Spring 2023 Issue 53 & 54

ʻTheyʼve swept it under the rugʼ

A lawsuit filed against SUNY and several high-level Binghamton University administrators is moving forward.

In recently filed court documents,

a case filed by Karen Barzman, a former professor of art history at BU, was allowed to proceed after a motion to dismiss was denied. The action accuses SUNY and codefendants Donald Nieman, a former provost and current professor of history, Celia Klin, the current dean of Harpur College, Andrew Baker, the Title IX coordinator, and Nancy Um, a former dean for faculty development and inclusion, of sex-based discrimination

Men’s lacrosse wins thriller against Albany

However, a last-minute save from sophomore goalie Connor Winters in the game’s final seconds allowed Binghamton to maintain its lead and secure a 15-14 victory over the Great Danes.

and retaliation under Title IX and the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL).

The concerns began with Barzman’s relationship with John Tagg, a SUNY distinguished professor in the art history department, which was “tumultuous and involved physically violent and emotionally abusive conduct by Tagg.” After Tagg arranged for Barzman’s hiring at BU, he began abusing her at work by

treating her in a demeaning manner and encouraging colleagues to mirror his actions, according to court documents. After the relationship ended in 2005, Barzman alleges that Tagg encouraged department allies and junior employees to mistreat her by ignoring and criticizing her at events, cutting off communication regarding professional developments and giving her worse teaching assignments.

On Saturday afternoon, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team hosted Albany on senior day for its final game of America East (AE) regular season play. After holding a 15-11 lead with just over four minutes left in the game, a series of goals from Albany made the game 15-14 with a minute left.

“[Winters] has been there for us all year with some big end-ofthe-fourth-quarter saves,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “I’m certainly glad [Winters] was able to do it again today for us.”

Case alleges Title IX violations and harassment

lawsuit from page 1

In 2021, Barzman accepted a University arrangement to receive one year’s salary and complete supervision of her remaining doctoral students in exchange for severance of her relationship with BU. She characterized the agreement as compulsory.

“They forced me to sign an agreement that made it look like I was willingly retiring,” Barzman said. “[They] kept calling it an ‘early retirement agreement.’”

In 2019, along with all faculty, staff, graduate assistants (GAs) and teaching assistants (TAs), Barzman had to complete a Title IX training module, in compliance with “state law and University policy.” According to the module, “supervisors and managers are held to a higher standard,” and are required to report any cases of harassment or violence communicated to them, observed or that they should have “reasonably known about.”

After completing the module, Barzman contacted Klin, the then-acting dean of Harpur College. She described how Klin was initially sympathetic, promising to speak to higher administration about transferring her away from the abuse within the art history department, but then ultimately denied her request after speaking to the provost, Nieman.

“The University abrogated its responsibilities to me for

administration.

Barzman recalled confiding in many faculty members above her in rank — including chairs of other academic departments and administrators that answer only to the University president. Ultimately, she said that “nobody fulfilled their obligations under Title IX,” which mandates that administrators take “immediate steps” once made aware of an incident, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network — an anti-sexual violence nonprofit.

Barzman, now a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library in Chicago and an adjunct lecturer at DePaul University, described the impact on her professional life.

“I was a fully tenured, full professor with doctoral students and an international reputation as a scholar,” Barzman said. “Now I’m an adjunct instructor. [I’m] grateful to have this job because it’s something.”

In their motion to dismiss Barzman’s lawsuit, the defendants listed five points — the first argued that employees were not entitled to sue under Title IX, the second mentioned the statute of limitations, the third said that an “actionable sex-based Title IX harassment claim” was not stated, the fourth concerned claims against individual defendants and the fifth contended that the court should not exercise jurisdiction over NYSHRL claims. Every motion was denied by the court.

argued impeded receiving justice and protection from administrators. Kara Chadwell, the president of Domestic and Oppressive Violence Education (DOVE) — an organization dedicated to educating students and the larger community about forms of domestic abuse — and a senior double-majoring in human development and philosophy, politics and law, explained the impact of not communicating about sensitive issues on victims of domestic violence.

“I think for the most part, our society has a culture of isolation, especially when it comes to a victim,” Chadwell said. “Starting from a young age, when you’re not having open and honest conversations about difficult topics like this, [people] become accustomed to not talking about things and then it’s uncomfortable, and then they don’t want to, and then when someone comes to them with an issue, they don’t know what to do.”

Victoria Barics, the treasurer of DOVE and a senior double-majoring in psychology and philosophy, politics and law, emphasized the importance of listening to survivors with understanding.

“I think that it’s very important that when somebody opens up about something like that, they get to have someone listen with a very empathetic ear,” Barics said. “As far as [Barzman’s] experience, and just in general, just having all these people [react] in not the most supportive way can have

BU sees rise in ‘sextortion’ crimes on campus

(PL155.30(6)).”

Binghamton University has experienced a rise in “sextortion” crimes over the 2021-22 academic year.

During a BU Council meeting on April 21, the Annual Campus Safety report revealed an increase in fraud and grand larceny cases from the 2021-22 academic year. This change has been attributed to a rise in sextortion scams — a generally recognized form of fraud that focuses on the exploitation of sexually explicit material obtained from a victim, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Sextortion schemes usually start on an app or social media platform where people can meet. After the suspect starts a relationship with the victim, they collect explicit videos or pictures of the victim and begin extorting money out from the victim by threatening to send the content to the target’s family and friends.

Christopher Meyn, a lieutenant at the University Police Department (UPD), explained why sextortion is classified as both fraud and grand larceny in crime statistics.

“The more potential victims the suspect has contacted over social media, the more likely the suspect is to hook a victim and maliciously obtain explicit material,” Meyn wrote in an email. “Because of this, the scam meets the Penal Law crime of Scheme to Defraud 2nd. (Pl 190.60(1)). The second element of the crime is grand larceny, which specifically addresses the suspect extorting the victim for money or other property. Anytime property, regardless of the value or nature, is obtained through extortion it is classified as a grand larceny

Meyn further described the link between fraud and grand larceny in the crime statistics. According to Meyn, BU had 17 fraud cases that were classified as sextortion in 2022, accounting for 41 percent of on-campus frauds that year. These cases also are classified under the grand larceny category of the Safety Report.

In a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data spotlight, the agency stated that 41 percent of sextortion reports named Instagram as the initial mode of contact and 31 percent named Snapchat. The FTC also stated that reports have increased more than eight times those recorded in 2019, and people aged 18-29 were more than six times as likely to report sextortion than people over the age of 29.

