When I arrived in Binghamton four years ago, I had no ambition for leadership. I instead found comfort in a few close friends, and I had planned to keep my head down, do well in my classes and graduate. It would be a quiet existence, sure, but I had never wanted more, and I viewed those who strove for awards and recognition as superficial.

After all, in high school, that plan had worked perfectly. I wasn’t involved in any clubs, didn’t look for honors and had middling grades. But despite that, I found soul-healing community in a group of friends that included a brown-haired girl I hated at first who later became my best friend. In what is the classic extrovert-introvert dynamic, she forced me out of my shell and demanded that I become the best version of myself.

When I moved to upstate New York for college (she went down to North Carolina), I looked — desperately searched — for her in everyone I met. I didn’t need to join any organizations to find community; I could find it in others! But once again, she demanded I make something of myself, telling me I couldn’t stay in my bubble forever.

So I joined Pipe Dream on a whim, partially because of her advice, and it was life-changing. I met a team of dedicated and passionate writers, editors, photographers and illustrators who put their personal needs aside for those of the paper. And I’m forever grateful to them for their example.

At a school with no journalism or communications program, Pipe Dream enjoys no institutional support and is consequently held together by its staff’s sheer force of will. And when I joined leadership as news editor in my junior year, I realized, finally, that finding community and dedicating myself to something larger are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are intertwined.

Now, like most of the news stories I’ve written, this story doesn’t have a fully happy ending. Around two years ago, that friend, Talia, whom I most credit for making me the person I am today, was told she had brain cancer. And life stopped. The subject of our phone calls soon shifted from weekend plans and when we’d see each other next to the medication she was taking and her healing journey.

And after I had been chosen to lead this paper at the tail end of my junior year, I received a text from her phone number after a period of silence. She had died, a friend of her mother wrote, and she loved me.

I’ve grappled hard in recent weeks with what graduating really means. And writing this column, walking across the stage and planning the future, they all mean saying a final goodbye to the fresh-eyed, naive person I used to be. And a goodbye to the last stage of my life that Talia was alive to see.

Still, this year leading the organization that’s provided purpose and stability to my life has been rewarding beyond measure, and no number of words, columns or printed pages could adequately allow me to express my love for Pipe Dream and its history. The community I’ve found here has inspired me, like Talia did, to be the best version of myself.

In the last two years, our team has covered unthinkable tragedies, political developments and the largest wave of student demonstrations in a generation with precision, care and compassion. It’s a thankless endeavor that, despite the extremists’ endless and unjustified vitriol, has only furthered my love and commitment to local news.

As a freshman, I held college at arm’s length, unsure if I would ever find my place here. Now, four years later, I’m proud to say I found it in a basement office in the University Union filled with the most inspiring people I’ve ever met, who remind me every day of Talia’s love for me and her demand that I become the person I was meant to be. The staff here, they taught me how to love something, and how to be a leader.

Now, as I reflect on my year as editor-in-chief, my only hope is that I gave enough back to the paper that gave so much to me.

Those who met me at the beginning will remember an emotional, headstrong, opinionated and relentless 18-year-old who thought he knew what he wanted from the world and how to get it. And while I’m still all those things, I’m forever indebted to the loving people I’ve met here who have shaped me into someone better.

Grace and Emma: I couldn’t be more excited about the new heights to which you’ll take the paper. Support each other and know that at the end of next year, you’ll be so incredibly proud of yourselves.

Lia: I would not have survived the last two years without your endless empathy, steadfast partnership and willingness to take a phone call at all hours of the night. Knowing that there’s another who loves Pipe Dream as much as I do makes it all worth it.

Bella and Kate: The two of you are my role models, and I wish I had met you sooner. Becoming an adult is scary, but seeing you both grow with such grace and generosity has been reassuring.

Hamza: Your commitment to this organization was so inspiring to witness as a sophomore. I hope I made you proud.

Caspar: Thank you for teaching me about credit cards, car maintenance and photography. Our nights at The Belmar are some of my fondest memories, and the impact you’ve left on me runs deeper than you know. You’ll do amazing things, and I can’t wait to see your name on a scientific prize.

Tresa, Khudija and Hannah: Ending these four years with you all by my side just feels right.

Ella and Joseph: I admire you both for taking on the News Desk, my second home here. The responsibility of being news editor is weighty, and the position demands only the best.

Paulette and Alex: My platonic soulmates, it’s been a hard few years. But I always say, “You can’t make old friends,” and I’m grateful beyond words for you both.

Tommy: A surprise that changed my life. I’m constantly in awe of your patience and kind soul.

Mom, Dad and Bryan: Thank you for your constant support and for building the foundation on which I could grow.

Talia: I miss you more than words, or tears, could ever express, and as long as I am alive, you will be missed and remembered. You always pushed me to be the best version of myself, and all of this, it was all for you.

And to Pipe Dream’s future editors, wherever and whoever you may be: We need you. You don’t need to come to college wanting to lead, or even wanting to be a journalist at all. Most of us don’t. But this community needs, and deserves, the best in you.

Brandon Ng, a senior double-majoring in history and economics, is Pipe Dream’s editor-in-chief. He was news editor from 2023-24. 

The case has been in the discovery phase of civil litigation that sees motions made to the court, the deposition of witnesses and a review of evidence.

The former professor, Karen Barzman, alleged sex-based discrimination and retaliation in connection with an abusive relationship with John Tagg, a SUNY distinguished professor of art history. The lawsuit names as defendants SUNY; Donald Nieman, a professor of history and a former provost; Celia Klin, the dean of Harpur College; Andrew Baker, the Title IX coordinator; and Nancy Um, a former associate professor of art history.

The press office at the New York attorney general’s office, which represents the defendants, referred a request to comment to SUNY. Tagg and spokespeople for SUNY and the University did not return requests for comment.

After Tagg arranged for Barzman’s hiring, he allegedly demeaned her at work while encouraging colleagues in the art history department to do the same, according to court filings. Barzman previously told Pipe Dream that she was ostracized from the department after their relationship ended in 2005.

“Defendants’ violations arise from Defendants’ deliberate indifference over an extended period to Dr. Barzman’s complaints of sex-based harassment and domestic violence against the former chair of Art History at Binghamton, John Tagg,” the original complaint, filed in April 2022, read.

In 2021, Barzman signed an agreement allowing her to receive one year’s salary and supervise her remaining doctoral students in exchange for severing her relationship with the University. She previously characterized the agreement as compulsory.

In March 2023, the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case was denied by Thomas J. McAvoy, a senior district court judge. The following discovery process encompassed “over 25,000 pages of documents, eight depositions and two expert reports,” according to a letter to the court from one of Barzman’s attorneys.

A motion for summary judgment, a request for adjudication without proceeding to a trial, was then filed in November 2024 by Brian Matula, an assistant attorney general representing the defendants. It primarily argued that Barzman’s case was untimely and that she failed both to present sufficient evidence to support her claims and “establish a question of material fact.”

“Even if Plaintiff establishes that she experienced ‘severe, pervasive and objectionably offensive conduct,’ she cannot establish that the University had actual knowledge of the conduct and that the University was deliberately indifferent to that conduct,” it read, specifically addressing a Title IX claim.

Amy Robinson, Barzman’s attorney, submitted an opposing memorandum to the court in December.

“The university did nothing,” its preliminary statement read. “Binghamton administrators never launched an investigation, never issued a report of their investigative findings, never took affirmative steps to transfer or protect Dr. Barzman, and never made recommendations or interventions. Binghamton utterly failed Dr. Barzman, leaving her vulnerable and unprotected.”

“As a result, she suffered — often needlessly — for decades,” it added.

The last public document on record, a memorandum in further support of summary judgment, was filed by Matula on Jan. 17.

“Plaintiff has failed to establish a question of material fact which would allow her claims to proceed to trial,” it read. “In lieu of presenting the Court with factual proof supporting her claims, Plaintiff instead makes baseless technical arguments and raises ‘objections’ to Defendants’ Statement of Material Facts.”

A decision from a judge on the defendants’ motion for summary judgment is expected within the next few months.

The special election was ordered by the SA’s Judicial Board in a scathing opinion that found the committee had “grievously erred” when tabulating votes last month, as it failed to use the mandated ranked choice procedure and erroneously moved toward certifying the results when neither candidate had earned a majority.

Now, in a reversal from last month, Nick Ginsberg, a junior double-majoring in political science and sociology, won 747 votes to beat incumbent Batia Rabin, a junior double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and women, gender and sexuality studies, who had 654 votes. The original election had been one of the closest elections in recent memory.

“I am really excited to hit the ground running next year to bring change to the EVP office!” Ginsberg wrote to Pipe Dream. “The entire process between the Judicial Board and special election was stressful, but important to ensure that all votes were counted properly on a ballot that was correctly made.”

Because of the grievance, the SA Congress had tabled a vote to certify the results at a meeting on April 1. At its last meeting on April 22, it voted to approve the special election’s abbreviated timeline and fully rejected certification.

The election was held two days after the timeline was approved.

In ruling for Ginsberg, the board said that its findings may have implications for the bitterly contested University Council representative race, which was administered by the SA and the Graduate Student Organization and ended with 36 votes separating the two candidates. It ordered the committee to provide disaggregated vote totals to both candidates.

“Providing this data would give clarity to both candidates, especially if write-ins, no confidence selections, or partial blanks either collectively or individually exceeded the 167 vote margin of victory for SA ballots or the even slimmer 36 vote gap when included GSO ballots,” the April 15 ruling read.

The over 4,000-word opinion found that the Elections Committee’s errors constituted “widespread faulty administration of the election.”

“I want to start by thanking everyone that voted for me both times,” Rabin told Pipe Dream. “It was my honor to serve in this role this year and I had so much fun doing it. I am understandably frustrated and saddened by the results of the special election considering I won the first one.”

“I also feel that many of the people that voted for me in the first election were disenfranchised as a result of the decision to hold a special election because their votes were discarded,” they added. “It is even more frustrating because there had been a precedent to have no confidence on the ballot that had never before been questioned and because of what feels like a slightly arbitrary decision made by J-Board I lost.”

With all known outstanding grievances resolved, the SA Congress is expected to hold certification votes for the executive vice president and the University Council representative at its meeting tonight.

“At Binghamton University, all five affected students have had their SEVIS records reverted back to Active status, allowing them to continue their studies,” the spokesperson wrote, referring to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, an online platform run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that manages and tracks information for international students.

“The University remains committed to actively monitoring this evolving situation daily,” the statement continued.

They are among 46 students across the SUNY system who were impacted. As of Monday afternoon, every student has seen their legal status restored, a SUNY spokesperson told Pipe Dream.

The spokesperson added: “We are committed to the success of all SUNY students, and we will continue to closely monitor this situation.”

The decision to restore legal status was revealed by a Justice Department lawyer to a federal judge in court. It was characterized as temporary, as the Trump administration is developing a new system to review and terminate records for international students, per reporting from The New York Times.

The reversal comes as the federal government faces a wave of lawsuits from affected students. According to analysis by the publication Inside Higher Ed, over 1,800 students saw a status change, though other estimates range as high as 4,700.

“Our International Student and Scholar Services team will continue to provide personalized outreach and guidance to students impacted by changes to their status,” the University spokesperson wrote.

Pipe Dream first reported earlier this month that five students at BU — and 21 SUNY students — had seen a change-of-visa status. As of Friday morning, the Trump administration has not contacted administrators for enforcement purposes, the University spokesperson said.

