Spring 2015 Issue 27

The shot wheel is dead. Long live the shot wheel.

See page 6.

The Free Word on Campus Since 1946

Monday, May 11, 2015 | Vol. LXXXVII, Issue 27 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com

CALLAHAN’S* 190 MAIN STREET THE BELMAR* 95 MAIN STREET

BAR CRAWL 2015

THE SHOP 219 WASHINGTON ST.

WHERE WILL YOU GO? FITZIE’S IRISH PUB 9 MAIN STREET

THE COLONIAL 56-58 COURT STREET CAFE OASIS 142 WASHINGTON ST.

JT’S TAVERN 98 STATE STREET

THE VENUE 93 STATE STREET TOM & MARTY’S 89 STATE STREET PARTICIPATE WITH MUG PARTICIPATE WITHOUT MUG

ZONA & CO GRILLE 15 HAWLEY STREET

SAKE-TUMI 71 COURT STREET MERLIN’S 73 COURT STREET

THE RATHSKELLER 92 STATE STREET

Staff Writer

UNCLE TONY’S 79 STATE STREET DILLENGERS 77 STATE STREET

Annual Bar Crawl to take over Downtown, State Street

With crowds of over 5,000 expected, bars and restuarants to offer discounted drinks for customers with $3 mug Pipe Dream News Before the clock strikes noon on Thursday, many students will round out the school year with a beer for breakfast before heading Downtown for Binghamton’s annual Bar Crawl.

Binghamton University students fill State Street and the surrounding area every year at the end of finals week for the crawl, where they can go from bar to bar to celebrate the end of the semester with cold drinks.

“Bar Crawl is a great way to finish a long year both in regards to studying and, of course, socializing,” said Larry Shea, the owner of Tom & Marty’s.

“Everybody gets together and they have one final blowout.”

Shea owns one of the several bars along State Street participating in Bar Crawl, a tradition for over 25 years. He said that it is their second biggest day in terms of revenue, right after Parade Day. When Shea was a student at BU, he said it would just be around 100 students

going from bar to bar, drinking a beer and taking a shot.

Then in the late ’90s, BU’s senior class council decided to take advantage of it, and started selling mugs to students that they could use to get the cheap deals at the bars. The bar owners consented as it brought more customers. The tradition still lives on today, and Off-Campus College Council (OC3) has taken over the selling of the mugs.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, mugs will be sold in the University Union for $3 each. They will be available up until Thursday, and OC3 hopes to raise $1,000 for the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse, a local charity that services a network of over 30 food pantries in Broome County.

Starting at noon on Thursday, Bar Crawl will go until 1 a.m. and will have all-day specials for everyone carrying a mug. Fourteen bars, cafés and grills are participating, located mainly on State Street and Main Street, such as Tom & Marty’s, JT’s Tavern and The Colonial. State Street will be closed to traffic, but no drinks are allowed outside

of the bars.

For those carrying mugs, each of the 14 bars participating will offer $2 draft beers and $3.50 well liquor drinks until 2 p.m. From 2-3:30 p.m. draft beers will be $3, and after that both drafts and well drinks will be full price. In addition, some of the bars will have their own specials throughout the day.

Dillingers on State Street is not participating with the mugs, but they will still have their own drink specials.

Alicia Peters, a bartender there, said that they will have $2 shots and $1.50 draft beers all day, and lots of staff for the crowds.

“We’re jammed, all three floors and the patio,” Peters said. “We’re pretty much stocked up regardless, but we have 33 people working that day. We prepare far in advance and make sure we have everything you can imagine.”

Sam Catalano, a junior doublemajoring in business administration and cinema, went to Bar Crawl his freshman year and plans to go again. Instead of just staying on State Street, he said he would rather actually go around

Frequent work breaks, full night's sleep among recommended study tips Alana Epstein

Corey Futterman/ Design Assistant

Pelle Waldron

Experts stress healthy habits for finals week

to each bar.

“I don’t want to be that kid who goes to Tom & Marty’s and The Rat and says they did Bar Crawl,” Catalano said. “I want to go to places. I love The Belmar; I like to do the bar crawl rather than just hang out and refill my glass.”

Shea said he expects around 5,000 students to do the crawl, with 2,000 customers coming in and out of his bar throughout the day. Despite these large numbers, Uncle Tony’s owner Bryan Whiting said that there are never any issues with overcrowding.

“At the end of the night there’s a couple thousand students between Hawley Street and Court Street, and you know what? There’s never a problem,” Whiting said. “Students are very well behaved, and they keep it very calm, organized and without incident.”

The full list of bars participating with the mugs are The Belmar Pub, Cafe Oasis, Callahan’s Sportsman Club, The Colonial, Fitzie’s Pub, JT’s Tavern, Merlin’s, The Rathskeller, Sake-Tumi, The Shop, Tom & Marty’s, Uncle Tony’s, Venue and Zona & Co. Grille.

Finals week has arrived and Binghamton University students are searching for the best and most efficient ways to study. With a long week of sleepless nights ahead, students must not only focus on good grades, but also on remaining healthy.

Between writing papers, finishing projects and studying for finals, people are putting their brains to work. Nancy Lamberty, a counselor at the University Counseling Center, said an adequate amount of sleep is vital in order to study effectively.

“Sleep deprivation is a huge problem on campus, especially during finals time,” Lamberty said. “The brain ideally needs eight hours of sleep daily and at a consistent time. This gives you the best type of sleep as daytime approaches and the body prepares itself to wake up.”

Psychology professor Deanne Westerman said sleep also plays an important roll in memory formation.

Deep sleep is critical in retaining information, and pulling an allnighter deprives students of the sleep-dependent part of consolidating information.

When cramming, students may run into difficulty memorizing and recalling all of the information they have studied. According to Garrett Fitzgerald, the associate director for Alcohol and Other Drug Programs and Services, the brain needs breaks.

“What is really suggested is studying

See STUDY Page 2

From BU Acres to CHOW, campus leftovers put to use Sodexo, student organizations aim to limit food wasted in the Marketplace and dining halls Zachary Wingate News Intern

Between the Marketplace and dining halls, students and faculty at Binghamton University have many options for eating on campus. But with food being delivered six days a week to meet campus’ demands, waste is inevitable.

However, students and Sodexo employees have incorporated policies to eliminate virtually all food waste in dining halls and the Marketplace. One facet to BU’s food waste prevention is donating all the leftover food at the end of the day to those in need in the local community.

The Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a national nonprofit organization taking place on campuses all across America designed to donate leftover food to local charities. Maya Yair, ‘14, began the initiative at BU last year through Hillel’s Committee for Social Justice.

Sabrina Scull, a coordinator for the

FRN program at BU and a senior majoring in environmental studies, said that every morning food delivery trucks pick up leftover items from all the dining halls and transport them to College-in-the-Woods Dining Hall.

By around 6 p.m., volunteers from various student organizations such as Hillel package the food, which then gets picked up by Volunteers of America and the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse. They then deliver it to local charities and soup kitchens, like the Salvation Army of Binghamton.

“This is so important because we are helping provide homeless and starving individuals with a steady supply of food that is easily accessible to them,” Scull said. “We are also keeping BU’s leftover food from becoming landfill waste.”

Richard Herb, chef manager of Collegein-the-Woods Dining Hall, said campusstyle meal plans will always result in some level of food waste at the end of the day because kitchens must always be stocked.

“With us trying to meet those requirements,” Herb said, “there’s food waste that occurs as a natural course of doing business.”

According to Herb, the program began its trial run last semester in CIW and was so successful that it has spread to all residential dining halls, the Marketplace and Tillman Lobby.

“We saw that it was such a wonderful program and it really allowed us to utilize leftovers in a way that we’ve never been able to before,” Herb said.

In a given week they receive around 1,500 pounds of food depending on the amount of leftovers. Scull says that since September, the FRN has saved 27,421.04 pounds of food.

John Enright, the director of Resident Dining, said that unless some form of contamination happens, everything fit for human consumption is donated. Food that is not fit for consumption, including

See FOOD Page 2

Original student animations light up Bartle Library Tower

Cinema class showcases semester-long projects to audience of over 100 on the Spine Kanchi Chandwani Staff Writer

Tycho McManus/Managing Editor

Students gather in front of Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower to watch a collection of animations. Students in Cinema 286F, or Animation I, transformed the building’s exterior into an interactive canvas, which was accompanied by a live music performance.

While many students headed into Glenn G. Bartle Library Thursday night to begin studying for finals, some stopped outside of Library Tower to see animations projected on the building’s exterior.

Over 100 students gathered on the Spine at 9 p.m. to watch a collection of animations created by students taking Cinema 286F, also known as Animation 1. Using a technique known as “mapping,” the front of the Library Tower became an interactive canvas for 30-second animations by 15 students.

Using programs MadMapper and Adobe After Effects to help visualize the building as a template, the students spent three weeks developing animations that aligned with and played off of the building and its windows. Each student had to create his or

her own animation by the end the semester.

The animations varied in topic, from abstract-colored geometric patterns intertwining with the windows to a series of human silhouettes scaling up and down the building. At one point, a giant wasp landed on the tower, followed by a series of books falling. The projections were accompanied by live music from student musician Ken Herman, a senior majoring in English.

The students put up posters and shared a Facebook event to draw attendees. By the time of the screening, about 100 people were spread across the Spine and around the Harpur Quad fountain to watch. Anthony Sileo, a junior majoring in psychology, said he was impressed by how precisely the animations lined up.

“I really liked how they synced up perfectly with Bartle’s windows, and you can see bright-colored shapes and objects come

See SHOW Page 2

John Babich/ Pipe Dream Photographer

Jason Flatt, a tour guide and a sophomore majoring in political science, leads newly admitted students through campus on the Spine. The admitted students saw campus and learned about going to school at Binghamton University.

Prospective Bearcats visit campus at record-high rates As the cost of higher education increases, Binghamton University hosts 40,000 potential undergrads in past year Michelle Kraidman Staff Writer

Most college students remember the stress and excitement that comes with campus visits. Emily Littlejohn, a high school junior, had already visited two colleges before she took a tour at Binghamton University this past Tuesday.

“I definitely want to see a lot of colleges and see what I like in different ones,” said Littlejohn, who is from Fonda, New York. “I’m looking for a school that has good academics, but also a well-rounded campus and things that are close by.”

Joe Tiesi, a campus visit coordinator who is in charge of BU’s tour program, said that because of the increasing cost of education, more students are going on college visits.

“Students are being much more selective before making that deposit decision now,” Tiesi said. “And that just means they need to come and see who we are.”

According to Tiesi, the number of

students visiting BU has tripled since 2000, and over 40,000 came this past year.

This means that BU’s visiting program — which includes open houses, information sessions and tours — is one of the biggest in New York, and larger than those at schools like Syracuse University.

