Spring 2014 Issue 19

Restaurant Week

SUNY Mascot Madness

It’s that time of the semester again! Release has a rundown of the places you’ll want to go to for Restaurant Week, and the best meals they offer, see page 9

Baxter beats out Brockport’s Ellsworth Eagle to take first place, see page 2

PIPE DREAM Friday, April 4, 2014 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXV, Issue 19

Accusations delay election results Student Congress puts off approving Vice President of Finance race outcome Carla Sinclair

Pipe Dream News Following debate about the legitimacy and fairness of some of the Student Association (SA) E-Board elections, the Student Congress voted Monday to hold off approval for the results of the vice president for finance (VPF) position.

Ethan Shepherd, who won the VPF election with 1,566 votes to opponent Thomas Sheehan’s 1,440 votes, is under scrutiny for potentially violating SA election rules. The approval of his election was not passed, with 10 voting against it, eight in favor and 11 in abstention.

During the SC meeting, the current VPF, Ravi Prakriya, displayed an email sent to him by a student who claimed Shepherd told her who to vote for, and watched her vote. According to Katie Tashman, the chair of the Planning, Research and Elections (PRE) Committee, two other students also said they saw Shepherd taking his friends’ phones and voting for them.

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer These two instances were never Don Greenberg, a junior triple-majoring in computer science, finance and mathematics, speaks to the Student Congress about an “unfair election environment,” put into a formal complaint with which he said skewed the SA presidential election. Ethan Shepherd, who won the election for the position of vice president for finance, is under scrutiny for the SA. Tashman, a junior double- potentially violating SA election rules. majoring in bioengineering and did not experience any intimidation making the accusations hearsay. of anything and nothing is under mathematics, said the witnesses personally, but claimed to see it, Shepherd is not formally accused investigation, according to See SA Page 6

Leftover food feeds hungry

Food Recovery Network volunteers collect food at CIW, donate it to local community Alex Mackof

Pipe Dream News By saving the leftover and unused food from Binghamton University dining halls, one student group hopes to help feed the hungry throughout the local community.

Maya Yair, the director of social justice for Hillel at Binghamton, spearheaded the creation of BU chapter of the Food Recovery Network (FRN).

FRN began at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Students began working with their dining halls to donate all extra food to homeless shelters in Washington, D.C. Currently, there are over 53 chapters at colleges and universities across the United States.

“It’s a really great organization,” said Yair, a senior majoring in political science. “It’s something that’s practical, and it lets people know that they’re really making a difference.”

To start, the group is only collecting food from the College-in-the-Woods Dining Hall. According to Yair, food collection will then spread to Hinman Dining Hall, followed by the Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center and Appalachian Dining Hall by the end of the semester. Next

Students club teaches rights Group brings in UPD officers to inform, answer questions Pelle Waldron

Contributing Writer

In an effort to better inform students about their rights, the newly chartered Students’ Rights Union (SRU) held a question-andanswer session with University Police officers.

Wednesday’s Q-and-A was the first event for the group, which was chartered at the end of last semester.

“A lot of the tension between police and students and Residential Life and

students arises from, essentially, ignorance,” said Ryan Ginsburg, the president and founder of SRU and a sophomore majoring in environmental studies. “So we wanted basically to fill in that knowledge gap and make sure that people know exactly what they are and are not allowed to do in certain situations and what Residential Life and UPD are and are not allowed to do in certain situations and encourage students to speak up.”

Ginsburg came up with the idea for the club a year ago,

See UPD Page 8

Kendall Loh/Photo Editor

Maya Yair, a senior majoring in political science, poses with Sammi Wu, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, and Anish Terala, a junior majoring in management. Yair, the director of social justice for Hillel, helped start a Binghamton University chapter of the Food Recovery Network.

year, FRN will expand to the pounds of food Wednesday Marketplace. evening. Leftovers such as With the help of CIW Chef cod, vegan deserts, pizza and Manager Rich Herb, the 10 volunteers recovered 153 See FOOD Page 7

Christina Giovanni/Contributing Photographer

UPD officers answer students’ questions Wednesday evening at an event held by the the newly chartered Students’ Rights Union (SRU). SRU was created by Ryan Ginsburg, the group’s president and a sophomore majoring in environmental studies, and was chartered at the end of last semester.

WHRW books Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. The band is set to headline Moefest 2014 Darian Lusk Release Editor

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines and race on over to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., headlining this year’s Moefest on May 9.

The fourth annual Moefest, organized by WHRW 90.5 FM and Binghamton Underground Musics Presents (BUMP), will be held from 12 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Newing College’s CoRec field, with the band hitting the stage at 6 p.m.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is an indie-pop band hailing from Detroit, Mich. Their most recent LP, “The Speed of Things,” was released last October and includes the single “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor).” Aside from the dance floor, you may have also seen Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. at Webster Hall this March and at Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2012. ”This band was one of the bigger names from the beginning,” said Daniel Spaventa, general manager at WHRW and a senior doublemajoring in cinema and English.

“It’s danceable, accessible summer music.”

This year’s festival will bring students and locals together under the Vestal sun for a full day of musical offerings. As Spaventa puts it, “One set ends, another one begins.” The lineup includes NYC-based bands Cosmonaut and Active Bird Community; locally-based bands Woodshed Prophets, If Madrid, toKen and Higher Animals; Binghamton University’s own Explorchestra; and, DJing from That New Jam, the dreadlock-laden Jizzy Fra. “We have music in every genre, from EDM to indie to punk,” said Marisa Monte, public relations coordinator for WHRW and a senior doublemajoring in English and anthropology. “It’s going to be a diverse music festival, a great example of what Moefest should be.”

Offstage, Moefest will feature an art wall, a Rainbow Pride Union tie-dye station and food catered by Moe’s

See MOE Page 5

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BU students debate Ukraine crisis Clubs speak up

Class discusses whether US should intervene in Crimea Joseph Hawthorne Pipe Dream News

On March 16, Crimean citizens voted to become part of Russia, but the debate over how America should react still persists.

Students from the class Rhetoric 354: Argumentative Theory debated Wednesday what involvement, if any, the United States should have in the Ukraine crisis.

After Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych rejected plans to integrate with the European Union (EU) in December, protests gripped the country through the winter until Yanukovych was forced to flee Ukraine in March.

Shortly after he was replaced, Russian troops moved into the semi-autonomous Crimean peninsula, claiming that they were protecting ethnic Russians.

Then, the Crimean government held a vote to join Russia.

Taylor Rosen, a junior majoring in English, said the developments in Ukraine are an international issue, and the historical precedent is problematic.

“I think it’s wrong that we know more about a missing plane in Malaysia than we do about what Vladimir Putin and Russia are up to,” Rosen said.

“What is most alarming is as I have watched this crisis develop is the similarity of Putin’s action in Crimea to Hitler’s action in Austria in 1938.”

Rosen said that as one of the largest countries in the world, the U.S. has a responsibility to police the world and confront the Russian government through targeted sanctions.

Opponents, though, argued against large foreign commitments. Ryan Stempien, a senior majoring in comparative literature, said the problems in Ukraine were regional.

“Democracy is not taking the president out at gunpoint,” Stempien said. “Democracy is holding free elections in Crimea to decide whether or not Crimeans would like to remain part of Ukraine. This is what they did.”

The non-interventionists also pointed out that the government was in heavy debt and could not afford the economic ramifications of a major conflict with Russia.

against bullying LGBTQ groups break the silence over discrimination

Carla Sinclair

Pipe Dream News

Dassie Hirschfield/Contributing Photographer

Jordan Knight, a junior majoring in economics, participates in a debate revolving around what involvement, if any, the United States should have in the Ukraine crisis. On March 16, Crimean citizens voted to become part of Russia, breaking away from Ukraine.

The debaters showed a video of former Rep. Ron Paul rebuking interventionist policies.

“The money is just not there, it makes no sense and it props up bad investments,” Paul said in an interview on Russia Today, an international news outlet based in Russia. “The irony of all this is, let’s say they do send some money to Ukraine. Maybe it will go to Ukraine and they will pay their bills to pay for the gas they get from Russia.”

The pro-intervention debaters said the cost of doing nothing would increase as time went on.

“We have to show that we’re not going to allow larger countries to bully and take advantage of smaller countries.

It would be a lot less costly to nip

it in the bud now before we’re involved in another Cold War,” said Jordan Knight, a junior majoring in economics. “We’d actually be saving money in the long run.”

One Ukrainian-born student in the audience offered his perspective. Oleg Brodskiy, a sophomore majoring in English, said the situation in Ukraine was more complicated than most Americans understood.

“While there certainly were a lot of protesters in Kiev and they certainly had good cause, the problem is the Ukraine has been corrupt since before I was born,” Brodskiy said. “There’s no reason to suspect that it’s going to finally change with the West in power.”

Based on a final vote, the audience of nearly 30 students was evenly split between supporters and critics of intervention, but many students later said they thought intervention and sanctions were completely necessary. Michael Fricke, a junior double-majoring in mathematics and physics, said that Russia had a clear strategic and militaristic goal in annexing parts of Ukraine.

“It’s a question of which side are you on,” Fricke said. “Are you on the United States’ side or are you on Russia’s side? If you favor the United States’ influence in the world and the benefits it brings, and think this is important and then you must be for sanctions.”

On Friday, Binghamton University students gathered to speak up about issues facing the LGBTQ community.

The Equality Project’s second annual “Break the Silence” event, a name derived from the National Day of Silence, was held to raise awareness about bullying and imposed silence on the community. The Day of Silence, run by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), was founded in 1996 to “call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools,” according to GLSEN’s website. The National Day of Silence is on April 11 this year, which falls during spring break, prompting organizers to hold BU’s event in advance.

“We were really inspired by the Day of Silence, and it’s raising awareness of the discrimination of the LGBTQ community. It’s important to have these kind of events so LGBTQ students feel safe being who they are and to educate people about what’s going on out there,” said Olivia Santoro, the vice president of the Equality Project and a senior double-majoring in sociology.

“We as students have a lot of potential to push for change.”

Dean of Students April Thompson attended the event with her wife and spoke to the audience about why the day was personally significant to her.

“This particular program, across the country, is a way to mark the voices that aren’t heard, for all the times people have been silenced and all the moments they couldn’t speak out when they wanted to say something,” Thompson said in her address. “It takes a lot of work to be silent, it takes a tremendous amount of work. I did not come out to my family for eight years.”

“Break the Silence” featured performances by the Slam Poetry Club, Explorchestra and student bands such as Liberty Belle and the Union Boys and Collection Romantic Autumn. In addition, various on-campus LGBTQ clubs gave presentations. The event was co-sponsored by the Rainbow Pride Union, SHADES and newly chartered Jewish LGBTQ group Keshet. Between acts by the entertainers, attendees shared facts, stats and issues about the bullying, homophobia, increased suicide risk and violence faced by the LGBTQ community.

According to the Equality Project’s statistics, nine out of 10 LGBTQ students experience discrimination in school, and one out of five is assaulted due to their sexual orientation.

Molly McNeely, a junior majoring in English, said it was a call to arms for the cause of LGBTQ rights.

“The way the learned elite tend to motivate, try to push these sort of progressive movements, they all start on college campuses,” McNeely said. “It is the young people who are pushing change forward in this country. We can’t just sit back and let older people, the generation before us to do something, because if we do we’re going to be waiting until we are their age.”

Besides the informational and entertaining aspects of the event, McNeely said that the event was a reminder of the more intimate causes behind the LGBTQ cause.

“We kind of have this weird heightened political climate right now, where LGBT means something political and not something personal,” McNeely said. “These events are nice because they bring us back down and remember why we got into the cause in the first place.”

Baxter the Bearcat wins Mascot Madness

Binghamton University takes home championship cup in SUNY-wide competition Nicolas Vega

Assistant News Editor Baxter the Bearcat is the champion of the 2014 SUNY Mascot Madness competition after edging out The College at Brockport’s mascot, Ellsworth Eagle, in the final round.

Binghamton University’s mascot narrowly achieved victory after accruing 27,481 votes versus Brockport’s 27,264 — a difference of only 1 percent.

The tournament, which began on March 11, featured mascots from the 44 different SUNY campuses.

On his way to the final round, Baxter defeated University at Albany’s Damien the Great Dane, SUNY Adirondack’s Eddie Rondack, Mohawk Valley Community College’s Mo Hawk and SUNY Cortland’s Blaze Dragon.

Supporters could cast their votes on the SUNY website and, once the fourth round of voting began, could also get bonus votes by sharing the poll link on Facebook and Twitter. According to the website, this year’s edition of the contest drew 33 percent more votes than last year’s.

The BU Zoo played a large role in mobilizing campus to help Baxter. Andrew Loso, the co-founder and co-president

of the group, went around on Green Day Fridays with Baxter to encourage students to vote.

In addition to quarter-sheeting and sharing the poll on Facebook, they also involved BU President Harvey Stenger to help the cause.