The heightened federal action comes as colleges and universities have been subject to intense scrutiny in recent months. Facing a devastating multibillion-dollar funding cut after rejecting federal demands, Harvard University became the first to stand against the Trump administration, suing in federal court last week.

“The student visa program has been a tremendous asset to our local universities and colleges, opening doors for international students to pursue their education and contribute to our community,” wrote Rep. Josh Riley. “Students on visas must adhere to the law, and it’s essential that the administration overseeing those visas do the same — it’s just common sense.”

In March, the University and 59 other higher education institutions received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights warning of “potential enforcement actions” if it failed to meet its obligations to protect Jewish students under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

This followed the January 2024 start of an investigation into the University, spurred by a complaint from the editor-in-chief of Campus Reform, a conservative media outlet.

While attending an event at SUNY Plattsburgh earlier in April, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said the American economy has benefited from the work and research done by international students.

“And so it’s very worrisome that we’re seeing backsliding from our commitment to serving international students,” King said. “I hope that the courts will step in. I also hope Congress will step in to ensure that the United States can continue to be a beacon of higher education for the world.”

The board met on April 17 to hear a grievance from Mackenzie Cooper, the incumbent council representative, who alleged violations of the Elections Code committed by her opponent, Irene Cui, and John Ferrara, the president of the University’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter.

Cooper, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, had said that social media posts, including one saying she was a “pro-apartheid lobbyist,” had defamed her. She argued that this was unprotected speech and violated the Student Association’s prohibition on negative campaigning.

Comprised of four members of the SA Judicial Board, the Graduate Student Organization’s chief judicial officer and two members elected by the GSO Senate, the board unanimously ruled that Cui, a sophomore majoring in economics, was “not responsible” for her supporters’ actions “because she made ‘good faith’ efforts to prevent their actions.”

“Given these findings, there is no action that the Joint Grievance Board could take against John Ferrara or the YDSA, even assuming that their conduct was in fact defamatory,” the decision read.

It added that Cooper did not provide evidence that Cui “‘explicitly’ accepted the services of Ferrara or the YDSA.” In their testimony, both Cui and Ferrara, a senior double-majoring in biology and Italian, said that neither YDSA nor Ferrara served as Cui’s campaign staff, and that she had rejected the YDSA’s endorsement.

“Though it is certainly plausible (and perhaps even probable) that Cui was aware of the posts made by Ferrara and the YDSA, the Petitioner was not able to provide any evidence — beyond the fact that Cui was tagged in some of the posts in question here — that Cui was actually aware of the conduct that was occurring,” the board wrote.

In preliminary results released by the Elections Committee, Cui received just 36 votes more than Cooper. The SA Congress, at its last meetings, tabled certification of the BU Council representative race pending the outcome of the Joint Grievance Board’s ruling. It also tabled certification at a meeting on April 1.

“It’s truly disappointing to see how the polarization we associate with national politics has now infiltrated campus elections,” Cooper wrote to Pipe Dream. “This election was supposed to be about improving the student experience, advocating for student voices, and making real, positive change at Binghamton. Instead, it became distorted — driven not by ideas or vision, but by personal attacks and identity-based smears.”

“The decision of this Joint Grievance Board sets an incredibly dangerous precedent,” she added. “It signals that mudslinging, misinformation, and discriminatory rhetoric are acceptable strategies for winning elections on this campus. That is not the kind of campus culture we should accept, and it is not the kind of student leadership our community deserves.”

The board’s decision follows another released on April 1 that allowed Cui back on the campuswide ballot five days after the election was held on March 27. She was previously removed from the ballot amid contentious debate over her eligibility, which centered around interpretations of a clause in the SA’s Management Policies.

Cui was temporarily restored to the ballot on March 20, just hours before the candidates in this year’s election met in a debate.

“I concur with the Joint Grievance Board’s decision to rule in my favor,” Cui wrote to Pipe Dream. “Throughout my campaign, I worked hard to run with integrity and fairness, and ensured that anyone offering support did so within the bounds of our election rules. I’m extremely grateful for all the support and look forward to serving our campus community!”

Though the grievance process has been explored before — notably in 2023 — this year’s election has seen unprecedented intervention by the Judicial Board and the Joint Grievance Board.

“We believe that the board’s unanimous ruling in our favor is both rational and just,” wrote Ferrara and the YDSA. “We stand by our protected free speech that criticized Cooper’s Zionist politics and her stipend from the Israel on Campus Coalition. Our student organizations and elected officials should stand against a state committing genocide, not for it.”

The Judicial Board, earlier this month, also ordered a special election for executive vice president in a decision marked by its tone. It described the SA’s Elections and Judiciary Committee’s actions in terms including “grievously erred,” “erroneously” and “inexcusable.” The results are expected to be announced soon.

Editor’s Note: Joseph Brugellis, a member of the Joint Grievance Board, is an assistant news editor. He had no part in the writing or editing of this article.

Originally formed as Campus Against Cancer, the organization has existed for over 15 years. At the beginning of each fall semester, its leadership sets a fundraising goal to reach by the relay’s end, with past campaigns raising over $70,000. This year’s haul marks an over $12,000 jump from last year.

The eight-hour celebration began with an opening ceremony where members of ACS’ leadership team shared their personal ties to cancer.

“Relay for Life is a national fundraiser that is run by the American Cancer Society to raise funds for cancer research, treatment, and advocacy,” John Lauricella, a senior majoring in business administration, wrote in an email. “It was founded in 1985, when someone continuously walked/ran around a track for 24 straight hours to raise money, demonstrating the idea that cancer never sleeps.”

“Another major goal aside from fundraising is community engagement,” he added. “We love involving local survivors for our Survivor Dinner, and recognizing loved ones who have passed from cancer in our Luminaria Ceremony. ACS on campus provides a community for people who have been heavily impacted by this horrible disease and want to do something about it.”

The opening ceremony was followed by a performance by Note to Self, an a cappella group that focuses on civic engagement. Then, cancer survivors and caregivers completed a lap around a track in the Mandela Room and were honored at a special dinner in a private room nearby.

Performers later in the evening included Tap That, a tap dancing group; Rhythm Method, an a cappella group that performs ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s hits; Explorchestra, a musical group that provides an opportunity for students to perform original compositions; and the Binghamton Ballroom Dance Association, which represents the University in intercollegiate competitions.

The Mandela Room and Old Union Hall were impeccably and thoughtfully decked out with casino and 1920s-themed decor, featuring a variety of student organizations tabling, games, carnival food and inflatables.

“Planning Relay for Life is logistically challenging,” Lauricella wrote. “There are a lot of steps and thoughts that go into running such a large-scale event, and making sure it goes well. We have a big executive board and event leadership team for a reason. On the day-of, we began setting up the event at 9 a.m., and did not finish until just before the event started at 4 p.m.”

Each February, ACS hosts a kickoff that begins the process of building toward Relay, and this year’s event was held at 20 Hawley St. in Downtown Binghamton.

There were several different types of relay laps, including three-legged, potato sack, red light, green light, and empty. After the relay was concluded, a Luminaria Ceremony was held, honoring those who have lost their lives or are battling cancer. As several members of the organization’s leadership shared emotional stories of loss and grief, a slideshow with music displayed names, pictures and stories, and the room was lit solely by electric candles in paper bags lining the room with messages of love and support.

The night ended with the drawing of the raffle winners, who received prizes like cases of energy drinks, Rumble Ponies tickets and merchandise, themed baskets and a Nutribullet.

“Goals are achieved each year through the passion and hard work of many individuals,” Lauricella wrote. “This year I am so grateful to have had an amazing E-Board to support our mission and help us achieve our goals. If you believe in a cause so deeply, it doesn’t feel like work. You truly enjoy each and every moment of helping other people.”

During Relay’s closing ceremony, the fundraising total was called: $31,301.20.

Editor’s Note: Emma Alicea, the experience chair of American Cancer Society on Campus, is the copy desk chief. She had no part in the writing or editing of this article. 

In yet another twist to a chaotic election season, the Student Association Judicial Board, in a decision released on Wednesday, ordered a special election for the position of executive vice president, citing serious errors committed by the Elections and Judiciary Committee.

In an over-4,000-word opinion, a unanimous Judicial Board held that the mistakes constituted “widespread faulty administration of the election.” Problems occurred with the committee incorrectly considering “no confidence” and write-in ballots.

“And voters were allowed to choose other options besides Rabin or Ginsberg: they could select “No Confidence” or instead write in a preferred candidate,” the opinion reads. “This directly contributed to why not one candidate initially received more than 50%. The E+J Committee’s refusal to proceed with ranked choice allocation is therefore inexcusable.”

According to the Management Policies, one of the SA’s governing documents, a candidate must achieve a majority — not just a plurality — of all votes cast. Once “no confidence” and write-in votes were considered, incumbent Batia Rabin’s 47 percent and Nick Ginsberg’s 45.5 percent meant neither secured at least 50 percent of the vote.

“The E+J committee erroneously declined to proceed with ranked choice voting, even though no candidate received a majority of votes after the first round,” the board wrote. “Moreover, there were glaring errors in how write-ins, No Confidence, and partial blank ballots were tabulated in ways that could have altered the ultimate outcome of the race.”

The committee’s inclusion of “no confidence” as an option on the ballot, the Judicial Board held, lacked textual grounding in the Management Policies, Elections Code or the SA Constitution. This is despite “the enormous precedent that has been set previously,” the board wrote, referring to the fact that “no confidence” has been an option on the ballot for many years.”

“The inclusion of a ‘No Confidence’ option on the ballot without any expressed authority to do so was improper and likely caused voter disenfranchisement when marking up ballots,” the board wrote. “E+J also grievously erred in not considering write-ins as candidates for ranked choice purposes.”

At a meeting on April 1 where they planned to certify the election results, Congress representatives voted to table certification of the executive vice president race after Ginsberg, a junior double-majoring in political science and sociology, made public his grievance and urged the body to await a decision from the Judicial Board.

At the hearing before the board on April 5, Ginsberg said that the SA’s Management Policies require a candidate to have a majority of all votes cast. As Rabin earned only 47 percent when no-confidence and write-in votes were factored in, he argued that the vote-counting was marked by improper procedure.

The Judicial Board’s decision touched on the hotly contested race for University Council representative, which was ultimately decided by just 36 votes after disputes over ballot eligibility and a previous grievance hearing. The board wrote that “the E+J’s tabulation errors might have implications for the BU Council Representative election.”

In the board’s verdict, the Elections Committee was explicitly ordered to follow established ranked-choice voting procedure and to include “no confidence” as a write-in option. For future elections, the board ordered “no confidence” removed from ballots absent action from the SA Congress, and it instructed the Elections Committee to provide detailed voter reports to the two candidates in the race for council representative.

“I am happy with the Judicial Board’s decision because we have to ensure that every vote is tabulated correctly and given the same weight as another. Each student that votes pays the student activity fee, and all voices must be heard,” Ginsberg wrote to Pipe Dream. “To ensure proper tabulation and administration of the election is to ensure that every member of the Student Association has a properly elected officer to represent them in the coming academic year. Let me know if you have any other questions for me.”

Requests for comment were left with the Elections and Judiciary Committee and Rabin. It is unclear when the special election will be held.

This is a breaking story, and it will be updated.

Editor’s Note: Joseph Brugellis, the vice chief justice of the Judicial Board who authored this decision, is an assistant news editor. He had no part in the writing or editing of this article.

The legal developments in the investigation, colloquially termed the “Colonial Case” for one of the restaurants partially owned by the men that has since closed, saw three individuals initially charged with an array of crimes: Yaron Kweller, his brother Leor, and Jordan Rindgen.

