Grace Hall, the newest addition to the Mountainview College living community, will feature suite-style dormitories, 12 single-bed suites and several ADA accessible rooms. Construction is expected to finish in June 2027, with students moving into the building that fall. Once complete, the residence hall will be the first newly constructed one on campus since 2013, according to Casey Wall, the director of residential life and housing.

The demand for new housing is growing amid an unprecedented increase in students applying to Binghamton University. The fall 2025 admissions cycle saw a record-breaking 74,725 submitted applications, a 15.5 percent increase from last year

The building’s completion will grow the University’s residential capacity to over 8,000 beds.

“The demand for on-campus housing continues to be high, while continuing to renovate existing residence halls remains a priority for the university,” wrote Wall. “Residential Life along with many other campus partners including Facilities Management are involved in this project.”

Newman Architects is working in partnership with KBE Building Corporation to design and build the new space. Newman Architects leads several commercial and residential projects and has previously done work at other institutions of higher education like Yale University and the University of Connecticut.

According to plans laid out by Newman Architects, the residence hall will be an L-shaped building with the main entrance at the inner corner. The building will use red and gray bricks in a similar style to other Mountainview buildings and will have unique design features “to express evolution over time and respond to its setting.” It will also be carefully constructed to cause minimal damage to its natural surroundings.

Looking to meet sustainability goals, Grace Hall will be fully electric and be equipped with a bike room to encourage students to lower their personal carbon footprint.

“With a deep respect for the ecological integrity of the site, adjacent to the forested campus edge, our design prioritizes conservation and an appreciation for nature,” Newman Architects states on its website. “By strategically positioning the building to the north, we are able to minimize disruption to the existing trees and preserve the site’s natural character.”

Parts of the forest between Marcy Hall in Mountainview and Oneida Hall in College-in-the-Woods will be cut down for the project.

The hall will be built on particularly hilly terrain, presenting an extra challenge in ensuring that the building is fully ADA compliant. To address this issue, accessible pathways will connect to the building and also allow students in Mountainview College to access the rest of campus, Wall said in a BingUNews article.

With the expanded beds, building the new residence hall will enable Hinman College’s existing residence halls to be renovated at a later date.

The University recently broke ground on other projects over the summer. Oneida Hall, which housed first-year students in College-in-the-Woods, was shut down for renovation to remove asbestos and install new flooring, ceilings and bathrooms. Renovations to the East Gym and construction at the Chenango Room are ongoing.

“For mayors or governors, the presence of cranes would be a sign of success, meaning there is an opportunity to continue to invest in your community — and a university is no different,” said Brian Rose, vice president for student affairs, in a statement to BingUNews. “Construction is a demonstration that the university can continue to invest in itself, and to make the experience for our students, faculty and staff stronger.”

Established in 1939, the ACA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping immigrant and refugee communities establish themselves in the area without sacrificing their unique cultural and ethnic heritages.

Garlic farmers, craft vendors, food stalls and civic organizations set up tents in the park, while bands played live music. Families, students and other community members perused the festival’s offerings.

“The American Civic Association really does a great job in ensuring that every resident is not only recognized, but made to feel a part of our great and wonderful, diverse community that is in the Southern Tier,” State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 said.

The festival features garlic due to its widespread use across cultures and cuisines. Vendors sold a diverse range of foods, including garlic ice cream, za’atar, pierogies and Indian and Caribbean food, in stalls with large selections.

“Most cultures use garlic,” Laila Hernandez ‘13, MPA ‘18, the deputy director of the ACA, said. “It’s our way to bring us together through that herb. More importantly, we know how difficult it is to navigate living here and being here, and we’re very proud of helping immigrants resettle into the community, or helping people adjust their statuses, legal-wise, or even directing them to services.”

According to Hernandez, the Garlic Festival is one of the organization’s largest fundraisers, helping to support the services that the association provides. This is particularly crucial in a year where federal funding has been cut for organizations with missions similar to the ACA.

“We have been resilient,” Hussein Adams, executive director of the ACA, said. “When our federal funding got cut in January, we immediately established additional programs where we can receive funding through New York state to start programs that would support these vulnerable populations.”

Besides helping raise necessary funds for immigrant and refugee communities, the Garlic Festival was an opportunity for family farmers to display and sell their products. Greg Parsons of Screaming Fox Garlic Farm in Rushville, New York sold three varieties of garlic — German White, Chesnok Red and German Red.

Parsons compared the garlic typically sold in supermarkets to the garlic he sells.

“If you look, it’s either from California, Mexico, China, sometimes it’s out of Canada,” Parsons said. “Usually that’s a soft neck. And my personal opinion is that it doesn’t have the flavor that the hard neck garlic that we grow here in New York [has].”

Music also tied the festival together, with artists across cultures and genres performing. Nadaya Petchenyi opened with Ukrainian music, while later performers like The Supreme Soup played hip-hop. Peter Stewart of Binghamton-based rock band Green Creeks, which played at Porchfest the following day, hit the stage as well.

“It brings joy just seeing the community come together, seeing the community with different backgrounds come together and enjoy themselves on one platform,” Adams said. “The American Civic Association being the organization that is hosting speaks volumes for what we do as an organization.”

Protesters stood along Court Street and in front of the Broome County Courthouse, waving handmade signs reading “Workers Unite! Stop Trump” and “We The People Say No Kings.” Hundreds of other “Workers Over Billionaires” protests occurred nationwide on Labor Day in a campaign to mobilize support for labor rights. Activist groups Indivisible Binghamton, Citizen Action of New York and the 50501 Movement were among the rally’s organizers.

Speakers stood at the top of the courthouse steps in front of signs that spelled out “Support Workers.” The first speaker, Linda Quilty, co-lead of Indivisible Binghamton, told the crowd that while the protest focused on Labor Day and labor rights, there were other important issues that people should feel free to speak out about.

Later, Quilty referenced Glennon Doyle, an author and motivational speaker who quoted a metaphor about a flowing river from Michelle Alexander, a civil rights activist and The New York Times opinion columnist. The flowing river symbolizes the march toward obtaining “justice, love, equality and shared humanity,” with each boat sailing on the river representing a different cause. From immigrant rights to universal healthcare, Quilty suggested that it is up to each person to join together and support one another on the journey.

“When we get on those boats, and each one on a different boat, we yell to the other boats, ‘Keep on going, we’re with you. Go, go, go down the river of justice and love,’” Quilty said. “We don’t yell for them to come on our boat — we need all the boats.”

“We don’t just protest, we dance and we love each other so that our boats are irresistible to everyone who wants to join in,” she continued. “We lovingly keep them — the people who join — because everyone wants a loving, vibrant place to live.”

Next to speak was Ravo Root, lead organizer at Citizen Action of New York. A union worker, Root said that organized labor helped create the working class in the United States, as they fought for higher wages, safe working conditions and other protections. Addressing concerns that increasing taxes would cause wealthy people to leave the state, Root denied this and said that the number of millionaires in New York has grown in the past decade. He added that it is a “moral obligation” to ensure that “the wealthiest among us pay their fair share into the system.”

After rally goers joined in a chant calling for an end to corporate greed, Michael Kane, a Citizen Action board member, said Monday’s protest symbolized workers’ solidarity.

“This event isn’t just a celebration,” Kane said. “It’s a statement that we, the workers in the community, are united and we will keep pushing for a world that values labor over greed.”

Quilty then returned to the stage and introduced Philip Shanahan, president of the Broome-Tioga Central Labor Council. He began by detailing the history of Labor Day, telling protestors that it took strikes and “a lot of blood, a lot of pain” to achieve recognition of workers’ rights. He added that Labor Day is not just for Democrats or Republicans, but for all workers.

Addressing rhetoric about returning to America’s “golden days,” Shanahan said the wealthy were taxed at higher rates back then compared to today and that people were able to raise a family without having to work multiple jobs.

“Why can’t we bring semiconductors and the new industries and everything back to this area?” Shanahan asked the crowd. “We had our golden age here before and we can have it again. This is a beautiful area. Who wouldn’t want to live up here in Binghamton, New York?”

Barbara Mullen, another co-lead of Indivisible Binghamton, shared her recent experience traveling to Finland, Denmark and Canada and said “everyone is concerned about the United States of America.”

The final speaker, a representative from the New York Trade Justice Coalition, criticized trade policies by President Donald Trump and his predecessors over the past 35 years and said Trump’s deals contain “big giveaways” to Wall Street and large corporate interests.

After the speeches, protesters marched down Court Street and looped back.

In a press interview, Root called upon elected Democratic officials like Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise taxes on the wealthy and protect the working class. He said Trump appealed to working-class voters by “selling them a false narrative.”

“It’s really important that as working class people, we all band together in this moment because our democracy is under threat, but also the eroding of the working class and the middle class is showing,” Root said.

The company offers a variety of services, including video surveillance and new control systems, that clients can use on a single platform. Notable entities that use Genetec services include Heathrow Airport in London and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

By adapting the Genetec Security Center platform, the University will integrate data from its 1,635 surveillance cameras and over 4,800 access control readers into one system. A case study produced by Genetec found that the University possessed a “fragmented legacy tech stack” that did not allow communication between video management and access control systems.

“Intrusion detection, panic buttons, and mass notification systems were also siloed and disconnected,” the case study continued. “As a result, the university’s IT and security teams struggled with disconnected data, security gaps, and time-consuming manual workarounds.”

