Hall
of
Fame
features
Scott Diamond, Rory Quiller return for induction, See page 19
Black Student Union celebrates, See page 2
PIPE DREAM Tuesday, November 19, 2013 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXIV, Issue 20
Greek life cleans up Downtown
UCC sees budget bump
Environmental science students organize trash walk Eurih Lee News Intern
Greek life took to the streets Saturday to clean up Downtown and show the green side of Binghamton Unversity. Students met at the University Downtown Center and walked along the Chenango River and Front Street picking up trash. The Interfraternity Council funded the event and supplied students with garbage bags and gloves. The walk was a project organized by a group of students in Environmental Studies 415: Environmental Planning, for 45 percent of their final grade. Krista Schlueck, an organizer of the walk and a senior majoring in environmental studies, said she hoped that inviting Greek life members to the walk would help improve the Downtown community’s negative perception of Binghamton
University students. “We have a bad image as students Downtown sometimes,” Schlueck said. “This walk shows that Binghamton University students care about the community.” About 50 members of Zeta Psi, Sigma Beta Rho, Phi Kappa Psi, Chi Phi, Tau Alpha Upsilon and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternities participated in the green initiative to help clean up the Downtown region. By the end of the walk they had collected three large garbage bags and disposed of them at a dumpster at UDC. Alexander Liu, IFC president, member of Zeta Psi fraternity and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said Greek life should engage in more community service events such as the Beautify Binghamton Walk.
See TRASH Page 8
Jules Forrest/Staff Photographer
The University Counseling Center, which provides a haven for students seeking mental help, has received a funding increase of $3 per full-time student to increase staffing. The push for funding came after the center saw a 30 percent increase in traffic from this time last year.
Funding increased after 30% rise in counseling requests Center received a funding increase of $3 per full-time Contributing Writer student to increase staffing after seeing a 30 percent increase in use from this time The University Counseling
James Scott
Dems and libs clash
last year, according to Johann Fiore-Conte, the director of health and counseling services at Binghamton University. “We then wrote a proposal
to administration to increase funds to able us to hire the fulltime equivalent of a counselor
See UCC Page 8
JUMP mentors high schoolers Local students learn about life at college Madeline Gottlieb Contributing Writer
Xindi Tian/Contributing Photographer
Binghamton’s College Democrats and College Libertarians participate in a battle of wits Monday night in the C4 multipurpose room. Topics were debated by two members of each party for 10 minutes, followed by an audience Q&A section.
Students debate Obamacare, affirmative action Jeremy Bernstein and Richard Donnelly Contributing Writer Binghamton University’s College Democrats and College Libertarians clashed in a battle of words and wit during their annual debate. The debate was split into five sections: Obamacare, minimum wage laws, Iran, affirmative action and environmental policy. Topics were debated by two members of each party for 10 minutes, followed by
an audience Q&A section. Lori Valentino, a sophomore majoring in biology, moderated the debate. The night hit its most intense point during the Affordable Care Act debate. “Definitely the most heated topic was Obamacare, and I think that might have had something to do with the fact that the one female debater was in that debate,” Valentino said. “She brought heat to the topic. She was fun.” Democrat Jessica Dunn,
an undeclared freshman, was especially energetic about the women’s health and birth control aspects of the Affordable Care Act, even calling out Libertarian debaters for their likely lack of knowledge of birth control. Libertarian Jack Russo asked the audience two questions in an attempt to demonstrate flaws in minimum wage laws. “How many of you like getting paid more?” Russo asked. The
See DEBATE Page 8
Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program (JUMP Nation) hosted its annual fall semester event, inviting students from Broome County high schools to Binghamton University to get a feel for college life. Students from eighth to twelfth grades were asked to join a group of BU students for the six-hour event this past Saturday. “We’ve been doing this for about five years. We have around 34 students here. I’m very excited about the turnout,” said Girelis Guzman, president of JUMP Nation and a senior majoring in studio art. JUMP Nation’s overall mission is to reach out to high schools and offer students encouragement and support in the form of a mentor-mentee relationship. “Basically, we try to encourage them to pursue higher education,” Guzman said. “Because where they’re from, they don’t have positive influences, or they’re just not doing well socially or academically.” The day’s nine workshops included a forum with P.U.L.S.E. (Powerful United Ladies Striving to Elevate) and the Men of Color Scholastic Society, a Haitian
Student Association (HaSA) leadership forum and Black Dance Repertoire and X-Fact’r Step Team competition. For the HaSA leadership forum, students were divided into groups. Within their groups, they created an organization, practicing delegation by assigning E-Board positions to the students in their group. During the BDR and X-Fact’r section, the students were divided into two groups. One group learned a step routine with X-Factr, and the other group learned a dance routine with the BDR. After they learned their routine, they switched groups. “The dance was my favorite. We learned how to step dance.
I was killing it out there,” said Serena Woody, a tenth grader from Binghamton High School. Even at the lectures about tolerance and leadership, students enjoyed their time at the event. “I had a lot of fun today. I learned a lot, and now I’m really excited for college,” said Emily Zeboris, a tenth grader from Binghamton High School. Holban Velasquez, historian of JUMP Nation and a sophomore majoring in economics, said he was delighted to be reaching out to the local students. “This is a good way to give
See JUMP Page 6
Ryan Gyanchand/Contributing Photographer
JUMP Nation hosted its fifth annual fall semester event, during which students from Broome County high schools were invited to campus to get a feel for college life. Thirty-four students attended the day’s nine workshops, which covered topics like tolerance and leadership.