The three civil lawsuits have been brought independently in federal district court against the city of Binghamton; Broome County; Michael Korchak, the district attorney who oversaw the prosecutions; two assistant district attorneys and one of the office’s investigators; the police chief, Joseph Zikuski and several of his officers; and the two women who originally accused both Kwellers and Rindgen.

“We expect the cases to be consolidated and all done at the same time,” said Oscar Michelen, an attorney representing both Kwellers.

“We filed Leor and his wife’s claim to vindicate his wrongful treatment and the damages that he and his family suffered as a result of these events,” he added.

Attorneys for the city, county and all other named defendants did not return requests for comment.

The lawsuits allege that the two women, Hailey Demkovich and Samantha Herceg, made false accusations, after which the city and county, through its “employees, officers and agents,” deliberately violated plaintiffs’ civil rights by arresting him without probable cause and prosecuting him.

“The result of these events — and all of the acts and omissions set forth herein — was the arrest and prosecution of an innocent man without probable cause, the destruction of his previously stellar reputation; the ruination of his dream job and career; and irreparable harm to his personal and family life,” wrote attorneys for Leor Kweller and his wife, Zoe Liberman, in the complaint filed on March 18.

Leor Kweller’s complaint follows two federal lawsuits filed by Yaron Kweller and Rindgen in October 2024. The two were acquitted at trial in 2023 after a Broome County jury deliberated for nearly two hours.

Charges against Leor Kweller were thrown out by Broome County Court Judge Carol Cocchiola in May 2023.

The filing’s statement of facts alleges the Binghamton Police Department’s initial investigation yielded “Many Reasons to Doubt their Veracity and Reliability,” referring to Herceg and Demkovich. When the district attorney’s office joined the case, it then did not adequately train Alyssa Congdon, one of the assistant district attorneys, in discovery obligations, prosecutorial responsibilities and the use of digital tools, the attorneys say.

“Defendant Congdon did not understand her legal obligations as a prosecutor; she did not know what materials constituted Brady or Giglio,” the filing reads, referring to two Supreme Court cases that established prosecutors’ responsibility to disclose exculpatory and impeachment evidence to the defense.

A lack of oversight from supervisors, including a failure to obtain electronic communications from Herceg’s and Demkovich’s phones that were eventually revealed in July 2023 via judicial subpoena, stemmed from “a lack of training, supervision, and proper procedure within” the district attorney’s office and the police department, the filing continued.

This extended to all three plaintiffs’ arrests — which the complaint alleges were without probable cause but rather because of a “mistake of law and mistaken belief.”

The complaint then referenced Cocchiola’s decision in May 2023 to drop the charges against Leor Kweller, adding that the damages suffered persist. It alleges several violations of federal and state law, including false arrest, malicious prosecution and due process violations under the U.S. Constitution. The filing also claims that defendants violated parts of the New York State Constitution guaranteeing “due process of law and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.”

When Paul Battisti, Korchak’s successor as district attorney and previously a defense lawyer involved in the original case, was elected, a special prosecutor was appointed to oversee the appeal. The prosecutor, Weeden A. Wetmore, the district attorney of Chemung County, notified the appellate court in February 2024 of his intent to withdraw the appeal.

“Defendants did proceed with the prosecution and appeal out of malice; recklessness; willful blindness; and for ulterior motives including their own promotion, publicity, and appeasement of public pressure,” the complaint says.

They are among 21 SUNY students who have seen a change-of-visa status as of April 9, a SUNY spokesperson told Pipe Dream. Reports on Thursday from Stony Brook University, another SUNY center, said that 11 students have had their visas terminated.

“SUNY is monitoring this evolving situation and working with campuses to ensure our students know their rights, are referred to the New York State Office for New Americans for any needed legal support, and understand their options to continue their education,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

The Trump administration has revoked more than 965 student visas nationwide as of April 12, according to an oft-cited analysis by the publication Inside Higher Ed. The heightened federal action comes as colleges and universities face intense scrutiny.

The University spokesperson told Pipe Dream that the administration has not requested that BU turn over identifying student information for potential enforcement action. It is unclear why the students at BU and across SUNY had their visas revoked.

The federal government’s targeting of universities has been wide-ranging, from funding cuts and guidance warning against diversity, equity and inclusion programming to the targeting of student activists. Senior administration officials have explained much of the crackdown by accusing college campuses of allowing antisemitism and ideological indoctrination to spread unchecked.

According to a New York Times report, Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who led negotiations on behalf of pro-Palestinian activists at Columbia University, is believed to be the first detained by the government. Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, justified the detention with a 1952 law that allows officials to deport those believed to pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” In the first decision on Khalil’s case, a Louisiana judge ruled on Friday that the government could deport Khalil, upholding the Trump administration’s use of the law.

President Donald Trump, in an executive order signed on Jan. 29, declared that his administration would use “all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”

In March, alongside 59 other higher education institutions, BU received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights warning of “potential enforcement actions” if it failed to meet its obligations to protect Jewish students under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

This follows the January 2024 start of an investigation into the University spurred by a complaint from the editor-in-chief of Campus Reform, a conservative media outlet.

Federal agencies have targeted funding for the country’s top universities to force concessions and policy changes. Most notably, Columbia, which faced the revocation of $400 million in grants and contracts, bowed to a list of demands from the administration, including the hiring of 36 security officers with arrest power, a ban on masks during protests and the appointment of a senior administrator to oversee its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department.

Other targeted universities include Brown, which faces a loss of $510 million; Cornell, which could lose over $1 billion; and Northwestern, which could lose nearly $800 million.

Last month, BU said graduate programs and offers would proceed as planned despite the uncertain future of federal funding.

“Late-breaking changes at this crucial time of the recruitment season are unwarranted and would unnecessarily violate the trust of applicants who aspire to join our doctoral programs,” the Graduate School dean, Terrence Deak, wrote in a message to the campus community at the time. “We, therefore, recommend that all graduate programs proceed with their graduate recruitment efforts as planned.”

With a clublike atmosphere, large floor-to-ceiling windows and an already-large crowd, we knew what to expect: hearty portions and quick service. We settled in, I ordered a Diet Pepsi and our server dropped off a stack of menus.

For our first course, Caspar chose an order of four boneless wings tossed in a garlic parmesan sauce with ranch, and after some agonizing, I selected the Grove sliders over the fried chicken sliders. We, of course, went halfsies.

With a light and crispy exterior and paired with a creamy buttermilk ranch, the wings were the perfect way to whet our appetites. They weren’t too heavy and complemented the sliders — a medium-rare beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and spicy mayo on a toasted mini pretzel bun — well. Caspar liked the sliders more, but I thought the wings were a better appetizer.

We were both left excited for the main courses.

After our servers took the plates away — and brought me another Diet Pepsi — we were treated to the stars of the show. Caspar, always the carnivore, knew before we had left campus that he wanted the steak sandwich, which he ordered medium-rare with a side of poutine. I opted for a salmon filet, served alongside a bed of fluffy rice, sauteed vegetables and a butter-based sauce.

I insisted we go halfsies again.

I thought the steak was incredibly tender and the poutine’s sauce was the perfect mix of creamy, tangy and flavorful. But then, his sandwich disappeared before I had the chance to take another bite.

My salmon, which I was worried would arrive overcooked, was a perfect medium-rare and boasted a crispy and flavorful crust. The side vegetables, smacking of citrus, were a surprise standout, perhaps even overshadowing the main course, and the rice reminded me of a 3 a.m. halal platter. It was spiced and pillowy, the perfect complement to the fish and vegetables.

After the servers returned to clear the table — and I resisted ordering another refill — our desserts were delivered. Caspar ordered the cheesecake drizzled with house chocolate and caramel sauce, and I chose the chocolate cake.

Though I’m not a fan of heavy desserts, I found the cheesecake tangy and complex. The whipped cream it came with helped to break up the richness and added some lightness to the plate.

The chocolate cake, while delicious, was far too rich for me. Spongy and thick, it proved to be too much for me after two filling courses. We didn’t fail to clean our plates; however, Caspar jumped in to finish what I had started. We walked out full and happy.

So if you’re looking for a fun night out at one of Binghamton’s premier nightlife locations without breaking the bank, look no further than The Grove’s $30 fixed dinner menu.

Then, on Wednesday morning, the SA’s E-Board vetoed it, saying in a message to students that if allowed to proceed, the proposed changes would “contribute to a power imbalance in the Student Association.”

The resolution included four main components: overhauling Congress’ absence policy, mandating the completion of parliamentary procedure courses for the body’s leadership, allowing the chairs of special committees to retain voting power and the ability to step down from other committee positions, and clarifying succession for the position of parliamentarian.

It was authored by Saul Hakim, an off-campus representative and a senior double-majoring in political science and Judaic studies, who had said it addressed “major constitutional issues.” The E-Board’s veto message specifically pointed to the clause on privileges for special committee chairs.

“The Executive Board believes that all positions within the SA should have the same abilities, and that the legislation passed on Tuesday does not reflect this,” McKenzie Skrastins, the newly reelected SA president and a junior majoring in mathematics, wrote to Pipe Dream.

Hakim told Pipe Dream that he opposes the decision to veto — that while the E-Board has the authority to do so, it has “no legitimate basis to interfere with an internal update to the Management Policies that affects only Congress.”

“This was not a policy disagreement — it was a small group overriding the will of every single representative in Congress on ideological grounds, and it sets a troubling precedent for executive interference,” he said, adding that he plans to move to override the veto.

At the emergency meeting a month ago, a critic, Lotus Taylor, a Hillside Community representative and a junior majoring in sociology, took issue with the legislation’s quick pace. In that meeting, held because of a provision within the Management Policies that empowers at least 10 representatives to call a session, Taylor had said that the timeline forced representatives into “a position where they have to make a hasty decision.”

The resolution was then tabled to the Congress’ next meeting on March 18, when it was tabled again because of Hakim’s absence.

“I am of the belief as I was the week before spring break that these policies were not proposed with the benefit of the student body or the student association at large but simply created to ensure that Saul was not subjected to a judicial board complaint that was submitted,” Taylor, who is also the secretary of the SUNY Student Assembly, told Pipe Dream after the legislation passed. She added that she did not oppose the motion to pass the legislation unanimously because she was exhausted after the lengthy election proceedings.

“I also knew at this point that I said my peace at the last meeting — and there would be no real purpose in continuing to hold folks in the room,” Taylor wrote.

The Judicial Board on Wednesday heard the aforementioned grievance, which was filed by Kristina Donders, the speaker of Congress and a junior double-majoring in mathematics and political science. Donders and the Judicial Board previously declined to comment while the grievance process is ongoing.

The arrest has not previously been made public by University administrators or campus safety officials.

According to the police blotter, a chronological index of actions carried out by University police that has been reviewed by Pipe Dream, the teenager, Gregory E. Mincher Jr. of Virginia, was arrested on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Lot B by Old Rafuse Hall.

The blotter listed a variety of alleged felony and misdemeanor penal code violations: possessing an assault weapon and a large-capacity feeding device; criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds; assault in the second degree; resisting arrest; and obstructing governmental administration.

According to court documents from the Vestal Town Court, the incident occurred after 1:21 a.m. on Feb. 22. They were signed by the officer at the scene, Christian Dietrich of the University Police Department.

Around 1:44 a.m., the filings allege that Mincher resisted arrest, at which point he injured another officer, Joseph Opper, who had his left leg immobilized in a brace following medical evaluation. At this point, the complaint said Mincher interfered while a field sobriety test was being administered to another individual.