Joe Gallagher, a UPD investigator, described the process that a victim of sextortion would go through if they choose to pursue a criminal investigation.

“In cases of ‘sextortion,’ we start by collecting the usernames and handles for the associated accounts and submit subpoena requests through the District Attorney’s office,” Gallagher wrote in an email.

“The subpoenas request subscriber information for the various accounts for the purposes of identifying the perpetrator. The problem we encounter is that the perpetrator often uses burner emails and phone numbers, which cannot be traced back to the actual suspect. It can be very challenging to close a sextortion case with the arrest of a perpetrator.”

Anna Jantz, the assistant director and advocate of the Consultation, Advocacy, Referral and Education (CARE) Team, explained the impact of these crimes and on-campus resources available to victims of sextortion.

“These experiences can be deeply violating and isolating for those impacted, and it is important that students know they are not alone,” Jantz wrote in an email. “University offices such as UPD, the CARE Team, [University Counseling Center (UCC)] and [Violence, Abuse and Rape Crisis Center (VARCC)] are just some of the many resources students can explore. Knowledge is a powerful tool in addressing these incidents.”

Strategies recommended by the FBI to protect people from these scams include being selective about what you post online and being wary of people you meet through social media.

Brianna Torres, a sophomore majoring in psychology, expressed her thoughts on the nature of sextortion crimes.

“No one should ever have to go through something like this,” Torres said. “It is straight manipulation.”

Isabella Fredericksen, the vice president of Domestic and Oppressive Violence Education (DOVE) and a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, described the effort her organization is making to aid victims of interpersonal violence and sextortion.

“DOVE wants anybody experiencing sextortion to know that it is not their fault, and they are not alone,” Frederickson wrote in an email. “Our club focuses on educating students about the different types of interpersonal violence, resources on campus, how to help a friend experiencing this [and] coping mechanisms.

We hope that as a club, we can work with other resources both on and off campus to stop the rise in the number of sextortion claims and make resources more available to students, if they do find themselves experiencing this.”

In 2022, sextortion represented 41 percent of all fraud cases.

Tresa Karnati news intern

On-campus parking permit prices set to increase

representation from various BU community members.

Hallie Milligan assistant news editor

In response to an approximately $2 million deficit, on-campus parking permit prices are set to increase annually starting next fall.

As discussed in a Binghamton University Council meeting on April 21, the deficit is a result of parking rates remaining consistent for over a decade. The failure to increase the parking permit price with the gradually increasing maintenance costs has also prevented the University’s parking lots from being fully kept, administrators said. Student parking permits, which are available as both annual commuter passes and annual resident passes, have remained at $140.55 since 2011. Meanwhile, meter rates, which cost $1.00 per hour, have not been adjusted since 2013.

A rate increase of 1.25 percent per year has now been established, after a proposed schedule of parking price increases was created and received approval from the Parking and Transportation Stakeholders Group (PTSG), an organization with

Parking permit prices are set to begin increasing in fall 2023, and will continue for the next couple of years. Janice Bennett, the senior executive director for student affairs administration, explained what the increase will entail for students in the upcoming years.

“Permit fees have not been increased since 2011 and meters since 2013, while costs have gone up significantly over that same time,” Bennett wrote in an email. “The most common permit used by students will increase by less than $20 annually and changes were reviewed and supported by the [PTSG], which includes a wide representation of students, faculty and staff.”

Brian Rose, the vice president of student affairs, proposed the finalized parking permit increase at the Council meeting, which was supported by a majority vote from the Council members. Rose explained that the money obtained from the initiative will allow the University to invest in parking lot maintenance, including keeping the lots clean, safe and accessible to students, faculty, staff and visitors.

“The parking operation, if you will, functions as an auxiliary service, meaning the

revenues we take in are being used to support the operations of the parking enterprise,” Rose said. “We have a substantial deficit, roughly $2 million now, of parking lot maintenance because the revenues we take in are not sufficient to do all the work that should be done with respect to keeping the parking lots prepared and painted.”

Students expressed frustration toward the price increase, claiming parking

prices should be covered by tuition and other mandatory fees that students are expected to pay.

Gabrielle Camillery, a senior majoring in biology, was opposed to the price increase as a commuter student.

“Parking passes are already pretty expensive for the limited amount of available parking during the day,” Camillery said. “They should find a way to integrate that upgraded charge

into our tuition and fees which are already super expensive as well.”

Alicia Baj, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, described the parking prices as being “too expensive” already and claimed she does not drive due to fear of unexpected rate increases.

Additionally, Baj noted that there is a need for increased parking availability on campus.

“Honestly, the increase

surprises me, but it upsets me even more,” Baj said. “This is why I take the bus instead of driving, because the prices for things that should be included in our tuition fees, like parking, are charged separately. There aren’t even enough parking spaces to begin with, so I hope some of the extra funds go toward expanding parking or adding additional lots, maybe a parking garage for students with passes.”

Feminist Collective holds ‘Take Back the Night’

On Thursday, Binghamton University students joined the Feminist Collective for their annual “Take Back the Night” rally in protest of sexual and interpersonal violence.

The rally, which took place at the Peace Quad, was organized by the BU Feminist Collective — a student organization established with

the intent of advocating for intersectional feminism and opposing the disrespect and disenfranchisement of women and other marginalized groups — and has historically been impactful for survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence, according to an Instagram post from the organization. The event marked the conclusion of Take Back the Night (TBTN) week, which included the “Line the Spine & Chalking Event,” a survivor-centered discussion and poster-making leading up to the rally.

Alexandra Miranda, the

senior advisor for the Feminist Collective and a senior double-majoring in human development and sociology, described some of the key steps and considerations taken when organizing the event.

“Some of our main priorities when organizing our TBTN rally was ensuring we are creating safe spaces to uplift, support and advocate for the agency and voices of survivors of violence,” Miranda wrote in an email. “Through every event we organize leading up to the annual rally, we work hard to develop new ideas for events and programming to

support survivors and center their experiences since they are often silenced and neglected by larger institutions of power, such as BU.”

Students were handed signs to hold up during the rally with phrases like “no means no” and “believe survivors,” while the organization’s E-Board gave a trigger warning given the event’s purpose. Attention was drawn to the marshals at the event, who were assigned to lead participants to a safe space should they feel uncomfortable. The E-Board then gave a brief history of the event, which has happened nationwide since

1972, when a group of women at the University of Southern Florida marched through their campus demanding resources and safety for women.

