and its treatment on campus—both by UCC and administration—is beyond the scope of this article. Yet while it’s important and necessary to call for reforms and repairs to these institutions, it’s also incumbent on us to work with them to prevent future tragedies.
Dr. Rice has many suggestions for students who want to help: support one another, learn life skills and self-care, join organizations, and, most importantly, refer people in crisis to professional help. How can you tell who’s in crisis, and where do you refer them? SUNY provides free training at suny.edu/mental-health. Look up “QPR,” (Question, Persuade, and Refer). It’s only an hour, and is a concrete action for students to take against campus suicide.
My deep thanks to Dr. Mark Rice for his quick response and concrete advice. Without him, this article would be impossible.
UCC urgent services: 607-777-2772
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988, dial or text
Crisis Center at UHS Binghamton: 607-762-2302 via Mitel
LGBT Youth Suicide Hotline: 1866-4-U-TREVOR
Students of Color Text Line: Text "STEVE" to 741741
Crisis Text Line: Text "Got5" to 741741
Military Veterans Suicide Hotline: Dial 988 and press "1" to reach the Veterans' Crisis Line
Military Veterans Text Line: Textline 838255
Suicide Hotline in Spanish: 1888-628-9454
Crime Victims Assistance Center: 607-722-4256. Call via Mitel
Harpur's Ferry volunteer ambulance squad: 607-777-3333
Rape and Abuse Center (Crime Victims Assistance Center): 607-722-4256
Rise, formerly the SOS Shelter for Battered Women: 607-748-7453 via Mitel.
The Importance of Lost Literary Works
Here’s a thought: consider the 3.2 million books and journals found within the Bartle Library collection. Compare that to all the text that’s ever been written down since the beginning of humanity’s ability to write. Then think about how much of that knowledge is now lost to time, perhaps destroyed and gone forever; maybe locked away in some ancient basement, just waiting to be rediscovered.
As we learned in high school history class, the earliest form of writing developed somewhere in ancient Mesopotamia and was used for record keeping. The earliest form of literature we have discovered dates back to 2600 BC from ancient Sumer in present-day Iraq and is known as the Kesh Temple Hymn. Archeology has helped us uncover ancient pieces of literature like these, which in turn better help us understand the history of humanity. However, the question remains as to how many pieces of literature are still out there, yet to be discovered. Have we only just scratched the surface?
There exists an interesting category of lost literature referred to as “Known Lost Literary Works,” in which certain lost texts are referenced in other works of literature to which we currently have access. It creates an interesting paradox as we know that these lost books exist, at least according to the work referencing them, but we have never been able to physically find them. Sometimes small fragments and lines of text have been recovered alluding to a lost book, but the full text has never been found. Some famous examples of these lost books we know to have existed include Homer’s “Margites,” Aristotle’s “Second Book of Poetics,” Trajan’s “Dacica,” Confucius’s “Classic of Music,” “Inventio Fortuna,” and “Yongle Encyclopedia.” The fact that some of these lost works have actual names accredited to them shows that they were once well-known enough to be referenced in our surviving texts.
One cannot talk about lost literary works without mentioning the Bible. The Bible is not just a singular book but a collection of works of literature considered Holy and divinely inspired. In broad terms, the “Hebrew Bible” or “Old Testament” for Christians is a collection of Hebrew Scriptures going over the history of the Israelite people and their covenant with God. The New Testament, on the other hand, centers around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the writings of his apostles. Given that these books were written around 2000 years ago at the earliest, certain books mentioned within the Bible have been lost to time. Wikipedia has an entire page dedicated solely to these lost texts that were referenced in the Bible. These include the “Book of Jasher,” “Book of the Wars of the Lord,” and the “Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah,” among numerous others.
The Bible as we know it was the result of hundreds of years of evolution, with it only being standardized around 200 AD in Rabbinic Judaism and standardized within Christianity by the
By Daniel Guido
Council of Rome in 382 AD. However, even today there exists dispute over the Christian “canon” with Protestants declaring certain books within the Catholic Bible “apocryphal” (i.e. not divinely inspired), as well as certain sects including books considered “non-canonical” by most churches, such as the Book of Enoch in the Ethiopian Biblical canon. There even exist books deemed heretical by early Christian writers such as Eusebius and Irenaus which include Gnostic texts such as the “Infancy Gospel of Thomas” and the “Gospel of Judas” (rediscovered in the 1970s).