“We actually got up to his office, and we took some action shots of him posing with Baxter,” said Loso, and a junior doublemajoring in history and Spanish.

According to Ryan Yarosh, director of media and public relations at BU, the victory was well-deserved.

“Winning the title of New York’s favorite mascot is an accomplishment we should all be proud of and showcases the school spirit I see on display each and every day at Binghamton,” Yarosh wrote in an email.

Maxwell Morgan, the coordinator of digital engagement for SUNY, said the web traffic was “a prime opportunity to illuminate Binghamton University, amongst other campuses.”

Morgan also acknowledged that the online nature of the competition made cheating a possibility. However, he explained that his team took precautions to fend off any illegitimate votes.

“Our system only actually counts votes

that are from unique IPs in sync with legitimate cookies,” Morgan wrote in an email. “So, scoring updates to reflect these adjustments were made both during the contests and at the end of the contests.

This resulted in more than 10,000 total votes being thrown from the competition in total.”

He added that he manually sorted through the voting logs, searching for patterns that would indicate cheating as well as looking for votes coming from falsified, or disguised, IP addresses.

Loso said the win goes beyond just the trophy and bragging rights over other SUNY schools.

“The idea of the mascot definitely goes above and beyond that animal,” Loso said.

“It’s really a symbol of why we love our campus and what it means to us.”

He added that there are no plans to settle for just one championship, and that Baxter will be ready for a repeat in 2015.

“I think it’s something we want and that the students really appreciate,” Loso said. “I think that these good feelings are something that we want to bring back.

We’re going to be full force next year.”

Michael Contegni/Staff Photographer

Baxter hugs a fan at a recent basketball game. Baxter the Bearcat was crowned champion of SUNY Mascot Madness 2014, just slightly beating The College at Brockport’s Ellsworth Eagle in the final round of the bracket-style competition.

PAGE III Friday, April 4, 2014

Pipe Line

Night of the Teaching Dead

Local News Funeral set for upstate NY officer killed on duty Funeral services are set this week for the upstate New York police officer fatally shot by a medical technician who had grabbed the officer’s gun. Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski announced Tuesday that calling hours for Johnson City Officer David Smith will be held Thursday, followed by funeral services Friday at the church just two blocks from where he was shot Monday morning. Authorities say they still don’t know why 43-year-old James Clark ran up to Smith, wrestled his weapon away from him and shot the officer. Police say Clark had argued with co-workers just minutes earlier. Clark fired at another officer who arrived at the scene and was killed by the officer. The 43-year-old Smith was an 18-year veteran of the police department in Johnson City, a village just west of Binghamton.

State News SUNY picks group to run troubled NYC hospital The State University of New York has selected Brooklyn Health Partners to run the financially strapped Long Island College Hospital (LICH). SUNY announced the decision on Thursday. Negotiations to finalize the sale for the Brooklyn facility are expected to start right away. State officials say LICH has been losing an “unsustainable” $13 million a month, an amount they want to stop subsidizing. Officials say Brooklyn Health’s proposal includes a new full-service hospital with 300 to 400 beds, to get up and running within three years. In the interim, Brooklyn Health has said it will run a facility with 150 beds. A state court last month approved an agreement that lets SUNY stop operating the hospital at the end of May.

National News David Letterman to retire from ‘Late Show’ in 2015 David Letterman is retiring next year as host of “Late Show.”

During a taping of Thursday’s show, Letterman said he has informed CBS that he will step down in 2015, when his current contract expires. Letterman, who turns 67 next week, has the longest tenure of any late-night talk show host in U.S. television history, already marking 32 years since he created “Late Night” at NBC in 1982. With the late-night landscape now settling at NBC, who replaces Letterman becomes the new guessing game.

In the wings as a likely heir: Craig Ferguson, host of “The Late Late Show,” which follows Letterman.

Three-fourths of US say pot will be legal Three-fourths of Americans say it’s inevitable that marijuana will be legal for recreational use across the nation, whether they support such policies or not, according to a public opinion poll released Wednesday that highlights shifting attitudes following the drug war era and tough-on-crime legislation. The Pew Research Center survey also shows increased support for ending mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders and doing away altogether with jail time for small amounts of marijuana. The opinions come as public debate on these topics has led lawmakers around the nation to consider policy changes. The telephone survey found that 75 percent of respondents — including majorities of both supporters and opponents of legal marijuana — think that the sale and use of pot eventually will be legal nationwide. It was the first time that question had been asked, but it reflects a gradual trend of acceptance. The survey also highlighted a dramatic shift in attitudes on drug conviction penalties. Respondents said by a margin greater than 3-to-1 that people who use small amounts of pot shouldn’t go to jail.

Kendall Loh/Photo Editor

Professor Mark Reisinger speaks to a lecture hall full of students Tuesday evening. The event, “Zombie Apocalypse Debate,” pit six professors from various departments against each other to defend whether or not they deserved the last spot in a bunker, and was co-hosted by Global Education Investment, Education Club and College-in-the-Woods Residential Life.

Police Watch

A lighter take on campus crime Sanitize that phone WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 5:22 p.m. — A 21-year-old female reportedly How do you steal a hole? had her phone stolen in the New University Union, Reilly said. The victim WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 8:56 p.m. — Resident assistant staff in Marcy went to the women’s bathroom by the University Bookstore to change her Hall contacted officers due to a possible case of criminal mischief, Reilly clothes. While she was changing her clothes, the victim placed her phone said. The officers observed that on the second floor, two room doors had on the ground. The victim forgot about her phone and left the bathroom. their security peepholes missing. The peepholes are used to see who is She later realized that she left her phone there but when she got back to outside of a door. It was originally believed to be an April Fools’ joke, but the room, the phone was gone. She tried to call her phone, but no one when the peepholes did not return the next day, a report was filed so that answered. The victim believes that the phone’s battery may be dead. The the residents would not be charged for this. There are no known suspects case is still under investigation. or witnesses.

Handle a joint WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 11:47 p.m. — Officers on patrol near Bingham Hall noticed the smell of marijuana, Reilly said. The officers first checked around the area near Lot S, but found no suspects. The officers then proceeded to search inside of the building and found an 18-year-old male standing with a female and holding what was believed to be a joint. The suspect quickly placed the joint by his side when he saw the officers. The officers questioned the suspect, and he admitted that it was marijuana and that he was solely responsible for it. The suspect led the officers back to his room in order to obtain his driver’s license, and when they got there, the officers noticed the smell of marijuana yet again. The officers asked if the suspect had any more marijuana, and he answered that he did not. The officers obtained a search warrant and found no drugs, but they did find bottles of alcohol, which they confiscated. The suspect was given an appearance ticket for Vestal Town Court.

This Day in History Corrections In a March 28 article titled “Campus vows silence to protest LGBTQ harassment,” the organizer of the “Break the Silence” event is incorrect. The event was organized by The Equality Project, not Rainbow Pride Union.

stabilizing: Butthole sucking 69s

April 4th 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old.

Shady car TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 6:40 p.m. — Binghamton police contacted University Police due to a suspicious vehicle that was believed to be trespassing on private property on Gardner Road, said Investigator Patrick Reilly of Binghamton’s New York State University Police.

The Binghamton Police Department also believed that the driver may have been smoking marijuana in the car. The department contacted campus police in order to see if they had any details about students’ vehicles that may have fit the descriptions.

University Police supplied them with some information, and the case is still under investigation.

“The government may no more restrict how many candidates or causes a donor may support than it may tell a newspaper how many candidates it may endorse.”

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on the April 2 McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission campaign finance ruling

Not being

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IDF commander talks service 200 attend 21st Vietnam Night

Elad Seker recounts search-and-rescue operations Brendan Zarkower Contributing Writer

Commander Elad Seker of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) addressed students Monday about his work as part of Israel’s search and rescue operations.

Seker spoke about the missions he undertook alongside the Israeli army and as part of Israel’s humanitarian efforts around the world.

Seker leads the 85-person, all-volunteer Arava Search and Rescue Unit. The unit is the largest emergency response team of its kind in Israel. Most of the team’s operations occur in the Negev Desert, which encompasses the majority of southern Israel.

“We are on alert 24/7, day and night,” Seker said. “I receive over 100 calls every year. Every rescue operation is unique.”

In addition to his domestic efforts, Seker said he has led a number of Israeli delegations

We are on alert 24/7, day and night. I receive over 100 calls every year.

Every rescue operation is unique —Elad Seker IDF Commander

around the world on humanitarian missions. He said he has provided disaster relief in the Philippines and Japan after their tsunami-related disasters and in South Sudan during their ongoing humanitarian crisis.

“I do it with love and I do it with passion; saving people is in my blood,” Seker said. “But when we are dealing with the whole world, sometimes there is politics. If it comes to me I always say, ‘Yes, let’s help as much as we can.’ But the call is not always my call; there’s money, there’s donations, there’s politics.”

Speaking on a more personal note, Seker talked about what motivates him to work as a rescuer.

“When I was young, my grandmother always told me, ‘Elad, I have seen the graves of Auschwitz and have reached out my hand for help, only to have no one help me.

If someone reaches out their hand for help, always help them.’”

According to Seker, much of his rescue work centers on high-pressure decision-making.

He said he has been called upon as a consultant by the Israeli government and Israeli businesses to train executives in managing people during a high-stakes scenario.

“If you feel the decision burning in your gut, go with it,” Seker said.

“Trust your instincts. Sometimes, you might get too close to a situation, but you have to force yourself to step back, to zoom out like a map, in order to understand the situation if you want to make the right decision.”

The event was primarily organized by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). The group

High school themed night celebrates Vietnamese culture Pelle Waldron

Contributing Writer

Raquel Panitz/Staff Photographer

Commander Elad Seker of the Israel Defense Forces addresses students Monday about his work as part of Israel’s search and rescue operations. A coalition of student organizations, spearheaded by CAMERA and including iNext, Dorm Room Diplomacy, the Binghamton University Zionist Organization and Bearcats for Israel, were responsible for bringing Commander Seker to BU.

advocates against anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias in American media sources. Dorm Room Diplomacy, iNext, the Binghamton University Zionist Organization and Bearcats for Israel also helped organize the lecture.

“News out of Syria or Israel or anywhere else in the Middle East isn’t always accurate,” said Justin

Hayet, a CAMERA fellow and a sophomore majoring in political science. “We try to bring clarity and paint an accurate picture of news in the Middle East.”

Other speakers hosted by CAMERA this year include IDF solider Yishai Goldflam and Lt. Col. Anat Berko.

Close to 200 Binghamton University students came out to celebrate the 21st annual Vietnam Night.

On Sunday, tables were set up in front of the stage in the Mandela Room, where the audience was served authentic Vietnamese food cooked by members of the Vietnamese Student Association’s (VSA) E-Board. The dishes included cabbage salad, a traditional Vietnamese soup, chicken and rice and Vietnamese coffee.

The theme of the night was “high school,” and members of the VSA played video skits to take the audience through various aspects of Vietnamese culture, such as how students in Vietnam get into high school and college and the tests they have to take.

Eric Dinh, the president of the VSA and a junior majoring in biology, said the event was designed to educate.

“It’s informative for Vietnamese culture,” Dinh said. “That’s the main purpose of the Vietnamese Student Association.”

A fashion show was one of the main attractions of the night; students modeled ao dai dresses, which are traditional Vietnamese uniforms that women wear for special occasions such as weddings.

There were also authentic Vietnamese hat dances, a summer roll-making contest and other singing and dancing performances.

The audience cheered on friends and fellow club members as they performed on stage. Clara Chang, a sophomore majoring in biology, was there to support her friends.

“It opens up different aspects of Vietnamese culture to everybody,” Chang said. “It’s very educational too, and the food is all good.”

Max Ngo, a junior doublemajoring in accounting and biology and a member of the VSA’s E-Board, said that exhibiting Vietnamese culture through the performances and the cuisine was the idea behind the event.

“This is a little bit different than our other events,” Ngo said. “Our events are usually centered around food, so this is a better way for us to also showcase our music, our dance, how the lifestyle is over there.”

Yoon Sun Na, a junior majoring in sociology, attended to cheer on her friends who were modeling.

“It brings a lot of people from different cultures together,” Na said. “It’s not only going to be Vietnamese students attending, it definitely brings the whole Asian community on campus together.

That’s the greatest aspect of events like this.”

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Moefest band booked Local startup offers advice Web designer values experience over degree Jennifer Kim

Contributing Writer

Photo Provided

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., an American indie-pop group out of Detroit, Mich., will be headlining MoeFest on May 9. The fourth annual Moefest, organized by WHRW 90.5 FM and BUMP, will be held from 12 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Newing College’s lawn, with the band hitting the stage at 6 p.m.

SJP continued from Page 1 Southwest Grill.

WHRW is also giving away a pair

of tickets to Dan Smalls Presents: Modest Mouse & Brand New in Cooperstown on Saturday, May 24. The chosen two will be announced amid

the festivities.