The platform includes Omnicast, a dynamic video surveillance interface allowing for improved incident response; Synergis, a systems operator for better controlled access to certain locations; Sipelia, a streamlined communications tool; Genetec Clearance, a management system for digital footage and other evidence; and AutoVu automatic license plate recognition. Other higher education institutions also employ Genetec services — Cornell University uses the AutoVu license plate software, while both Texas A&M and Brigham Young University operate their security systems with Genetec Security Center.

Managing unexpected large gatherings is also cited in the case study as a reason for adopting enhanced surveillance tools.

“Planned gatherings are welcomed,” Dave Martin, assistant director of security infrastructure and support at the University, said in the case study. “But the unplanned ones can sometimes get out of hand. Now, if a group hits a certain size, the video analytics tools preemptively alert us. We can confirm whether or not the situation is a permitted activity or needs to be addressed.”

The University released a B-Line Addition on Aug. 21, warning students against disruptive protests, camping on campus and using chalk or putting up posters without following University guidelines. The statement, signed by several administrative officials, said that civil dialogue workshops and planned conversations with “Student Dialogue Ambassadors” will help facilitate productive discussion around “controversial ideas within the boundaries of our policies.”

“Without the right to express ideas — especially controversial ideas — education and discovery are limited; dialogue is restricted and our capacity to educate engaged citizens is compromised,” the statement read. “For those reasons and our obligations as a public university to respect the First Amendment, we place a high value on freedom of expression, association and assembly.”

“No right, however, is absolute,” it continued. “Binghamton will not permit protest and expression that disrupts the University’s academic mission, interferes with the free expression of others or threatens members of the campus community or campus property.”

The debate around the parameters of protesting on college campuses has grown in recent years as students publicly demonstrate against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In May 2024, students established an encampment on the Peace Quad to stand in solidarity with Palestinians and call on BU to divest from the defense industry. The Trump administration has launched investigations into students at schools like Columbia University for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

“As the Trump administration attempts to attack the First Amendment and scale up the U.S. government’s surveillance apparatus, we are dismayed at our university’s actions to scale up its own surveillance,” wrote Binghamton’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America in a statement to Pipe Dream. “Students deserve to live in safety. This means protecting our campus, but it also means a right to assemble and not be surveilled as though we are not welcome.”

“Students, faculty, and the university community will, of course, continue to protest against Trump and for Palestinian liberation and free speech in higher education,” the statement continued

Joined by friends and family at the Osterhout Concert Theater in the Anderson Center, 74 students crossed the stage to receive their white coats. The ceremony began with a welcome from Pharmacy School Dean Dr. Kanneboyina Nagaraju, University President Harvey G. Stenger and Donald Hall, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

“You are embarking on an exciting path,” Dr. Nagaraju said. “We pledge to educate and prepare you to become person-centered pharmacists who will practice at the top of your license.”

First opened in 2017, the School of Pharmacy last year had 257 Doctor of Pharmacy students and around 25 master’s and Ph.D. students, who take classes in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences located on the University’s Health Sciences Campus in Johnson City. The Saturday ceremony inaugurated the ninth class of students into the program.

Dr. Philip Hritcko, dean of the University of Connecticut’s School of Pharmacy, delivered the ceremony’s keynote address.

“This is not just a professional occasion, it’s really a homecoming,” said Hritcko, an Endicott native and graduate of Union-Endicott High School.
He said both he and his wife, Lorraine Hritcko MBA ‘86, who also grew up in Endicott, have strong roots in the Triple Cities area and reminded students of their role as the next generation of healthcare professionals.

“The white coat you receive today is more than just a garment,” said Hritcko. “It’s a symbol of trust. It represents compassion, service, integrity and a lifelong commitment to learning.”

Hritcko also discussed his work with incoming BU president Anne D’Alleva, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at UConn. The SUNY Board of Trustees last Tuesday voted to confirm D’Alleva to lead the University over 10 months after Stenger announced his intent to step down.

“She is probably the best boss I’ve ever had in my life,” Hritcko said. “So I’m a little mad that you recruited her away from UConn, but on the same token, I’m so happy for Anne. She will do a wonderful job here at Binghamton University, and I know she will continue the great legacy that President Stenger has already created here, and it will continue to blossom.”

After the keynote speech, James “JJ” Brice, the pharmacy school’s director of student affairs, presented white coats to each student. As they crossed the stage, Dr. Erin Pauling and Dr. Anthony Hopkins, both professors of pharmacy practice, coated each of the students.

Following the coat presentation, Brice guided students in passing the light of knowledge, a ceremony where students held candles and spread the light among each other down all of the rows.

Before the ceremony ended, students recited the Oath of a Pharmacist, a key tradition that symbolizes a student’s committed devotion to service through pharmacy science. Students pledge to protect personal health information, advocate for improved patient care and hold themselves to high ethical standards, among other pillars of pharmaceutical sciences.

Afterward, the newly inducted members gathered outside the Anderson Center for a class photo. Family and friends flooded the center with bouquets before heading to a reception at the Pharmacy School.

“I think it sets a great tone for the students and proactively celebrates what will be their accomplishments in four years,” said Keisha Wisdom, whose son, Nicholas, received his white coat.

“It’s very exciting for us as a family investing in Nicholas’ education to know that he has a place that’s specific to his learning, that allows for research. And so even as a student, he will have the opportunity to influence the future,” Wisdom continued.

Wisdom, a nurse, comes from a family of healthcare professionals. Her mother and daughter are also nurses, so she said her son is continuing a family tradition of working as healthcare professionals.

Julia Baisley, a first-year student pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, said she is looking forward to working with her peers in the program.

“I think Binghamton is really focused on community, and I can really appreciate team-based learning, and I really like having that tight-knit friendship with my peers,” Baisley said. “Coming from a small school to here is a bit overwhelming, but I feel like this is a good community for that adjustment.”

In addition to the two food chains, a vacant space will also be created at the address.

Crumbl Cookies, which has over 1,000 locations worldwide, was founded in 2017 by two cousins in Logan, Utah. At first, Crumbl served only chocolate chip cookies. Eight years later, stores nationwide roll out a rotating cookie menu every week.

Now known for collaborations like the Benson Boone Moonbeam Ice Cream Cookie, named after the Grammy-nominated pop artist and former “American Idol” contestant, or the Dubai Chocolate Brownie, Crumbl is the subject of reviews from influencers and small accounts who flood the stores every week to try the menu.

“I think as a business, their advertising is very creative to get young people and students to eat there as they have really taken on influencers to try their cookies every single week,” said Bailey Emhoff, a junior majoring in psychology at Binghamton University. “But overall, I think they’re generally a very mid business to come to Binghamton. It’s not very healthy in any way, shape or form.”

Other students are thrilled to potentially have a Crumbl located so close to campus. Mariam Moussa, a junior majoring in biology, used to drive with her friends an hour away to the nearest Crumbl location, located just outside Scranton, Pennsylvania.

“I don’t know if that is true or not but I would be ecstatic,” said Moussa. “We would make one hour drives every couple of weeks to Crumbl just to try the weekly flavors. So, it would be nice to not have to make that drive and have it be here. Although it would not be healthy or good for us at all to have it so close to us.”

Both Moussa and Emhoff cited health concerns about the chain. Crumbl cookies, known for being highly caloric, with some containing more than 800 calories, are sold in packs of four, six or even 12 at a time.

Still, some students are excited about the possibility of Crumbl opening as an alternative to the desserts offered on campus.

“I feel like there’s not very many options for good quality sweet treats here, other than the ice cream in the dining halls,” said Siya Unawane, a freshman majoring in biology. “And I feel like Crumbl is a good change of pace.”

The permit belongs to Flaum Management, a real estate company that owns commercial property across upstate New York, including the Southern Tier. In Vestal, the company manages the Town Square Mall and the Parkway and Campus Plazas.

Flaum Management did not return Pipe Dream’s request for comment.

New Student Move-In and Welcome Program (Aug. 15-16)

Welcome to Binghamton! New students move in on Aug. 15 and 16, and activities and welcome events will be held throughout the week to introduce new students to the University. This is a great time to get out there and meet new people. Introduce yourself to the people on your floor, or mingle as you try out all the dining halls.

You’ll meet your community assistants and student support assistants during this time. Get to know them too — they are a great resource and will live on your floors all year!

First Day of Classes (Aug. 19)

Classes begin Aug. 19. It’s a good idea to locate where each class will be held beforehand so you are not lost when the day comes. Getting there on time, sitting in a spot that helps you focus and introducing yourself to the professor after class can help set the tone for a productive semester. Be sure to read the class syllabus — it contains important resources and key information that will help you succeed academically.

UFEST (Aug. 23 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

Hundreds of student organizations, food and freebies are found all over the Peace Quad, which hosts the annual UFEST. Looking for a club to join? UFEST is a chance to explore the hundreds of student organizations at the University and sign up for any that pique your interest. Recreational sports, athletics, Greek life and campus wellness also table. The start of the semester is a good time to explore new interests or pursue old ones, and UFEST is a great starting point for seeing what BU has to offer.

Add/Drop Deadline (Sept. 2 at 11:59 p.m.)

Schedule changes are easy to make before the add/drop deadline on Sept. 2 at 11:59 p.m. After the deadline, any changes to your class schedule may require a petition and could result in a withdrawal shown on your transcript.

If you feel that a class is too challenging, not difficult enough or just not interesting, take action before the deadline. Classes can be added, dropped or switched through the portal on BU Brain.

