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Thursday, September 7, 2017 | Vol. XCII, Issue 5 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
Housing fair aids students in search
New tech simplifies parking permits
Alison Detzel
Ciara Gordon
Pipe Dream News
Contributing Writer
In the wake of two assaults of Binghamton University students in Downtown Binghamton, the Housing and Safety Fair, hosted by the Off Campus College Council, touched on safety precautions for those who live off campus, in addition to housing options for next year. “Safety has always been an issue for my office,” said Milton Chester, assistant dean for off-campus programs and services. “We did not necessarily [have the fair] because there was an assault. Safety is something that we always think about.” The fair, held in the Mandela Room in the University Union on Tuesday afternoon, featured a range of representatives from apartment-rental agencies, property-rental offices, the city of Binghamton and Binghamton’s New York State University Police. Students who attended the event were provided free food and entered in a raffle to win a number of prizes, including a $500 Visa gift card and an iPad. Attendees were greeted at the door by Chester, who said the event was intended to educate students on their options when moving off campus, emphasizing the importance of off-campus safety. Careline Ramirez, a sophomore majoring in English, said her main concern about moving off campus had been price. “[My friends and I] were thinking about moving to [U Club] next year because
passion and he fought his battle with diabetes with that same level of passion. The same level of passion that he tried to instill in his students to fight for what they want.” Colon’s wife, Ivanna Smith, ‘14, also spoke at the vigil. “People search a whole lifetime trying to find what we had, and even if it was for a very short amount of time, I am very blessed and I am thankful,” Smith said. Smith spoke about how touched she was that so many students reached out to
Students wishing to park on campus will no longer have to wait in line at Binghamton University Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) for a sticker decal or hangtag. Beginning this semester, TAPS has implemented license plate recognition software, meaning students can register their vehicles online and their license plates will automatically be registered in the parking system. A TAPS vehicle will then be able to determine which vehicles have active permits using a license plate recognition camera. Susan Crane, director of parking services at TAPS, said BU’s growing population created a need for the new software. “As the university keeps growing, we needed to continue moving in a direction that makes purchasing permits for all of our students, faculty, and staff visitors more efficient,” Crane wrote in an email. “We sent all students that are eligible to have a car on campus an email over the summer explaining the new system and to purchase a permit online.” The new system has so far received positive reviews from students, many of whom said they were relieved to no longer have to wait for a decal. “I definitely think it made the process a lot easier,” said Rob Steinberg, a junior majoring in integrative neuroscience. “Last year, I got my pass halfway through the year, so it was very annoying to have to carry around a temporary pass until they mailed me my new one. It also eliminates
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Amy Donovan/Pipe Dream Photographer Karima Legette, senior academic counselor for EOP, speaks at a vigil for Erik Colon, telling students that the EOP staff is there to support them. Students and faculty had a chance to memorialize Colon, an EOP counselor who passed away this Sunday, by sharing memories and anecdotes about him.
EOP counselor remembered Students, faculty celebrate life and career of Erik Colon, '03 Amy Donovan Assistant News Editor
Erik Colon, an academic counselor for the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Binghamton University, passed away Sunday due to health complications related to diabetes. He was 36 years old. Colon was a BU alumnus, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in human development in 2003 and a master’s degree in social science in 2004. He was also a part of EOP as a BU student. The EOP office held a vigil Wednesday night on campus in the Osterhout
Concert Theater in the Anderson Center, where students and faculty shared stories and memories of how Colon impacted their experiences at BU, academically and personally. Calvin Gantt, the director of EOP, spoke first and told the attendees that while it is okay to feel grief and sorrow about Colon’s passing, they should also try to remember the positivity and passion he elicited. “It’s my hope that your grief not overshadow all the great memories that you have with your interactions with Erik,” Gantt said. “He lived his life with
Forced triples spike on campus Lecture examines
immigrant migration
Sasha Hupka Assistant News Editor
In a room in O’Connor Hall of Dickinson Community, Noah Lee shares a desk with his roommate Matthew Jacobsen, forced to head to a friend’s room or Glenn G. Bartle Library whenever he needs to get work done. Lee, Jacobsen and William Eng, all of whom are undeclared freshmen, are living in super-occupied housing, in which a room designed for two people is housing three. This August, a record number of students piled into super-occupied housing across the Binghamton University campus, moving into living situations with more than one roommate and an uncertain moveout date. Approximately 200 students were housed in forced triples at the beginning of the year, an increase from 160 last fall. According to Paola Mignone, assistant dean for financial operations at BU’s Office Residential Life, the increase may seem large, but it is not off-target from last year’s numbers. “Residential Life works to predict the number of returning students, transfer students and new students that will need housing,” Mignone wrote in an email. “A larger number of transfer students requested to live on campus compared to last year.” However, some students are questioning the increase, saying it’s an indicator of the need for additional housing. Tania Smith, a resident assistant (RA) in O’Connor Hall and a sophomore majoring in human development, said she didn’t understand how ResLife could feel comfortable accepting more students into oncampus housing without having places for them to live.
