transports audience
Soundwalk event transports audience back back back back back in in in in time in time time time time back in time Thursday, May 3, 2018 | Vol. XCIII, Issue 25 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
see page 7
The Free Word on Campus Since 1946
BU tours avoid Tillman Lobby during protest Guides divert groups from ‘Day of Silence’ Yuri Lee
Assistant News Editor
Kevin Paredes Photography Editor
David Currie has worked to bring a food co-op to Binghamton’s North Side since 2010.
North Side considers local food co-op Community seeks to alleviate food insecurity Jillian Forstadt
Assistant News Editor
When the last full-service grocery store on Binghamton’s North Side closed in 1996, community members thought it would be just a short time before the city found a for-profit chain to replace the former Grand Union. Twenty-two years later, it is still difficult for the residents of the neighborhood to buy affordable or good quality fresh food, qualifying the area as a food desert. Now, community members are taking measures to open a local grocery into their own hands. David Currie has worked under the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition since 2010 to expedite change in the area. He has taken the lead in introducing a concept that may seem out-of-thebox to may Binghamtonians: a food cooperative, or co-op. “We all feel very strongly that it will succeed and it will succeed as a co-op,” Currie said. “The co-op structure is ‘one person, one share’ and that membership, or that share, gives you a sense of loyalty to the institution. You buy into the concept, and that means that you’ll also shop there.” Many Hands Food Co-op was
Cory Bremer Design Manager
created by Currie while he served as the executive director of the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition. While the co-op has not yet been built, a community of supporters has formed around the mission of Many Hands Food Co-op, one of the coalition’s many community-based projects. According to Feeding America, 41.2 million Americans live in foodinsecure households, meaning they lack reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. In Broome County, the food insecurity rate ranges from 14.5 percent to 17 percent. The county exceeds the national average, which estimates only 12 percent of households are food insecure across
the United States. Over the many years since the closing of the neighborhood’s last grocery store, the face of the North Side has changed significantly. Roughly 53 percent of households on the North Side are families, many of which have lived in the neighborhood for generations. But in recent years, the community population has expanded to include immigrant families moving to the Binghamton area, attracted by the low property values. Conrad Taylor, ‘17, serves as the city councilman for the 4th District, which encompasses the North Side, and sits on the Many Hands Food Co-op steering committee. He said rallying behind positive projects
like the food co-op is necessary in order for the neighborhood to move forward economically. But, like Currie said, instituting community change is anything but a straight line. Food deserts are often indicative of other flights of capital in the area, which adds a layer of complexity to the issue. Since food deserts tend to be in low-income neighborhoods, many symptoms of the problem arise. Without access to a supermarket, people frequently spend more money on cheap, highly processed foods, leading to increased rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in lowincome communities and areas struggling with food insecurity. “With poverty and food insecurity, you have a lack of accessibility, so feeding your family, which is already hard enough, becomes that much harder,” said Eamon Ross, a member of the food co-op’s steering committee and a senior majoring in political science. While a food co-op serves as one option for the community, residents like Nick Plavae, who has lived on the North Side for six years, are happy with any accessible grocery option in the neighborhood. “There’s nothing to eat,” Plavae said. “It would be nice if there was somewhere to fill your belly close by. It’s very frustrating.”
SEE FOOD PAGE 5
Brian Warm was holding a sign that read “I refuse to be silenced” as part of the Q Center’s Day of Silence protest on April 27 when he noticed something strange — there were no student tour groups passing through the Tillman Lobby. According to Warm, an education and outreach intern at the Q Center and a junior majoring in business administration, he initially saw tour groups going through the Tillman Lobby at the beginning of the protest, but noticed tour guides avoiding the area and staying outside as the demonstration progressed. “Certain tour guide groups started pushing themselves more toward the opposite
corner of where Dunkin’ Donuts was and kind of stayed there, huddled a little, talked over there and tried to push their groups out as quickly as possible,” Warm said. “And the last hour and half or so, I noticed that none of the tour groups were coming in at all and I noticed them standing outside.” According to a screenshot obtained by Pipe Dream, what Warm was noticing was the result of a message sent by a student guide in the tour guide GroupMe chat. The message suggested tour guides should avoid the area because of the protest, implying it was something guides didn’t want parents or prospective students to see. “I’d avoid Tillman — it’s the Day of Silence in honor of LGBT issues and there’s kind of intense protest going on in there,” the message read. “Obviously super important
SEE TOURS PAGE 4
Walk increases awareness of domestic abuse One Love organizes ‘Yards for Yeardley’ Gillian Kenah News Intern
In the United States, about 20 people are physically abused by their partners every minute, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, volunteers from the Binghamton University Athletics Department and
the 20:1 Sexual Assault Prevention Program walked on the Peace Quad at Yards for Yeardley, a national walking event designed to raise awareness of domestic abuse. Yards for Yeardley is organized by the One Love Foundation, a group created in honor of Yeardley Love, who was killed by her exboyfriend at the University of Virginia in 2010. Following her death, Love’s mother and sister founded the One Love
SEE WALK PAGE 4
Speaker discusses implications of citizenship question Students raise concerns over 2020 U.S. Census
Civic Engagement (CCE) invited Carlos Figueroa, an assistant professor of politics at Ithaca College, to speak on the possibility of the restoration of this question. The event, entitled “Unpacking the 2020 U.S. Census,” was held Tuesday evening in the University Union. Figueroa presented on the dangers of including a question about citizenship status, which he claimed could lower response rates and hurt communities. Data from the census helps determine where local and federal governments build facilities, such as hospitals and schools, and the funding allocated to them. According to Figueroa, with an inaccurate census, resources may not be allocated in the most efficient way possible. “It’s something that we should take seriously from a
Michael Levinstein Pipe Dream News
A question regarding citizenship status has not been seen on the United States census since 1950. However, U.S. residents may have to answer it on the next census in 2020. The U.S. Commerce Department has requested that citizenship status be included on the 2020 census in order to more fairly enforce the Voting Rights Act. In response, the Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF), an organization with chapters throughout the country that focuses on political activism on college campuses, and Binghamton University’s Center for
ARTS & CULTURE
civic perspective,” Figueroa said. “Along with voting and political participation, more generally, responding to these kinds of surveys and questionnaires [is important] because they mean that we would then get the kinds of resources that we deserve in all types of communities.” Samantha Ng, a junior doublemajoring in Asian and Asian American studies and human development, is an ambassador team leader for AGF’s Vote Everywhere program, which is co-sponsored by the CCE and aims to register students to vote and get them politically engaged. According to Ng, events like this are important for diverse campuses like BU because people of different backgrounds, like her own family,
SEE CENSUS PAGE 4
Kevin Paredes Photography Editor Carlos Figueroa, assistant professor of politics at Ithaca College, discussed the dangers of asking about citizenship status on the U.S. census, something he claims can lower response rates and harm communities.
OPINIONS
SPORTS
Kokedama Flora inspires a new look at nature and flower arranging,
Cultures and cuisines combine to create Binghamton’s first World Night Market,
Contributing columnist Annick Tabb discusses the link between misogyny and violence,
Women’s lacrosse prepares for firstever postseason appearance,
Baseball captures two games against intrastate teams,
See page 7
See page 8
See page 10
See page 12
See page 12