Tiesi said that because of praise the University has received in publications like the Princeton Review and U.S. News, more students are attracted to and considering BU. About 65 percent of those who attend admitted students open houses will enroll.

“The Binghamton brand is incredible so people want to know more about us,” Tiesi said. “Our reputation is stellar. The reality is to get to know us isn’t reading about us in a magazine. It means going there and taking the tour and having those conversations with current students and having lunch on campus — just authentically having that experience.”

Camryn Benjamin, the assistant payroll supervisor for the tour guide

See ADMIT Page 2

2

NEWS

bupipedream.com | May 11, 2015

Campus visit rates at BU among highest in NYS ADMIT continued from Page 1 program and a junior majoring in integrative neuroscience, said she noticed trends in questions asked. Parents’ main concerns are usually about safety and academics, whereas students focus on dorms and clubs.

Chapin Ginsberg, a senior in high school from Brooklyn who is attending BU in the fall, said he wanted to get a feel for the school one more time before starting in August.

“It seems like a good school with a nice campus,” Ginsberg

said. “It’s a good intermediate between a CUNY school and a really big school.”

His mother, Ellie Ginsberg, said that her main concern about college was the cost.

“We’re city people, so the thought of going to a big university — we don’t see what the advantage is,” Ginsberg said.

“Postgraduate is very important wherever you go, but there are lots of bachelor schools to choose from that you don’t need to take loans out for.”

Benjamin explained that tour guides are taught to address

concerns by sharing positive personal experiences. They give anecdotes at different stops in the tour so the students can get a better and more realistic feel for the school.

“The tour guides are really a vital part of the admissions process because a tour can make or break someone’s decision,” Benjamin said. “We teach them not to worry about statistics because anyone can Google that.

What really matters is that when visitors come here they feel like they fit in and they feel at home, just like all the students here do.”

Library Tower becomes big screen for cinema students SHOW continued from Page 1 out of the squares on the windows,” Sileo said. “They coordinated the entire show really well.”

According to professor Ariana Gerstein, work had been conducted in previous semesters in the basement of the Fine Arts Building, so projecting onto the Library Tower presented a new challenge.

“We didn’t know if this would work,” Gerstein said. “We decided that since our normal working space is in the basement, we had to go from the lowest point to the highest point on campus. So if we were gonna do it the first time, we were going to go as high as we could possibly go.”

Moises Diaz, one of the animators and a junior majoring in history, said the project was not as hard as she thought it was going to be, and that anyone interested should try.

“I made a series of silhouettes because I’m really drawn to the simplicity of them, and I thought that the black contrasting with the white would look great,” Diaz said.

“But the hardest part was putting the fade effect into the whole thing.”

Attendee Katherine LeonMolina, a junior triple-majoring in Spanish, political science and economics, said she thought the event came at a perfect time.

“I heard about this event and I

thought it would be a great way to de-stress from finals week,” LeonMolina said. “I think we should have events like this more often, because it gets students outside and makes them spend time together and relax during this time of year.”

We had to go from the lowest point to the highest point on campus — Ariana Gerstein BU Professor

Campus utilizes waste to increase sustainability FOOD continued from Page 1 students’ leftover food and chef’s pre-cooked trimmings, is put into 32-gallon compost barrels.

According to Herb, dining halls began composting back in 2006, and anything compostable is separated from the trash by kitchen staff and put into barrels.

The barrels are then picked up by physical facilities and taken to an off-campus private compost facility. After it is turned into

compost, it is brought back and used as fertilizer in gardens on campus and BU Acres, the student-run farm located on Bunn Hill Road.

Herb said that the fruits and vegetables grown on BU Acres are brought back to the CIW Dining Hall and sold to students at a reduced price.

“Even if you don’t know it, just by you placing your tray in the dish room window you’re contributing to growing new food

on campus,” Herb said. “It’s a cycle.”

Kristina Klimek, a junior majoring in environmental studies, said she is glad there are initiatives being implemented to minimize food waste.

“It’s sad but true that we can often can be so forgetful of how privileged we are to have steady, even overwhelming, access to food products,” Klimek said. “Everyone deserves access to healthy foods.”

Photo Illustration by John Babich/Pipe Dream Photographer Aislinn Cronin, a senior majoring in chemistry; Shannon McBrien, a junior majoring in biology; and Kaitlin Lauria, a junior majoring in nursing, study on the fourth floor of Glenn G. Bartle Library. Students throughout campus have sought out their preferred study locations for the long haul of finals week.

Professors, counselors bust study tip myths STUDY continued from Page 1 in 20 to half-hour intervals, and taking a few minutes off every so often to refresh,” Fitzgerald said.

According to Westerman, research has proven that if students test themselves they will remember the subject matter better. She said that using flash cards is one of the best ways for students to do this.

“It turns out that in the history of memory research up until nine years ago, we thought that testing yourself was just another way of assessing what you know,” Westerman said.

“But what we learned is that it’s actually another opportunity to form a strong memory.”

Commonly known study tricks, like having the same candy while studying and again during the test or listening to classical music, are not actually as efficient as one may think.

Reinstating cues, or replicating environmental conditions, is only helpful for specific types of fact recall on essay tests, and not multiple choice.

Focusing on one single task or subject rather than splitting attention will also show students better results, according to Westerman.

“Studies have shown that during studying, dividing your attention between two tasks, for example keeping up with a text conversation with your friends and then studying, is detrimental to your ability to remember whatever you’re studying,” Westerman said. “Bouncing back and forth really impairs your memory for that study period.”

Overusing substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol during finals week can overstimulate the brain, causing impulsive behavior. According to Lamberty, high anxiety can cause you to think more negatively and self-critically.

“Ideally stop using substances several hours before bedtime, and stop all activity an hour before bedtime so your body and brain get a chance to decompress and formulate positive and affirming thoughts before falling asleep,” Lamberty said.

Fitzgerald advises students to steer clear of study drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta and Dexedrine. When taken without a prescription, students may experience side effects.

“What you get out of study drugs are a feeling of control, pleasure, alertness and increased blood flow and communication between nerves,” Fitzgerald said. “However, if you’re not prescribed it there are many major side effects. The drugs can dramatically increase blood pressure and heart rate, as well as cause dehydration and other unpleasant effects. In high doses it can cause paranoia and even psychosis.”

During long days of studying, Lamberty reminds students that taking breaks, exercising and relaxing are fundamental for one’s success during finals week.

“Go for a walk or run, play a sport, listen to music, laugh with friends, read a good or fun book,” Lamberty said. “Go outside on a sunny day and sit quietly and remind yourself that it is all going to work out for the best.”

PAGE III Monday, May 11, 2015

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

Police Watch A lighter take on campus crime

How to Dress Well, and Upset a Crowd

Bike-Curious MONDAY, MAY 4, 2:30 p.m. — A 21-year-old male believed that his bicycle was stolen from Nanticoke Hall in Susquehanna Community, Reilly said. The victim locked the bike to a wooden fence outside of the building, and when he came back a few days later, it was gone. Officers asked the grounds crew if they removed it, and they responded no. The case is still under investigation.

He is the one who knocks TUESDAY, MAY 5, 4:19 p.m.

— A vehicle came through the information booth and spoke with the attendant, Reilly said. The attendant noticed that the driver, a 25-year-old male, was slurring his speech and had droopy eyes.

When he left, he ran over a curb.

The attendant called University Police, and they pulled the suspect over. The officers noticed the same details that the attendant noticed.

The officers conducted a field sobriety test, but they determined that the suspect was not under the influence of alcohol. The officers ran a check on the car and found that its registration was suspended.

The officers searched the car before having it towed. They found a bag containing 56 packs of what was later found to be heroin. The suspect was charged with criminal possession of narcotics with the intent to sell, DWI and suspended registration. The suspect was arraigned at Vestal Town Court and was transferred to Broome County Jail. The approximate cost of the heroin is over $1,000.

Spring 2015 editor-in-ChieF* Rachel Bluth editor@bupipedream.com

Aaron Berkowitz | Police Correspondent

DCR Phone Home SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1 a.m. — A 21-year-old male left his cell phone on an Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) bus, said Investigator Patrick Reilly of Binghamton’s New York State University Police. The victim realized an hour after he got off of the bus that it was gone.

He contacted OCCT and asked if they found the phone. They said that they did not, and they then contacted the driver. The driver said that he called a cleaning crew to come to the bus since someone vomited on it. He does not know if they found the phone or not. The case is still under investigation.

Wait . . . What?

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1:03 a.m. — Officers observed a vehicle going the wrong way on Glenn G. Bartle Drive, Reilly said. Patrols stopped the car and asked why the 19-yearold male was going the wrong way.

He said that he saw that the person at the information booth was checking IDs and since he is not a student, he decided to turn around and go north in the southbound lane. While interviewing the suspect, the officers saw a BB gun in plain view on the passenger side of the vehicle. The suspect was asked about it, and he said that he has a problem with some people he lives with, and he carries the gun for his protection. The gun was confiscated, and he was given a traffic ticket for driving the wrong way on a one way street and an appearance ticket for possession of a weapon on school property returnable to Vestal Town Court.

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neWs editor* Nicolás Vega news@bupipedream.com Asst. neWs editors Joseph E. Hawthorne Carla Sinclair Alexandra Mackof oPinion editor* Molly McGrath opinion@bupipedream.com

Michael Contegni/Pipe Dream Staff Photographer How to Dress Well, the stage name for American indie singer-songwriter Tom Krell, sings songs from his newest album, “What Is This Heart?” Many attendees were upset by the headliner, who didn’t perform many songs and spent most of his stage time rambling to the crowd.

releAse editor* Jacob Shamsian release@bupipedream.com Asst. releAse editor Odeya Pinkus sPorts editor* Ashley Purdy sports@bupipedream.com

Corrections

This Day in History

Pipe Dream strives for accuracy in all we publish. We recognize that mistakes will sometimes occur, but we treat errors very seriously. If you see a mistake in the paper, please contact Editor-in-Chief Rachel Bluth at editor@bupipedream.com.

May 11, 1927

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.

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stabilizing: beerBQ

final issue :destabilizing

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5

Dassie Hirschfield and Raquel Panitz/Pipe Dream Photographers

You made it. The final weekend of the year. For some of you, this was the end of the line — your last Friday and Saturday of college. As you walk the stage at graduation, your mind will be flooded with images from the past four years of your life: the sweaty dance floor at The Rat, the sweaty windows at JT’s and the sweaty people at Tom & Marty’s — these will soon become a fond memory. But don’t despair; keep your chins up and be proud of your bar-hopping careers. No matter where you go and no matter what you do, you will always be Weekend Warriors.