On Tuesday, a representative from the Broome County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Mincher’s booking at the county jail, first reported by Binghamton Daily, a local news source, but said he is not currently in custody.

A Broome County Court judge, Carol Cocchiola, signed an order to accept bail on March 4. It was set at $5,000 cash.

“The arrest stemmed from a traffic stop and interference with police by a passenger in the vehicle,” Ryan Yarosh ‘02, MPA ‘09, the University’s senior director of media and public relations, told Pipe Dream on Tuesday. “While being processed, the suspect became cooperative and disclosed that a weapon was stored in the trunk of the vehicle.”

“Given that there was no active or ongoing threat to the campus community, a Timely Warning was not warranted under Clery Act guidelines,” he added. “The University carefully assesses each situation to determine appropriate communication measures. We remain committed to transparency and safety.”

The Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act requires colleges and universities to maintain and disclose crime statistics. Renamed after former President Joe Biden signed federal anti-hazing legislation just before leaving office, the law was originally passed in 1990 amid nationwide backlash to unreported campus crime.

Mincher’s mother, Nicole, created a GoFundMe on Feb. 23 to raise funds for legal representation. She wrote in a message on the website that Mincher, who she said owned the firearm legally in Virginia, did not fully grasp the gravity of the situation during his arrest.

“When he got pulled over he willingly told police about the gun (again legal in VA) not realizing he was facing felony charges for having [it] in his possession,” she wrote on GoFundMe.

A request for comment via GoFundMe was not returned.

An update posted the next day said that a lawyer had been hired. The attorney, Amanda Kelly of the firm Jackson Bergman, told Pipe Dream that, “Our client has entered a plea of not guilty, and remains innocent until proven guilty.”

She said she was unable to elaborate while the case was in progress. The district attorney’s office, which has overseen the case, did not return repeated requests for comment.

Mincher’s next appearance in Broome County Court, which has the exclusive authority to try felony cases, will be on May 21 before Cocchiola, according to court records.

Now, after filing a grievance last night around 11:30 p.m., Cui, a sophomore majoring in economics, will be allowed to participate in tonight’s separately held SA and Graduate Student Organization candidate debates.

The dispute will be adjudicated by the Joint Grievance Board, which is composed of six members elected by the SA’s Judicial Board, the GSO’s chief judicial officer and two members elected by the GSO Senate.

“While this grievance is pending, obviously I am a candidate for BU Council representative,” Cui told Pipe Dream Thursday afternoon. “I will still be doing my campaigning until after the decision [of] the Joint Grievance Board will end up deciding whether or not I am eligible to run.”

It is currently unclear the timeline on which the grievance will be adjudicated. SA and GSO administrators have not publicly shared plans to delay the election. Cui said she did not file the grievance until last night because she had been writing it over the past few days.

As of Thursday afternoon, Cui’s candidate profile, which had been removed as of last week, is active on the SA’s website.

Mackenzie Cooper, the incumbent council representative running for reelection and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, had no comment.

Ademola Adedoyin, the GSO’s chief elections officer and a Ph.D. student studying industrial and systems engineering, told Pipe Dream on Thursday morning that the SA’s Judicial Board and GSO’s Judicial Committee chairs had confirmed receipt of Cui’s grievance and that she would be restored as a candidate temporarily until “a final decision is made.”

Cui’s previous disqualification was because of a clause in one of the SA’s governing documents, the Management Policies, that says that the SA Congress’ parliamentarian “shall sign an agreement stating that they are ineligible to run in a campus-wide election for the remainder of that academic year.”

Cui resigned as parliamentarian on Feb. 12, around two weeks before she initially announced her run for council representative. She had said that removing her for this reason would constitute a breach of precedent, as a previous parliamentarian was allowed to resign and run in a campuswide election.

Kenny Tran, the SA’s Elections Committee chair and a senior majoring in biology, previously told Pipe Dream that the issue was “worth investigating” during this year’s election but that the issue was not “expressed in the past.”

Cui alleged that the failure of the Joint Elections Committee, made up of four SA representatives and three GSO representatives, to hold a formal hearing, among other violations of due process, rendered the vote to remove her from the ballot invalid.

Tran previously told Pipe Dream on March 18 that Cui was recognized not as a candidate but rather as a nominee by the GSO. Adedoyin told Pipe Dream that because Cui was not recognized as a candidate, the Joint Elections Committee could not hold a hearing.

In an interview with Pipe Dream, Adedoyin added that the SA Congress could have voted on an addendum to clarify the aforementioned clause in the Management Policies, because it does not currently address procedure if a parliamentarian resigns.

On March 18, Kristina Donders, the speaker of Congress and a junior double-majoring in mathematics and political science, told Pipe Dream that, “As Speaker, I have no formal role in the elections process.”

“I’m able to provide advice on how things could be conducted, however, these decisions are ultimately up to the Elections Committee,” she wrote.

The campuswide election to determine next year’s SA E-Board and University Council representative is to be held on March 27, with a candidate debate tonight.

The University Council representative, elected each spring, represents undergraduate and graduate students on a 10-member body that oversees certain operations. Its nine other members are appointed by the governor of New York.

The election is overseen by the SA and the Graduate Student Organization. The SA Congress is scheduled to certify the election’s results at a meeting on April 4.

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Monday named Riley and two Long Island Democrats on a 26-member target list ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The districts listed represent Republicans’ best chance to unseat Democrats in competitive districts and grow their historically thin majority.

His response: “Bring it on.”

Going into 2026, 13 Democrats represent districts that President Donald Trump won in 2024, while three Republicans represent districts won by former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis newsletter.

“House Republicans are in the majority and on offense,” Rep. Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the NRCC, said in the Monday release. “Meanwhile, vulnerable House Democrats have been hard at work demonstrating they are painfully out of touch with hardworking Americans.”

The move follows the committee’s counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, adding Riley to a list of 26 “frontline” members earlier this month.

“With the cost of living still top of mind for voters, and House Republicans actively pushing disastrous policies that further increase costs, it’s clear that House Democrats are poised to retake the majority in 2026,” said Rep. Susan DelBene, a Democrat from Washington state who chairs the committee, in a press release accompanying the announcement.

“A critical foundation to our majority is the successful defense of our strong Frontliners, each of whom has a proven track record of delivering results and standing up against Republican extremism and dysfunction,” she added.

Riley’s victory in November capped off a path to Congress beginning with his defeat in 2022 to Marc Molinaro, a former Dutchess County executive and Republican nominee for governor.

He won a 2024 rematch by just over two percentage points, powered by a strong showing in Tompkins, Columbia and Ulster counties that offset Molinaro’s decisive victories in central New York. The race, which turned heated and highly personal, saw nearly $45 million in spending and was one of the most competitive nationwide.

The NRCC’s target list includes Democratic victors in the closest congressional contests of the last election cycle. They include Adam Gray of California, who won by just under 200 votes when the race was finally called in December; Nellie Pou of New Jersey, who narrowly survived a Democratic collapse in her northern New Jersey district; and Jared Golden of Maine, who represents a district that Trump won by nearly 10 percentage points.

Also on the NRCC’s target list is alumnus Eugene Vindman ‘97, who won a district in northern Virginia by 2.6 percentage points.

When he was ceremonially sworn into office in Endicott last month, Riley said he was committed to bipartisanship but would oppose any federal action that hurt upstate New Yorkers.

“I didn’t go there and push Democratic priorities, and I didn’t go to Congress to push Republican priorities,” Riley said at the Endicott ceremony. “I went to Congress to push upstate New York’s priorities.”

The NRCC attacked him for his vote against a recent resolution to prevent a government shutdown that divided Democrats and for his stance on taxes and border security.

“Out-of-touch Democrat Josh Riley continues to put the radical far-left agenda ahead of New Yorker,” said a spokesperson, Maureen O’Toole. “House Republicans are on offense and will hold Riley accountable; he will lose his seat next year.”

Steven Fulop ‘99, who serves as the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey’s second-most populous city, is running for governor in a crowded field that includes two U.S. representatives, another big-city mayor, a former State Senate president and the president of the state’s largest teacher’s union. He spoke with Pipe Dream last month about his candidacy and college years.

Born in Edison, New Jersey, Fulop was recruited to play soccer and described the University as “a good mix between athletic, academic and price.” During his underclassman years, Fulop lived in College-in-the-Woods’ Oneida and Seneca Halls before moving to Washington Street in Downtown Binghamton.

After two years on the soccer team, he pledged a fraternity, Tau Epsilon Phi, then studied abroad and became involved in student government, first serving as a representative in the SA Congress. From there, he ran for SA president.

“I had this theory that I would run for SA president, and I had a really interesting network of friends because I wasn’t the typical person that was involved in student government,” Fulop said. “I obviously had a big network in Greek life, and I had a big network in athletics.”

“I thought I could get them involved, and we could see if that can change student government, and so I ran without knowing anything, and we ran with making it a joke because what we tried to do at the time — really funny literature, things the way we approached it — was more from an entertainment standpoint.”

Fulop recalled the day of the election as sunny and warm with many of his classmates outside. His base of support was easy to find, and he found himself in a runoff election. That subsequent election was held on a day that Fulop said had terrible weather, and with hard-to-motivate voters, he lost.

Though he said his experience in college did not represent a calling to elected office, the parallels between that election and his bid to lead a state of over 9.5 million are undeniable.

“If I was going to build a campaign that wasn’t relying on the political machine, I had to do it grassroots and that takes time,” Fulop said of his decision to launch his bid for governor in April 2023, making him the first Democrat to announce. “I wanted to be really substantive on policy, like really detailed on what we’re going to change in New Jersey.”

The Garden State has experienced several political earthquakes since the rollout of Fulop’s campaign. Just over one year later, Andy Kim, then a congressman who ran to replace indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, won his lawsuit in federal court against New Jersey’s unique primary ballot design, which gave political parties in 19 of the state’s 21 counties the power to design primary ballots organized by endorsement.

The design, commonly called the “county line,” gave a nearly insurmountable boost to candidates endorsed by the county parties, with congressional candidates receiving a 38-point advantage for being on the line, according to one oft-cited analysis by Julia Sass-Rubin, an associate professor and associate dean at Rutgers University.

“I have always been outside that system, same thing where I am today,” said Fulop, who graduated with a degree in political science before working at Goldman Sachs and joining the Marine Corps after the 9/11 attack.

In 2013, Fulop defeated an incumbent in his run for Jersey City mayor, a race in which his opponent was heavily favored and boasted endorsements from heavyweight politicians, including then-President Barack Obama. He told Pipe Dream that his opponents in the party machinery eventually tempered their opposition because of his electoral success.

He submitted a brief to the court overseeing the county line lawsuit in April 2024, saying its existence convinced him to forego a 2017 run for governor in a primary against Phil Murphy, now a term-limited incumbent, as he “determined that he did not have a path to the nomination without the support of the various county parties, i.e., the county line on their ballots, and would not get that support.”

However, before endorsing Kim, who won in 2024 to become the first Korean American U.S. senator, Fulop backed the establishment favorite, First Lady Tammy Murphy. He said that his initial endorsement was because of his unfamiliarity with Kim but that “as the campaign progressed, she showed that she wasn’t really an effective candidate with any sort of vision for what she would do in the Senate.”

Fulop said he supported congestion pricing, the toll that has bitterly divided Democrats in the region, because of its environmental benefits, contrasting Murphy, the incumbent governor who aggressively opposed it and previously sued New York in federal court.