“We look forward to some fun in the sun, and some rest and relaxation before finals week,” Spaventa said.

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For Communications and Media Career Exploration Week (CEW), the Career Development Center (CDC) invited Ben Giordano, a local entrepreneur, to speak about his career in web design and development.

Giordano is the founder and owner of FreshySites, a web design company located in Downtown Binghamton.

For the majority of his lecture on Tuesday, Giordano focused on how he became involved in a career in web design and development as well as his experience as a small business owner.

Giordano did not have a formal education in web design, web development or computer science; he graduated from Virginia Tech in 2008 with a degree in marketing management.

According to Giordano, he taught himself the skills he needed in order to build a career in web design.

“I think I was always drawn to computers and just building computers,” Giordano said.

“When I started doing business, I was naturally drawn to web.”

In addition, Giordano said a graduate degree is not essential in order to build a career with communications and that experience and skills are more important.

“Just having that high-level knowledge of marketing helps, but I think in communications and media, one of the best things that I would recommend is getting

involved in extracurricular or getting involved in projects,” Giordano said.

He explained the importance of having an impressive portfolio in order to get hired after graduating. Giordano said this factors into his decisions to hire staff for FreshySites.

“When we’re going to hire people, I always ask them to send me a portfolio … If you leave college with a really sweet portfolio with a lot of real work and it’s good, I think you’ll get a job pretty quickly,” Giordano said.

Giordano told students to reach out to employers in order to network and make connections. He said students should try to get internships and work on interesting projects.

“Don’t be scared to go out or send an email to someone,” Giordano said. “We have a lot of communications and marketing media companies around here and if you’re really interested, I’m sure people would be responsive.”

Giordano said students should prioritize expanding their skillset. He recounted his time in college and how he regretted the way he spent some of that time.

“I think I would have probably spent more time learning,” Giordano said. “I think I spent a lot of time hanging out with my friends … Now there’s no way for me to carve out four hours of my day to learn something I want to learn.”

Wren Fritsky, a career counselor at the CDC, was the team leader in organizing CEW this semester. This is the second CEW at Binghamton University.

The first, which was held last semester, focused on health and sciences. “[Giordano] was a local professional entrepreneur that we could reach out to and possibly have some of our interns work there as well,” Fritsky said.

According to Fritsky, the objective of this semester’s CEW was to expose students who were thinking about careers in communications and media to real professionals who have real experiences in the field.

“Well I want students that are interested in different careers that don’t have a lot of exposure or experience to hear from the source, the professionals,” she said. “If the students can’t go out, you can bring the employers and professionals on campus. It’s a way to expose students to the career fields that they may not have a chance to get exposed to.”

If you leave college with a really sweet portfolio with a lot of real work ...

I think you'll get a job pretty quickly —Ben Giordano FreshySites Founder

6

NEWS

Students celebrate Japanese culture Workshop features origami, traditional food, clothing Emilie Leroy

Contributing Writer Binghamton University students don’t need to hike to Mount Fuji to get a taste of Japanese culture, as one club brought it to Vestal Parkway.

The Binghamton University Japanese Association (BUJA) held a cultural workshop Saturday as a part of Asian Empowerment Week, an initiative by the Multicultural Resource Center to start Asian Heritage Month, which takes place in May. Attendees could sample Japanese culture by making origami, learning calligraphy and trying on summer kimonos, called yukatas.

“That’s one of the experiences of college, to get in touch with people outside of your comfort zone,” said Joanna Medina, the vice president of BUJA and a junior majoring in integrative neuroscience.

Modern twists were integrated into the traditional aspects represented at the workshop. At the calligraphy station, paintings of popular anime characters were interspersed with traditional Japanese drawings and characters.

They also played famous Japanese films, such as “My Neighbor Totoro,” with English subtitles.

According to Dale Gao, a sophomore majoring in accounting, it was empowering to see the mix of modern and traditional accomplishments, which demonstrated the longevity of Japanese culture.

“It’s important to get a sense that as Asians, we’ve done these many great things,” Gao said.

Although the workshop focused on Japanese culture, it also emphasized the importance of maintaining cultural heritage in an

environment such as a university, where many students are far from home and their own cultures.

“A lot of times, sitting in class every day, people kind of lose what culture is, without the constant reminder of home or family and the culture that revolves around it,” said Seth Mishan, a senior double-majoring in management and math.

Besides exposing students to Japanese culture, organizers also strove to build connections between international and Asian-American students by showing what they can learn from each other. For Rebecca Li, a senior double-majoring in human development and Asian and Asian-American studies, bridging the gap between these student groups was an important part of the workshop.

“We have a mixture of international students and students who are from the United States.

They can learn a lot from each other in terms of what’s missing,” Li said. “When you’re born in one country and not the other, there are pieces missing and you could miss a great opportunity to fill those pieces.”

Maneo Choudhury, a junior majoring in accounting, spoke in favor of the BUJA workshop and the other events of Asian Empowerment Week.

“Sometimes media and stereotypes can make people feel disempowered or stuck to being one thing,” Choudhury said.

“Asian Empowerment Week is so important because it brings out an opportunity to see that all of us have a potential greater than what stereotypes would make out and an opportunity for us to find agency for ourselves.”

www.bupipedream.com | April 4, 2014

VPF election results in question SA continued from Page 1 Tashman.

Approval of the portion of the PRE report declaring Shepherd the winner of the VPF election is being tabled until next Monday’s Student Congress meeting by Prakriya’s advisement, giving time for anyone to come forward if something did happen.

Shepherd, a junior majoring in political science, said the accusations were false.

“I won this election because of my hard work, dedication, and drive to make the S.A. a better place,” Shepherd wrote in an email. “I am shocked and offended that anyone would make these allegations against me.”

Until a formal complaint is lodged, the accusations remain unverified.

“A lot of it is just accusations,” Tashman said. “It’s hearsay. We need someone to come forward, actually come in and talk to us, to my committee, write that it actually happened, sign it. We need definite proof, because a lot of things are going to be said, and that’s not grounds to have someone kicked out or do a runoff.”

Tashman predicted that if the accusations were true, the most serious consequence would be a runoff election between Shepherd and Sheehan, but if no formal complaint is filed, the SA will have to approve Shepherd’s victory.

“We just wait. If someone does file a formal complaint, then we’ll deal with that. They’ll come in and talk to us, we’ll also hear Ethan Shepherd’s side, and then we will deliberate and make a decision as a committee,” Tashman said.

Shepherd will continue his VPF training until a decision is made on Monday.

“I think with any election there are people that will be upset by the outcomes and try to remedy, in their eyes, the fair and equal elections of individual positions,” Shepherd wrote in an email. “These inappropriate and unfair allegations have not

deterred me, just motivated me to work harder. I look forward to my term as VPF and as a resource to the student body.”

The election results for the position of SA president also came under scrutiny, as some representatives alleged that Alexander Liu, who won the position, created an “unfair election environment.”

Former PRE chair and candidate in the vice president for academic affairs (VPAA) runoff election Don Greenberg raised doubts surrounding Liu’s election, arguing that using his fraternity to campaign and other “arbitrary factors” created an unequal campaign environment for one of his competitors, Prakriya.

“In the end you want an election to reflect the qualifications of the candidates, and if it looks like the candidates are not being evaluated based on their qualifications, you don’t have an election that’s useful for the campus,” said Greenberg, a junior triple-majoring in computer science, finance and mathematics. “I’m not concerned to whether or not each candidate was qualified, and I’m not really saying that there’s a problem, but think Congress should give it a second look.”

Liu, a member of Zeta Psi Fraternity, said he found the allegations discriminatory.

“I would say that as a brother of a fraternity, my brothers support me in whatever I do. I chose to join a fraternity, and that’s been my course of social involvement on this campus,” said Liu, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law. “So I don’t believe that using my brothers to help me to campaign that day was an unfair advantage, because I’m sure my competitors developed friendships as well. They could have easily used resources to help them campaign; it’s only because my resources have a title and are an organization it’s perceived as unfair.”

Greenberg also brought up a Pipe Dream article published on March 4 regarding censure

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer

Derrick Conyers, vice president for academic affairs, speaks at the Student Congress meeting Monday evening. Approval for the position of vice president for finance, won by Ethan Shepherd, was tabled until next Monday due to accusations of potential voter intimidation.

charges brought against Prakriya at a Student Congress meeting on March 3. Though Prakriya was never censured, Greenberg argued that the article painted Prakriya in a negative light, and left voters with a bad impression of him as a candidate.

“There was an article to which most of the campus responded in a negative sentiment towards Ravi, and then did not attempt to inform themselves about Ravi’s qualifications,” Greenberg said to the Student Congress.

“So you immediately have an issue … when you have one candidate that has a Pipe Dream article written about them … and a campus which makes little attempt to figure out if the article was accurate.”

Greenberg listed other “arbitrary factors” that contributed to Liu’s election that were unrelated to the qualifications of the candidates and swayed “uninformed voters,” including heavy electionday campaigning — which Greenberg said was impossible for candidates with classes that

day and without friends willing to do it instead — and the pressure Greenberg said was exerted on Greek Life members to vote for Liu, the former Interfraternity Council president.

Liu disagreed with Greenberg’s definition of “unfair election environment.”

“I don’t think that I swayed a bunch of uninformed voters, I think I was able to motivate a portion of voters that doesn’t normally vote because of what I’ve done for the community,” Liu said. “I definitely made an effort to campaign very hard on the day of the elections. The reason I did so was not to sway uninformed voters, but it was to make sure the people that said they were going to vote for me would remember to vote. With over 13,000 undergraduate students and only 3,000 voting, it’s really important that you’re campaigning, getting endorsements, knowing people.”

Liu’s election was approved with 19 in favor, three in opposition and eight in abstention.

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April 4, 2014 | www.bupipedream.com

Pipe Dream

Group brings food to the needy FOOD continued from Page 1 bagels were then delivered to Volunteers of America, Rescue Mission, the YMCA and the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen.

Yair said that the group started with CIW after Herb expressed enthusiasm about the effort.

“This is such an exciting program; the staff is so behind this,” Herb said. “This is a long time coming, and it’s necessary that we give back to the community.”

Before leaving the dining hall, the weight and temperature of the food is recorded. Then the temperature must be checked again after arriving at its destination to ensure that it’s safe to eat.

“It’s all about food safety.

Everyone is liable for any bad food incidents happening, so we have to know what temperature the food is when it leaves the dining hall and what it is when it gets to somewhere,” Yair said.

She said that the weight of different foods allows the dining hall to keep track of which items it is making too much of. According to Yair, much of the extra food comes from Sodexo producing large quantities, since underproducing is not an option.

The group will collect food at 6 p.m. every day from Tuesday to Sunday. The food can be kept frozen for up to 48 hours before delivery.

Currently, FRN uses

Kendall Loh/Photo Editor

Maya Yair, a senior majoring in political science, poses with Sammi Wu, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, and Anish Terala, a junior majoring in management. Yair partnered with members from I.D.E.A.S., Chabad, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Newman Association, Transfer Student Initiatives and Services, Poverty Awareness Coalition, Amnesty International, Circle K and the Student Culinary Council to bring the Food Recovery Project to BU.

student drivers to transport the food. When other dining halls become involved and the quantity of donations increases, the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse will come to campus to pick up the food from each dining hall with refrigerated trucks.

Yair said the waste problem is not just the University’s fault, and that students are responsible for making a difference.

“There is a lot that could be done on the students’ side as well,” she said. “Every time I go to the dining hall, I don’t

finish my food. If students should make a conscious effort to take only what they will eat, then we can donate a lot more food to those who need it.”

Yair partnered with members from Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions (I.D.E.A.S.), Chabad, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Newman Association, Transfer Student Initiatives and Services, Poverty Awareness Coalition, Amnesty International, Circle K and the Student Culinary Council to bring the project to BU.

It's something that's practical and it lets people know that they're really making a difference —Maya Yair BU Senior

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www.bupipedream.com | April 4, 2014

UPD answers students' questions Class argues deportation laws UPD continued from Page 1

Students debate policies of the Dominican Republic Joseph Hawthorne Pipe Dream News

Students addressed issues of citizenship rights and deportation in a debate Thursday about Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

The debate, sponsored by the Haitian Student Association, Black Student Union (BSU) and Sigma Lambda Gamma Sorority, was argued by students from the class Rhetoric 354: Argumentative Theory.

In 2010 the Dominican Republic changed its constitutional law to grant citizenship only to those born on Dominican soil.

According to Harley Norton, a sophomore majoring in English, new laws passed since then have led to a humanitarian crisis among ethnic Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

“The decision by the Dominican Supreme Court leaves tens of thousands of Haitians in the country stateless and without basic services,” Norton said.

“International law provides that no one can be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality and leave them stateless.

The Dominican Republic has a responsibility to all its citizens.”

Ese Olumhense, the president of BSU, said she understood the plight of Haitian residents, but also the rights of native Dominicans.