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Arts & Culture

Tom & Marty's takes a shot at something new After almost a decade, local bar replaces their beloved wheel E AK

BIR TH

ER H S

BL U As sis ta nt

Jo hn Lin itz

/D es ign

GU

JIM BEAM Erin Rosenblum | Staff Writer

There's no cheese at the end of the maze for BU test subjects Jordy was born in Cortland, but for the prime of his adult life he’s been at Binghamton University in Science 5.

As a lab rat — specifically, an albino Sprague-Dawley rat, commonly used in scientific experiments — he was bred in a Harlan Lab specifically for research. All of the animals that BU conducts research on are bred in laboratories, said Kimberly Kal-Downs, director of Laboratory Animal Resources.

Jordy was three months old when he came to campus at the beginning of this semester. He lives in a box with his roommate, Timmy, another lab rat of the same strain, in a temperatureand light-controlled room.

Usually, he has food (in the form of hard pellets, to wear down the rats’ sharp incisors) and water available to him at all times.

But sometimes, rats don’t

announcement sent fear into the hearts of Binghamton University students, the new shot wheel was a glimmer of hope in an otherwise stressful time in the semester. Propped in its predecessor’s old stomping grounds, the short-lived void was filled and a collective clattering of shot wheel chips filled the air.

Your lease probably runs through June anyway, so hang out in Bing

Miriam Geiger/Editorial Artist

have food or water available to them. That happened to Jordy this semester.

Yedidyah Herskovics, a junior majoring in psychology, experimented on Jordy in his Lab in Learning class. He and his lab partner gave Jordy his name.

“They assigned us a rat, and then I picked him up,” Herskovics said. “And it just so happened to be that he was the best one.”

Jordy, Timmy and the rest of the rats were water-deprived for 23 hours before each experiment, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that they could learn to have water as a reward.

“So Mondays and Wednesdays just suck for them,” Herskovics said. “It’s 23 hours without water.

That’s the life of a rat.”

The most fun and rewarding experiment — “for me and for the rat” — Herskovics said, was the first one, which was training Jordy to press a lever for water.

Herskovics had to train the rat to understand that the lever

the ashes.

Boasting six new shots — Birthday Cake, Jim Beam, Blue Hawaiian, Fireball, Pancake Breakfast Shot and Gusher — Tom & Marty’s “Shot Wheel 2.0” is destined to make the bar the envy of all other State Street establishments.

Though Shea’s initial

Your future can wait, stay for Senior Week

The life and death of a lab rat

Jacob Shamsian | Release Editor

FIREBALL

DA YC

bar corner.

Patrons headed into Tom & Marty’s on Thursday to begin the healing process.

Little did they know what was in store for the evening.

“This next song goes out to the shot wheel,” said Shea as Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” played throughout the bar. Solemn faces lined the dance floor during the tribute while people sang along with heavy hearts. Yet despite the fears of its patrons, it seemed as if the tradition would continue.

Just after midnight, there was a quick change in the music that made the crowded bar roar.

“Oh my god, is that shot wheel music?” Shea said proudly over the microphone, as Europe’s “The Final Countdown” created an aura of excitement and mystery.

Suddenly, in the most wonderful fashion, a familiar round shape rose from the ground in the hands of a Tom & Marty’s bouncer. A new shot wheel had emerged like a phoenix rising from

IA N

A new shot wheel had emerged like a phoenix rising from the ashes

but we’re just screaming with happiness. It was a very glorious day and then we got to carry it home and that was cool too, carrying it like a shield.”

In the heated battle for the shot wheel, any advantage was needed.

They said that they knew a lot, and that knowing a Tom & Marty’s bartender helped them answer some of the trickier questions.

So why get rid of the shot wheel we all know and love?

“We wanted to put new shots on the wheel that people would like more,” said Addie Dean, a bartender at Tom & Marty’s and a sophomore majoring in human development.

The new wheel was probably long overdue anyway, as the old one had a decade’s worth of wear and tear to show.

“They don’t spin it [the old shot wheel] anymore … they turn it themselves a couple of dials to like land on a shot because it’s so broken,” Dailey said. “When we were carrying it home it was kind of like dragging on the floor and stuff.”

With the shot wheel safe in someone’s Downtown house, something felt different on Thursday. What used to hold the beautiful promise of cheap alcohol turned into an empty spot in the

EH A W AI

If on any given weekend night you’ve gone to the Downtown establishment Tom & Marty’s, you’ve heard Larry Shea’s booming voice yell, “It’s shot wheel time!” over the speaker system. But last Tuesday, something aside from the deep bass shook State Street to its core.

On May 5, Shea, the owner of Tom & Marty’s, tweeted “Tonight is the last night of the Shot Wheel. Giving it away after trivia tomorrow.”

If you are a Tom & Marty’s regular, you probably experienced a

sense of shock and confusion. Why is the shot wheel gone? Where is it going? Will we ever have $3 shots again? As some students struggled to work through the repercussions of the news, others had their eye on one goal: winning the prize.

Forget having a 4.0 GPA or winning a scholarship. The most rewarding thing you can have in Binghamton is the chance to walk around and parade the shot wheel for all to see while “Eye of the Tiger” plays in the background.

Last Wednesday night, the team of trivia regulars Alcoholics Anonymous took home the prize to end all prizes.

After the normal trivia run, a sheet was handed out containing eight very specific questions about the bar. It was a test of knowledge and skill, but also a test of faith.

To win, you would’ve had to know things about the business and its employees. Which shot on the wheel was the least popular?

Which mixed drinks were the most popular? Which bartender owns a bulldog?

Annie Dailey, a senior majoring in art and design, was on the lucky winning team.

“We won the shot wheel and it was amazing,” Dailey said. “Larry was like crying a little bit because he didn’t want to give it away,

ST FA AK RE EB AK NC PA

Odeya Pinkus | Assistant Release Editor Kathryn Shafsky | Release

provided water, even as the lever gave less water the more times it was pulled. The two other experiments were in the same vein, making the rat understand the function of pressing the lever in different contexts, but didn’t provide Herskovics with the same bonding experience as they had that first time.

Science 5 is split in two wings: one side where experiments are conducted in laboratories, and the other side where animal caretakers work. When animals aren’t being experimented on, they spend their time in a holding room, a sort of purgatory at constant temperature and humidity between the two sides.

Jordy was experimented with just twice a week, which meant he spent five full days a week in the holding area, a clear plastic housing around the size of a large shoebox. He spent most of his time playing with Timmy and their toy that was changed every week — Herskovics recalled that

one week it was just a wooden cube. Not all of Jordy’s rat peers have names, but all of them are identified individually, usually with marks on their cages or tails. Whether they have names depends on the discretion of their researcher (Herskovics also frequently called Jordy “Ratty”).

Herskovics is also unsure about Jordy’s and Timmy’s sexuality, because he never saw them spend time together; another group experimented on Timmy.

Because of his lever-pressing skills, Jordy is used in another experiment now. But unless he escapes, Jordy has two possible destinies. He will either be euthanized and chopped up, and his parts will be analyzed by other researchers. Or he will be euthanized, frozen — so that his corpse doesn’t smell — and then picked up and taken to East Smithfield, Pennsylvania.

There, he will be incinerated.

Such is the life and death of a research rat.

I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Binghamton University or can’t recognize its dingy appeal. Sure, I understand the attraction of a school with a big, booming city or a tinier school with a stronger sense of community. On the scale of small liberal arts to Big 10s & NYUs, BU falls in the dead center. To some, that’s its tragic flaw. I beg to differ.

For the majority of downstate citizens, BU offers four years to live in a city completely different than anything you’ve experience before and are most likely to experience after. While some graduates stay in town after their final walk across the Events Center’s stage, it is safe to say that the number of students who make Binghamton a permanent home is pretty slim. Not exploring the city during the short time you live here is a huge disservice to yourself.

I’m not sure if “Senior Week,” or the tradition of staying in Binghamton the week after graduation, is a school-wide event or just something people I know have done in the past, but it’s certainly a tradition worth establishing. Spend an extra week here to celebrate graduation and indulge in what this place has to offer before you leave here indefinitely. You’ve earned it.

1. Check out the Blake — Nestled only 30 minutes away in the rolling hills of almostPennsylvania sits Nathaniel Cole

Not exploring the city during the short time you live here is a huge disservice to yourself

Park — more often referred to by its nickname “the Blake” — a lake that’s great for swimming with a beach that’s great for grilling.

Grab some road refreshments, a towel, hot dogs and speakers and enjoy the afternoon. You can also rent paddle boats and rowboats for only $10.

2. Do a senior scavenger hunt — Write a list that forces you to go all over the Binghamton area; recruit teams of five to fill cars, and charge some money to participate. The winner gets the lot. Stay in the library for 12 hours.

Have one person in your car get a drink from every bar (and not just the ones on State Street). Swim in the Nature Preserve pond.

Ride the Vestal 5 with minimal clothing. But remember, don’t get arrested; you’re probably still trying to find a job.

3. Go camping — Take advantage of upstate New York’s isolation and find a group of friends to spend a night in the wilderness with. Learn about survival, nature and each other.

Aw. 4. Spa day — Spend a day pampering yourself with friends.

You probably deserve it, and you probably need it after #3. There’s a massage studio right on Vestal Parkway called Knead Relief. If the massage doesn’t help relieve the stress of your looming future, laughing at how clever the name of the place is will. Go there.

5. Dining hall eating contest — Moving off campus meant trading in your meal plan for Sake-Tumi and Sodexo Joe for the Grande’s delivery guy. Revisit your dining hall alma mater with friends in an organized eating contest, including a variety of Sodexo’s offerings that you’ll probably never get to eat again.

Try everything from the weird but delicious reuben pizza to Sodexo’s incredibly delicious chocolate chip cookies. When you’re done, bask in the fact that Sodexo meals are a thing of the past.

7

RELEASE

May 11, 2015 | bupipedream.com

Getting through the finals countdown How to stop your chem exam from messing with your brain chem Katie Dowd | Contributing Writer Do you live with anxiety? Do you suffer daily from the crushing fear that every mistake you make will destroy any chance for happiness and success in the long run? Does the end of the semester make you want to crawl into a hole and die? As Release’s mental illness veteran, I’ve compiled some tips for getting through the next couple of days without having a nervous breakdown.

1. Don’t procrastinate — This is standard advice for any college student, but it is especially important for those of you with a history of anxiety. Putting off your work is only going to make you more anxious, and you need to take care of yourself during this high-stress time. Brief breaks are healthy, but if it’s 5 a.m. and you’re watching the nineminute “The Farmer and the Cowman” dance sequence from the 1999 West End production of “Oklahoma!” on YouTube, you need to get your priorities straightened out.

2. Choose your stimulants wisely — For the love of god, do not take Adderall or Ritalin. No, seriously, don’t fucking do it.