Jillian Forstadt Assistant News Editor
Sasha Hupka/Pipe Dream Photographer Matthew Jacobsen and Noah Lee, along with roommate William Eng, live in one of 200 superoccupied dorm rooms. “It’s worked out well so far,” Lee said. “I’m most likely going to stay here, because I’m comfortable in this situation. But if a space with a friend becomes available, I might take it.”
“Thirty to 40 people, in respect to the number of students going to this school, might not seem like a lot, but there are no new buildings or rooms being created,” Smith said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that the number of super-occupied rooms are increasing and nothing is being built.” Currently, Mountainview College and College-in-the-Woods have the highest number of students in superoccupied housing. According to Mignone, students who are in superoccupied housing are given first priority to be moved and ResLife tries to keep students within their buildings
ARTS & CULTURE
and communities. They also receive a discount on room and board for each day spent in super-occupied housing. “All areas typically start with approximately the same number of rooms that are super occupied,” Mignone wrote. “As we receive cancellations, withdrawals and deferrals in each of the areas, our number of students in super-occupied housing per area starts to diverge.” Once a vacancy appears, students in a super-occupied housing situation are notified of the space, and are able
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As the topic of immigration moves to the forefront of national consciousness, Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen emphasized the vital role immigrants continue to play in helping cities around the United States thrive. This was the message Bagchi-Sen, a professor of geography at the University at Buffalo, brought to Binghamton University’s first geography department colloquium of the semester on Wednesday afternoon. According to Bagchi-Sen, populations of cities around the country are on the decline because of increased relocation to the suburbs and metropolitan areas. Immigrants help fill the vacancies in these areas experiencing urban shrinkage. “People are going to do the work for economic revitalization,” Bagchi-Sen said. “So we need to know who these people are, what makes them tick and how do we make them stay in the city to pursue economic revitalization.” Bagchi-Sen has spent the last few years exploring how immigrant migration affects various urban populations in the United States. On Wednesday, she discussed the history and implications of shrinking urban populations. Her lecture, “An Analysis of Demographic Factors in Declining Cities: The Role of Immigrants,” drew from the book “Shrinking Cities: Understanding Urban Decline in the United States,” which Bagchi-Sen co-authored with Russell Weaver, assistant professor of geography at Texas State University; Jason Knight, assistant professor of geography at Buffalo; and Amy Frazier, assistant professor of geography at Oklahoma State University.
OPINIONS
“Very little focuses on the people,” Bagchi-Sen said. “We always say, ‘We have to have entrepreneurs, we have to do this.’ I’m looking at who are these immigrants and where do they come from, and how are they interacting with each other?” She has spent the last few years working with Rachel Franklin, associate professor of population studies at Brown University, to identify patterns of immigration based on race and ethnicity. According to Bagchi-Sen, while some cities across the United States are experiencing overall population decline, incoming immigrant populations are offsetting the effects of that loss. She added that some of the key questions to be asked are who the foreign-born populations are, and what they are doing to help shrinking cities. Bagchi-Sen also noted that immigrant populations have started moving to smaller cities including Buffalo, Detroit and Indianapolis rather than major metropolitan areas. According to Bagchi-Sen, combating population decline in U.S. cities starts with an understanding of the opportunities available in smaller cities. She suggested that students interested in jobs in major metropolitan areas should first consider options in smaller cities. “It starts with an understanding,” Bagchi-Sen said. “Having that kind of opening up — a mental image, a mental map of relocation, job search — having a wider broader mental map.” Most of the students in attendance were graduate students working on geography degrees, many of whom said they plan to pursue study on the topics mentioned in
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SPORTS
The new director of Late Nite steps into the spotlight,
Pipe Dream’s guide to hiking in Binghamton,
The Editorial Board discusses DACA,
Start ‘em or sit ‘em? Fantasy football picks,
Volleyball sweeps first home match of the season,
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