Spring 2015 Issue 8

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New bar on the block, will it be a hit?

see page 4

Friday, February 20, 2015 | Binghamton University | www.bupipedream.com | Vol. LXXXVII, Issue 8

Spike Lee's school daze

BU freshman vies for city council seat see page 2

University announces $2.5M turf complex

Opening in Fall 2015, field to help grow intramural sports, reduce costs

Pelle Waldron

Pipe Dream News

Franz Lino/Photo Editor Spike Lee speaks in the Events Center about his life and career for Black History Month.

Nikki Giovanni cancels appearance as keynote speaker Jacob Shamsian

appearance as Binghamton’s Black History Month keynote speaker. The poet was scheduled to speak in the Mandela Room For Black History Month, Spike Lee next week. The Black Student Union is spoke to a crowd of over 700 on Thursday trying to arrange another speaker to come night in the Events Center about the movies instead. However, the speaker will probably he’s directed, his experience making them not come in the month of February, said and his own college experience. Ridwan Olatilewa, BSU’s vice president. BSU Nikki Giovanni also canceled her may also choose to save the money it raised Release Editor

and book another high-profile speaker next year, Olatilewa said. For Lee’s talk, BSU put up a small stage at the end of the basketball court, facing the bleachers, where the audience sat. “Between 700 and 800 people got tickets,” Olatilewa said, and the venue provided ample

See SPIKE Page 4

Last week, the Facilities and Services department of Campus Recreation announced the construction of a new recreational turf complex. Announced on Feb. 10, construction will begin in June, after the end of the spring intramural season. Located at the entrance to the University along Bartle Drive, the 130,000-square foot turf field will replace part of the grass East Gym field and will be open for the fall 2015 semester, according to Campus Recreation. In the past, intramural sports have struggled to stay consistent, especially in the springtime when poor weather conditions cause rain damage to the fields and mud, ruining the grass. The turf will limit the playing inconsistencies, as it creates safer conditions since drainage will be easier

and mud will not pose a hazard. According to Cindy Cowden, the senior associate director of Campus Recreation, the new facility will cost approximately $2.5 million. Funding for the turf field will come from the BU Foundation. Maintenance costs for the University will decrease, as it is less costly to take care of a turf field than a grass field, according to a press release from the University. The new complex will have electrical lighting, which will allow for increased playing time and the expansion of the intramural sports program. With the change, Campus Recreation plans to increase the amount of teams within existing programs, and will explore the possibility of adding more sports as well.

See TURF Page 2

Before going Downtown, BU braces for near arctic temperatures a close look at cab rules Administration, Harpur's Ferry warn against frostbite risks Zachary Wingate

UPD, Broome County officials discuss regulations for taxi passengers Zuzu Boomer-Knapp Staff Writer

Nicole Vogt said she has avoided taxi cabs for the past year and a half. According to her, it was when she witnessed a physical altercation between an intoxicated student and a taxi cab driver that she got scared away. “It was a dangerous situation,” said Vogt, a junior double-majoring in economics and geography. “I would have loved to know if I could have gotten that

Kevin Sussy/Contributing Photographer

Binghamton University Police Department Lieutenant Steve Faulkner and the director of the Broome County Government Security Division James Dadamio discuss taxi cab safety in the Old University Union.

cab driver fired or removed from the greater Binghamton area.” Vogt and others who wanted to explore the rights and regulations of taxi riders piled into the Mandela Room in the Old University Union on Wednesday night to listen to Binghamton University Police Department Lieutenant Steve Faulkner and the director of the Broome County Government Security Division James Dadamio. At the event, Faulkner and Dadamio discussed taxi cab safety and answered students’ questions about specific experiences. With the help of Student Association President Alexander Liu, Faulkner made cards about important points from the event, including the fact that the drivers are required to return lost property and display their driver’s licenses, and handed them out to housing community directors, Off-Campus Community Council (OC3) and the SA to distribute to students. Faulkner told students that the person who calls for the cab has the right to refuse the pickup of additional passengers and that, unless specified upon entering the cab, a taxi driver is required to bring any student that has paid his or her fare to his or her destination. “Since the students are huge users of the taxi cab industry, education is key,” Dadamio said. “If I felt unsafe in a situation, I would remove myself from the

