FRIDAY
February 11, 2011 Sat. Sun. Mon. CLOUDY CLOUDY CLOUDY 30ŗ22 36ŗ29 32ŗ22
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Office space
The BU administration is asking the SA to formalize a contract that will permit student groups to use space on campus
Alumnae file lawsuit against University
The Free Word On Campus for 64 years
Vol. LXXIX, Issue 6
Binghamton University
release
Be mine, valentines Valentine s Day is only three days away. Are you ready?
SPECIAL S E’ VALENTIN EDITION
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opinion
A new suit
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Class-action lawsuit, that is. BU s in legal trouble, and we re with the plaintiffs
Bearcats coach receives two-year extension
Rob Bellon News Editor
Yitzchak Haberman has all the signs of a New York State resident. He went to high school in New York, he is a student at Binghamton University and, most of all, he pays in-state tuition. Haberman, a sophomore majoring in accounting, meets all the traditional criteria but one: He is not a New York resident. But he is able to pay the instate tuition rate due to a relatively unknown segment of New York education law, which applies to students who spent their final two years of high school in a New York school and who apply to a SUNY school within five years of graduation. That segment of the law is at the center of a class-action lawsuit that three BU alumnae have brought against the University and SUNY in Broome County Supreme Court. The three women who filed the suit — Sara Strum ‘09, Lauren Beer ‘09 and Raquel Balsam ‘07 — were all New Jersey residents who attended high school in New York. All three paid out-of-state tuition during their time at BU. They discovered the segment after they had graduated and have since invoked Article 8, Section 355(2)(h)(8), which states that non-residents shall pay a rate no greater than that of the in-state rate if, among other things, such a student “attended an approved New York high school for two or more years, graduated from an approved
See SUIT Page 2
David Katz/Staff Photographer
Mark Macon, formerly Binghamton University’s interim men’s basketball coach, is pictured coaching the team. Macon was recently appointed head coach and signed to a new contract that expires on June 30, 2014.
Rob Bellon News Editor
After more than a year of uncertainty for both current and prospective members of the Binghamton University men’s basketball team, a measure of security comes with a new name: head coach Mark Macon. Macon, who until recently was BU’s interim men’s basketball coach, was appointed to the position of head coach Wednesday and given an annual pay raise of about $40,000. Macon’s new contract runs up to
June 30, 2014, after the end of the 201314 basketball season. Until Wednesday, Macon was officially under an assistant coaching contract, but he was acting as head coach. The new contract affirms him as full head coach. His new annual salary will be about $170,000, according to Interim Athletic Director Jim Norris. Norris said a large part of the reason for the promotion was to give Macon and BU more sway in dealing with recruits, who often look for assurances that the coach who picks them will be around for the duration of their time
on a team. “The [prospective recruit’s] choice is made in large part due to who the coach is,” Norris said. “Removing the interim tag does say that this is our guy.” Norris said all current assistant coaches would remain in their positions. Macon also acknowledged these benefits of shedding the interim tag. “In the recruiting process you can be recruited against by using that terminology,” Macon said of his former title. He said coaches from other schools might leverage Macon’s
interim title against BU. “I know my coaches would get that from kids and from parents,” he said. Macon said he was pleased with the promotion overall. “I am gracious for this opportunity and very humbled by it,” he said. The announcement also contradicts earlier proclamations made by Interim President C. Peter Magrath. When he announced in October that an NCAA investigation into the
See COACH Page 5
Valentine s Day date at BU turns into 23-year marriage Pipe Dream News
This Valentine’s Day, Jim and Patricia Modugno will celebrate the 29th anniversary of their first date — a memory that was created back when they were undergraduates at Binghamton University. Fate placed Patricia and Jim, who graduated in 1985, together in Hinman College, where Patricia lived in the suite above Jim’s during their freshman year. Both sets of suitemates hailed from Staten Island, and through mutual connections the residents of the two suites eventually became a close group of friends. Patricia and Jim’s romance truly began, however, when she cared for him while he was ill. “I had the flu, and my roommate abandoned ship — he didn’t want to get sick,” Jim said. “Trish brought
me food and cleaned my room for three days.” “I felt bad for him, so I nursed him back to health,” Patricia said. Their first date took place soon after on Valentine’s Day of 1982.
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Miranda Langrehr
He kissed me for the first time at the end of the night
Patricia Modugno, BU alumna
“Jim asked me on a date for Valentine’s day, supposedly as friends,” Patricia said.
They went to Number 5 Restaurant located off of Vestal Parkway, which is still open today, and then to the movies and a club called Xanadu. Jim said that even though it was their first date, he could sense that there was something special between them. “We weren’t officially going out, but there was definitely something there,” he said. The date provided an opportunity for the fledgling couple to take the next step in their friendship. “He kissed me for the first time at the end of the night,” Patricia recalled. Their relationship continued to develop throughout their time at Binghamton, where Jim majored in psychology, and Patricia doublemajored in German and French. Two years after graduation, Jim and
See DATE Page 4
Photo provided
Jim and Patricia Modugno met during their freshman year at Binghamton University in 1981, when both lived in the same dorm building in Hinman College. This Valentine’s Day, the couple celebrates the 29th anniversary of their first date.
Sports Pipe Dream
NBA commentary: Valentine’s edition See Page 16 Friday, February 11, 2011
HERE TO STAY Mark Macon signed through 2013-14, sheds interim label
See Page 19
Eric Jackson/File photo