Homecoming (Sept. 26-28)

Homecoming has events for Bearcats of all graduating classes. Over Homecoming Weekend, alumni and current students can bond and network at events on and off campus. The Binghamton Block Party will return this year, as well as the Black Student Union fashion show, Fall Festival and TIER Talks.

Fall Concert (TBD)

Students flock to the Events Center for the Fall Concert, one of two yearly concerts organized by the Student Association Programming Board. Some recent fall concerts have featured performances from NLE Choppa and Yung Gravy. Tickets are discounted for current students, offering a chance to experience popular artists at affordable prices.

Restaurant Week (Oct. 14-23)

Explore the culinary scene in Binghamton during Restaurant Week, where participating restaurants all over the city have fixed prices on three-course lunch and dinner menus. Try tasty dishes from a variety of places while exploring the local area. Popular spots with Restaurant Week deals have included Lost Dog Cafe and Craft. Menus can be found on eatbing.com.

Finals Week (Dec. 8-12)

Get ready for finals week by giving yourself time to review course material. Many professors hold review sessions in the weeks leading up to exams — be sure to attend and ask questions on material you don’t fully understand. Test locations are released during the semester and are usually not in the same room as the class.

The Glenn G. Bartle Library is open 24 hours during finals week to accommodate all study schedules. De-stress events like therapy dog visits are held throughout the week to help students refocus and decompress.

The Faculty Senate endorsed the “Statement by Provost on Support of Academic Freedom” and motioned to create separate resolutions on three proposals in response to the letter of faculty concern brought to the Senate in September.

Written in August, the statement from the provost was previously discussed by the Faculty Senate in September and formally endorsed at the Nov. 19 meeting. An amendment to the motion for endorsement, brought by John Havard, a professor of English, was added to indicate that the senators were endorsing the statement as part of a response to the discussion of the faculty letter of concern. The amended motion passed reads, “The faculty senate endorses the ‘Statement by Provost on Support of Academic Freedom.’ This is in response to the discussion of the letter of concern.”

Authored by Provost Donald Hall, the statement affirmed the University’s commitment to upholding academic freedom and free expression of thought and opinion. Condemning all forms of violence and hate speech, it called for respect and civility in difficult conversations and emphasized the importance of guarding these principles in times of unrest, referencing Palestine and Israel and the U.S. presidential election. It called for faculty and staff to “contribute their research and expertise to bear on the most salient questions of our time.”

“I am very happy to partner with my faculty colleagues to emphasize our campus’s commitment to protecting the rights of our faculty, students, and staff,” Hall wrote to Pipe Dream. “BU stands strong in making sure our campus is a safe space for teaching and research on the toughest questions facing us today as a nation and international community.”

Brought to the Faculty Senate at its Sept. 17 meeting, the faculty letter of concern was written in response to the treatment of student protesters during last semester’s Peace Quad Encampment. At that meeting, senators were urged to present the letter to their departments for continued debate and deliberation before returning for this Tuesday’s meeting. The letter included demands for a commitment to academic freedom and for the University to refrain from bias.

The letter contained three proposals for resolutions. The first would express support for free speech and assembly protections for faculty, students and staff when discussing Israel and Palestine, the second would express the Senate’s concern over the deployment of police at the encampment and the third would caution administrators against involving law enforcement and threatening punishment in response to peaceful student protest.

“We’d like to see increased faculty involvement when there are questions around whether or not to call the police in and when questions around campus safety are being determined, whether that’s formal or informal,” said Surya Parekh, an associate professor of English who was among the faculty members who initially brought the letter to the Senate.

The Senate’s leadership will now decide which committee or committees will draft the articles of resolution.

Before the letter could be fully discussed, the meeting’s allotted time ended. Marina Sitrin, a faculty senator and professor of sociology, described the importance of passing the three resolutions in anticipation of Donald Trump’s second term.

“We urge the leadership within the Faculty Senate — that can determine whether or not this comes up to be voted on in the Feb. 11 Faculty Senate meeting — that these come forward as full proposals so they can be discussed and voted on, because of the urgency, not only for Israel-Palestine discussions and freedom, [but] also for potential post-Jan. 20 freedoms and restrictions, so to protect all students in all ways and all faculty and staff in all ways,” Sitrin said.

Sitrin said the sociology department unanimously supported the three resolutions. Other departments also engaged in “debates and discussions” around the three resolutions, and Sitrin added that there exists strong support for academic freedom for students, faculty and staff.

In a statement to Pipe Dream, the local chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America commended Hall and the Faculty Senate for their commitment to academic freedom.

“Palestinian voices have been silenced in American academia to delegitimize their existence and struggle for liberation from Western colonial occupation; defending intellectuals who stand up to this institutionalized oppression must be a priority of the University,” YDSA wrote to Pipe Dream. “However, the University must indeed live up to the Provost’s statement. These must not be empty words as repression spreads across the country, especially with the looming presidency of Donald Trump, who has promised to attack the pro-Palestine student movement.”

Held on Wednesday, the lecture was moderated by Leonel Diaz Jr., the MRC’s director of intercultural affairs. Diaz directed questions to the four panelists — Sister Rose Casaleno, Rabbi Aaron Slonim, Imam Anas Shaikh ‘17 and Ethan Tyo, representing Indigeneity. The inspiration for the event, which was attended by students, community members and MRC representatives, stemmed from a perceived need among students, staff and faculty for a reminder of the distinct role religion plays in shaping people’s daily lives.

Tyo, who is Mohawk and part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, said that “Indigenous people and our cultures are not a monolith.”

“We have stories,” Tyo said. “We have an understanding of creation. We have a creation story that really places ourselves, our understanding of the world around us and our relationship to both, not only to each other, but also our relationship to other beings and the land.”

Each panelist spoke for several minutes, highlighting the main tenets of their respective religions and each belief system’s common rules and practices. The three religious leaders on the panel are all members of the Interfaith Council, an organization of spiritual leaders who serve the University community.

Questions were answered concerning how students of different religious or spiritual backgrounds can engage in respectful discourse with one another.

“We all come from different places, whether it’s religion, race, spirituality, whatever, we’re different,” Casaleno, the director of Newman House, the University’s Catholic community, said. “And that’s the beauty of creation, because we all are different, and we bring something different to a table. I would say that to me, that’s the most important piece, but it’s really being aware of our own prejudice and our own judgments before we enter or when we talk.”

Shaikh, director of the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier, shared two things to be mindful of when engaging in religion-based discussion.

“No. 1 is that everyone has a right to their religion,” Shaikh said. “That’s No. 1. No. 2 is, everyone is there. You’re there to learn about someone else. You’re not there to prove that you’re better than them, and you’re not there to prove that your religion is superior to them, right? Everyone may have that personal belief.”

As the event was intended to examine the role of religion and spirituality in political discourse, panelists highlighted the importance of treating others with dignity. Though this value is taught in different ways — through the Bible, Quran, Torah or oral tradition — they emphasized the value of listening to others and respecting different backgrounds.

Slonim, the director of the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life, shared a similar view on the coexistence of multiple belief systems. In the Jewish faith, he said, everyone has their own life purpose, without which the world would be incomplete.

“We have 7 billion people in this world that God created, and he wants us to be here in this world, in this time, in this generation,” said Slonim. “And each and every one of us have this small piece of the puzzle that we are filling in to [make] the whole picture [in] the best way possible.”

Activist and author Harsha Walia spoke about issues surrounding national borders on Monday as part of the Lubna Chaudhry Human Rights Lecture Series.

Her lecture, “Abolish Border Imperialism: Migration Racial Empire and Transnational Solidarities,” addressed the intersectionality of capitalism and racism, challenging people’s perceptions of borders. Walia offered a different definition of borders, framing the word not just as lines that people cross but as “ways of thinking and being that permeate our life in many different ways.” After the discussion, students asked follow-up questions about the talk and the messaging behind it.

Walia described the impact of discussing these subjects with young people, as she believes they are deeply aware of the systemic violence at large in the world today.

“Young people are going to be the inheritors of the climate crisis and many forms of war and inequality around the world,” Walia said in an interview with Pipe Dream. “And so I think for any students who are thinking about and are curious about and really want to think about changing the social relationships in our communities, in your communities, in the ways in which you want to contribute to justice and positive change, it is so important to think about things [in] a structural way.”

Walia is a Vancouver-based activist and founder of No One Is Illegal, a feminist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist organization that advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples and migrants. She is also the author of “Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism” (2021) and “Undoing Border Imperialism” (2013).

Highlighting the unnatural characteristic of borders, Walia said the creation of the U.S.-Mexico border stemmed from the forced annexation of Mexican territory after 1848, which was brought on by the capture of an Indigenous nation. She said people tend to naturalize borders’ existence, “[removing] them from entanglement with empire.”

She later said issues surrounding the border do not come about as a result of one person, like President-elect Donald Trump, or anti-migrant rhetoric. Border control is inherently structured to decide who belongs and who does not, and according to Walia, who has a right to life and dignity. She used examples, like the Chinese Exclusion Act, to demonstrate the racial exclusion at play when it comes to deportations in the United States.

“So, the idea of who is good versus bad requires a colonial, racial, gender, sexualized, ableist and classist ordering amongst all of us as well, right?” Walia said. “It’s not just about citizens versus migrants. It reproduces this in our daily lives, regardless of our citizenship. So, the rhetoric of the good versus bad immigrant or the productive and legal immigrant, exists only in relation to the so-called ‘bad immigrant,’ the so-called ‘criminal immigrant,’ the so-called ‘illegal immigrant.’”