See TAXI Page 2

News Intern

Tamar Ashdot-Bari/Contributing Photographer

Pictured: Ashley Barnhill, a senior majoring in biology, is dressed warmly for winter weather. In light of many wind chill warnings issued by the National Weather Service, the danger of hypothermia has increased.

Though the students and faculty at Binghamton University are no strangers to the snow and cold, recent subfreezing temperatures have raised concern for even the most hardened residents. The National Weather Service issued a wind chill warning Feb. 14-16 and Feb. 19-20, informing those in the area of hypothermia risks if proper precautions were not taken. On Feb. 13 and 14, the administration sent out B-Alert emails to warn students about the dangerously cold temperatures and frostbite risk. Katharine Ellis, senior director of communication and marketing and one of the few people authorized to send out B-Alerts, said sending these types of alerts

See COLD Page 2

Health Fair prescribes med. school advice Cornell, Albany reps among those tabling at ninth-annual event Pelle Waldron and Travis Clines Staff Writers

The Charles Drew Minority PreHealth Society hosted its ninth annual pre-professional health fair on Wednesday as part of their Charles Drew Memorial Week, drawing over 200 students to Old Union Hall. The club planned to host one educational event every day this week in memory of African-American physician

Charles Drew. The fair itself was an opportunity for pre-health students to meet representatives from eight graduate health schools, including Cornell University, University at Albany and University of Buffalo, and learn more about the medical field. Erin McArdle, a senior majoring in nursing and president of the Nursing Student Association, said the event was a good chance for students to explore programs that could further their education.

“Sometimes I feel like when we come to school we forget about the world outside,” McArdle said. “We’re in Binghamton for what we came for, but then there’s all these other places that you could go to further careers. I think it’s important to have people come and talk about other programs you might not know about.” Representatives from colleges helped

See FAIR Page 2

In front of NYS legislators, SUNY Chancellor pitches budget increases Along with university presidents, Nancy Zimpher outlines spending plans for 2015-2016 Joseph Hawthorne Assistant News Editor

Responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in the State University of New York system, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher went before Albany politicians last week to help keep the schools running. On Feb. 10, Zimpher testified about the 2015-16 annual budget from the New York state government in a joint hearing of the State Assembly and Senate Committees, including Ways and Means and Higher Education. Following her

State of the University address in January, Zimpher asked representatives to approve increased spending on infrastructure and to continue funding past commitments at the same levels, including legislation from NYSUNY 2020. Zimpher said that the state government needed to support the costs of current SUNY community colleges, hospitals and employees, police officers in particular. According to her, the pension benefits for such officers were not competitive enough to retain them and were very costly to the entire system. “Under the current arrangement we

simply cannot compete with the benefits offered by similar entities, and our students and campus communities would be better served by fewer turnovers at our University police departments,” Zimpher said. “Since 2008, 64 officers have left their SUNY posts for other departments, which has resulted in recruitment and training costs of $5.4 million.” Zimpher also argued that since nearly half of all SUNY buildings were 40-to-50 years old, the state would need to drastically increase its spending on the system’s infrastructure from $200 million to $600 million a year for

construction and renovations. Zimpher said that since almost 40 percent of SUNY-owned assets were such properties, such an investment was practical. Zimpher reminded politicians that in 2011, New York representatives passed NYSUNY 2020, legislation that included a pledge to graduate 150,000 students by 2020. According to Zimpher, the current number is 93,000. “In New York, the unemployment rate is two times higher for those without a college degree and we simply cannot

See SUNY Page 2

In New York, the unemployment rate is two times higher for those without a college degree — Nancy Zimpher SUNY Chancelor


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