Ballet Folklórico de México dazzles Anderson Center
Monday, November 26, 2018 | Vol. XCIV, Issue 23 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
The Free Word on Campus Since 1946
Michael Roque sentenced for murder
Running low on revenue
Former student gets 20 years to life in prison
University faces fiscal challenges following contract changes
Sasha Hupka news editor
Gillian Kenah & Yuri Lee assistant news editors
In a joint memo on Nov. 7 addressed to education and property investments, such as the Binghamton University faculty and staff, Koffman Southern Tier Incubator and the Smart University President Harvey Stenger and Donald Energy Building in the Innovative Technologies Nieman, provost and executive vice president for Complex (ITC). academic affairs, spoke out on the University’s Attempts to accrue funding will also be recent fiscal challenges and revealed new financial accompanied by efforts to save money. University plans for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years. Libraries face a 4 percent budget cut for next The memo comes just two months after year, and the University is implementing a hiring Stenger’s annual State of the University address freeze, which includes all leadership searches. and speaks to the University’s difficulties in The only exception to the freeze will be teaching generating revenue to cover the new United assistants and adjunct professors. University Professions (UUP) contract that There will also be a pause on University was negotiated between the State University of Initiatives implemented through Stenger’s Road New York (SUNY) and UUP, a higher education Map Renewal process, including the development union for faculty, professional staff, contingent of the health sciences campus and the planned employees and retirees of the SUNY system. expansion of health sciences core facilities, The six-year contract, which began on July 2, though the construction projects in Johnson City 2016, will last until July 1, 2022. Although the for these programs will continue. According to contract officially began in 2016, it was only signed Stenger, if enrollment and revenue goals are met, by SUNY this past summer. The new contract those initiatives will be reconsidered in fall 2019. stipulates faculty and staff will receive a 2 percent According to Nieman, it is likely the SUNY increase in pay, which will be applied retroactively Board of Trustees will also approve another tuition for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years and increase of $200 per year to create more revenue in coming years — a cost of $12 million for the to help the University cover the salary raises. In 2018-19 academic year and roughly $4 million previous years, in-state tuition has increased by per year in the future. According to Mike Lisi, about 2 percent each year, and for the 2018-19 director of communications for UUP in Albany, academic year, resident tuition increased by $100. the previous contract was extended by two years The University will also seek to attract more outbecause both UUP and SUNY needed time to of-state and international students, as they pay far negotiate an agreement. more money than New York state residents do to “A group of UUP leaders, selected by UUP attend BU. President Fred Kowal, represented the UUP Additionally, the University may increase fees; during negotiations; they were UUP’s negotiations however, it will have to gain approval from SUNY team,” Lisi wrote in an email. “The state had its to do so. own team of people at the table, and those groups Kowal wrote in an email that the SUNY agreed on the new contract that was ratified by system must improve its strategy in requesting UUP members. The state agreed to every part more funding so the burden of the increases does of UUP’s new contract; the contract could not not lay on campuses. have gone to a ratification vote without the state “SUNY needs to be more aggressive in agreeing to all terms in the agreement.” advocating for more funding,” Kowal wrote. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the tentative “Every year, UUP advocates meet with their agreement in May 2018; however, according to state legislators to push initiatives like more Ryan Yarosh, BU’s senior director of media and funding for SUNY, hiring more full-time faculty public relations, the University didn’t know for and transparency regarding SUNY’s campus certain if the state would cover the negotiated foundations and its research foundation. raises until the legislative session ended in June. We’ve had great support from the SUNY Nieman wrote in an email that the state didn’t Student Assembly.” cover the raises included in the previous contract, According to Austin Ostro, chief of staff for which ran from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016, but the SUNY Student Assembly, the state is forcing did for the one before that, from July 1, 2007 to SUNY campuses to cut other services to cover the June 30, 2011. new contract. “We didn’t know whether the raises included “Campuses are responsible for the 2 percent in the current contract would be covered,” retroactive pay upfront, and then the 2 percent Nieman wrote. “As a result, we developed a plan to raise continues in perpetuity, [so] campuses are increase revenue by growing enrollment. We were responsible for paying both the retroactive and successful in generating some additional revenue perpetual raises,” Ostro wrote in an email. “We to help us cover the raises, but we fell short of the support SUNY faculty getting the raise, but want amount we needed to close the gap.” the state to cover the costs so that campuses don’t Despite the University’s efforts to increase have to make sacrifices to other services in order graduate enrollment, BU is currently struggling to pay for the raise.” to find revenue to cover the back pay and raises Nevertheless, the contract is already signed, stipulated by the new contract. and the University will have to find the money “That we fell short in generating sufficient somewhere. Sean Massey, president of the UUP additional revenue to cover the raises is a result chapter at BU and associate professor of women, of the size of financial obligation we must gender and sexuality studies, said UUP and SUNY assume this year and a very difficult climate for both signed the agreement, indicating that the recruitment of graduate students,” Yarosh said. SUNY system would be able to pay for it. To cover the $12 million in back pay for this “We sign a contract, but what they’re saying year, the University intends to use its reserves; is we’ll agree to pay you this amount for the work however, it will need to come up with a sustainable you provide — it’s as simple as that,” Massey revenue model for the future. According to said. “Now, if management is negotiating in good Stenger’s Dateline announcement, the University faith, they are offering to pay money they can pay. is looking to generate money to cover future years So for them to say somehow we don’t have the by creating a task force to promote enrollment in money to pay means they weren’t negotiating in both undergraduate and graduate programs. good faith.” Additionally, three groups led by University officials will aim to pinpoint alternate revenue Sasha Hupka and Amy Donovan contributed sources, including capitalizing on online reporting to this article.
ARTS & CULTURE
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OPINIONS
About six months after freshman Joao Souza was fatally stabbed in his dorm, former Binghamton University student Michael Roque was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on a second-degree murder charge. Roque, 20, of Massapequa, New York, was sentenced before Judge Kevin Dooley in Broome County Court on Tuesday morning. He received the maximum sentence and will not be eligible for parole until he is 40. In the meantime, he will be locked in a maximum-security prison. Souza, 19, was stabbed in his dorm room in Windham Hall of Mountainview College on April 15. According to police, Roque fled on foot after stabbing Souza, first in Souza’s bathroom and then in his dorm room, in front of his roommates. Roque was apprehended in his dorm room in Hunter Hall of Mountainview College after a 20-hour manhunt. He was asleep when police entered his dorm room to arrest him. During sentencing, Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell released
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BU design minor sees temporary suspension Department halts program to accommodate design majors Jacob Kerr news intern
Students hoping to minor in graphic design at Binghamton University might be temporarily out of luck. BU’s department of art and design is looking to suspend the graphic design minor as students majoring in fine arts with a concentration in graphic design struggle to register for required classes. Kendra Hansen, secretary for the department of art and design, wrote in an email that these difficulties are being caused by a University-wide hiring freeze and increased student enrollment. “Due to severe financial strains that Binghamton University is experiencing right now, Harpur College is unable to replace retiring faculty, two of which are in the department of art and design,” Hansen wrote. “This, paired with the increased undergraduate enrollment in our department, has left us scrambling to meet the needs of our current majors.” Some art and design majors, such as Mikayel Harutyunyan, a junior majoring in graphic design, are frustrated with
see minor page 5 SPORTS
Anderson .Paak’s album, “Oxnard,” delivers a new sound,
Stay in shape during the holidays with this HIIT workout,
Contributing columnist Theodora Catrina comments on the way we think about sexual assault,
Men’s basketball downs Sacred Heart,
Women’s basketball topples Army,
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