PIPE DREAM’S COVERAGE OF TEDx: from quitting porn to the future of food, check out the 'Ideas worth Spreading' SEE PAGES 7-10
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Tuesday, March 17, 2015 | Vol. LXXXVII, Issue 15 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
Construction workers protest non-union labor on campus Picketers demand contractor use local laborers for Lecture Hall demolition, asbestos abatement Carla Sinclair
Assistant News Editor
Franz Lino/Photo Editor
Zephyr Teachout, former New York state gubernatorial candidate, speaks about “chickenization” and resulting corruption in politics and industry. Teachout, a lawyer, writer and anti-corruption activist, spoke at TEDxBinghamtonUniversity in the Osterhout Concert Theater.
TEDx lights up BU's Osterhout Theater
Zephyr Teachout, Sunny Hostin take over center stage with 'Ideas Worth Spreading' Nicholas Vega
address a crowd of students and faculty eager to hear new ideas. But she wasn’t kick-starting a new political campaign; TEDxBinghamtonUniversity 2015 was Zephyr Teachout took the stage underway. in the Osterhout Concert Theater to The fifth annual event featured seven News Editor
speakers from around the world, from Dubai to Amsterdam and New York City to Binghamton. Intermission entertainment was provided by the Latin dance troupe
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Walking or driving past Lecture Hall last week, students were greeted by an uncommon sight for the Brain — a giant, inflatable rat. The inflatable rat, or “union rat,” is used by protesting or striking trade unions against their employers or companies using non-union labor. According to David Marsh, the business manager for construction union Laborers Local 785, that is the situation for construction on Lecture Hall. “We’re protesting the contractor out of Syracuse that’s using out-of-town labor,” Marsh said. “We tried to work with them, and they won’t hire any local labor on this job. Here in Broome County we have 40 people out of work, so we really want to get a piece of it. It’s a big project, $12 million, and their portion of the project is 16 weeks of work. So it would really help our folks.” Laborers Local 785 is a union that encompasses Broome, Tioga and Chemung counties, and parts of nine more in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. Members picketed in front of the construction site on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, holding up signs and handing out literature to passersby.
Loyola prof. breaks down treatment, roles of women through world history
News Intern
For centuries, intellectuals around the world have protested the distorted standards between men and women. To address those inequalities, though, Catherine Wessinger, a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, broke down the historical roots. Wessinger discussed the context, issues and cultural progress in “Theory of Women in Religions,” as part of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) lecture series. Growing up in what she described as a conservative family setting in South
Duncan McInnes/Pipe Dream Staff Photographer
Catherine Wessinger, a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, discusses connections between religion, food, sex and culture. On Monday in Library North, she gave a talk about the history, issues and cultural progress in “Theory of Women in Religions.”
Carolina, Wessinger said her feminist attitude began because of the second wave of feminism in the late 1960s to early 1970s and the academic research she pursued herself. “I’m a woman who is interested in religion — that’s why I study women in religion,” Wessinger said. “It’s part of my feminism, wanting to make an academic contribution toward women’s equality to understand the factors that promote women’s equality.” Wessinger said that the connection between religion and patriarchy depends on the nuances of a society’s culture. “Religion is expressed through culture, and culture consists of all the products of human creativity,” Wessinger said. “Women in patriarchal societies, in general, will be subordinate to males in their own class.” According to Wessinger, patriarchy commonly includes male inheritance, control of female sexuality by male family members and a preference for sons over daughters, which can lead to female infanticide, or the killing of female babies. Making a point to distinguish that not all religions and cultures will oppress and subordinate women, she said inequality was more common among the malefocused religions. “Dominant religious traditions were formed in classical patriarchal society, but religious traditions are internally diverse,” Wessinger said. “In patriarchal religions women have frequently been defined as less than a man.” Wessinger also discussed different origins of patriarchy, such as how economics influence gender norms. She linked both patriarchy and matriarchy back to the division of labor and the support of
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Student Association talks increase of student activity fee
Catherine Wessinger talks patriarachy in religion, evolution of feminist movements Zachary Wingate
JAG Environmental, a non-union contractor based in Syracuse, is conducting the Lecture Hall asbestos abatement and demolition work. Ryan Yarosh, director of media and public relations at Binghamton University, said the contractor was chosen by the State University Construction Fund which is controlled by SUNY, not BU. He said the construction contract is legally mandated to be awarded to the least expensive qualified bidder, regardless of union membership. “While the asbestos contractor for the Lecture Hall Classroom Wing project may be using non-union labor, many other contractors for this project will involve union labor,” Yarosh wrote in an email. “It’s important to note too that in some instances, the local union hall may not have workers that have a certain skill set or are certified to perform certain work.” However, Marsh said his members were qualified, and stressed the importance of using local labor, and that it is commonplace for them to work with state colleges. Cornell, he said, has signed an agreement to use as much as legally possible, though it operates under different rules as it is a private college. He also said JAG had initially promised to work with 785 when they began the
The possible $3.50 price change to fund OCCT, Harpur's Ferry growth Chloe Rehfield Staff Writer
Jonathan Bluvstein/Contributing Photographer
The American Kurdish Council organizes a commemoration for the Halabja Genocide of 1988. Students and Kurds from the local Binghamton community came together on Monday evening in the Mandela Room for the 27th anniversary of the chemical attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja.