Sure, you’ll be good and awake, but you’ll feel like you’re having a heart attack. You are not going to be able to study or write a 10-page paper if your chest feels like a

Photo Illustration by Sasha Dolgetta/Pipe Dream Photographer

toddler is using it for a trampoline.

Trust me on this: Stick to caffeine.

Soda, coffee or tea will keep you awake enough that you’ll be able to get everything done. Your hands will probably shake, but if you’ve got an anxiety disorder, you’re probably used to your hands shaking anyway.

3. Be adaptable — One of the unfortunate realities of living with anxiety is having a weak digestive system, and one of the unfortunate realities of going to Binghamton University is having to consume Sodexo’s food. My advice? Move off campus as soon

as possible. Until then, make the best out of a bad situation and bring any study materials you need into the bathroom with you.

Your Irritable Bowel Syndrome doesn’t give a shit if you have an orgo final in a few hours, so study your notes while you inwardly curse Mein Bowl and your mental illness. If you start to have a panic attack, don’t forget to breathe; a panic attack will only make the pain worse, so concentrate on keeping calm.

4. Breathe, breathe, breathe — Living with anxiety can be hell, but remember that it doesn’t

have to rule your life. If you find yourself stressing about an exam or are on the verge of a panic attack five hours before a paper is due, try to focus on breathing in and out, slowly. Chances are this paper or final exam isn’t going to matter in the grand scheme of your life. Sure, that paper you’re writing may not be your best, and it may feel like it can ruin your entire college career, but you’ve written loads of mediocre papers, and none have been the death of you yet. You’re going to be okay.

You’re going to get through this week. Just breathe.

Day trips for your summer in Bing

From outdoor adventures to local shops, there's plenty to do in the area Anna Szilagyi | Staff Writer

in the Triple Cities — whether it be a summer class or a latestarting lease — don’t buy into If you’re staying in the rumor that there’s nothing to Binghamton this summer, you do around here. might be struggling to figure out 1. Explore the surrounding area what to do with your free time.

The weather is finally nice, Whatever your reason for staying and after months of complaining, we can finally enjoy the outside deck at Zona’s. So go ahead and explore Washington Street.

Hell, leave Washington Street and explore upstate New York.

Take a drive through the Finger Lakes and get one of the most breathtaking views you may ever see. Ithaca is super nice, and if you spend all summer here without taking a trip to the gorges, did you spend a summer here at all? There is a place called Buttermilk Falls about an hour away. Go there while it’s still nice out before the winter hell demons destroy everything.

2. Try out the area’s carousels In case you didn’t know, Binghamton is the carousel capital of the world. It’s even mentioned in “The Rewrite,” so you know it’s iconic. We’ve got six different historical

Binghamton is the carousel capital of the world.

It’s even mentioned in “The Rewrite,” so you know it’s iconic.

merry-go-rounds here, and as a Binghamton resident, it is your civic duty to try them all out, especially because they’re open only in the summer. Plus, if you ride all six, you get to put it on your rèsumè.

3. Check out Ross Park Zoo If you’re leaving a pet at home and need animals back in your life, check out the Binghamton zoo this summer. College students get a discount with their IDs and, no, you are not too old for the petting zoo.

4. Visit Binghamton’s museums Binghamton is home to multiple museums, so don’t let your brain fry over the summer.

The Roberson Museum and Science Center is celebrating its 60th anniversary and boasts a planetarium as well as history and art exhibits. The Bundy Museum of History and Art, also a participating venue for First Friday, is home to the Open Art Gallery. One of its permanent exhibits is a complete old-school barbershop that originally stood two blocks away from the IBM factory in Endicott, but was

transported to the museum in 2008. The Phelps Mansion is a historic museum and Victorian mansion on Court Street. So take a tour or two this summer and get acquainted with Binghamton’s history.

5. Explore local bookstores For a lot of us, summer is one of the only times reading for fun is actually feasible. Instead of going to Barnes & Noble to search for your next favorite novel, try visiting RiverRead Books on Court Street. The cozy independent bookstore has a great variety, so support a local Binghamton business while feeding your book addiction. The Book Peddler, a used bookstore in Smithville Flats, New York (around 30 minutes outside of Binghamton), is having its grand opening on May 30. Try picking up a copy of David Foster Wallace’s thoughtful and poignant paperweight “Infinite Jest.” It may be 1,079 pages, but it’s the summer and you have no excuses. Just think of how cultured you’ll be when you’re done.

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Erin Rosenblum | Staff Writer The Chenango Room, Binghamton’s only full-service restaurant on campus, is closer to a café-type vibe than any of Sodexo’s other offerings. Nestled inside Science 1, Chenango is a quick get-away from the hustle of Glenn G. Bartle Library and the bustle of the Marketplace.

The Chenango Room offers a menu selection of made-to-order burgers and sandwiches, daily entrée specials served buffet-style, a full salad bar and a customized

pasta station. Entrées and daily chef creations found on the menu are designed by head chef Michael Kulik.

Kulik’s creations are a testament to his culinary prose.

He manages to transform Sodexo’s typically lackluster options into quality food that makes you forget it has an affiliation with the corporate campus dining giant.

Stand-outs on the menu include the Chenango fandango burger, certified angus beef with peppered bacon and crispy ranch shallots served on a toasted brioche roll, and the fall sage chicken salad

Emily Earl/Pipe Dream Photographer

sandwich: fresh diced chicken dressed in mayo and sage in between an artisan roll with fruits and nuts baked inside.

For its loyal group of regular patrons, both professors and students alike, the Chenango French fries have become a staple to the dining experience. Offered as a side to most of the menu options, the fries have the perfect soft potato to crispy outside ratio.

The Chenango Room also offers a full menu of homemade deserts, including a cheesecake recipe from the 1900s, red velvet truffles, an apple chip cake served with vanilla ice cream and an oldfashioned root beer float.

Another common sentiment shared about the Chenango Room is the delightful wait staff.

The manager, Daniela Retezatu, a mother of five from Romania and former teacher, is dedicated to making the Chenango Room a home away from home for BU students.

“We love them, and we feel like they are so comfortable here, and we treat them like they are ours,” Retezatu said. “We know they are homesick, and they feel so

great around us, and we feel great around them too.”

In 2013, the Chenango Room began serving alcohol during “After Hours,” on specific weekdays from 5 to 9 p.m. Chenango After Hours were pretty short-lived, speculatively because of President Harvey Stenger’s disapproval of student alcohol use, as expressed in a 2014 video “Please Make Responsible Choices,” in which Stenger says, “Excessive drinking diminishes campus culture.” The Chenango Room still serves both wine and beer to those who ask, but no drink menus are available.

The Chenango Room’s hours are limited; it’s open from 11:30-2:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and 11:30-2:00 p.m. on Fridays.

As for the future of the Chenango Room itself, I don’t see it leaving anytime soon. The staff has plans to increase the breadth of entrée offerings by replacing the current two-week food cycle with a four-week cycle of different options. The Chenango Room also has plans to replace the pasta station with a healthier alternative, as part of the “Mindful

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OPINION Monday, May 11, 2015

Spring 2015 Report Card

President Harvey Stenger: BWe’ve praised President Stenger in past report cards, awarding him with fairly high grades and acknowledging his effort to maintain an active presence on campus. He has this semester as well, but his interactions with Students for Change detract from his overall performance.

Stenger has performed fairly well in SFC’s presence. Looking back, dropping the microphone wasn’t the greatest idea, but he’s kept a brave face when dealing with the rather aggressive actions taken by SFC. The Stenger-SFC debacle, however, has shed some light on how transparent we’ll need our president to be in the future. He needs to be more open with what’s being done to address the issues SFC raised, and explain the precise purpose of each administrative position. The administration has still failed to deliver meaningful timelines for when changes on campus will take

place, or even publicly addressed.

There is no denying that there are serious issues of diversity at this University, and we have thus far been disappointed with progress.

Student Association: B+ This year’s elections were as contentious as they were confusing. The short period of time between announcing the list of candidates and voting itself left the student body largely unaware of the contestants and their campaigns.

The tension surrounding the vice president for multicultural affairs position, coupled with the Planning, Research and Elections Committee’s decision to void Epiphany Munoz’s results and subsequently approve Ruslan Klafehn’s, resulted in a messy election season.

Ultimately, elections became way too personal, and we’re hoping for a better and smoother process next year.

We’re also concerned about the state of training for our newly

elected officials. We fear that Klafehn, who was elected to his position merely four weeks ago, isn’t being instructed as well as he should be. The current VPMA, Isis McIntosh, has been conspicuously absent from Student Congress meetings and campus life this year, and we are worried that next year will be no different. A lack of communication between our current VMPA and our future one will only lead to a succession of poor positions, and we don’t have any space for faulty administrations.

Student Association Programming Board: C+ Spring Fling did not go well.

Yes, the SAPB puts on successful programming events all year and deserves praise for bringing Nick Offerman and Trey Songz to campus, but Spring Fling is the most important and well-attended event of the year.

There are no doubt factors outside of SAPB control, such as schedule conflicts with

surrounding universities and the need to allocate resources toward paying back outstanding debt.

Even with those challenges, these artists didn’t excite many students, especially when neighboring schools with smaller student bodies book more high-profile acts.

A poor-quality sound system dampened the concert experience.

Many students in close proximity to the stage could barely hear the vocals. What fun is that?

Binghamton Sound, Staging and Lighting and SAPB need to work together to create a contingency plan so that doesn’t happen again.

It’s a waste of money to book artists if students can’t enjoy them.

Gym: D As we discussed earlier this semester, the gym is overcrowded.

The TRX contraption that takes up a wing of the gym may as well be a paperweight during high-traffic hours — while lines form for squat racks and benches, a significant amount of square-footage sits

unused. The fact of the matter is that we need a bigger gym. All the shiny new equipment in the world can’t disguise the fact that actually completing a workout in a timely fashion is nearly impossible in the afternoon. Expansion of the old building or construction of a new gym altogether may require the University to spend more money and cut through more red tape, but it is the only way to fix this, especially as the student body continues to grow.

Off Campus College Transport: B+ OCCT has done a mostly excellent job meeting student needs this semester. The inbound/ outbound system works well, and though buses are sometimes really late, the transportation service has been consistently reliable. The scanning system is pretty pointless right now — but we look forward to the improvements that it will bring next semester as the data analysis goes into effect.

Sports: AThe athletics department has done a fantastic job in supporting women’s athletics this semester.

BU hosted the women’s basketball and women’s tennis America East Championships and featured Rebecca Lobo as a speaker for the Celebrating Women’s Athletics Luncheon for three extraordinarily well-planned and impressive events. The climate surrounding women’s athletics at this University is particularly supportive, something we’re fortunate enough to take for granted.