Recently, President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary revoked federal approval for congestion pricing, and Marc Molinaro, the president’s pick to lead the Federal Transit Administration who represented Greater Binghamton in Congress for one term, has expressed strong opposition to the scheme.

Fulop said reforming the state’s political system would be a top priority if elected. He linked Democrats’ underperformance in New Jersey in the 2024 election — Trump lost by a mere six percentage points compared to a near-16 percent loss in 2020 — to a political system he hopes to rebuild.

“I think the political system in New Jersey creates apathy and a system that doesn’t grow the Democratic base because you have these political bosses that have monetized the position for their own self-interest, and I think the public sees that,” Fulop said.

He added that competitive primaries are healthy for democracy, holding up the lack of a contest in the Democratic Party after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last summer. Fulop is actively recruiting candidates he says have faced systemic barriers to run on his slate.

Despite his positioning as a reform candidate, Fulop has faced previous media scrutiny for his political past. A Politico feature published in June 2024 cited an NJ.com report when describing allegations that as he was considering a run for governor in 2017, Fulop awarded contracts to politically connected firms.

In response, Fulop said that he was among the most-scrutinized politicians in New Jersey, and NJ.com, which is owned by Advance Publications, covered Hudson County “differently than any other county in the state.” He said that he ran “a scandal-free administration,” and that “people throw stones and accusations all the time, and what time has shown is that even when they charge you with doing that, they don’t end up being true.”

“I was looking at running for governor in 2017, and in 2016 or ‘15 started to lay the groundwork for that,” he said. “Ultimately, I made a strategic mistake in the fact that I built the campaign with a lot of relationships around the traditional system in New Jersey that I didn’t feel comfortable with.”

“And that ultimately led to me not feeling comfortable with where our campaign message was and causing me not to run,” he added.

When describing why students should gravitate toward his campaign, Fulop touted his progressive-orientated approach as mayor, saying: “There is nobody that has a more extensive track record on health care reform or progressive policies, or criminal justice reform or environmental justice than I do in Jersey City.”

He framed his campaign as one that would help raise the University’s profile on the national stage, saying it has not matched its competitors — like Florida State University and Rutgers University — in creating “a narrative around being better academically.”

“I think the more prominent places that you have alumni from Binghamton, the better the school is, and the better the narrative is and the better the school’s narrative gets elevated,” Fulop said.

Though the Congress typically meets on a predetermined schedule, any 10 representatives are allowed by the Management Policies to call an emergency session.

Leading the effort was Saul Hakim, an off-campus representative and a senior double-majoring in political science and Judaic studies. His legislation was the only new business discussed, and he said calling the meeting was necessary to address “major constitutional issues that need to be resolved immediately before our next meeting.”

The resolution’s four components were overhauling Congress’ absence policy, which Hakim said would bolster representatives’ due process; requiring the speaker and parliamentarian to complete an online course on Robert’s Rules of Order; allowing the chairs of special committees to retain voting power; and clarifying the guidelines and line of succession for the parliamentarian position.

After Hakim introduced the legislation, a motion to limit discussion to 30 minutes was agreed to with 17 votes in favor, one against and two abstentions. Each speaker was allowed three minutes.

One critic, Lotus Taylor, a Hillside Community representative and a junior majoring in sociology, opposed the motion to limit discussion.

“I think restricting the discussion further shows that the process in which this legislation was introduced, as well as the manner in which it was communicated, is meant to be rushed and placed the current voting body and congressional members in a position where they have to make a hasty decision,” said Taylor, who is also the secretary of the SUNY Student Assembly.

The discussion began with a question from Kristina Donders, the speaker of Congress and a junior double-majoring in mathematics and political science, to Hakim about if Lauren Wilner, the chair of the Internal Affairs Committee which oversees absences, was consulted before the legislation was introduced. Hakim said that he had reached out to several committee chairs and members, which prompted an extensive email from Wilner, after which the two spent “quite a while hashing it out.”

The discussion continued with Taylor’s remarks. She prefaced them, saying, “Let me be extremely clear: My disagreement is not personal.”

“I have felt throughout the entirety of this academic year that members of the governing body, as in the Congress, have not consistently been concerned with the needs and wants of the entirety of the student population,” Taylor said.

“The legislation that we have passed or reviewed thus far, with Saul Hakim as the primary author, has included the same 17 people, or small majorities ranging between 15 to three people, particularly on issues that, in my opinion, are targeted or focused on a select population or Saul individually,” she added.

In response, Leila Telim, an off-campus representative and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said, “It is totally an ad hominem attack to come at us and say that we sign onto a piece of legislation because somebody told us to. I personally do not appreciate being told that I am just a puppet in someone else’s larger plan.”

“The 17 members on this legislation reference a group of students who share similar values and priorities, and the vast majority of us represent the same constituency of OC3 leading to coordination,” Hakim told Pipe Dream as a joint response from several representatives. “While we don’t always agree on every detail, we often align generally on issues that impact our community and campus governance.”

“Beyond that, the members who called this meeting and sponsored the legislation represent a diverse group spanning four different living communities and class years,” he added. “Our votes now and always, are based on our shared principles and the needs of the students we represent, and our alignment reflects the needs and voices of our constituents.”

Later disagreement centered around the emergency nature of the meeting — that it was announced with just one day’s notice during a busy academic week. Representatives also clashed over the rhetoric employed during the meeting.

“Civility, respect, dialogue — that is the core of what we are supposed to be doing here, and for someone who is so well-versed and who is such a leader in her own right, frankly, I’m disappointed,” Hakim said to Taylor during the discussion period.

“You have no right to say whether or not you are disappointed in me,” Taylor responded.

“I didn’t personally attack anyone,” Taylor wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream. “My wording and verbiage characterized their actions as corrupt, not them as people. I feel they were unable to see past my tone and directness towards the body.”

On her criticism of the legislation, Taylor added: “To clarify — I support most clauses of the legislation. The clause I am in opposition of is the one in regards to special privileges being given to any congressional member who chooses to chair a special committee.”

“It effectively gets them out of having to complete their regular commitments from being a congress member AND maintain voting rights — which in my opinion is unbalanced,” she continued.

The clause allowing the chairs of special committees to retain their voting rights was a consistent point of contention. Nick Ginsberg, the chair of the Financial Committee and a junior double-majoring in political science and sociology, said chairs of standing committees lack voting power because they are nominated and confirmed internally. Special committees chairs, however, are nominated and empowered by a vote of the entire Congress, which the student population votes on, he said.

The proposed changes come after Hakim was elected to co-chair a newly formed Special Committee on Select Issues. Afterward, Donders filed a Judicial Board grievance regarding Hakim’s privileges as chair, which was reported by the Judicial Board during Tuesday night’s meeting and cited by several members of Congress.

“Regarding the Judicial Board grievance, I am respecting the ongoing process and will not be making any comments while it is under review,” Donders wrote to Pipe Dream.

The Judicial Board declined to comment further on the nature of the grievance.

“At our last meeting, everyone in the room clearly saw that there was a very visible dispute over procedure, over the vacancy and the parliamentarian seat,” Hakim said to Pipe Dream in response to concerns about his resolution trying to stop the grievance. “This was just one component of a very necessary piece of legislation.”

After discussion, Donders urged representatives to avoid an immediate vote to allow for further debate and conversations with their constituents.

At the meeting’s conclusion, Hakim’s legislation was tabled to the next SA Congress meeting, which will be held on March 18.

Editor’s Note: Joseph Brugellis, the vice chief justice of the Judicial Board, is an assistant news editor. He had no part in the writing or editing of this article. 

Lauren Wilner, the chair of the Internal Affairs Committee, is an opinion columnist. She had no part in the writing or editing of this article. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, the Binghamton University Counseling Center’s urgent service line can be reached at (607) 777-2772, extension two. The Consultation, Advocacy, Referral and Education Team can be reached at (607) 777-2804. The “988” suicide and crisis lifeline provides free and confidential support for people in distress. Support Empathy Empowerment Kindness, a student-run helpline, can be reached at (607) 777-4357 and is open from 7 to 10 p.m. every day classes are in session.

A student lost their life last night, University President Harvey Stenger told the campus community in a Sunday afternoon B-Line News Addition. 

“I am heartbroken to report that we sadly lost a student last night,” the email read. “They will be mourned by their friends, family members, teachers, and classmates. I know that many of our students, faculty and staff may be affected by this loss, and I encourage you to seek help if needed through the support services listed below.”

“Please stay healthy and let me know if I can help you in any way,” the message ended.

The Thurgood Marshall Pre-Law Society will lead a candlelight vigil Monday night at 8 p.m. on the Peace Quad. In a Sunday night post, the organization expressed its condolences for the student.

“Join us in commemoration at this candlelight vigil to honor the life of Juan Cruz Marini,” the post read.

“Marini, a student, a son, and a friend will forever remain in the hearts of the Binghamton community,” it continued. “May Marini rest in peace and may we continue to remember all that he contributed to the world and our community.”

On Sunday afternoon, the University Counseling Center held a support session in the Multipurpose Room in the Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center. 

A University spokesperson had no additional information to provide.

“WittKieffer will be hosting several listening sessions on understanding what students believe are beneficial qualities and traits of the next president; the challenges and opportunities of the position; and what makes Binghamton an attractive university to the next president,” a University spokesperson wrote to Pipe Dream.

In guidelines for the listening sessions on the presidential search website, WittKieffer said its notes would be categorized into “the agenda for the new president,” “the description of the ideal candidate” and “the main reasons qualified individuals would pursue this role.”

The company added that specific feedback would not be directly attributed and that its representatives would not seek to build consensus but rather look for individual opinions, inviting those who attend to “build on others’ comments or contradict them.”

The student-centered meeting will follow three others: a faculty session from 4 to 5 p.m. on March 5; a staff session from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on March 6; and a community session from 2 to 3 p.m. on March 7.

Kathryn Grant Madigan, the search committee chair, previously said that the selection of WittKieffer, which also led the search for David Whitmore, who will become the vice president of advancement and executive director of the University Foundation in March, was unanimous.

“I think everybody wants to feel that their perspective is considered as we develop the profile of the kind of person we want to lead the University into the future,” Madigan, who also chairs the BU Council and was on the search committee that found current University President Harvey Stenger in 2011, told Pipe Dream earlier this month.

Stenger announced in October his intention to step down from his position after 13 years at the helm of University administration. The committee’s first step will be to create a profile that includes the ideal qualities of the next president.

“Feedback will be used in the creation of the leadership profile, the principal marketing document that will be shared broadly with potential candidates and with the general public,” the spokesperson said. “It will also serve as criteria that the search committee will use to evaluate the candidates.”

After establishing the profile, the committee will enter a six-to-eight-week “active recruitment” stage, during which a pool of 50 to 100 candidates will narrow to around 10 to 12. After five finalists are determined and forwarded to the University Council, a list of the final three, with detailed strengths and weaknesses, will be sent to SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr.

King will then meet with SUNY’s Board of Trustees, who will interview all three candidates one final time before King ultimately selects BU’s next president.

The committee will conduct a closed search, in which the names of potential candidates are not disclosed to the public, though Madigan said they may incorporate some hybrid aspects, like students, faculty, staff and community members who commit to confidentiality before reviewing specific finalists.

BU is not the only SUNY center to see change at the highest level of administration. On Feb. 19, King and Merryl H. Tisch, the Board of Trustees chair, announced the selection of Andrea Goldsmith, Princeton University’s dean of engineering and applied science, as Stony Brook University’s seventh president. Stony Brook’s previous president, Maurie D. McInnis, left her post to assume the presidency of Yale University.