According to Miranda, the Feminist Collective has hosted the event annually with the goal of ensuring that survivors’ voices are uplifted and that their experiences are centered.

“Oftentimes, survivors face marginalization and are encouraged to not speak about what has happened to them, let alone how they are doing emotionally, physically and mentally,” Miranda wrote. “TBTN is a radical call to action and a demand for survivors to be heard, to be supported and to reclaim their agency and bodily autonomy.”

After a series of speeches by organization leaders, Haley Murphy, the assistant director of education and training at the Crime Victims Assistance Center (CVAC), was invited to speak about resources for survivors of sexual and interpersonal crimes. At the conclusion of her speech, the rally around campus began with the E-Board leading the march.

Participants in the rally joined in a series of chants such as “claim our bodies, claim our rights. Take a stand, take back the night” as they walked around campus. Some students witnessing the rally showed their agreement by joining in from a distance or nodding in approval.

Iris DeFino, a rally participant and a sophomore majoring in political science, described her personal

connection to the goals of the march.

“This event was pretty significant to me as a survivor of sexual assault and as a feminist,” Defino said, “I remember last year it was a very important healing experience for me, being empowered with other people who believed me and supported me. It was a collective effort to raise awareness and how to protest general rape culture and institutional negligence at the University. I think it’s just such an important event for people to come together and unite on this common cause.”

The event concluded with the rally’s return to the Peace Quad, where participants took a break before walking down to the University Union Undergrounds to engage in “survivors speak-out,” where survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence had a safe space to share their stories.

Miranda added that there was a significant lack of spaces dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence.

“There should be more spaces that prioritize survivors, since oftentimes the approach people have to instances of violence is to focus on the harm itself and the perpetrator, instead of the survivor,” Miranda wrote. “It is important to keep in mind that everyone’s story is unique, [and] survivors are not a homogenous group with all of the same needs. We have to listen, confront our own biases/misconceptions about sexual violence and demand change for survivors.”

michael golann photo editor

Rally participants marched around campus carrying posters, including ones that read “stop victim blaming” and “fuck bro code.”

As a media organization, we hope to use this data to reflect on how we can best represent our readers — and we choose to make this data public to promote transparency.

After receiving anonymous responses from 29 out of our 30 staff members, as well as 72 of our contributors, we have identified shifts in our demographics — the most notable of which include discrepancies in gender and race. These results show that our paper needs a more critical look into staff recruitment in order to properly represent our readership.

We recognize that disparities between us and those we cover — the student body — can have a real impact on coverage, and we aim to reduce these

OPINIONS

Max

Kurant Opinions Columnist

Being an Individualized Major Program (IMP) student has already shaped me more than anything else in college. However, I have always felt that our program could be a lot more developed. Attending the 14th-annual Interdisciplinary and Individualized Major Programs Conference last month, I learned further development was not only a possibility, but also a necessity. This was my first time meeting other students from IMPs across the country, and I was stunned to see how well-developed these other programs were. This is in stark contrast to what I’ve seen at Binghamton University, where we have less than 10 total IMP students, few resources and very little awareness among the student body that this program exists. It is run by one academic advisor, who also serves as both a pre-law

disparities going forward. Regarding gender, we are working to make our newsroom as inclusive as possible. This year, this included opening up our editorial discussions to broader staff, beyond our largely-male editorial board. We also note that our contributor-base is largely women, which is not reflected in our current staff. As we pushed for more contributors and staff members to have an in-person presence in our office, we have found we are able to create a more inclusive environment in which different voices are heard. This is only the beginning — we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that does not privilege any one group over another. Regarding race — we

Tuesday, May 2 2023

Monday, April 3, 2017

Monday, October 2, 2017

Thursday, October 5, 2017

EDITORIAL: DIVERSITY REPORT 2023

believe more expansive recruiting strategies can assist us in fostering a more diverse newsroom, which will in turn create more diversity in content. Pipe Dream should not remain as simply a newspaper to be read — it should be an outlet in which the campus community finds a voice. Our staff next year plans to hold meetings with leaders in the multicultural community, discussing how we can best represent their events and addressing concerns in our coverage. Further, we believe that a diversity in content can in turn promote diversity in staff — and are planning on tracking the depth of our coverage in our 2024 Diversity Report. Through both such initiatives we aim to be proactive, rather than simply waiting to react to

concerns as they are raised. In socioeconomic diversity, our data was varied, but we believe this survey can be enhanced for future use. We noted that 20 percent of respondents declined to respond, and feel we can broaden the categories to allow for our staff to be more comfortable with reporting their socioeconomic status. Religious data appeared to be more evenly spread, with nearly equal parts agnostic, atheist, Christian and Jewish staff. Still, we hope to see more religious representation in the future, and will examine the effects of expanded coverage of different communities.

We also recognize that our staff’s range of sexual diversity has shifted vastly over the years. This year, Pipe Dream continued

its annual Sex Issue — in both print and digital formats — in which we published resources for LGBTQ+ students. We also conducted and published our campus Sex Survey for the first time since 2020, with the goal of providing an outlet for the campus community to express its sexual diversity in our paper. We will continue to explore ways to make our publication as inclusive as possible.

As a newspaper, our commitment to diversity must be strong to reflect the community we serve. Diversity can guide and influence our content, and in turn, strengthen our coverage. We will continue to publish our Diversity Report annually, but beyond this, our staff will continue to analyze this data and

BU should invest more in the IMP

develop ways to improve. Most encouraging to us is the diversity of our contributors — which much more closely aligns with that of the University — as they are the future of our paper. Through continued and more comprehensive reporting of such trends, and through continued conversations with contributors and staff about the impact and importance of their coverage, we hope to make Pipe Dream as reflective of the campus community as possible. We recognize that our publication does not yet reflect the student body in its diversity and are committed to changing this. If you have any questions or concerns, contact editor@bupipedream.com

The individualized major program offers students the opportunity to pursue original majors and careers.

and a general Harpur College academic advisor. This is the full extent of the staff we have available to us.

Don’t get me wrong — I’ve learned so much in our program, and I’m lucky to always have the support of an incredible academic advisor. However, we can be so much more, and it is in the University’s best interest to expand this program that the majority of students seem not to know about.

This is a problem, and I’m not just saying this out of pride for my own program.

As a school that prides itself on academic excellence, we are missing the opportunity to empower our students to pursue original ideas and contribute to both Binghamton and the greater world. This is a program that’s meant to be small as it’s for a very specific type of student, but, for those students, it is the best and maybe even only way they can learn. I know this was the case for me. I have had countless conversations with students in which I tell them

that I made my own major, and they tell me that they had no clue this was even an option.