Walia described the dehumanizing nature of victim-blaming logic often used when discussing immigration. She said that even though people are forced to migrate due to unsafe conditions in their home countries, the blame is put on them instead of the systemic structures that placed them in those conditions to begin with.

Many migrants must move through unsafe conditions — like hot deserts — where they risk dehydration, and many lose their lives. Describing these deaths at the border as “premeditated border killings,” Walia argued that prevention through deterrence policies around the world makes borders dangerous, and in many cases fatal, to keep people from crossing.

The event concluded with a Q&A session, where students asked questions regarding how to have productive conversations with loved ones about these issues and how to reconcile the fact that a large percentage of Latino communities voted for Trump and support right-wing immigration policies.

Walia said that action can be taken from anywhere and activism doesn’t necessarily need to happen on a grand scale.

“All violences are interconnected,” Walia said. “I think of it as like a knitted ball. If you pull on it from whatever direction you’re pulling at it from, you’re actually contributing to collective liberation. For me, what keeps me inspired is actually continuously thinking expansively, like not thinking about single issues, but trying to really think about if all violence is connected, that means all liberation is connected.”

Heather Ryan, a health program director from the town of Binghamton, appeared on the popular television show Jeopardy! last Monday.

Ryan competed against Ian Taylor, a food sales representative from Cleveland, Ohio and returning four-day champion Will Wallace, a video game designer from Austin, Texas. She came in second to Taylor, losing by only $1 in Final Jeopardy after gaining significant ground in Double Jeopardy. Despite her loss, Ryan said she cherishes her time on the show, keeping in contact with Taylor and Wallace, whom she spoke with the night the episode aired.

“It was very fun,” Ryan said. “I had a great time. Everybody there was very welcoming.”

Ryan said nothing specific inspired her to go on the show. She took the test online one night early in 2023 out of boredom and auditioned last summer. In the summer of 2024, her episode was filmed in Los Angeles.

“It’s such a part of American culture that I definitely wanted to go on when I got the call for it,” she said.

Ryan doesn’t credit her Jeopardy! skills to being exceptionally smart, though she does enjoy trivia — she did Quiz Bowl in high school and was getting ready to meet her trivia team as she spoke with Pipe Dream.

An awkward moment in the competition came during the first round of a “Complete the Rhyming Phrase” category when a hint was given beginning with “men seldom make passes … ” to which Wallace answered correctly with “girls who wear glasses.” Ken Jennings, the show’s host, apologized, saying, “A little problematic, sorry, Heather,” to Ryan, who wears glasses, with Wallace adding, “very.”

“It is definitely an odd choice,” Ryan said. “I think it made everybody in the audience and on stage, and Ken Jennings too, a little uncomfortable. It was like, ‘oh, that was unexpected.’ Maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024. Unfortunately, there are still girls who are [in] middle school and they don’t want to wear their glasses and they’re losing out on their education. So, I think it’s much better to be able to see than anything else.”

In her work as a health director with the Broome County Health Department, Ryan promotes immunizations and educates the community about lead poisoning. She works in case management for children suffering from high lead exposure, a common issue in the area, as many houses were built before lead paint was banned in 1978.

She also provides support at places like state fairs, schools and universities, organizing health promotion to ensure immunization requirements are followed.

“We’re big fans of Binghamton University because Harpur’s Ferry is always pitching in when it comes to disaster response and testing and immunizations for COVID-19,” Ryan said. “We have plenty of EMTs from Harpur’s Ferry working with us.”

Her biggest piece of advice for students is to stay up to date on all required vaccinations, including COVID-19, the flu and HPV.

Ryan said she fondly remembers her time filming the show.

“It’s just a very special thing to play a small role in this big part,” she said. “It’s been running for 40 years, and so I got to play my part in it.”

The Office of External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center hosted an undergraduate research exhibition on Thursday.

Part of the LOCO festival, a weeklong series of events focused on global immigration and human rights, four undergraduates shared their research — three from the Source Project and one who worked as a Library Research Scholar, with presentations on topics ranging from education and local issues like homelessness. Between presentations, students mingled and enjoyed refreshments.

“I noticed a lot of the research today was focusing on the Binghamton area, so I think it’s really important because I know a lot of students are not from the Binghamton area,” said Sasha Novikova, a senior majoring in economics. “But since we live here, it’s important to know about the community and the issues in the community — like the homelessness issue that they talked about.”

Most of the students who presented centered their research around the relevance of immigration and human rights to the University and its surrounding area. Liam Spiro, a sophomore majoring in biology, participated in the Source Project’s Debating Basic Income stream and presented his research on the impact of a guaranteed annual income for Binghamton’s homeless population.

Spiro shared that a guaranteed annual income could improve physical and mental health, housing stability, social relations and personal savings for the unhoused. In the Binghamton area, mental health counseling coupled with guaranteed annual income would be the most effective approach, he said, adding that luxury student housing is partially responsible for worsening the housing shortage.

Deniz Gulay, a sophomore majoring in history, presented on the history of Eastern Orthodox churches in Binghamton, drawing ties to global immigration, at this year’s festival. He dove into Binghamton’s industrial past, when waves of immigrants from Eastern Europe came to the area as laborers, discussing how Eastern Orthodox churches provide a space for immigrants to celebrate their native culture and American identity.

Clay Jeon, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics and law who also presented at the event, said it is important for people to talk about what immigration and being an American means.

“It sounds somewhat simple, but it’s quite difficult for people to have productive conversations about this type of stuff,” Jeon said. “So I think it’s nice to talk about it in a more academic sense so that we have more empathy for each other.”

Jeon presented his own research on how redlining — a practice that discriminates against neighborhoods with large minority communities by withholding financial services, like credit access — made lasting impacts on sentiment toward high school education in the Bronx. He used student satisfaction surveys as metrics to compare schools in redlined areas versus non-redlined areas, highlighting that education can be evaluated without relying on SAT scores or college matriculation rates.

Anindya Debnath, a senior double-majoring in political science and economics, worked as a Library Research Scholar to document how students from underrepresented backgrounds experience library spaces. His research employed a photo-capture system where students took photos of certain spots in BU’s three libraries — Glenn G. Bartle Library, the Science Library and the University Downtown Center Library — and captioned them with their responses to them. His research, in partnership with BU Libraries, aims to address how higher education spaces can serve underrepresented students differently. (7: 6:45 – 7:30)

“The students want to actively be a part of this community, see how we can help, how we can make it better, make Binghamton a city that more people can come to, be proud of being a resident,” Debnath said. “It’s just really inspiring in that sense, that students really care about these issues in a sense that older generations may not, especially older generations within academia.”

The Source Project offers opportunities to first-year students interested in conducting research in humanities and social science-aligned fields. Students can work in different research streams — this year’s options included The New Authoritarianism, Mapping American Prejudice and Climate Justice, among others.

“Undergraduate research is incredibly important because it is a way to foster student curiosity and innovation,” said event host and Source Project Program Coordinator Caroline Antalek ‘16, who is working toward a Master of Public Administration at BU. “I think that our students at Binghamton are so incredibly bright, motivated and ambitious, that the level of intellect at this event has really impressed me. They are bringing awareness to real-world problems that can be researched further, that can present real-world solutions.”

Editor’s Note: One of the event’s presenters, Deniz Gulay, is a Pipe Dream Opinions columnist. He had no part in the writing or editing of this article. 

Mourning the thousands of Palestinians killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the Students for Justice in Palestine, joined by the Arab Student Association, the Muslim Student Association and the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier, organized a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening.

Held on the Spine by the Lecture Hall, the vigil commenced with a short poem read in Arabic and English about the struggles Palestinians face and their connection to the land. As the crowd continued to gather, organizers distributed masks and candles.

“We want to remind the Binghamton community at large that the martyrs of Palestine are not statistics, but victims of genocide; each and every man, woman, and child deserves to be mourned,” SJP wrote to Pipe Dream. “We want our fellow students to know that what they feel is understandable if not rational, for our grief and our anger are inextricably intertwined.”

The vigil continued with 365 seconds of silence to commemorate the 365 days since Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered a siege of Gaza. Students lit candles and leaned on each other for support.

Several student speakers shared poems and gave speeches voicing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the ongoing violence in Gaza. One who did not share their name shared a self-written poem titled “When You Say Terror” that highlighted their struggle to speak openly against mainstream narratives.

“Edward Said told the world about the fact that they do not have the permission to narrate,” they said, referring to the Palestinian American philosopher and activist. “We must not wait for them to be given that permission. So I, too, will say terror, until every eye is opened to a violence of 75 years.”

Another speaker condemned the U.S. government for providing military funding to Israel. They said generic statements, like “bombs were dropped” and “shots were fired,” contribute to the dehumanization of Palestinians, specifically referencing a recent report that the Israeli military killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank.

“He is not a number,” the speaker said. “He was a child, he was a son, he was a brother. He had a favorite food, he had a favorite song, favorite color, and I’m outraged that I have to prove that Palestinians are just as human as the rest of us.”

The vigil was part of SJP’s “Week of Rage,” which included a walk-out and rally on Monday, a bracelet sale — with all proceeds going to the Middle East Children’s Alliance — a culture poetry night and a peer support group meeting. The organization said they were “SJP chapters across the nation in re-engaging and rebuilding anger and urgency among the campus community.”

