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Monday, January 28, 2019 | Vol. XCV, Issue 2 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
The Free Word on Campus Since 1946
Starting next year, Off Campus College Transport may begin charging students for vomiting on blue buses.
kojo senoo pipe dream photographer
OCCT considers vomit fee Valerie Puma
assistant copy desk chief
Binghamton University’s Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) may begin charging students for vomiting on the blue buses starting next academic year. According to Glenell Jaquez, public relations coordinator for OCCT and a first-year graduate student studying accounting, the plan to charge students a cleaning fee is currently awaiting approval from Tanya Husick, executive director of transportation and parking services. “We’ve been throwing this idea around because last semester was really bad with the vomiting,” Jaquez said. “It gets pretty crazy [Downtown] with students trying to come back to campus, but the thing is — just because one person vomited on the bus — we have to take the entire bus out of service for the rest of the night to get
it cleaned.” When OCCT switches out a dirty bus, there is only a certain number of buses available to replace it. If multiple buses experience a biohazard — the term used for incidents such as vomit — then there will not be enough buses on route to service the number of students in need of a ride home at the end of the night. “That’s where the theory came in, that if we charge people then they’ll be more careful not to vomit on the bus — maybe they’ll take care of business before getting on,” Jaquez said. “It’s more of a scare tactic, if anything, to avoid people vomiting on the bus. It’s a little unfair just because you took yourself to that level, and inflicted selfdamage to yourself and now you’ve vomited, [and] now a few dozen students won’t be able to make it back to campus because of you.” Gabriel Perez, a senior majoring in economics, said he is in
see occt page 3
School sees Shutdown impacts research, resources outcry after alleged strip search Federal agencies face backlog as they reopen Sasha Hupka news editor
Parents of four East Middle School students speak out Amy Donovan
assistant news editor
Four female middle school students were allegedly strip-searched at East Middle School on Jan. 15 for suspicion of possessing drugs, prompting protests and outcry from Binghamton community members and organizations. According to a Facebook post by Progressive Leaders Of Tomorrow (PLOT), the 12-year-old black students were suspected of possessing drugs on school grounds and were subsequently questioned and strip-searched by the school nurse and an assistant principal, Michelle Raleigh. The parents were not contacted about the incident, according to the post. In response to the post, the Binghamton City School District released a statement on Jan. 24. According to the statement, no strip search occurred and the school officials acted according
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After 35 days, the longest federal government shutdown in United States history is temporarily over, but its impacts on Binghamton University’s campus remain. The shutdown, which began in December after Congress and President Donald Trump failed to come to an agreement on border security spending, shuttered multiple federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Environmental Protection Agency, all of which regulate and fund research at BU. Although the agencies have reopened, they face a significant backlog of emails, grant applications and approved funding that needs to be sent out to colleges and universities across the country. According to Bahgat Sammakia, vice president of research at BU, it could take months for research funding and grants to start being processed on schedule again. “The NSF, for example, by being on hold, are not working on future grants,” Sammakia said. “They aren’t reviewing new proposals until the government is open, which means when they do, there will be a big backlog.” This poses a threat to the University, which classifies itself as a research institution and receives about half of its research funding from federal agencies.
ARTS & CULTURE
rebecca kiss photography editor Faculty and students ran into a number of challenges during the federal shutdown, including difficulties accessing federal databases, such as the spectra database maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Faculty are required to do research to obtain tenure and continue working at the University, and students, particularly graduate students, are expected to conduct and assist with research to graduate. According to Sammakia, this puts the University in a difficult position. “We can’t start spending on research until money is released,” Sammakia said.
“Faculty and students are in an awkward situation where they were ready to do this work and aren’t able to do anything. It’s just devastating.” Although research funding is the primary issue, the shutdown also impacts the distribution of peer-reviewed articles and communication between researchers and federal agencies. In
OPINIONS
a Dateline statement released on Jan. 22, BU President Harvey Stenger wrote that the University was trying to absorb unreimbursed research expenses. “This has resulted in real hardship for faculty who rely on these grants, and particularly for those graduate students
see shutdown page 3
SPORTS
Magician Joel Meyers fascinated crowd with spellbinding tricks,
Netflix’s new Ted Bundy docuseries premiered on Jan. 24.
Contributing columnist Evan Moravansky urges students to learn about their health care,
Maine cruises past women’s basketball,
Men’s basketball snaps four-game skid,
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