Wouldn’t it be weird if you talked to a senior who was just learning that they could have majored in economics? Or psychology? Or biology? These are all ways to give students a path to success in their futures and to make the large amount of money they are paying to get an education worth it. The IMP should be no exception.

At the conference, I learned about the City University of New York’s (CUNY) equivalent of this program — the CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies. It has about 300 students, many scholarship opportunities and a well-established Student Leadership Council that facilitates weekly meetings and events to connect students to others in the program and to their network of almost 7,000 alumni. The University of California at Berkeley offers specific courses created for their Interdisciplinary Studies Field students, like courses

teaching interdisciplinary research skills and addressing issues like global health and capitalism from an interdisciplinary lens. A survey of IMP programs in the United States presented at the conference included responses from 68 different programs and found that 54.4 percent of these programs had over 100 students, 65 percent offered program-specific scholarships and 73.6 percent offered two or more program-specific courses, with 41.2 percent offering five or more.

When IMPs are invested, they succeed. To get there, though, what BU needs to do is allocate resources to this program in order to make it more appealing for students and to properly advertise it. Expanding this program would be beneficial for the University as well as for students.

What would this look like?

The most important thing is hiring dedicated staff to collaborate with students to help them elevate the IMP experience. I envision a program that actively works to

connect its students. We can have events for IMP students to network with each other and share what we’re learning. There can be opportunities to meet alumni and learn how to leverage our unique undergraduate experience in the workforce, while having classes to further hone in on our abilities and connect them to different disciplines. There can even be a chance for the graduating seniors to present their final projects at a public event and share the awesome work they’re doing. We can have all of this, and I think once we build this program — even if it just starts with some events here and there with more staff — this program can be the center of some of the most exciting projects and transformational ideas on campus.

At the very least, people need to know IMP is an option. Awareness can and should be raised during freshman orientation, in addition to the program being advertised throughout the year. This program can be the right fit

for so many students and completely change their college experience.

We are living in an increasingly complex world that urgently needs good problem solvers. If we are truly a top school, let’s show the world and produce the type of critical thinking leaders it needs. Complex issues need to be solved by people able to connect and understand differing views, carefully analyze problems and embrace the messiness of the world. This is exactly what IMP students do.

To truly live up to our motto, “From breadth through depth into perspective,” we have to support this program that encourages the creation of nuanced, interdisciplinary viewpoints. If we want to make BU a school that has a path for all its students, we need to expand the IMP.

Maximilian Kurant is a senior double-majoring with an individualized major in social systems and English.

In what is now a three-year tradition, Pipe Dream conducted a diversity survey of all our staff and contributors.

Solution to last week’s puzzle

Contributing photographer of the year:

Harold Carpenter

SAPB hosts annual Spring Fling festival

With a variety of rides, food and oncampus tabling, the festival proved to be a success.

Sam Lillianthal arts & culture editor

The wind blew students onto the heart of campus last Saturday for rides, food, music and more at the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB)’s annual Spring Fling festival. Similar to last year, the festival portion entertained students from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with the concert part beginning at 7 p.m. in Lot F1.

The SAPB upped the ante this year with brand new rides that students flocked to, like bull riding and axe throwing attractions. All of the rides were centralized in the quad with returning favorites such as the Sizzler, Gravitron and Super Slide.

A whole variety of food options were available as well, including a mac and cheese food truck, Pinkies BBQ, B&B Kettle Korn and a Korean fusion grill named K-BQ. Near the Chenango Room, there were traditional carnival food and drink options like chicken fingers, onion rings, corn dogs, lemonade and fried dough.

Many student organizations were seen tabling with fun prizes, competitions and activities. The Binghamton Food Co-Op was present on the spine selling delicious food and drinks, the Campus Bible Fellowship offered free cherry or blue raspberry snow cones and the mental health helpline, Support Empathy Empowerment Kindness (SEEK), let students write affirmations on sticky notes.

One of the most notable organizations tabling was the Binghamton Education Club. The club was promoting its mission to help people

with a passion for education and provide resources. They discussed their biweekly club meetings which ranged from making tote bags that were donated to local schools to stress-free activities like watching the hit show “Abbott Elementary.”

Ty Carpinello, vice president of the Binghamton Education Club and a junior majoring in biology, was happy to have been able to table and spread awareness.

“The amount of foot traffic Spring Fling has makes it one of the best events to attract new club members,” Carpinello said. “It was great to talk to other individuals who may want to pursue a career in education post-grad.”

Another main attraction was the student flea market which offered original crafts, art, jewelry and vintage clothing. Yume Igarashi, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience,

was selling handmade bead earrings, stickers and crochet keychains and stuffed animals. Igarashi was pleased to bring her work to the public and have others appreciate it as much as she does.

“Personally for me even a single piece of accessory I really love lifts up my day, so if I can contribute to that in anyway, that’s my main motivation,” Igarashi said.

The concert part of the festival began with a bang as the opener student band From the Bronx made a strong impression. Playing a mix of originals and rock covers, the four-piece band amped up the crowd for the next act.

At around 8 p.m., Surfaces took the stage during a dramatic introduction, starting with “Heaven Falls / Fall on Me,” one of their hit songs. The tranquil and summer grooves the duo created onstage put the audience in a relaxed and euphoric mood. Students

also had lots of fun with glow sticks being passed around and a giant beach ball. After a nearly one-hour set, Surfaces concluded their set with their biggest hit “Sunday Best,” which had everyone singing along and dancing to it.

A little bit after 9 p.m., the adrenaline-boosting DJ Imanbek came onstage to give students a wild rollercoaster of a show. The Kazakhstan native played a variety of remixed songs such as “I’m Good (Blue),” “Feel So Close” and “Dynamite.”

The energy intensified as Imanbek continued dropping insane beats and seamlessly transitioned to new songs. The crowd’s hype levels went from 0 to 100 as giant mosh pits were formed leading to students bouncing around having a great time.

Shira Geula, a concert chair for SAPB and a senior majoring in business administration, thought the

concert went smoothly with barely any hiccups. As her last project as concert chair, Geula has appreciated how rewarding and fun her job has been planning the fall concert and Spring Fling, but the finality of it also brings mixed feelings.

“This event being my last project makes me both really happy and really sad,” Geula wrote in an email. “I loved being able to bring a new genre, EDM, to campus but I am going to really miss doing this.”