“If you don’t have a birth certificate, why is this the Dominican Republic’s fault?” said Olumhense, a senior majoring in English. “145 of the world’s 194 countries do not apportion citizenship to children born of illegal immigrants, so the Dominican Republic is actually on firm legal footing.”

Olumhense said the Dominican Republic has done plenty to support the Haitian government, especially during recent natural disasters, but is being held to a double standard by Western governments.

“There are cases of American citizens, actual citizens, being deported to other countries. Why does this not receive a similar

outcry?” she said. “If we’re going to question the Dominican Republic, why not question the United States, or England or other countries? Why is this one Latino country coming under such criticism?”

Although a majority of the audience, when asked to vote, did not support the Dominican government’s position, some said they understood Olumhense’s international interpretation.

“The Dominican Republic has its own rights, countries have their own independent rights and they deserve to make their own laws,” said Mohamed Bah, a junior majoring in economics. “It’s a very rational argument. However, just because it’s law, it doesn’t mean it’s right. Apartheid was the law in South Africa, but it didn’t make it right.”

Many students also expressed concern with discrimination against darker-skinned residents in the Dominican Republic. During the debate, the hosts showed a short PBS documentary about legal Haitian residents in the Dominican Republic who were harassed because of their skin color.

“People of Haitian heritage have been persecuted and discriminated against for many generations. The Dominican government clearly judges people by the color of their skin, and there is a clear racial hierarchy with black Haitian heritage people at the bottom,” Norton said.

Conrado Mota, an undeclared freshman and a Dominican-born student, said he thought both sides were thoughtful, but that the controversy did not have a simple answer.

“Only two sides were presented, but there can be many different opinions. It’s not a yes-or-no question, and there can be many solutions. People might come with out-of-the-box solutions. For example, I think if the law were revised to be more specific, then that would be a better solution,” he said.

when classes were not canceled despite there being thick ice on the ground. Concerned about the criteria for canceling school, he learned that there was not a specific policy for decisions regarding canceled classes. This lack of information led him to start the club based on the idea that students should have an understanding of their rights to improve their ability to advocate for themselves.

University Police officers Mark Silverio and Allen Saxby attended the Q-and-A session to address the problems students have on campus.

Students asked UPD officers questions ranging from broad topics about the officers’ jobs and what they do, to specifics like what to do if an officer is checking a dorm in response to a report of marijuana use.

“These were all good questions,” Silverio said. “When we’re doing calls [students] have a perception of what they think their rights are … so if we could clear up a lot of that, and if they knew exactly what their rights really are, rather than what they saw on television, that would be nice.”

The officers said the majority of interactions with students were positive, despite the negative perceptions some students have of law enforcement.

“Attitude is one of the biggest things,” Silverio said. “You treat me like I’m stupid, like I don’t know what I’m doing, you’re probably getting charged.”

Ginsburg asked what the officers carried with them, and Silverio went through each item, describing how the taser, baton and pepper spray are only there for situations that get out of hand. According to Silverio, they have only had to use them a few times, and they would rather never use them.

Many of the questions were about how the police deal with drug offenses in dorms. The officers said the way a situation is handled varies depending upon the officers, and that students’ cooperation is most important.

Christina Giovanni/Contributing Photographer

The newly chartered Students’ Rights Union held its first event Wednesday, in the form of a Q-and-A session with UPD officers to enforce the club’s ideology that students should have knowledge of their rights. Ryan Ginsburg, the group’s president, came up with the idea for the club a year ago, when classes were not canceled despite there being thick ice on the ground.

Samson Widerman, the executive vice president of the Student Association, oversees the chartering of new student groups.

Despite originally having some reservations about chartering SRU because other organizations may cover the same issues, Widerman said they were ultimately persuaded.

“There’s always room for more advocacy and different interests,” Widerman said. “I’ve met with the leaders of the organization, and I’m very confident that

they have good ideas and will contribute positively to campus.”

The “Let’s Chat With Cops” event was SRU’s first event, which Ginsburg said he considered successful.

“The response from the people who attended was overwhelmingly positive,” Ginsburg said. “And even more importantly the response from the police officers who attended was very positive, and that’s what we wanted to make sure of.”

Attitude is one of the biggest things. You treat me like I'm stupid, like I don't know what I'm doing, you're probably getting charged —Mark Silverio UPD Officer

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Step into traditional Italy at Binghamton's Little Venice With homemade pasta and cannolis, this place puts decades of recipes on your plate Franz Lino/Staff Photographer

Odeya Pinkus | Staff Writer Of all the things that Restaurant Week has to offer, transportation to another country is not one of them. But by stepping into Little Venice, you’ll come as close to Italy as possible without leaving Broome County.

Located at 111 Chenango St., Little Venice is a family-owned Italian eatery that makes generic places like Olive Garden pale in comparison. The time-tested original family recipes have kept the restaurant thriving in the city of Binghamton for over 50 years.

The restaurant was founded in 1946 by Sam DePrato on the corner of Court and Cherry Streets. After the kitchen was the scene of a fire in 1960, they were forced to relocate to a temporary location on the corner of Jay and Court Streets, before settling in to 22 Chenango St. in 1961. Little Venice moved to its final and current location at 111 Chenango St. in 1969, after being bought out by First National Bank. While the restaurant has seen a change in location, it hasn’t moved away from its Binghamton home or its Italian roots.

DePrato moved from Italy

to America when he was in his early 20s. Now, three generations later, the family has kept the same recipes and traditions that have kept customers coming back.

One of these recipes is a hallmark of the Little Venice experience: the signature sauce.

Since the 1940s, the family has also shipped the sauce, expanding their business as well as their name.

A second signature item on the menu would be their “meat logs,” replacing the traditional Italian meatball. This old family tradition was started by the original cook, Aunt Carmella,

who decided that a sausage shape allows the meat to cook more evenly.

If nothing else, the trip to Little Venice is worth it for the pasta alone. Each day the dough is made fresh, and it is not rolled out until you specifically order it.

They use an old-style hand crank machine designed by the owner.

“Homemade pasta” will have a whole new meaning after seeing what it’s like when it’s not from a Ronzoni box.

As far as Restaurant Week goes, all of these can be found on the special menu and then some. Whether it’s an appetizer

of bruschetta or a main course of sirloin steak, the menu highlights the best that Little Venice has to offer at a fair price. Some things to look out for are the shrimp scampi, a delicious dish of shrimp served on a healthy portion of house-made linguini. A second special option is the rigatoni with vodka sauce, a Restaurant Week special only served this time of the year.

The dessert options include traditional items such as cannolis, gelato and a large selection of homemade desserts. Whether it’s cheesecake and berry sauce, tiramisu or lemon meringue,

there is something for everyone.

Little Venice is a casual family restaurant, with a relaxed and inviting setting. The walls are entirely adorned in decorative paintings. Most of the works were bought by one of the original restaurant workers, Rocco Carulli. The number of artworks truly gives Little Venice reason to call itself “Binghamton’s original art gallery.”

For those looking to get away without actually getting away, Little Venice is the perfect local escape, and a highlight of this year’s Restaurant Week.

Where the food and saké are the bomb Saké-tumi has the sushi you've been craving all semester Rich Kersting | Release When I first visited Binghamton University as a high school junior, the tour guides, in their loveliest sing-song presentation, boasted of the wonderful offerings that Sodexo makes to their students.

This, they swore, included sushi.

How foolish I once was. The sushi that’s offered here on campus is mediocre at best. Any sushi connoisseur with a refined palate for raw fish and a passion for the art would find it both uninspired and inedible. Fortunately, a quick bus ride to saké-tumi will impress any lover of hand-rolled fish.

Nestled comfortably between Merlin’s and Maryams Mart on 71 Court St. is saké-tumi, home of the $1 sushi night every Tuesday and Thursday. Saké-tumi is both a sushi bar and a fusion restaurant, meaning that no matter what you like, you’re sure to find something on the menu to suit your tastes.

Not a big fan of seafood? From cashew chicken to the flatiron steak, they have something for all

carnivores, with an Asian twist.

When you walk into sakétumi, you’re immediately hit by the atmosphere of the place. As the door closes behind you, you realize that you’re leaving your busy life behind for an hour.

The restaurant’s setup is very conventional, with a partitioned sushi bar and traditional eating areas. The sushi bar is on the first floor, while the restaurant and bar can be found in the basement.

This Restaurant Week, sakétumi is rolling out the “$20 for a three-course meal” deal for dinner.

With classic Japanese fusion and sushi appetizers and entrées, it can be hard to choose because it all sounds quite appetizing. For the adventurous soul with a love of fresh vegetables and raw fish, the wasabi tako cucumber cups appetizer shouldn’t be passed up.

It’s a fantastic blend of marinated raw octopus resting in a cool cucumber base, with a dab of wasabi for some sting.

If raw fish doesn’t agree with you, the seasonal salmon makes

for one of the best entrées at sakétumi. The marinated and seared salmon is served over a stir-fry of snap peas and red peppers, all over a hot bed of white rice. If that doesn’t get your mouth watering, then look no further than the cashew chicken or the pad thai.

For the maki lover, you’d be doing yourself an injustice by passing up a piece of fresh nigiri (that’s the thin-cut fish over rice).

While tuna is always a staple, it’s good to have your own personal go-to. Tuna and salmon are the safe options, so try something a little more adventurous. Tako (octopus) has a nice bite, but the red snapper rarely disappoints.

The sushi lover will feel right at home among some of the more popular fusion maki rolls like the volcano and dragon rolls. These rolls generally come in sets of eight, and they’re always generous with the fish. Jordan Rindgen, the chef and manager of saké-tumi, steak for those seeking cooked recommended the volcano roll food. for people who want raw food and Whether you’re a sushi lover, or the cashew chicken or the flatiron just a fan of Asian fusion cuisine,

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer

saké-tumi offers a meal at a price Week, there hasn’t been a better you can agree with for the quality time to try it out. you receive. With the $20 threecourse dinner deal this Restaurant

www.bupipedream.com | April 4, 2014

11

RELEASE

Fine dining at a finer price Fill the whole in your stomach Remlik's features a deck for outdoor eats

Whole in the Wall has something for all Emily Mancini | Staff Writer

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer

Katie Kravat | Release If there’s any place you should check out during Restaurant Week, it’s undoubtedly Remlik’s Grille & Oyster Bar. This upscale restaurant makes you feel like a wealthy patron even though you’ll be spending on a student budget.

Remlik’s, unbeknownst to many underclassmen, lies in the depths of Downtown Binghamton, hidden away in its own corner on Lewis Street. Upon walking in, you may be confused when you see a high-priced jewelry shop, decorated antiques and maybe even an old town car — or a newer, more expensive model — in the lobby. But don’t worry, you are in the right place. Just walk a few steps further and a hostess will be there to take you to your table in the dimly lit, sophisticated and elegant dining area with its assortment of long dining tables with small, more intimate arrangements. The interior has a festive feeling with lights wrapped around pillars, welcoming wreaths and paintings on the walls. The outdoor deck isn’t bad either.

“The atmosphere at Remlik’s is amazing,” said

Suzanne Greene, a junior majoring in political science.

“The outdoor deck overlooks the rail lines and old brick buildings with vintage painted advertisements from days gone by. It feels like you’ve left Binghamton completely. Plus, the food is fantastic.”

Remlik’s is known for its oyster bar — the restaurant’s greatest catch. If you’re a seafood connoisseur, the oyster bar will have you drooling with its succulent oysters, clams and endless supply of lobster and cod. The cod is featured prominently on the lunch menu for Restaurant Week with a delicious entrée of fish and chips, featuring Remlik’s popular codfish battered in beer and served with house-cut fries. This is the winning lunch dish. For an appetizer, a delicious mixed salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing does the job. If you’re more adventurous, however, definitely try the garlic herb knots with Remlik’s homemade marinara sauce. These doughy rolls of garlic will have your mouth watering.

While lunch at Remlik’s is delicious and savory, the romantic setting is perfect for a dinner date or a large get-together with friends.

For those of you 21 and over, start off the night with a nice glass of Pinot Grigio. As you sip on your wine and relax, do yourself a favor and start your meal with the nice, warm soup of the day. Cross your fingers that it’s French onion! Hot out of the oven, this soup melts in your mouth. The mozzarella cheese is silky, delicate and, well, melty as it slides down your throat with ease, making you warm from head to toe.

Now, for the big entrée. My favorite choice is the prime sirloin au poivre, cooked medium-well. This steak, grilled to perfection, sizzles on the dish, just waiting for you to dig in. Topped with a creamy brandy peppercorn sauce, the steak has just the right kick. However, if you’re more conservative, you can ask for just the sirloin without the sauce on top. It also comes with light, fluffy whipped potatoes to balance out the heavy sirloin. If you can handle the dessert, my hat is off to you, but the appetizer and entrée alone had me full to the brim. Walking out with a full stomach and a full wallet, it is suffice to say that Remlik’s is an excellent choice for this year’s Restaurant Week.