“We aim to highlight how our universities are complicit in Israel’s genocide by exposing their ties to the military-industrial complex, which provides Israel with the funding and weaponry it relies on to execute its brutal bombing campaigns,” SJP wrote. “We urge our peers to join in these movement-wide calls to action by recognizing Israel’s role in the killings and destruction in Gaza, which has slaughtered over 40,000 Palestinians and pushed 2 million to the brink of starvation. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we reflect on the past 76 years in which Palestinians have faced ongoing displacement, apartheid, and violence under Israeli occupation, and commit ourselves to amplifying their voices, resisting complicity, and fighting for justice and liberation.”

To conclude the vigil, Anas Shaikh ‘17, the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier’s executive director and lead imam, led the attendees in prayer.

When discussing their role in the event, ASA said that with solidarity as one of their seven core values, they “serve as a conduit of awareness and pillar of solidarity with our Arab brothers and sisters.”

“The goal of this vigil is to commemorate the lives lost due to the past year of ongoing genocide, in addition to the over 75 years of Israeli occupation,” ASA wrote. “This is meant to be a peaceful and solemn event as we reflect on the brutal reality of the settler-colonial state.”

University administration’s response to student protests and the Peace Quad encampment last semester drew criticism from several faculty members, who presented a letter to the Faculty Senate this Tuesday advocating for the right to protest and the importance of free speech on campus.

The letter, presented to the body by Monika Mehta and Surya Parekh, both associate professors of English, and Leo Wilton, a professor of human development, expressed concerns over police involvement and the dismantling of the encampment before a civil discussion could occur.

Key proposals were outlined in their presentation, including asking the Faculty Senate to pass a resolution that supports the “guaranteed rights of faculty, students, and staff to engage in speech and assembly about Palestine/Israel, in line with core principles of academic freedom and rights to free speech and free assembly.”

At the time of the meeting, the letter had received 59 signatures from other faculty members.

“Even if they wanted the encampment to end quickly, they didn’t show up on the first day to talk,” Parekh said. “They showed up on the second day with ultimatums. At least from where we sit, it didn’t seem like they made any genuine effort to say, ‘let’s talk first.’ It was, ‘you get rid of this, and then we’ll talk with you over the summer when everybody goes.’”

Those presenting also asked the body to demand administrators protect faculty exercising academic freedom, publicly denounce calls for faculty and staff to be fired, refrain from publishing biased statements and stand firm against outside political pressures.

They requested two other resolutions be implemented. One noted concern about administrators’ immediate deployment of police and letters threatening student conduct violations during the three-day encampment. The other asked administrators not to contact the police or threaten serious punishment in response to peaceful student protests.

Addressing the proposals, Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Rose said he believed the administration had a forthcoming and honest conversation with the encampment’s leaders in May.

“I explained that we weren’t going to meet with people who were violating University policy by having an encampment that went beyond the deadline that we established,” Rose said during the meeting. “That if they agreed to break down the encampment by the deadline that had been established, we would be happy to meet with them that same day.”

The faculty letter also referenced a previous op-ed written by Provost Donald Hall in the Miami Herald about diverse perspectives in the classroom. Metha called on the University to offer a public stance on academic freedom and live up to the values highlighted in Hall’s piece.

“It’s an invitation in some ways,” said Marina Sitrin, an associate professor of sociology. “It’s not a threatening letter. It’s an invitation to have more conversations and to change things and to be a leader, like we are in so many other areas. Why can’t we be a leader in free speech and assembly?”

Members of the Faculty Senate will bring the letter to their respective departments, and at the next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 19, they will continue to discuss the next steps forward.

Before the concerns were presented to the body, Aaron Beedle, the chair of the senate and an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, shared the University’s rules for campus protests — they must be held between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. with a 12-hour time limit and space must be reserved in coordination with the University Union and campus police.

“The Faculty Senate supports freedom of expression,” Dr. Beedle wrote to Pipe Dream. “I encourage members of the campus community to exercise these rights with respect for the place, time, and manner policies of the university.”

Bathabile Mthombeni, the University ombudsman, presented briefly on civil discourse and productive classroom conversations. Mthombeni suggested professors act as facilitators to hold space for difficult or controversial conversations.

Hall, the provost, released a statement on academic freedom to the faculty over the summer. It said they have academic freedom on matters concerning their subject but cannot “claim as their right the privilege of discussing in their classroom controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.” The statement emphasized that the University should provide space for civil discussion and responsible debate.

As part of the group that met with him throughout the summer, Parekh thanked Hall for engaging in productive conversations.

This is not the first time members of the faculty have vocalized support for student protesters in recent months. On the third and final day of the encampment, a group of faculty representing over 12 departments and programs signed a letter of support.

In response to the public support from some faculty members, the local chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America expressed their gratitude.

“Much as the letter of support from faculty on the final morning of the encampment was a rare beacon of light in the darkness of this University’s complicity in genocide, militarism, and colonialism, yesterday’s Faculty Senate proposal is an inspiring reminder that our instructors are some of our most important comrades,” the organization wrote to Pipe Dream.

In October, New York State Electric and Gas, a major utility company, announced utility price hikes. The hikes, which were unanimously approved by the New York State Public Service Commission, mean that a customer using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month saw an average increase of $9.94, or 10.3 percent, in November 2023, and then $8.88, or 8.4 percent, beginning in May 2024.

Rates will continue to rise by an average of $11.34 in May 2025, according to a 2023 press release, which also announced a three-year rate hike in gas heating prices and that low-income customers will receive $27.47 million in assistance.

The rate hikes came after NYSEG’s customer service faced criticism for frequent outages, billing issues and unreliability. The company recently faced a $11.4 million fine for failing to meet customer service metrics in 2023.

“NYSEG has a monopoly on gas in the area which has only served to make prices higher than necessary,” the Students’ Tenant Union wrote to Pipe Dream. “This is an issue for student tenants who often sign leases that require them to pay out of pocket for utilities — an extension of the power imbalance between tenants and landlords in Binghamton.”

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Aside from utilities, average rent prices have risen 19 percent across the country since 2019, according to the Washington Post, with Broome County seeing a 20.4 percent increase over the same period. The median rent in Binghamton is over $2,800 as of this month, according to Zillow estimates. Local renters pay 24 percent more than the nationwide median.

“The price for housing in Binghamton as a whole has increased as it has across the country.” Jim Slocum of Bearcats Housing, a large property management company, wrote. “I believe the increase in Student Housing has been minimal compared to that of traditional housing for families and professionals.”

Maintenance prices have also risen since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Slocum. While rent inflation has slowed compared to last year, cost of living increases have continued to affect students and community members. The Tenants Union added that the costs associated with living on campus have also been rising, reflecting off-campus trends.

Expenses are rising amid a housing crisis in Binghamton. The City Council recently passed a law to make “unhoused” a protected class. New York State Sen. Lea Webb attended a forum last week that addressed local food and housing insecurity.

“The cost of living has continued to rise at a staggering rate in this country, due in part to COVID and the massive upward transfer of wealth that occurred during that time, but also due to the cunning and deliberate collusion of the landlord class to manipulate the market,” the Tenants Union wrote. “This has affected students in an unique way, as they are unable to work a full time job due to classes, and are dependent on rental properties because they don’t plan to live in Binghamton permanently, putting them at the mercy of a small and shrinking number of landlords who have effectively monopolized student housing.”

The pouches, made by the company Yondr, are small rectangular bags with a lock at the top and can be opened at round magnetic mechanisms called “unlocking bases.” Using grant money, the school district purchased 1,000 pouches for about $30 each. Each student will be issued a pouch for the school year where they will place their phones, AirPods and smartwatches at the beginning of each day. During dismissal, the bases will be placed in the hallways for students to unlock.

With the help of a Student Device Task Force, composed of Vestal High School students, parents, teachers, counselors and administrators, the school district arrived at this policy. Meeting seven times to discuss helping students overcome device overuse, the task force concluded that previously implemented methods to keep students off their phones, like asking them to keep their devices in their lockers, were ineffective. The task force decided a personal electronic device pause would be most effective and to pilot the program in Vestal Middle School because of the students’ ages.

“Some research has shown that device and social media usage among tweens and young teens is growing at a very fast pace,” wrote Patrick Clarke, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction. “Many students receive their first cell phone in their middle school years. From a developmental perspective, these students often struggle to develop healthy habits with digital technology. Consequently, we thought it was important to help these students learn to set appropriate boundaries with electronic devices and social media at a young age.”

The pouches are intended to help students develop both socially and academically. Administrators hope the device pause will give students more time to socialize face-to-face with peers, foster meaningful relationships and curb cyberbullying. In class, eliminating electronic devices is intended to reduce distraction and help students focus on the lesson.

So far, there are no concrete plans to expand the program to elementary or high schools. Vestal high schools are using a different strategy — students will put their phones away in shoe organizers at the beginning of class. The task force and other administrators will evaluate the method’s effectiveness and consider using magnetic pouches in the high schools if the current method fails.

Some parents have opposed the program with concerns that the pouches could become a safety issue if their child is unreachable during an emergency. Others said that lack of communication during the school day could be inconvenient if after-school activities change.

“As I write this, we just completed our first day of school,” Clarke wrote. “There were very few issues with devices or pouches today. The vast majority of students complied with the new protocol. In a lot of ways, it was a typical first day of school with the usual nervousness and excitement that comes with the start of any new school year. For the students I spoke with, the pouches were more a novelty than a concern.”