When reading the Four Gospels in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke share many of the same stories and even identical lines amongst each other, unlike John. These three are referred to as the “Synoptic Gospels” due to this overt similarity, leading scholars to believe that the authors had copied from each other or potentially had access to a source that has now been lost to time. This led to the creation of the “Two Source Hypothesis” developed by German academics in the 19th century claiming that Matthew and Luke copied from Mark and a lost document referred to as Q. English theologian B. H. Streeter iterated upon this hypothesis in 1925 with his “Four Source Hypothesis,” adding two more sources, M and L. This example with the origin of the Gospels shows how there are likely lost documents upon which the Bible was drawn from. Certain books within the Bible most definitely draw upon even older books and stories which have been lost to time, books which will hopefully one day be uncovered in order to better understand the evolution of the Bible and the stories within it.
The fact that I am even able to mention books once considered lost such as the Gospel of Judas and other “Gnostic Texts,” is a testament to the great work done by archeologists, historians, philologists, and others who specialize in this field. We have made great progress in the pursuit of rediscovering works that were considered lost only a few decades ago. It is the goal and hope as a society that we will one day uncover much more of these lost works and rediscover the knowledge that has been forgotten over time. It is through their work, often unrecognized, that we appreciate the depth of lost knowledge, and its capacity to radically change our understanding of the past.
How to Write a Binghamton Review Article
You there! Yes, you! Have you ever wanted to write an article for the world-renowned, top-of-the-line, free speech magazine, Binghamton Review? If so, I’ll give you some great advice on how to go about writing one. First, show up to a meeting and say that you will write an article. This will state your intentions to write, as well as provide you with people to reach out to in case you need help.
keep yourself from looking at Twitter.
I struggle with this, and it leads me to endless 20 minute patterns of starting to write, getting into it, and then suddenly needing to get up and do something else, breaking the momentum, leaving me with 12 words written down.
Next, when preparing to write an article, I find it best to think of a topic. It can be very difficult to find one that you want to write about, and can write about for the required length. This article was supposed to be written yesterday, but I had no clue as to what I was going to write about, which brings me to my next problem. I am, of course, exaggerating this as a problem, since it’s something that I don’t think happens to many, and only happens to me when I write articles for this specific publication. I’m not a creative writer. I can write sometimes, so when I do, and when it’s without any specific direction to take, I’ll flounder about for a third of the time to simply think about a topic that I know I can write about for the required length. This can be tough because I have some really good ideas, but I can never find a way to elongate them into full articles. One of these that I wanted to write was a satirical news article covering the power vacuum left in Margaritaville after the death of Jimmy Buffet. Feel free to write this if you want to.
By Saguaro
This really is the last hurdle to get across for writing, since you can get some other chump to do most of the editing, and after that, you’re home free.
After you’ve taken the time to think up that excellent idea for an article and blocked out some time to write down your magnum opus, the next challenge in your path is procrastination. Everyone has things come up (I know that very well), so you can always put off writing for a day, but don’t put it on the back burner for too long, else you’ll be stuck writing to make a deadline. If you ever have the chance to write things in advance, do it. If you have the patience to sit down and get the ball rolling well-ahead of the due date, I envy you, because the rest of us never manage to get more than 200 words down. This is where I’d add in one final joke about putting this off until tomorrow, but I can’t do that, I need to finish this article.
The next problem I run into is timing. I am a very momentum-based writer, so I tend to work best when I have a bit of time to continuously write with minimal distraction. This doesn’t work with my schedule however, which leads me to try and shove in small bits of writing here and there. I struggle with this, and it leads me to endless 20 minute patterns of starting to write, getting into it, and then suddenly needing to get up and do something else, breaking the momentum, leaving me with 12 words written down. Of course, to counteract this, you could block out set amounts of time to write, and ensure that you have minimal distractions during that time. Maybe use a typewriter rather than a laptop to
Once you’ve worked past procrastination, and got yourself some time to sit down and work, now comes the last challenge, writing down enough words to constitute an article. This really is the last hurdle to get across for writing, since you can get some other chump to do most of the editing, and after that, you’re home free. Of course, this doesn’t mean writing the article is easy; it tends to be where you realize what you’ve done wrong here, that you are too busy this week, and that committing to writing an article was a bad idea and something you should never do again. You might just realize that you don’t know enough about your topic, or you put this off and can’t finish the article in time.(I have done this. This was supposed to be in the last release, but I put it off for too long and it needed some more time in the oven before I wanted other people to see it. There is nothing wrong with that.) While you’re working, you may realize you need just a bit more on the page before you send it in, and here you can use the extremely useful technique of padding. A bullshit sentence here, reiterate something there, even write-in bad jokes if you think of them. Alternatively, you could channel your inner Charles Dickens and make things so extremely wordy that it becomes obnoxious to read sometimes. All in all, if you want to write an article, good luck.
