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PIPE DREAM Tuesday, March 19, 2013 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXIII, Issue 15
Students cry "foul," SA gets Yellowcard
This Spring Fling, prepare to sleep all day and stay up all night, because Yellowcard is coming to Binghamton. The pop-punk/alternative band that gave us such timeless classics as “Ocean Avenue” will be performing on Saturday, May 4 at 7 p.m. Spring Fling will return to form this year, as the show will be held for free on the Student Wing lawn. After a rap and electronic-heavy fall semester with Afrojack and Childish Gambino, the SA Programming Board wanted to offer a more classic Spring Fling. “We really wanted to stress the Spring Fling feel,” SA concert chair Adam Sebag said. “We wanted a band that’s going to get the crowd going, so we delivered again.” Delivered? That’s an understatement. Yellowcard is one of the best pop-punk/alternative bands of the 2000’s featuring a violin. The band only ever graced the Billboard top 100 once, with their ubiquitous singalong anthem, “Ocean Avenue.” But the group has many other musical offerings, like a cover of Michelle Branch’s “Everywhere,” and an acoustic version of their chart-topping
Alcohol returns to Chenango Room
For the second straight year Shabbat 1500 surpassed its goal, drawing 1,635 students to the Events Center for dinner on Friday night. Hosted by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life, Shabbat 1500 offers a large-scale take on Chabad’s weekly dinner. “It’s the Shabbat of Chabad on steroids,” said Rivkah Slonim, the education director of Chabad. The event was co-sponsored by Hillel-JSU and several other groups on campus. “Shabbat 1500 is a great event where the entire Jewish community can come together to celebrate,” said Andrew Topal, the student president of Hillel. “It’s also a great way to share the beauty and magic of Shabbat to a
wider audience than we usually do.” Topal talked about the importance of Shabbat dinners. “Shabbat is a special time where we try to block out distractions and all our stresses in life and focus on what’s really important — family, friends and community,” said Topal, a juniordouble majoring in political science and economics. Slonim said a lot of hard work goes into this event to ensure a positive and inspiring Jewish experience for everyone who attends. “Every Friday night is very, very important, but the fact remains that a large number of Jewish students are still not engaged in a Friday night dinner on a weekly basis, so this is one Friday night
Franz Lino/Contributing Photographer
More than 1,600 students mill about before taking part in Shabbat 1500, an annual dinner hosted by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life. Shabbat 1500 is a super-sized version of Chabad’s weekly dinner.
Beer is coming back to the Chenango Room next month — and administrators say an on-campus pub is not out of the question going forward. The Chenango Room, which already has a liquor license for special events, is set to add beer and wine to its menu by the end of April. The University plans to expand Chenango Room hours, and alcohol will only be available during these times, called “After Hours.” James Van Voorst, the vice president for administration, said he and Sodexo are still hashing Kendall Loh/Assistant Photo Editor
The newly renovated Chenango Room, next door to Einstein Bros. Bagels, will begin serving alcohol with the addition of beer and wine to their “After Hours” menu.
By putting the ballot online this year, the Student Association is taking another step to combat the historically low voter turnout for its elections. The ballot will be available online March 20 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through a link sent to students’ B-mail accounts. Teddy Gyamfi, the chair of the Elections Committee, hopes that this will lead to an all-time high in voter turnout. “On average, about ten percent of undergraduate student
vote,” he said. “This year I truly believe a higher percentage will vote.” Gyamfi, a senior majoring in Africana studies, said the switch comes with several advantages. “One of the advantages is the reduction of poll sitters and paper ballots,” he said. “It saves time and really isn’t much of a disadvantage compared to last year or previous years.” The idea for an online ballot was originally brought up last semester by James Grippe, a member of the Elections Committee, and was adopted unanimously by the committee.
Ruth Lopez, a senior majoring in English, said that the online ballot allows her the freedom to vote despite her busy schedule. “An online ballot would mean I could just vote from my laptop at work, or even from my iPhone,” she said. “The change seems appropriate, and it means that I’ll be able to vote this year!” Stacey Troy, a junior majoring in computer science, agreed that online ballots are an improvement over past elections. “It’ll be faster for the Elections Committee because they don’t have to verify each signature, count ballots, and seeing as
how usually only 10 percent of undergrad votes in SA elections, they’ll be able to reach more people,” she said. But Vincenzo Asaro, a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience, said online ballots pave the way for an increase in uninformed voters. “Now you’re going to have random votes just because, instead of people who go to vote because they actually care,” he said. “People will make uninformed votes because it is easy.”