Though Stenger has said he will remain as president until a successor is appointed, the committee hopes to have his replacement before the fall 2025 semester.

The listening session will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. on Friday, March 7, at this Zoom link with the password 180221. Those unable to attend can submit feedback on this form. 

The program, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, is administered by the Department of State in collaboration with Empire State Development, New York State Homes and Community Renewal and the Energy Research and Development Authority.

Binghamton’s application for the initiative’s eighth round centered around historic Clinton Street in the city’s First Ward. Kraham, in a letter to the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council, said that the area’s “historic storefronts, walkable footprint, development ready spaces and proximity to Binghamton’s urban core make it ready-built as the next great downtown in Upstate New York.”

“The plan is an ambitious but achievable set of projects — new housing, mixed-use storefronts, streetscape enhancements, public art, facade improvements — that all tap into the potential of Clinton Street and support families and small businesses,” Kraham wrote, announcing the award. “Our work on this took years, part of my commitment to the First Ward and rebuilding our neighborhood business districts.”

He said the area’s proximity to Binghamton University, UHS Wilson Medical Center, UHS Binghamton General Hospital and Downtown Binghamton primed it for mixed-use development, with an array of businesses at the ground level and residential housing above.

“By investing in the future of these Southern Tier communities, this funding will revitalize their downtown areas by building vibrant and thriving destinations where businesses, families and visitors can flourish,” Hochul said in a press release.

“With our Pro-Housing Communities initiative, we’re giving local leaders the tools to transform their cities, towns and villages into hubs of opportunity, culture and affordable living,” she continued. “This is how we build stronger, more connected communities that work for everyone across New York.”

Neighboring Johnson City won the $10 million award in February 2023 to rejuvenate its downtown. Only localities certified by the state as “Pro-Housing Communities” are currently eligible, a designation Hochul created that July to “recognize and reward municipalities actively working to unlock their housing potential.” Both Binghamton and Johnson City won this designation in February 2024.

The city’s application emphasized the area’s unique character, including being the home of Antique Row, a cluster of longstanding antique and vintage stores. The proposal included a list of ongoing developments, including a project at a vacant 3.9-acre lot at 187 Clinton St. that he announced in September 2023.

Attached to the outline of development initiatives were letters of support from several community organizations and local leaders. These included the Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton, the First Ward Action Council and the mayors of Johnson City and Endicott.

Binghamton’s successful application was celebrated by State Senator Lea Webb ‘04 and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo MA ‘84.

“These state initiatives provide critical funding to support the revitalization and growth of downtowns small and large across New York,” Webb said in the release. “I am excited to see the full potential of the Clinton Street Corridor unlocked with this funding so that it can continue its growth as a vibrant neighborhood, attracting more businesses, residents and visitors to Binghamton’s First Ward.”

Hochul’s announcement also named the villages of Bath and Dryden as the recipients of two $4.5 million awards for downtown development through NY Forward, a program created to revitalize smaller and rural communities.

To be considered for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, municipalities submit applications to Regional Economic Development Councils representing each of the state’s 10 recognized regions. With their selections, Binghamton, Bath and Dryden will now create a strategic investment plan with local planning committees composed of local stakeholders and supported by private-sector leaders and state planners.

“Clinton Street’s time is now,” Kraham wrote. “We can’t wait to get started and put into motion the projects and revitalization efforts that residents deserve.”

“Mayor Jared Kraham gets things done — rebuilding and revitalizing Binghamton,” the updated website read. “That’s why he’s running for re-election.”

Kraham and his campaign have yet to release a statement, and a campaign spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

In his first term at the helm of city government, Kraham’s administration focused heavily on the quality-of-life issues he campaigned on. He moved in 2022 to enforce an amended version of a city law targeting properties deemed nuisances for closure. At the time, he said that vigorous oversight would limit criminal activity and improve entire neighborhoods.

In December 2023, Kraham announced the settlement of a lawsuit his corporation counsel brought against Isaac Anzaroot, a downstate landlord accused of allowing his properties to deteriorate into blight. Under the court-approved agreement, the city took control of 26 of Anzaroot’s properties, and he was prohibited from owning real estate in Binghamton for 15 years.

“Vacant, neglected buildings like these hurt entire neighborhoods, frustrating residents who live nearby and making our community less safe,” Kraham said in a press release late last month announcing a wave of demolitions.

In October 2023, after the release of a damning 900-page city-funded report on the state of Binghamton’s crumbling railroad infrastructure, Kraham announced that railroad giant Norfolk Southern had agreed to begin repairs on seven of its bridges. The project was completed about a year later.

“Mayor Jared Kraham is widely popular because he’s focused on the issues that matter to Binghamton residents,” said Benji Federman, the Broome County Republican chair. “He’s delivered on critical housing projects, invested in public safety and improved quality of life in our neighborhoods.”

“Mayor Jared Kraham is the respected community leader we need to keep moving Binghamton forward,” he added.

The deputy mayor to his predecessor, Republican Rich David, Kraham defeated Joe Burns, then a Democratic city councilmember, in 2021 with 53.3 percent of the vote. Kraham’s election, which made him Binghamton’s youngest mayor, was far from assured, however.

According to figures from the Broome County Board of Elections, Democrats comprised 48 percent of all registered voters in November 2021, compared to Republicans at just around 20.7 percent and those unaffiliated at 23 percent. Voter turnout was 32.35 percent.

“The data tells a clear story — we built a winning coalition from bipartisan and independent support,” Kraham said in his inaugural address. “Voters cast their ballots based not on party, but on principles and ideas — and that should give us hope.”

The most recently available statistics, accurate to February 2024, show similar numbers: Democrats at 46.3 percent, Republicans at 21.9 percent and unaffiliated voters at 28.7 percent.

Kraham will face at least one challenger: Miles Burnett, a Democrat who previously worked in the office of State Sen. Lea Webb ’04. Burnett announced his candidacy earlier this month and held a launch party on Tuesday.

Arriving in office with a friendly City Council, Kraham faced a setback in 2023 when Democrats won six of the council’s seven seats — the seventh was tied between Republican incumbent Philip Strawn and Democrat Rebecca Rathmell.

After a disagreement over who had the authority to fill the vacancy — the mayor or the newly elected City Council — Kraham sued the council, its president and its clerk in Broome County Court. A judge ruled that the council had the statutory authority but that the appointment must be of the same party as their predecessor.

In August 2024, Kraham’s administration formally rejected the factual findings and conclusions of a report from the New York attorney general that found excessive police force was used in the Jan. 1, 2023 arrest of Hamail Waddell, a Black-Asian man. An attorney for the city wrote: “The City’s position is that the officers acted lawfully and will defend that position.”

Waddell was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge in December 2024, following a two-day bench trial in City Court.

Kraham, a lifelong Binghamton-area resident, graduated from Syracuse University in 2013 with degrees in digital and broadcast journalism and political science. His late father, Jeffrey, served as county executive from 1997 to 2004.

Alongside his children, wife and around 150 supporters, Riley sought to emphasize his humble origins and community roots. He was sworn in by his former teacher, Lynda DeLuca, and introduced by Broome County Executive Jason Garnar.

“I remember looking around my neighborhood on Birdsall Street, and I realized I didn’t know too many people who wore a tie to work,” Riley said. “I didn’t know anybody in the neighborhood who had a law degree. I didn’t know anyone who sat at the table in those corridors of power where all those big decisions were being made.”

“But I had read the papers, and I saw that the folks who were shipping the jobs overseas just to make an extra buck — they had armies of lawyers and lobbyists, and I had asked myself: ‘Why is it that all these big, powerful special interests get an advocate fighting for them when my community’s getting ignored and left behind,’” Riley added.

He described his first 50 days in office, starting with his assignments to the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Space, Science, and Technology. Calling attention to these two areas, Riley was introduced by Mike McMahon, the “mad as hell” farmer featured in one of his campaign advertisements, and Shawn Atkinson, the director of operations at BAE Systems.

Earlier this month, Riley introduced his first bill alongside a bipartisan group of lawmakers to strengthen and expand the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program, an effort he says will help the average family save around $400 per year on their utility bills.

Riley said he had formally supported 18 bills in his first months in office, 16 of which were bipartisan. Of the two that were not, he said, “I always said that if the president of the United States from either party was doing right by upstate New York, then I’m gonna work with him, and if he’s hurting upstate New York, then I’m going to oppose him.”

“And I believe that Elon Musk’s DOGE is hurting upstate New York,” Riley said, using an acronym for the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting initiative that is not a real department because it has not been authorized by Congress. “This guy is out here cutting NIH funding and funding for research we’re doing at Cornell and at Binghamton and across upstate New York.”

He said he supported legislation written by Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan to bar DOGE representatives from accessing sensitive payment systems unless they have security clearances and are free of conflicts of interest.

“You have a very, very important responsibility, and you are in a very, very important time in our nation’s history, and I’m glad you’re representing the people of the 19th Congressional District,” Garnar, the county executive, said.

Riley defeated Marc Molinaro, a Republican, by just over two percentage points to represent the 19th Congressional District, which includes Binghamton and Ithaca, in an election that saw nearly $45 million in spending.

The race was heated and personal, and Riley won with a strong showing in Ithaca’s Tompkins County, and Columbia and Ulster counties provided votes that offset Molinaro’s decisive victories in central New York. The two fought to a near-draw in Broome County.

“I didn’t go there and push Democratic priorities, and I didn’t go to Congress to push Republican priorities,” Riley said. “I went to Congress to push upstate New York’s priorities.”

It is unclear if this will change with the release of new guidance from the Department of Education on Feb. 14, which advised universities that they had 14 days to cease taking race into account in admissions and “all other aspects of student life.” The letter was signed by Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” the letter read. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”

The letter referred to two landmark cases decided in 2023 that found race-conscious admissions unconstitutional. Filed by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina in 2014, the cases accused affirmative action programs of Title VI violations.

A University spokesperson did not return a request for comment on how programming or the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will be affected.

The Education Department’s guidance follows earlier broadsides against diversity-based initiatives. On his second day in office, Trump signed an executive order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which directed, among other things, the attorney general and secretary of education to jointly provide legal guidance to all institutions receiving federal funds.

The order also targeted private companies and nonprofit organizations. It revoked a 1960s-era Equal Employment Opportunity executive order signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

“We are and will always be committed to the core values of the University — Unity, Identity, Excellence,” wrote Ryan Yarosh ‘02, MPA ‘09, the University’s senior director of media and public relations, last month.

Several universities have begun to pare back their DEI programming in response to federal guidance. The University of Pennsylvania scrubbed its Diversity and Inclusion website late last week, as did the University of Colorado. As of publication, BU’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was unchanged.

“In recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families,” Trainor’s letter read. “These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.”

BU saw slight changes in its diversity statistics this fall following the rollback of affirmative action, with new enrollment of underrepresented students, which the University defines as “historically underrepresented groups in higher education,” dropping from 23 percent to around 19.6 percent.

After the Supreme Court ruling in 2023, University President Harvey Stenger said: “A campus that embraces, supports and respects diversity in all aspects produces well-informed and better-educated students with the broad perspectives necessary for success in the 21st century.”

“This approach will allow us to continue to attract and recruit a student body that is geographically diverse, and includes those from a range of socio-economic backgrounds with a wide range of lived experiences,” he added at the time.