Brewing taken seriously Water St. offers authentic beer, quality food Adrian Bauza | Contributing Writer Not far from the heart of Downtown Binghamton is a place where inventive cooking and meticulous brewing take place. Since 2011, Water Street Brewing Co. has not only been experimenting with malts, barleys and hops, but also reinventing the classic brewhouse fare with flavorful results, catering to meat- and veggie-loving palates alike.

Owners Michele and John met in 2006 and have been perfecting their brewing techniques since.

Michele’s business background combined with John’s industrial knowledge, along with their mutual love of good beer and wine, move the machinery behind the continuous flow of fragrances and flavors at Water Street. After living in Munich and perfecting their brewing skills, they turned what once was a hobby into a profession without compromising the spirit that defines what they do: “Fresh. Local. Uncomplicated.”

String lights, a cozy bar, Pink Floyd and the aroma of beer in the making give the restaurant

its character. The selection of beer and wine is always changing: From stouts to pale ales, whites to ports, the carefully chosen brews and wines will certainly satisfy all kinds of taste buds.

While American-style beers are on tap, the guys at Water Street Brewing Co. specialize in European-style brews, of course, in their own style — not copying, but making something completely different while still retaining the traditional flavors and aromas of English beers like Hefeweizen, Baltic porter and others. Delicious Saranac sodas are also available for the nondrinkers and the underage.

Their current seasonal brew is the Plan Bee, a 5.7 percent ABV bittered honey ale, perfect for the oncoming warmer days — the kind of beer you get by the growler without asking many questions.

The food, like the beer, is delicious and carefully prepared to ensure the maximum quality.

An eclectic menu brings together plates from all over the world.

Gluten-free and vegetarian dishes are available, so there are options for all tastes. Make sure to ask what kind of drink

goes well with your food. These people know their trade, and will give you the best options to enjoy your meal.

For Restaurant Week, the options are varied and wellthought-out. Start your dinner with a hearty Belgian sweet and sour stew or a roasted red pepper and squash bisque, followed by either stuffed portobello mushrooms, a salmon burger or a flank steak, all served with grilled artichoke, garlic asparagus or a fresh and spicy tomato salad. Finish your meal with a strawberry short cupcake or a delicious peanut butter and toffee bar topped with French vanilla ice cream. The portions are generous, and the menu includes a glass of WSBC beer or wine. A three-course dinner that feels like six courses, for only $20.

Water Street Brewing Co. offers a different experience from other breweries. Whether you’re a fan of beer, wine or you’re a teetotaler, there’s something for everyone waiting at this cozy shrine of aromas, a block away from the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers.

Eliot Fiks has a simple philosophy when it comes to food: It should taste great. Combine that with a little innovation, perseverance and openmindedness, and you get Whole in the Wall, a hidden gem of an eatery nestled on 43 South Washington St. Whole in the Wall offers a variety of all-natural, locally sourced, one-of-a-kind dishes that taste great and are great for you.

Founder, owner and head chef Fiks believes that natural food doesn’t have to taste like “rabbit food”; it should be hearty and flavorful, and made with the freshest ingredients around.

From gluten-free enchiladas and vegan/vegetable stir-fry to good ol’ classics like burgers and pizza, Whole in the Wall has something for everyone.

The quaint little restaurant is easily identifiable by the famous “hole”-shaped window and brightly colored exterior. Fiks and friends restored the centuryold building in 1978 using wood scraps from demolished houses, including Binghamton’s famous Rose Mansion.

“There’s an interesting story behind the ‘hole’ window,” Fiks explained. “Back when we were building this place, there was a big crack in the front window. It was too expensive to buy a huge new piece of glass, so we worked

with what we had and used the extra wood to build around the crack. We ended up with that circular shape, and it’s funny how we became Whole in the Wall that way. It wasn’t a name we started out with.”

Once inside, you get to experience their handiwork firsthand. The vertical wood paneling is at once rustic and inviting, like the inside of a cozy cabin. The freshly varnished tables are made from repurposed wood from mansion floors. A piano and a wall decorated with local art give it that artsy, cafe-type atmosphere.

A pleasant mix of Neil Young, classical music and smooth jazz plays softly in the background.

Although Whole in the Wall is usually only open Wednesday through Saturday, they’ll be open every single day of Restaurant Week. The specially crafted Restaurant Week menus give you the opportunity to sample the best of what Whole in the Wall has to offer. $12 gets you a three-course lunch with a Mediterranean twist.

Your choice of entrées include a whole-wheat pita pocket stuffed with falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush or batter-dipped chicken, or a pita pizza made with Whole in the Wall’s famous pesto sauces.

Whole in the Wall is the selfproclaimed “home of the best pesto in the universe.” While we can’t claim to have tried every

pesto the universe has to offer, we can attest to the fact that Whole in the Wall makes some damn good pesto.

“We go out of our way to use the freshest ingredients possible,” Fiks said. “For our pesto we use actual pine nuts, pure olive oil, fresh parmesan and fresh basil right from Syracuse. We have seven different flavors and make them all right here in the restaurant.”

The $20 four-course dinner menu offers some miniature versions of Whole in the Wall favorites, including the musttry, insanely delicious garlic ball appetizer. The mini whole-wheat roll is served piping hot and soaking in a garlic-butter sauce that’ll have you savoring every buttery bite.

For dessert, we recommend the extravagant raspberry chocolate chip big tease brownie sundae.

This seven-word dessert has a big name to live up to, but oh does it deliver. This dessert-lover’s dream comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with homemade raspberry sauce, topped with fresh whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon, served atop a warm, gooey, chocolaty brownie.

“Think earth science when you eat it,” Fiks recommends. “Get a nice cross section of everything on your spoon. And it’s OK to lick the bowl when you’re done.”

We’ll admit it: We did. And it was delicious.

Burger Monday's, any day Comfort food for meat-lovers and vegetarians Chloe Rehfield | Contributing Writer Binghamton’s Restaurant Week is the perfect opportunity to explore the vast variety of cuisines Downtown while having fun with friends — and will allow you to finally get a feel for the area in sober daylight. If you’ve already been participating in Restaurant Week and are tired of trying the exotic foods it has to offer, then head over to Burger Mondays Bar & Grille, where you’ll be sure to find comforting and delicious dishes at reasonable prices in a chic setting.

From burgers and pork chops to chili and mac & cheese, there’s something for everyone at Burger Mondays, located at 23 Henry St. Although the restaurant can at first give the impression of a high-quality steakhouse with its dim lighting, lofty brick walls and intricately cushioned chairs, the vibe is casual and the food can hardly be considered expensive.

The appetizers, which include not only your traditional soup and salad but also egg rolls, calamari, chips and dip and even fried pickles, cost around $8, and the mouthwatering desserts are only $4. The burgers come in at about $12 apiece, but are worth the price: They’re gigantic and utterly delectable.

With over 10 types to choose from — whether beef, ground chicken or veggie — the burgers are thick and succulent, topped off with fresh garnish, a soft bun and fries on the side. If you opt for the marinated chicken or portobello burger, you’ve also made the right choice: The food is cooked to perfection.

“My favorite part of the meal was the fries — I knew I needed to order them when I saw the server walk by with someone else’s,” said Rebecca Cohen, a freshman majoring in human

File Photo

development. Not only did she love the thinly cut fries, she also appreciated the welcoming and fast service.

After finishing your entrée, make sure to save room for dessert, the absolute best part of the meal. Burger Mondays offers pies, ice cream sandwiches, strudels, the richest and most hearty peanut butter chocolate brownies and nearly 10 flavors of milkshakes, including pretzel!

The hardest part about taking a trip to Burger Mondays would have to be choosing which dessert to try, if you don’t end up ordering more than one to share

around the table.

Whether you want a relaxing night out with friends or simply to bring your date somewhere with a nice atmosphere and delicious food, Burger Mondays is an excellent choice. It’s casual enough to throw on a pair of jeans and call it a day, but you wouldn’t be out of place putting on a dress and getting dolled up, either. This Restaurant Week, make sure you head Downtown to Burger Mondays, where you’ll enjoy tasty, fulfilling meals at a reasonably low price in a stylish atmosphere.

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w o N g! n i s a Le

OPINION Friday, April 4, 2014

Address: University Union WB03 4400 Vestal Parkway E. Binghamton, N.Y. 13902 Phone: 607-777-2515 FAx: 607-777-2600 Web: www.bupipedream.com

Spring 2014 editor-in-ChieF* Christina Pullano editor@bupipedream.com MAnAging editor* Paige Nazinitsky manager@bupipedream.com

neWs editor* Rachel Bluth news@bupipedream.com Asst. neWs editors Davina Bhandari Nicolas Vega Geoff Wilson oPinion editor* Michael Snow opinion@bupipedream.com releAse editor* Darian Lusk release@bupipedream.com Asst. releAse editor Jacob Shamsian sPorts editor* Ari Kramer sports@bupipedream.com Asst. sPorts editors Erik Bacharach Ashley Purdy Fun PAge editor* Ben Moosher fun@bupipedream.com

design MAnAger* Zachary Feldman design@bupipedream.com design Assts.

Rebecca Forney Cari Snider

I

We vote Revote

f there is one thing that all student groups care about, it’s money.

Photo editor* Kendall Loh photo@bupipedream.com Asst. Photo editor Janine Furtado editoriAl Artist Miriam Geiger Paige Gittelman CoPy desk ChieF* Victoria Chow copy@bupipedream.com Asst. CoPy desk ChieF Paul Palumbo leAd Web develoPer Willie Demaniow developer@bupipedream.com systeM AdMnistrAtor Daniel O'Connor

That’s where the vice president for finance (VPF) comes in, allotting and handling their funds. For this reason, it’s imperative that the VPF is qualified to serve in this role. Ethan Shepherd, the vastly less qualified candidate in the 2014 SA elections, won. Now, allegations are being raised that he violated SA election rules to win. For these reasons, we believe that a revote is in order.

Our Executive Board endorsed Shepherd’s opponent, Thomas Sheehan. Sheehan has completed over 700 vouchers. Shepherd hasn’t completed one.

Sheehan has experience working for the VPF. Shepherd has served as the treasurer of the College Republicans.

Though no formal complaint has been raised against VPF-elect Ethan Shepherd, he is suspected of electoral fraud on several counts. At Monday’s Student Congress meeting, Ravi Prakriya, the current VPF, read

an email from a student who claimed that Shepherd engaged in illegal campaigning, including voting for himself from someone else’s phone. For that reason, 10 people voted against confirming Shepherd’s appointment as VPF, tabling his confirmation until this Monday’s Student Congress meeting.

If the allegations brought against him are true, Shepherd does not deserve to be VPF. If you are one of the students who claimed to have witnessed improper election techniques, this is a call to action. File a formal complaint with the Student Association.

Another troubling feature of this year’s SA elections was the fact that many students did not receive ballots.

By unsubscribing from SA emails that use Survey Monkey, some students unknowingly opted out of receiving ballots. Though students had the option to complete paper ballots in the SA office, this option was

similarly unknown.

Again, what matters here is not so much whether these missing ballots would have affected the outcome of the election, so much as the ways this additional mishap casts doubt on the election results as a whole.

We shouldn’t have to doubt our elections process being fair and democratic. No student officials should be allowed to take office without following campaign rules, set to ensure that the best and most qualified candidate — rather than he who can cheat the best — is elected. With that, we hope for some clarity. These allegations may be completely false, but the presence of doubt is concerning enough, and we sincerely hope to have some more answers by Monday night.

soCiAl MediA MAnAger Keara Hill social@bupipedream.com neWsrooM teChnology* William Sanders tech@bupipedream.com

Views expressed in the opinion pages represent the opinions of the columnists.

The only piece which represents the views of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial, above. The Editorial Board is composed of the Editor-in-Chief, News Editor, Opinion Editor, Sports Editor, and Release Editor.

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Pipe Dream is published by the Pipe Dream Executive Board, which has sole and final discretion over the newspaper’s content and personnel. *Positions seated on the Executive Board are denoted by an asterisk.

Pipe Dream is published Tuesdays and Fridays while classes are in session during the fall and spring semesters, except during finals weeks and vacations.

Pipe Dream accepts stimulating, original guest columns from undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty. Submissions should be 400 to 500 words in length and be thus far unpublished. Columns and letters to the editor in response to something printed in Pipe Dream should be submitted before a subsequent issue is published.

Submissions must include the writer’s name and phone number, and year of graduation or expected year of graduation. Graduate students and faculty members should indicate their standing as such, as well as departmmental affiliation.

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Any facts referenced must be properly cited from credible news sources. Pipe Dream reserves the right to edit submissions, and does not guarantee publication. All submissions become property of Pipe Dream.

Submissions may be e-mailed to the Opinion Editor at opinion@ bupipedream.com.