Geula hopes people keep coming to events like these and support the students that make all of these events happen.

“I hope that people realize how much fun on-campus activities are and can be, and that they recognize that the big events here on campus like Spring Fling festival and concert are studentorganized,” Geula wrote in an email.

Lavender Celebration honors LGBTQ+ students

Graduating students were celebrated for their acomplishments.

Sydney Lee arts & culture contributor

The Q Center held their seventh-annual Lavender Celebration this past Friday for graduating students.

The Lavender Celebration is a combination of a traditional Lavender Graduation, an event where LGBTQ+ students’ experiences are recognized and celebrated as they leave school, and the Pride Awards, which is unique to the Q Center and recognizes LGBTQ+ students who went above and beyond during their time in college.

During this celebration, the Q Center did a cording ceremony where rainbow cords were given to all graduating members before the awards were announced. This spring’s Lavender Celebration had the most in attendance, with 82 soon-to-be graduates. The ceremony added an additional award for a total of six awards, with a keynote address featuring Garrett ImbrendaPolitano, senior counselor at the Binghamton University

Counseling Center. Nick Martin, assistant director of the Q Center, said the keynote address speakers are all members of LGBTQ+ community who graduated from BU that did great things while at the University and have stayed in the Binghamton area to continue to support the community. In ImbrendaPolitano’s speech, they talked about fostering a community of support in which everyone is trying their best.

“I genuinely believe all of you here can change the world,” ImbrendaPolitano said. “What I mean by that is that I expect all of you to make a difference in some way. Sometimes changing the world looks like paying for somebody’s groceries who’s in line in front of you. Sometimes it could be using your pronouns openly and making others feel comfortable and included.”

The goal of the Q Center Pride Awards is to understand and recognize the graduate’s accomplishments in the BU community. Martin said that while all nominees embody what the award represents, only one student may receive a physical award. The OUTstanding Grad Award recipient was Blessin

McFarlane, a senior majoring in English. The Activism Award recipient was Noah Zimmer, a senior majoring in geological sciences. The Sunshine Award recipient was Sheyla Santana Escoto, a senior majoring in history. The Community Service Award recipient was Luis Hernandez, a senior majoring in biological sciences. The Faculty/Staff Advocacy in Action Award recipient was Tina Chronopoulos, associate professor of ancient Mediterranean studies and the Q Center Queer of the Year went to Clare Wiberg, a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience.

Wren Evans, a senior majoring in environmental studies, was one of the nominees for the Sunshine Award. Additionally, he gave the graduating address following ImbrendaPolitano. Evans said that he never thought he could live authentically as himself and share a space with those around him.

“I thought I was alone in my struggles,” Evans said. “[BU] has brought so many wonderful queer and trans people into my life who I admire and respect for being open and out every day. In an era where every

day there is more news about hateful acts against us, a strong community is more important than anything.”

Donald Hall, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, agreed with Evans’ idea that a strong community is important. Hall said that the queer community helped him to “survive college” and gave him friends he hopes to know for the rest of his life.

To the graduating students, Hall said that diverse and

minority communities need to stick together, especially during these times.

“Over the course of the next 18 months or so, as we get toward the 2024 presidential election, we are going to be used as scapegoats, as villains,” Hall said. “We are going to be abused and ridiculed, etc. Stand strong for each other. Stand with our trans siblings. Stand with our siblings of color.”

Both Hall and Evans called to celebrate the graduating

students’ experiences and struggles during this Lavender Celebration.

“To celebrate our accomplishments together as a community is incredible,” Evans said. “There is resistance in our joy. Our pride in ourselves and how we succeed and we thrive, even though every day there is a new threat, is a reflection of our strength as queer and trans people. So let’s revel in our accomplishments and take time to celebrate ourselves.”

michael golann photo editor

Honorable LGBTQ+ Binghamton University alumni spoke at the annual Lavender Celebration.

BU student wins SUNY Art Exhibition award

heart and my family in it, and then my parents saying, ‘this is amazing,’ and me being really proud of it,” Moon said. “I think in high school is where I really buckled down into, ‘Oh, I think I’m actually really good at this.”

In the morning, people always struggle to find what hat they are going to wear — what they are going to do and what part of themselves they want to focus on.

Grace Moon, a senior majoring in electrical engineering, has a lot of experience trying to find out what hat to wear on a regular basis. While she is an accomplished engineering student, Moon has also achieved a lot of success within the art world of Binghamton, being showcased in the Best of SUNY Art Exhibition for her printmaking piece “Day and Night, I Pick Flowers for You.”

Her work has been featured at the H. Carl McCall Building in Albany since December 2022. The Best of SUNY Art Exhibition is a juried art show, with the winners selected from a panel of independent judges. Moon’s piece is one of three winners of the Best of Show award, where she not only won bragging rights but also a $1,000 scholarship.

To get to where she is today, Moon took a somewhat unconventional journey. The eldest daughter of immigrants from Korea, she was admitted to Binghamton University in the TRIO program, an educational outreach program for disadvantaged students aimed at bridging the financial gap that gatekeeps higher education.

“In kindergarten, I came back with this giant-like Crayola crayon picture of a massive

One of the formative experiences of Moon’s as an artist came as a freshman in high school during a teaching session by Kim Jung Gi, a Korean artist. Moon explained that because she is from a white suburban background, she had not met a lot of people of Asian descent.

“Seeing this [person of] Korean [descent] be recognized and be famous and being respected in this art community for drawing really inspired me,” Moon said. “I can do that.”

After this teaching session, Moon had a fortuitous conversation with Kim, when he stepped outside to take a smoke break while she was waiting to get picked up by her parents. Although Kim had a very successful career in art, he did not decide to do art until he got to college.

“In my heart, I want to do art,” Moon said. “I get this courage, go up and introduce myself in Korean and be like, ‘I’m such a big fan. I love your art.’ We had this really wonderful conversation that kind of inspired me further. That made me fall more in love with art.”

Despite Moon’s artistic background prior to college, the strict requirements of the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science at BU led to her being resistant to double-majoring in art and design, or even minoring in it. Even still, Moon, has pieces in the scholars’ gallery, as primarily a painter,

which is her work from high school.

“I didn’t do art for two years,” Moon said. “In junior year, I was like,’Okay, you know what, I want to take some more art classes,’ so I started to take printmaking randomly, instead of taking painting. It was really random, but then I met one of our professors, Colin Lyons. He’s amazing. He’s really great.” This advisor-student relationship ended up being fruitful for Moon, who learned the art of printmaking from Lyons, who has a master’s degree from the University of Alberta in printmaking. The intricate process, which involves technique-driven methods such as linocut, etching and layering.