That said, sports doesn’t get a flat A. Three players, including Jordan Reed, the face of the program the last two years, transferred from the men’s basketball program. That’s concerning, as men’s basketball is our biggest program. But the softball team won the conference title and Jesse Garn, Tyler Deuel and Keishorea Armstrong have made presences on a national stage, so some programs are excelling.

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.

Don't hesitate to place all your eggs in one basket and devote time to single project Senior Column Ashley Purdy Sports Editor

I’m not one for idioms, but I was never fond of “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Think about it. “Eggs” are presumably your resources, right?

The time you have, skills, energy, money, affection and so on. So the phrase is telling you to invest in multiple “baskets” (options) by divvying up your resources. It’s essentially telling you to expect failure.

I don’t like that.

I’m just saying, maybe Plan A failed because you devoted some of your finite capacities to Plan C. Maybe you weren’t offered a fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh or a place

in Oxford University’s BPhil in Philosophy program because you spent so much time writing about sports. (That’s a hypothetical).

But how I would have regretted every moment I sat in the Bearcats Sports Complex or the Events Center and every hour I spent rewinding media files and transcribing interviews and every day I pored over stat sheets composing articles barely anyone reads were I not accepted.

Because then, you know, you delve into “what if” scenarios.

I would imagine any selfrespecting, rational being thinks it within her capacity to achieve the highest at what she loves. Natural ability only takes you so far; hard work brings you the rest of the way. You know what factors into hard work? Eggs. (Resources, for those of you with fleeting shortterm memories.)

My family was concerned,

of course. They believed I knew what I was talking about, but they knew the numbers. They knew that institutions get upwards of 200 applications but fund six or so fellowships per year. I went to Binghamton. They worried.

But when I called them after I received my first fellowship offer in the middle of February (Friday the 13th, actually), and I had never felt so proud in my life, my parents and sister were incredibly supportive.

Their reactions sent me to tears, as I awkwardly paced back and forth before the windows of the crowded Marketplace, confused and shaking from something like joy and shock and pride and gratefulness and, I guess, finally being able to put a feeling to the word “elated.”

It was really rather circumstantial.

The night before, I was on the phone with my mother in near desperation about my prospects.

Was I not cut out for philosophy?

Or, alternatively, (and here’s the kicker) was it my fault? What would I do with myself, knowing I could have read more, studied longer, slept more, etc. had I not devoted so much time to Pipe Dream Sports, had I not divvied my eggs between two entirely distinct baskets?

Hence my reaction to that first email. It wasn’t a top-10 program.

But that acceptance validated me.

And not only me, but all those who stood behind me, as well.

To Dr. Guay, I cannot express enough gratitude. But probably the most important thing is, I have a Terrible Towel to bring to Pittsburgh, so now I can fit in. I thank you for that, and also for the chance to even go to Pitt.

To my family: Mom, you entertained me even when you had pneumonia, and you manage to make me both laugh and

unbelievably frustrated. That’s impressive. Pops, thanks for inviting and then uninviting yourself to my Georgetown visit.

I’ll accompany you to D.C. this summer — contingent upon your admitting that a five-point lead isn’t a blowout. Christine, I came to Binghamton to spend an extra two years with you, and I’m certain no other experience would have been better. You da be(eeeesssss)s. Cheesetoast, I’m sorry about Oxford. You, Effie, Christine and I will just have to open our BRB (bar, restaurant, bakery) in Pittsburgh. You’re all moving to Pittsburgh.

My point is, I exclusively identified with Plan A. If that basket dropped for me, it would have been no consolation that I had eggs in another one. It would have been devastating; I would have known I could have done better, but didn’t.

And if I had put all my eggs in one basket, and then that basket dropped and all my eggs shattered and my life were a yolky, sticky, salmonella-y mess, then I’d get some new damn eggs and put them in a different damn basket.

There’s no “what if” to torment you; you can start again.

I absolutely don’t regret my time with Pipe Dream. I’m honored to have covered the programs I covered and to have met the people I met. But I would have questioned my valuations had that email on Feb. 13 never come, and if no other on any subsequent day had either.

So what I want to go on the record saying is, choose where you put your eggs wisely.

Also, I dislike idioms.

— Ashley Purdy is a senior double-majoring in philosophy and philosphy, politics, and law

Be careful not to let fear of the future steal your happiness in the present Senior Column Molly McGrath Opinion Editor

I could use this senior column as an opportunity to discuss my personal growth. But as I sit down to write, it’s clear that external changes outside the Binghamton bubble are much more worthy of discussion.

When I started undergrad in fall 2011, I did not anticipate the exponential pace of technological and social progress. As we spent our days holed up in the library or downing 40oz’s of malt liquor, the

world transformed around us.

I often used my columns as a platform to highlight technological advances, from the reverse engineering of the human brain to gene therapy. Every single day, I’m dumbfounded by news of yet another advance. It’s surreal that in 2016 I will be able to purchase the first fully functioning holographic computer.

But unprecedented challenges accompany these technological leaps forward. Environmental disaster looms. By 2050, an estimated fourth of plant and animal species will go extinct. By the end of this century, sea levels are expected to rise an additional two to seven feet. These predictions weigh

heavily on my psyche. I’m worried.

On the economic front, I’m worried about rising income inequality and the cost of raising a family. Nearly half of public school children receive governmentfunded lunch. More and more Americans are falling below the poverty line even as the nation’s overall wealth increases. Student loan debt recently surpassed credit card debt. These conditions are unsustainable and I fear the onset of a Great Depression from which our country will never recover.

So many nights of my college career I spent tossing and turning in my bed thinking about how my own future fit into these larger questions. Will I lose my job to

artificial intelligence or permanent economic downturn? Will I fall out of the middle class and find myself unable to raise the kids I’ve always desperately wanted? Will I ever find the right person for me? And when I meet her, will a global warminginduced natural disaster plunge us both into the sea in the midst of our second date? You get the idea.

What I failed to realize during those late nights is that constantly thinking about the future distracts from the task at present. I wasted so many hours, so much time that I sometimes failed to give those around me the attention that they deserved. And for that, I am truly sorry.

We will never be able to control

such pressing external forces.

It’s important to strike a balance between accounting for what’s to come and resigning yourself to enjoy each passing moment.

If I have any advice for similarly neurotic underclassmen, it’s to accept that you cannot control any person, place or phenomenon but yourself. Take heed to maintain an awareness of the world beyond the artificial college environment, but also an awareness of what’s right in front of you. All of it matters equally.

To the Pipe Dream staff, you are all terrific and push me to hold myself to a higher standard. You’re some of the smartest people at this University and don’t get nearly the recognition you deserve. I know

you’ll receive it in due time.

To everyone at the Mansion, thank goodness I met y’all. Thank you for being absolutely nuts. Like really, who else is going to walk around in adult diapers or hang a giant banner reading, “Fags Rule the World!” No one else in Binghamton, New York. You’re all special to me.

To anyone else I connected with during these four years, thank you for putting up with my resting bitch face and unconventional sense of humor.

To all my haters, enjoy mediocrity. My star is rising. Adieu.

— Molly McGrath is a senior double-majoring in political science and history

bupipedream.com | May 11, 2015

OPINION

BU's pursuit of prestige detracts from education College offers chance to Senior Column Rachel Bluth Editor-in-Chief

After three years at Binghamton University, I can say with confidence that it is time to leave. It’s the right time to get out of this University while it still resembles the one I entered.

Don’t get me wrong — I have the same mixed feelings about graduating as everyone else, and my experience here was by no means a bad one. I took classes that challenged me, met professors who inspired me and made friends who helped me grow into a better person than I was before.

Yet as I think about my time here and the future, I cannot escape the feeling that it’s time to get out.

As the University takes transitions into the next decade, it is changing and growing. I no longer want to be part of the transformations taking place here.

Last year, we were told that increasing enrollment to 20,000 people (Stenger’s 20 by 2020 plan) would benefit us all. There would

be more graduate students to work as TAs and more opportunities for students of all disciplines. When I toured Binghamton in 2011, 14,000 students studied here. I chose BU specifically because I didn’t want to be another number in a crowd.

I chose not to go to Penn State or University of Delaware because I didn’t want a “big state school” experience.

When I began freshman year, I was fortunate to be placed in College-in-the-Woods. I had the privilege to remain a part of this warm, welcoming community for the next two years. BU boasts community living as a means of connecting students and breaking a large university into manageable parts. I question how the growing number of students will threaten community living and safety nets like the one I built in CIW. In the past year, I have seen my university provide less and less for me and my peers.

Services are stretched thin already. There isn’t enough advising or mental health staff. There are no parking spots and there is no room at the gym. BU Brain crashes every time people register for classes. An

increasing number of classes and sections resulted in the elimination of a reading period for finals. Classes end later at night to accommodate increased numbers. The library is filled to capacity.

This list may seem like the complaints of a whiny graduate, looking back and bitching about waiting in line. That may be true, but as our campus continues to expand, I don’t foresee these problems disappearing. And why?

What’s the point of this huge push to grow like some collegiate manifest destiny? The answer is that the University is building a brand.

A lot of it boils down to how national rankings work. When U.S. News and World Report, Kaplan or any of the other publications that put out lists every year rank schools, academics only play a small part. Increased enrollment increases name recognition and the percentage of alumni that donate to the school. If the University improves on these metrics, the marketing team can put “ranked number one by the Princeton Review” on all admissions brochures. That’s the reason so

many of us seniors are suddenly being asked to donate before we even graduate. BU has its eye on the prize.

Of course it isn’t all about donations. The more grad students who enroll here — the plan is for 6,000 more to come — the more funding the University receives for research. The more research that takes place, the more people talk about us and the closer we come to that elusive goal: prestige.

The quest for prestige has left me disillusioned. I came here to go to the “premier public university of the Northeast” because, like many of you, BU was the best school my family could afford. As I meditate on leaving this place, I am glad to be getting out before expansion crushes what I loved about this school in the first place. Palpable anxiety exists on this campus, and I am truly worried about the state of the University in the future. Good luck to everyone who is sticking around, and try not to get lost underfoot.

— Rachel Bluth is a senior double majoring in political science and philosophy, politics and law

Setbacks and successes, alongside passions, define you Senior Column Emily Howard Copy Desk Chief

As the copy desk chief for Pipe Dream this year and a copy editor for a year and a half before that, some people equate my identity with my love of grammar. Yes, I am passionate about words and how they fit together. Yes, many of the things I have done at Binghamton University have involved that passion. Yes, I plan to make a career out of editing.

But while my time at this school has become intertwined with editing, where I have been and who I have become go beyond my love of language.

