Pipe Dream Established 1946
FINALS ISSUE
December 13, 2010
The Free Word On Campus for 64 years
news
2
Let it snow
The SnoCats plan a skiing and snowboarding trip to Vermont during winter break
Vol. LXXVIII, Issue 24
Binghamton University
www.bupipedream.com
release
Surviving finals week
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Finals week can be rough but planning ahead can help you feel better about the inevitable stress
opinion
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It’s your report card… We think you’d better sit down
Candidate Sukhatme Library café gets new design discusses supports challenges Zimpher Melissa Bykofsky Editor in Chief
Maintaining Binghamton University’s core values was a major talking point when the third presidential candidate spoke at an open session on Wednesday. Jonathan Alger, the current senior vice president and general counsel at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, spoke to a nearly full room of approximately 150 faculty and staff members and a few students standing in the back. In addition to his position at Rutgers, Alger is part of the American Association of University Professors. He started his career in academia at the University of Michigan where he was assistant general counsel. Before working at the university, he represented major Fortune 500 corporations at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. “It has been a very important part of my life at Michigan and Rutgers to be a teacher and scholar,” Alger said. “Now I have the opportunity in this role to serve as a mentor for students, to give back as many have done for me. I would bring that sense of importance and understanding to the external role of the president.” After introducing himself to the audience, Alger went on to present what he sees as the 10 challenges and opportunities BU faces in the 21st century. The first on his list, which he said they were in no particular order, was the importance of having a clear vision and mission for BU as a public research institution.
See SEARCH Page 4
Rob Bellon News Editor
A major talking point for Binghamton University’s fourth presidential candidate last week was how BU will cope with continued cuts in state funding. Uday Sukhatme, currently the executive vice chancellor and dean of the faculties at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), presented to more than 100 people in New University Union room 120 Friday. “State funding is going to be difficult to get,” Sukhatme said. But he said finding “new revenue streams” was a positive way of recognizing that the school can continue to maintain a high level of service by bringing in monies through means other than state funding. Sukhatme also supported the efforts of SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, who has been advocating for a tuition plan that would implement regular increases in order to eliminate more drastic periodic spikes in tuition. He called previous increases “rather erratic,” and he said what the chancellor is doing “is a good thing.” Sukhatme also emphasized the need for graduate programs. “We definitely have to strengthen graduate programs,” he said. He reasoned that good faculty go to where there are good graduate programs, so those programs would be instrumental in attracting top-quality faculty members. At IUPUI, he led the development and implementation of its large-scale academic plan, which included an
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Janel FitzSimmonds/Staff Photographer
After months of renovation, the Jazzman’s Café in the Glenn G. Bartle Library is back in business. Students studying for finals can now enjoy more seats and an expanded menu.
Sophia Rosenbaum Pipe Dream News
The renovations to Jazzman’s Café in the Library Tower finished just in time for finals week, giving students who are studying in the Glenn G. Bartle Library an escape to a quick caffeine and snack fix. After one year of planning and designing and an additional six months for construction, the new Jazzman’s is opening on schedule, according to Katrina Miner, Binghamton University’s Sodexo marketing manager. Miner said she is pleased with the results of the new facility. “It’s transformed the space into a customer-friendly oasis in the center of campus,” she said. Some of the changes to the new
café include a new traffic flow pattern, added ambiance to the library and three cash registers for speedy service and satisfaction, Miner said. The new Jazzman’s will have a breakfast sandwich menu, as well as various new sandwiches and salads. It will also serve the same basic items as the other locations on campus. Some students are excited about the opening of the new Jazzman’s and are impressed with the new layout. “They have really delicious paninis and salads and a substantial amount of vegetarian options,” said Jenny Kornblatt, a sophomore in the Decker School of Nursing. Part of the new renovations included restructuring the hallway closest to Jazzman’s going toward the Bartle library. The area now consists of
tables, seats and outlets. “It was an underutilized space; the addition of the booths and power for laptops or phones was to create a space for students to study and eat close to the library in comfort,” Miner said. Students agreed with Miner’s assessment. “In designing the new café it’s clear that they really examined what students want,” said Johanna Sanders, a sophomore majoring in political science. “It’s really going to be successful. There are bar stool seats and by each seat there is an outlet so you can charge your computer. The color scheme is beautiful and the layout is amazing.” Go to www.bupipedream.com for more in-depth coverage.
Sleepy student keeps up appearance Out-of-class exams
Daniel O’Connor/Staff Photographer
go. Many college students are struggling to catch some z’s and often find counting sheep a thing of the past. “Sometimes I only get five hours of sleep a night,” Goldin said. According to Tammy Martin, a physician’s assistant at United Medical Associates Sleep and Diagnostic Center in Binghamton, five hours is usually not enough. “Some people can feel good at five hours, but in most it can cause fatigue, which doesn’t allow you to function properly,” Martin said. Though some students may be night owls or force themselves to stay up late cramming for a test, Martin insists that they should at least practice good sleep hygiene. “Sleep hygiene means having a good diet of sleep,” Martin said. “This is productive sleep, not being broken up with a nap here or a nap there, but being able to say, ‘OK, I’m really going to sleep and turn off my phone and computer.’” Attaining this vision of sleep
Laura Potel, a freshman majoring in theater, fixes her hair in the bathroom mirror. When balancing a social life, academics and extracurriculars, busy students turn toward quick and easy tips to look good.
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Alexandra Abel Assistant News Editor
Thanks to the time she spends as executive vice president of the Student Association, tour guide and employee of the Roberson Museum and Science Center, Jenna
Goldin doesn’t get much one-onone time with her pillow. She has to balance her EVP office hours, jobs, class schedule and social life — a juggling act many college students run into. When forced to cut something out, sleep may be the first to
may hinder cheating Yelena Levina Pipe Dream News
Finals week at Binghamton University consists of sleep-deprived students roaming the Glenn G. Bartle Library and Lecture Hall in hopes of getting good grades. As the end of the semester rears its head, some students will do anything to succeed — even cheat. Patrick Bahls, associate professor of mathematics at University of North Carolina-Asheville, believes the answer to reduce cheating in college classes is through assigning take-home exams. By doing away with in-class exams and changing the test-taking environment, Bahls wants to promote a culture of learning where the goal is to gain not just high marks but authorship of a subject. “The system is set up to encourage grade-grubbing,” said Bahls, who has taught at the college level for 13 years. Bahls said the college system encourages testing to be a high stakes game where the aim is to get a higher grade than your classmates.
On his blog, titled “Change of Basis,” Bahls wrote that “to ‘cheat’ requires that there be a ‘game,’ and that it matter that people follow the rules of that game, and further that it matter that in order to succeed at the game one must ‘do better’ than anyone else playing the game.” According to Bahls, the natural response to this constructed game is cheating, and he calls for a testing system where students are guided by discovery and not prescription. “A system emphasizing active learning rather than being passive receptors of it,” Bahls said. According to Bahls, well-crafted take-home exams could take the pressure off and reduce incidences of students gaming the system by cheating. He said the current system gives students the wrong incentives by providing rewards for optimal performance rather than intrinsic rewards for mastery. If educators lessen the emphasis on competition in the classroom,
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