Thursday, February 13, 2020 | Vol. XCVII, Issue 7 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
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alex gross staff photographer Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger announced a $60 million gift from an anonymous donor to fund a new baseball complex on campus.
Anonymous donor gives Donation evokes negative $60M for baseball facility response from students Complex to include indoor training facility Justin Zion
sports editor
An anonymous donor family has made an unprecedented $60 million donation to the Binghamton University baseball program, BU President Harvey Stenger announced on Tuesday. The donation will fund a brand-
new complex around the current baseball field, increasing seating capacity and establishing an indoor training facility. Stenger announced the donation in the Events Center alongside SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson, Director of Athletics Patrick Elliott and baseball head coach Tim Sinicki. All three gave remarks at the event. Other University officials, including numerous BU coaches, were also in attendance.
Startup aims to connect with BU Nearly half of Bandalier’s workforce is students Leora Schwadron
assistant news editor
A startup sales company called Bandalier, located in Binghamton, may provide an opportunity for Binghamton University students looking to get involved in entrepreneurship. Bandalier began and still operates as an in-house startup at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator (KSTI) in Downtown Binghamton. It is a businessto-business (B2B) sales company that connects sales workers with remote opportunities. According to the company’s website, “Bandalier’s teams help technology and professional services companies connect with their customers.” The company was launched in 2017 with funding from the KSTI, and the first four team members hired were BU students. Since then, the company’s link to the University has expanded, and
see startup page 3
“Excellence begets excellence, so when you get a gift like this it recognizes that [BU] is a world class University, worthy of world-class contributions and transformative gifts,” Johnson said. “I think this is setting the stage for all the other campuses to come forward and to really step up to support the State University of New York.” The $60 million donation
see donation page 10
Complaints cite other areas in need of funds David Julien news intern
On Tuesday, Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger announced that an anonymous donor family contributed a record-breaking $60 million toward the construction of a state-of-theart baseball complex. However,
the news wasn’t met with excitement by all, and some students have mixed opinions on the matter. The new facility will be equipped with a number of amenities including an indoor training area, a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) space, a study lounge and new press suites. In the announcement, Stenger emphasized the significance of the donation not just for the athletics department, but for BU as a
whole. “A gift like this will obviously benefit our baseball team, but we also think that it will have an impact on our athletics department and the entire University,” Stenger said. “Gifts like this get headlines … But equally important is the impact it has on our other current and future donors. It helps generate pride among friends and alumni who will, in
see response page 3
BU roommates become real estate partners Alumni bought property after graduation, now rent to students Melanie Gulbas pipe dream news
From roommates to business partners, three Binghamton University alumni have teamed up to take on the student rental industry in Binghamton. The company, 4Cproperties LLC, was founded in 2017 and is named after their former suite, 4C, in Seneca Hall of College-in-the-Woods.
Nicholas Catrone, ‘16, Cory Zelniker, ‘17 and Antony Haines, ‘16 became cofounders of 4Cproperties LLC after buying their first property in 2017 and now own three houses. Catrone said the idea started in 2016 when the group was discussing BU’s new School of Pharmacy and Phar-
maceutical Sciences (SOPPS) and started looking into houses in the area to see if they could rent properties to pharmacy students. “We figured buy now before the prices
see rentals page 3
Science Pub BING starts discussion on research Seventy attendees went to Lost Dog Cafe to hear about amphibians Jacob Kerr news editor
As customers dined in Lost Dog Cafe on Tuesday evening, more than 70 people gathered in a private room at the back of the restaurant to hear Binghamton University researchers speak on amphibians. The age of the crowd was diverse — attendees ranged from a toddler to a few elderly couples, with a group of BU students in the middle. Science Pub BING aims to connect BU research with local community members, regardless of their age, to teach science in a more casual setting, according to Julie Weisberg, one of the event organizers and director of public communications at Family Planning of South Central New York. “Just as there is a thirst for arts, culture and music [in Binghamton], I bet you people are interested in science topics,” Weisberg said while explaining how she got involved with the event. “And not just for science folks — for everybody.”
see amphibians page 3
john atkinson pipe dream photographer Jessica Hua, head of a wetlands ecology laboratory and an assistant professor of biology at BU, spoke about her research on amphibians at Lost Dog Cafe on Tuesday as part of the first Science Pub BING event.
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