I am the person who was so nervous about coming to college and who worried about it for weeks before move-in day, afraid to leave everything that was comfortable. But I’m also the person who found one of my very best friends through a random roommate pairing, a friend who has gone through this whole awesome, crazy experience with me since day one, laugh-crying with me through it all. I am someone who found a place for myself.

I am the person who thought I had made good friends my freshman year when I was actually in a toxic situation. But I am also the person who walked away from that and found some great people.

I am the person who got really hurt after my first year

and floundered around for a while trying to figure things out. But I am also someone who unexpectedly found love in my own small town the summer before my junior year after having gone to high school with him.

I am someone who has found a sense of contentment through his kindness, his laughter and his light. I am someone who has been able to share my ups and downs with a truly wonderful person.

I am the person who had a vague interest in editing when I first got to college, who applied to Pipe Dream the fall semester of my sophomore year and didn’t get a position. But I am also the person who applied again the next semester and was accepted.

Now I am in charge of a section and have realized how important editing is to me. I am someone

who has had great people to work with to produce this paper week after week, someone who couldn’t have asked for a better team.

So many things and people have defined my experience here, some better than others. So many things will continue to influence where I go in the future. Don’t let one bad person or situation be the thing that stops you from moving forward. Don’t let a setback keep you from what you really want, and don’t let insignificant people define who you are. Recognize what has gotten you to where you are today, the good parts and the bad, and embrace them.

I am all of these worries and heartbreaks and successes and love. I also really like to edit.

— Emily Howard is a senior majoring in English

9

balance one's interests Senior Column Paul Palumbo

Assistant Copy Desk Chief

In a world that has become particularly indifferent to the arts, I came to Binghamton University with the intention of being a STEM student. However, through exploring other disciplines, I found that I also had an interest in the English language. In order to reconcile my passions, I decided to double-major in physics and English. While it’s been rough, the experience has been both extensive and eclectic. The hardest part of being a double-major, other than fulfilling all of the credit requirements, is keeping your mind focused on two very different things.

I mean, who doesn’t want to study quantum mechanics while taking Shakespeare with Gayle Whittier?

I’ve had my fair share of mediocre professors, as well as a select few professors who have undoubtedly changed my life. One such professor is Joe Weil. After completing two creative writing workshops with Weil, I had the incredible opportunity to do an independent study with him focused on the poetry of Hart Crane. Weil is one of the most intelligent, caring and respectful people I have ever met. He imparted to me such important life lessons that I never would have learned in other classes.

While I’m an introvert at heart, Weil provided an environment where I felt comfortable enough to share my own work and, as a result, grew as a person as well as a writer. It’s a refreshing experience to have a professor who actually cares about your well-being, not just your work.

If you had asked me when I first came to this school if I’d ever pledge for a frat or wear Greek letters, I’d probably have laughed in your face.

But then I discovered the Alpha Delta Phi Society. I pledged during my junior year. It’s never too late to join a group. In the end, it was one of the best decisions that I made during my entire time at BU. The Phi opened me up to an

entire community of artistic and interesting people, a family that’s not only built up my self-confidence, but also has (slightly) diminished my overall pessimism regarding humanity.

Joining groups is one way to turn a standard college career into an incredible life-changing experience.

I joined Pipe Dream during my freshman year as a copy editor, eventually working my way up to assistant copy desk chief. During my four years with Pipe Dream, I got to work with a bunch of new people, and I saw the paper change each year, only for the better. While I may not have said much in the office, I enjoyed the chance to work with the staff toward something greater than ourselves. I still don’t understand why we don’t use oxford commas in AP Style, and I never will. I give a fuck about an oxford comma!

I’ve been called one with no exposition, but to those who I’ve come close with I’d like to make the following acknowledgements.

To Emily, it was an absolute pleasure working side by side with you at the copy desk, and I’ll never forget that Pindell class we suffered through together.

To Katie, I’ll always hold our life talks close to my heart. You’re a beautiful person inside and out. I’m glad we grew so close.

To the rest of the copy staff, I’d address you all by name, but there’s a word limit here. You know how I feel about each of you, and I’m relieved to know that copy is in such competent hands.

To Rich, I cherish the days we spend together. Thank you for everything, and I love you.

To Kerry, after that Wiz Khalifa concert I would never have imagined that we’d become best friends. We’ve come so far since then, and I love you so much.

To Mom and Dad, thanks for all the support. I wouldn’t be here without you guys, and for this I’m forever grateful.

- Paul Palumbo is a senior double majoring in English and physics

Putting new skills into practice yields greater perspective than theory alone Senior Column Tycho McManus

Managing Editor

It’s been four years since I last felt this way. As a senior graduating from high school, I couldn’t escape the constant feeling of premature nostalgia, a sense that the world was slowly lurching toward an ending. Unlike a lot of my peers, I was almost entirely satisfied with my high school experience; I loved my friends, I had flourished in my high school’s environment and living at home was never a bother. As a final project in our senior English class, we had to write a reflective piece

entitled the Self Paper. Here’s how I felt at the time, in my own words: “As the year progresses, my fears for the future are growing stronger … The idea of starting over again in a new school is upsetting because it feels like I have lost all the social progress I made … Wellesley is undergoing many changes, as it does each year, but for the first time I won’t be around to see them … I can always come back to visit, but I am worried that the Wellesley I return to won’t quite be the same as the town I left behind.”

The fears I expressed as a senior weren’t without warrant.

The transition from high school to college proved to be especially difficult for me. I was the only

person from Wellesley who came to Binghamton, while all my friends had enrolled at prestigious private colleges and already seemed on the path to more successful and fulfilled lives. I started out my college career already disappointed with myself, and felt like my poor academics early in high school had doomed me forever. Feeling alienated as a freshman in a large, strange school, I made a conscious effort to direct all my energy to proving myself intellectually. I enrolled in as many interesting English, history and sociology courses as possible, and ate up all the theory I could get my hands on. I took Latin just for the challenge, and made it my duty to constantly push myself to new heights. For two

years, I was extremely successful in my goal to become the best academic I could be. However, if my college experience had ended there, I’m not sure I would have had much to feel nostalgic about.

When I joined Pipe Dream in the fall of my junior year, I assumed my college years had reached their fullest potential. Certain I was too late to ever hold a position of importance, I joined this paper with the intention of casually getting back into my high school hobby while maybe making a few friends. I started off slowly with my photography, but before I knew it, my love for the medium drove me to make it my lifestyle. In contrast to all the time I had spent dealing with the world in abstract through theory and

literature, photography forced me to literally focus on the events that were occurring right in front of my eyes. I spent my days going between different events on campus, catching glimpses of all the totally different happenings that the University hosts every single day. With each shutter click, I relished my role as both a participant and observer in the vast spectrum of student activities I went to. Despite being constantly exposed to the school’s size and seemingly endless variation, it quickly became a lot smaller and friendlier right before my eyes.

From applying to be on staff, to moving into a terrifying house before signing the lease, to becoming the managing editor of this paper,

I forced myself to keep making decisions that terrified me. So far, I have yet to regret any of them.

Instead of failing, I’ve found myself surrounded by people I adore, a job I love doing and a city I’ve slowly come to appreciate on its own terms.

I never thought it’d happen, but all of a sudden I’m right back where I felt at the end of high school. But because of every risky decision I’ve made, I feel a bit more ready to handle whatever comes next. I’m still afraid, but as much uncertainty as I have about the future, I look forward to continually challenging myself.

— Tycho McManus is a senior majoring in history

Journalism gave me the chance to find meaning in lives other than my own Senior Column Jacob Shamsian Release Editor

I have the impression that people usually think about what’s happening in their lives. The that.

Getting from point A to point B, enjoying the company of friends around you, that sort of thing.

It took me a while to realize that I have an absurdly difficult time remaining in the present. I’m always distracted by a never-ending chirping in my head — no matter what I’m doing, no matter where I am — asking me, “So what? So what?” It demands a purpose for every action. All too frequently, my answer is “not much,” and I’m crushed.

I have searched for meaning all my life and I have still not found it. I’d like to say that doing what I love has given me meaning — and it has certainly given me the most — but it has not given me all of it. I guess it’s not really fair for me to expect it to. There is something uneasy in self-reflection, because the limitations of language create a gap between myself and my words that mean I’ll always get it wrong.

Maybe that’s why I like journalism so much. It gets me inside someone else’s head, removes the thrumming self from my concerns and makes me try to convey another’s existence into words. So thank you, Pipe Dream, for obstructing the whirring implication of pointlessness.

And yet, paradoxically, though journalism may help me forget myself, Pipe Dream shaped me.

Three years is a long time to spend

in this office, and I wish they stretched further. Pipe Dream isn’t just a job or a place for me to hone my writing and editing skills. It’s a place where I met some of the best people I’ll ever meet, some people who made me who I am today.

So, some shout-outs. Darian, thank you for this hideous yellow desk. Odeya, here, have it. Katie, keep an eye on her.

Rebecca, I’ll never forget how you were the first person I told when I was hired as a Release writer at the beginning of my freshman year, and how happy you were for me, and still are. Thank you. Little did we know that a year later, Pipe Dream took away what became hundreds of hours that I could have otherwise spent with you. Sorry about that.

To the Slonims and Cheins, thank you for providing a home for me here. You guys are amazing.

Rabbi Estersohn, thanks for being willing to study arcane medieval Jewish texts with me. And, of course, my Hayes crew. Friday nights will never be the same. Allison, you’re right, I should have mentioned you that one time; I hope this sentence makes up for it.

Dan, Christina and Rachel, thanks for keeping the ship upright.

My wonderful Release writers, thank you, I’m so proud to have so many talented people on staff. The prior sentence does not extend to the jerks who don’t show up to meetings. John and Cari, thanks for making sure Release is consistently the best-looking section in addition to the best-written one.

Thank you, Copy, for saving us all from embarrassment. Sometimes when you guys laugh, I like to think it’s at one of my jokes, and that boosts my self-esteem.

Mikey, Molly and Ashley, you guys are inspirations. Miriam and Ben, thanks for brightening up every room you walk into. Will and Franz, thank you for your quiet dedication. You guys give so much to Pipe Dream.

To those seeking advice, never trust anyone offering unsolicited advice. They are probably more fallible than you. But anyway, don’t forget your classes. These are four years that society has deemed it okay to set aside so that we can learn whatever we want. That’s an amazing thing. And with that, a thank you to all the professors out there who taught me everything.

Professor Haupt, you’re a gem and an inspiration. Professor Sharp, I’m sorry I didn’t spend more time on our independent study. I’ll try to read some Gombrowicz over the summer. Pindell, I hope you end up

publishing that spiritual biography of Stonewall Jackson.

I once scoffed at the idea of allegedly having to choose two between the three choices of work, social life and sleep. I thought I could always get by with just a couple of hours of sleep if I really needed to.