Themed “The People’s Purple Ball,” Webb was in part celebrating her November victory over challenger Mike Sigler, a Tompkins County legislator. She won with 57.5 percent of the 52nd Senate District, which includes Binghamton, Ithaca and Cortland.

She defeated Rich David, a Republican former mayor of Binghamton, with around 51 percent of the vote in 2022, becoming the first Democrat to represent the 52nd District in decades.

“We are in some tough times,” Webb said to the room after the ceremonial swearing-in. “But as stewards of history and as students, we know what must be done. And that is power to the people every day, all day and that requires us to organize, to stay connected, to build community and to fight back — to fight back against injustice in every shape, form and fashion in which it shows up.”

“We know what needs to be done, and I look forward to continuing to do all of that with you here in this room and beyond,” she added.

In her reelection campaign, Webb, the chair of the State Senate’s Committee on Women’s Issues, heavily emphasized her community roots, reproductive freedom and the needs of working families. The celebration was intentionally held on the weekend of the birthday of Webb’s late mother, Gail.

Delgado, who was appointed lieutenant governor in May 2022 following the resignation of a predecessor accused of corruption, was the first person of color to represent upstate New York in Congress. He defeated an incumbent after running a campaign he said was rooted in affordability.

After the November election, which saw a Democratic collapse in major metropolitan areas, including New York City, Delgado wrote an op-ed in The New York Times calling for Democrats to recenter the working class and economic issues.

He wrote in the piece, “Democrats, It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Our Neoliberal Era,” that “Mr. Trump’s success in 2016 and this month underscored the flaw inherent in the Democratic approach of promising to move forward while looking backward.”

“If we have good people who are willing to go through it, it’s up to everybody in this room and to our communities to stand with them every step of the way to lift them up, to support them, to give them the love that they need to stay inspired, to stay grounded in the work,” Delgado said. “That’s what this swearing-in is all about.”

His focus on what it means to be a public servant mirrored remarks from a get-out-the-vote rally held in November that saw words from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries ‘92, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo MA ‘84 and Webb.

Elected as the first Black member of the Binghamton City Council in 2007, Webb also served as an educator at BU in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She won a competitive 2022 Democratic primary in decisive fashion to begin her return to elected office.

“The values that drive the Democratic Party are the values of lifting up those who are marginalized, whether it’s working families, whether it’s women, people of color, immigrants, children,” Webb told Pipe Dream. “And so in reflecting on this past election, what it signals is that we have a lot of work to do that’s beyond party.”

“It’s really about continuing to center the needs of people and so that’s why with my campaign, but more importantly, the work that I’ve been doing not only as a senator but just as a public servant for the majority of my life is that you have to center those who are often left behind, and that means through policy as an elected official, through practices, through investments and so much more,” she added.

Webb is just one of the many alumni that have made political gains in recent years. Jeffries was elected one of the most powerful figures in American politics in 2022 as House Democrats’ successor to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the decorated former House speaker.

In November, John Mannion ‘90 unseated an incumbent congressman in a Syracuse-area district, and Yevgeny Vindman ‘97, who goes by Eugene, won the election to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. (His twin brother, Alexander, graduated from BU in 1998 and testified at President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.)

The event’s featured guest, Delgado has been at the center of political rumors in New York that he will mount a challenge to his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul. He denied the claims in an interview with The New York Times but vowed to be an “independent actor.”

Now, nearly three decades later, Pipe Dream sat down with Nikoleta in a cozy corner booth on a frigid Binghamton afternoon to hear her story.

Nikoleta met Hristos in Greece before both moved to the United States separately around 45 years ago. They opened the diner to support their young family, she explained.

“We have to, because we have our kids,” Konstantakos said. “And we have a lot of bills, and we say, ‘We want to open diner.’”

The diner’s decor, including an Ancient Greek-style mural on the building’s exterior and photos of Greek landmarks and islands, serves as an homage to Konstantakos’ heritage.

Her husband, who had experience cooking for others, took on the role of head chef, operating the grill. Nikoleta handled the soups and the specials, and as their son, Panagiotis, got older, he began to work.

Konstantakos credits the diner’s success to word of mouth, which has built customer loyalty. She described her business strategy simply: “They come, they try, they like it and they always come back.” But her journey hasn’t been without its challenges, particularly stubborn rising costs and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s not as busy as it used to be,” she said. “The weekends, we do get busy now, but people don’t have any money, you know, like people have tough times. Everything’s so expensive.”

“The students do help us a lot, and we’re very thankful for that,” she added.

A family endeavor, Konstantakos said that all of her children started at the diner, and her daughter and younger son went off to college. Panagiotis, her older son, stayed at the diner to help as it started to get busier.

In the past, Chris’ Diner was open every day until 7 p.m., but now, it’s closed on Mondays. Konstantakos said that running a diner was “a hard business.” She used to have nine waitresses every day, but now, she has four.

“It’s tiring,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, yes. But we enjoy it at the same time. We love people.”

The diner is open Tuesday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. It serves breakfast all day and an expansive lunch and dinner menu after 11 a.m. The menu, which spans four pages, features American favorites like fluffy pancakes, crispy bacon and sausage, a variety of omelets, hot sandwiches, salads, pasta and seafood. Customer favorites include the soups, the spinach pie and the entire breakfast menu, she said.

As she and her husband get older, she said having her son work the grill has been a big help. He may take over the family business in the future, she added.

“I hope so,” she said when asked if the diner brought her family closer together.

Lizak pleaded guilty in late 2023 and was sentenced to 36 months of probation, three days of intermittent confinement, and ordered to pay several fines. He graduated from the University in 2022 with a degree in business administration, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by his attorney in 2023.

The attorney, Kevin J. Keating, did not return a request for comment.

The pardon of Lizak and around 1,500 others fulfills a promise Trump made on the campaign trail when he repeatedly called the rioters “patriots” and “hostages.”

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” read Trump’s executive order, called “Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences For Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

With the sweeping exercise of forgiveness solely afforded to the president, efforts to prosecute the perpetrators of the Capitol attack have effectively halted. The New York Times reported that several people convicted of the most serious crimes, including seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers, had been freed from prison.

These included some members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, far-right militias whose affiliates were sentenced to some of the longest prison terms. Enrique Tarrio, a former leader of the Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, a founder of the Oath Keepers, received 22-year and 18-year sentences, respectively.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Lizak and four others entered the Capitol building “minutes after it was initially breached,” remaining inside for approximately 30 minutes and entering the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He watched as an accomplice assaulted a police officer with a bike rack, the U.S. attorney said.

He was arrested on Sept. 20, 2022, and signed the plea agreement with the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia on May 5, 2023. On Sept. 25, with his attorney’s sentencing memorandum, Lizak submitted a letter to the court admitting, “I was wrong.”

In the letter, he described having a hard time relating to peers once at college and how joining a group of friends in 2019 contributed to a “heinous dehumanization that led many fools like myself to blindly follow the call to attend the rally on January 6th.”

“Unlike two years ago, today I can confidently say that I am happy with myself and the path I have walked,” the letter ended. “The man who sits before you today is one far removed from the mistakes of his past, and I ask the court for leniency in their ultimate decision today.”

Lizak’s letter was also filed alongside character references from his fiancee and her sister and an additional exhibit filed under seal, making it publicly inaccessible.

When he was at the University, Lizak, the College Republicans and the conservative organization Young America’s Foundation sued the Student Association and several University administrators, including President Harvey Stenger, alleging violations of their constitutional rights stemming from a tabling incident in 2019.

The College Republicans in 2022 denounced Lizak’s actions at the Capitol as news broke of his arrest and when Pipe Dream reported on his sentencing in 2023. The organization did not immediately return a request for comment.

He told WNBF, a local commercial radio station, that he resigned because, during his time on the council, he became frustrated with infighting and political gridlock within the government. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The responsibility for filling the vacancy will now fall to the City Council, and the appointee must be a member of the Democratic Party.

“I wish him well and look forward to working with whoever the council appoints to fill the vacancy,” wrote Nate Hotchkiss ‘12, a Democrat representing the fourth district.

Porter was one of six Democrats elected to the council in 2023, flipping the chamber from Republican control. A Binghamton resident for over 20 years, he had told Pipe Dream in October 2023 that he was motivated to run because of the “inaction of the current City Council.”

“Living here for [over] 20 years and [nine] of those years as an EMT, I witnessed Binghamton residents struggle with basic needs and Republican policies creating despair,” Porter told Pipe Dream at the time. “I witnessed homes not being kept up by landlords and working people looking for food lines for their next meal.”

Porter defeated Mary Ann Callahan with just over 56 percent of the vote, flipping a seat held by Republican Giovanni Scaringi, a research assistant professor at Binghamton University’s School of Management. The district includes the First Ward and much of historic Clinton Street.

A statement provided to several news organizations from Councilmember Rebecca Rathmell of the sixth district, the chamber’s majority leader, said a replacement would be appointed by Feb. 10, and a special election will be held this November to fill the rest of the term.

A dispute over appointment power between the City Council and Mayor Jared Kraham, a Republican, made its way to the Broome County Supreme Court early last year after a tied election resulted in a vacancy. In February 2024, Judge Joseph McBride ruled that the council had appointment authority, but that an appointee must be of the same political party as the person they replaced.

At the time, Benji Federman, the Broome County Republican chair, nominated Philip Strawn, the incumbent. The council instead elevated Michael Kosty, a sales consultant at Matthews Auto Group.

Rathmell’s statement said that the council would work with local Democratic leadership to find a new councilmember. Teri Rennia, the chair of the Binghamton City Democratic Committee, told Pipe Dream that the committee would try and make a recommendation to the City Council by the end of this week.

“We’re sorry to see him go,” Rennia said. “He worked really hard to get there. The people of the First Ward deserve good representation.”

Editor’s Note (2/15): An earlier version of this article misstated Teri Rennia’s title. She is the chair of the Binghamton City Democratic Committee, not the Broome County Democratic Party.

Carrying signs and chanting, the crowd formed at the Peacemaker’s Stage before marching down Court and Chenango Streets toward the United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton.

“We need a strong coalition to fight side by side these next four years,” an organizer who did not give their name said at noon on the Peacemaker’s Stage. “But make no mistake, it’s not enough to simply survive for four years. We need to ensure that our children and young comrades survive for the next forty.”

The demonstration championed a wide range of issues, from the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and abortion care to working-class solidarity. It was held in parallel with protests and marches across the country, all reminiscent of the 2017 Women’s March that marked the beginning of the first Trump presidency. Thousands assembled in Downtown Binghamton nearly eight years ago as part of that international movement.

Lori Wahila ‘87, a co-lead of Indivisible Binghamton, led marchers down Court Street. In an interview with Pipe Dream, she said she was inspired by protests against the first Trump administration.

“I was at the original Women’s March in 2017 down in Washington D.C., and that actually changed my life to get involved and to stand up for women’s rights,” Wahila said. “But then, over the years, being part of Indivisible Binghamton, we have stood up with rallies and protests and letters to the editor and got involved in local elections just to stand up for all rights.”

“When the Women’s March were going to do this march across the nation, they were calling theirs the People’s March, and we decided here locally to call it the Human Rights March, because we wanted to not just be about women’s rights but all rights that are going to be and have been and will be assaulted with this new incoming administration,” she added.

After arriving at the United Presbyterian Church, the crowd lined the pews and heard from several speakers, including the Rev. Kimberly Chastain, the church’s pastor and head of ministry; Christina Zawerucha of the Together for Ukraine Foundation; Moira Haggerty, an LGBTQ+ youth center specialist; and Sue Seibold-Simpson ‘83, M.S. ‘88, a family nurse practitioner at Southern Tier Women’s Health Services.