GOP tax plan will alienate voters in midterms Paul Ryan is trying to advance a far-right agenda though tax reform David Forrest Columnist

Rep. Paul Ryan’s recent budget proposal is the latest in a slew of Republican proposals designed to mobilize an extremely vocal rightwing minority before the 2014 midterm elections. The budget aims to accomplish an impossible balancing act by cutting a total of $5 trillion in spending over the next decade while simultaneously adding $483 billion in military spending. While the budget’s draconian cuts may succeed in rallying the right-wing fringe of the Republican Party, these cuts will have the unintended consequence of providing desperately needed talking points for Democrats.

Ryan’s budget is an archconservative’s dream. Under his budget, education funding would be

cut by $145 billion over 10 years. Pell grants for college students would lose $90 billion, and university students would start being charged interest on their loans while still in school. In addition, it lowers the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent for the wealthiest taxpayers while raising taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000.

The truth about Ryan’s budget is that it will never pass in its current form. However, the budget is not just an example of Ryan’s skill in political theater.

Rather, it is a blueprint of what a conservative-run U.S. government could look like. Budgets are often the best way to see a party’s priorities. Ryan’s budget was meant to give voters a choice between the status quo and his radical departure from it.

Ryan’s budget proposal comes at a difficult time for both parties. The Republican Party is attempting to rebrand itself as a party of inclusion, while the Democratic Party is attempting to repair the damage caused by Obamacare.

President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has dipped to 42 percent, causing many Democrats in hotly contested districts to distance themselves from his policies.

Ryan’s budget will have the same effect on Republicans in hotly contested districts. In the same way that vulnerable Democrats have to choose whether to support Obamacare, vulnerable Republicans will now have to choose whether to support the principles of Ryan’s toxic budget and face the consequences of their

Budgets are often the best way to see a party’s priorities

decision. Failure to support the budget may alienate a Republican from GOP leadership. Yet, supporting the budget could cause a worse fate: losing to a Democratic challenger.

No matter how many congressional Republicans line up behind Ryan’s budget, Democrats will undoubtedly exploit the proposal for its endless supply of talking points. In fact, just days after Ryan released his budget, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Rep. Steve Israel, has promised that the DCCC will do just that. Israel said that the DCCC will buy advertisements in battleground districts to expose the budget’s faults to undecided voters.

In an attempt to satisfy the rightwing faction of his own party and promote his party before the midterm elections, Ryan drafted a budget that may ultimately be used by the Democratic Party to convince voters to abandon the Republican Party.

— David Forrest is a junior majoring in political science.

13

OPINION

April 4, 2013 | www.bupipedream.com

Why aren't students voting?

You say you want a revolution

We can increase voter turnout through TurboVote

An extensive education overhaul is long overdue

(I may be taking a bit of liberty here) with AP U.S. Government in the 12th grade. What other defense can we claim, if not for voting being difficult? That it doesn’t concern us? That it doesn’t matter? That we prefer anarchy?

committed to in education.

One of these things is linearity. We all start in one place and follow a track. If we do everything correctly and as best we can, we will be set for the rest of our lives. However, as Robinson argues, we need to realize that life isn’t linear; life is organic.

Andrew Henry Guest Columnist

Before you do anything today ask yourself, “How hard would it be to get every single Binghamton University student to vote in the midterm elections?”

It would likely depend on who you ask, but a political science major (a developing professional cynic of democratic process informed by centuries of historical evidence) would say that is impossible. There is not one shred of likelihood that the entirety of a college campus, particularly one the size of BU, would ever turn out close to 100 percent in any election, no matter how important. Why is this? What constrains us from doing something that should be an ingrained reflex by the time we are in our 20s?

There are a lot of reasons, good reasons, which deserve a detailed explanation. But what those reasons amount to can be boiled down to one simple observable fact: Voting is hard.

That’s not a nice thing to say, particularly because it is inherently condescending to us college students. We, as products of the New York state education system, got a statemandated education in civic engagement that started in elementary school and ended

I want political candidates for mayor, state and federal assembly to campaign here to us I have tried for the past month and a half to bring a program to campus called TurboVote, which makes it easier, if only a little bit, to vote.

The program provides text and email reminders when elections are coming up, a brief overview of candidates on its website and prepaid and pre-stamped envelopes containing the proper forms when you need to re-register or vote absentee.

It has been met with mixed support from student groups and administrators whom I have spoken to about it. I can understand their reservations;

there is potential for issues with redundancy and there are “we already do voter registration well enough” arguments, but I do not empathize. There are a few things that I want accomplished at BU, which take a lot of work and support to do. For instance, I want a Binghamton University student on the City Council. I want near 100 percent turnout for major political elections. I want political candidates for mayor, state and federal assembly to campaign here to us. And perhaps most audaciously, I want for you to give a shit about all of that. These ideas, through the scope of history and logic, are unlikely and foolish, but taken as pure concepts, make sense to me on a spiritual level better than any lecture in a political science class ever did.

As of the printing of this article there are 214 days until the midterm elections. There is a lot to be done in the deceptively short amount of time before they arrive. If you feel like getting involved, find these groups on B-Engaged: New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG); College Democrats, Republicans or Libertarians; the Center for Civic Engagement; or email me at Ahenry7@ binghamton.edu and take a bit of time to revolutionize with the many students on campus who share these stupid, bold and fantastic ideas.

— Andrew Henry is a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law.

Rachel Wasserman Columnist

There are serious issues with our education system today. Not only do the education classes at Binghamton University tell us that, but others around the world are saying the same thing. After going to the TEDx event here at BU, I decided to research some other TED talks and stumbled across one

by Sir Ken Robinson. His talk advocates for an education revolution.

In his talk, Robinson says, “Every education system in the world is being reformed at the moment and it’s not enough. Reform is no use anymore, because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need — and the word’s been used many times during the course of the past few days — is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.” He is absolutely right.

We live in a country where we are constantly trying to fix something that is clearly irreparable instead of creating a new system that will actually make a difference.

He notes that there are things we are unnecessarily

to donate her hair to Locks of Love. The first thing that was said to her was that if she continued to do this every few years, it would make for a great college application essay.

The education system is so centered on numbers and test scores and getting into a good college, it forgets that students are just kids who need to learn where they thrive and what they love to do. Robinson says, “College begins in kindergarten … there’s such competition now to get into kindergarten — to get to the right kindergarten — that people are being interviewed for it at 3…” That has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. How are you supposed to be interviewed at age 3? And more importantly, what makes one 3-year-old better than another?

“We have to change from the industrial model to an agricultural model, where each school can be flourishing tomorrow.

That’s where children experience life. Or at home, if that’s where they choose to be educated with Robinson speaks about their families or their friends.” the fact that we have become I think that Ken Robinson said obsessed with this linear exactly what the problem is. lifestyle, and that everyone’s We need to start looking at goal in the end is to get into students and education as a college. He even goes so far means to grow and flourish. as to say that we are obsessed with getting into college. I — Rachel Wasserman is a know firsthand that it’s the junior majoring in English. truth. When my little sister was in first grade, she decided

We are constantly trying to fix something that is clearly irreparable instead of creating a new system

Letter to the Editor To the Editor: In “March out, soldier parade: the IDF brigade” the authors demonstrated once again that members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) present a biased, one-sided and inaccurate depiction of the Middle East while claiming that those who disagree with them do not have a right to present alternative viewpoints.

First, no one, whether Jewish or not Jewish, has the right to tell any Jew how to express his or her Judaism. Saying that Jewish organizations’ priority should be to partake in “social justice initiatives and good works projects,” because these are the sorts of events that “the Jewish people have to offer,” is extremely insulting, and is reminiscent of a time when Jewish freedom of expression was restricted. Such a blatant denial of Jewish right to self-expression, and attempt to dictate where Jews can be “useful,” will not be tolerated. Jews are free to express their Judaism in whatever way they please, whether through social justice initiatives, adhering to Halacha (Jewish law), or connecting with Israel, the Jewish State.

The authors suggest that Israel should not exist as a Jewish State. Just as Germany is the nation-state of German people and France is the nation-state of the French people, Jewish people have the right to have their own state. Equal rights for all citizens is not precluded by the Jewish character of the state.

Denying the Jewish people’s right to a nation-state, while affording other peoples this same right, is discriminatory.

We affirm that treating the Jews differently than any other people is anti-semitic.

The fundamental obligation of a state is to protect its citizens’ lives.

When Israel is bombarded with rockets, or inundated with suicide bombers, it seeks to defend itself.

Some may disapprove of

its methods and tactics, but asserting that all Israeli soldiers are racist, is incorrect, and offensive. Just as no one should claim that all Palestinians are terrorists, lumping all Israeli soldiers (and therefore citizens) together is fundamentally inappropriate.

The premise of Friday’s op-ed is hypocritical. The authors lambast the campus for being one-sided, yet ask to silence all Israeli soldiers’ voices. SJP calls for a wider range of perspectives, while simultaneously trying to drown out opposing voices.

This exemplifies the very whitewashing and bias they supposedly disdain. We will continue to assert our right to free speech and discuss, learn about, and engage with Israel. ProIsrael groups on campus recognize the complexities of the current situation and we will continue to advocate for dialogue on this campus.

The authors’ implication that we do not “register that Palestinians are in fact just as human as the rest of us” is a false and baseless claim.

SJP, however, consistently ignores Israel’s positions and concerns.

Furthermore, the authors’ usage of the word “Zionists,” demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Zionism. Zionism is the belief in Jewish self-determination.

Zionists are a large group with diverse opinions on how to enact Jewish selfdetermination.

Being a Zionist does not imply a hatred for Palestinians or support for every Israeli policy.

Therefore, using “Zionists” as a dirty word is degrading and glosses over out the immense diversity within Zionism.

Finally, the authors claimed that the Holocaust serves “as a perpetual excuse to continue inflicting settler colonial policies and, consequently, suffering upon the Palestinian people.” To our knowledge, no Jewish or pro-Israel organization on campus has ever used the Holocaust to justify causing harm to Palestinians. The

authors’ statement, coupled with Asad al-Ghalith’s comment at a recent SJP event comparing the intentional mass murder of more than six million Jews to the treatment of Palestinians, falsely demonizes the State of Israel and the Jewish people. While it is legitimate to express concern about the treatment of Palestinians (as many Israelis do), comparing Israelis to Nazis crosses the line between political debate and hate speech. Using the Holocaust as a means to political ends dishonors the millions of victims of Nazi oppression. This is inexcusable.

We see double standards through the hypocrisy. We call on students, faculty, and the administration to recognize and condemn the article’s untruths and hypocrisy. Furthermore, we call on Tyler and Julie to recognize and apologize for the anti-semitic nature of some of their comments, and their argument’s hypocritical nature.

This op-ed was written as a joint effort of numerous, proud Zionist students and is affirmed by: Belle Yoeli, Class of 2014, President of Hillel The Jewish Student Union Max Bartell, Class of 2016, President of Bearcats for Israel Yael Rabin, Class of 2014, President of Binghamton University Zionist Organization Ilan Benattar, Class of 2014, President of J Street U Binghamton Jacob Dorfman, Class of 2014, President of Maimonides Lucy Schwartz, Class of 2014, President of Chabad Gregory Flax, Class of 2015, President of Alpha Epsilon Pi Professor Jonathan Karp, Director of Undergraduate Studies for Judaic Studies Professor Bat-Ami Bar On, Chair of Judaic Studies

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14

OPINION

J-Law doesn't help body acceptance It's not right to use thin celebs to advocate for loving your body Anita Raychawdhuri Columnist

Wherever I go on the internet, I see pictures of Jennifer Lawrence. Ok, yeah, I loved “The Hunger Games” and all, but do I really need to see another picture with a quote about how much she eats? Jennifer Lawrence is a good actress, she’s kinda funny and definitely attractive. I also appreciate that she is conscious of her character Katniss’ power to positively or negatively affect young girls in terms of body image. I’m just bothered by her being held up as the poster girl for loving one’s body, while being “overweight” and still attractive.

Look, it’s nice that Jennifer Lawrence is comfortable in her own skin, but what is empowering about a meme of Jennifer Lawrence eating pizza? Am I really supposed to feel empowered by that?

It doesn’t matter how you try to paint her. Jennifer Lawrence is a beautiful, thin and fit Hollywood actress.

To try and act as if she’s an overweight actress, or even an average looking person is just ridiculous. I have a hard time believing that overweight girls watching interviews of Jennifer Lawrence talking about how much she eats are comforted by that. They don’t feel comforted because Jennifer Lawrence is successful, attractive and THIN. You can’t mask her as anything else.

I wouldn’t be so bothered by the “cult of Jennifer Lawrence” if it wasn’t for the fact that she is stealing the niche of being the poster girl for overweight people. Actresses who are actually overweight don’t have the luxury of talking about how much they love pizza. If they did, they would certainly be ridiculed and fat-

shamed. Gabourey Sidibe is an overweight actress who was cruelly taunted during the Golden Globes with comments on Twitter such as “Is she pregnant?” and “Clearly, Gabby’s stylist doesn’t like her and has no problem stealing money from her.” Compare that to Jennifer Lawrence who is always upheld as flawless, yet Lawrence is the one who is supposed to represent us “normal” looking girls.