The Best of SUNY Art award is not the end of Moon’s journey as an artist, however.

“My professor wants me to make a lot of extra editions so that I can send them out to galleries and museums and begin my professional career,” Moon said. “That’s currently my focus. Right after college I am applying to a lot of engineering roles, but I am open to whatever art opportunities come my way. I’m also applying to a bunch of art residencies and seeing where that goes.”

Moon’s current work is mainly in printmaking, but like any other creative, she does not want to be one-dimensional. On top of Moon’s work as an artist, for example, she is also the

publishing and layout director of the fashion magazine RENA at BU, which recently had a heavily-attended fashion show.

“I don’t want to just be a photocopy machine,” Moon said. “I want to paint, I want to express myself with art. It’s beautiful. It’s calming. I think it’s very emotional. It’s evocative. It’s very feminine, and it’s very patterned and colorful. And I think that’s very representative of myself. Every single one of my pieces at the moment, I model for them, so you can see a bit of me in the figures, which I think is fun.”

When looking at Moon’s art, it is easy to see the influences of her teacher, Lyons, in her art, especially how it tries to push

2023 BFA seniors showcase their art

diversity of experiences and interests among the seniors.

Artistic mastery, hard work and a passion for everything creative — these qualities characterize 11 seniors whose work is featured in Binghamton University’s 2023 BFA thesis exhibition.

Located in the Elsie

B. Rosefsky Memorial Art Gallery, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” showcases the work of 11 seniors graduating with a bachelor’s of fine arts (BFA). With works ranging from oil on canvas to a digital projection, the multimedia exhibition illustrates the

After its reveal on April 13, the exhibition has been open for visitors to experience the culmination of four years of undergraduate study and practice. Visitors are greeted with a booklet at the entrance containing artist statements from each senior, explaining their thought processes behind their work and their relationship with art.

The art pieces themselves occupy their own unique spaces in the gallery, each telling their own story — oil paintings display landscapes and abstract imagery, while more three-dimensional works include a modified bookshelf, a pair of painted teal sneakers and a circular pool lit by a

digital projection, among other pieces. Evan Lau, a senior majoring in graphic design, described the intent of “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” and what it means to them as an artist.

“The senior BFA show is a culmination of BFA students’ progress,” Lau wrote in an email. “It’s a celebration of the work we make and our capabilities as artists. For me, it represents the next step in our careers as artists and creatives, whether it be going into visual arts, marketing or other creative outlets.”

Sophie Cassetta-Unrath, a senior majoring in painting, wrote about the experience of having her work showcased at the end of her undergraduate career.

“It was a bittersweet experience but with all the preparation that went into it, we were all very glad to finally be able to experience the product of our hard work,” Cassetta-Unrath wrote in an email. “It was incredibly rewarding to see the support of our fellow students and teachers at the opening, and it really opened my eyes to what I want my future as an artist to be.”

In addition to representing the students’ undergraduate successes and future artistic careers, the pieces convey each artist’s individual thinking and method of creating art.

Cassetta-Unrath described her thinking behind her paintings titled “Flowers for Yulia,” “Stop Looking At Me”

and “Le Cygne.”

“After focusing on realism for most of my painting experience, I decided to venture into abstract art in an effort to let go of my perfectionism and tendency to over-plan,” Cassetta-Unrath wrote. “I found a sense of freedom and peace as a result and have been experimenting with abstraction, impressionism and texture since.”

Kayla Cartier, a senior majoring in graphic design, discussed her experience behind creating “Stargirl,” one of her personal favorite paintings that allowed her to experiment beyond her typical medium of graphic design.

“It taught me a lot about the practice, but also taught me how to explore multimedia

the envelope in developing art to have a life of its own. Moon herself looks toward Kim and Gustav Klimt as her influences in becoming the artist she is today. As for personal influences, Moon wanted to thank her parents, her professors Andrea Kastner and Lyons and her friends at RENA magazine.

“The RENA people helped me bring that creativity back into my life when I wasn’t really doing much with it,” Moon said. “They are all very ambitious people, and that ambitiousness is very infectious.”

Grace Moon’s art Instagram is @moon.e.grace.

and use it to my advantage,” Cartier wrote in an email.

For Miriam Suissa, a senior double-majoring in graphic design and art history, creating art for “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” allowed her to call upon feelings of nostalgia and explore a diversity of artistic styles.

“One of the works included in the exhibition was my needlepoint, which was my most personal and experimental project,” Suissa wrote in an email. “This one was a needlepoint representation of a photo of my grandmother coming to Israel from Morocco. This meant a lot to me to make since I grew up watching her needlepoint and crochet, so I wanted to commemorate her and create works that included textiles and a medium that she was utilizing all the time.”

“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” captures the artistic experience of 11 multi-talented seniors at BU, encapsulating their journeys from their first encounters with art to their education at the University and beyond. Their passion for art shines through from their thoughtprovoking work and the artist statements that accompany the pieces.

“I love to learn new things, and the beauty of art to me is that you never need to stop learning,” Cartier wrote. “Art is like a warm bed I can come to after an unforgivingly cold day. It has always been there for me since I was born, and I do believe it will always be there for me for the rest of my future because my love for it is endless.”

“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” will remain on display in the Elsie B. Rosefsky Memorial Art Gallery until Friday, April 28 at 4 p.m.

provided by bu department of art and design

Grace Moon’s main focus is printmaking, but she continues to diversify her portfolio through her involvement in Binghamton.

The BFA thesis exhibition features a culmination of students’ hard work and their relationship to art.

Grace Moon has made many strides in the art world.

Jason Tang arts & culture contributor

Alexis Yang arts & culture contributor

Baseball drops weekend series against UMBC

Bearcats lose opening game of series, split Saturday doubleheader.

Over the weekend, the Binghamton baseball team hosted UMBC for a weekend America East (AE) series. After losing game one on Friday night, the Bearcats bounced back with a win in game two off a walkoff home run hit by senior first baseman Kevin Gsell. However, BU was narrowly bested by the Retrievers in the rubber match as the hosts went 1-2 on the weekend.

“Disappointed we didn’t win the series,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “[I] thought we showed a lot of character

trying to come back in games one and three, but just dug ourselves too big of a hole to be able to do that. Thought we did some good things.”

