Health nuts
By candle light
Eating well in your dining hall is tough, not impossible
Volleyball is slated to face off against No. 1 Penn State in the first round of the NCAA tournament this Friday J Street U-Binghamton commemorates extinguished lives at a political rally for peace by candlelight
PIPE DREAM Friday, November 30, 2012 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXII, Issue 22
Another blow for Greek Life Hazing as defined by the code of student conduct
Both the University and the national headquarters of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity withdrew their recognition of the Binghamton University chapter of ZBT yesterday after the chapter said they were unable to pay back the large debt they had accrued during the past several semesters. The chapter owed the national organization nearly $20,000 dollars, according to Laurence Bolotin, executive director of ZBT’s Indianapolis headquarters. The debt began with a small mismanagement of funds several years ago, according Brandon Lentino, president of the BU chapter of ZBT. “It kind of snowballed … into a bigger debt which made managing it that much more difficult,” Lentino said. “We did our best to try and
rectify the situation that was started before some of our current members were in and we just weren’t able to do it in the timely fashion that nationals looked for.” Although Lentino said ZBT remained “mostly current” with their payments over the last three semesters — while he and Dom Mattaresee were president — they were unable to generate significant revenue to chip into the debt while paying their current dues. He suggested that the size of ZBT, which is only around 14 members, down from between 17 and 21 during previous semesters and significantly smaller than chapters at other schools, made it more difficult for his chapter to generate the large sums national demanded.
The Binghamton University chapter of Alpha Chi Rho (AXP) is under investigation for hazing violations by the University and national AXP headquarters after receiving allegations of hazing from a disgruntled, disaffiliated former member. AXP has been ordered to suspend all fraternity activity pending the outcome of the investigations. A representative of national AXP headquarters said they are working with the University to conduct their investigation. Campus administrators refused to elaborate further until the investigations are concluded; however, in a written statement University President Harvey Stenger reaffirmed his commitment to student safety. “While I remain supportive of our students organizing in ways that contribute positively to their development and to the
quality of our university and community, I will be strict and swift within the rules of our university,” Stenger wrote. The allegations seem to stem from Matthew Opramolla, one of two AXP members arrested during the police raids on Greek parties in mid-October. Opramolla, a junior majoring in English, said he decided to report any AXP violations he had witnessed to Dean of Students April Thompson after fraternity members voted against paying for his legal fees following the arrest. “Personally I don’t care about the hazing, you know. I’ve participated in it, I think if you’re pledging a fraternity, you gotta expect that kind of stuff,” Opramolla said. “So that’s something they did, and that’s something they should be held accountable for — if not paying me the money.” Several members of AXP, who asked to remain anonymous, said the fraternity did not have the money to pay Opramolla’s fees in full, but noted that they
offered Opramolla back his fraternity dues to help pay the fees. Opramolla told Pipe Dream that he accused AXP of a litany of violations including firstsemester pledging, brothers physically fighting in front of blindfolded pledges and crossing pledges following the suspension of the chapter. Opramolla said the majority of pledges since he joined AXP as a first-semester freshman in fall 2010 have been firstsemester freshman as well. Members of AXP disputed each of these claims, including the claim that their pledges crossed following their suspension. “Those are all false allegations, completely false,” one member said. “We did not cross any pledges, the school sanctioned us and told us to suspend all pledging and we complied.” Opramolla noted that
Fingerprints provide FitSpace access
Members of the East Gym can now swipe a finger instead of an ID card to work out at FitSpace, thanks to biometric technology implemented this fall. All members of the gym can register their fingerprints, which takes about a minute.
— Cindy Cowden Campus Recreeational Services
“Biometrics is not a new technology, but we were limited in its use in the past by our management software system,” said Cindy Cowden, associate director of Campus Recreational Services. “After returning to the renovated building and updating our computer systems, we decided to more carefully investigate the use
of biometrics and ultimately to begin implementing it in a controlled manner.” Students still need a Binghamton University ID to access the main building and for group fitness classes, but Cowden said the gym hopes to put biometric readers in additional locations as soon as next semester. She also said registering for biometrics may be mandatory for all students with a fitness membership in the future. “One of the driving factors is security and efficiency,” Cowden said. “We run into access issues all the time, everything from patrons forgetting their ID cards and being denied access, to patrons using false IDs to enter the facility and effectively stealing services. Using biometrics is a fail-safe method of identifying members — you can’t forget your finger when you come to the building and you can’t share your fingerprint with anyone else.” Cowden said the information collected for the biometric readers is secure. “The fingerprints we collect are not shared elsewhere Jonathan Heisler/Photo Editor on campus, and the data is Max Delin, a freshman majoring in engineering, scans his finger to gain access to securely hosted offsite with FitSpace. Biometrics was recently integrated into the East Gym to allow for easier a software company that access to FitSpace without the need for an ID card. specializes in access control,” Cowden said. “The safety and oversee, and this also includes $300 for each location plus security of all our patrons personal data.” licensing fees. She said the is first and foremost in the According to Cowden, the programs and facilities we biometric readers cost about
pornography in the modern age. “By visiting a single ‘YouTube’ porn site, you can Adventurous and curious see more sex acts in a minute Binghamton University than the most promiscuous students learned about the ups Victorian could have seen in a and downs of one of the world’s lifetime,” he wrote. most infamous industries: Internet pornography. “What we’re here to do is talk about porn,” said Craig Morris, a doctoral candidate in the anthropology department. “But we’re not going to talk about my surfing habits. We’re going to look at this from an academic standpoint.” Morris’ lecture, “Content, Consumption and Consequences of Internet — Craig Morris Pornography: A Discussion of BU doctoral candidate ‘A Billion Wicked Thoughts,’” remained lighthearted on Thursday night, with Morris receiving plenty of laughs from the crowd when discussing the popular “Rule 34.” The new trend in porn “If you can imagine it, it according to exists as Internet porn,” said viewership, Morris, pointing to the art of Morris, is to look for videos erotic falconry, where birds of with real amateur participants prey perch on penises of male as opposed to professional porn stars. Real female orgasms are models, as an example. In his PowerPoint presentation, Morris raved about the accessibility of