Community members of all ages gathered to celebrate the raising of the flag, with many dressed in traditional Ukrainian shirts. Several wore blue and yellow — Ukraine’s national colors — while others held flag banners. Victor Czumak, the ceremony’s emcee, opened with an invitation for leaders of Binghamton’s Ukrainian churches to share prayers in English and Ukrainian with the crowd. The ceremony has been hosted in Binghamton since the late 1950s.

“Ukrainians will never give up their century-long quest for freedom and self-determination, to be a contributing member of the democratic community of nations,” said Stephan Wasylko, a member of Binghamton’s Ukrainian community. “We should never forget, as freedom-loving Americans, and never surrender our principles and values to tyrants like Putin for the sake of political expediency, nor some form of enrichment,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The ceremony emphasized standing in solidarity with Ukraine following Russia’s February 2022 invasion, which has resulted in nearly 70,000 dead and between 100,000 and 120,000 wounded, according to recent reporting by The New York Times. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that one-third of all Ukrainian citizens have been forced to leave their homes, with about 3.7 million displaced around the country and 5 million displaced abroad as refugees. The speakers at the Binghamton ceremony called on the community to recognize the gravity of the ongoing fight for Ukraine’s independence.

Leaders from different Ukrainian organizations around Binghamton, like the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and Ukrainian American Veterans, delivered speeches emphasizing resilience amid the grueling war. Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo also spoke.

“We double down on the message that Binghamton stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” Kraham said. “We celebrate the robust and vibrant Ukrainian community here in Binghamton that brings so much to our area, making it a better place to live and raise a family. Binghamton has benefited immeasurably from the contributions of our Ukrainian community members. They are our neighbors, they are our family, they are our friends.”

Following Kraham’s speech, Lupardo took the stage to announce that, at the request of the State Legislature, Gov. Kathy Hochul proclaimed Aug. 24, 2024 as Ukrainian American Heritage Day in New York state.

Many of the speakers expressed their gratitude for American support throughout the war and praised the strength of the Ukrainian people and their determination for independence.

“We really are proud to be New Yorkers, and we are proud to be Ukrainian Americans,” said Christina Charuk, the president of Binghamton’s Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. “In times like these, when the values of democracy and freedom are being tested around the world, the celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day takes on a profound significance. It reminds us of the enduring power of the human spirit and the relentless pursuit of self-determination.”

After her speech, Charuk and several women from the league gathered to sing “Oi U Luzi Chervona Kalyna,” a Ukrainian army song. The song, banned today in occupied territories in Ukraine, is about defending the country from invaders, a symbol of rebellion.

At the end of the ceremony, Czumak invited the children in attendance to help Kraham raise the flag while the crowd sang the Ukrainian national anthem.

“Russia wants to stop things like this,” said Zenon Ivechenko, a member of the Ukrainian American Veterans who has attended the ceremony since his childhood. “They don’t allow their own people to celebrate anything for Ukraine. We’re just grateful we’re able to come here and do this, and we’re grateful for the support the Americans give us.”

The city of Binghamton has rejected the factual findings and conclusions resulting from an investigation by the Office of the New York State Attorney General that found excessive force was used against Hamail Waddell, a Black-Asian man arrested in January 2023.

A video of the arrest, taken outside Dillinger’s Celtic Bar and Eatery, showed Officer Brad Kaczynski of the Binghamton Police Department kneeling on then-24-year-old Waddell’s neck and back while he was handcuffed face down on the pavement. Kaczynski held Waddell in that position for over a minute before another officer intervened. In response to the attorney general’s report, local activist groups gathered over the summer calling for Kaczynski’s termination, saying the kneel used on Waddell reflected the one used on George Floyd in 2020.

Issued on May 10, the investigation by the attorney general’s office found that Kaczynski — who was off-duty at the time of the arrest — used an amount of force that violated both BPD and state policy, which is deemed excessive under both the New York and U.S. Constitutions. The report also found that the other four officers at the scene failed to intervene when necessary.

The report criticized the internal investigation conducted by BPD citing leading questions by investigators, failure to review videos of the incident before questioning and treating Waddell’s account with “undue skepticism” — despite accepting officers’ accounts and disregarding video evidence.

The report recommended that Kaczynski be disciplined, including the possibility of termination. It also recommended training for all officers in using force, proper restraining techniques and effective intervention methods. Per state law, the BPD was given 90 days to respond with steps taken regarding the recommendations.

“I believe the report fails to accurately portray the full circumstances of the incident,” Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham said in a May statement. “In the coming days, we will be reviewing this report and all surrounding information and intend to conduct a thoughtful, comprehensive, and thorough evaluation of the report.”

Shannon T. O’Connor, an attorney for Mancuso Brightman PLLC, issued the response on behalf of the city in early August. In the letter to investigators, the city maintains that Kaczynski did not act inappropriately and that the report’s recommendations would be ineffective.

“Although couched in the terms of remedial action, none of the recommendations listed in the OAG report would have prevented nor changed the circumstances or events of January 1, 2023,” the response read. “Simply put, officers responded to a chaotic, dangerous situation with rolling and assaultive behavior in the streets with the tools available to them. The City’s position is that the officers acted lawfully and will defend that position.”

The city emphasized that BPD provides refresher courses, and annual trainings are conducted on use of force, duty to intervene and defensive tactics, with more than 21,000 hours of training in 2023.

Waddell has been charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest stemming from the initial incident and faces a Sept. 30 trial.

In July, a resolution was brought to the council urging a response to the report, which was rejected in a 4-3 vote. At the time, at least one city councilmember said they wanted to wait until the conclusion of the 90-day period the city was given to respond. The city has said taking steps to address the investigation’s suggestions could impede upon the upcoming legal process, citing these concerns as reasons for rejecting the report’s findings.

“The City is committed to allowing that criminal process to move forward without seeking to interfere with or influence the fact-finding process where the proceedings are governed by, and the parties obligated to comply with, the rules of evidence — unlike this investigation,” the city’s response said.

Editor’s Note (8/22): An earlier version of this article contained unclear language about the timing of the City Council’s role after the attorney general’s report was released. The timeline has been clarified.

When taking a walk down the Spine to get to class or across the Peace Quad on the way to get lunch, you will undoubtedly run into some important faces. Here are some people to familiarize yourself with before coming to campus this fall.

Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger

Stenger has served as University president since 2012. Before arriving at BU, he earned a doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a dean and professor at Lehigh University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and interim provost at the University of Buffalo. As president, Stenger has aimed to promote growth and academic excellence by expanding enrollment and developing international research. The Office of the President can be reached at (607) 777-2131 or by contacting president@binghamton.edu.

Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Rose 

Rose has been the vice president of the Division of Student Affairs since 2008, overseeing initiatives fostering academic success and community well-being. Before arriving at BU, Rose graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law School and worked in the Student Affairs office at Rutgers University. Rose can be reached at (607) 777-4788 or brose@binghamton.edu.

Student Association President McKenzie Skrastins

After her victory in this spring’s election, Skrastins, a rising junior majoring in mathematics, will serve as SA president for the 2024-25 academic year. Skrastins has pledged to work on improving mental health resources and cultivating a more diverse campus while increasing the SA’s accessibility to the greater student population. She can be reached at president@binghamtonsa.org.

BU Council Representative Mackenzie Cooper

Cooper, a rising senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, will serve as this year’s BU Council representative. In this role, she will represent both graduate and undergraduate students as a full voting member of the council, a 10-member body that supervises certain University operations. Cooper has emphasized a commitment to making campus life easier with ideas to jumpstart initiatives targeted toward achieving better parking and improving Off Campus College Transport, in addition to expanding access to mental health resources. She can be reached at bucrep@binghamton.edu.

Senior Case Manager Anna Jantz

Since 2019, Jantz has served as assistant director and advocate of case management services in the Violence, Abuse and Rape Crisis Center, which offers an expansive variety of resources for students who have experienced a violent incident and are seeking support with private and confidential services. Jantz can be reached at ajantz@binghamton.edu.

Medical Director Dr. Richard Moose

Moose is the medical director at the Decker Student Health Services Center. Before arriving at BU in 2018, he was a college physician and medical and administrative director at SUNY Potsdam. Moose can be reached at (607) 777-2221 or rmoose@binghamton.edu.

Associate Director of the Q Center Nick Martin

Martin has worked as associate director at the Q Center, an inclusive space for LGBTQ+ students at BU, since 2021. He studied at Ohio State University and Virginia Tech and held student affairs positions in colleges across the country before coming to BU. As associate director, Martin oversees a space where students of all sexual orientations and gender identities can access resources or obtain support. He can be reached at (607) 777-6054 or martinn@binghamton.edu.

Director of Services for Students with Disabilities Christen Szymanski 

Szymanski has served as director of SSD since 2022, where she utilizes her background as a trained psychologist and experience in disability advocacy to increase campus accessibility for disabled students. The SSD office provides support and helps students with physical and invisible disabilities find accommodations that fit their needs. Szymanski can be reached at (607) 777-2686 or cszymanski@binghamton.edu.

Joseph Leeson-Schatz, Binghamton University’s winning debate director, coaches clubs from the elementary to collegiate level. His newest team of debaters are being coached from prison.

Through the National Prison Debate League (NPDL), Leeson-Schatz was connected to a group of five women at the York Correctional Institution (YCI) in Connecticut. Over the course of 15 weeks, Leeson-Schatz taught them debate skills and techniques over Zoom, preparing them for a competition against debaters from Cornell University. The NPDL is a nonprofit organization that provides debate classes to incarcerated people, connecting them with collegiate teams and allowing them to engage in formal competition while equipping them with skills to effectively express themselves and respectfully disagree with others.