Actresses who are actually overweight don’t have the luxury of talking about how much they love pizza To me the cult of Jennifer Lawrence says something sad about our society and its superficiality. It isn’t Lawrence herself that I have a problem with, or her fans necessarily. I am bothered by her image being touted as proof that it’s okay to love food and be goofy, if you’re a beautiful thin actress. For the vast majority of girls food can still be a battle and loving oneself is hard. If we really want to publicize more “average” looking women then perhaps we should stop being outwardly cruel to celebrities that do not fit society’s cultivated mold of beauty. Or better yet, stop assigning value to people based on their body weight.

— Anita Raychawdhuri is a freshman majoring in English.

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Contact our Opinion Editor, Michael Snow, by emailing opinion@bupipedream.com

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www.bupipedream.com | April 4, 2014

College teams shouldn't unionize Northwestern case could transform athletics into labor market Jake Ethé Contributing Columnist

The madness of March was not limited to the basketball court. On March 26, the Northwestern University men’s football team won the right to unionize.

The question over college football unions has raged for some time. Why, the argument goes, should the NCAA and individual colleges be allowed to profit off of players from licensing and TV deals without compensating the players themselves for that revenue?

This “compensation” refers to additional fiscal compensation, even if many Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players already receive full scholarships to attend school.

This is not a flash in the pan development in intercollegiate athletics — it is a legitimate, contentious argument over the fundamental nature of athletics and labor that could easily find itself in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

First, let’s review the National Labor Relations Board’s justification. Peter Ohr, the regional director for Chicago, legally deemed the team to be employees, therefore giving them the right to unionize. According to the National Labor Relations Act, an employee is “a person who performs services for another under a contract of hire, subject to the other’s control or right

of control, and in return for payment.”

Makes sense.

College football players perform services by playing games in exchange for the economic benefit of scholarships and are subject to rules. So yes, they can unionize — but should they want to?

In a Fortune magazine article, Don Schroeder, an employment lawyer, makes a good case for why they should not. If teams were to unionize, Schroeder explains, “Schools will think long and hard about what they do and whether giving scholarships to players makes sense.”

This is an important point that also gets to the crux of the argument a g a i n s t unionization.

Players cannot be included in the union if they don’t play games in exchange for economic b e n e f i t , whether it is a scholarship or outside compensation.

If schools c o n s i d e r whether or not they want to negotiate with a union and decide that they don’t, then the easy answer is to stop giving scholarships altogether. That’s a scary thought.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Say teams begin to unionize and, rather than give scholarships, schools reorient the system

and pay players on par with the revenue they generate.

Makes sense.

Actually, no it doesn’t. If players are viewed strictly as employees, and their services are viewed strictly as labor, then their compensation will be calculated just as compensation for employees is — by salary. Under this system, we’d see the creation of a quasi-labor market where the best players, who have the potential to generate the most revenue, are paid the most. Which, again, makes sense, until we consider the fact that thousands of college football players attend school on scholarship and generate nearly nothing in revenue themselves.

In a labor market, these players are crushed.

So what happens to the players who are good enough to play in the FBS but not good enough to headline games aired on television?

These players could lose their scholarships altogether and, in a wage system, would only be paid enough to get them through a fraction of what their scholarships pay for.

Furthermore, Division I football teams don’t operate independently, but as part of larger conferences and the NCAA. Systematic changes like unionization need to go through the proper channels,

Systematic changes like unionization need to go through the proper channels, not attempt to dismantle the system from the outside

not attempt to dismantle the system from the outside.

Partial unionization could be even scarier. With some players advocating for unionization and some advocating against, conflict is inevitable. We could even see strikes.

Unfortunately, the Northwestern men’s football team’s move to unionize reeks of a “because we can” justification.

In response, the NCAA released a statement saying, “While improvements need to be made, we do not need to completely throw away a system that has helped literally millions of students over the past decade alone attend college.” And they’re correct.

They’ve helped literally millions of studentathletes whose names will never be seen on a draft board or TV screen attend college.

College football unions have the potential to completely cut these studentathletes out at the margins in exchange for a moral victory. Football players who want to change how they’re treated need to take issue with their schools, their conferences and the NCAA. Even if we buy the argument that football players ought to be compensated beyond their scholarships, which is a weak one, unionization is not the answer.

I guarantee you’ll still be hearing about this next March. Let’s begin to prepare for all of the madness in between.

— Jake Ethé is a freshman majoring in political science.

In other words

"The prime task of the international community is to make sure that Mr. Putin will be forced to play chess, because in chess there are rules" International Chess champion Garry Kasparov, speaking at an event in Mexico City on Wednesday, April 2

April 4, 2014 | www.bupipedream.com

The Funniest Comic Fun Page Has Ever Run

15

FUN

Seth Wegener

Fun.

April Fools

Fun Page Archive

Bearcat Bummers

David Zucker

Binghamton Ninja

Chris Walsh

RELEASE DATE– Friday, September 7, 2007

PanDON'Ti's

Pete Devlin

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Enthusiastic about 5 Florist’s staple 9 Unit 14 Auto repair company since 1971 15 Teamster’s pair 16 “Here Comes Santa Claus” cosongwriter 17 Start of a quip about a poor investment 19 Al and Dick, lately 20 They’re stereotypically green 21 MLB semifinal 22 Regulator of some traffic: Abbr.

23 Gangster movie effect 25 Associate 29 Quip, part 2 31 Take advantage of a sellout, in a way 33 “The Godfather” composer Nino 34 ___ Bo 35 Brew 36 Quip, part 3 37 Make malteds, e.g.

38 Its flag features a six-pointed star: Abbr.

39 LAX postings 41 Hard thump 43 Quip, part 4 46 Stews 47 2004 Dow 30 addition 51 Nittany Lions’ sch.

52 Cougar, e.g., briefly 53 It may be picked out 54 Pay 57 End of the quip 59 Not blind 60 Get in the game 61 Tiny globe 62 Dispensed, with “out” 63 Union jack?

64 IRS data

DOWN 31 Fish dish 44 Base boss 1 Not as friendly 32 Program source 45 Mimieux of “The 2 Three-nation 35 Isn’t used Time Machine” pact of the ’90s 36 Beavers, 48 Tunes (out) 3 On-the-sly perhaps 49 One may be event 37 Dench of the donated 4 Tic-tac-toe loser screen 50 Cries out for 5 It’s usually a 39 Spewed out 52 Choice list yellow light 40 Connecting, on 54 55-Down mate 6 It paid about 50signs 55 54-Down mate 1 at the 2007 41 Doesn’t give a 56 Tatami, for one Kentucky Derby choice 57 Roam 7 Short turns?

42 It’s not good to 58 Six-pack 8 Capt.’s heading be left in it components 9 Plain ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 10 None too comfortable 11 Sport __ 12 Contemporary of Ernst 13 Phonic lead-in 18 Up to the point that 22 Printing choice 24 Brainstormers’ cries 25 Some chairs, briefly 26 A lot 27 “The Fountainhead” architect 28 Trip over the mountains 09/07/07 30 Proper type xwordeditor@aol.com

By Bruce Venzke & Stella Daily (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

09/07/07

16

SPORTS

www.bupipedream.com | April 4, 2014

Bearcats sweep St. Bonaventure in doubleheader After taking home opener, Binghamton heads into America East play on high note E.Jay Zarrett

Pipe Dream Sports

Fueled by a dominant pitching performance from senior Demi Laney in game one and an offensive surge from junior shortstop Caytlin Friis in game two, the Binghamton softball team swept visiting St. Bonaventure on Tuesday afternoon.

“I definitely think we started off slow with our at-bats,” BU head coach Michelle Burrell said. “As the two games went on, we got more comfortable in the box. We just kept working to keep a good approach.”

In the opener, Laney baffled the Bonnies (3-20), scattering seven hits over seven innings. Binghamton (910) only allowed two runs, which came via a home run surrendered in the seventh to sophomore outfielder Emily Belfield.

The Bearcats jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly by Friis in the second, a home run by freshman third basemen Crysti Eichner in the fifth and an RBI double from senior second basemen Jessica Bump.

Laney cruised through the first five innings, allowing only two hits during that span. “[It was] very important,” Laney said about her strong start. “Playing on our turf automatically gives us an advantage. I think that everyone was feeling the vibe, it was nice.”

The Bearcats ran into trouble in

the sixth when St. Bonaventure freshman infielder Desiree Gonzalez pinch hit and led off the inning with a double. The Bonnies followed with two singles to load the bases, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. But Laney escaped unscathed, forcing a groundout to Friis, who then threw home to get the force and induce a double play to end the inning.

Binghamton would go on to add an insurance run in the bottom of the frame, and after Belfield’s oneout home run, Laney retired the next two batters to secure a 4-2 BU victory.

In the nightcap, Binghamton struggled early, falling behind 4-0 by the end of the third.

Bump and Friis came to the rescue again, leading Binghamton to a furious comeback with three runs in the third, thanks to a Friis homer and two unearned runs. The Bearcats tied the score at five when Bump scored her second run of the game in the fourth.

The score remained tied until Friis led off the sixth inning with a go-ahead homer, giving the Bearcats a 6-5 lead they would not relinquish.

“I never hit two home runs in a game before, in high school or here,” Friis said. “I knew [sophomore pitcher Carly Bilchak] was throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes, a lot inside too. So I just kind of went up with the mentality that she was going to throw that and I just swung at it.”

Friis finished the game 2-for-2 with two home runs, two RBIs and two runs scored. Bump added three hits, two runs and an RBI for the Bearcats.

“Friis and Bump did a great job today,” Burrell said. “Friis got some momentum going for us. Once she had that hit we were really able to work off of that.”

The Bearcats are scheduled to open America East play this weekend with a three-game series against UMBC. First pitch is set for noon on Saturday, with the second game immediately following. The series will conclude at noon on Sunday. All games will be held at the Bearcats Sports Complex.

BU vs. UMBC DATE

April 5 & 6 LOCATION

Bearcats Sports Complex TIME

Noon

BEARCAT BRIEFS

Kendall Loh/Photo Editor

Junior shortstop Caytlin Friis recorded two home runs on Tuesday, including the nightcap’s game-winner.

By

the

NumBers

by the numbers

Track & field competes at non-scoring relays Staff Reports The Binghamton men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in their first outdoor event of the season in the nonteam scoring NC State Raleigh Relays this weekend. The two-day competition featured 114 teams from all three NCAA divisions.

Highlighting the men’s team’s performance, freshman Peter Fagan and sophomore Joe Miceli finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the pole vault.

Additionally, freshman Eric Holt finished 41st out of 207 competitors in the 1,500 meter race.

On the women’s side, the sprint medley relay team of seniors Erika Kisel and Kathleen Klein, junior Ivory Taussig and sophomore Nina Sarmiento finished eighth with a time of 4:09.60.

Both the men’s and women’s team will return to action on Friday at the Sam Howell Open, hosted by Princeton University. The first events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Golf team’s total score at Tuesday’s Wildcat Invitational.

6 30

Consecutive men’s lacrosse games decided by two or fewer goals.

Golf takes third in Wildcat Invitational Staff Reports

A team score of 896 on 54 holes gave the Binghamton golf team a third-place finish at the Wildcat Invitational on Tuesday.

Hosted by Villanova at the White Manor Country Club, the Bearcats found success on the links with freshman Kyle Wambold

leading the way. The Pennsylvania native stroked a score of 219 in three rounds to tie Columbia’s Harrison Shih for a third-place individual finish.

Also contributing strong performances for the Bearcats were senior Bryce Edmister and junior Jack Sedgewick, who each finished in the individual top 25.

Finishing just four strokes away from first-place Columbia, Binghamton worked its way back from a fifth-place standing on Monday. All five of the Bearcats’ golfers improved their scores from the first to third round.

Next up for the Bearcats is the Fairleigh Dickinson Spring Invitational on April 13 and 14 in Hamburg, N.J. Binghamton will look to continue its success as it navigates a busy April that will end at the America Sky Championship in California.

896

The number of hits, runs, home runs and RBIs recorded by Caytlin Friis on Tuesday.

2

Goals scored by Brianne Arthur this season, a team high.

4 3

Place pole vaulter Peter Fagan took at the NC State Raleigh Relays last weekend.

Errors made by NJIT against baseball on Tuesday.

Top-20 opponents men’s lacrosse has seen this season.

6

17

SPORTS

April 4, 2014 | www.bupipedream.com

Turning two forever

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer

Senior shortstop John Howell has formed a formidable double-play tandem with senior second baseman Daniel Nevares since 2011.

Erik Bacharach

Assistant Sports Editor Their coach calls them the “best double play combo” in the America East. But they didn’t get that way overnight.

