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Thursday, August 29, 2019 | Vol. XCVI, Issue 3 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
The Free Word on Campus Since 1946
University budget Golf to be decentralized Returns to Action for Fall Departments to undertake budgeting responsibility Melanie Gulbas pipe dream news
taylor hayes pipe dream illustrator
Binghamton University is pursuing a new budgeting process that will hold individual departments responsible for their own budgetary targets, according the BU President Harvey Stenger’s summer 2019 quarterly report. The new process comes in the wake of new financial challenges, and is part of an effort to ease the University’s hiring hold, which has been in effect since December 2018. Although tuition increased by $200, the maximum amount allowed by the State University of New York (SUNY) system, for the 2019-20 academic year, and the University received a onetime offset of $109.5 million in collective bargaining support from New York state, BU still faced a $5 million shortfall this year — the result of contract negotiations between New York and United University Professions (UUP), a higher education union for faculty, professional staff, contingent employees and retirees of the SUNY system. In an effort to reduce University costs, Stenger and other administrators implemented a hiring hold and budget reductions. The new, decentralized budgeting
process will be phased in over the next three years, and schools and departments will have to be responsible for meeting their own budgetary targets. “I appreciate that the deans and chairs, as well as the vice presidents and directors, have been working to hold the line on hiring, and I especially want to thank the faculty and staff who’ve stepped forward to temporarily fill any holes that have developed as a result of the hold,” Stenger wrote in his report. But not everyone is on board with the new plan. Matthew Johnson, chair of the psychology department and a professor of psychology, wrote in an email that he was initially pleased when he read that Stenger was implementing a new, decentralized budgeting process. He thought the psychology budget would increase, since the overall University enrollment has increased and the number of faculty members have decreased. “When I inquired about the specifics of this new budgeting process, I was informed that the president was referring to the need for the colleges/schools to absorb the base budget cut of $920,000 for this year on top of the $400,000 from last year,” Johnson wrote. “I was also informed that this cut was being distributed within Harpur College by the dean.”
Rodriguez, Mandel selected as team captains Justin Zion
sports editor
As the month of August nears its close, the Binghamton golf team is gearing up for the start of the 2019 fall season. With five invitationals scheduled over a seven-week span, the team has the opportunity to showcase the strides it made over the offseason and defend the one championship it achieved last year. Though the last time the team as a whole played in a competitive golf tournament was in late April during the Big Sky Championships, Binghamton head coach Bernie Herceg maintains that he has seen improvement from the members of his squad. Some have also competed individually in tournaments over the summer break. “I would say the majority of them have definitely improved,” Herceg said. “Some of them really had a heavy summer tournament schedule, so when it comes to improving, the level that they’re at, talent — so the more tournaments they
see budget page 2
see golf page 7
Local leaders call for Medicare for All bill to be passed Activists rally near Rep. Anthony Brindisi’s office Stephen Anku
pipe dream news
For the second time in less than two weeks, protestors gathered outside of Rep. Anthony Brindisi’s office in the Metrocenter in Downtown Binghamton to advocate for health care reform. The Broome-Tioga Green Party of New York and the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation of Binghamton (UUCB) hosted the rally on Wednesday afternoon, calling on Brindisi to support H.R.1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019. The bill would establish a national health insurance program administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes all U.S. residents and covers hospital services, prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse treatment, dental and vision services and long-term care. It would prohibit cost-sharing and other service charges such as co-payments,
and stipulate that HHS negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. Rally participants were invited to take turns speaking at a microphone. Christine Niskanen, secretary for the Broome-Tioga Green Party, said she helped organize the event as an opportunity to directly and publicly appeal to the congressman. “We want to pressure Brindisi into supporting the bill, but he wants to shore up Obamacare instead,” Niskanen said. “But over 40 million people can’t afford it.” The Reverend Douglas Taylor, minister
of UUCB, voiced his concerns about the current cost of health care and how it was affecting members of his church and community. “So the system again and again is failing people in my congregation in a variety of ways,” Taylor said. “I’m usually giving up, like, $20 to somebody on the street so they can get a dinner. Now I’m giving a couple of hundred dollars to people in the congregation so they can afford their insulin.” The group maintained that one of the biggest advantages of the bill would be
a reduction in expenses and time from ridding the system of private insurance, outlining several examples of insurance bloat and red tape as they took turns telling their personal experiences with rising health care costs. “They’re producing the wealth for the companies, and this is done with the complete agreement of the Democrats and Republican parties — they’re supported by the corporations,” Rick Sprout, chairperson of the Broome-Tioga
see medicare page 3
Study focuses on nicotine use BU Ph.D. student receives study grant Ph.D. dissertation compares blood pressure, smoking Jake Kerr
Victoria Brown, ‘14, awarded for research in women studies
news editor
Binghamton University students and faculty are sporting 24-hour blood pressure monitors around campus and at home for a new research study focusing on nicotine use. The study uses an ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM), consisting of a standard blood pressure arm cuff and an electronic recording device typically worn on the waist, to measure variations in subjects’ blood pressure throughout the day and night. Susan Mueller, a second-year Ph.D. student studying nursing, is heading the research for her dissertation. Once research participants are fitted with the ABPM, they go about their routine as they would any other day. For the next 24 hours, the monitoring system will take a blood pressure reading every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes throughout the night. The monitor gives
see nicotine page 2
Erin Kagel
pipe dream news
john atkinson pipe dream photographer Susan Mueller, a second-year Ph.D. student studying nursing, tests out an ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM) for her research on the connection between blood pressure and nicotine use.
ARTS & CULTURE
Victoria Brown, ‘14, a lecturer in the women, gender and sexuality studies program and Ph.D. candidate at Binghamton University, spent 2015 working in Spain for her field study on women’s labor in Almeria. Now, she’s the recipient of a grant for her work. Brown received the grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), a nonprofit organization that works to promote equity and education for women and girls. Since August, AAUW has awarded more than $4 million in fellowships and grants to scholars, research projects and programs. Brown earned her master’s degree in anthropology from BU in 2014. As a sociocultural anthropologist, she
OPINIONS
has dedicated her Ph.D. studies and dissertation to examining gender vulnerability and women’s labor within a capitalist system. “I’ve always been fascinated by questions of women’s labor and how women’s labor sustains capitalism, as a mode of production, as a way of living, as a structuring framework to our lives,” Brown said. “I’m interested in not just what we traditionally think of as work, I’m also very interested in reproductive labor — the hidden underbelly and, in my opinion, purposefully occluded side of labor in this world under systems of capitalism. That would be work like mothering, pregnancy, breastfeeding, sexuality [and] household labor.” Brown’s field study took her to El Ejido, Almeria, a small Andalusian town in southeastern Spain with an agricultural-based economy. The village primarily exports vegetables to northern Europe on a counter-seasonal cycle,
see grant page 2
SPORTS
Take advantage of the blue skies with local runs
Learn about our staff’s plans for Labor Day
The Editorial Board examines the strained relationship between students and locals
Assistant sports editor Edward Aaron gives advice for the amateur fantasy football player
Abby Wick and Lauren Spinnato captain women’s soccer
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