On 27th anniversary of attacks, BU reflects on Halabja Genocide American Kurdish Association hosts memorial service, raises money for Kurdish refugees targetted by ISIS Haley Silverstein Staff Writer
During a moment of silence, students and Kurds from the local Binghamton community reflected on the Halabja Genocide of 1988. Monday evening marked the 27th anniversary of chemical attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja by the Iraqi government, which killed thousands. The attack was led by Saddam Hussein as part of a larger genocide on the religious minority. The commemoration was organized by the American Kurdish Council (AKC), which added a fundraising component to help Kurdish refugees who are targeted by ISIS today. “We’re drawing parallels between the Kurds in the past and present,” said
Hooman Ibrahim, a junior majoring in business and the president of AKC. Isaac Kfir, a visiting professor of international affairs and law at Syracuse University, said the international community has a responsibility to help the victims. According to Kfir, one of the most important elements in helping a community recover from a tragedy is reconciliation. “Communities have to come together,” Kfir said. “This is why I think it is so important to hold these kinds of events: to remind future generations as to what has transpired.” Karwan Zebari, the director of political and diplomatic affairs at the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the United States, addressed the crowd via Skype. He
The Student Congress held its meeting Monday night to discuss new budget plans for the upcoming year. Alexander Liu, the Student Association (SA) president, announced that major SA institutions such as the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB), Harpur’s Ferry and Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) have been operating with budget deficiencies for the past several years. OCCT and Harpur’s Ferry are also planning to expand, and the growth of these groups will require more funding. To remedy this, Liu, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, introduced a two-part legislation to restructure the SA budget and improve spending. The first part of the legislation is an activity fee referendum, which would raise the fee by $3.50. Three dollars would fund OCCT expansion and compensate for the rise in minimum wage, while the other 50 cents would help pay for equipment for a third Harpur’s Ferry ambulance. The entire undergraduate student body must vote to increase the student fee. Members of Congress were confident
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From Wall Street to non-profit, author shares professional transformation
Kunal Mehta gives advice on the virtues, challenges of leading charitable organizations as independent entrenpeneur Michelle Kraidman Staff Writer
Students interested in entrepreneurship crowded the Innovative Technologies Complex (ITC) to learn firsthand that their dreams are not out of reach. On Friday, Kunal Mehta gave the keynote speech at the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development’s Friday event “Exploring Entrepreneurship” in the ITC. The event was also sponsored
by the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships and the College of Community and Public Affairs (CCPA) Office for Career and International Programs. Mehta’s talk, “The Disruptors: Entrepreneurs and Their Escape from Corporate America,” was based around the experiences detailed in his book of the same name. He explained how he quit his job as a Wall Street investment banker and moved into nonprofit work that fulfilled him more. “One thing that I regret is staying as
long as I did knowing that I was unhappy,” Mehta said. “I think that’s something that a lot of people will say over and over again. When you realize this isn’t the place you want to be, pull out.” He said the transition was not easy, and that at first he felt lost and scared. He spent years investing in real estate and looking for investors for his own ventures. Eventually he became a finance associate at Charity: Water, a nonprofit organization that brings healthy drinking water to developing countries. Then he founded
OutPatient, a company that attempts to connect patients to physicians through videoconferencing. He said that he is not against corporate America, he just does not want others to be too scared to quit and try something else. “We’re working for the next 60 years,” Mehta said. “The retirement age is going up, so if you take some time to explore new things it gives you a chance to explore what you want to do and that’s important for
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Neil Seejoor/Contributing Photographer
Alexander Liu, president of the Student Association, discusses new budget plans for the upcoming year in anticipation of the expected campus growth. Liu introduced a two-part piece of legislation to allow for restructuring of the SA budget and improved spending.