In game one, the Bearcats (22-16, 8-7 AE) immediately got on the board as senior outfielder Cavan Tully hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning. UMBC (22-19, 11-7 AE) matched the hosts’ score with a run of its own in the top of the second. After BU failed to score in the bottom of the frame, the visitors broke the game open in the top of the third, plating nine runs to take a 10-1 lead.

Despite falling into a deep deficit, Binghamton made an attempt to get back into the game. Sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli smacked two home runs, one in the third and another in the seventh inning. In the

seventh inning, the Bearcats scored four total runs with additional RBI singles hit by sophomore catcher Evin Sullivan and junior designated hitter Kevin Reilly. This, however, was not enough to recover as the hosts lost game one 10-6.

“[Roselli]’s a hitter,” Sinicki said. “He knows what he’s doing in the box. He has a good game plan. He uses both sides of the field very well, and he’s a guy that I have tremendous confidence in when he comes up to the plate. Rarely does he give away an at bat.”

In game two, Roselli got the offense started in the bottom of the first, ripping a double into left-center field that scored two runs. Junior outfielder Tommy Reifler followed him up with a sacrifice fly in the second to give BU a quick 3-0 lead.

The third and fourth innings remained scoreless, but the Retrievers managed to put up one run each in the fifth and sixth inning, and two in the seventh to take a 4-3 advantage. In the bottom of the seventh, with two outs and one runner on, Gsell smacked a ball deep into left field that carried the wall and gave the hosts the 5-4 walkoff win. Senior pitcher Jack Collins earned the win as he came in for the final 1.1 innings, giving up just one hit and two runs.

“I thought [the win] was really important,” Sinicki said. “To get a walk-off home run by Gsell in the bottom of the inning was obviously very important. I was kind of hoping it would lead us to a little momentum in game three, but [UMBC] scored early, and then we tied it, they took the lead and

unfortunately the dagger was the three-run homer.”

UMBC took an early lead in game three, plating runs in the first two innings and holding Binghamton scoreless until the fourth. The Bearcat offense came around in the bottom of the fourth when Sullivan blasted a two-run homer over center field. Despite Binghamton tying the game up at two, the Retrievers responded with five unanswered runs, with four coming in the seventh inning, to go up 7-2.

In a comeback effort, during the bottom of the ninth, the Bearcats began to chip away at the lead as a Reifler RBI single cut the deficit to two. Roselli then reached on a fielder’s choice that scored another run, making it a 7-6. This brought Gsell up with another opportunity to win the game.

However, he was unable to deliver as he popped up to third base, as Binghamton was defeated 7-6.

“You’re not going to win every game,” Sinicki said. “Things aren’t going to go your way every time, but if you’ve got guys in the dugout [that] don’t give up, and we’ll fight until the 27th out is made. Hopefully, it gets us through some tough times down the road because those are the types of things that good teams can build off of and never lose faith, never lose hope and always compete right to the very end.”

BU returns to action on Tuesday, May 2 against instate rivals Cornell. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.

Track and field competes at Penn Relays

Men’s 4x400 relay team wins first title in program history at Penn Relays.

Over the weekend, the Binghamton track and field teams headed south to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to compete in the Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.

During the competition on

Friday and Saturday, the men’s and women’s relay teams saw action alongside two pole vaulters as the team came away with three relay finals appearances along with the first Penn Relays event victory in the program’s history.

“The Penn Relays is a fun event to compete at more than anything,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Usually, when the weather’s nicer, there’ll be a lot of people

in the stands, and it’s a lot of races and that makes it fun. This past weekend, it was pretty wet and cool, so there weren’t as many people there. But you know, as far as a two-day meet goes, nothing different really.”

The top performing Bearcats were the men’s 4x400 relay squad, composed of senior Nick Malfitano, sophomore Joey Cardascia, junior Taiki Hirooka and freshman

Samson Joseph, who took home gold in the Eastern Section final on Saturday. In their qualifying heats on Friday, they ran a 3:22.54 to win their heat and qualified in fourth overall despite poor weather conditions.

“It was miserable,” Thompson said. “I mean, every team that ran, ran well below their best for the year. Nobody ran even close to what they were capable of running, including us. So it was good that they

had great attitudes and they still competed hard and they made the finals.”

Running in the late afternoon on Saturday, Binghamton found itself in fifth place heading into the final leg of their relay final. However, a 47.85 time clocked in by Cardascia boosted the Bearcats up four positions and into first place, as the quartet crossed the finish line with a final time of 3:16.23 and a .28 second margin of victory over second place. The quartet’s victory made program history as it is the first time BU has won a title at the Penn Relays.

Also making it to their final rounds on Saturday were the women’s 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. The women’s 4x100 raced their way into a finals appearance on Friday through a top-two finish in their qualifying heat, with a final time of 47.15. While the 4x400 squad finished just outside of the top two in their heat, they managed to qualify as one of the next five fastest teams with their time of 3:52.41, besting America East (AE) opposition UMBC and NJIT in the process.

The Bearcats continued to make history, as the 4x400 relay squad managed a seventh-place finish out of nine teams. In the college section, they finished with a time of 3:47.21. This pace gives the squad — featuring

seniors Serena Gay and Sophia Morone, graduate student Stephanie Cassens and sophomore Hillary Abankwa — the fifth-best 4x400 time in program history. The 4x100 relayers, meanwhile, ran a 47.33 to finish in ninth place out of nine teams in their final.

“Well, the 400x1 relay ran an okay time for them,” Thompson said. “I think they had one hand off that was maybe a little bit off, but the 400x4 they ran extremely well. That was our best time of the season and they’re in great shape going into the [American East Conference Meet].”

The only relay team to not qualify for Saturday’s final contests was the men’s 4x100 squad, who came just .69 seconds short of qualifying on pace after failing to secure victory in their heat Friday. Also competing on Friday in the pole vault was freshman Alyssa Armitage, who finished in a tie for 16th place with a leap of 11-5 feet, and junior Brandon Love, whose leap of 15 feet landed him in ninth place.

Binghamton now set its sights on the AE conference championships, scheduled to take place from Saturday, May 6 to Sunday, May 7 at the University of Albany Track and Field Complex in Albany, New York.

Jack Oh sports editor

Jacob Knipes news editor

aidan emery contributing photographer

Senior first baseman Kevin Gsell hit a two-run walk-off home run in the second game of the series against UMBC.

provided by bubearcats.com)

The men’s 4x400 relay team, composed of senior Nick Malfitano, junior Taiki Hirooka, sophomore Joey Cardascia and freshman Samson Joseph, won the Eastern Section title at the Penn Relays over the weekend.