The organization was founded by Daniel Throop, who learned debate while serving a 19-year sentence in the Massachusetts prison system. Since his release two years ago, he has been running the league and bringing educational, communicative spaces to incarcerated people.

Beyond learning how to formally debate, Leeson-Schatz says that the program teaches self-advocacy. He hopes that learning these civil dialogue skills will help incarcerated people communicate and find jobs upon their release. Leeson-Schatz added that the group of women he taught found the lessons empowering and humanizing.

“To be able to sort of have their thoughts valued in that way and have the Cornell students listen to them or respect them and answer their arguments in a way that they weren’t [used to] having,” Leeson-Schatz said. “And they were called by their first names, but normally they’re just called by their last names. So there was a very humanizing aspect to it that they definitely took away from it. They also felt that their skills in their organization, their ability to express themselves, get stronger.”

Having coached students from elementary school to college, Leeson-Schatz said the incarcerated individuals were especially thankful for his time and noted that the participants were dedicated to their work. He shared how apologetic they were when they didn’t get the opportunity to complete it, even if it was for reasons out of their control.

“I had to learn how to adapt because I assume that people have the ability to communicate and work with their partners, but they were not able to work with each other outside of that hour meeting because they were housed in different facilities, and they weren’t allowed additional study halls,” Leeson-Schatz said. “So being able to figure out how to adapt, [and] how to do partner prep work in a situation where your partners can’t get together brought on challenges in new ways to sort of innovate how I go about teaching.”

Leeson-Schatz will return to teaching lessons at YCI in the fall, but this time hopes to expand his class to 10 or 15 people.

While running debate programs in Binghamton city schools, Leeson-Schatz has been dedicated to bringing debate clubs to students who would not normally have access and says that working with the NPDL has been crucial in accomplishing that goal. With the authority of the organization, he has been able to get in contact with the Broome County Correctional Facility, where he hopes to one day bring Binghamton University students in person one hour a week to work on debate skills with incarcerated individuals.

Students can get involved by joining the debate team or taking RHET 354: Argumentative Theory, a class where Leeson-Schatz teaches public speaking and debate skills, preparing students to be able to participate in competitive matches. He also says that students who are particularly interested but don’t want to join either can reach out and let him know that they are passionate about prison politics and want to help.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Stephanie Meshberg, a sophomore majoring in English who is currently taking RHET 354, said. “You can definitely tell like he really enjoys teaching the subject and he wants the kids to learn the subject and learn how to debate and learn these public speaking skills. You can tell he’s really passionate about it and it’s not your ordinary class. You walk in, and all of a sudden you’re expected to debate why cats or dogs are better. It’s such a good experience [and] I would definitely recommend it.”

Some of the students involved in RHET 354 will be the first Binghamton students to participate in an NPDL initiative as part of a debate that will face a team of incarcerated people in Finland. The debate will take place over Zoom this Thursday and the speeches will be live translated with a new automated software, bridging the teams across countries, institutions and languages.

“I really want to get debate to as many people as possible,” Leeson-Schatz said. “People are in prisons who have been wrongly incarcerated and are being dehumanized. […] People who may not be great at expressing themselves can have those tools so that way they don’t find themselves in these same situations, or they could convince people that they’re not actually the ones who committed a crime or anything along those lines.”

The Black Sheep Tavern, located at 142 Washington St., opened earlier this month with a menu including casual drinks, as well as standard fare, like hot dogs and popcorn. Signature drinks are beer towers and punches served in fishbowls, which come in 10 different flavors and include an option for a 160-oz. mega size. Open from Tuesday through Saturday, the tavern offers themed nights, like Pong Night and Hot Dog Night.

Operator Chris Kehoe said that he wants The Black Sheep to be a melting pot for students and locals.

“It’s literally popcorn, hot dogs and cheap drinks,” Kehoe said. “It’s a meeting house for your friends to come hang out. You can play a game of pong, you can watch something on the TVs or you can, for lack of a better term, shoot the shit with each other.”

The tavern includes a custom pong table, and bargoers can watch sports on the TVs behind the bar. Multiple lighting setups create a more laid-back “party mode” with black lights and lasers. The music ranges from country to party hits and even jazz, depending on the night and customers. Kehoe also welcomes the occasional student DJ or guitar player to perform their music.

The decor is one of The Black Sheep’s distinguishing features. A collage of decorations and memorabilia — including a 1960s Pepsi plaque that Kehoe bartered for at a flea market and a Schlitz Beer cuckoo clock that chimes every 15 minutes — cover the brick walls from floor-to-ceiling. Vintage beer signs and a few puzzles he assembled in his spare time are also hung. The ceiling is a canvas, and a surfboard and a Natural Light flag hang over the bar. Kehoe obtained these items from garage sales and secondhand markets and helped create the interior, from the custom woodworking to pouring the epoxy that waterproofs the bar top.

“I’m the partner in this space,” Kehoe said. “But I’m also the operator, so from day one I did it. My hands have touched almost every aspect of construction in here, from design, execution, planning and construction, I’ve touched literally everything.”

Kehoe is not the only one responsible for the space’s decor. The tavern features a growing wall of Polaroids behind the bar showcasing new customers in addition to open space on the walls and ceiling so patrons can bring in items and add personal touches. Over time, Kehoe expressed hopes that the ceiling would be fully covered.

Students and locals have already made their way to the Tavern, and The Black Sheep Instagram page has started sharing pictures of nights at the bar.

“I went there [the] first night for their soft opening and it was so much fun,” Chiara Michos, a senior majoring in English, wrote. “The owner gave us some free shots and the atmosphere was super chill. I will actually be painting a piece for them and hanging it in the bar soon.”

Despite being a new establishment, the tavern has roots in the community. Kehoe said he fell in love with the industry nine years ago as a Binghamton University student and has been working different positions in the downtown bar scene ever since, including co-owning Courtside Bar and Grill. He said opening The Black Sheep is his way of giving back to the community.

“We have a cool city here,” Kehoe said. “It’s just got to grow. It starts with taking the paper out of windows and getting the lights turned on.”

In an official end to election season, the Student Association (SA) Congress voted to certify the results of last week’s SA E-Board and Binghamton University Council representative elections at their meeting on Tuesday night.

Representatives from all six residential communities and from off campus approved the unofficial results posted last week and announced the winner of the vice president for programming (VPP) race, which required a runoff election because of a “back-end glitch” that erased votes cast in the first two hours of the election. 1,705 students voted this year, a drop from previous years and a considerable change from pre-COVID-19 years, according to Benjamin So, the SA’s Elections and Judiciary Committee chair and a senior double-majoring in history and philosophy, politics and law.

After Sunday’s election, Atticus Fauci, a sophomore majoring in economics, was announced as the VPP election’s winner. He prevailed over two opponents — Siriki Doumbia, a senior majoring in business administration, and Ryan Miller, a junior majoring in English. In the first round of the ranked-choice election, he won 325 votes to Doumbia’s 246 and Miller’s 214.

“I spent the last week working with Campus Groups […] to try and recover data from the lost VPP election,” said So. “It went up the chain of command to the point where it went to Campus Groups’ central [office]. As in past, the B-Engaged office at [BU], they were unable to retrieve the data. That is the point of blank where we had to run a run-off election.”

In this year’s contested races, McKenzie Skrastins, the current SA president’s chief of staff and a sophomore majoring in mathematics, won the presidency with 708 votes. Caitlin McMahon, a junior majoring in accounting, won the vice president for finance race with 1,001 votes, while Krizia Yao, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, won the election to become next year’s vice president for multicultural affairs. Luca Cassidy, the incumbent vice president for student success and junior double-majoring in economics and sociology, won reelection.

The races for both BU Council representative and executive vice president were uncontested. Mackenzie Cooper and Batia Rabin, both sophomores majoring in philosophy, politics and law, won their respective elections with 1,634 and 1,154 votes.

Some representatives raised concerns over the results’ validity, questioning So about the VPP election. Logan Blakeslee, an off-campus representative and a senior double-majoring in history and political science, shared his discomfort supporting the election results.

“I opposed certifying the results of the SA elections for two main reasons,” Blakeslee wrote. “The first is that the characterization of the errors in the VPP race as a ‘glitch’ was dishonest. I say with confidence that it was human error, and students deserve to know that. Secondly, multiple candidates had incumbent E-Board members campaigning on their behalf. One used her title while campaigning for a staffer in her own office. Another also campaigned for one of his own staffers. I saw this as a huge conflict of interest that ran contrary to the management policies and the election code.”

SA elections use a ranked-choice voting system, where students can rank candidates in order of preference, leave a vote blank or vote no confidence. In races with three or more candidates, candidates go through elimination rounds, where the candidate with the least first-choice votes have their votes redistributed to their opponents.

This is the second straight year SA elections have faced difficulties. Last year, the race for BU Council representative was redone when the Graduate Student Organization failed to use proper procedure in their election. The SA will continue to use B-Engaged as their official voting platform, because it is approved by University administrators.

Despite opposition, representatives overwhelmingly voted to approve all election results, and current E-Board leaders have begun to train their successors.

“The election has taught me a lot about my mental endurance,” Skrastins wrote in an email. “Throughout this process, I’ve found myself being pulled out of my comfort zone, but I’ve also found myself being able to face my personal fears and flourish. This has given me the confidence that I will be able to lead the SA in whatever is thrown at us next year.”