Chastain opened with a land acknowledgment and the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. She echoed the value of inclusivity and mutual aid, highlighting the church’s 42-bed shelter as an example of the community needed in today’s political climate.

“And I preached on Sunday and I want to say today: ‘It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the climate that we’re in because there’s so many ways to get it wrong and so few ways to feel like what we’re doing matters,’” Chastain said.

She criticized the projected impact of immigration policies supported by Trump and his allies. A Jan. 18 New York Times poll suggested that many Americans back Trump’s immigration plan, with 55 percent of adults supporting the deportation of all immigrants here illegally and 41 percent supporting ending birthright citizenship for those born to undocumented parents. In recent days, news organizations have reported that Chicago will be targeted first by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, though those plans are now under review.

In her speech, Chastain mentioned a “back-and-forth” between some demonstrators at Peacemaker’s Stage before the march began because “there were some folks who weren’t white who felt like they had not been included in the conversation.” Wahila addressed these concerns, saying the rally’s planning was opened to the community, and there was miscommunication, as she never heard back from some groups.

Zawerucha, also a coordinator and lecturer at Binghamton University’s English Language Institute, then described her organization’s work supporting Ukrainians on the front line and refugees in Broome County.

“Whether we’re filling a shipping container to send supplies to people fighting on the front lines, whether we’re performing music and arts workshops to raise money for Ukrainian hospitals or whether we’re working on political empowerment, transportation, work and education opportunities for newly local refugee families, we are always grateful to our community members of all backgrounds who come to help,” she said.

Many Republicans in Congress have expressed hesitation in sending further military aid to Ukraine. Zewerucha called on the crowd to contact their senators and urge them to reject “a number of individuals” nominated for “cabinet-level positions, who have not been supportive with Ukraine or aid to Ukraine.”

Haggerty, the LGBTQ+ youth center specialist, spoke next. She was critical of Trump’s rhetoric on transgender people, including promises to sign executive orders restricting their rights.

“Let me be clear as well: They will start with the T, but they will swiftly move on to the L, G and B,” Haggerty said. “No amount of capitulation will change their minds.”
Speaking about their work, Haggerty recalled witnessing “queer joy,” which they said was greater than the difficult realities facing LGBTQ+ youth.
The last speaker, Seibold-Simpson, opened with a call in support of abortion rights and access. Southern Tier Women’s Health Services, where Seibold-Simpson works, is the only abortion provider in Binghamton and sees patients from across northern New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, she said.

“If you support abortion services, let people know,” Seibold-Simpson said. “Tell your friends, tell your family that you support abortion, that you are a kind and loving ear to people who are making that decision and that you are supporting them for what is often a terribly difficult and isolating choice.”

As the speeches ended, the crowd made its way to the church’s basement, where several community groups were tabling. Kari Dickson, the co-chair of community outreach and advocacy at Southern Tier Voices of Power, said it was important for the organization to assist in the rally’s planning in the face of the incoming administration.

Dickson shared a quote from Brit McGoff-Hall, who founded Southern Tier Voices of Power in November.

“Our mission is to provide all marginalized groups in our community a safe space to talk, organize, share and plan,” the quote read. “I started this group because I was feeling alone, but I promise that here, you are never alone. We are stronger together, and we will fight back.”

Either way, it felt appropriate to sit down and reflect on the deep emptiness I felt this break.

This is my first column for Pipe Dream, a breaking of the strictly enforced prohibition on writing for news and opinions at the same time. In my over two years with this organization, I’ve been trained to set personal belief aside in the name of objectivity.

But ever since my friend died last April, I’ve been itching to write a column. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe I hope that the formality of the publishing process, writing this with my peers editing it in mind, will force me to reckon with some hard truths. Or maybe I hope to find some catharsis in seeing this on paper.

Returning to one’s hometown is universally acknowledged as bittersweet, and during the holiday break, even more so. Without Talia here, though, I feel more incomplete than ever. We made so many memories in our little corner of suburban New Jersey, and when she lost her fight with brain cancer, a little part of me, the one that viewed my hometown with a guarded nostalgia, died with her.

Over these months, I’ve learned that grief is a cruel, funny thing. The sheer weight of losing her has been near incomprehensible, and in my endless search for closure, and maybe a little comfort, attempting to come to grips has taken my all.

Worse than the obvious physical loss is the mental one — from constantly thinking and talking to and about her to well-intentioned loved ones walking on eggshells when they ask about her. Honestly though, I feel relieved when I get the opportunity to describe her beautiful personality and the mark she left on me. It’s as if, for a few seconds, she’s not gone, and I don’t have to think too seriously about one of my life’s greatest losses.

To answer an earlier question, I write to see something tangible confirming what I already know: I loved her, and I miss her terribly. It’s been about seven months now, and anyone who’s experienced this pain knows all too well the fear that it’ll never go away.

Despite my pleas that change is good and being uncomfortable is a prerequisite for growth, familiar words to anyone who knows me, I sometimes crave my life from just a few years ago, before my friends and I grew up and life was simpler.

The days when, before any of us could drive, we used our bikes and feet to get around. When we’d sit together on a ledge in a park trail near the houses where Talia, and another friend, Paulette, grew up, talking about the years I now call the present. When, after high school, we would gather on our friend Alex’s back porch and eat his food and drink his AriZona iced teas. Though I still return to my hometown and see and talk to Paulette and Alex constantly, it’s been longer than I care to admit since I’ve walked that trail or sat on that porch.

Life moves quickly, and unforgivingly. Soon, I’ll graduate college and get a job. And later, I’ll get married, buy a house and set down roots, in all likelihood far away from my hometown. By that point, I suspect the pain associated with Westfield — the loss and confusion I felt when I returned for Talia’s funeral — will begin to fade.

No matter how far I go or how much time passes, however, in fleeting pockets of time, I’ll be 16 again, Talia will still be here and life will be simple. And I hope I’ll learn to live with it.

Brandon Ng, a senior double-majoring in history and economics, is Pipe Dream’s editor-in-chief. 

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial. 

In a guest opinion published by The New York Times on Thursday, Antonio Delgado, New York’s lieutenant governor, panned the “neoliberal order” and offered a path forward for Democrats reeling after Donald Trump’s election victory earlier this month.

The president-elect lost New York state by just 11.8 percentage points this year, a marked improvement over his 2016 and 2020 performances when he lost by 23.2 points and 22.5 points.

The lieutenant governor’s op-ed began with a recollection of Barry Goldwater’s failed presidential campaign in 1964, which he wrote laid the groundwork for Ronald Reagan’s landslide electoral victories in 1980 and 1984. The Democratic Party, Delgado wrote, could similarly use this year’s defeat to establish a new order, but “the era of tinkering around the edges is over.”

Delgado recalled the emergence of Bill Clinton’s “Third Way” philosophy, which adopted some of Reagan’s conservative agenda to win the White House. The limitations of this approach, he wrote, were made clear during the 2008 financial crisis, when leading Democrats helped bail out the leading Wall Street financial institutions.

“Tragically, our party has failed to rescue itself ever since,” Delgado wrote. “Mr. Trump’s success in 2016 and this month underscored the flaw inherent in the Democratic approach of promising to move forward while looking backward.”

Neoliberalism is broadly understood as a political and economic ideology that emphasizes market solutions, free trade and limited government spending and regulation.

Despite losses on the national level — for the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate — Democrats saw local victories. Josh Riley defeated Rep. Marc Molinaro in a nail-bitingly close election, and State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo MA ‘84 beat back their Republican challengers.

Delgado said President Joe Biden, despite attempts to confront “decades of failed economic policy,” including taking on modern monopolies, was the wrong messenger for change.

“Clamoring to be the savior of democracy, the Democratic Party engendered disdain from the very people it sought to serve — everyday, hard-working Americans fed up with being lied to and squeezed out of opportunity,” Delgado wrote.

Trump won, he continued, because he campaigned “like a populist, even though he governs like an oligarch and couldn’t care less about the fact that the top 1 percent has more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.”

Democrats have seen shrinking statewide margins for years. In an approximate 10-point improvement over Molinaro, who ran for governor in 2018, Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman recently tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, earned 46.8 percent of the vote against Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul’s office did not return a request for comment about the op-ed’s sentiment.

A notable exception is U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who defeated her Republican opponent by 17.5 points to win reelection this November. Democrats flipped three congressional districts in New York, including Riley’s win against Molinaro.

Writing that “common sense should rule the day,” Delgado called on the party to secure the Southern Border and “protect American workers from bad trade deals” in the globalized economy.

The opinion piece ended with a call to action for Democrats, who Delgado said could win again if they could successfully argue that economic inequality and money in politics are the true threats to democracy. “Not all solutions should be based on the market; the market tends to reward greed, and cultivating greed should never be the mission of a democratic government,” he wrote.

Delgado was appointed in May 2022 following the resignation of Brian Benjamin, the former lieutenant governor indicted earlier that year. He was the first person of color to represent upstate New York in the U.S. Congress, unseating an incumbent after running a campaign he said was rooted in affordability.

Just before Election Day, Delgado, along with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries ‘92, Riley, Webb and Lupardo, headlined a get-out-the-vote rally in Binghamton. At the time, he extolled public servants who sacrifice their needs for the collective good.

“If Democrats lead with a bold, cleareyed vision for the future, voters will support them,” Delgado wrote. “I have seen it firsthand.”

The Student Association Judicial Board, in two decisions made public on Monday afternoon, struck down several clauses in two pieces of legislation passed during the Oct. 8 SA Congress meeting.

“The Judicial Board did not take into consideration any personal beliefs or prejudices while

conducting this review,” a clause at the bottom of each opinion read. “This review is based solely on past precedent and governing documents including the Student Association’s Constitution and Management Policies.”

At the Oct. 8 meeting, the body voted to rescind last semester’s Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions resolutions and passed five of six newly introduced pieces of legislation. About a week later, the SA E-Board vetoed two of the resolutions.

In Resolution 3, which commemorated the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and condemned Hamas, the J-Board struck down the second resolved clause, which encouraged members of the campus community to “attend and support the commemorative events organized by Jewish student organizations.” The decision held it in violation of the nondiscrimination clause in the SA Constitution, saying that by encouraging attendance and support for events hosted by Jewish organizations, it demonstrated a preference for these organizations.

In Resolution 7, which passed in a 20-3 vote with six abstensions, the J-Board struck down five clauses. Clauses five, six and seven, which established requirements before any future divestment resolution could be considered, were deemed in violation of the SA Constitution’s Free Speech clause and a principle that the SA must be “viewpoint-neutral” when making regulatory or financial decisions.

The eighth resolved clause prohibited the SA Congress from considering future BDS resolutions for the remainder of the academic year.

“Since these viewpoints are constitutionally protected, the Student Association may not prohibit SA Congress representatives from introducing legislation that pertains to those viewpoints,” the decision read.

The 10th clause urged University administrators to expand partnerships with Israeli institutions. The J-Board held that it conveyed preference on the basis of nationality, a violation of the nondiscrimination clause.

“The Judicial Board diligently reviewed the documents, and evoking this 10-semester class day provision, we wanted to ensure that our decisions were coherent and founded within the governing documents, causing this process to take almost all of the full 10 semester class days,” J-Board wrote to Pipe Dream. “We reaffirm that our decision was impartial to personal beliefs on this matter, and the decision was based solely on the Student Association’s governing documents and past precedent.”

This is a breaking story, and it will be updated.