What horrified me is when I learned that it still wasn’t enough. If there’s any matter of contention I have with college, it’s that there’s just too much to do and too little time. So many people I wish I had more time to grow close to, so many articles I wish I could have written, so many times I feel like I missed out. I doubt this feeling will end when I graduate. There’s just so much to do. Do not take a second for granted.

— Jacob Shamsian is a senior double-majoring in English and history

10

FUN

bupipedream.com | May 11, 2015

Fun.

RELEASE DATE– Friday, April 17, 2009

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Butterfly units?

8 Home in the Alps 14 “Again ...�

15 Rock salt 16 Step in a pizza recipe?

18 Cotton plant originally from Peru 19 Tranquility 20 Simpson dad with a dozen donuts?

24 Floor covering 27 November winners 28 Suffix with Caesar 29 Touchy?

32 Milo of “Barbarella�

34 Broadcast 35 Hook’s mate in his formative years?

39 Pooh pooh-bah 40 Farmer’s concerns 41 Paul who played the principal in “The Breakfast Club�

44 Dander 45 Filmdom’s Lupino 48 AOL rival 49 Headline about carpentry work for a new financial institution?

52 “Awakenings�

Oscar nominee 55 “Must’ve been something __�

56 Classic breakup line, and a hint to the formation of this puzzle’s theme answers 61 Brunch fare 62 Actor whose birth name was Aristoteles 63 Thermometer, e.g.

64 Gold or silver DOWN 1 One in Tarzan’s family tree?

2 Routs 3 Chart again 4 Cockney anticipation?

5 Muscular doll 6 Satisfy the munchies 7 Tempest 8 “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind� author 9 Saintly ring 10 Father-daughter boxers 11 Dynamo 12 Quartier d’__: July/August Parisian festival 13 Some NFL receivers 17 Dogs in shoes?

18 21st Greek letter 21 Enthusiastic agreement 22 Chemistry Nobelist Otto 23 Fit for service 25 Sailor’s heading 26 Crossed (out) 30 City with a view of the Laramie Mountains 31 Allen and Burton

32 Chaplin’s last wife 33 Film buff’s station 35 Suffers 36 Assimilates 37 Actor Estrada 38 German town 39 Vegas’s __ Grand 42 __ dictum: passing remark 43 Old-timey “not�

45 Bo Diddley hit 46 Loathe

47 Lime ending 50 Western omen 51 Grocery section 53 Env. contents 54 Manhattan area above Houston Street 56 Lex Luthor’s 200, and others 57 Datebook abbr.

58 Chi.-based flier 59 “__ been had!�

60 Scot’s topper

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

See you next year!

Ta Ta For Now! What are you gonna do this summer, Ben? I dunno.

xwordeditor@aol.com

By Daniel A. Finan (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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May 11, 2015 | bupipedream.com

Three months ago, Pipe Dream Sports weighed in on Alex Rodriguez’s apology for his use of anabolic steroids and his return to the Yankees after a year’s suspension.

Now, after A-Rod has surpassed Willie Mays at No. 4 in the list of all-time home run leaders in the MLB, we’re looking back at A-Rod’s case and the implications of steroid usage.

11

SPORTS

Commentary: Consider A-Rod's entire life, not simply his transgressions

Orlaith McCaffrey Pipe Dream Sports

The lyrics of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” mingle with the deafening rumblings of a northbound 4 train that is visible just beyond Yankee Stadium’s right field limits.

“Don’t stop believin’, hold on to that fe-ee-eelin’.”

This tune wasn’t chosen by the stadium sound operator attempting in vain to relive the ’80s, but by Alex Rodriguez, the most infamous player in the game.

This was the scene on Thursday before Rodriguez blasted his 661st home run over the fence in leftcenter, passing Willie Mays to secure fourth place on the all-time home run list. For a moment, he was transported back to the early years of his career, when success on the baseball field came almost naturally to him.

The Rodriguez of that past era serves as a stark contrast to the player he has been recently. How did Rodriguez go from a freshfaced teenager making his MLB

debut to a desperate man, having associates inject him with steroids in the bathroom of a Miami nightclub? Surely this was not his plan, to have to rely on artificial enhancements just to get by?

“Payin’ anything to roll the dice, just one more time.”

Rodriguez’s violations of the league’s performance-enhancing drugs (PED) policy are wellknown by now; he was caught using testosterone and human growth hormone and suspended for the entirety of the 2014 season.

In my opinion, PEDs are a detriment to the game of baseball.

They provide players who take them with unfair advantages over those who choose not to. We must strive to understand why so many naturally gifted athletes choose to take PEDs. The rampant use of steroids across multiple sports requires us to delve deeper into the motives of the numerous athletes who make this decision.

Our society is one that puts athletes on a pedestal. They are idolized — perceived as largerthan-life. These perceptions lead to unreal expectations of athletes’

performances. The choice of many athletes to use steroids directly challenges our interpretation of them as, for the most part, flawless. The fact that athletes seek out PEDs to maintain or improve their performances reveals their desire to continue living up to these often unrealistic standards.

Rodriguez’s story is a prime example of this. Since adolescence, baseball is all that he has known. Touted as a prodigy and revered for his natural talent, he devoted his life to the sport.

At age 25, he signed a contract worth $252 million — at the time the biggest in the history of the game. Rodriguez started playing baseball because it was what he loved — the favorite sport of his Dominican people. His purpose in the game, however, quickly turned from a personal one to one that was focused on pleasing others — the industry of baseball, the Yankee organization, the fans. He was no longer Alex Rodriguez, the talent from Florida, but “A-Rod,” the young hotshot whose every at-bat meant so much to so many.

The decision to take PEDs is never a simple one and cannot be explained with just a brief history of a player’s background. A player’s life before fame, though, coupled with his response to the pressure of performing well consistently, can be telling regarding his consideration of PEDs. At this point, A-Rod has served his suspension and his reputation is forever tarnished, but he at least should be given the courtesy of having his misdeeds considered in the context of his entire life rather than as split-second decisions. Very few people have had the experience of competing as professional athletes, and we will never be able to fully comprehend the pitfalls of such positions. We should, however, be aware of the way that our society relates to athletes and of athletes’ attempts to reform themselves after steroid use. During his season-long suspension, A-Rod, for example, read self-help books, attended therapy sessions and even took a business class at the University of Miami. I’m not saying that all should be forgiven

just because A-Rod’s behavior has resembled that of a Boy Scout as of late, but these attempts at self-improvement should not go unnoticed.

The baseball community should not forget A-Rod’s numerous transgressions, but instead try to understand what leads athletes to seek out these drugs. If the culture of sports was changed into one in which athletes are praised for their charitable contributions and positive behavior off the court or field at anywhere near the level they are for their athletic performances, the incidence of PED use would likely be lower.

“Oh the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on. Don’t stop believin’.”

A-Rod hasn’t stopped believing in himself, just as we shouldn’t stop believing in the ability of athletes to make the right choices.

It is easy to demonize a player who has made so many blatant mistakes, but I think we should challenge ourselves to forgive, or at least somewhat understand, A-Rod and his past decisions.

Commentary: Anabolic steroids undermine the value we place in sports, marginalize lower-income athletes Ashley Purdy Sports Editor

The idea that anabolic steroid use is detrimental to sports is far from new. We were raised with forefingers waggled in our noses, the cry ‘Drugs are bad!’ ringing in our ears. We regard the performances of those who abused substances as lesser and mentally index A-Rod’s 661 home runs with a note (took steroids) to flag their inferiority, granting the statistic an almost vacuous status.

But why do we do this? There are certainly health risks associated with abuse of anabolic steroids, the most alarming of which is a potentially fatal change in the structure of the heart. These cases are rare, however, and doesn’t every drug have its side effect? Cigarettes,

alcohol, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc. — all these drugs that we encounter every day have warning labels stamped prominently on their packages, heeding us to be mindful that we don’t destroy our livers, lungs, stomachs, etc.

Anabolic steroids cause users to gain muscle more rapidly than they would through the use of any permitted ergogenic aid. The user experiences less strain when lifting heavier weights and feels bursts of energy at the end of his sets when non-users would feel fatigue. His muscles recover more quickly. It clearly gives users an advantage, but why is that so deplorable? Doesn’t it allow athletes to perform better and increase the entertainment value of sports? Don’t fans like to see home runs?

Of course they do. But that

takes for granted why we find sports entertaining. Part of it is because we like to watch people — people like us! That could be us! — perform superhuman feats. We like to see athletes push the limits of what we thought we could achieve. We like to see records broken and set and broken again because it suggests growth and development. What better way to verify our progress than the most natural test of all?

How hard can you hit, how far can you throw, how fast can you run, how high can you jump…?

So I believe that steroids undermine the very value we place on sports. Raw talent taken to new heights through hard work is admirable because we track development in this way. No one wants to see any Captain America-type injections transform a zero into a hero.

There’s a normative claim to be made, too. With anabolic steroids costing around $3 a tab, cashing out to about $1,500 for 10 weeks, abusing performance-enhancing drugs becomes a pretty expensive habit.

Equipment is already expensive.

Were the sports community to accept the use of anabolic steroids, then there goes the poorer part of the population, marginalized from yet another career path. You can have a natural phenom, but she’ll wane in comparison to her wealthier neighbor who could afford performance-enhancing drugs and get that extra boost.

I doubt that the sports community would ever consent to steroid usage among growing minors, but only major-league athletes make the type of money that lends to spending $50,000 at

a club on any given night. Athletes working to ascend the ranks receive paychecks that more closely resemble members’ of the working class than A-Rod’s, so money remains a matter of concern.

The pressure that athletes are under to perform excellently on a consistent basis is not irrelevant, however. One may be working as hard as he always has and find that he isn’t producing the same results.

Athletes are not impervious to age, injury and fatigue. Not everyone is Tim Duncan. In fact, no one can escape Father Time. So to produce for their teams and their fans on a national stage with everyone watching, where no mistake goes unnoticed, athletes may think that anabolic steroids are a justified answer. I’m sympathetic to this concern on an individual level, but

athletes who do this are cheating the game and preventing younger, up-and-coming athletes from finding their roles.

Also relevant to the steroidsare-bad discussion is that there are no real gains in improving the strength and speed of human beings through anabolic steroids. We have machines that can lift far more than any living being ever could. Even more than Captain America. It’s not a matter of utility and benefit; it’s a matter of entertainment, personal financial gain and pride. And that simply can’t justify the health costs, the unfairness and the devaluation of sports.

So keep waggling your fingers at A-Rod, at Lance Armstrong, at any abuser of anabolic steroids. They compromise the game, and there’s no real benefit to justify that.