Pipe Dream Bearcast

Men’s lacrosse squeezes past Albany at home

lacrosse from page 1

Throughout much of the first quarter, BU (9-4, 5-2 AE) and the Great Danes (5-9, 4-3 AE) went back and forth, trading goals as Albany led 3-2 with just over five minutes left in the quarter. Not long after, the Bearcats went on a 3-0 run with sophomore attack Matthew Keegan adding two goals and senior midfielder Nicholas Imburgia adding a goal of his own, which gave the home team a 5-3 advantage. Each team then scored once more in the quarter, as Binghamton headed into the second quarter leading 6-4.

“We always talk about setting the tone from the first whistle,” McKeown said.

“I thought we did a good job there. The offense was moving the ball well early. [Albany] stuck some of those shots. We had six [goals] in the first quarter, so it’s a good way to start.”

In the second quarter, the Bearcats got on the board first as redshirt junior midfielder Thomas Greenblatt found the back of the net, building on the momentum that stemmed from the end of the first quarter. After Albany added a goal of its own, Binghamton

scored two straight goals, both coming from sophomore attack Gage Adams, making it 9-5. With under five minutes left in the half, the Great Danes scored two unanswered goals at the end of the second period, which narrowed Binghamton’s lead to 9-7 going into the half.

“I thought we battled well there today,” McKeown said. “We got hot and then they switched their guys up a little bit and kind of stemmed the momentum there. So it was a little bit more even as the game went on.”

The third quarter opened

with another two consecutive goals from the Great Danes which tied the game at nine. Not long after, both teams traded scores to make the game 10-10. Binghamton bounced back from their slow second-half start with three goals — one from Greenblatt and two from junior midfielder Ethan Insinga — in the last 10 minutes of the quarter compared to Albany’s one goal in that timespan. Going into the final frame, Binghamton found themselves up 13-11.

Binghamton got the scoring started in the fourth quarter as Keegan and Adams

both found the back of the net to put the Bearcats up 15-11. However, the Great Danes made a late comeback late in the quarter as they scored three consecutive goals to cut Binghamton’s lead to just one with a little more than a minute to play.

Despite Albany’s best efforts in the closing minutes, the Bearcats never relinquished their lead and secured a 15-14 win, finishing AE conference play with a 5-2 record and clinching the No. 3 seed in the AE tournament.

“I did feel like we were starting to pull away a little

bit there in the fourth,” McKeown said. “[Then] they got some possessions, won a couple face-offs and scored some quick ones … We felt like it might be a game where whoever can outscore each other would win and thankfully we had one more [goal] than they did.”

Binghamton will face No. 2 seeded Bryant in the AE semifinals, looking to get its revenge, after falling to them in AE conference play, on Thursday, May 4. First faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Virtue Field in Burlington, Vermont.

Softball sweeps Maine 3-0 on the road

Bearcats squeezed out a game three victory against the Black Bears, increasing their winning streak to nine games. The BU pitching staff shined, only giving up five runs over the span of three games.

but I’m super proud of how the girls still found a way to grind out three wins playing against a good Maine team.”

Over the weekend, the Binghamton softball team took to the road for its penultimate series of America East (AE) play against Maine. After sweeping the doubleheader on Saturday with late-game heroics, the

“We’ve been riding a high the last few weeks, so getting our third straight sweep is awesome,” wrote Binghamton head coach Jess Bump. “This weekend was a bit different as runs weren’t coming by as easy,

In the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, BU (29-13, 13-4 AE) got on the board first during the top of the first inning. A fielding error by the Black Bears (1235, 3-13 AE) allowed redshirt sophomore designated hitter Lindsey Walter to score, giving the Bearcats an early 1-0 lead.

However, Maine would tack on a run of its own in the bottom of the second, tying the game at one all. The game would remain 1-1 until the sixth inning, when junior first baseman Allison L’Amoreaux singled to left field to bring in sophomore outfielder Sarah Rende, giving Binghamton a one-run advantage.

“I think our past successes are continuing to keep us confident all around,” Bump

wrote. “We’ve gotten down early in a lot of games the past two weeks, but our girls have really learned how to respond and not feel pressure.”

In the seventh, the Bearcats added an insurance run after Maine committed another error. Binghamton would then hold the visitors scoreless in the bottom of the seventh, securing a 3-1 victory in game one. Graduate student pitcher Sophia Pappas went the distance and earned the victory, pitching seven innings, striking out eight batters and only giving up one earned run.

Game two on Saturday began in a similar fashion as Binghamton got on the board first once again, courtesy of a double in the gap by redshirt sophomore outfielder Brianna Santos that scored Rende. However, in the third, Maine would tie things up with a solo home run. Neither team would get on the board again until the top of the seventh when the Bearcats put up three runs as graduate student infielder Alli Richmond, freshman pitcher Brianna Roberts and freshman catcher Emma Lawson all collected RBIs. The Black Bears were held scoreless in the bottom of the inning as Binghamton ended up on top once again by a score of 4-1.

“Our pitchers are continuing to keep us in games,” Bump wrote. “With how much better our offense is this year, they are throwing stress-free and trust that the bats will have

their backs if they give up some runs.”

The final contest began with the Black Bears taking an early 1-0 lead over the Bearcats in the bottom of the first inning. However, Binghamton responded almost immediately as sophomore outfielder Laney Harbaugh singled up the middle to score Richmond, tying the score at one. The Bearcats would go on to add runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, taking a 5-1 lead. Maine then scratched across two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut Binghamton’s lead to just two. It was not enough, however, and the Bearcats swept the series with a 5-3 victory. Roberts was awarded the victory as she pitched all seven innings and struck out five batters.

With a three-game sweep over Maine, BU has now clinched a top-two seed in the AE, marking the fourth time in program history in which the Bearcats will be a top-two seed going into the postseason. In addition, Binghamton has secured a first-round bye in the AE tournament.

“Getting the two seed is huge,” Bump wrote. “The firstround bye really helps as you only have to win three games instead of 4. An extra day of rest is always helpful, especially for our pitchers.”

Binghamton will conclude AE play against Albany starting on Friday, May 5. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at UAlbany Field in Albany, New York.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

harry karpen managing editor

Sophomore attack Gage Adams notched five goals in BU’s 15-14 win against Albany on senior day.

rojo contributing photographer

innings

Binghamton

Johnny Yang news and sports contributor