Shortstop John Howell and second baseman Daniel Nevares first met during Summer Ball in Florida before arriving at Binghamton University. They knew they’d be teammates in a few months, so Nevares stayed with Howell during the summer tournaments.

“I kind of accepted that as getting ahead of the game, getting to know some of the guys I was going to come in with and especially knowing the guy that was going to play shortstop next to me,” Nevares said.

“We both had goals to be starters for four years,” Howell said.

Nevares grew up in Puerto Rico before playing high school ball in Florida; Howell is a native New Yorker. They have different demeanors on the field: Howell a little more blue collar, Nevares with a little more flair.

“To say the two meshed right away isn’t necessarily true,” BU head coach Tim Sinicki said. “They

both have their own way of getting things done.”

But it wasn’t the fact that they were both destined for the same college that sparked Howell and Nevares’ connection. It wasn’t their style of play, and it wasn’t even that they were next-door neighbors on the baseball diamond. It was their personalities.

“You have to enjoy being around each other if you really want to work at your craft and be good at something,” Sinicki said. “I think the fact that they clicked with their personalities was more important than anything else.”

As focused as they become once their pitcher goes into his first wind-up, Howell and Nevares joke around as much as anyone on the team. They share a level of comfort with one another that was bred from sharing a suite during their freshman year.

“Personality-wise, we both like to goof around a little bit,” Howell said. “Pick on each other a little bit. Quote movie lines and stuff like that. And I think just being close off the field makes it that much easier to get along with someone on the field.”

Being thrust into the every day lineup as a freshman isn’t

an easy task. Compared to high school ball, the speed of the game increases dramatically, the level of competition is much greater and then there are the eight new faces on the field you have to assimilate with.

Howell and Nevares were able to face their new beginning together, with their budding friendship lending way to a dynamic double play tandem on the field.

“I think they both fed off each other,” Sinicki said. “When you come into a program as a freshman, you’re kind of feeling your way around the program a bit. But at the same time, they saw the opportunity that, ‘Hey, if we both work hard, this could be a pretty nice situation for four years.’”

Binghamton’s defense has been the team’s staple during Howell and Nevares’ tenure. For all the attention the starting pitching and timely offense got last year, BU’s efficiency on the field was the unsung hero of its 2013 America East title, and Howell and Nevares were right at the heart of it.

“They enjoy working with one another,” Sinicki said. “And I think because of that, they enjoy spending countless hours working on things such as double plays and tandem

relays and all the things that go into being a good middle of the defense for us, which has been so crucial to our team the last three plus years now.”

After so much time spent working with one another in practice and games, Howell and Nevares know exactly what to expect from each other once the ball is put in play. Much like the relationship between a pitcher and catcher, a second baseman and shortstop are constantly working to stay in sync with one another.

Howell and Nevares are also talking on the diamond, and as important as anything else, they know each other’s limits.

“Like the pitchers and catchers have to be on the same page with signs they’re putting down,” Howell said. “We have to communicate who has the bag on a steal. Who’s got a ground ball back to the pitcher.

Who’s covering the bag and stuff like that. Knowing each other, in and out.”

“It all comes down to communication,” Nevares said.

“If you don’t click right away in terms of knowing each other and communicating with each other, it throws the whole play off. Because there’s some hesitation in between

and you’re going to have to know in advance, prior to a play happening, you have to know in your head what’s going to happen and know where he’s going to be.”

During the preseason media day, Sinicki joked that he was going to petition the NCAA to get “maybe a fifth, sixth or even seventh year with that tandem up the middle.” While they’ve done a lot of developing from their freshman season until now, Howell and Nevares have remained the same in terms of how they approach the game.

“Their personalities are that they play the game hard, they lead by example in terms of the way they work, the way they get things accomplished and they blend in very nicely with the rest of the ball club,” Sinicki said. “They did that as freshmen, and they continue to do it with each other as seniors …

Ultimately, they not only want this program to be good while they’re here, but sustain that and be good down the road, and they’re making every effort to see that it happens.”

Both Howell and Nevares have taken positive strides with each passing season as a Bearcat.

Howell’s seven errors and .964 fielding percentage last season were an improvement from the 11 errors

and .948 percentage he posted as a freshman. Nevares has seen a similar progression, committing four fewer errors and a .25 improvement in his fielding percentage from his freshman to his junior season.

Their increased efficiency in the field is a direct result of their growing trust and confidence in one another, and continues to trend upward in their senior seasons.

“We’ve both matured and come a long way since freshman year,” Nevares said. “I know freshman year was kind of rough for me and Johnny. We push each other to get better every day. And that’s what we’ve pretty much been doing for the last four years. It’s been pretty awesome, seeing each other grow up.”

BU vs. UMBC DATE

April 5 & 6 LOCATION

Bearcats Sports Complex TIME

Noon

'Cuse holds off Bearcats at Dome Binghamton can't hang on to third-quarter lead, falls after Orange convert dagger goal in last minute Jeff Twitty

Pipe Dream Sports

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer

Junior attack Tucker Nelson finished with a team-high four points against Syracuse.

For a team that still hasn’t won a home game, a close 10-8 loss at No. 7 Syracuse isn’t too bad.

Five years ago against the Orange (6-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team sputtered to a 13-4 loss. This season, the Bearcats (3-6, 1-0 America East) posed a serious threat to their ranked hosts, going so far as to lead 6-5 in the third quarter Wednesday night at the Carrier Dome.

But four straight Orange goals to close out the quarter proved to be too much to surmount, and without being able to take advantage of their final possession, the Bearcats slipped. “[We] played hard,” BU head coach Scott Nelson said. “We’re very proud, but we’re disappointed [in the outcome].”

Despite claiming the first goal of the game, courtesy of redshirt senior attack Matt Springer, and a strong defensive outing, the Bearcats had trouble generating shots. They were outshot 12-4 in a pivotal second quarter. They had consistency problems on face-offs

as well, going six for 16 in the final three quarters after going six for six in the first.

The Bearcats also made their fair share of costly mistakes, including a third-quarter tripping call on BU that gave the Orange a man-up opportunity. Syracuse capitalized to extend its lead to two.

To complete its descent in efficiency from the opening minutes of the game to the end, the BU offense was held to two goals off seven shots in the fourth quarter.

The visitors didn’t see the back of the net for the game’s final seven minutes after senior midfielder Michael Antinozzi’s goal.

But the news was not all bad for the Bearcats. Junior attack Tucker

Nelson posted four points with a game-high three assists, boosting him to 19 helpers on the season.

Freshman goalkeeper Tanner Cosens also stepped up on Wednesday, taking the place of redshirt junior Max Schefler. In his first start for BU, Cosens allowed just 10 goals in 60 minutes against an offense that averages over 14 in victories. He also collected five saves.

The contest additionally gave BU the chance to showcase its talent on a national stage. Despite a 3-6 record, BU boasts a top-10 goal scorer in Springer and a top-15 assist man in Tucker Nelson.

The Bearcats are set to return home on Sunday to face their

BU vs. UMBC

second America East opponent in UMBC. The Retrievers (5-4) are 1-0 in conference play after beating Stony Brook, 12-11, last week.

Losing 10-9 in last year’s matchup with UMBC, the Bearcats will look to knock off the 2013 conference runners up, led by senior attack and No. 5 leading scorer in all of America, Matt Gregoire. With just three opportunities remaining to capture a win at home, BU has extra incentive to redeem itself of last year’s loss.

“We can play, we just have to finish. We have to play a full 60 minutes,” Scott Nelson said.

The Bearcats and Retrievers are set to square off at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.

BU @ Syracuse

DATE

April 6 LOCATION

Bearcats Sports Complex TIME

2:00 p.m.

8

10

SPORTS

BASEBALL

DP tandem thriving for years Page 17

Friday, April 4, 2014

QUEEN ARTHUR Colby Bird

Pipe Dream Sports Brianne Arthur is the kind of athlete Binghamton needs.

Even at 9:30 a.m., she exudes a sense of energy, of purpose. It’s hard to believe she is only a freshman.

The Binghamton women’s lacrosse team has enjoyed a record-setting season up to this point, and Arthur has been its catalyst. Scoring a teamhigh 30 goals so far, the 5-foot-2 attack may not be the biggest on the field, but those in attendance can’t miss her.

Arthur said her life has come to revolve around lacrosse. Her mission: Get the Binghamton program back on track.

She and her team are well on their way, winning a program-best six games already. The Bearcats won five games in 2012 and 2013 combined.

“We [on the team] are all here for a reason, to play lacrosse. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Arthur said.

Following her father, who played at SUNY Potsdam, Arthur started playing lacrosse in the fourth grade.

Early on, it was her versatility and her unmatched effort that made her stand out as a player. By the time she got to high school, it was clear she was destined for greatness. During her four years at Watertown High School, Arthur amassed more than 200 goals and 300 points. She was named a U.S. Lacrosse National AllAmerican in 2013.

“I’m not surprised [about her success] at the collegiate level,” said Tim Burr, who coached Watertown during Arthur’s junior and senior years. “She led by example. Nobody played or worked harder than she did.”

Burr had coached boys’ lacrosse for 16 years but switched over to girls’ lacrosse when Arthur was a junior. When he encountered Arthur, a strange thing happened.

“I would dare say in my first year of coaching, I learned more from her than her from me,” Burr said.

Burr added that Arthur was highly coachable and “never thought she was above being coached.”

Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen immediately noticed Arthur’s aggressive nature on the attack when she recruited her out of high school.

“She had a great first step, which came from her fight on the field,” Allen said. “She worked hard to get her teammates open, and get herself open. She was not a player who would sit back and watch.”

Arthur’s play also drew the

attention of Ohio State and Cortland, who were the finalists when she chose her college stomping grounds.

“I liked Binghamton the most because it is really close to home, it’s cheap and I really love the team,” Arthur said.

When she met the team, Arthur meshed right away. The players were helpful in making her transition to the next level as smooth as possible.

Arthur was sold on becoming a Bearcat.

But by choosing Binghamton, Arthur had committed to the challenge of turning around a program that had gone 9-38 the previous three seasons.

“The record didn’t really bother me that much, but I knew it wasn’t that good,” she said. “I wanted to make a difference here.”

The freshman class Allen constructed featured several standout players, with the objective being to bring the program out of the cellar of the America East. Coming out of high school, Arthur was not quite sure how much of an impact she would make.

“I guess I knew I was good, but I didn’t know if I was going to get accustomed to the game that quickly,” she said.

But any doubts about Arthur’s ability as a true impact player were dispelled early in the season, when Binghamton was in a tight battle against Lehigh. With the game in the balance, Arthur put the team on her back.

“The game was going back and forth for most of the game, and I scored with a minute left,” she said.

“It was really exciting to hold the ball [as time expired] for the win.”

That’s not an outlier. Arthur has flourished under pressure throughout the season. She says she owes her composure to her background in gymnastics.

“Competing in gymnastics, all eyes would be on me, so I’m used to the pressure,” she said. “I would tell myself to relax, and don’t worry who is watching.”

During a game against Quinnipiac, Arthur passed on her knowledge to another freshman, helping her to adjust to the spotlight.

“Late in the game, when Jocelyn [Penteck] got the draw, I was yelling to her to ‘just relax,’” Arthur said.

“She told me after the game it really helped because it calmed her down, and it eventually led to our [gamewinning] goal.”

Along with her quantity of goals, Arthur has been able to score the

quality goals when her team has needed them. Binghamton has gone 2-0 in games decided by one goal this season, with both game-winners coming from Arthur.

“In previous years, in close games, the team did not pull out the win,” Arthur said. “I think that is one of our strengths this year, pulling out the close ones.”

Her ability to lift the team has led to Arthur’s status as a leader on and off the field. Arthur takes the approach of leading by example. She described herself as not being the most vocal leader, even calling it a weakness of hers. But she said taking accountability and owning up to her mistakes are what she believes she does best in her leadership role.

Off the field, Arthur has adjusted well to the rigors of being a college freshman. While it took time and help from her coach and teammates, Arthur has settled into an academic groove.

“I have g o t t e n exceptional r e p o r t s from her professors,” Allen said.

“It is a tribute to the time she has been putting in to grow on and off the field.”

Arthur’s work extends to outside the field as well. During the summer, Arthur is involved in the Frontier League youth program, which operates out of Watertown and helps children in the third through sixth grades improve their playing skills.

“She is so willing to give back to the kids in her community,” said Burr, who helps run the clinic. “Over the summer, she enjoys working with those kids and seeing them develop.”

After college, Arthur wants to continue playing lacrosse, or coach a team. But if that does not work out, she has her eyes set on becoming a state trooper.

“All I’ve learned in sports, working hard and never giving up, would lead me to be a good cop,” she said.

But before she has to worry about making a professional career, Arthur has something else on her mind.

“I’ve already started making my legacy. I want to break some records, and lead the team,” Arthur said. “All I want is to do well for my team.”

I wanted to make a difference here — Brianne Arthur Freshman attack

Franz Lino/Staff Photographer