Held at Downtown Binghamton’s Peacemaker’s Stage, the vigil was organized by community leaders — particularly members of the local Black, queer and transgender communities. Pride flags decorated the space, and tables beside the stage provided attendees with miniature pride flags, water and snacks. The University’s Q Center tabled, handing out stickers and pamphlets and engaging with attendees.

In February, Benedict, an Oklahoma native of Choctaw Nation descent who used they/them pronouns, was beaten by three classmates in a bathroom at Owasso High School. The next day, Benedict was taken to the hospital, where they reported to police that their classmates beat them until they blacked out and that they had bullied them and their friends in the past. Body camera footage revealed that a police officer advised Benedict’s family to not report the incident, claiming it could open them up to legal liability.

After being discharged, Benedict was rushed back to the hospital later that day, where they were pronounced dead. An autopsy summary released last Wednesday ruled their death as a suicide.

“The best way to support the trans and nonbinary community is to share and provide resources, give them money, display flags of support and make sure to use our privileges to uplift and defend queer and trans people facing discrimination throughout society,” the vigil’s planning committee wrote in a statement. “Additionally, get educated on queer and trans issues and experiences, and listen to the queer and trans community in what they need to safely navigate this world and ultimately thrive.”

The school did not report the fight, resulting in a department of education investigation into concerns that they neglected to follow Title II and Title IX protocols. Oklahoma has some of the strictest anti-trans policies in the country, including laws banning transgender students from using bathrooms that do not match their sex assigned at birth and restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors. The school’s negligence and Benedict’s death amid a history of transphobic policy in the state have sparked national outcry.

“It’s really important [for University students to be involved],” said Cadence Darling, a freshman majoring in French who represented the Q Center at the vigil. “It showed to younger youth and the community that’s older that we’re college students that are there in our presence, and there’s always a space that we want to be involved, and both the college itself and the community at large are supporting each other through it.”

While attendees held candles, speakers shared poems and led prayers, and others shared their experiences as trans individuals and the impact Benedict’s passing had on them. Angelina Blasich, one of the vigil’s hosts, highlighted the emotional necessity of the vigil in an opening speech, addressing the crowd through a large red megaphone.

Blasich read a letter from the mother of Korbin, a trans elementary school student from Elmira, NY. In the letter, Korbin’s mother described the ongoing discrimination Korbin faces from the school district, specifically referencing an incident where her teacher allegedly prevented her from using the girl’s bathroom. According to the event organizers, her testimony showed that Benedict’s experience as a transgender student is not isolated.

“​​It’s important to hold this vigil to honor [Benedict] and to address the circumstances that ultimately led to [Benedict’s] death,” they wrote in a statement. “But it’s also important that we, as a community, stand up and assert that the queer and trans people of the Southern Tier are valued and supported and have just as much a right to exist here as anyone else. Transphobia is not unique to [Benedict’s] hometown.”

Despite the nature of the tragedy that sparked the vigil, speakers conveyed messages of resistance, resilience and hope. Blasich often addressed the audience as her “party people” and encouraged attendees to talk to each other.

“Celebration is one of the ways that we vigil,” Blasich said. “We celebrate lives lived, and we celebrate what we have to offer each other. I thank you for taking a moment to celebrate the lives of trans children, the lives of their trans parents, the lives of the beautiful trans people who fill our existence and enrich it so magnificently. This vigil space becomes a celebratory space because celebration is a form of resistance.”

The New York State Senate recently passed a series of bills designed to mitigate flooding and improve responses to natural disasters.

Spearheaded by several senators, including Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the chamber’s majority leader, the initiative consists of eight bills that address a wide swath of concerns related to flood relief and prevention. The omnibus bill covers a range of issues spanning damage compensation to monitoring rising sea levels.

“My constituents understand all too well the dangers posed by severe flooding in our communities,” State Sen. Lea Webb, who represents parts of Broome County in Albany, wrote in a statement. “Here in the Southern Tier, we have lived through multiple historic floods, which we used to call ‘once in a generation’ storms. I am proud of the legislative package advanced by the Senate Democratic majority today, as these initiatives will empower our communities and our municipal leaders with the support they need to implement flood mitigation strategies, protect their homes and shore up our infrastructure.”

A 2016 study conducted by Woidt Engineering and Consulting deemed Broome County the sixth highest flood risk out of 62 counties. The county contains 636 miles of streams, rivers and creeks, of which 222 are designated flooding hazard areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A bill sponsored by State Sen. Shelley Mayer, who represents parts of Westchester County, establishes an Office of Flood Prevention and Mitigation, which will coordinate and direct flood prevention initiatives across the state. Its duties would include publicizing government efforts, establishing flood mitigation programs and conducting studies to improve flood response, collaborating with different government agencies to provide more comprehensive relief.

In a press release, the State Senate’s Democratic majority emphasized their goal to be proactive in storm management, acknowledging a pattern in extreme and unpredictable weather events.

“Due to climate change, regular storms now often become superstorms,” said State Sen. Pete Harckham, a sponsor of two of the bills. “We need to address this issue head-on because residents and business owners have pressing questions about property damage, avenues for assistance and recovery efforts. This new package of legislation focuses on storm management, preparedness and cost assessments.”

Other bills in the package address the vulnerabilities flooding presents for property owners. A bill put forward by State Sen. Neil Breslin calls for a study into flooding insurance availability and accessibility. The Climate Change Property Tax Assessment Relief Act, sponsored by Stewart-Cousins, would allow municipalities to grant tax reliefs to homeowners whose homes have been lost or damaged in a natural disaster.

Stephen Corbisiero, the president of Zero Hour Binghamton — a Binghamton University organization dedicated to environmental justice in the tri-city area — and a senior double-majoring in environmental studies and geography, explained the legislation’s local value.

“Binghamton is extremely vulnerable to flooding, as seen by the 2006 and 2011 floods that led to the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers overtopping their banks, causing millions of dollars in damages to the local community,” Corbisero wrote in an email. “As a [student], it makes me thrilled to hear that the state has the opportunity to continue investing in storm protection and flood mitigation measures for the city and surrounding areas, to ensure that a future similar-level flood won’t have the same decimating impacts as the past two.”

The package represents both a commitment to storm resilience and state lawmakers’ recognition that the impact of climate change is unavoidable.

“Given that we’ve seen the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government go back-and-forth on their perceived importance of climate changes, I am hopeful that states like New York can inspire similar legislation to be passed at higher levels of government, as well as alarm other local and state governments of the limited time to act before the effects of climate change become irreversible,” Corbisero wrote.

As campaign season begins to heat up, Jonathan Krasno, a professor of political science and the chair of the Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee, has made a name for himself as an expert witness in campaign finance and redistricting cases.

Most recently, Krasno testified for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in their defense against the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which aimed to overturn limits on coordinated expenditures — when a person who wants to support a specific candidate can donate unlimited amounts of money to their party, which can then fund a specific campaign. In this way, large donors can back candidates indirectly, even if not allowed to directly donate.

“When I was deposed, this was just after Kevin McCarthy had lost his job as Republican speaker and the line was, well, if he’d been able to direct party money more effectively, he could have prevented the revolt against him,” Krasno said. “But that’s not the way the system’s supposed to work, right? You’re not supposed to be able to use money as a cudgel to force people to do stuff. That’s in fact, exactly what they say you’re not supposed to do.”

Krasno’s experience with political science began over 30 years ago when he and a friend read an article that argued money spent on incumbents’ campaigns had no impact on the vote and weren’t convinced. They found the methods of analysis problematic and decided to do their research to figure out why. In 1993, Krasno and his colleague published their findings, arguing that money spent on incumbents’ campaigns does affect the number of votes the candidate earns. In what Krasno called a “throwaway line” at the end, they stated that their research meant that campaign finance laws affect both incumbents and challengers.

“It didn’t seem like a lot to us,” he said, “but within a couple of years I got a [call] from the [FEC] asking me about that, and what I thought of a particular law that was being passed, and whether I thought that this made any sense.”

He said he was valuable to the commission because he was “the only person in the country who was in favor of some of the laws that were being passed at the time.” Krasno’s unique position in support of campaign finance regulations and his expertise have led him to serve as an expert witness in several cases since then.

Krasno emphasized that some campaigns raise more money than they can spend, referencing a recent South Carolina Senate race where each candidate raised $100 million, saying it is impossible to spend that amount in a single race, and that “there’s nothing left to buy.”

He also noted the practice of running multimillion-dollar mega-campaigns is partially perpetuated by voters because many don’t pay attention to politics. As a result, campaigns can afford to push vague, short commercials that hold a viewer’s attention long enough for them to remember the candidate but not necessarily know anything more. The more money a campaign earns, the more ads they can run.

“The complaints that people have about these high spending campaigns with these dumbed-down messages [are] like a self fulfilling prophecy — we’re going to get those things because that’s the audience that’s out there,” Krasno said. “Until we have a different audience, [then] we’re going to be sort of rewarded for this … If the public was tuned in, we wouldn’t need to have multimillion-dollar campaigns.”

More recently, Krasno has provided expert analysis on a redistricting case in Broome County, which was brought by county residents alleging that the County Legislature had violated redistricting guidelines by choosing a map that split the Town of Maine into three separate districts. In his research, Krasno found that the county had ignored certain state districting laws in drawing its 2020 maps, which as a result, gave an advantage to local Republicans. A court rejected the gerrymandered map, ordering it redrawn.

Krasno earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his master’s and Ph.D. at the University of California-Berkeley. His research interests include American politics, public opinion and campaigns and campaign finance. He won the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2010-2011.