Fall 2013 Issue 8

Page 1

iOS 7

Another reason to go see the game

Release asked students about the new iPhone operating system, why to upgrade and what to be wary of see page 9

App provides incentive to support Bearcats, see page 2

PIPE DREAM Tuesday, October 1, 2013 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXIV, Issue 8

UN speaker talks foreign intervention BU alum returns to campus, discusses current events Joseph Hawthorne News Intern

For a speaker used to the White House and United Nations Headquarters, 1979 alumnus Eric Schwartz still appeared at home in Binghamton University’s Watters Theater. “It’s a joy to be back, I remember sitting on this stage,” Schwartz said. “I remember playing a trombone solo on this stage. I was in jazz band as a student.” Schwartz, a former assistant secretary of state and special envoy in the U.N., spoke at BU Monday night about the responsibilities of nations to respond to disasters abroad. The event, titled “Human Rights & International Responsibility to Protect: Promise or Pipe Dream?” was coordinated by Dorm Room Diplomacy and the Alumni Association. It

focused on Schwartz’s experience in international affairs from 1989 to 2012. “I’d like to note the long tradition of development of international law to protect non-combatants,” he said. “But tonight I’d rather focus on international community’s willingness and capacity when this framework breaks down.” Schwartz explained why countries, especially the United States, decided to intervene in Pacific Islands and Kosovo but not Rwanda or Serbia. “Srebrenica was an area that was declared safe by the U.N., and shortly after Dutch troops stood by as Serbian soldiers massacred locals. These events inspired soul-searching, as they should,” he said. “In the mid-’90s we then saw intervention in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, East Timor.” Schwartz argued that while

See UN Page 7

Janine Furtado/Assistant Photo Editor

Eric Schwartz, ‘79, speaks in the Watters Theater Monday night as part of “Human Rights & International Responsibility to Protect: Promise or Pipe Dream?” Dorm Room Diplomacy and the Alumni Association co-hosted the event.

Sci-fi fans convene downtown

Students clean up Downtown Volunteers pick up trash in Binghamton Rachel Bluth News Editor

Kendall Loh/Photo Editor

Jeffrey Buholtz, Nicky Blum and Kimberly Ramsay of Garrison Excelsior participate Sunday at Binghamton’s first-ever science fiction convention, RoberCon. The convention, held at the Roberson Museum and Science Center, drew 25 vendors and 15 fan groups, and over 700 people attended.

RoberCon draws 700 to celebrate fandom Eurih Lee News Intern

“This is what we love to do—be huge, gaping nerds”

Science fiction lovers were beamed through time and space Sunday at Binghamton’s firstever science fiction convention, RoberCon. —Justin Schroeder With over 25 vendors and 15 Binghamton resident fan groups, RoberCon was held at the Roberson Museum and Science Center on 30 Front St. Over 700 people attended Museum. the event, according to Jason “What’s important to me is Fiume, the marketing and public learning how much of a niche relations manager for the Roberson this is in our community,” Fiume

said. “I don’t think that we ever imagined getting the kind of crowd we did out here today.” Fiume said that RoberCon was inspired by bigger science fiction conventions like Comic Con, but the main purpose of the event was to bring the Binghamton region’s sci-fi community together. All of the money from RoberCon’s $4 admission fee will go toward the museum’s educational programs, operation costs, presentations in the planetarium and maintenance

See SCIFI Page 5

modeled the program after one she participated in her hometown, called Keep Rockland Beautiful, which is part of a larger, national movement called Keep America Beautiful. Quinn said that the program was originally going to be a chapter of the national organization, and it still might, but the benefits associated with national membership — namely free gloves and trash bags — have all been provided by the city of Binghamton and Broome County Highway Department.

Downtown students are cleaning up their act — and their city. Hit the Road, a student-led organization, is empowering students to benefit the community by cleaning up trash on the streets. The group is not a club, but it is rather a conglomeration of students coming together for a common cause. Students have gathered twice so far, once in April to clean up an area of Johnson City behind Walmart, and once on Sept. 15 to remove trash from the three bridges in Downtown Binghamton on Clinton, Court and Washington Streets. Julie Quinn, who originally organized the cleanups, estimated that the students removed around 20 bags of garbage from the area on each trip. More than just students, some local Binghamton residents picked up gloves and bags to lend a hand once they saw what the students were doing. “It really inspired me that people saw something being done, and just wanted to get involved themselves,” Quinn — Mary Dribnak said. BU senior Quinn, a senior doublemajoring in history and geography, started Hit the “I don’t agree with our Road this past April. Quinn disposable society,” Quinn

“It's important that the students and community members come together to show they genuinely care for the cleanliness and beauty of a neighborhood”

said. “I think that a society of perpetual waste is unnecessary. There’s two ends of that, we need to stop creating the garbage, and then pick it up once we throw it away.” Quinn is a member of IDEAS, Vines (Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments) and NYPIRG, and recruited volunteers from each group to help with the cleanups. Ultimately, Hit the Road will come under the purview of IDEAS, but for now it is run by Quinn with manpower supplied from the three clubs. The first cleanup in April was staffed by 15, but numbers swelled to around 60 for the September event. Quinn plans to continue the Hit the Road initiative by organizing weekly sidestreet cleanups throughout Downtown. Starting next week, she plans to organize a cleanup every Tuesday morning. Participants will meet from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. to clean up the side streets of Binghamton, like Oak and Murray. Each event will supply students with cleanup gear and will be followed by a social breakfast. Student participation in street cleanups is active in other groups as well. This Sunday, Sept. 29, the West Side Neighborhood Project will be hosting a cleanup

See CLEAN Page 5


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