Double trouble: Big Red sweep twin bill,
Considering studying abroad? Opinion columnist Macon Fessenden laments being on the receiving end of study abroad tales, see page 9
Cornell takes down BU soccer teams, see page 11
PIPE DREAM Friday, September 20, 2013 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXV, Issue 5
It's
Week Dig In See Release Pages 5-8
Paige Nazinitsky/Managing Editor
Students exercise free speech The app that smiles back iOS matchmaker offers drinks to couples Rachel Kaplan and Hannah Gianninoto Contributing Writers
Franz Lino/Staff Photographer
Ben Sheridan, president of Dorm Room Diplomacy, sits in front of the “wall” set up for students to exercise their right to free speech on issues that matter to them most.
University chalking ban draws criticism Eurih Lee News Intern
Chalking up issues with Binghamton University’s posting policies to a matter of free speech, Dorm Room Diplomacy promoted the First Amendment by creating a poster board “wall” on which students could exercise their rights and express themselves. According to Binghamton University posting policy, “Writing in chalk on any building or University sidewalk or roadway is strictly prohibited. Any group found claking [sic.] will be charged a clean up fee and will lost [sic.] reservation privileges.” Ben Sheridan, vice president of Dorm Room Diplomacy International, said
he disagrees with the ban. “The idea that chalking is illegal on campus — it’s ridiculous. You can get a ticket for it,” said Sheridan, a senior majoring in political science. Jordan Clifford, vice president of Dorm Room Diplomacy and a senior majoring in political science, also said that the chalk ban restricts a student’s right to free speech. “I could understand it if people were writing obscenities and stuff like that, but it still is free speech,” Clifford said. On Monday students were encouraged to write whatever they wanted on a poster board “wall” to exercise their right to free speech. There was a diverse practice of free speech,
as postings on the wall ranged from animal drawings to political statements. Clifford said the wall theme represents the various restrictions of freedom throughout society. Although most of the postings on the wall were respectful and inspirational, there was an instance of “hate speech” when someone wrote, “Zionism is Fascism.” “Oftentimes, we find that hate speech doesn’t accomplish anything,” Clifford said. “Free speech is free speech. It’s up to the person how they want to use it.” After the event, Dorm Room Diplomacy plans to take the wall to a panel of professors and determine
See CHALK Page 2
In the fifth most depressing city in America, one former Binghamton University student has given the community a reason to smile. Dan Berenholtz, 27, from Fresh Meadows, N.Y., created the iOS application SmileBack along with friends and cofounders Venkat Dinavahi and Roy Goldschmidt, and brother Doron. SmileBack is an app that allows users to send a “smile” to other users they want to get to know. If they send a smile back, the two users will be able to text each other through the app. Berenholtz attended Binghamton from 2004 to 2005 but transferred to Cornell University where he graduated in 2009. He hopes to bring SmileBack to Ithaca soon. “We hope to launch it at Cornell soon, but Binghamton is the only city we are focused on right now,” Berenholtz said. “We started with Binghamton because it brought me back to my roots.” Berenholtz also came to an agreement with Tom & Marty’s and Dillinger’s Celtic Pub & Eatery to offer free drinks to matches that present the voucher on SmileBack. He plans to team up with Flashbacks/ Paradigm in the future. “We went personally to each bar,” Berenholtz said. “I met with Larry Shea [the owner of Tom & Marty’s] … he loved the idea. We also spoke to someone at Dillinger’s. We were only [in
Binghamton] for two days, and we weren’t able to catch the owner of JT’s.”
“We started with Binghamton because it brought me back to my roots” — Dan Berenholtz App creator
However, the app is not a ticket to unlimited free drinks. “When you match with someone on [SmileBack], you can only match with them one time. So the bartender presses ‘mark as used’ when the couple redeems the offer, so they can only redeem it once,” Berenholtz said. Shea said he was excited about partnering with SmileBack. “While I wouldn’t call their app social media, per se, it runs in the same area,” Shea said. “I love the role social media has now in running my bar. It’s not about simply running ads for specials; it’s about getting to know my customers, becoming a part of their social network and simply having fun.” Although Shea is enthusiastic about the possibilities, he thinks there might be some problems during prime business hours at Tom & Marty’s.
“So far my one concern is that we probably will have to restrict it during times we’re crazy busy, those two-hour periods or so a night when it takes all our effort just to serve drinks,” Shea said. SmileBack was officially launched as a mobile app in the spring of 2013 as a small private beta only for iPhones. Berenholtz and his co-founders are currently working on an Android version. The initial ideas for SmileBack came after the creation of their website whowentout.com, launched at Georgetown University and the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. last year while Berenholtz and his partners were living in the city. “After you went to a party or a bar, you would go onto the website and see who else was at that party and try and find matches,” Berenholtz said. The site was a success, so they elected to expand it by replacing the website with a mobile application. “We changed it to a mobile app because we realized that smartphones were the desktop of the future,” Berenholtz said. “We decided to use the app to center it around campuses.” Students were informed of the SmileBack launch on Sept. 11, through a mass email sent by Berenholtz. They also used Facebook to generate interest. Berenholtz said about 3,000 people are using SmileBack, with about 1,050 in Binghamton alone. Over 5,000 smiles have been sent out in Binghamton,
See SMILE Page 2