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A-ROD REVISITED

PD Sports weighs in on the steroid controversy, part II See page 11 Monday, May 11, 2015

Bearcats win first-ever America East title, advance to NCAAs

Photo Provided

Binghamton defeated top-seeded Stony Brook twice on Saturday to capture the conference championship for the first time in program history.

Behind solid pitching from Miller, BU bounces back from round-two loss to take AE crown E.Jay Zarett

Assistant Sports Editor Behind the arm of freshman pitcher Sarah Miller, the Binghamton softball team achieved a program first this weekend: winning an America East Championship. The third-seeded Bearcats (24-19, 10-6 America East) rallied from the loser’s bracket to defeat first-seeded Stony Brook in back-to-back games to take home the title.

“I believed this team could win it,” BU head coach Michelle Burrell said. “I think the one thing that we have seen that is probably different from this team than any other year is just the way they work together. It truly has been a team effort all year long and I think that’s why I felt confident that we

had a good chance of winning this tournament.”

Binghamton junior outfielder Sydney Harbaugh led off BU’s opening game of the tournament against second-seeded Albany (30-18, 11-6 AE) with a home run and the Bearcats never looked back. Miller, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, stifled Albany, holding the Great Danes scoreless through the first three innings of play.

“I was definitely nervous, but my team backed me up the whole time,” Miller said. “After the first inning, I definitely felt more relaxed.”

Meanwhile, BU added two insurance runs in the third off of Albany errors and two in the fourth thanks to a homer from freshman designated hitter Tia Smith, to build up its lead, 5-0. Miller and

junior pitcher Cara Martin held off an Albany comeback to give Binghamton a 5-3 win.

“I think that the first win got us good momentum in the tournament,” Burrell said. “I think that put us in a good spot … We were just trying to take it one game at a time.”

After the Bearcats were routed, 16-3, in their winner’s bracket contest against the Seawolves on Friday, Miller re-found her dominance. The freshman blanked Maine (22-22, 10-7 AE) in the loser’s bracket final, allowing just six hits and no runs over four innings. Martin finished off the shutout throwing the final two scoreless innings in BU’s 8-0 win to advance to the championship round.

“The first Stony Brook game we had a couple of things that didn’t

go our way,” Burrell said. “I think we really needed to control what we could control and we didn’t necessarily do that. So, I think we really learned from that. That is kind of one of the things we’ve been working on all year long, learning from every single game and getting better every game. I think the girls responded.”

Binghamton faced a momentous hurdle in its efforts to capture the America East title. The Bearcats needed to sweep a doubleheader from Stony Brook (30-17, 14-2 AE) in Saturday’s championship round.

In the opener, the Bearcats jumped all over Stony Brook’s senior pitcher Allison Cukrov, who is a member of the America East First-Team All-Conference squad.

BU plated four runs in the second and another in the third to build a 5-0 lead. That was all the run

support Miller needed.

“I really made an effort to focus on each pitch, each batter rather than focusing on the whole weekend,” Miller said. “That definitely helped.”

Miller shut down the potent Seawolves lineup. She held Stony Brook scoreless through the first five innings of play. The Seawolves put two on the board against Miller in the sixth, but by that time it was too little too late as BU secured the victory, 5-2, to force a decisive final game.

“Stony Brook definitely has a lot of good hitters, so I just focused on keeping the ball low and [throwing] a lot of changeups,” Miller said.

“They seemed to be struggling with the changeups.”

In the ultimate game of the tournament, Binghamton held a 3-2 lead heading into the top

of the sixth. Then, BU’s offense exploded. Senior shortstop Caytlin Friis delivered a two-run double.

Two batters later, Harbaugh drove a three-run homer to push the Bearcats’ lead to 8-2. Each team plated one more run as Binghamton held on to upset Stony Brook and won the championship. Miller and Martin combined to limit Stony Brook to eight hits and fanned their opponents seven times.

“It’s awesome,” Miller said about winning the AE title. “Just hearing the upperclassmen talk about how close they’ve come to becoming America East champs, it’s just an incredible opportunity for me to be a part of it.”

With the tournament win, the Bearcats are set to head to an NCAA Regional scheduled for May 1517. Their opponents were not yet selected at the time of production.

Familiar faces join BU coaching staff Baseball drops weekend series to Maine

Antinozzi, Laney remain with programs in new role in 2015

Bearcats' postseason chances low after back-to-back sweeps

Jeff Twitty

Ashley Purdy

Assistant Sports Editor Following the Binghamton softball team’s sweep of Stony Brook in the America East Softball Championship on Saturday, Demi Laney — the program’s all-time strikeout leading pitcher — finally got a chance to raise a championship banner with the Bearcats.

Well, after only a slight position change, from pitcher to volunteer assistant coach.

“It was an absolute privilege,” Laney said of her role with the team this season. “I’m so lucky that they allowed me to volunteer to be a part of something like that.”

Graduating in 2014 with a degree in environmental studies, Laney hopped on board as a volunteer assistant coach after finishing her playing career with 460 strikeouts and two all-AE mentions. And while she no longer leads by example on the mound, the standout was still able to help lead her former teammates to victory in the new, exciting role.

“It was a little tough in the beginning, transitioning from being friends to being their coach, but they all were really happy I was there,” Laney said. “I was happy that I was able to give my knowledge to them and everything I’ve figured out the four years that I was there.”

For assistant men’s lacrosse coach Michael Antinozzi, the switch from inspiring on the field to instructing on the sideline was much the same. The former captain, a main voice in the locker room for BU’s men’s lacrosse team in 2014, found coaching to be a natural next step.

“I was kind of in a voice role even when I was a player; I’m very loud,” Antinozzi said. “I like to talk loud before the game and that didn’t really change much this year as a coach.”

Along with 89 goals and 126 total points, Antinozzi finished his first four years at BU with a degree in accounting in 2014 before enrolling in the University’s graduate program. Graduating as part of a 12-player senior class, the former midfielder oversaw Binghamton’s offense and midfield this season as

Franz Lino/Photo Editor

Assistant men’s lacrosse coach Michael Antinozzi joined the BU coaching staff in 2015 after tallying 126 total points as a Bearcat between 2011 and 2014.

the team brought up 16 freshmen to the roster. For Antinozzi, this meant bridging the gap between those on the team who knew him as Mike, and those who only know him as coach Antinozzi.

“Probably the most difficult part about that was understanding where the line is between the kids that were your teammates and are your players now,” Antinozzi said.

“It took some time for them to know that if I was telling them to do something in practice, that they had to listen,” Antinozzi added. “It’s not just like one of their buddies telling them to go do something.”

While the men’s lacrosse team missed the postseason in 2015 after a 4-1 AE campaign in 2014, Antinozzi’s goals for the program, as well as his approach to the game, remain intact even after trading his helmet for a coach’s cap.

“I think the main goal for anyone in the program is, first off, to win as many games as possible,” Antinozzi explained. “Second off, win an America East Championship and then obviously the National Championship, which seems a little out of grasp now, but that could change in the future.”

For Laney, the future is already upon her team, now currently awaiting the notification of just who its first round opponent will be this week in the NCAA Tournament. But now, on college softball’s biggest stage for the first time, the new position still may take some getting used to for the volunteer assistant. “[Being a coach] is definitely more nerve-wracking, because you can’t be in their bodies,” Laney concluded. “But they’re fully prepared and that’s what you have to count on.”

Sports Editor

The Binghamton baseball team rebounded from last weekend’s series sweep with a 6-5 walk-off win over Siena on Tuesday, only to be swept again over the weekend by America East-rival Maine at Mahaney Diamond in Orono, Maine.

With last weekend won by fellow AE-member UMBC, this marked the second straight series Binghamton (17-22-1, 6-14 AE) was unable to capitalize on its hits against AE opponents.

The two-time reigning champs now sit at the bottom of the conference, and would not only need to win all three games against Stony Brook next weekend, but would also need some of the other teams to falter in order to clinch a top-four spot and make its ninth-straight playoff appearance.

Against Maine (22-24, 8-9 AE), Binghamton’s bats were far from silent. The Bearcats recorded 30 hits to the Black Bears’ 29. But struggling to produce in clutch moments, BU left 29 on base through the three games, and that allowed Maine to jump from the bottom of the conference to stand within the top four.

In the series opener on Friday, Binghamton stranded nine and committed a seasonhigh five errors through the nine innings to fall, 7-1, to the hosts. The Black Bears only produced one more hit than BU, 10-9, but those costly BU errors allowed Maine to score runs in

four innings.

Binghamton’s lone run came in the sixth inning, when freshman catcher Jason Agresti doubled to send sophomore designated hitter Eddie Posavec to home plate.

Senior outfielder Jake Thomas recorded his 200th career hit in the opener, becoming the eighth player in program history to do so.

On the mound, senior ace Greg Ostner was saddled with the loss after allowing two earned runs on eight hits in seven innings. He also struck out three.

Binghamton saw its closest game of the series in the nightcap, settled by a 3-2 decision. The Bearcats strongly outhit their hosts, 13-6, with Thomas leading the bunch in going 3-for-4. Four additional Bearcats produced two hits in their at-bats, and yet timely hitting remained a largely unresolved issue, as BU left 11 stranded.

Binghamton led through the first four innings of game two after Thomas and sophomore infielder Brendan Skidmore notched one RBI apiece in the first. But Maine notched three earned runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead and finish the game’s scoring, pinning junior pitcher Mike Bunal with the loss. Bunal had allowed no hits in the first four innings.

Saturday’s rubber match was all Maine. The Black Bears produced runs in the second, fourth and eighth innings to win via a 9-0 shutout, despite only knocking five more hits, 13-8,

than the Bearcats. Maine junior catcher Kevin Stypulkowski homered twice to produce each of the Black Bears’ first three runs. Six other players for Maine earned RBIs through the remaining eight innings.

Maine senior right-hander Jacob Gosselin-Deschesnes allowed no runs on eight hits in 8 2/3 innings of work, striking out three in the process.

Binghamton’s inability to capitalize on its runs against Maine was a huge shift from its play on Tuesday against MAACmember Siena. Binghamton entered the bottom-of-theninth down, 5-4, with just one more chance to produce a win in front of its home fans. With one out, Thomas came up to the plate with bases loaded, the same situation he’d encountered two innings before. In that appearance, he notched an RBI on a clutch sacrifice fly. This time around, Thomas hit a double to right center, scoring freshman infielder CJ Krowiak and senior outfielder Zach Blanden for his second and third RBIs of the day.

Next up for Binghamton is a crucial three-game series with league-leading Stony Brook. For the Bearcats to have a shot at a postseason appearance, they’ll need to win all three games at home. Standing between BU and the top four are Albany, Hartford and Maine.

First game is set for noon on Friday, with the nightcap to follow shortly after. The rubber match is set for noon on Saturday. All games are to be played at the Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.